VPC-Z135GX/B vs VPCSA2EGX/BI

hello everyone,

I need some advice, very badly.

I've been researching and researching and finally I think I've narrowed it down to two options, but am having a very difficult time trying to decide. I need to make up my mind fast as I found these online and don't know how quick it will sell.

z135gx/b:

Intel Core i5-460M 2.53GHz / 4GB RAM / 256GB SSD / DVD±R/RW / Hybrid Graphics (GeForce GT 330M & Intel HD)


SA2EGX/BI:

Intel Core i7-2620M 2.7GHz / 8GB RAM / 256GB SSD / DVD±R/RW / Intel HD Graphics 3000 /AMD Radeon HD 6630M

They are only 50$ difference pricewise. so thats not the deciding factor.

I like the new Z2, but its much too over my price range, and lacks an optical drive which is important to me at the moment, so it's out of the question.

I'm a photographer, writer and am constantly on the road, so the following are the most important to me (although there are other things I find important, theses are the must-haves)

-Must be very light
-Must have a long battery life
-Must have a very good screen
-Must have plenty of storage
-It must be fast (i have little patience)

I also do video work and some website design, but am not a gamer and will be installing linux beside windows. I will be using the laptop constantly for heavy workloads and hope that it will last me for as long as possible, so this is an important purchase for me. I don't have an external monitor, this will be my main machine.

8gb RAM would be my ideal, so if I got the first one, at some point I would want to upgrade (although I'd rather not have to replace it, I'm on a budget). Is the i7-2620m such a big difference compared to the i5-460M for video work? Is the Z really better then the SA?

Help need please! too many specs running through my head!

 

I've seen owner's compared the LCDs finding the Z is really a cut about the SA. cpumark compares the CPUs:

i5-460M=2608
i7-620M=2798
i5-2410M=3347
i7-2620M=3985

Not to mention the second gen i-cores are more efficient and the hosting chipset provides SATA-III disk ports.

Worth mentioning, there's a 1.9kg 14" Toshiba R840 available. Sandy Bridge cpu, 900P LCD, optical drive Or a 1.45kg 12.5" Lenovo X220 with IPS LCD but no optical drive. Some additional alternatives if the Z's cpu is a deal breaker. See the thin-and-light link in my sig for a comparison.

 

Get the better one, the processor is way better and the price is pretty good.

 

I'd get whatever Vaio Z you can with the 1080 screen. I use mine for photo editing and it's such a superb screen to work with. I've only heard negative things about the SA's 900 screen (which is still not up to the same quality as the 900 screen as the Z). If all you can settle for is a 900 screen on a Z, it's still fanastic. The extra resolution from the full HD is just that much better.

 

I was leaning towards the Z, then started looking at the SA, but now I'm back to wanting the Z. It seems harder and harder to find them though. When I wanted to buy one, I was in Turkey, and no one would send them there, now that I'm in North America again, I can't find them anymore. It seems the model I wanted to buy was sold quickly.

I'm the kind of person that buys expensive equipment once, takes very good care of it and hopes it lasts a long long time. I'm just too scared to buy second hand, but thanks for the offer.

So I think a Z, even with an i5 and not the i7 is the way to go. I tried to have a look at the store, but it seems none of the Sony stores over here have dislplay models, so I couldn't acutally compare the screen with my own eyes. But an excellent screen is very very important, and the SA did look quite faded. Cheaper laptops looked better beside it!

The 1080 might be better, but I'm happy with the 900 screen if thats all I can find.

So if I can find a Z, new, with optical drive, enough RAM, at least 256 SSD, i5 or i7 I guess I will go with that....good decision? Or am I missing anything crucial?

 

Did you check the Sony outlet online store? They sell refurb Zs and I think you should be able to get the configuration you want. They are not new, but consider this: new ones come rolling off the assembly line and are inspected in an automated way, so to speak. Assembly line workers try to meet the volume quota and so they work as fast as they can, but a refurb is hand-inspected by a technician in a more in-depth manner, so to speak. The refurbs could've come from a new Z that was returned for many reasons (not necessarily that it's broken), a new Z that was purposely re-marketed as a refurb, etc. You get all that for a fraction of the original price; so the value/price ratio is actually very good.

And to answer your question, yes, that's a good decision. I have a refurb Z12 (specs in my sig) and I do video editing on it. It's been performing well. Max out your RAM because that helps. Get i7 too if you can. The extra cache helps memory-bound programs.

 

Not a good decision... an AWESOME decision!

