Vaio Revival in America, Vaio Z Canvas Coming to the U.S. Fall 2015

I guess I'll just start a new thread so the news isn't lost in the pre-existing thread.

The Vaio Z Canvas will be released in America this fall, meaning Vaio is re-entering the market:
http://us.vaio.com/

From looking at the Japanese model on YouTube, the screen is glossy and the keyboard isn't backlit. But that seems to be the only downsides I think. I wonder if we'll get the regular Vaio Z too?

 

Give me an SVS replacement with 960m, ips, i7 quad and 2x m2 and I will buy one.

SVS15 is still my all time fave. If I was smarter I would still have one rather than the succession of crap that followed it.

 

https://vaio.com/news/pdfdata/pr15e.pdf


Seems that the laptop will be manufactured in Japan, at Azumino

Actually, I find the laptop pretty impressive. I wish that it will be sold in Asia as well, not just in Japan

 

Do we think they'll release the regular Z too?

 

All of the Vaios are made in Azumino. As I said over at tabletpcreview, Sony and the Vaio brand took a bit of a hit. They were bringing everything back in house, hence a smaller operation. I am looking forward to getting my Z Canvas in a few weeks.

They just released the Z with a US keyboard so I would say chances are at least 50/50. Not sure if anyone saw but they announced the Pro 13 mk2 today. IMO what the Pro should have been. Info is up on the Vaio site.

 

I'm so confused, I went to the Japanese Vaio site and looked at the specs of the Z vs. the Z Canvas. Why does the Z have a i7U while the Canvas has the full-blown one? I thought the Z was supposed to be the most powerful machine. Why does the Canvas have a more powerful processor?

 

^ I agree on the pro mark 2. Looks like they're trying to get back into the business market with features that you'd expect on a business machine: VGA, RJ45, mouse buttons etc. It does look a nice machine.

 

The Canvas was always the better machine if you followed its development. The Z Canvas was once referred to as "the monster tablet". I'm just glad they are releasing it since it has the specs I'm looking for. Honestly, the only think missing is a VGA port but there's the adapters (HDMI-->VGA or the mini Display Port).

That was my first thought as well. Ah, the good old days when you would argue if the Vaio T series or the Panasonic R series was the ultimate in portability for the road warrior (As an aside, the Panasonic CF-RZ4 is a fantastic daily driver.) The mk2 is a clear example of Vaio refocusing on a core market they somewhat abandoned, but retaining a lot of what Vaio always was: making good looking laptops that are not 'me too'.

The mk2 really is a good machine for what it is: ethernet (with the dropdown like on the Z Canvas and the old Duo 11), VGA, HDMI, 3 x USB, full SD slot (something I will never get that MS did with the SP3 was not a full sized SD ... WTF) ... that is a road machine. It still comes in at under 2.5lbs. Forget what Lenovo/NEC did with the LaVie. I'd get this or a Panasonic if I was in the market for such a machine.

EDIT: Oh, the mouse buttons! The trackpad on the original Pro 13 was terrible. I wanted to kill myself when I owned one it was so bad lol

In some ways, the mk2 actually reminds me of the old G series, which to this day remains my favorite laptop. My only disappointment was that they continued the 8GB max trend on the mk2, but then again, if you want more, get the Z or Z Canvas.

 

Do we know if they're ever going to make the Z a "monster laptop?" I thought the Z was supposed to be the ultimate laptop, with a quad processor and whatnot. The Z on their website isn't the idea of the Z that they had all these years...

 

Without re-engineering its insides? I'd say no for now. The regular Z is pretty packed (touch screen, up to 16GB of memory). It's certainly higher spec'd than the new Pro 13 mk2. The Z is a line of computers now to continue the idea of what the Z is/was.

If we're being honest, Vaio did deliver on the old Z concept in the Z Canvas. It's just not a traditional clamshell.

I'm sure regardless of how well the Z Canvas sells, some of what they did will trickle down into machines in the future.

 

Eh, maybe I'm behind the times, but I don't really want or need touchscreen capabilities. The glossy screen that comes with them especially. I can see myself using the Canvas for a day and liking the touchscreen, then never using it again.

I just want a traditional laptop with as much power as possible so I can do my video editing and exporting (and I don't mind some touchscreen stuff in case I need it, but the negatives of having one seem to outweigh the occasional benefits for me). Having the Canvas is just two extra parts I'll lose or break when I'm on the go (the keyboard and pen) and the glossy screen will make it impossible for me to work outside.

I'd go with the regular Z or Pro, but they're not souped up to what they could be. I guess the traditional laptop being a full-blown powerhouse (like the original Z) is dead. I feel like people like me are being forced out of the market, lol.

 

Ok so I have the Vaio Z since 2 weeks now and I am considering buying the Vaio Z canvas. If anyone interested on buying the Vaio Z from me I am open .

