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I'm considering replacing my Sony Vaio for a newer computer. Which one do you have or suggest? It has to sport a good screen, ssd drive 256GB at least, and such. Would be great that doesn't have hybrid (nvidia optimus) due to all the mess caused by Sony not updating its hybrid drivers anymore. USB 3.0 and/or USB C good too.
If you want a small & light laptop with a full-voltage processor like the Z you don't have many choices. If you're happy with low-voltage processors, then there's plenty of choice. You'll need to wait if you want USB-C. At the moment, I think only the macbook has it, though others with the USB-C are coming out soon.
Maybe a used Vaio SVZ would be a good option if you do not wish to wait for USB-C Windows notebooks. The SVZ has USB 3, SATA-III, wwan, fingerprint reader. I have one and still use it almost every day.
Finally bought the Dell XPS 9550, top specs: 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM, 4k screen. It's really fast compared to the Vaio Z1. The screen is a little bit glossy, but really nice. Still find more comfortable for the eyes the TFT screen of the Sony, but notebooks don't have this type of screens anymore.
nVIDIA Optimus is great. What we have (in the VPCZ1) is the switchable hybrid graphics that is now obsolete and has been abandoned by all players.
It is totally logical that practically ANY new laptop is going to outperform a 5-6-7 year old laptop, so your comment that the Dell 9550 is much faster is moot. When we bought our VPCZ1, it was the best in class - miles ahead of everything else. Power, size, weight, looks, etc. Finding a new laptop that gives you the same kind of joy is really tough.
Did you get the GTX 1050 or similar version? How much did it cost?
I have the 9550 with nvidia 960m. The nvidia 1050 is the newer model XPS 9560 that can be equipped with fingerprint sensor (very advisable).
I know that for similar characteristics it has to be faster, but beware that are barebones and small notebooks that sport Intel Atom or Intel m3 processors that are not such a big improvement in performance (except for the power consumption of course).
I could get the 9550 fully spec'd out second hand for about 1300-1400 Euros. The macbook pro almost spec'd out is 4000 euros, with lower 16GB ram instead of 32GB and less screen resolution.
One thing though is to try to improve the screen reflections, so I bough the Healing Shield both AFP and AG and they arrive will see which one may be an improvement respect to the naked screen.
I thought that nvidia optimus and hybrid graphics was the same.
Optimus is automatic switching from Intel to nVidia (no physical switch needed). Whenever you launch an application that needs the horsepower of the nVIDIA graphics adapter, like a 3D game, or media player (video) or technical stuff like Photoshop, Autocad, etc., the nVIDIA adapter automatically comes into play. When you exit the demanding app, the system goes back to Intel graphics. You can customise the list of apps which cause the switch, right click and choose 'run with' to use the adapter of your choice, or force nVIDIA mode by cheating - e.g., launching a media player to force the switch, and then simply pausing it to force the system to stay in nVIDIA mode.
It is possible to run our ancient VPCZ1s in Optimus mode, but there are power consumption and HDMI issues. Look for the thread - Optimus on hybrid graphics - if you are interested.
You should have held out for the 1050/60 model. I hear the performance is greatly superior. However, so is the price, so what do I know.
I've been looking at the Gigabyte Aero 14 or 15. Slightly larger screen - I always thought that the VPCZ1's screen was slightly too small and my current 17" is much too large. Also, it would have significantly better battery life which wasn't always the best with the standard size battery. The only problem is the price is twice of what I paid for my Sony.
The problem with Optimus is that it's much more difficult to get linux drivers working (I've tested ubuntu and only the Intel GPU works by default). You can enable the nVidia 960m but there may be graphical issues and better wait for it to be fixed.
For the XPS 9560 it's quite more expensive, and I wish it had at least 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports with 4 PCI lanes each, so would be better to use external GPUs or graphics amplifiers. Or even have USB-C only ports like the newest Macbook Pro. In the future, everything will be USB-C/Thunderbolt: smartphones, hard drives, pendrives, printers, etc. Even TVs and monitors probably will all drop HDMI, VGA, DVI and Displayport to use only USB-C. Even network PLCs may drop the RJ45 adapter for the USB-C also. If not, a hub like the QacQoc GN30H just meets all requirements.
Hope the newer models XPS 9570 and XPS 9370 with 8th generation Intel processors (Coffee Lake) finally use only Thunderbolt connectors a lot of PCI lanes.
Do check out the Dell XPS series. With the ultra thin bezel, they've managed to put a 15" screen into a laptop that's sized like a 14". They have Intel graphics versions too, so if you don't need the discrete graphics, these are a lot cheaper and have terrific battery life.
Prices suck! My dream machine is touching $3k. GOT to rob a bank soon. I'm hoping the prices will come down a bit for the older models once the latest offerings hit the shelves. Fingers crossed.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