 

I would avoid this laptop like the plague. My wife has owned this laptop and it's been a nightmare. The first thing to occur was the screen hinges broke with little to no force applied. She is not hard on equipment. They are a plastic design with a small metal piece inside. The hinge is very weak and almost makes the entire laptop a deal changer in my mind. Three days into owning the machine the hinge failed. We waited two months for SOny to get parts. Eventually I sent the machine to Sony and they sent a replacement machine. That was three months and lots of phone calls. Now she has ben using the machine for three months since returned. We noticed the LCD screen flexes while you open and close the lid. She has been very careful to opena nd close the LCD with both hands. Well she opened it about a month ago and the LCD developed a crack near the bottom in the center. Right where the flexing is the worst. The crack progressed across the screen and now the entie right side of the display is useless. Sony was sent the machine and they indicated it was physical damage. Duhh! So now I am trying to see if they will cover the LCD under warranty as this is clearly a defect in design and manufacturing. NO way could I recommend this machine or any SONY Z series machine to anyone. Way to flimsy for their own good.

 

sorry to hear about your experience with your Z
I do agree that Z is kind of flimsy, but a lot of us here are pretty happy with our Z. I imagine CC here has sworn allegiance to no one but Sony (I might too!), chiefly because our experience with our Zs have been great.

Also, handling Z is one thing, storing or putting the Z away is another thing. When you put the Z in a bag for example, you should be careful not to put the lid facing your body parts. A backpack would bounce up and down a lot as you walk and it'd make a lot of contact with your back. A messenger bag like-wise would bounce left and right a lot and it'd make a lot of contact with your waist and hip.

The lid is supposed to flex though because of the material used. Because it has to meet a certain weight and thickness requirement, gaining strength through flex is better than through rigidity (the flex can distribute the force applied more uniformly).

Granted, it doesn't claim to be as strong as, say, an MBP anyway. A lot of us bought this Z knowing these qualities (or problems, from your point of view), so we handle it in a way different than handling other laptops.

 

Z's hinges are not flimsy. They are quite thick stainless steel. If the hinge was broken you should've not repeated open/close until it was fixed.

 

The hinge was broken; but then they got a replacement machine whose hinge wasn't broken, and then the LCD started to crack.

@jnissen: as blasphemous as it sounds on this forum, if you desire a more rigid laptop, perhaps you can look at lenovo thinkpads or MBPs?

 

The hinge is screwed into the plastic bezel and that is the weak area. The replacement machine was the one that eventually cracked the LCD. Incidently the price Sony quoted for the LCD was $646 to repair! I can buy the part from Sony for $172 (A1769474A).

Believe me my wife treated this thing very well. I think we just ran into a couple of bad cases of poorly manufactured goods back to back. Historically I have purchased VIAO computers for the higher quality and great service. This time around it's been a major PIA. The wife has a similar light weight laptop from Toshiba for her work and that design is ten times more durable in the hinge area IMHO. She purchased the Sony based on past experience and the great specs on the Z series. When it's working it's exceptionally fast and the SSD is incredible. Just would never get this particular laptop again and would have severe issue recommending it to anyone.

 

Sadly it's not true... if you tried, they'd say it's out of stock and give you another part and it'd be $500+. We've tried...

In any case, it's unfortunate what you had to go through.

 

Yeah I see that. Found a replacement here:

13.1" LCD Screen Display for Sony A1769474A - Daily-Mart - Repair Parts Store | LCD Laptop Screens |

Ordered it but I have ZERO idea if it will actually ship and more important if it will be the correct part! I gave it a try so will have to see how it works out.

 

Wait.. I thought the Z1 was light years ahead of the SA in build quality and design. And we have a complain about poor build quality on the Z1 here?? How can this be? How dare you defame the machine...

 

My first SA was a dud on build quality. The second one which is a replacement is very good. Even the hinge resistance feels better. Maybe that describes the bad quality control a little bit.

I tried playing TF2 on SA, and I'm scared to play games without a proper fan blowing air from the bottom of the graphics card area. But it's a small package, so I understand.

I guess the OP's decision should be based on how much you are about display quality. If it doesn't really matter, then I think SA is good choice. If you get a dud, just keep sending it back and reorder.


My SA was $1179 with a free xbox (for students). I think it's a great value.

 

Even the best designed and manufactured product will send out some "rejects" due primarily to inadequate quality assurance testing. The point about refurbs being a safer bet is well-taken; it is more likely that human beings will test and even visually observe the refurb units inside and out and catch problems the automated QC system for new units will miss.

