Vaio Z series delicate series

So finally, my laptop got fixed for the mess sony home service made 3 months ago. My question is regarding the thin screen on the 13inch Vaio Z's. I know macbooks have a shell for them that you can buy to protect from scratches etc, so is there something similar for Vaio Z's that can at least provide a solid feel to the screen?

I am worried that with the amount of flex present in the lid, I might end up cracking or damaging the screen one day.

 

Trust me, you don't need that MBP pseudo-stiffness:


Source: http://forum.notebookreview.com/3840126-post51.html

 

I would be afraid to hold the laptop at the screen in the link.

I think the other dual purpose is that the soft lid compresses into the keyboard in a backpack and I thought that with a hard case, it migh go away.

 

You might be interested in the Mach 3 Composites case which is made of carbon fiber.

Mach 3 Composites: Mach 3 Composites - 12" Carbon Fiber Laptop Case

 

Wow, that looks cool, but can you keep a power brick, mouse and accessories in there? and it doesn't look like it has a handle like a briefcase, how are you suppose to carry it? both hands?

 

I would certainly not dare make this experiment ...

 

I guess (since I don't have one myself) that you use it as a hard shell for the laptop alone, which would then be well protected in your backpack, briefcase, or anywhere else. My Z is transported in a neoprene sleeve in my backpack, and the mouse/power brick/etc are in separate compartments.

The neoprene sleeve was much less expensive...

 

Please look at my thread for info on the case. Only the laptop fits in there:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/551259-mach-3-composites-z-caron-fiber-case-impressions.html

 

When I was thinking about getting me a Z I went to the Sony Store in Berlin, got me a sales rep and asked about the stiffness of the chassis since I was very disappointed with my old TZ. The sales rep did the exact things like on the pictures during the entire talk, said it would do no harm to the notebook and claimed that Sony would cover for any damage done while handeling the notebook like this (which personally I realldy doubt...).

 

Sony would definitely not cover damage done by such experiments )

But I am very surprised the hinges and most importantly - THE SCREEN itself doesn't break !????? I would definitely not try that on my S, although it is more robust than the Z and with magnesium lid...

A Lenovo T has no problems though... it doesn't even bend

 

Though the Z is light, I doubt that nothing would happen to a screen holding it at the LCD.


PS Nice avatar!

 

Why would it be risky for the LCD.

Take a look here at Sony LED :
YouTube - Sony's flexible full-color OLED

 

...only that our screens aren't OLEDs

 

I believe there's a good deal of mixing of apples and oranges on the subject of durability here! Just because the VPC-Z screens are not OLEDs and cannot be folded over like envelopes (!) doesn't mean they're not durable and made of some pretty cool high tech materials themselves, and that they can't stand considerable stress and strain. On the other hand, with arguably the thinnest screen/lid on the planet (tied with the MBA 13 and the new Samsung 9 series), none of these should be routinely picked up and carried by the "scruffs" of their screens! I own a Z for the second time now and have used the MBA 13 for month and demoed the Samsung o long enough to say that they are all remarkable structures and that none - nor any other laptops designed to be safely carried that way.

But, I want to clear up a misconception on the other extreme, which is the notion that the Sony Zs are "delicate;" they are not. No, they are not as durable or resistant to shocks, drops, etc as, say, the HP Elitebook series or the Lenovo Thinkpads or Dell Precisions, but this again is due to their design philosophy differences: thin, light and sleek is just not compatible with tough, strong, indestructible! That said, I found that by putting the Z into a snug, well padded sleeve, and from there into a decent backpack or briefcase and they can deal with countless packing/unpacking, screen opening/closing (all of which do wear on a notebook, none of which are endured by desktops or DTR notebooks.

The Sony Z is made of carbon fibre and magnesium, and it has strategically positioned rubber "bumpers" that keep sharp edged pieces (like some of the keyboard keys with bumps for touch typists), though lately I've heard reports of those rubber bumpers coming off of the palm rest surface area so it pay attention to that and use a tiny bit of superglue if necessary to secure them.

Well, anyway, anytime I am using a $2,000 machine made to take the place of a $500 machine, I automatically assume the additional $1,500 comprises stuff that makes it fancier, harder to make and harder to fix. So don't buy a Z when you need a ruggedized Panasonic Toughbook or other heavy duty business class machine for work in harsh environments or where you can't always protect the machine. But if you want one of the fastest, finest, most powerful almost business class notebooks, to do pretty much anything you could ask of a notebook computer, and do it with a precision designed and manufactured "jewel" of a device with a screen so gorgeous it could (and probably is, along with the MBA and Samsung 9) be a museum piece - though I'm a little biased, or didn't it show?

 

^ Word. 100% agreed.

 

I am not running it on a construction site, but come on, is it too much to ask sony that keyboard impressions don't form on the LCD screen in regular day use?

I handle it with care (goes in a padded sleeve and then in a separate notebook section, but I still get key marks on the keyboard when I walk to the train.

 

I've never gotten a single mark on the screen from the keyboard. In fact today was the first time I have ever cleaned the screen on the Z in 9 months of owning it. I notice it had 2 small fingerprints, so I cleaned it. How does your keyboard touch your LCD? Do you put it in a bag that presses the lid down hard onto the keys?

 

Could it be that the way he picks it up presses on the center of the screen in a way that mashes it into the keyboard?

I mention that because I also don't get marks on my screen and I do quite a bit of traveling with it.

 

When I close my screen there's quite a bit of room between the lid and the rubber stoppers next to the keyboard. Even when I purposely push hard to get them to touch, they barely do. You really have to be applying quite a bit of pressure before they come into contact with each other [on my machine at least]. Maybe the build is different across machines, but I doubt it.

 

You're not the first person I've heard say that, so there is clearly something to it. From what I can see, either those bumpers on either side of your Shift keys are gone or worn down, or your keyboard keys are sitting up too high, or your screen/lid have become convex to the keyboard, so it hits keys in the middle despite the rubber bumpers on the side, or, or....DO you compress it really tightly in the sleeve or where you put the sleeve?

I would be really pissed off if my $2,000-$5,000 computer did that too - and I would not let Sony get away with it! Good luck.

 

I think Sony is aware of the problem...that's why they provided a piece of cloth to put between the keyboard and screen.

 

It was worse on the old VGN-Z, where lots of users here reported getting a horizontal line across the screen from the edge of the handrest.
In some markets, and after the first model, Sony started bundling a cloth as quiet admission of the issue.

I use a suede leather sheet, which does the job nicely, and being absorbing, also helps keep the keyboard and screen clean.

Other design and quality flaws include lacquer that starts peeling off the hand rest and RAM bay, glue that doesn't stick, a docking station lid that opens on its own to let dust in, a PC card slot that (for the first two models) sticks in the open position due to the heat from the fan assembly, speaker ports that are too small and block sound, and for the first two generations of the new VPC-Z, rattling batteries.

Back in the old days of sexism, this was known as girl engineering -- more effort was spent on looks than on quality. I believe the new term is "form over function".
I love my Z, but its design quality is below the four other laptops I've had.

 

I didn't get one. Mine only came with a piece of foam between the lid and keyboard when they shipped it. It's certainly not a permanent solution since foam isn't very durable.

 

The rubber stupper on the left just got replaced because the dumbo that came in to replace my keyboard lost the screws and the stupper in the process. Sony customer service is another thread in itselft to talk about.

 

The only thing stopping the LCD screen are the two rubber stuppers. This is why a more sturdier screen would have been nice, call it girl engineering or form over factor whatever...