Will Sony offer more IPS screens on 2013 13" VAIO S?

Apologies if this was already discussed - I haven't been too active around here recently...

And of last year I got 13" VAIO S for my wife... and I myself almost felt in love with that little number. Almost. Laptop was perfect for my portable laptop needs - good size/weight, performance, dedicated graphics (good enough for some L4D on the run 0 , backlit keyboard, decent battery, options (slate battery and dock), heck, even optical drive was there, and machine was nice and quiet in everyday light use.

Well the "almost" part was for the screen. I shoot a lot when I travel, mostly RAW photos, and I like to edit them a bit on lappy during the travel - there is always rainy day to fill - but Adobe Lightroom is hardly comfortable on 1366x... screen, and screen performance - viewing angles, brightness/contrast... are leaving much to be desired, for my intended purpose at least.

Sony has nicely updated S this year, however among 5 available 13" models, only most expensive one has IPS screen. Unfortunately that one is NZ$3,200 and, as such, above my planned budget. Curiously enough, Sony has also released 15" VAIO S which is around NZ$2,000 (within my budget) and has great looking IPS screen.

Since 15" was released, to my knowledge, a bit after 13" models, I am hopeful 2013 refresh of S will have more models with higher res IPS screens. However, I haven't seen any news regarding 2013 S refresh. If anyone has came across such info, please share - at this point I am stretched between waiting for refresh (and hoping it will have what I desire) or get some alternative, maybe something from Asus... though I'd rather have VAIO S, with IPS screen it would be exactly what I want from portable.

 

I think you may have some incorrect information.... there are no S13's which have an IPS screen.

With S13's, they are all TF panels, with the standard S13 having a 1366x768 resolution and the S13A (premium) having a 1600x900.

The only 2012 vaio S series with an IPS panel is the S15, with a 15.5" 1920x1080 IPS display.

 

Ouch, you are right - SVS13A26PGB is advertising as "13.3 inch wide (WXGA++: 1600 x 900) TFT colour display (VAIO Display Premium, LED backlight)", but not IPS... I saw machine in local shop and screen looked better than other S13, I guess my imagination did the rest.

Still. I'm hoping S15 is "the wind of change", especially that the price of that model is very acceptable. I'd expect at this moment, basic IPS screens are not that much more expensive than TFs.

 

Yeah that's the S13 "premium". It's also a TN display. It has higher resolution and better color gamut than the 1366x768 display on the base model, but it's still fuzzy and has narrow viewing angles.