Wanting to Buy a Z - Questions for Z Owners

First of all I love your guys' forums. It's in invaluable resource for someone like me who wants to do every possible bit of research before buying something expensive like a laptop.

Today I went to a Sony Style store to check out the Z in person. One of the sales reps came up to talk to me about it so I decided to ask him some questions about future models. He stated that Sony probably won't release a new model like the Z until June, since according to him, that's when they release new lines. Is this true? He also said they were only going to update the Z with better components as they go due to the line's popularity. According to him, the latest model that came out a few days ago was even a bit slimmer than previous models. So is the Z only going to incrementally get better, but without the release of a new Z-like model, or does this guy just want to make a sale? I don't know if I should wait until June or buy one now... some people have said the video card is a year old and that the new 3 GHz model might be too hot for the laptop to take another upgrade, meaning a new line soon. What do you think?

Questions: If I buy the Z, should I just stick to a regular HD for now due to how expensive the SSDs are? Is it pretty easy to buy a SSD and swap it with the HDD in the Z? Also, the battery... if I want an extended one, should I buy it online? It looks like they're cheaper on eBay than in the online Sony store. Does anyone know how much more space the extended battery adds? Is it noticeable?

Also, I've heard lots of bad reviews about Sony's customer service. Are they hard to deal with? If I buy the 3 year extended warranty, will they replace my battery when it begins to lose its charge (I've replaced my Toshiba's three times)? If I break my LCD, will they fix it without question? If the HD dies from a drop (I've done this twice), will they replace it? This is how Toshiba works, but I don't know what's the deal with Sony so I would appreciate some feedback. I take my laptop with me EVERYWHERE for EVERYTHING, so I know something is bound to happen eventually no matter how hard I try to take care of it.

One last question: Is 2.80 GHz going to be pretty good in 3 years with the way technology is going now (and the other components of the laptop, for that matter)? It's kind of weird... my Toshiba is 2 GHz but it seems like many laptops are even slower than that this year. Are GHz at a stand-still now or something? Also, is 2.80 GHz going to make the laptop super hot? My Toshiba seems like it could start a fire if I left it on paper long enough.

Sorry for all the questions - if I'm in college and going to invest $2500+ into a laptop, I want to ask every possible question even at the risk of being annoying!

THANK YOU!!

EDIT: And btw, this is my current laptop - I've had it for a little over 2.5 years: http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/toshiba-satellite-u205-s5022/4505-3121_7-31952945.html

 

The slimmer bit is a lie, if i remember correctly, almost every ZSeries laptop uses the same form factor chassis. They are all the same size. The weight maybe different though but most of them are about the same weight.

The video card is older, however it wont get any better really. Nvidia and ATI both release new video cards, but the lower end cards are usually about the same, not much difference, its the higher end cards which get the boost. Its their way of making money. Actually alot of the low end "new models" are usually just rebrands of the last gen low ends.

There is a 3Ghz one coming out, but from the TDP it appears it will be even worse than a P9700 2.8Ghz. However, Sony designs their cases pretty well, where you won't really get the burning base when put on your lap.

From the looks of it, Sony will continue to stick with the current line for awhile, and just add in some new hardware (but not significant changes) to their line. They always try to keep their laptops thin and lightweight, unless they design some ingenious method of dissipating heat, you most likely wont see like i7's or better GPU's on it.

The HDD is located in a strange position, which requires some "computer" knowledge to get to, since its under the keyboard, not in a compartment like most laptops.
The Extended battery adds about 150g i think to the overall weight, and it will basically be the size of attaching an extra row of AA batteries.

Sony's customer service isn't too bad, but they do take a little while to repair, maybe 1-2 weeks depending on what part they are required to change. Battery losing charge I don't think its counted in the warranty, since its part of the "wear and tear". You can ask the store if that's covered by the warranty.
LCD if its been dropped, i doubt they will change it, since its accidental damage. I know some countries have accidental damage cover that you can buy with your laptop, but not sure if Australia has that.
HDD they can most likely change, since this looks more like a "drive fault" than a accidental fault (just tell them your drive suddenly developed bad sectors... etc etc). However I leave my Vaio on High Protection HDD, which if it detects a sudden impact it will stop the HDD immediately.
If Sony doesn't offer accidental damage, then you can add it to your house and get cover for it (I forgot whats it called, but you can get outdoors cover for the item...).

AMD and Intel has been battling it too much, and Mhz and Ghz is no longer a helpful measurement for speed anymore. Loosely speaking, the P9700 is about 3-4x faster than your current one.
As said before, Sony makes a really good cooling system, and their chassis are super nice. Only about 10-20% of the heat is actually transferred to the chassis, the rest is transferred to the heat sink + air vent. Heat wise, at full load, the bottom of my Z Series is about just slightly warm. I'm guessing you are thinking of buying a Z46 (the one i have).

The Z Series laptop is a good laptop, I am happy with it. Very happy with it. In 1 sentence, the laptop is preserves its performance without sacrificing weight.

If you can find me a laptop with anything close to a Z series spec which is small and at this weight, then I drop my hat for you.

 

i think caudex has answered all your question.
anyway, in my humble opinion, Z is really a perfect machine, its desktop replacement and in the same time lightweight notebook on the go.

since you are getting one, please just get the latest Z, which with Windows 7. i dont want you to scratch your head due to problem arise when moving from vista to windows 7 later. one more thing, as for built, Z is kinda fragile machine, so i wouldn't want to drop it even in the test saying it tough machine. so yeah, thats it.

im very happy and satisfied with Z too, and hope that it will last for next 3 years. my previous C series served me well for 3 years. lol i guess i have 3 years duration for my notebook replacement.

 

The original SSD models or CTOs come with SSD raid 0, using 2 x Samsung SSD, which is currently fastest setup in the world, compared against the setup of 2 x Intel X18-M. Of course such raid 0 is faster than any single 2.5" SSD in sequential read/write, and provides more capacity. Depending on your location and country, it might be easy or hard to buy the raid 0 cable and frame for an after-market upgrade with 2 x 1.8" SSD.

If you buy an extended battery, it will adds some space and, more importantly, increases the travelling weight. Never buy a battery from eBay or any other unofficial sites, cuz 99% of these are fake ones. (risk of explosion)

I think the warranty only covers the battery for 1 year but correct me if I'm wrong.

P9700 2.8GHz 28W TDP is not gonna make Z very hot. (shouldn't exceed 90 degrees centigrade) However whatever processor you buy today, it's guaranteed to be out-dated within 18 months, which is inevitable.

 

I live in California so I can buy the extended warranty with accidental damage. Would what I asked before work under that kind of warranty? They don't exactly give any details about what each warranty entails. @_@