Warning To Sz Premium Owners: Airplane Seats & The Screen

This is a warning to fellow SZ premium owners with the thin screen (type of carbon is irrelevant). I was on a plane last night and was using my laptop. I've been on the road for years in my job. The idiot last night put his chair back and broke my SZ premium screen. He put his chair back and the lip where the tray hooks into caught the top of the laptop and the screen flexed, breaking the LCD inside. The glass/plastic on the front didn't crack though, neither did the premium carbon. So I can attest to how strong the carbon is. Luckily it still works through a monitor and I have a spare laptop while I send this out for repair.

So be warned if you are using a SZ premium - keep it away from where it could get caught if the person in front of you decides to recline their seat.

 

****! sorry to hear about your screen but hope you kicked his a$$ for that!

 

This is why I bought the accidental damage coverage.

The guy was not from the USA and didn't speak English well, so yelling would have been useless. Plus the police would have been waiting for me when we got off the plane.

I am still livid, and probably would have lost it if I didn't have a backup laptop.

It's funny - going back to the Pentium M 1.73 and 1.5GB of RAM is really slow. You realize how much better the Core Duo is over the standard Pentium Ms.

 

oh my...i hope you sue him...or have him pay you for the time you lost with your laptop..

 

really sorry to hear about your screen, i'd be really irritated too.
Can't really see how it could possibly be this guys fault though as he obviously had a right to recline his seat, and I don't think he could have foreseen causing any damage to your lappie. In fact i'd say its easily more your fault than his.
Wouldn't wish it on anyone though; i hope it all gets fixed promptly.

 

This is one of the reasons I didn't go ballistic, but in my 10 years of taking a laptop on a plane, people generally recline at a normal rate. This guy was going light speed. Plus, it was law of diminishing returns. Going ballistic on this guy was a waste of time. The airline would tell me to go screw since it's use at your own risk, and he wasn't going to give me $3k for a new one today.

That I'd disagree with. I had just as much right to use my laptop as he did to recline. This is one of those situations where the odds of it happening are so slim, you doubt it'll happen to you. Most people are pretty aware of their surroundings on a plane.

 

have you replace with the new LCD. I just guess may be more expensive than Standard LCD?

 

agreed, maybe that was a little harsh, but i would say it was as much your fault as his, so i couldn't understand all the 'kick his ass' and 'sue' comments. but yeh, hope you're insured buddy.

 

Hi FenderP,

I am so sorry to hear about such a freak loss!

I hate it when people do not even bother to have the courtesy to make a quite glance behind before reclining the seat.

It's as bad as a driver suddenly shifting into your lane and jamming the brakes. Sure, but law if you rearend him, it's your fault, but the ethics of the whole thing can really make me mad.

I wouldn't have been able to keep calm if I were you. I'm glad you had accident warranty.

 

It happened one with my compaq Evo.Luckyly it just breaked my wireless module on top of the screen.

 

It happened to my old Sony Z1 with 14" screen. It only got cosmetic damages on the top though (which annoyed the hell out of me). I was really going angry but what can I do? He didn't do it on purpose.

 

That why in the plane I always lower the angle between the screen and the keyboard. So if somebody do recline their chair, all it will do is close the screen without breaking it.

Gosh, I'd be really annoyed too

 

I'm shipping my laptop back to Dynamism to send to Japan on Tuesday. They say turnaround is 2-3 weeks, which is about the same time it took to repair my U70.

The thing I notice the most is the speed and power difference between my P-M 1.73 with 1.5GB/100GB 7200rpm and the 2.16 dual core/2GB/100GB 7200rpm SATA. The P-M laptop is slow and sluggish, especially with multiple tasks going, and the standard disk interface vs. SATA makes a big difference.

Sigh. I'm typing this on the SZ through a monitor. The upside to be honest is that the Carbon Fiber looks pretty unscathed and snapped back to shape. I couldn't imagine if this was another material.

I look at it this way: at least I had a backup laptop. I couldn't imagine having to spend money on a laptop just to get me through a month only to have to pay a restock fee. No thanks.

 

This is one of the reasons I regret buying the SZ.
I KNOW something so horrendously misfortunate is BOUND to happen to me.
Blocky, bland Lenovos won't break so easily--
I know, having dropped and slammed a few workstations in my time.

 

Silly reason to have regrets. I would venture to say the carbon fiber saved it from worse damage since I have the premium, and if I had the non-premium, it may not be an issue.

I schlep my SZ on a plane every week for work and it has not been damaged in other ways, so I can say that after 5 months, this is one tough Sony.

The thing freakin' bent like a U and snapped back. That's impressive. I wouldn't call that an easy break. An easy break is what I see on some Toshibas that my co-workers use and do not withstand weekly travel very well.

This was a freak accident. Period. Enjoy your SZ and don't panic. I still have yet to see another laptop which comes close in overall features, weight, and power. Maybe some of the Asus stuff, but not as nice IMHO

 

BTW, since you travel frequently, does the company you work for cover your flying costs?
How much does it cost a regular person to fly first class?

When I was little, my mom always deceived me into believing that we were flying first class ... don't know why.

And, I don't think it's good if it bent into a U-shape... Screens shouldn't be crushable at all (from the top, anyway)

 

I don't fly first class. Never said that. My company pays but they are not putting me in the ritzy seats. I sit where everyone else does.

Better than the case shattering. It literally looks like nothing happened. All the damage is internal to the screen. I mean, the thin screen is going to do something when hit in the right spot. That carbon is strong. There must have been a lot of force coming down to make it bend like that.

