When will the Vaio S series CTO avail in the US?

As the Topic states. Also, what graphics card is this model being paired with in other countries that already have the CTO available. Thanks in advance.

 

I was wondering also and here is what Sony Style said.

General Info
Chat start time Feb 8, 2010 8:46:14 PM EST
Chat end time Feb 8, 2010 9:00:29 PM EST
Duration (actual chatting time) 00:14:15
Operator Clarice T



Chat Transcript
info: Please allow a moment for an agent to respond.
info: You are now chatting with 'Clarice T'
Clarice T: Hello and thank you for visiting Sonystyle. How may I help you today?
you: Yes, I was wondering when the S series notebooks would be available through Sony Style. As of now it is only available at Best Buy and it is a model with less features. I would like to buy through Sony Style and have it customized. Do you know when I will be able to do this ?
Clarice T: Let me check
Clarice T: I'm sorry bit it is still not showing here in our website
you: I know it's not. That is why I am asking you.
Clarice T: We still need to wait for the update from our support team regarding any estimated availability of the item
you: Why does Best Buy sell it but not Sony Style ?
Clarice T: Due to high demand and most of customers ordering through Sony Style we ran out of stock for this
Clarice T: Our Web Support team will just post the announcement through website once the item becomes available
you: No you didn't. The S series was NEVER in stock. Why did you just say that ?
you: Look, I own 3 VAIO notebooks all bought within 12 months and follow SonyStyle.com on a regular basis. You never ran out of the S series.
Clarice T: I'm sorry but I will escalate this with our suport team, as much as I would like to tell you more about the series I don't have have enough information here
Clarice T: Is there anything else that I can assist you with today?
you: No thank you.
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to ----------- at the end of your chat.
Clarice T: Thank you for visiting Sonystyle. Have a great day!

 

Wow. Sony's customer service seems clueless. I noticed the vaio Z cto was gone too. Can only configure the C2D model. Guess Im still waiting.

 

Actually, if you go to SonyStyle.com and enter Z11 in the search box, it will bring up CTO options for the new Z. Be prepared.

 

Yeah wow at that price. I will happily take the S series with an i7 dual core and 330m 1gb. Thats all I need. Mobility and reasonable gaming ability at that resolution.

 

From what I have seen, the Sony Style sites outside of the USA like the U.K., Hong Kong, and Australia offering CTO's for the S series have been available with i5-520M processors and the NVIDIA GeForce 310m GPU.

 

I hate how we guys here all know much, much more than those chat support employees only because we browse these sites several times a week waiting for the new models...

I also hate how these companies have no friggen logic with their pricing, product updates, product distribution in different countries...

Do you guys think that this kind of product availability control is a gimmick to... I don't know.. actually, I have no idea why this would be a gimmick, but the fact that all retailers have random mistakes everywhere and irrational crap seems too incredible to be actual mistakes, they probably want their store to be like this.. claiming upgrades that don't exist, saying stuff like "order the "new" model", you click and it's the C2D... all this kind of crap...

Thanks for sharing your experience ehosey2, it made be laugh... "Why did you just say that?" I totally understand your frustration.

Here in Canada, I chose to order the CW290 (CTO) rather than getting the best buy S serie or waiting for the CTO of the S serie... yes the CW is a bit cheaper.. but the money I save compensate..

 

I doubt they are given the information of release dates. Which I understand, since unless it is in the next couple weeks Sony doesn't want to project out. Someone on here said there is a 6 month exclusive deal with Best Buy, which tells me we are months away, not weeks away.

 

I've been drooling over the new Z but cannot justify the value. With the new S series, it seems you get more value for your money. I dunno, it's a toss up between the two for me. Leaning towards the S. Just waiting for the CTO.

 

I would also like to find out when the new S-series will be available in Sony Style for the US. Hope it comes out before the summer!

 

Yep waiting on this also - was going to buy the SR but any employee at a Sony Style store in Miami talked me out of it and said to wait on this.

 

This can be taken for whatever it's worth:

When in Best Buy yesterday I had the opportunity to have a discussion with a Geek Squad sales consultant (no idea of the right title - the guys who do tech support for the sales associates during a floor sale) concerning the lack of U.S. availability of the Vaio S through SonyStyle and other retailers.

After I brought it up, he confirmed Best Buy cut a deal with Sony to have exclusive U.S. distribution of S models for an initial lead-in period.

O.K., this guy was NOT a BB spokesman or the VP of Sales, although he was knowledgeable and credible on other more known technical info and licensing agreements.

Just thought I'd toss out another possible explanation for lack of U.S. availability, and like I said, FWIW.

 

Hmmm... I wonder how long the initial lead-in period will last?

 

Obviously, Sony's customer service say they have no idea about new releases, since they are interested in generate sales now (they don't want potential customers to wait). To clarify this, here is and example:Last week I went to the Apple Store and I asked a representative if he had any idea about the release date of the iPhone 4g, and although it is a fact that it's release is on October,2010, they said: "mmm, I don't know anything about that. Apple isn't planning on manufacturing a 4G in a short term. Why don't you buy the 3G today".

 

Canadian Support Email Response

"The S Series is exclusive to Best Buy and will not be made available to Sony direct channels this season.

Unfortunately, this series cannot be customized and will not be offered in our SonyStyle.ca custom line-up moving forward. "

then later

"The S Series will continue to be a Best Buy exclusive in Canada throughout the summer selling season. Direction may change in the fall but I cannot confirm at this time."

However, note that when you search "Vaio S" on sonystyle.com, it turns up the product profile with a "No longer available" status. No idea when it'll be released, though most likely in the fall/winter.