why SONY laptop?

I don't check prices normally but I know SONY's laptops are very often more expensive

What's its advantage over laptops of other brands? Just because of the name SONY? Look more cool?

Or does it make a better quality laptop

 

Sony has sold its laptop branch in 2014 but the VAIOs are continued to be produced by a spin-off company without the Sony brand.

VAIO pcs have been popular for their high quality and leading edge. I'm not sure about how they are doing today, but it looks like they continue to be high quality, but also more expensive than competitors.

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I miss the Sony Vaio laptops, especially the flagship Z model. Ever since Sony sold the Vaio brand, I haven't been a part of the Sony forums. Miss you guys. I've been over MacRumors.com under user ET iPhone Home. Come visit. I'm loving my MBA. It's not a Z, but it's the best alternative that works for me.

 

After you own a high end Sony Vaio you will see why.

 

The VPCZ1 was the best in its class when it was launched in 2010. I'm still using mine. Not many laptops last this long, but this is still running, and is still better than the current entry and mid level models from the competition. To replace this I will need to get another high end model, like HP Envy 14 series, or Dell XPS, or the new Razer Blade 14 if I win the lottery or something - that thing costs a bundle.

 

I imagine the boss of Sony was thinking in a same way as Steve Jobs, let's make our product overpriced, so people think it is good. The only problem was, it didn't stand out from the competitors and thats what got the Vaio division.

The laptops were great but again, marketing was horrible. Literally i only found about Vaio models when i stumbled in Sony related shop. And i already knew the support will be horrible which turned out to be truth. A year later my warranty claim over peeling keyboard surrounding was denied over absurd reason. Apparently you can't add 8GB ram yourself, a Sony certified technician has to do it.

Either way Sony screwed himself in the long run by beeing greedy.

 

Sony tried to close source Vaio and use more and more proprietary connectors. But they overstepped, because they don't make processors, they don't make operating systems, heck they only copy others sometimes.

 

Actually, Sony screwed themselves by bringing out budget laptops. They should have stuck to their niche - premium laptops. They used to have a very good reputation, which they squandered by putting out several ranges of cheap laptops which could not compete in their respective market segments.

 

Agree with anytimer. I have VPCZ13 with 512Gb SSD and i7. They probably made this laptop end of 2009. This laptop, if you think about it, is what 8 years old but still can kick ass of most new low-midium end laptops now. The amount of hardware mine packs is amazing: GPS unit, WAP card so you can just plug in your phone sim card in, bluetooth, a ton of ports and an option to install any 2.5 inch HD instead of CD drive.
I use mine to do some serious development and run Oracle 12c server, MySQL and a few apache and java servers at the same time to do the work and it runs just fine plus use CUDA.
Also a few people are saying you can actully install 16gb of RAM into it. It will be even more amazing.
If I can bump RAM to 16GB will probably use mine another 3-5 years for sure.

Only possible replacements I see are DELL Precision 5000 series or Lenovo ThinkPad X1 but X1 doesn't have nVidia card. So if you do CUDA development, you are better with Precision 5000.

 

The downsides with the VPCZ13 are that doesn't have USB 3.0 and used PWM to control screen brightness.

 

I got the new Vaio Z clamshell and I think the quality is just as good as when it was Sony if not better. The price though I think it is even higher, unfortunately for Vaio if they want to survive in the highly competitive low margin laptop market, especially since the merger with Toshiba and Fujitsu fell apart.

The base price for Vaio Z that I have is 1499, with i5-6267u, 8gb Ram, 256gb NVME and full hd screen is way more than the competition. With the 200 dollars rebate offered last month, it was a bit more palatable. The main difference from this laptop to the competition is the Iris graphics 550 with the 28 watt chip, which pretty much only the new MacBook pro coming out in a few days will have. The Intel graphics 550, for an integrated graphics, is actually pretty good, comparable to the Nvidia GT 940m. Since the laptop is very light at 2.58lbs and thin, the fans get pretty loud though if pushed hard.
So priced at the MacBook pro level, it will be hard for Vaio to compete. I mean compared to the MacBook pro with haswell chips, it is worth it with the $200 rebate, but after the release of the new MacBook pro with skylake chips, it will be a very hard sell, unless it is deeply discounted.

 

I guess I have loyalty to the Vaio brand just as many do to Apple. By the way, I absolutely despise Apple.

I've liked how Vaio has pioneered many features that laptops use to this day, such as being the first to use switchable graphics, glossy displays, chicklet/island keyboards, LED backlit displays, etc.

 

Then, what is the reason why they didn't succeed?

 

part of the answer l think is that their sales went down with the overall market decline of laptops and pcs including Microsoft struggling to compete with the rise of the mobile smartphone and tablet devices.

If Sony was clever, they would get back on the train ASAP and come forward with more innovative solutions then MS.

