Vaio Z questions from S user.

Im looking at changing laptop, but have a few questions.

I currently have an SA4 series, and was looking at getting a dock for it - but they're so damn expensive it won't cost me a lot more to sell my whole setup and get a Z series with a PMD off ebay...

However, if I do that the SSD on the Z's is really small, unless you spend a lot of cash. Does the SSD include the recovery partition? how much usable space do you get?

Can you use any PMD? I know there are a couple of different graphics configurations in the different gens, are they all compatible?

Anything I should be weary of?

How loud is the quad core Z?

 

The SSD has the recovery partition which takes up about 16GB. On the 256GB SSD for example, you have about 214GB of usable space of OS + data. 128GB will be around 109GB.

If you order the Z13 you will get the according PMD (with HD7670M). Don't know about compatibility with older PMDs, but I don't think you can save much by buying an older one.

One thing you should be aware of is that the quad core edition of the Z13 PERMANENTLY throttles. The older Z models outperform the Z13 in terms of CPU power because of this.
Also, the Z gets quite hot under load and will be warm even without load. It is also quite loud, but the sound of the fan atleast doesn't have a high frequency.

As a conclusion, I wouldn't recommend buying the Z. Perhaps you should take a look into the http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...fficial-2012-sony-s-series-owners-thread.html, as both the 13 inch and 15 inch Vaio S models of 2012 are very good machines in nearly all aspects. You will save a lot of money and get a much better performance while being independent of a dock. You should really take a look

EDIT: I can back this up with a review of the Z13... If you happen to speak german you can read it (or try to translate via google) Test Sony Vaio SV-Z1311Z9EX Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests
If you keep being interested in the Z13, watch out for a test on Notebookcheck.net - they will have an english translation of the test sometime in the near future i guess.

 

Thanks for the reply. Have you got link to a thread about the throttling issue?

can anyone else chime in about the pmd?

 

PMD on the Z is nice, but the new S NVIDIA is much more powerful than the HD6650 (7760 on new Z, but same one like the older one).

When you want to change get the new S with HDD! Than you can upgrade the Ram, HDD yourself. Replace the optical drive with an HDD and even batterylife on stamina will be about the same on the Z with dual core Ivy bridge (My Z with SB gets around 4- 6 Hours University use with SPSS, Word, etc...).
AND with the S you save in the standard configuration about 300 Euro!

So when you do an aftermarket upgrade with a 256 SSD and 8 GB Ram you have to spend around 300 Euro and you will have en even cheaper machine like the Z with 8GB Ram and 128 SSD!

 

fixed.

My source about the throttling issue is the review I linked above. I translated the part of the review via google translate for you:

 

Thanks for all the replies.

My problem is I currently have the S and I like to plug in a lot of stuff - multiple monitors etc. Docks for the S are really expensive, and offer very little. For the same price I could get a second hand PMD, which would allow me to get a smaller/more powerful laptop (can't get a quad in the S), and then be able to dock it quickly when I get home.

Getting a new S would be nice, but I'm still shelling out £150 for a dock that offers very little for the money.

 

Maybe the Dynadock from Toshiba is your choice. Like someone said. The Quad Vaio Z throttles, so the dual core ones will be significantly faster. In my opinion you get with the S and even the Docking more for you money.
For me to say: The new Notebook will no longer be the Z. I will get the New S next year maybe and a nice docking

 

I agree that you get more with the S. Looking at the price, if you buy the S you get more performance and you can still buy 3 or 4 docking stations before you are the cost of the Z+(second hand)PMD. Dynadock could solve the problem as Valnar said.

I don't quite understand why you would want to pay for the PMD but not for the S dock. The PMD has more features, but those features are already built into the S so you also have them on the go.