Do we know if the keyboard of the vaio Z canvas is using a proprietary protocol or it is just regular bluetooth that we have to manually connect. I'm asking in cas I want to put ubuntu on it. Will it work for the installation ? Or do I need to buy a wireless keyboard.

 

What makes you want to go for the Z canvas over the traditional Z? What's your opinion on the Z?

 

I always hesitated between the two since the announcement. I own a Surface pro 3 (That I am selling too ...). The Canvas is just the perfect machine for my use. I found myself liking the touchscreen for note taking and the tablet form factor is really good for this. So I was looking for a powerful machine for games and note taking basically. I hate the lenovos with the keyboard going all the way back. So my natural option was Vaio Z and canvas. Since I couldn't wait for the Canvas I bought the Z . That's my story !!

The Vaio Z I have (black) is a wonderful piece of hardware. I almost want to keep it... But the price of Canvas is too high for me to own both. The keyboard is the nicest one I type on ( and I tried the razer blade keyboard ), the touchscreen is really responsive and the hinge is awesome. The 16:9 ratio is perfect for movie and games.

Ask any questions if you have some

 

Where did you buy it if you don't mind me asking? Imported or available in your area?

 

I bought it through PriceJapan.com. Received it in a month.

 

It's RF, just like the one on the Tap 11. So unless you have a driver (and I doubt Vaio is providing a Ubuntu driver), you need a different keyboard. Maybe do a search to see if people got Ubuntu working with the Tap 11. It may work, but I wouldn't count on it.

 

Interesting. So even after installation the bluetooth set up won't go through because of the lack of driver ?

EDIT: Ok so apparently the bluetooth keyboard on the vaio tap 11 works on ubuntu. Hopefully this is the same drivers required for the Canvas

EDIT2: I just saw some Japanese blog where they show that the keyboard has a micro USB slot. They tried to plug it to a computer and successfully got it working as an external keyboard. So maybe this will work when installing linux by plugging the keyboard to the Canvas.

 

Actually I got the same thinking too, till I used vaio tap 11

It's better for me, coz I can adjust the keyboard angle, and shift the screen further away

I can even change the keyboard to another preferred model (eg. Logitech k810)

For the screen, you can add a matte screen protector. But lousy part about this model is the weight. Gone is the 1.2kg or so


@FenderP not waiting for official release?

 

The other thing that bothers me about the Canvas is what happens if you're sitting in a lecture hall? Can you sit it on your lap like a laptop, and will it be as stable? Doesn't seem that way since the support thing would be sitting on the unstable, shifting area between your legs (lol).

 

[/QUOTE]

The Tap 11 had a little thin stand piece. The one on the Canvas looks to be more substantial. Who knows if it will be "lappable", but not how I plan on using it anyway.

The keyboard was the worst part of the Tap 11. The Tap 11 is basically my livingroom remote and screw around tablet right now.

Disagree - 1.2kg is still light. It's a super duty laptop in there. This is not a light Core M system. At about 2.5lbs sans keyboard, it's amazing.

What's coming out now is the official release so what you're asking me makes no sense. What do you mean?

 

Have you considered gluing the stand to a laptop cooler or similar flat object that will be stable on your lap? The keyboard can just sit on that, or you could use double sided adhesive tape to fix it in place. You don't need to plug in the cooling fans on the cooler, so no additional power drain.

 

It won't be stable. But in lecture hall, typing seems slow. I prefer to use the pen to write manually. Seems faster

 

Tap 11 keyboard is almost unusable for me, coz I have a lot of signals going on. It will go haywire. (If canvas Z uses RF, it's prob gonna be useless too heh)

But the performance of Tap 11 is faster than my old gen 1 Vaio Z

1.55 kg incl a keyboard is heavy.
That's actually like 200g heavier than those full performance Vaio Z of the past

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I mean to say you did a preorder already. That's from Japan right? Why not wait for USA official release? That would probably bring it into alignment with windows 10 as bonus

 

For the lap-able issue let's remind us this is not a laptop
Some (like me) prefer the tablet form factor than a full laptop mainly because when reading on the couch for example the keyboard is on the way.
You will get windows 10 for free if you get the Canvas right now.
The only downside really is the sparse few texts in Japanese. All software can be downloaded in english and the language pack do a nice job at translating everything.

1.55kg is heavy. This makes me laugh all the time. A little like when Apple product reduce 0.01kg of their product everyone gets crazy. But come on if I give you a laptop you have no way of determining the weight to the decimals...

Again the Canvas is really a niche product mainly due to the price tag, people will think a long time before buying it.

 

The weight thing is largely subjective but by no means insignificant. I once had an emergency where I had to visit every floor of a large building to manually configure the software on a network switch placed on each floor in order to restore connectivity. There were 21 floors. On each floor I would connect my laptop to the switch using an ethernet cable and configure the switch, holding the laptop in my left arm. Then on to the next floor. By the time I was done, my very light VPCZ1 felt like it weighed a ton. The crook of my arm ached for two whole days. The other laptop we had was a lot heavier - I don't know how I would have coped with that one - maybe taken along a plastic chair.