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I and my wife have so many Sony Vaio, 2 unit of T Series 12", three Z series, i don't remember the oldest model, then move to VPCZ1 and last 4 years is SVZ13, the latest one with i7 quad core.

- 8 years ago, Sony has produced the T series, with the beauty and technology now you can see at Dell XPS 12", and Surface (of course 8 years ago they don't have flip screen).

- 6 years ago, they can pack a power horse i7 together with nVidia card inside a 13.1" laptop, the VPCZ1 series, which now you cannot find anyone can make it at the same screen size.

- 4 years ago they put a quad core i7 into a 13.1" laptop, the SVZ13 series, that you also cannot find any similar one right now.

- Today, no more Sony name, but Vaio they can make the Z Canvas series 12" with quad core i7 and dedicate graphic chipset (if my memory serve me right), that you also cannot find any maker can make it with today technology.

- Nowadays, my last SVZ13 is 4 years old already, I really want to find a better one to repace, but fail, completely fail, i need quad core i7 in a business platform 13 inches. I check all review websites every quater, year after year, but they always disappoint me, nothing to buy, anyone can show me a model?

Sony Technology, i think, is exceptional and at least 5 years advance compare to other laptop makers, but they don't know how to make it a trend like Apple, that's a regret for everyone who has once falled in love with Sony Laptop.

 

Apple stuck to the premium segment of the market. Sony got greedy and tried to get into the lower end of the market as well. It failed, because others were better at making good, low cost laptops. This destroyed the excellent brand reputation the premium models had so painstakingly earned.

 

Greedy, messy and none modularization.

Messy, i dont know if the english word is right or wrong, but i mean a way of none standardized, espcially in software development. With every model, they use different set of drivers, system component, system app, even the names are not unique, keep changing year after year, don't know when it should be "sony something" or "vaio something".

Some models u see "notebook utility", but with the others you may see "vaio control center".

Some models need "vaio event" to work, some other they packed in in "control center"

Some countries they wrote "Sony setting utility series", some others they wrote "Sony setting utility program"

Not mention about making user confused but the labor force and expenses they need to maintain this inconsistency, messy style operation, could be 3 times of what it should be, that's why they cannot be competitive and profit is not enough to feed a huge development team.

 

I know Sony Vaio succeed in some Asia market but this brand didn't gain much revenue in all over the world, so Sony decided to make an end.
I'm using Samsung laptop but still have great passion for Sony laptop

 

Vaio Z Canvas is best machine I've owned, even though not Sony.

 

The Z Canvas actually has Iris Pro integrated graphics, not a dGPU, nevertheless quite an amazing piece of engineering cramming a quad core in a tablet form.
They are probably up for an upgrade, since the current model runs haswell still, probably why they are discounted around 700 bucks now. The new Iris Pro in the skylake chips are pretty impressive for an integrated graphics, quite a performance gain over the last haswell and broadwell Iris Pro models. I have the vaio z clam with iris 550, which I not the Iris pro with quad core, but a dual core 28w instead of the usual 15w, same as the one in the new macbookpro 13" with touchbar, and it performs better than the Geforce 940m. Intel finally got performance gains on their integrated graphics to compete with the low tier NVidia dGPU, but then soon after came pascal...and intel has to work very hard to get close to that.[/QUOTE]

 

Sony is having a hard time making money for awhile in electronics....I mean they always lost money in laptop business, now even in the television division, and in the smartphone segment they loose a lot and hasn´t made a dent in the market share....they make money in the Playstation division, perhaps cameras (don´t know)....
So basically Sony loses money on every gadget it sells, which is kind of strange.
but their cash cow is actually insurance, and they make money with movies and music.

 

I like my Vaio Z clam, and liked my Sony Vaios in the past....but they insist on premium prices when they don´t have the selling power of Apple for that. Vaio, as independent, is very small, probably surviving because of the japanese market....and since the merger with Toshiba and Fujistu collapsed I wonder how long they can survive. The PC business is a low margin one now (except for Apple maybe) and with sales declining, you need volume to compensate, so the big ones are dominating and merging even more....lenovo, HP, dell.....I mean even Asus and Acer might have to merge with each other or someone soon.
The Vaio Z with the recent rebates are a decent value but at retail price, basically apple price, don´t know if they sell enough.

 

I doubt they will ever put a quad core in the Vaio Z clam, because the thermals with the 28watt chip with Iris 550 is not great....I frequently see the chip temperature going over 90C....and the fans get really loud, I mean louder than gaming laptops like the razer blade I have. I did open up the laptop and placed thermal pads on the CPU/Graphics and on the heat pipes....and it helped a lot....temperatures now reach 87C maximum.....and firestrike score went up a bit towards 1550...which is impressive for an integrated graphics....better than most Geforce 940m.....only the GGDR5 940MX version performs a bit better in benchmarks.
I still don´t know how they managed a quad core in the Canvas...never see one...wonder how the thermals are like.