Sony VAIO FE and SZ Notebooks at CES 2006 (pics, specs)

COULDNT AGREE MORE! Sony is being a dog in the manger...

btw guys try pricing the dell 9400 and with a 2gb it come to $3426...So take a guess how much MORE the fully loaded SZ would be!

 

I am having some difficulties. Is there any difference in components between all of the SZ models short of the casing?

 

Yeah - but the 9400 is a 17" model and also the nVidia 7800 chip. I'm guessing the SZ160 P/C will be about $2400.

Ronaldheld - the Premium models come with the better casing and the whole unit is about .2" thicker and about half a pound heavier.

 

Thanks, I will have to look at those models when they become available.
How good is the SZ's graphics card for gaming?

 

its pretty decent, but if you are a hardcore gamer, look elsewhere *hint*sager*

 

Hi Guys, can't choose i need help!

This is my feary tale!!

By Christmas I was going for a Fujitsu Amilo Pentium M 760 2.0Ghz 1024Mo 100Go x700, then someone told me about the Core Duo that will be there in January, so i decided to wait for it, and now i saw that pretty FE11M, and immediately felt in love.

The only problem in this story is that the VAIO that i can afford (the FE11M) comes with a Dual Core 1.66GHz and i don't know what is better for me? the 1.66 Dual Core or a 2.0 Pentium M? I saw in some tests that at the same frequency the Dual is 2 times better than the PM but what about less frequency? by the way, this notebook is for CG, CAD... softs like Premiere, Photoshop, 3dsmax, AutoCAD...will be the main use of it.
What do u think should i buy the Fujitsu or wait for the Vaio?

 

the sz160's specs have been posted. they dont particularly set the house on fire

 

Its rather my wallet they set on fire... :budget:

 

I also noticed the main notebook page on SonyStyle says pre-order on the 24th now. But the SZ page still says the 17th.

 

Yeah I saw that, pretty odd (the dates - im still rooting for the 17th!) ...I also noticed that the specsheet posted for the FE here has no Geforce in it. While in reality there is a Geforce in the FE series.

 

What does pre-order mean? Also, when do you think you will get it if you order it on the 17?

 

After googling "A pre-order is a game or other product which has not yet been made available by the distributor. You can order a pre-order item and we will ship it to you when it becomes available. We do not charge your credit card until your order ships. The product release date is the best estimate as to when the product will become available."

 

Which means that its possible that people won't get the SZ for a couple more months.

 

I thought of that and well its worth it!

 

Hey everyone,

Looks like the pre-built system VGN-SZ160P/C Premium addition is almost ready for Pre-Order, that specific model now has it's own webpage, including a link to it from the main SZ page. This is the exact system I was looking to buy! Maybe they will post it on the 17th for preorder? Here is the link:

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...Mx9NOA7G_t1vK1wQbKVgU=?ProductSKU=VGNSZ160P/C

Cheers!

 

Thats been there for a few days now...

 

All the pages advertising the new Sony FE and SZ now say the 24th.

 

Yeah they do. Though they better not change it again man...I really need one of those...

 

everythings been moved back by a week to the 24th now! sad

 

I need power due to my job. 1 question;


Dual Core 1,66 GHZ or PM 2.0 sonoma?

 

What kind of power?

Cause the Duo is very powerful at many things and I would say in every way compared to the Sonoma.

Let me know what type of applications and I'll see what I can figure out for ya. I'm sure others here know as well... Just let us know what your doing.

-------------------------------
I'm actually deep in thought about buying the Sony VGN-SZ140, the SZ customized, spending around $2,000 on it.
I'm debating heavily, cause I'm a very picky customer.

Currently holding me back:

The price
What was said about the durability of the laptop (I'd like more info about this, what was said about the lid)
-----

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the system, just want to make sure I try and find the OEM/ODM first before I buy... currently it looks like Sony made this one.

Anyone else who is very picky like me and likes to analyze the heck out of things, please feel free to e-mail me or AIM me at < storm[remove.this]lifternet > and we'll bang heads..

Thanks....

 

I'm not sure what about the 7400 makes it not a gamer laptop.

I mean, World of Warcraft and Battlefield 2 are games, new ones at that and the 7400 will most likely play them at full graphics if paired with 2GB of system memory.

 

couldnt agree more...your em has been removed..can you repost it? did you find out who the oem is?

 

I ordered a customized SZ140 yesterday. Duo 2.0 GHz, 1 Gb x1 RAM, 80 Gb HD. Bluetooth and Webcam.

No DVD Burner and no Biometric Sensor.

I didn't want the memory overhead running the Biometric Sensor, and don't really need this machine to burn DVDs. I'll add more memory later.

I opted for the 2 year damage warranty.

Total came to 2,614.31.


I'll post a review once I get the thing. Supposed to ship 1/26/06.

Anyone know if a notebook SATA drive uses the standard SATA connector? I'd like to Ghost and partition the drive before I fire it up.

Jim
Retiring his old Z505RX

 

Opehelia Hardin,
What do you mean by saying "i didn't want the memory overhead running the biometric sensor" ?
I am about order mine and since biomentric sensor is just 30 bucks i was thinking to add that feature. and also another question: instead of getting 1gb X1 ram if i get 1Gb X2 512 what would be the difference.
Thanks

 

I'm assuming the sensor needs a program to interpret the fingerprint data, interface with programs and enter passwords.

I'd be willing to bet that consumes a good deal of system memory and CPU cycles which I'd rather use for other things.

If you get 2 x 512 Mb, you won't have an empty slot to add more memory later. With 1 x 1 Gb, I'll be able to add another 512 Mb or 1 Gb once my wallet recovers.

 

That's a good thought. Is there anyone who know this as a fact?

