Vaio TZ questions

I'm contemplating buying a new TZ150N/B from someone in my area for
$1650, good deal?

Though I'd have to spend more money to really enjoy it like get 2gb of ram, Cooskin keyboard protector, XP discs, etc.

And too bad its barely usuable out of the box, have to upgrade the ram, remove bloatware or just install clean XP.

I read that its SD/Memory stick slot and Expresscard slot are slower than other laptops and so cannot use ReadyBoost, is this true?

My main uses would be very simple, web browsing, playing older 2d games, emulators, movies, word processing, torrents, etc.

But I am wondering what is the maximum it can do before croaking. What is the most people have dished out at the TZ (especially lowerend models like the TZ150) that it could take? Like maybe a little bit of Photoshop/Illustrator?

Finally, besides selling it, would there be any programs where I could eventually trade it in for a TZ refresh or if Sony makes an entire new model? I'm sure it will be updated pretty soon as Sony does but I really dislike my current laptop and have been waiting a long time to replace it, getting very impatient.


Thanks for your time guys!

 

Hi Rahul,

Your requirements aren't exactly that low. From what I see, your 3D requirements are low so the TZ will definitely satisfy that requirement. I'm concerned that the speed of the hard drive will drive you nuts though.

If you're going to start torrenting, your computer will slow to a snail's pace because all sub notebooks have the issue. (i.e. 1.8" hard drives are really really slow. Particularly for what you're using, Photoshop which requires throughput and torrent which requires very good seek time.)

The computer is fantastic though. I love the TZ all the way, but I thought you may want to reconsider the speed of the hard drive since it will be your bottleneck.

 

I think the TZ should be fine for photoshop / illustrator. Just no gaming, the CPU is decent enough where I am not having to much downtime converting things to different formats. Overall if your not going to game then the TZ is perfect.

 

Get it, i've had mine for a week now and love it. You don't really need to install xp, vista once tuned works really well. The display alone is worth it, best on the market!

 

Thanks, I would only use Photoshop/Illustrator just to fool around, if I even get to using it.

I would not torrent much, just some files now and then, but yes, it does sound like the 1.8" HDD would be a huge bottleneck. Would it be better if files were torrented to a flash card (Expresscard SSD/SD or Memory stick?) Or how about an external HDD?

I think I'd still get XP as it takes less resources, has all the features I need and would get better battery life as well, maybe I'd dual boot.

I've heard that its USB ports are slow aside from the memory card reader and Expresscard reader, how are the transfer rates on its input devices compared to other laptops? Thanks.

 

I have a non SSD TZ with Vista full clean install and 2GB RAM. It's just fine for Photoshop CS3 Extended, ZSNES (emulator), and multitasking (I think you'd be shocked to see how much stuff I have going on right now as I type this) and couldn't be more pleased from a realistic vantage point of what I was getting into. Can't answer you on the USB ports as I use the memory stick pro slot and network to transfer my stuff from the old computer to the TZ.

 

Yes, the USB transfer rates are not impressive. As I don't have my TZ90 anymore, I can't make some tests, but I seem to recall getting about 8 MB/s less using my external USB HDD, compared to my ThinkPad X61.

The TZ is particularly sensitive when it comes to USB bandwidth.

So rahulnirmal, are you finally set on the TZ or is the new Asus U2 an option (despite also featuring 1.8" 4200RPM drives)?

 

Seems like a good deal rahul. And later on, you will be able to switch the slow 4200rpm with the SSD.
But, I would wait little longer, I think as well that Sony will come soon with a refresh of the TZ. Asus U2 -which has also a 32 GB option- and Futjitsu R have the 965 chipset...

 

Hi all

Another question for you all. The CPU used in the TZ is the same that is used in the Del M1333, but under clocked.

Has anyone tried overclocking their TZ?. I'm waiting for the latest version of ClockGen from www.cpiud.com to boost the performance of this TZ21 only when required.

Any thoughts...?

 

Its actually called the Dell XPS M1330 and it and the Vaio TZ use completely different processors. The Dell uses a regular Core 2 Duo Santa Rosa chip, whereas the TZ uses an ultra low voltage (ULV) Core 2 Duo Napa chip. The former is socketed and the latter is soldered

I have heard ULV chips overclock nicely but it would most likely be not worth it.

 

can you elaborate about this "overclock" thing?

 

I'd consider doing it. My desktop is overclocked and the performance improvements are amazing. Stock it was a 2.6ghz duo and now it's running at 3.8ghz.

 

i just want it overclocked in the beginning when the computer is being booted up, i cant wait. lol

 

i just read up on overclocking a cpu, sounds very nice. but can you just set it for a breif moment like during start up and then resume normancy once its all booted up? didn't like to read on overheating and hardware damages.

 

As mentioned, the processors are completely different. I'm keen on knowing what you base you information on.

A desktop system and a notebook are 2 very different things. Hence, being successful in overclocking a desktop system and hence applying this logic to a notebook is not recommended. Also, with your CPU clock improvement, I doubt your desktop will be running stable without major cooling and high-speed components.

Again, we are talking about an ultraportable here with limited space and a thermal design which is made for a certain purpose. In general, it is not recommended to overclock a notebook, let alone a subnotebook.

For your purposes where you need the extra power for the boot up process, you would be much better off getting a faster HDD or a SSD.

 

The TZ doesn't run HOT, but it's getting borderline in my opinion on the bottom of the left hand side... I wouldn't overclock anything for the premium I paid for my TZ.

 

Yes I am using better cooling inside the case, which I know I can't upgrade on the TZ, but a slight overclock of 100-200mhz I think on the stock cooling is fine. My desktop btw is 100% stable, ran all the stress tests.

 

Yeah,

I have both the SZ4 premium and the TZ2 premium.

If you look at the specs of the SZ, you'd be thinking that it'd waste the TZ.

However, with the TZ using a SSD it actually boots faster than the SZ which is more than twice the speed.

So if booting faster is what you really want to achieve, go with an SSD and don't risk your money overclocking such a baby...

 

i want to change to SSD but i dont know how and where to buy.

 

Buying it is easy. Assuming you live in the US, www.newegg.com has a good selection of SSDs.

As for how to change your regular HDD to a SSD, that's more of a challenge. I suggest you search NBR for how to. There have been some threads discussing the topic.

It is not easy, as you need to disassemble the notebook to get to the HDD. But it is possible. I recall that duffyanneal (NBR user) has some experience in this. You could send him a PM.

 

i live in canada and i saw a thread on it but i am no computer pro. if sony could do it for me that would be great but i heard from other threads that sony wont do it.

if i were to buy a SSD, i would want to get sandisk or samsung 64GB

 

True, Sony will definitely not do it for you.

In your case, your best bet is to find a repair shop which would be willing to do it for you - just make sure to provide them with instructions found on the Internet. If you manage to find someone, it will probably cost you quite a bit in labour costs though.

A word of caution though. Needless to say, there is the risk of breaking the notebook and the warranty will not cover this.