Was this a good deal? VPCZ1290X - $1489

let's wait till June

 

What are the expectations on the new Z's? The old Z's already have a 1920x1080 screen and I7 processors ssd drives......

 

that is true, but I would expect a better overall design, like durability

 

I am typing away on my VGN-ZT250N...it's been my daily living room system for the past 5 years. No issues what so ever.

I am really thinking I should pull the trigger on a refurbed I7 620M VPCZ1290x with 6gb and a 256GB SSD an 1080P screen for $1600.

A new Z will have to be ALOT more than this when it comes out.....

 

let me know where you can find one like that I am in for 1 too

just in case Z get discontinued

 

Update on my order. Called Sony and complained that my system did not ship on the date estimated. They credited me 5% more off my purchase. ($100 and change)

If this happend to you, you might have the same luck/leverage.

 

you are really lucky, any trick? Just complain??

 

I am going to ask for a price match tomorrow. I bought another Z for my dad the night before the extra 20% off at outlet. cost me 200 dollars more.

need to argue the 200 bucks back

 

haha I just tried this after reading your post. They didn't give me a 5% credit, but $30 instead. I decided not to be greedy and took what I could get.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Sony Outlet & Refurbished Products


There are several configurations available to choose from

 

Crap, I better not tell you guys what I paid for my Z last Friday.
I bought right before they offererd 20% off. Any chance of getting that out of them?

 

It doesn't hurt to call and ask. I ordered my L right before they offered a $70 off blu ray for the configure to order computers. I called and asked if they could price match, they said no for CTO computers but she spoke with the manager and offered $50 off.

I called not expecting anything back and got $50 + tax back. Just try, it only takes about 10-15 minutes of your time.

 

Is the VPCZ1290X 1920x1080 screen matte?

 

Wahooo! After fighting for about 15 minutes they gave me the 20% discount!

Sooooo let me know if this is a decent deal:

VPCZ1390X
Win 7 Pro
Core i5 580m
8gb ram
256ssd
Full HD Display

$1,906 shipped.....was $2,382 before the phone call!

 

Nice. It is great to hear that Sony gave you that 20% discount.

I say that's an excellent deal. Congrats on your purchase.

 

It's nice considering you were content with paying $2382 and found $480 extra dollars today!

 

Not a bad deal, but which Core i5? I paid $1489 with the same specs besides the 8gb of ram, which I'm ordering from Newegg for like $80.

 

gosh...I just don't know if I should order the refurbed Sony or a new Lenovo X220....sort of liked the idea of wireless display with the New Sandy Bridge processors.

Lenovo stats: I7-2620M, 12.5 Premium IPS display (1365x768), USB3.0 ,Windows 7 Pro, 2GB Mem, 320GB 7200RPM, 720P camera Bluetooth for $1159.60

Sony: Intel® Core™ i5-540M, 13.1" VAIO Full HD Premium Display (1920x1080) ,4Gb Mem, 256SSD, Windows & Pro for $1463

WHAT TO DO???

 

I checked and double checked these, and they do not indicate the size of the SSDs on these listings, even when you click on "more info." Do you have to call to get that info?

 

click on "more info" below each photo, a popup window appears listing the options, scroll down, it's listed on every one.............

I'm using Firefox if that helps

 

Do you play games or need the GPU to process with? If not, get the X220. I've thought about selling my Z and switching over. It's cool to have the option to use a GPU but in reality, I'm in stamina mode about 95% of the time. I miss the Thinkpad keyboard and build quality. I still find the Z keyboard a PITA.

You missed the X220 sale last week at Lenovo. Don't buy a Thinkpad that's not on sale. The sales happen all the time. Wait a week or two and it'll be on sale again.

 

Where are you all finding these great refurb deals? I have been asked by several friends and relatives to find me one like I got, and there are NONE to be found - anywhere! Any ideas??? Thanks.

 

slickdeals.net is a great site. (you might even see Travfar there!... and me, but under another SN)

 

My refurbed Z1390X will be arriving tomorrow. Can somebody suggest tests to run on the SSD to evaluate performance? This is my first SSD. Other tests and evaluation tips would be helpful as well.

 

Mine is arriving on Friday. But agreed, if anyone has SSD tests that would be very helpful. This is the first time I will be using a solid state drive.

 

Thanks to one and all who helped me overcome my lame brain to purchase one of these. In short:

Z13
i5-580
256GB SSD
1600X900 (really don't prefer the 1080p)

$1,351 after discount at SonyStyle

Gonna sell my other refurb to a less well-off friend

Really, really regretted not having the 256GB version.