 

ahaha that's a cool story. But that's too rare of an event to actually matter And even if it was a more recurring event it would affect an insignificant amount of people. So at that weight yes it is insignificant.

 

I feel like most people type way, way faster than they write.

Either way the Canvas feels like something that should be sitting on a desktop than getting used on the run.

I hope they release the regular Z here and give it an upgrade.

 

Let's put 1.55kg in perspective. It's 3.41lbs. The MacBook Pro 13 Retina is 3.48, and the non-Retina, 4.5. Back in the good ol' ultraportable days, the dividing line was around 4lbs (which has always been pretty much my upper limit). Ultraportable laptops always have tradeoffs somewhere (example: no more than 8GB of memory) to keep things smaller/lighter. The fact that Vaio got close to what, say, a Dell M6800 offers in terms of power (not exactly, and clearly slightly less flexible in the sense no swappable drives and such) with a 12.3, sub 3lb tablet sans keyboard is an amazing bit of engineering.

I remember getting the SZ90 and happy it came in just over 4lbs with the extended battery nearly 10 years ago.

If people want iPad weight, you're not going to get it when the guts are basically a workstation. Get a Surface 3. And for the record, I can feel the difference in laptops even .1 or .2 since I travel so much. That's why keeping it under 4lbs has always been important to me because anything more is painful to lug around. Remember - you start adding "stuff" (power bricks, a mouse, etc.), 4 can quickly become much more. I laugh when I see people pull out all kinds of stuff for their gear - like stupid external battery packs for phones.

Let's also not forget the much beloved T series always rang in at around 3lbs give or take.

People need to qualify which Vaio Z they are referring to. Certainly not my VGN-Z90. Nice machine but ... lacking. I assume you mean the SV-Z1, which, if you added the external battery, was no longer 1.17kg. I also thought the whole dock thing was stupid. For a powerful flagship like that to max out at 8GB of memory in 2012 was laughable.

I think if you look at my posting history you'll clearly see why I bought the Japanese version, not the least of which is I don't want a US keyboard. And alignment with W10? Meh. When Vaio releases drivers (and they will), I'll do it myself. Plus, I need it now for what I do.

 

I've only had the VPCZ1, so that's what I refer to. Except for the fact that the switchable hybrid graphics technology is now obsolete, it is still a great machine. I didn't like the dock system in the VPCZ2, so that didn't hold much attraction for me.

 

http://store.sony.jp/Special/Computer/Vaio/Pro2/index.html?s_tc=st_co_va_1402

anyone knows if there is any possibility to get this vaio with UK layout?
thanks God, they back!

 

No.

 

However, the Japanese keyboard layout, with the double-height enter key, looks very similar to the UK layout. You may be able to get away with getting a Japanese keyboard, setting the keyboard in windows to "UK", and adding some stickers.

 

yes probably it would not be a problem but one detail makes me suspicious, does new vaio have external battery port or it would have?
anyone know japanease?

regards

 

@FenderP: how do you like yours? I lost the thread you review it in! Thanks, Jeff

 

There is an option for English keyboard for vaio z now

I think other models might be coming as well?

 

Like what?

 

No new Vaio has a swappable battery. Most laptop vendors have abandoned them on most models.

 

I thought you ordered and took delivery on a new Vaio, no?

 

Don't have the Z Canvas ... yet Shows up tomorrow.

 

Does the new Vaio Z (not Canvas) come with a matte FHD option? Or is the QHD+ glossy with touch the new standard?

 

i ment external additional battery not normal

 

No, the new Vaios do not have a port (like the Duo 11) to add a battery custom made for it.

 

See for yourself:
http://vaio.com/products/z/13-3/specification.html

It's just WQHD 2560 x 1440 with touch. No non-touch options or lower res.

 

The Vaio Z and Canvas comes with a matte film on the screen that is placed very professionally. It took me a few minutes to figure out that there was a protective film on it. Also the film helps with the pen to feel more like paper, it is a really good feeling but since i'm a fan of glossy, I removed it.

@FenderP : When did you ordered the Canvas ? and how long it took to receive it ? I ordered mine almost a month ago and still waiting ...

 

Welcome back Vaio!

 

They're all tablet hybrids? Boo! I want the old Vaio prior 2013 back!

That is why they were forced to part from Sony in 2013. It's not what the people want, and with a market that consists of the Surface and the Macbook Air, they'll struggle.

They need to go back to their roots. Making interesting and high performance machines. Tablet Hybrids are cancerous..

 

The Vaio Z is not a hybrid:

 

Nobody force you to use the Vaio Z as a tablet ... It is a really high performance laptop.

 

But it's only dual core. The Z2/3 were quad. The graphics probably won't be that great either.