Still satisfied with my Sony Z, having it since March 18th. I bought it having given up on the Macbook air update, which still is yet to come. However I would consider selling it if and when the Macbook Air update does come.
Gripes?
Does not run OSX
Will crash with the GPU switch engaged whil watching Hulu movies. This is easily remedied by switching to Stamina mode however.
Speakers too small.
Raves?
Love the power of a Macbook Pro GPU in a 3 lb package. Heat is not a problem and fan noise is not a problem for me as I use the included noise cancelling headphones when playing games or watching movies. Any little bit of fan noise anyone else hears the heck with them. It connects via USB or by Wifi to my iPhone 4 using MyWi on my unlimited data contract.
As long as I have my 3 year warranty for the Z any problems with it are covered and I can take it to a nearby SonyStyle store in the Mall. I'm not concerned since I had a previous Sony 11" laptop which lasted a few years till I sold it. It had no faults until accidental screen damage which was even fixed without charge. I did not tell them the dust lodged inside the screen was accidental though.
So I am glad I went this way; I'd be still sitting on the fence close to six months now waiting on the MBA update. Sure I'd love to have OSX and Windows 7 in one package, but I can easily do without OSX till I get home to my Macbook Pro desktop replacement while the Z goes with me on the road.
Interesting, I couldn't dump mine fast enough. The Z fell short on things that are important to me from a day to day user experience point of view, very poor screen, bad viewing angles, dark area's, the film they use is sub par to the xbrite display, I prefer the 13" MBP keyboard, and trackpad too.
Didn't notice it did anything better than my 13" MBP, Plex, hulu, video and all the business tasks I do including technical design all go at about the same pace on either the super spec'd Sony or the MBP ... I'd notice a difference doing FCP work or or heavy 3D imaging of course, but that's what my office Mac Pro is for. For productivity I do like the 13.3" screen much more than Sony's stubby 13.1" display, vertical real estate is important for computing tasks, the 13.1 is great for movies, entertainment sure.
But isn't the Sony Z marketed to 'business executives' who for the most part to be able to afford a machine like this are likely in their 30, 40's 50's ... just about the age where reading text starts to get difficult ... What does Sony do? The put in a sub par hi-res AG screen, default the DPI to 125% to ensure the fonts look even stranger and they're still too small.
Other than "power" what a clusterfu*ck of a mismatched laptop, marketed to who, for what? A great example of the Topic "How Sony Lost It's Way" google it, it makes great reading, it's obvious to me the new Sony Z's are a good example of this.
That being said, if Sony had of done just one key thing, that being putting an "excellent" display on the Z I would of bought mine, kept it and made it work until a new better ultra portable came along. I can get past anything but it's display no way, very unfortunate.