Think I did pretty well. Please don't tell me if you disagree

 

I received mine today and within a few minutes I knew I would be sending it back. Main reasons being fan noise (it sounds like the broken fan that I just had replaced in my work laptop) and the yellow-ness of the 1080 display. I never had a good opinion of Sony, and this certainly didn't help. I'll keep my eye on the new SA and Z, however.

 

Great job! For anyone that disagrees, good luck finding a laptop with those specs anywhere for that price!

Hey, why do you prefer the 900p screen?

BTW, Do you need a new friend?

Thanks and congrats!

 

What kind of discount did you get aside from the 20% to get an additional $500 off? When I posted that laptop in the other thread the total came to $1,800 +- shipped.

 

First of all, I disagree!

Of course, I'm just kidding. That's a fabulous deal & you get to help out your less well-off friend at the same time too. Awesome & congrats on your purchase.

 

I don't play games but I now use Adobe Photoshop CS5 with huge Nikon Raw files for photo editing.

Are you telling me I can get an even better price on the X220 than I already posted?

The whole screen resolution thing is confusing me. I've been happy with my VGnTZ250 11 in screen at 1365x768, Having a hard time imagining 1920x1080 on such a small screen, maybe I should go with the 1600x900?? I really want the best quality image, thats what I am after but I need to be able to read text as well!

 

I use my 1080 screen to edit photos via Adobe Photoshop. Buy the 1080 screen since when you're editing photos, screen real estate is extremely important. You can bump dpi to 125% and press ctrl + on webpages to maximize text. I've been doing this and have gotten used to the wonderful screen. The only downside to the 1080 screen on a 13.1" is that it'll make almost all other computer screens look like crap when you use them!

 

To be honest with you, the 1600x900 is too high res for me. I crank my DPI to emulate a 1365x768 screen.

Yes. It was better. I dont know how much adding the i7 would have been, but the X220 + IPS screen option with the i5 and free 4GB RAM upgrade was about $740 + tax 2 weeks ago. The regular price of the i7 upgrade is $245 so it would have been $985 worse case.

Seriously, if the X220 was out. Hell even if the X201 production wasn't halted last year. I would have gotten an X instead of the Z knowing what I know now.

You can get new X201's i5's for $736 right now. But considering that the X220 was cheaper 2 weeks ago. I'd wait again for that sale.

 

What is the difference between a VPCZ1390X and a VPCZ1290X?

 

Processors.

 

But didn't all the VPCZ1390X and VPCZ1290X come with a variety of different processor options???

 

Actually, it's the inclusion of a TPM chip here in the states.

 

Thanks....guess its not a deal breaker or maker?

 

No the refresh is so minor, don't let the number of the computer to be a deal breaker.

The Z11/12 -> 13 have slightly different processor voltages. There are three processor options, and I know the i7 for sure had a change. Not 100% sure on the two i5 processors.

i7 went from 620M at 2.66ghz to 640M at 2.8ghz. Very minor.

 

Not really. The big use for the TPM is for Bitlocker in Windows, but TrueCrypt works just as well without the TPM. In fact, it's arguable that TC is better than Bitlocker since it's known that Microsoft engineered backdoors in Bitlocker for the government. TC is clean.

 

Thanks for the reassurance. There are so many great deals floating around (X220s with IPS, core i52520, $720!!!???) that it's hard to know what "good" is! Second, other than photo/video editing (which I don't do) and movie-watching (which I do, but really don't need 1080p to enjoy), I find the 900p easier on the eyes for text, and it's a pain to constantly enlarge the screen and scroll side to side. Oh, and, yes, new friends are always nice to have - but I suspect you are just looking for a deal, not a friend

It was just the 20% off; the "sticker" price was $1,695.59. I'm just worried that this might have major scratches and dents. See for yourself though, right off of my order confirmation I got via email:

Your order contains the following item(s):

