[Merged] Sony VAIO Z Series Notebooks

[Maven1975]

Uh, don't know what the heck you're talking about because the Z's screen is worse than the MBP, I'll explain..
While the Z has an amazing screen, very bright, very crisp and colors are rich, the problem is the horizontal viewing angles are very poor. The Z needs to be viewed spot on in order for it to look good. If two people look at it together it will appear yellowish because of the color shift.
True, both the MBP and the Sony have color shift due to being TN panels but the MBP has a much wider horizontal viewing angle before the color begins to shift and when it does shift it's very slight vs. how yellow the Z becomes.

Also you need to compare the matte version of the MBP because the Z (at least the ones I've tested) come with an antiglare screen. The glossy MBP's look different than the matte. The matte has a more natural look in terms of color uniformity. Take your Z to an Apple store and compare it to one of the antiglare MBP's.

The Z's 1600 & 1080p screens are better. The colors are insane on the 1080p. Although, smaller offering higher PPI. To comfortably use the 1080p screen, you have to scale the DPI on most apps. Some can hand with the tiny print, buy most cant. However, movies and photos look stunning.

 

[JoeG4]

The Z1 was a friggin awesome laptop, the Z2 may be thinner but I don't like it at all -_- It's about as good as a MBA with a higher res screen (reason enough! But the MBA's screen is ALMOST high enough res)

a year and a half in with my Vaio F, and I at times wish I had never bought it. Oh well.

 

[entatlrg]

HLdan

Very good post, very well said. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

You basically wrote what I experienced in my last two Z's. Particularly the screen and build quality, track pad ...

I even went to the lengths of pleading with Sony to allow me to exchange the Z ... I thought, hoped, tried to believe the second one was better with regards to the screen etc but it wasn't....

I just wasted more time trying to convince myself that I could make it work, "it had to just be me, it can't be that bad" but it is.

It's one of the electrics purchases I regret most, I did it in 2009 and was disappointed, I (foolishly) tried it again this year considering all the hype around it only to be more disappointed. Costly mistake(s).

Considering a Sony? Read what HLdan wrote above first, it's bang on with my experience as well.

I nearly did it again this year to check out the redesign ... this time I checked it out thoroughly at the Sony store ... saw that the screen still sucks and that was it.

 

[Osamede]

The Z1 is much better than the Z2. Sonys PMD does not allow you to game because of poor drivers and suspect design. I have owned both, and while my Z2 booted faster than any other machine I have used, (MBA Included) a used or refurb Z1 with a modded bios is better performer overall.

BTW...I was the first on NBR to post about the SD card slot issue.

Could you detail a bit more on why you think the Z2 is not as good as the Z1?
- hardware?
- OS/drivers?

 

[fr4c]

The Z's 1600 & 1080p screens are better. The colors are insane on the 1080p. Although, smaller offering higher PPI. To comfortably use the 1080p screen, you have to scale the DPI on most apps. Some can hand with the tiny print, buy most cant. However, movies and photos look stunning.

I can't say for sure on the 1080p panel, but the 1600 panel (default screen) on the Z is not better than the 1680 panel on the MBP. Again the viewing angles (horizontal color shift) on the Z is pretty noticeable, so unless you're looking straight on, the screen is a major boo-boo on a otherwise excellent machine.

 

[entatlrg]

Hey fr4c, what notebook did you end up with?

 

[Osamede]

I can't say for sure on the 1080p panel, but the 1600 panel (default screen) on the Z is not better than the 1680 panel on the MBP. Again the viewing angles (horizontal color shift) on the Z is pretty noticeable, so unless you're looking straight on, the screen is a major boo-boo on a otherwise excellent machine.

massive colour shift was not apparent on my Z12. But even if it had been, it hard to imagine the use case of a 13" laptop as the user looking at the screen from funny angles - its an easily adjustable creen on a laptop. That's why Apple uses TN screens on laptop - for that purpose as long as you have a good quality TN screen you're fine - and that's the case for both MBP and the Z.

My only beef with that 1600x900 screen was that it was blindingly bright. I think I had it on the lowest setting most of the time. Other than that, it was superb. Very crisp.

 

[fr4c]

massive colour shift was not apparent on my Z12. But even if it had been, it hard to imagine the use case of a 13" laptop as the user looking at the screen from funny angles - its an easily adjustable creen on a laptop. That's why Apple uses TN screens on laptop - for that purpose as long as you have a good quality TN screen you're fine - and that's the case for both MBP and the Z.

My only beef with that 1600x900 screen was that it was blindingly bright. I think I had it on the lowest setting most of the time. Other than that, it was superb. Very crisp.

Agree the screen was bright and crisp, but only at the right "angle". I felt as if the tolerance level for my Z was much more picky than my MBP, where I could simply just open up the lid and have pretty consistent screen performance no matter how forward/back I have the screen tilted. This was my only issue with the Vaio's TN panel, where I felt the constant need to tilt the screen in order to avoid the washed out colors when the screen was not aligned correctly.

Hey fr4c, what notebook did you end up with?

My main setup now is a Mac Pro/Mac Mini for desktop use, and the 13" MBP for on the road. I still have the Vaio Z at home and use it occassionally here and there