The Z1 is and awesome laptop, truly legendary in this field, in this size/weight class. Unless you do heavy duty tasks and/or need to play advanced games on high settings on your 13" 3 lb notebook, you just can't do better than a Z1 - new (a few still pop up on eBay), refurb (mostly on the Sony Outlet site, occasionally via a third party refurb co.), even just "used," if clearly well maintained and cosmetically pristine (pictures and the reputation of the seller can verify that, and eBay and PayPal both protect you from getting scammed).

If you want a 99% chance that your ultraportable will run perfectly out of the box and continue to do so, even with a fair bit of jostling around, sadly I must recommend you get an MBA 13. The screen will not be 1/2 as beautiful, crisp or colorful, but it wlll be more durable and performance will be more robust than the Z1s with their 1st gen Core i cpus. But such performance (e.g., 9900 PCMark Vantage) still leave them at the top of the cclass of a

 

Wow thats a pretty powerfull statement. I do admit that I have two current issues with my Z13, left hand side USB ports cant read USB memory sticks greater that 8 Mb and headphone socket does not mute the speakers unless I twist the headphone jack.

Its going back for repair soon, but only when they confirm a 5 day turn around which is what my warrentee states.

Over all, IMHO the Z cannot be matched by any other laptop at the moment. The Macbook comes very close, but I don't like the closed off Mac systems.

I hope you get your Z sorted.

 

The Z looks pretty good but you might have trouble getting one for a reasonable price. If you can stand that screen, you'd probably be better off with the SA. If I could find a Z for under $1000 thats not from ebay (i'm nervous about purchasing something so expense that could have so many problems) I'd snatch it up quick.

 

I did it, I finally got my Z13! A little more than I wanted to spend, but they are getting so rare these days and its hard to find the specs I want and need in any other laptop.

Sorry Dekabal, but as a photographer the screen is one of the most important things on a laptop for me, therefore my deciding in the end to not get the SA. My work requires a laptop with excellent specs...and a high price tag/heart attack to go with that. Plus, I must say I trust a laptop built in japan over one built in china. It's not under 1000$, but I will use this laptop for profesional reasons, so in a way it pays for itself.

I agree with Carlos Milos, I don't like Macs. They are a very closed off system, and I plan to put linux on my laptop anyways.

But for the moment I'm happy with my decision: i7 640M, 8g RAM 256 SSD 900x 1600 display. Can't wait to finally get it in the mail (but not looking forward to cleaning out all the bloatware)

I think I made the right decision.

 

Congratulations! Can you say about how much it cost you? Remember, if there is anything you don't like about it, you can return it for a full refund for 30 days. Most of the Sony refurbs look brand new, so don't accept one that isn't, unless you got it for a steal, which brings me back to the first question...

 

I got it for 2200$, but it wasn't a refurb.

 

Are you saying Sony has new Z1s to sell?

 

Wow, that's pretty pricey comparing with a $2400 Z2 which I was considering. I would go for a Z2 for that price, but each to their own needs.

I have SA (cheap screen) + xbox for $1069. Now I need to sell the xbox and put 256gb ssd in this thing.

My experience on Z13 refurb wasn't that good (ended up returning it). The memory door was dented about 1 inch width, who knows how hard it got hit. I trust the machines more than reinspected refurbs.

 

Yes, it pricey, and as I said more than what I wanted to pay (my budget was 2000$) I don't like the Z2, especially since they have no optical drive, which is a must have for me (I have to post things on DVD). It getting so rare to find a new Z1 these days, especially in Canada. I've been searching for a month, so I took it right away. And the bonus is it was 500$ under retail price. Anyways I have 7 days to return it if I change my mind.

The Z2 with the same specs as what I got would have cost me 2900$ CAD, defenately too much for me. The S, with the same specs (8RAM, 256 SSD, 1600x 900 ect.) would have cost 2400$ CAD, and the screen quality is very important for photography. I had a look at them in the store, and didn't like the screen or the laptop very much. I had been considering one, but after some research it seems its not for me. I also am much happier with a laptop built in japan, and wouldn't buy a laptop built in china. Looking online, I found several customer reviews of the S, with complaints about the build. I found many positive reviews of the Z I bought, so that was reasurring.

Sony Canada does still sell the Z1, 128 ssd 4 RAM i5 1999$, so I think I got a much better deal.

I don't trust refurb, or used for anything expensive. It just gives me more piece of mind to get something new. The one I bought is new and in a sealed box.

I think I made the best decision and found the best laptop for my needs.