New Sony VAIO Z Ultraportable Revealed Discussion

Sony's much-anticipated VAIO Z ultraportable notebook has been uncovered. It features a 13-inch hi-res screen, a Core i7 processor, and an external graphics card.

Read the full content of this Article: New Sony VAIO Z Ultraportable Revealed

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Can't imagine a more disappointing evolution of such a superb piece of work with the benefit of a year's worth of advanced technology. Hard to imagine who would trade their Z1 series for this, for $3,000 US with a GPU and DVD. But that's just me.

 

Besides the astronomical price (based on the UK configurator, and the dollar : pound exchange rate), I am extremely impressed and very excited. I don't need the DVD drive on my Z when I am on the go. Nor do I care to switch to Speed Mode for NVIDIA graphics (except when I need to use HDMI). So, I think the removal of the optical drive and power-hungry GPU to save on weight and thickness is brilliant. I also love the slice battery option. And 1080P screen

I just hope I can afford to upgrade when this is released in the US. At the very least, the basic Power Media Dock should be included at these insane price levels.

 

UK prices are generally higher for the same spec as US prices

 

Yes, they are. Let's hope that in this case, they are A LOT higher.

 

I would have preferred a more powerful external GPU

 

honestly, its not going to be cheaper than the Z1#s

 

Apparently the media dock connects to the Z using a Thunderbolt connection. Unless it is some proprietary connector, that port should be useful for connecting storage devices as well.

At any rate, I like the idea behind this notebook a lot. Hardly anyone except gamers makes use of a dedicated GPU so separate it out, get a thinner and cooler-running notebook. Makes sense to me.

I am pleased to see they kept the 1080p screen option.

 

I'm not expecting it to be. I just don't want to see the price be significantly higher than previous Z models.

Also, from what I have read, the Thunderbolt connection IS proprietary...

 

Very nice! Gonna wait until thin-and-light notebooks are the norm next year until I take the plunge with the new VAIO Z. Hopefully prices would drop by then, 20% performance increase with Ivy Bridge too. Perhaps they'd see the necessity to include a higher-end GPU with the next refresh?

 

Not true. IMO this laptop, being so pricey, is geared toward business use. Most business travellers also have an office where they don't want to stare at a tiny screen. I prefer plenty of desktop (27" or 30" screen, and not at 1080 resolution either). But, even with the higher end GPU Sony didn't take advantage of it's capabilities through Displayport, Dual-link DVI, or even HDMI 1.3. They are still holding on to VGA connections....seriousy!!! I don't think I've heard anyone lately say, "I prefer the fuzzy look of my VGA connection on my digital display, besides it's so fun to play around with all those settings I paid for on my display to get it to look right with a VGA connection."

And then the wireless display!!!! Wow, is that stupid or what!!! I undestand the appeal, but how many companies with any information worth protecting are going to allow that obvious security red flag! On a personal level, I would never consider displaying my information wirelessly.

This is a disappointment. Sony is out of touch and doesn't listen to it's consumers (even to the one's that post directly on their own website!).

I doubt I'd buy a Sony laptop again.

 

The concept is great, though the dock is pretty expensive considering it doesn't even have a DVD drive.

1. Business users still need VGA.
2. So you don't use wireless internet ever? If so, you're probably the only one in the world that has a mobile device without using the wireless capabilities.

 

It does have an optical drive in the dock, but it's still expensive...

 

1. Business users need VGA. Its still sadly the standard.
2. Thinkpads have wireless display, I'm pretty sure current Latitudes and EliteBooks do too. Its a feature of Intel graphics, its not like you are forced to use it, its just there for those who want to use it.

 

27-30" screen in laptop? Nice mobility
You probably meant external display but then I don't know what's bother you with the internal one (which is one of the main advantages of this laptop)? Btw. this laptop does have hdmi plug (I don't know which version). if you are so clever try connect laptop without VGA plug to projector in most of conference rooms out there.

I read a review of this laptop and it has some disadvantages which should definitely be avoided at this rank. Main are: really crappy speakers, kind of poor touchpad and keyboard also had some not too good ergonomics (at least subjective by the reviewer). Placement of security thumb scanner is also weak point. One will activate it accidentally quite often.
Above could be left unnoticed if we have spoken about half-a-price laptop.

From my scope of view main disadvantages are:

1. lack of dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdown keys - there is plenty of space to add another column with those, like it was f.e. in VAIO SZ
2. no linux support - like always from Sony. And probably a lot of trouble with their unsupported custom hardware solutions. Wondering if PowerDock will work at least, but strongly doubt it (ofc Sony wouldn't been itself if they had implemented standard ThunderBolt).
3. soldered RAM into mobo - One can order with 8GB (and overpay ofc), but what's next? I have VAIO SZ for almost 4 years now. I bought it with 2GB, I upgraded it to 4GB some time ago and later I upgraded it to 8GB (despites both Sony and Intel claimed total max is 4 for this model). When I'm spending 2k$+ for a laptop I would like to use it for long time and I'm sure that 8GB won't be enough for my usage in year or two (I'm also sure if they made normal 2 SODIMM slots it would be upgradeable up to 16GB despites specs, like previously).
4. price - I wouldn't bother and just pay it if not everything mentioned above. Of course I would import it from USA anyway. Where one can buy this laptop with PowerDock cheaper then in the UK without it.

Still this is great piece of technology. Separating optical disc drive and 3D accelerator in external module is really good idea (pity it's not attachable like additional battery sheet instead of some desk stand-on).
I would consider to buy it anyway (from USA ofc) when anyone test linux compatibility with major success.

Speaking of this I think price would be quite affordable if on the US market was an option without PowerDock available ( there isn't such now) and without Windows

Well, probably tired waiting for linux success story and considering price vs disadvantages I'll order Asus U36SD-A1 customized with i7 and Vertex 3 which won't stay behind this VAIO when speaking about performance. Pity it has this poor glass LCD with totally crappy resolution 1366x768 as every 13-incher out there right now (seriously w.t.f?!).

 

The whole reason people are making a mess over the HDMI output on the PMD, and HDMI being the only digital output:

The type of business/professional user willing to shell out 2000usd+ for a single laptop will likely also have a 27-30" display with 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 resolution. Since AMD and Intel's HDMI implementation does not support anything over 1920x1200@60Hz (despite claims of HDMI 1.4 support), DP is required, or at the very least, DL-DVI. Both are missing from any bit of the Z2 and the PMD. A glaring omission in a 2000usd+ setup, IMO.

It was one of the little reasons that swayed me away from getting a Z2 over my (already purchased) SC, since my U2711 is my primary @ home workspace, and having used it @ 1080p (better scaling than 1200p) for a while, it's just painful when my desktop supports it's native 2560x1440.

Speaking of which, I'm wondering if ASUS is willing to use the TF101's 10.1" 1280x800 IPS display in anything other than the Transformer tablet... The N10 series can use a serious refresh (still rockin' a n10j on the side, here Switchable GeForce GPU, too!).