Which I have to buy? SZ3 o SZ4?

Hello from barcelona

After looking a lot of notebooks, I will buy one.
I'm searching something little, powerful and with a good quality anf design.

The only laptops that acomplished this requirements are the sony vaio SZ, but i don't now wether the SZ3 or the SZ4

All are Core 2 Duo

And the more imporant characteristics are these:

SZ3XP - 2GHz, L2 cache a 4MB a 667Mhz, RAM 2GB a 533MHz, Win XP, fingerprint sensor
SZ3VP - 2.16GHz, L2 cache a 4MB a 667Mhz, RAM 2GB a 533MHz, Win XP, fingerprint sensor
SZ3HP - 1.83GHz, L2 cache a 2MB a 667Mhz, RAM 1GB a 533MHz, Win XP

then here are the more actual SZ4

SZ4MN - 1.83GHz, L2 cache a 2MB a 667Mhz, RAM 1GB a 533MHz, Win VISTA
the are more SZ4 models but I can't afford it.

I think that it is better to choose a SZ3 because it runs on Win XP, and thanks to this I'll get a better performance and if in future i want to put VISTA i think that all are ready.

The most economic is the SZ3HP, that in a store is about 1800 €, the there is the beast,SZ3XP, tha it costs 2500 euros, and the others are cheaper


I'm not sure but i think that i can get a SZ3XP at 1800€ because one of the family works in sony factory, eve the other models cheaper.

What is the best choice?? all are expensive but there is no other laptop in the market with similar characteristics, well Macbook yes but i don't like the OS.

thank you in advance

 

You're fine with the SZ3x..... the only reason to get the SZ4 model would be if you wanted Vista preinstalled.

 

the main problem is that SZ4 is cheaper than de SZ3, because the onjly SZ3 that I find on stores is the most expensive SZ3XP, of more than 1900€, while the SZ4MN, is at 1800€

If i buy the SZ4 with vista, can I make a copy of the OS?, to mantain vista on DVDs and the install win XP?? or it will fail the laptop on runing on XP?

 

yep. i'm analyzing the price tags and model numbers last night. I thought the SZ4s are more powerful and more expesive. But it's only the vista OS that differs. SZ4s has this Vista OSs. The most ultimate is the SZ38 having the T7400 2.16Ghz Dou Core 2. while others are still 1.66 to 2.0. The SZ38 is $3,125 in my place and might consider buying the sexy thing.

in addition, not all SZ3s and SZ4s are razor-thin. i mean the LCD and casing. the SZ36 to SZ38, SZ45, 47 and 49 are all carbon fiber cased and are more lighter and stronger at about 30% than the other models which are magnesium alloys only (SZ32, SZ42, SZ43 and SZ34) if i do remember all my readings last night.

 

That's correct. Note that the non-premium models also only have regular backlighting, not LED-backlighting......... the LED-backlighting was what made me go with the SZ460 (more than the extra thinness or lighter weight).

 

If I buy de SZ4MN with vista, can I put the win XP without problems and then return later to vista??

 

Yes you can. But don't use partition managers to erase all your hard drive data as it may destroy the Vista partition recovery module. After you have experimented with XP (i dont know why u wanna go back), you can always start the recovery wizard by pressing F10 (usually) during turning on the pc to go back to Vista.

Or an option would be create a recovery DVD first. Format you entire drive or delete all partitions and install a clean XP. After you have enjoyed the world of XP and think of returning back to vista, just insert the DV you created. Boot from it and there you go again with vista after the recovery.

 

It really comes down to XP or Vista and price. I found a smoking deal on a SZ220 and grabbed it. It's a CD (not C2D) with 1GB and for me the performance is great, and I tend to have alot of shiz open at once.

If you get a Vista machine, get one with 2GB or plan on upgrading the RAM.

 

1 GB of RAM is sufficient enough in my opinion for Vista. And the GPU of course is already 128 ot SZ4 models. Anyway, a migration to vista is quite a pain. but im sure later, it would be more easier.

As far as i remember, people didn't even bother upgrading to XP three or four years ago wherein XP was already years in the market. The same trend is happening as it was before.

 

1GB RAM is minimum requirement for Vista. It's always better to have more than minimum

If you have a plan to upgrade to Vista at some point, I would rather go with the one with 2GB RAM. It looks to me that SZ3XP is the best option.(In my opinion, the CPU doesn't make that much difference unless you do super complicated calculation with your machine)

 

next week i will ask for the prize of the SZ3XP to a college that works in sony, and i will get it.
its the best option, it's the premium model and with XP that i want and upgradable to wista in future

 

SZ5 should be coming soon.

 

SZ5? What's the buzz on that then? Any spec rumours/info??

 

I don't think so. One would expect it would be an update for the Santa Rosa platform, so presumably some new CPU's, new Santa Rosa chipset, possibly hybrid hard drives, ROBSON cacheing technology, etc.

 

Not to mention a hefty price tag no doubt!

 

I don't expect that the SZ5xx models will cost much more than the current models. Like most laptop manufacturers, Sony updates the specs, etc. while keeping the basic price points the same.

 

Hi Xavifigui,

Welcome to the Sony club.
Most of us here with S/SZs were looking for the coolest looking notebook which is light yet powerpacked.

In your case, the SZ4 would be perfect for you IF you are willing to go through the trouble of reinstalling XP onto the machine. It's cheaper and you've already given yourself a long term upgrade path.

Vista requires 2 gigs of RAM for normal use. 1 gig is pushing it...

For questions regarding installing XP on the SZ4X series, do look at this other thread with a lot of us helping each other:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111167

 

What's minimum for Vista is 512Mb RAM. I attended a Vista mall-tour (that's why i acquired SZ48 with Vista rather than SZ38). At the demo hall, most notebooks (HPs and Dell) are running vista ultimate and yet they only have 512mb of RAM. Aero is also activated while bringing-on the wow-factors of vista such as the new media center and other multimedia stuffs such as the animated background effects on Vista ultimate. Again, with only 512Mb of RAM.

 

I believe that it worked, but I really wonder why they were demoing Vista Ultimate with machines with only 512 megs of RAM (especially when Dell and HP have plenty of configs with 1 or 2 gigs of RAM).

 

yup. quite strange though. but i guess they were showing the public that even with the 512Mb of installed RAM, Vista can show its "wow factor". I forgot to add, the other model I saw is running 64Mb of GPU memory with additional 64Mb shared... but vista is working fine with aero.

They were selling desktop/notebooks too at the event preinstalled with Vista.