Who's keeping/buying a Z1 over the Z2 - Thread

This thread should help give interesting thoughts and ideas to current owners and prospective buyers. The speculation thread seems to be filled with those of us on the fence.

I am curious as to your thoughts on keeping/buying the Z1 over the Z2.

 

Might be more appropriate to put this in the owner's thread, but for me, I'm keeping my Z1 for two reasons:

1. No money

2. Not really worth the upgrade anyway

 

well i just got my Z1 for a couple of months so no reason at all to upgrade right now, im not looking into upgrading at this time because there is no 2.5" drive support and i prefer storage capacity over ssd speed. proprietary ram doesnt sound good either in terms of upgrading (actually it appears there is pretty much zero room for upgrading anything in the first place)

 

I just got two Z1's the past month. For what I do (coding, photoshopping and video editing), I suspect I can rely on first gen Core i5 for the next 3 years (hey I stuck with pentium M right till when first gen Core i3 first got introduced). Upgrade to 8GB RAM and I'll be good. Z1 doesn't have usb 3.0 but that's OK because my other laptop (asus n43j) has it. Also, I really dig Z1's design over Z2's. That unibody cylinder and hovering plate design really won me over.

I'm selling one of my Z1's. If interested please PM me

 

@maven1975
Don't you think it would have been better if there was a poll too ???

@topic

I am really confused now . But the following are making me unsure about upgrading to Z2

a) Expensive!!!
b) i7 2620m same as last year CPUs performance wise and slower than quad core parts
c) The external dock
d) Same panel (would have liked an IPS like screen as on F)
e) The design IMO is not as good as Z1
f) Ivybridge coming next year so makes more sense to wait for Z3

 

Seems like Sony was trying to outdo Apple rather than build something for the rest of us.

The external GPU really makes ZERO sense and is one of the worst implementations of lightpeak/thunderbolt available.

Given that SandyBridge consumes less power, they certainly could have kept last years form factor with 2 GPU's on board. Heck if they were really gunning for the consumer, they would have kept last years form factor and added in quad core processor like the MacBook Pro which would have been the darling of the industry.

All we have not is some not so clever laptop that is roughly twice the cost of a macbook air.

I was looking forward to the charm of watching a Blu-Ray disc in a 3lb sandy bridge machine.

Par to fthe

 

Yes, the new Z is no more an "ultraportable" desktop replacement like the Z1. The Z1 packed as much power as any desktop replacement last year in a portable package. But the new Z2 does not pack much muscle as this year the quad core parts are much faster than the dual core parts.
Hoping for a Z3 with quad core Ivybridge and powerful internal GPU

 

The Z1 series last year kicked the crap out of Apple MacBook Pro's. Offered on par GPU and CPU combo's, but the RAID 0 SSD really shined through and beat the pants off MBP's in many tests. All this in a package at least 2lbs lighter with a 1920x1080 13.1" LCD.

All Sony had to do was keep the same form factor, add in nVidia Optimus switching technology,and some quad core cpu. I could have lived with soldered on RAM.

Instead, they built a machine no one asked for, and few actually want.

 

The new Z still serves as the lightest and thinnest notebook with a standard voltage CPU. However, it lost its GPU edge over the others, which ironically, the Z1 still retains! The Z1 isn't bested by the Macbook Pro or X220 because it has a dedicated GPU, and it only loses slightly in battery life and CPU power; whereas the Z2 only ties with them.

 

Getting the same options as my current Z1 (i7, 256 Gb SSD, 8Gb Ram, 1920X1080), it comes up to £2750 if I want a similar Z2, which is totally crazy considering the upgrade.

The new Z doesn't fit my needs at all. I want "power on the go", not a docking option. Also, the performance upgrade is very, very marginal going from the i7-640M to a i7-2620M. The GPU is not even an upgrade.

Personally, I'm either getting the LG P330 when it comes out in September since it got a nVidia 555m and an IPS screen, or I wait for the Ivy Bridge.



