sz160.I can still pick one up

So I can get a display model for $2399+3yr warrenty from Sony. They didnt have any other laptop to compair the screen to. It seemed bright, but since the last 3 days I've been using a Apple Macbook it looks normal. I cant tell if its any better than the sz110/120. Also, when I ran MS diagX (sp) on it, it told me it only had 128mb video ram. I could've sworn its supposed to be 256mb. Can anybody agree on this topic? If you added 2gig to yours, did it really change it to 256mb for video? Sony pulled all info on the sz160 so now I cant tell whats supposed to be in it.
They did have a sz180 (manual) and even that one said 128mb video ram. Man, should I get it?

Btw, the screen on full brightness, the blacks looked whitish. But it was a even white, not gradient like the sz120 that I remember.

 

i have 2gb of ram on my SZ and it says it has 128mb of memory. Im using the laptop video 2 go drivers.

 

I thought yours was sz120p?

 

It is. But the gpu is the same.

 

see. now if I can find that sz160 paper that did say 256mb or find someone with a 256mb I would feel better. sorta.. at least not feel crazy.

 

In the descrption of my 120 on bestbuy.com its said 256mb

unforturnately, its no longer on the site but heres a link to the 110 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat15200&id=1134703552594

 

where can you get a 160 i thought they were gone

 

I found this one at a Sony authorized dealer. Demo model. It was in a showcase. It was off. They dont keep it on. So he was going to sell it to me for $2399 and toss in a 3yr sony warrenty.

Now that this unit says "only" 128mb video memory, I cannot deside if its worth the $400 price increase for just the LED screen. Carbon Fiber doesn't really mean a thing to me. As others here pointed out, besides feeling smooth and not bumpy like the sz120, you cannot tell its carbon fiber.

I was hoping the screen wouldn't have blacks that looked whitish in color, but it still does. Only thing I noticed is that it did seem brighter. I wish he had a sz120 next to it. Maybe I can convince him to let me buy it and compair it to a compusa stores, sz120.

btw, he did say this unit was a display for about a month and a half. So It may have that space bar issue. I have to check. And yes, you can feel the static shock on the palm rest.

 

You can tell its caron fiber if you try to twist the SZ120 and SZ160 screens... the SZ160 screen is much tougher and more solid than the SZ120, and its thinner.

Some people have pointed out that even if it had 256MB you wouldn't notice a difference because the 7400 can't make use of more memory effectively.

Remember the static shock issue is just the lack of ground wire (third prong) on charging cable... if you had a charger with three prongs, you wouldn't feel it.

It's the same on the MacBook Pro.

 

Well the twisting isnt an issue since I had a s360 and didnt have a problem.

And yes. I did read that post about no grounding wire. THats too bad on Sony's part. And the macbook pro I used didnt have this same static feel.

Btw, if you have yout standard battery charged to 100%, try and put yuor scren brightness to 100% and in speed mode, wifi on and set to vaio optimized. and boot up without power adapter plugged in. Tell me two things please, please! 1. after boot up, what % is your battery, and what does your battery remaining time say? and without using the unit, after 5mins, what does your remaining time say?

Please try it asap. I'm really thinking of try to get the sz160. btw, do you think thats a good price for a open box?

 

As for the twisting, I'm not saying its an issue, I'm just saying thats one way you can tell.

Second, for the battery thing, well I'm charging up right now from my battery test last nite so I'm not at 100%... so I can't do it "ASAP" as you say, but I'll do it as soon as I can

 

OK please. I'm headed to work, so I wont have to deside for about 8 hours.
Do you mind testing before then? I know on the sz120 (from what I remember) it would say about 2:30min idling and just from boot up, it would be at around 95% and in about 5mins it would be around 91-90%.

 

No problem !

My battery is almost 100% but I have to go to a meeting...

I'll test it when I get back and give you a full report.

 

thanks!
and yes, I';m at work.

 

So I tested it.

Optimized, Brightness Max, WiFi (and Bluetooth) On...

