What are Z owners replacing them with?

I have had my Sony Z for several years now. It has been my workhorse laptop going months at a time without being turned off. It has been all over the world.

My current Z
13.1 screen
i7 - 1st generation
8GB RAM
512GB SSD
1.5 TB second drive (pull out the optical drive).
Two docking stations - one at home and one at work....

I have been in the market now for the last 2-3 years looking for something to replace it. So far....nothing.

My dream setup.
13.3 - 14" screen - my eyes are not what they used to be.
i7 CPU - 4th generation?
16GB or even more of Ram.
1TB+ or bigger SSD drive. I know I am going to have to swap out drives - so getting a laptop where I can change the drive is a must.
Long battery life
Portability
USB 3.0 ports
Possible to support more than 1 external screen - not a deal breaker.

So - I have a budget that is pretty much unlimited - I would spend 3500 if it got me everything I wanted.

So what have others here been doing?

 

IMO, there really isn't anything that quite fits the bill, although the upcoming Aorus (Gigabyte) X3 13.3" and 13.9" notebooks look interesting: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gig...aorus-x3-x3-plus-13-3-13-9-gaming-laptop.html

There is also the Gigabyte P34G V2 with Maxwell 860M that came out recently: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gigabyte/747756-new-gigabyte-p34-v2.html

And of course the Razer Blade 14 which also was released recently: http://forum.notebookreview.com/razer/747532-razer-blade-2014-owner-s-lounge.html

ASUS also has some interesting offerings that I can't seem to find for sale in the US:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/746873-asus-zenbook-ux303-nvidia-gt-840m.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/747849-asus-zenbook-ux32ln-nvidia-gt-840m.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/745131-asus-zenbook-nx500.html

Personally unless you need something now I would just wait for the HDMI 2.0 situation to shake out and for more options for high performance ultrabooks to be made available.

 

@jbeecher
Your usage sounds similar to mine - a highly portable machine that is almost as good as a desktop. I used an SZ for many years for that purpose. The SZ was relatively light and high quality, but the CPU was just not fast enough anymore. After looking at the possibilities, we recently switched to a Fujitsu T904. It is relatively light (ours weighs 3.5 lbs), has removable RAM and SSD (but soldered CPU), and a Wacom digitizer. It seems like the quality is a lot better than the newer Sonys, but that is a matter of opinion. It has integrated graphics (HD 4400), which might not be enough. The RAM is removable, but there is only one slot and the maximum you can get now is 8 GB. Even though they are working on SO DIMMs with more GB's, it is not clear that these would work. For me, a big selling point is the built-in RJ-45 Ethernet connector. The main forum is on TabletPCReview.com.

 

@Beecher/Com Tech:

Seems we have a lot in common!

I'm with you. I've been buying, trying, using and selling a variety of ultraportable/ultrabook computers for the past several years and have found there are few features here and there - touch screens are kinda nice, though I can certainly do without them, IPS screens with higher resolutions and equally good color gamut and qualities are now widely found, and the battery life has more than doubled - but in terms of performance and capacity, I've found nothing - other than a Thinkpad x240, which has a number of problems, including a 12.5" screen and really bad quality and customer support in recent years - that can hold 16GB RAM and a 2.5" SSD, which makes 1TB a cinch. You're really not asking for very much such as you have stated your requirements. Truly, any ultrabook that could hold 16GB RAM (I know of none) would otherwise meet your other constraints. A couple of things you haven't mentioned:
-- gpu - do you need a discrete one?
-- screen characteristics - IPS screens
-- weight limitations - not likely a problem, since all 13.3" laptops weight around 3 lbs these days, just wondering if you have a wish list item for that

So, other than an IPS screen (which in practical use isn't very important, as I am generally the only one looking at the screen and I set it for the angle which optimizes the image) and the relatively trivial other "advances" I cannot find anything in this size/weight class that beats a loaded Z1 - over 4 years old! The benchmarks on the ever-present ULT cpus and ever-present igp do not reach, much less exceed, the performance of the Z1's 1st gen Core i7 and nVidia 330M. Better keyboards are almost impossible to find - again, on models as lightweight as the Z1 - and I can't blame you for looking and not finding a suitable upgrade. With 3 USB2's and a USB3 I get from a $15 ExpressCard the 4 USBs are unmatched, much less including the full sized Ethernet, VGA, HDMI (yes, a mini DP would be nice for driving higher res 2nd monitor, but not a major issue for me) and the ability to have 512GB SSD (I only have 256GB, poor me ) plus any size HDD/SSD in the DVD bay makes it just about impossible to beat the Z1, still.