I really don't understand this big change with the Z. All I wanted is a quad core SB CPU and an updated GPU. If they were worried about battery life, I'm sure it would be possible to come up with a solution to slow down the quad CPU when not plugged in. That would have been great!

Everything else could have stayed exactly the same.

 

I think the first iteration of Z2 focuses first on the inclusion of LightPeak, the major improvements in the media dock should come later, should LightPeak prove to be stable and useful enough to the consumers. The question is whether the PMD can be upgraded separately later.

 

I don't expect drastic change with Ivy. Maybe they will just stuff it inside without any design change.

Good question on PMD, is it possible to buy it as a stand-alone? Like buying Z now, and PMD with next iteration (hopefully more powerful one).

Having old VGN-Z, this is quite an upgrade for me, though I do understand it makes no sense for current VPC-Z owners. If fact I was quite torn between VPC-Z and new Z, but issues with palmrest fading/discoloring prevailed.

New Z if definitely ultraportable, but not power-on-the-go anymore. If Sony would name it new X series, that would be understandable.

Cheers,
Miki

 

There will be no other PMD iteration at a later date sony confirmed and will cost more if you buy seperately..

 

Do you work at/with Sony? Can I please ask what your source is?

 

I will be picking up the new Z2 as soon as they become available at Sony Hong Kong.

 

I concur. This "replacement" isn't a "Z" at all. It completely abandons the design model/goal of all prior Z editions: Desktop-on-the-go power in the smallest package possible with switchable graphics.

I'm not even considering buying the new X (as it should have been named).

 

Hi yes sure my brother works for sony..

 

I am using AKE ExpressCard USB 3 with Z1 and it works fine except for the fact that when you plug cable into it you have to hold the card or it will pop out. Cost me about $15 on eBay.

IMO Z2 is not a replacement of Z1 and only shares the character 'Z' in the name. I am keeping Z1. My only concern with it is serviceability of SSD drives in it (when the time comes). Everything else is just perfect.

It's also interesting to see that many similar size laptops do not have express card slot as Z1 and yet fail to mitigate that with more USB connectors.

 

For a change, I'll leave the talking to others. mostly...

EDIT: I can never manage having nothing to say!

I have no desire to ditch my Z1 (getting one with 384GB in a few days - woot!) but just want to say that if I did want to change/upgrade, the Z2 as it stands would not be in my top 5. Pathetic, really.

Oh, for those who will get the Z2, please don't think I'm dissing you; It's just not right for me, but then, neither was the MBA I bought last year or the 6 or 7 other ultraportables I tried before falling in heavy like with the Z1. No doubt the Z2 is a thing of beauty and a feat of engineering. Looking forward to reports, even those convincing me I was wrong, though I won't be considering a purchase til they've been out a year, met the test of time, and are for sale as refurbs for half price.

Oh, and, though it is pretty easy to see the present vote is about 3 or 4-1 against Z2, I agree a poll is a great idea. (dumbo here hasn't ever set one up - help!)

 

I'm keeping my Z13 I purchased 5 months ago, it's a great laptop. I'm sure new owners of the Z2 will be happy with theirs as well.

mokeiko

 

Me. The Z2 doesn't appeal. The only reason to get a Z1 over a Thinkpad X was the GPU. The Z2 with the external GPU doesn't cut it. I rather have a Thinkpad X. Cheaper. Tougher. My Z is kind of falling apart after a year of babying. My X is still going strong after 4 years of abuse.

 

How's it falling apart? Mine looks fresh out of the box, and she's well over a year old.

 

I ended up purchasing a Z12 today. The Z2 is unarguably ultra portable, but at the expense of an optical and dedicated GPU. While opticals are becoming more and more obsolete for most people, if I'm being forced to get one (as is the case with the Z2 in the US since you can't opt out of the PMD), I'd rather it be built-in.

Found an i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB memory, 1080p FHD in the outlet store. Should be here next week!