When I boot up, I'm at 97%... and after 5 minutes I'm at 94%

Personally, I think its deceptive... I get great battery life out of this thing. Sometimes it will sit at 98% for a while when its charging.

 

how much time did it say you have? Yes, I know the time is deceptive,especially during the first few mins. I'm just curious if its different than the sz120.

 

Again, speed mode, at full brightness, VAIO optimized, Wifi ON...

2:48

 

thanks! About the same. Since youre online at the moment. whats your thought? Worth getting? So many new notebooks coming out. the $2399 is a prem price. Are you happy with the screen? have you compaired it to a 120? Its hard for me cuz the store doesnt have anything to sit it next to to compair.

 

I think the battery meter is really deceptive. When I startup the computer from a full charge it would read something like 98% with 2.5 hrs or so. But as the battery percentage goes down to about 95% or so, the number of hours increases to 3.5 hrs to 4 hrs depending on my settings. It peaks at that point and the number of hours decline as the battery percentage goes down. This is all in the first couple of minutes of use.

Even though it would show 4 hrs or more, it drops down fairly quickly as I use the computer. For example, It will show 4 hrs, and I do something that is fairly hard drive/cpu intensive for ~10 mins and the hours will drop to 3.5 hrs from 4. I have yet to run the battery eater test, or a real life stop watch test, but I'm looking forward to getting a realistic idea on where my battery on my sz160 is capable of.

 

I say if you have an adequate notebook to use now, wait for the merom based notebooks to be released. But if you need a notebook now, the sz160 is worth the price.

On a side note, you mentioned you had a s360? I'm in the market for an old notebook for my lil brother .

 

those numbers (time) is defanatly better than the sz120 (prolly due to led screen). I'm still tossed if I should get it. What do you think? It would be so helpful if this store had another sz notebook so I can see the screen back to back. The sz160 I looked at wasnt as bright as the 11in sony nor as bright as the 15+ sonys he had. So I dunno if something was wrong with my eyes or what. There was a compusa down the street but I doubt he'll let run down there with the demo to compair.

Is your "white" on youe screen more a bluish color or more like a off white like yellow? I went to compusa afterwardss and the sz120 was the dimmest next to the other sonys and it looked more of a yellowish dim to it. The 11in sony looks like 3x brighter (nah just saying it was bright) and the white looked more blue. I knwo that model uses LED lights...

 

Sold s360. All I have is my xps2. I COULD wait, but I'm a gadget geek. I doubt I can keep myself from buying something. By the time the new chipset comes out, it'll be second half of this year. So I would've prolly changed laptops again. maybe I'll sell the xps2 by then.

 

The most noticeable thing when moving from a non-premium to a premium is the screen. The colors were much cleaner and didn't have the grainy or sparkled look to it.

I'm like you, buying gadgets and things you don't really need but want because its a little better than what you have now. I bought the 160 almost on impulse. I called the compusa where I purchased my 120 at one day and they had a premium model in. I picked it up that same day even though I was perfectly happy with my 120. That particular compusa never got another premium model in since. There is also a shipping label on the box of my 160 as if it came from another store. The 160's were fairly scarce even when they first came out.

 

My compusa never got sz160 or I would buy it from there. So your "white" is more twards the blueish color (white leds tend to make things look blueish). The sz120 I saw at compusa was overall darker, but white looked more yellowish in color.

 

I had the same situation... I had an SZ120, its all I could find... I kept calling the place I bought it from to ask for an SZ160.... they couldn't find one... they decided to extend by 15 day return period in case they found one... finally, on day 25 I went in and lo and behold, they had just gotten two... one had my name on it. I brought back the 120 and paid the extra bit for the 160... they haven't gotten any 160s since

 

so you say $2399 for the sz160 w/3yr sony warrenty is good? Should I just go for it?
ikaris- what color is your white on your screen?

 

I think its a good deal... however of course some people on this board think that Sony's support is hit and miss...

Uh... well I'm not rocket scientist... but the white is...... white.... The screen is good, but I don't have an SZ120 to compare it to...

However I can say that I'm quite pleased with the quality of the screen.

