Which Vaio SZ? (complicated situation)

Hi from Istanbul

I am a university student from Turkey and i want to buy a laptop.
I looked for the other brands and i saw that, Sony Vaio SZ Series are the best choice for me.

But there is a big problem. The Sony Eurasia in our country, they take only FZ11S, FZ11M and old TX series. And these are very very expensive in our country. You can buy a SZ650 from America or FZ11S from Turkey = prices are same It is a strategie of Sony Eurasia, i think.. It is very disappointing issue for me.

Then i have decided to buy Vaio from another country. I have a friend in China, and he sad me that he can send me a Vaio from China.

I looked for Vaio SZ series laptops.

I must say first what i need in SZ series

* I want a thin, lightweight and powerful laptop.
* with a good screen quality ( *and LED backlight*)
** with a excellent quality AND stylistic chassis (like carbon-fiber)
* and hybrid hard drive
* at least T7700 processor.

First, i looked into WWW.sony.com and i see customizable SZ680 for 2300 USD.

There are the specs

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.40GHz)
2 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 1 GBx2)
160 GB Hybrid Hard Disk Drive


and the other specs are default for premium SZ series. These specs are suitable for me.

--


Then i looked into the Chinese Sony site with Google Translator. There are same SZ series, but the model numbers are not same with US.

There are 2 SZ series. SZ6 and SZ5.

It's the SZ6's main page with Google Translator :
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=zh%7Cen&u=http://www.sonystyle.com.cn/vaio/products/index_products_alt.asp%3FidCategory%3D418%26idSerial%3D92%26keyword%3Dtop

We can see from this link ( http://www.sonystyle.com.cn/vaio/products/sz6/index.asp ) , in the SZ6 series only one model is good for me, SZ67N. It costs 17988 RMB, convert to USD = 2400 US dollars. (1 RMB= about 0.134 USD)

There are the specs of SZ67N

http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=zh%7Cen&u=http://www.sonystyle.com.cn/vaio/products/tr_spec_index_alt.asp%3FidCategory%3D418%26idSerial%3D92%26keyword%3Dspec

A summary of SZ67N, T7700, 120GB Hybrid, 1 GB RAM, 13.3 LED, Black Carbon case

-----

And there is SZ5 series.
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sonystyle.com.cn%2Fvaio%2Fproducts%2Fsz5%2Findex.asp&langpair=zh%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

There is an interesting thing: we can't see any Sony Vaio with Premium Carbon case in SZ6 series, but in this page we can see it. (The 4. laptop in this page) And SZ5 series are cheaper than SZ6. But i can't understand text because Google cant translate texts in pictures :S Can anybody help us about this situation?

----

oK. I selected a model to buy from China, SZ67N .

I am going to look for the known issues about this model. First i see the Magnesium \ Black Carbon \ Premium Carbon case discussion. I want a Carbon-fibered Vaio because the appearance of my laptop is VERY important for me.

What do you think about the Vaio's with Carbon Fiber casing? Is there a big difference at the appearance between Magnesium, Black Carbon and Premium Carbon?

A lot of people says that Black Carbon is like plastic and seems cheaper. Is it true? I pay for a laptop about 2200 dollars, and i don't want to buy a cheap-seemed laptop

I like it, the premium-carbon Vaio SZ691NX ( http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665199955 ) but it is available only in USA and Japan. I cant buy it from China. What do you think about this Vaio with Premium Carbon Case?

What do you think about displays with White Led Backlight? How is it performance? Is there known problems with LED's?

Do you think SZ67N is the best choice?

And what about the European models? Is it better, when i buy a Vaio SZ from a European Country, like Germany?

I will very pleased when you give me an answer. I am very annoyed :S

Please, HELP ME!

 

Cant help with much here.. Pictures of the 691 is what I can do. Here goes

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=180123

 

Thanks for the pics and link. Can anybody answer these questions?
I really need a comment about it..

 

The best bet is to go to a Sony shop or a laptop shop and view the laptop yourself. I have the sz650 and it looks very nice. The carbon fibre is really not worth the money at all, but if you have the money then go ahead.

If you want style though, concider the Asus u3 laptop which has leather rest pads and looks very nice also.

 

There have been numerous reports by members on this forum that their SZ650 had green/yellowish horizontal lines. So that might be an issue since you won't have a warranty. However I haven't read anything about LED problems on the SZ660 and above.

 

sz61xn/c equivalent of sz680. Screen problems, business day #17, still waiting for the thing to return. I'm actually happy just getting the thing back repaired or not.

 

Hmm. Thanx for your opinions. Let's answer them.

I think so. But it's really hard to find new Sony laptops in Turkey.. I sad it, it's the strategie of Sony Turkey..

It means i really need warranty...

Are there any persons who want to say another ideas?

Many people saying that Sony going to show new models in SZ series, what about it?

 

Hi,

I read all the thing that u wrote and I can say that screen issues is a kind of matter of chance.

My sz650n (I bought it 20th agust..) had no bad leakage or had no green/yellowish horizontal lines.

If u gonna buy sz u should consider firstly warranty..so that If u or your friend, who gonna buy it, chech it before leave the shop for screen issues..

black arbon chases is, in my opinion, very stylish..dont worry about it..
but u should remove the stickers..they look very ugly.

see u..in donanimhaber..

 

OK, Thanks very much for your helpful replies.

I will write my reviews if i buy it..

 

I'm looking at the SZ583 which is Sony Hong Kong's newest model, and notice it doesn't mention anything about Carbon Fiber:

http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/vgn_sz583n_e.jsp

Can someone please tell me if this model, and which SZ6 models in the US, have carbon fiber? Thanks.

 

The SZ583 does have carbon fiber. All SZ X50 and above models have carbon fiber(650,660,670 etc)

 

Thanks. I don't understand why Sony doesnt state a feature like 'carbon fiber' explicitly. They just say 'carbon black color'.