 

Nice pickup. Color? Price (just for comparative purposes, if you don't mind).
I'm a little jealous of people getting the new toy, but just couldn't see the value, for my uses, of the unusual configuration.

 

Too right mate. It's not a really nice toy but is not entirely without merit though. The concept was nice, just not something too desirable. If a better GPU was in the PMD then it might look better but as it stands right now, the 6650 isn't something to look forward to.

 

I have a z model with 640 i7 but want this new tech, not going back...

 

I thought it was premium carbon fiber, but turns out it's just black. No matter, though, because I picked up KH's replica of the SGP Deep Black skin. Now it's just a matter of installing it well.

I was able to pick it up for $2.1k The $800 worth of Sony gift cards I had helped.

The Z13 w/ the same specs was ~$200 more.

 

At this point I am keeping the Z1, I really wanted a gold Z2... not available in SonyStyle US. The US config I want is about $3,200 a similar config from conics with Gold color is $4,550. I can hardly justify spending $4,550 on a computer doesn't look as cool as my current computer and only weighs a tad less. The Z2 is not that much faster than the Z1 and there is just about zero option to mod it.

For $4,550 or even $3,200 I can get a ViDock, 30" DELL Ultrasharp and an SSD/NewModeUs caddy. I could even get a USB Blu-ray burner since I would be ditching my internal one.

Long story short, the Z2 offers no compelling upgrade for me except that it is new. I like to have the latest stuff, without more configuration options in the US they are going to lose a sale.

 

You could take off the chassis and have it gold plated. It might be cheaper.

 

that would mess up the weight though

 

Well for me its just about the same. The body of the Z1 is good, its just the screen that feels like snapping into half any moment......

 

Airlines are starting to offer WIFI on flights
DELTA already does it
there will be lots of online gaming going on airplanes, but not with the new Z2

 

how come the price of SSD's has not come down at all? 512GB still costs significantly more than 256gb across the board.

At least this time around BD-ROM prices have become reasonable.

 

Sort of along the same lines, you could buy a US one, take it apart and then have it professionally painted in what ever color you'd like.
Also if you order from Conics, since you said it yourself that it won't replace your current Z, you could not get the dock, and get an entry level SSD model. (For $4,550 I suspect you added a dock and upgraded the SSD)

 

It's not about the overall capacity of the SSD, but the storage density of each chip on the SSD.

Both the 256GB and 512GB SSDs have 16 nand chips (8 on either side, split for RAID 0). That means each chip on the 256GB SSD has 16GB capacity; meanwhile, each chip on the 512GB SSD must have 32GB capacity without increasing the physical size of each chip. You're cramming twice as much data in the same amount of space, while making sure none of the bits accidentally flip (due to the increased density) and corrupt your data. That makes 32GB nand chips harder to produce, lower in supply, and thus higher price.

There are new storage techniques being researched, such as phase change memory, which promise even greater storage density (possibly 3 bits per cell, which means 50% "bonus" capacity at the same manufacturing process) while also improving speed and reliability. It will be some time before that research yields consumer products though.

 

Thanks, and sorry I didn't get back on NBR all day. Sounds like a great find.

What is "KH's" replica? I had never heard of SGP until I got my new/used Z11 and it had the black carbon fibre "look" skin brilliantly applied by the owner, but beware of something: this guy did everything meticulously and nearly perfectly - the perfect cut out for the VAIO is amazing! - except he had one tiny "twitch" of the Xacto knife, or whatever he used, and every time I look at it it bugs me. So however you do it, try to get it cut to size by someone that has equipment that trims it back a bit if yours needs trimming at all, because it is unlikely I can look at this without always seeing the flaw. Actually you have a huge advantage putting black over black. You would not notice the imperfection in mine, but mine is black on silver. If you want some pointers from the guy who sold me mine and did the SGP twice, I'm sure he will be glad to help. He's a really nice guy.