 

"Livid?"
If any of that anger is directed toward the guy in front of you, it is entirely misplaced. All he did was recline his seat. You were the ONLY person who could have possibly been in a position to anticipate the potential problem. If you carry an expensive laptop on a plane (I carried/used my premium SZ to Ukraine and back last month), you have to use your own brain, rather than rely on others to blindly anticipate your placement of a laptop.

Sorry to sound harsh, but with talk of anger and lawsuits, I can't help but feel that you are directing your anger in the wrong direction. It was your fault...not his. If you stick your finger in the jam of an open door and don't mention it, don't be surprised that "somebody ELSE" breaks your finger. Moral: Take care of where you stick your finger...

 

Get off your high horse, Mark².

I never talked about lawsuits or suing anyway. Others did. I'm just going to use the accidental damage coverage I bought and get this fixed as I've stated more than once. I didn't raise a stink at all on the plane or to the guy.

If you were on a plane and something happened to your laptop you'd just be happy-go-lucky? Suuuuuuuuuure. I didn't go ballistic on the guy because it wouldn't have helped anything. Someone irrational would have.

In 10 years of being on planes with laptops and nearly a half year with the SZ, this is the first time anything remotely like this has happened to me with a laptop expensive or not (and I have had other laptops that were close in price).

As I said in other posts, he had a right to recline and I had a right to use my laptop. It's a no-fault here - can't place blame anywhere. It's a freak accident. I can still be angry, though. Don't tell me I can't feel that because that's just silly. Most people on planes I've found in all my years of travel for work are aware of their surroundings, and no that does not compensate 100% for preventing things like this.

I think it shows how strong the SZ is overall. The thing still works - albeit through a monitor - and has been on the road constantly since I got it. It's held up better than the Dells, HPs, or Compaq notebooks I've had, and the only other ones that have held up as well (sans normal wear and tear like keyboards) have been the Sharp and my U70. The JVC is OK - I'd stick it inbetween. The Japanese know how to make a good laptop.

 

No high horse here... You implied that the only reason you didn't yell at him was because he didn't speak English. Had you yelled at him, it would have been entirely unjustified. Glad to hear you now don't place blame...but it sure seemed you did in your other post. Sorry about your laptop. If it happened to me, I'd be quite upset too...but it would be at myself.

 

I didn't get into a long discussion with him for many reasons, one of which was that the language barrier would have gotten both sides frustrated. I realized in the 3 seconds I thought about it that the end result would be the same - I'm the one that will have to fix it. I showed him the damage, and that was that.

I would be still really fuming especially at myself if I didn't buy the accidental damage coverage. That's why the whole thing was de-escalated quickly internally because I knew I was covered.

I'm sure based on my previous experience with Sony Japan and their repair department, my SZ will come back just like new. I know some folks have bad experience in their countries with Sony support and repair, but the Japanese in their own market do it right.

And I can't say enough about the importers (and in this case Dynamism). They stand behind their product they sell.

 

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!


jk. grow up guys, sh!t already happened, no in beating a dead horse....


or was that expression goat? i forgot.





(i dislike rich 16 year olds, not that im implying any of you are...)

 

Okay, I couldn't resist...

Anyway, this exact thing happened to me last night on a flight back to L.A. The guy in front of me ZOOMS his chair back and I see my SZ's life passing before my very eyes... but it flexed, and punched back. I have to say, I am very impressed with the abuse it took. Like others have said, thank goodness for the carbon fiber lid. Looking at it, you can't even tell it happened. Even if it would have broken though, I got the accident protection, so all would have been good... eventually.

Javier

 

Quick update: my SZ is on its way back to the USA after being repaired in Japan. As far as I know, my accidental wide warranty covered everything. Dynamism was great, just as they were when I needed to send my U70 back. It took about 2 - 3 weeks to repair and if you factor in shipping to/from Japan, about a month by the time I'll have the SZ90 back in my hands.

My experiences with my now-backup Sharp have made me realize how much better the SZ is as a laptop.

 

I guess it's good to have to accidental protection waranty then. Hope every thing comes back spiffy.

 

Sorry to hear that.

I never really thought the accidental protection warranty was that important but I guess I should get it when I get my SZ. I can totally picture the same thing happening to me.

The only thing I don't like about Sony warranty is the fact that its not worldwide.

 

Well, it's back ... and Sony did a great job repairing it. The premium carbon outside is my original casing (the few identifiable scratches I made are still there). They just replaced the screen.

My hearty thanks to Dynamism. I happen to be in Chicago for work and they met me and gave it to me in person. Woo!

 

I lol'd. Sony didn't even bother to replace a lid.
What a money-grubbing corporation.

 

Wow that really sucks and I feel bad for you. I'm glad you got it fixed. I always worry my friend might end up busted someday because of random cases like this one...

I carry tonight my laptop with extreme caution.

 

I wouldn't get insane about it. It's the first time anything like that has happened to me in all of my years of carrying a laptop.

 

Doesn't bother me. At least I know it's mine, and it didn't come back worse than I sent it. I've heard other stories from folks who get their things back in horrible condition from vendors after repair.

And Sony honored my extended warranty - I wasn't charged a dime.

 

fender I was there with my grx-690 a few years back.I ended up having to send a certified letter to the prez of Sony.......My notebook went to them 4 times ending up in worse condition every time.Sony told me they never got a letter.I told them they did and signed for it.The vice prez signed for it hahahaha They were pretty mad and busted so then ended up sending me a new/used grx upgraded.That one lasted a year.
Sony has done a better job stepping up as of late getting the job done right f,sure.I gave them a 3rd chance and have been very happy

 

Sony Japan is also slightly different - my U70 I had the same experience with as my SZ90. Nothing was wrong with the U other than the top of the trackstyk, but Sony Japan did an immaculate job.

I think the subs for Sony outside Japan have had mixed quality.