---

AntiVirus Software:				Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)
OS Preinstalled:				Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate Pre-installed
Wireless Local Area Network:				WiFi: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11abgn)
Processor:				Intel® Core™ i5-580M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Chipset:				Intel® HM57 Express Chipset
Optical Disc Drive:				CD/DVD Player/Burner
Graphics Card:				NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
Backlit Keyboard:				LED Backlit Keyboard
Battery:				Standard Capacity Battery
Office Software:				Microsoft® Office 2010 Home and Business
Adobe Software:				Adobe Bundle (Free - $448 value)
iLink:				No iLink
Bluetooth:				Stereo A2DP Bluetooth® technology
Color:				Black
Keyboards:				Keyboard
Felica:				No Felica
Security Chip:				Security Chip On
Finger Print Sensor:				Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Wireless Mobile Broadband:				No Mobile Broadband Built-In
Camera:				Built-in MOTION EYE® camera and microphone
Country:				US (USA)
Language DestinationCode:				EUS
Common:				Common
Headphone:				Noise-reduduction Ear-bud Headphones
AC Adaptor:				AC Adaptor
Memory:				4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
Display:				13.1" VAIO Display (1600x900)
Market:				Modelname0
Hard Drive:				256GB (128GBx2) Solid State Drive with RAID 0 Technology
Recovery Disc:				No Recovery Disc
Software Optimization:				No Fresh Start
Consumer Apps:				General Apps
Limited Warranty Term:				90 Day Limited Warranty
Per Unit Price:				$1,327.96
Quantity:				1
Total Price:				$1,327.96
Ship Method:				Standard
Estimated Ship Date:				05/13/2011

---

Subtotal: $1,327.96
Tax:$66.40
Shipping Charges:$0.00

---

Order Total:$1,394.36


Did I get whamboozled, or is this the real deal??

Thanks. I kinda thought it was possibly too good to be true. I mean, just the 256GB at this price was enough. I couldn't give a hoot about the i5-580 vs. i5-5XX nor about the Z13 vs. 12 vs. 11. But I thought the price was a bit too good to be true, which is why I posted here. Anyone think the low price indicates lots of scratches and dents? I do get to return it if I don't like it, right?

Anyway, thanks much for the votes of confidence. (My friend will be devastated if this one is full of scratches and dents and I send it back. My original refurb is Purrrrrrfect!

EDIT: One last question: What is "Felica" and why don't any of them have it???

 

Download CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1b / 2.2.0p Free - A small HDD benchmark utility for your hard drive - Softpedia

and

HD Tune website

 

Possibly scratches, but I have ordered some with huge discounts only to find them in mint condition. Don't know for sure, but it is standard black, so possibly it was a mass line model.

I'm getting my DEEPLY discounted 512 SSD tomorrow. I will report back with my findings. Was $3600, marked down to $2300, $1900 shipped and Sony knocked another $100 off for late shipping.

The thinkpad looks great. However, I like to horse around with games (intergrated graphics only) and there is no SSD in that sucker. Also, just for kicks I preconfigured one as close to your Z configuration and the price was pretty steep. Even if you don't get their SSD, every little thing is an option and had at yet another bump in price.

Just somthing to think about.

Also, did you get the extended warranty?

 

I think each individual refurb is going to vary as far as cosmetic issues. I received my refurb yesterday and it did have a few noticeable cosmetic issues, but nothing that was a deal-breaker - a few scratches on the lid is all that I noticed. My brother has dealt with Dell before for refurbs and he told me I could probably expect that Sony would replace any panels with cosmetic defects because that's what he was under the impression that Dell did, but I had to explain that this is Sony and it unfortunately wasn't the case.

However, I have already shipped mine back, because I did not like the yellow tint on the 1080p screen and the fan sounded like it was busted. I'm going to look at 2 local brick and mortar Sony outlets to see if they have any refurbs on-site that I can inspect before purchasing.

 

Sorry everyone for the confusion. I realized that I only received the 20% off discount. The EPP discount does not stack on top.

 

Update on my purchase. It came today and I am absolutely pleased as can be. This is by far the best conditioned refurb I have received from them yet. Its like brand new. All stickers are intact.

Z13 512 SSD $1900 shipped + $100 more off.

Juiced!

 

Awesome! That is very good news! Congrats on your purchase.

 

I received mine today as well. It is in absolute PERFECT condition. Not a single sign of any wear or tear.

It's almost too beautiful to even use. I'm scared to even touch it. Its that perfect.

I'm considering selling it on ebay to yield a small profit. I'm a heavy photoshop user and video watcher, however, I think its still a bit much for me. If anyone is interested, please let me know. Like I said, its literally like its brand new.

I'd like to have something small and lightweight that I can use on a daily basis without worrying about damaging it. I'm considering just getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 when it comes out along with a cheaper laptop.

 

Congrats. I too, thought about reselling mine...but then I thought, what else would I buy to replace it? I can't think of anything else this size that has all this offers..It's almost as though the 300 or so bucks I'd make wouldn't be worth the loss.

 

"Bit much", in what regard?