tz150 for under $1500 a good deal?

Is that a good deal for the unit? I wanted a backup computer, but wanted it small. Was looking for something under $1k but with compusa closing and all, I saw one of these.

Sony VAIO TZ150NB Notebook PC - Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 1.06GHz, Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless, Wireless WAN, 1GB DDR2, 100GB HDD, DL DVD RW, 11.1" WXGA, Fingerprint, Webcam, Windows Vista Business

 

Yeah I'd that's an OK deal. I don't know quite what your needs are, but if your just looking for a second lightweight laptop have you consider a Asus EEE?

 

Speaking as someone that paid $1749 2 days ago, yeah, it's good deal.

 

if wouldnt be for anything major. jsut something on the go. I have a gaming laptop already.Something to play dvds for the kids,etc. Hey, is the 1Ghz processor good enough to decode HD sources and play it back without skipping?

 

I wonder if COMP USA has any of those left...

 

Yes it is a great deal, because I paid $1500 for my TZ130 last month. There is no other place you can get a TZ150 for that cheap. Too bad the CompUSA in my area closed down early last year, wish it was around longer to get in on the deals.

 

Assuming it's brand new/factory sealed, and that you're buying from an actual physical store such as CompUSA (which I assume includes the tax), that's a great deal. I paid $1850 for mine last year from Best Buy (including tax), and with my BB rewards zone Master Card, ended up getting an additional $75 in best buy credit just for that purchase. Get a 2gb ram stick and you'll be set with this baby. It has everything you'll need from a secondary pc, including a dvd drive. Oh, and clean install is a must.

 

Well I am still trying to decide between a Dell Latitude D430 with a 64 GB SSD Drive and a TZ130 or 150, I really want the TZ 130 because I want the AT&T 3G Service not the sprint. With the Dell I can use a built in 3G card.

I wonder how much quicker the Dell with the 64GB SSD would be than the TZ Series. But darn those TZ screens are awesome!

 

open box, but I should be allowed to examin it first for anything missing. Only laptop,a/c, battery, right? No software in teh box?

 

that is correct, no software packaged with it.

 

be careful, tz display models are notorious for having cracked screens from morons bending them past the stop bar in the security holder thingies.

 

Besides the paperwork and booklets, it's supposed to also come with a small folded black cloth with VAIO etched on it in a bag.

 

Thanks I'll cehck on it. Yup aware about that cracked screen. Theres two others open box that says cracked screen on it. I'm crossing my fingers this one is good. I heard if I wait, it may go to 50% in about 3 daYS. So I'm hoping it'll last till not. I'm guessing it wont.

 

Oh well. someone bought one, and there was one left. I'm still gonna wait. I tested the machine. The battery was drained and it had a a/c adapter. Took a holy-cr a p 13-15mins to boot up. I know I heard of bloatware but is teh unit that badly infected or is the computer that slow with only 1gb of ram? Also, is it that I can pop-in a 1gb stick, or I have to take it out and stick in a 2gb stick?

 

*bump**bump*

 

there is only one ram slot, you must purchase a 2gb stick. Also, keep in mind that this is a 1ghz ulv processor...it's not build for speed.

 

But should it really take like uo to 15mins to load? If I tried to open a folder, it would even say not responding. and that was just the control panel.

 

It's probably the bloatware not an infection. That's roughly what my boot time was when I first installed out of the box.

Once you get rid of all the bloatware (you may want to downgrade to XP, if I recall SONY was providing license keys to do so about 2 months ago) my experience is that a Vista boot with 1 gig comes down to a more reasonable 3 minutes from power-on. I have a TZ160C w 1 gig and the 4200 rpm 100gig HDD.

I downgraded to XP and my boot atm is about 2 minutes, so that extra minute may or may not be worth your time/energy to downgrade.

As stated, only 1 RAM slot and I find that 1 gig is sufficient for my needs- though I will buy a 2 gig Sodimm at some point.

Hope this helps-

Edit: That Sony insists on loading all that bloatware is the only complaint I have had with my TZ. It took me three whole days to get rid of all of it (there are some tutorials here on how to go about it, or you can buy a clean vista install disc for your model).

 

It's the bloatware, not the RAM. I had my TZ150 with 1GB RAM stick in for a week and didn't notice a DRASTIC difference in performance compared to doing a clean installation. The clean installation is what made the huge difference in speed.

15 minutes is surely an exaggeration though to cold boot the TZ even with the bloatware. Unless you're referring to the first time booting it up and going through Vista installation procedures (naming the computer, setting up the desktop for the first time, and so forth), which I remember timing as 25 minutes. Maybe it had to configure Windows Updates, or do updates for other programs? There's really a lot of factors to consider and I can guarantee the processor is not to blame. My TZ150 boots in 35 seconds from power button to desktop (Granted, that's with 2GB RAM Stick installed, but even with 1GB I routinely cold booted in 55 seconds or less).

As for the sluggish performance you're describing, it's probably due to the amount of processes running simultaneously. Open up task manager and take a look to see how many processes are there. My stock,factory-bloated TZ150 (with the Spiderman 3 desktop background) had roughly 88-90 processes running at any given time without having any applications open. I now have under 40 with clean installation and all my favorite programs and antivirus installed.

 

Well thats good to know.

If I used my vista ultimate dvd and use the key on the back of the unit, do you think it'll allow me to do a clena install of windows business? Then all I have to do is dload the sony software from teh website,right?

Yup took just about 15mins. The guy gave me this look like hurry up. Its not like he had anything left to do since the store is closing anyways.

 

Heh, for some reason that reminds me, they have a saying in retail that goes along the lines of, to the customer, every minute they spend waiting they consider like 5 minutes.

You could just use a Windows Anytime Upgrade Disc and do it that way, as that's how most of us here at NBR did the clean install as it's mentioned in the many guides here. As for the Vista Ultimate Disc you have, if you can delay entering in the key until AFTER the OS is installed (which is the point of the WAU Disc), then you should basically be able to do it. Microsoft gives 30 days before they require activation with the WAU DVD, which is why I mention that. Use the ABR Utillity to copy your Business key before you reformat for the clean installation. If you use the key on the bottom of the computer, I hear you need to call Microsoft and explain why you are activating, but they should let you.

Of course, this is assuming you can go back to Vista Business from Ultimate. I'm not sure that's possible.

 

well before I start getting too hyped. I hope others will try and turn it on and give up on the laptop so I can buy it at 50%. Or hope too. I like the color. Its that goldish looking one.