 

lol. well the white comes in different shades of white. Example is a led white llight for a flashlight. it shines more blueish color than a yellowish color. The 11inch sony I've seen had a bright screen and whites had a tint of blue in it. If I looked at the sony sz120 at compusa, it looked more dark, which gave it a yellowish or grey color more than white. but since the sz120 and sz160 are at different stores I cant judge.

 

New sz160 $2399 at CDW in stock right now
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=920871
They lowered their price, maybe because I bought one last week, and i had them match buy.com price.

 

so I guess with the 3 year warrenty being tossed in, its not bad...

 

Hm, well in that case, I'd say that I can detect no bluish or yellowish tinges in the white... but that's just my opinion

 

Well I ended up picking up the unit. I took it down to COmpusa just to make me feel better. Yup, brightness on the sz120 is about 3 bar from max on the sz160. i feel a little better.

 

btw, its charging now. It still in "store" mode with demos and such. SHould I make the backup disks first then just do a complete restore using them and use add/remove anything I dont want?

 

Make backup discs and do a semi clean install following one of the threads created here.

 

so you went 120 to macbook to 160? does your 160 do the wierd battery things that your 120 did (and my 160 still does). any loose bits?

 

i'll let you know. still doing normal computer setup. This laptop I can't return. So either I "make" it work or sell it.

Oh and I technically(sp?) went from a sz110-sz120-sz120-macbookpro-sz160

 

your a nightmare consumer.... but smart. when done could you give me a quick comparison of all three machines. (i really want the 13.5 macbook pro that hasn't come out yet). but would take your advice having used all three

 

Congrats, starstreak !

Hope you enjoy the unit, and if there's problems I'm sure we can all work together on solving them !

Yes, a comparison of all three machines would be cool...

 

Woohoo!
OK, I only did this once. But from 100% to bootup, My battery was at 98%. I know big whoops. But teh sz120 would be at 95%. Anyways. After 5mins, the battery was at 91%. So drain is there. BUT
I ran my movie test. The BEST I got with the sz120 was 2:40min. I got 3:06mins! In other words, I saw king kongs credits roll before the unit went into hibernation. This was only one time, but so far i'm happy.
Screen is brighter. So far, I'm happy. Not really happy that it cost me $2399+ to get what I thought the $1799+ sz110 should've been getting. I'll do more tests.

 

Was this movie off a dvd or the hard drive? Are you going to apply the usb fix?

 

i watched a dvd and a half today so i'm getting like 3 hours also. i know this is anwered somewhere, but my tech guy did the semi clean restore and i keep reading about the usb fix. how do you tell if you need it/have it. i apologize if this is a stupid question and i could ask him but he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

 

From dvd. so its at least 20mins better than the sz120 when it comes to time.

 

my times are from dvd also. i still am meaning to do the battery eater thing. but i'm lazy

 

the battery eater thing is good to tell you min battery(I think). But I think the dvd test is a better way that most people will know how the battery will last doing something. I still didnt get a chance to play a game till the battery died, but I'm happy so far.

 

Ok! I did this way this time.
100% power, booted into stamina mode with 5 out of 8 screen brightness, 45% volume with wifi switch set to off, nic port on off and 1394 on off, harddrive shut down set to 3mins, vaio set to ultimate battery and USB FIX without a/c power. 98% when I started movie. I watch King Kong. Made it to the end of the movie! 3 hours with 19% battery remaining. Btw, if I don't touch the laptop for 5 mins after closing the movie player, It still says I can get 1:04hr of life left. But take that with a grain of salt as I'm not doing anything on the laptop. For kicks, I turned on full brightness. 3 mins later of doing nothing, and it still says 58 mins! Oh turning on wifi DROPED the time by 9mins. So its a heavy drain. And doing outlook for a few mins droped it another 4mins for about 2mins of use. So take the time reading with salt again.

This was worth the upgrade! Woohoo! Unlike the Apple, I can sit the unit on my lap with hardly any heat! I'll give apple one point, the blacks are still darker.

Man, after going through 5 laptops and doing mini reviews, I deserve 100+ rep power. lol