As for the T904, I agree it's an excellent machine, but I think 8GB would be a non-starter for Beecher. I'm pretty sure I have seen a similar Fujitsu that held 16GB with today's SODIMMS - no? I agree that the Wacom digitizer is a major improvement over the Z13, but I think the machine is a good bit heavier than the 3 lb Z13, though Beecher hasn't stated if weight is important.

Isn't it amazing how little real advancement there has been in laptops in the past 5 years?!

Look forward to hearing what you decide on

 

The best performance to size and weight ratio seems to be the Razer Blade 14". Just a little heavier than a Z1 (they use aluminium instead of carbon), but actually a little thinner. And two fans to keep things from getting incinerated.

lovelaptops: which USB3 expresscard do you recommend for a Z1? I'd like one that sits flush that I can leave in the slot - just one USB 3 port will do.

 

First, I agree with your choice, but if the OP is not a gamer, the most he gets is an IPS screen vs the 95% aRGB TN in his Z1. Seems like a lot of money to spend for that sole upgrade.

As for you question about ExpressCard USB 3.0, see my responses in that thread.

Best,
Jeff

 

AFAIK the Razer has a TN screen - something about the slow response time of the IPS screen being not good for gaming.

I was recommending the Razer Blade 14" as a regular, general purpose workhorse. It has a decent CPU and a decent discrete GPU, and the cooling system to allow both to be run at 100% usage for extended periods of time. I do a fair amount of electronic circuit simulation; I'll re-encode a video from time to time; I might forget a password for a compressed file or two and use a password cracker to open it. These tasks tend to stress the system - the good apps will use both the CPU and the GPU - the GPU is great at number crunching). If you don't have a good cooling system, the average laptop will overheat and either throttle or shut down. From the user reviews that I've read, the Razer will not.

Thanks, lovelaptops, for your comments on the ExpressCard in the other thread. I read those just after I'd posted in this one.

 

I've switched to Fujitsu U904 from a previous series Z (VGN-Z):
- i7-4600u, 10gb RAM (2gb soldered on board, 1 regular SODIMM slot)
- no touch-screen (when CTO)
- upgraded my 2.5" hybrid disk to a Samsung 840 Pro 512GB (you can certainly go 1TB route, or order an SSD from Fujitsu)
- LTE modem
- 3200x1800 14" IGZO screen at ~350 nits
- docking station with DisplayPort supporting my Dell U2711 at native 2560x1440, but no sound jack (I got an external USB sound card because of that)
- crappy battery life (~5h of real world development use, roughly the same I got out of my 2009 Vaio Z790 with 9 cell battery), so I solved that by getting the Anker AstroPro 20Ah external battery that gives me another full charge while I am actively using it, so another ~6h (and luckily, it uses the same charging port as U904, so you can bring only one power adapter with you)
- crappy speakers, but that's not much worse than Vaio Z
- bottom edge of the palmrest is very sharp
- my laptop weighs ~1270g or 2.8lbs, but the touch screen version is heavier
- if you CTO, you can get it without Windows in Serbia, and it all works with Ubuntu 14.04 pretty well

As you can see, it's not perfect (keyboard is much worse, but any new ultrabook is going to be worse than Vaio Z from before 2011), but it will do the job until something better shows up.

Razer Blade 14 '14 sounds intriguing, but battery life is baaad. Closest you can get are Asus UX301LA (with 25W CPU) and 302 variants, but they do not have a docking station.

My friend is running Vaio Pro 13 with extra battery, and he gets amazing battery life (>12h with both of them, all in a package of 1.4kg).

 

S904 is probably the one you are thinking of. It has claimed 24h battery life with extra battery (and the standard battery is 77Wh compared to 45Wh in U904), but it still supports only 12GB of RAM I believe (4GB soldered on board). It's heavier (1.49kg, so roughly like old Zs) and has a DVD-RW as well.

Oh, not to forget, all of *904s come with 7260abgn wifi card, not ac, but I got a replacement 7260ac one for ~$20 on amazon (still haven't installed it, but others have).

 

If you care about graphics or games, options are limited. If integrated graphics is fine - check lenovos x240 (ips version), x1 carbon (2nd edition) and many mo ultrabooks.

 

Replaced it with a MacBook Pro 13" (Retina display). Best laptop I've ever had.

 

I'm also thinking of getting ASUS Zenbook UX32LN . The Z1 I replaced first with Z2 and now is time to let Z2 go and get to something else . Sony is not building another great laptop so 3 USB in UX32LN win over the U904 14" Fujitsu 3G modem in my eyes.