World's first photos of VAIO SA from CES

says nothing =(

Wasn´t it better in old times when there was no internet and you just would walk to the store and find the Z replacement right there with everything you wanted and ready to buy?

 

everything is possible . BTW the new VAIO S still using 1st gen Core i, they just brought it from Europe to US with no other modification yet. Good deal though.

 

After seeing more of these pictures, there is NO WAY that laptop is better looking than the current Z on the market, its not even close.

 

Not that I can understand Japanese, but I have discovered the secret to understanding Katakana

Example from the above article: "Haipafomansumobairunoto"

Step 1: imagine a Japanese guy in front of you holding the item in question.
Step 2: say the word out aloud three times

Haipafomansumobairunoto, Haipafomansumobairunoto, Hai pafomansu mobairu noto

and BAM! it makes sense

"High performance mobile notebook".

Try for yourself: "Suitchaburugurafikkusu"

 

Actually Best Buys was carrying two configs with the intel HD gpu, not sure if now we will get the 310m GPU as an option or not in the US.

 

Vaio VPC-Z1490. :drools uncontrollably:

 

SA looks disappointing.

 

Design-wise, this "SA" looks like a combination of Alienware keyboard, Asus-G and Dolce&Gabbana. Not so much VAIO design DNA in the form, though it indeed resembles the TZ. Why did they toss so many trademark design elements of the rather iconic Z? It's the need to do something completely new/different once in a while, instead of cultivating and developing a certain language.
Hugs to my FW (2008 notebook with a classic design that was needlessly revoked by the succeeding cloddy F series).

 

What just happened all those previous posts??????

In the Z Forum, this quote:

Perhaps, the VPC-Z won't acquire all those upgrades that we expect the SA to have.

 

Some posts were moved to this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/545391-sa-discussion-next-generation-vaio-z.html

 

the only good thing in this ridiculous design/material choice, it will keep Vaio Z re-sale value! HUGE disappointment, totally uninspiring, clueless design...fugly!

I really do hope Sony designers will come to their senses and do decent redesign of current Vaio Z.

Cheers,
Miki

 

So I guess US won't get Z14 like Japan, instead relying on SA. Then when the real Z successor replaces Z14 (hopefully not Z15) we will get it as well. SA will probably stay on in US, with 1st-gen low-end price drop that phases out the VPC-S?

 

now PCMAG article is down!!!!!!!! what the hell, now this is starting to looks like a conspiracy... sony so secret about it, must be a good product.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375136,00.asp

 

I think this concept design looks very pretty. Maybe make the bezel smaller and sort out the port placement and rejig the lid so its a little less blocky and I would find it drop dead gorgeous.

As much as I liked the barrel hinge in aesthetic terms, I also hated it because of how many parts its made of leading to all sorts of problems with my SR - cracking noise when tilting the display and hinge buttons that get stuck.

If you remove the barrel hinge there is one great boon that is not taken advantage of in the CES photos: you can move alot of the most unwieldy and legacy ports to the back of the unit.

 

True, that would free us some additional space or make even better space/ports utilization.

I know Sony is pushing BR DVD, but if they lose DVD tray, that would also create additional space... though fat chance.

Cheers,
Miki

 

When I had an f series I sometimes would be really "plugged in" - especially when recording. So I would use using the ilink for my soundcard, 1x USB, the other USB would have a port extender in it and then my mixer, Virus TI, mouse and MIDI interface would be plugged into that. I had a dump hdd for recordings hooked into the eSATA port and sometimes the VGA out would go into my massive desktop monitor so I can have huge screen real estate and that helps alot when mixing. You spend half as much time flicking between tracker windows, the on screen mixer, the piano roll etc.

Lastly, I had headphones plugged into the audio out so I could live monitor. What happened was that I would lose half a foot on either side of my notebook due to a mass of thick cables and port extenders. Sometimes I felt like a stray arm could just snap some of them right off.

I remember thinking: "gosh my notebook is pretty with that classy looking hinge" but my workspace was a mess of wires. Moving some of the really thick nasty cables to the rear of the chasis like the eSATAp cable would go a long way to cleaning house and if the removal of the hinge allows for that, I think thats a great opportunity to take advantage of it.

I agree about the dvd tray. On my F series, I used to keep the notebook relatively flat so the tray would catch on my trousers or on my desk when I tried to open it. I also agree with the idea that Sony probably wont consider the alternative but one can dream right?

 

Does anyone know whether Sony is going to release this after the i5 SB processors (Feb 20) or if they scrapped it?

 

See this post in the SA discussion thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7063839-post377.html

 

Thanks, I assumed they would release sometime after Feb 20.

 

Whats the source BTW?

 

Someone who has close contact with Sony.

 

Sony hasn't released pics of the SA yet. None of the photos shown were final versions of an SA. They were either concept models or an unfinished model.

I bet when the SA comes out it will look different than the pictures on here.

 

^Adam do you have any basis at all for any of your comments in this thread? You guess quite a bit and make a lot of assumptions (mostly incorrect) and state them as fact.

Rachel - I'm not trying to flame here....

 

beaups confirmed it´s not a prototype, it´s the final product, perhaps a few internal modifications but that´s all.

 

some users stated they were not allowed to take images of SA, also there are only few videos on YouTube....doesn't seem like final version approach. If final, why not bragging about, showing off, why this mystery?

And, as a personal note, I find SA quite ugly comparing to current S line.

Cheers,
Miki

 

It's common for MFR's to not want to announce a product months before it's available. Many times they are concerned about how it will impact sales of current models prior to the release of the new model.

What DOES surprise me is that Sony showed off some of these new platforms at all.

But none of that means that the SA's you saw were prototypes .

 

^ ha ha that's called the Osborne Effect.

 

Will see when it finally comes out what it looks like. If that is the final design, it is very nice except I don't like the lid or the glossy design of it. Hopefully they change it to a non glossy design because it will attract fingerprints.

Will see what happens when it is out.

 

It is not comparable AT ALL! I would never buy such an ugly laptop (SA) - glossy, plastic-y, cheap looking ...

A big negative point for Sony... looks like an ugly toshiba!

In fact I would not believe this is supposed to be a business solution, the way S is! That's impossible! This looks like a cheap teenage toy!

 

*anticipates lengthy post by arth1 on how the S is not a business solution*

 

It isn't. Deal.