Thanks for the info regarding the memory slots. There is a big price difference between 2 x 512 mb and 1 x 1 gb. Hard to decide...

Thanks.

 

My Wife's Fujitsu S7020 has a fingerprint reader. I think it's pretty cool, but there are indeed caveats.

1. It's not that accurate. I don't know about teh Sony one, but I am betting its about the same. If it recognizes your fingerprint fine, but sometimes it doesn't... several times in a row and after the third time you have to reset it or enter the password manually. Which is kind of annoying. And it is not that uncomon for that to happen.

2. Startup takes much longer. I didn't really pay attention to RAM usage as it's not such an important issue for my wife, but I noticed the startup takes considerably longer.

 

If I buy a system witht he biometrics pre-installed, is there a way to disable it so I don't have to use it or have it load up everytime the system starts?

 

The first one to get his/her VAIO SZ or FE has the obligation to post reviews & pics

 

Yes, please. I am interested in how both handle games and other graphically intense tasks.

 

I found this thread very interesting! I actually just ordered a customized SZ140 yesterday. I am a little conserned about this alloy casing and what everyone is saying about the screen, hopefully I wont have any issues.

I ended up spending $1789.99 getting the Core Duo @ 1.86, 1x 512mb (I have a 1gig that I picked up from NewEgg.com for about 67 bucks), Camera/Bluetooth, 80gig HD and DVD Burner.

I currently have a Sony VAIO V505, so this will be quite the upgrade! Supposdly it should be shipped the 1st, I will let you all know how it turns out

 

You've got to run some serious benchmarks for us! I'm interested in the real-life battery life and some good graphics benchmarks with 1gb in the machine.

my "em" what do you mean by that?... anyways, no I havn't been able to find anything on the OEM, not sure one exists, mabye they do build one, who knows... I'm not giving up yet.

 

Does anyone know if the keyboard on the SZ is full size?

Also, I have pretty much no experience with sony laptops, hows the long term quality, and hows the service if you end up needing it?

 

Aw, shucks! I thought I was the only one with one of those things still in operation!

I'm retiring my PCG-Z505RX for this baby. The PCG-505TX stays in the living room to settle Jeopardy disputes in front of the TV.

Mine's supposed to ship on the 1st Feb., too.

Cross your fingers.

Jim

 

That shouldn't be a problem, at least on the S7020 it isn't. It requires special software to run it. If you dont like it just deinstall the software and you should be fine.

 

Currently buy.com the sz150,160's on their site, but not availible yet... So I'm asuming they'll be there.

the sz150 is $2,200 and sz160 is $2,400 give or take a few digits.

It looks like once Datavis.com gets their act together, they'll be the cheapest.

 

Sure I will! What ones do you want? I don't know how to do a lot of them, but if I am given some details I will more than gladly oblige

I don't think it quite full size, but I personally like the smaller keyboard that is on my V505, from the pictures I have seen it looks very similar.

I have gone through Dell's, Toshiba's, HP's and Compaq's in the past. The longest any of them lasted for me was 8 months I believe. When I got the Sony VAIO V505 in 2003 I wasn't planning on using it for Photoshop or any of my web design stuff, as I just assumed that it couldn't take it (being a small 13 inch, Celeron @ 1.8ghz (not Celeron M, just a Celeron!) with 512mb of memory. It did everything WONDERFULLY! At one point I was using that more than I was using my desktop!

The only flaw in that unit is the design on the power socket, it dosn't click in or anything and can easliy come unpluged, and when you are not using a battery that can put a damper in things! Otherwise I love that machiene and I even considered just replacing the DVD-ROM/CD-RW with a DVD-RW and continue on using it!

Actually the Z505 is older and a little bit different than the V505.... right? I have had mine for about 2 1/2 years, still works like a charm (the fan is getting a little loud on it), just want a little more power and dvd burner (I actually bought one of the FJ170's about a month ago, but ended up returning it due to screen burn in (on 2 different units!!))



I also found out that only the PREMIUM model of the SZ's will have the razor thin screen, and thoes are the ones that have the carbon fiber casing, so I not as worried about that anymore. Now the only real concern is the XBRITE screen, I just hope to god it is not the XBRITE-ECO, as I wont deal with that at all.

 

drooollll szz..


i dont care if it plays my games or not, i believe my new laptop might as well be this.

 

The video card on the SZ seems to be pretty powerful, why can't it play the better games out there?

Also, I found it annoying that they made their external card the 7300 why not the 7800 GTX? Its not in the laptop, why not let it be the best out there?

 

Hmm. The 'external' gfx is nvidia go 7400, not 7300. They didnt use the 7800 GTX coz of power consumption & heat issues.

 

FYI- just found out from Sony that they will not be shipping the SZ's until Feb. 17th!!! I am really annoyed by this, as I had to call and find this out. They also have not updated my order status area with this new date...

 

Yeah I found that out today, it is pretty darn obnoxious!

 

Anyone know when the FE laptops are supposed to start shipping?

Edit: For anyone else wondering, I called Sony's sales line earlier, and I was told the 7th for the FE, and the 15th for the SZ.

 

Thanks for the update mjgunn

 

Well I hope they throw in something extra for the ones that ordered and then got screwed cuz they can't figure out when they are going to have parts. But I know its never going to happen...

 

Just curious, I believe I read in the thread that someone said the premium model weighted more and was thicker?!? I would of thought the opposite...Is this confirmed?

 

He got it wrong. Premium model is lighter & thinner

 

do the FE's have Dedicated 256 MB Memory on the GeForce's. According to something I read a while back it said that they have 32 MB ded and the rest shared?

Whats the real deal on the FE's video cards?

 

I just got this email from SonyStyle:

So at least they are doing something...

~Riika