I'm surprised that the same spec in a Z13 would cost that much more. The only material diff. would be the cpu, presuming you're talking i5. The Z11 would be i5-520/540 and the Z13 is i5-460 or i5-580. If you check on notebookcheck.net, not much difference from lowest to highest here. I guess the Z13 is newer and presumed to have logged fewer hours on all the hdwe. The SSDs appear to be faster in my Z11 than my Z13, and the PC Mark Vantage is 300 pts higher, with a Core i-540 vs. Core i-460 (the latter is older, higher score).

 

I've read mixed reviews about SGP's skin. Some have said it's too short around the edges, other say it was difficult to punch the "vaio" out (the SGP skin comes as a solid skin in case you want to cover up the "vaio"). The KH comes pre-"punched" from what I understand, so there is no need for an Xacto knife.

I first read about the SGP replica by KH here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7636097-post2433.html

And you're right, the only real difference between the Z12 and Z13 I was looking as was the CPU. It was actually the i7-620 (V12) vs i7-640 (V13).

 

The Z13 also comes with the TPM chip.

 

Happily staying with my VPCZ122GX/B.

 

^ Same here. Staying with VPCZ122GX/B.

 

airline also has inseat power outlet since 80s'

 

Well, I take Cathay Pacific and there's no power outlets on flight for economy class. I'm quite certain that they provide it for business class though.

 

lets say they do have power outlets

have fun plugging in your power dock and laptop at the same time

i am not bashful, i think the new z2 is simply stupid

they should have focused on making the current Z smaller lighter thinner

 

The Z2 gets power through the PMD when the PMD is plugged into an outlet, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Seatguru shows that all Cathay Pacific flights (A330, A340, 747, 777) actually offer power ports in all cabins. In business/first, it's one for each seat. In economy, it's one between each seat.

Other airlines will offer power plugs in the forward economy cabin, so it's helpful to ask for a seat located towards the front of the plane when checking in.

Of course, in my experience, power ports located in economy are often hidden below the seats and very difficult to access, compared to business/first class. So you may have actually had power ports but not seen them.

Still, power on planes isn't all that great. They usually have rather low amperage (good for charging cellphones and music players, but not so great for power-hungry devices), and the plugs are turned on and off intermittently according to in-flight service. Since the Z2 will BSOD if you don't eject the PMD, it doesn't strike me as something you'd want to risk. (As a matter of fact that might be the achilles heel of the Z2, for anyone without a UPS and who experiences power outages with any regularity).

 

Can't the battery still provide enough juice to power the PMD for a few minutes or must be PMD be connected to a power supply to operate?

Most notebooks don't suffer from power outages since the battery is an alternate power source. Even desktop replacements can still be powered on for an hour or two so the user can save their work without losing it. So if a power outage occurs when the Z is plugged into the PMD, it's doomed?

 

The optical Lightpeak connection is only for data, it does not supply power to the PMD. This review confirms that you must have the secondary AC adapter connected in order to use the PMD, and that connecting the just the LP cable but not the AC adapter will not work.

Meanwhile, this review tried unplugging the PMD without first closing applications and pressing the undock button (which is the proper way to remove the PMD). As you can see towards the bottom of the page, it results in a lovely BSOD. It's not hard to imagine that power loss to the PMD will probably have the same effect as unplugging the LP cable without properly undocking it.

They didn't test it extensively though, so there could be certain circumstances where it wouldn't crash (perhaps if the PMD isn't in use by any applications at the moment of power loss). But considering that it can result in a full BSOD rather than only individual apps crashing, there's an undeniable potential for data loss.

 

i think BSOD will occur to me many time in the future for sure : (

 

Keeping my Z11 and getting a Vaio SA as well.

 

yeah, I got to play around with a coworker's i5 Z/900p display back then, I waited for the Sandy Bridge version. Failing that, I got a Vaio S. Too bad the S line is slightly thicker and a fair bit heavier