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***Sony Vaio Z*** Stone-cold killer! It's going to be Apple Vs Sony for Arrandale imo
- Thread starter Jobsian
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Sakuma said, "the BIOS tuning controls the rotation of the fan. Performance Balancer then slows down the performance before the fan can become noisy when CPU is loaded by than certain degree. I think that customers, who care about the quietness, will be satisfied with this two-step control. Though some parts generate noise when SpeedStep activates and the voltage changes, we also redesigned the coil and condenser of the VAIO Z to further reduce noise. And of course, we employed a fluid-bearing hard disk, which makes very little noise. VAIO Z is the first notebook that we completely focused on quietness within the basic panel."
More info on how VAIO Z design tackles noise issue here.
But then of course VAIO Z already has the same or better specs
But seriously, that design would win me over. More than happy to dish out $4500-$5000 for that baby.
JKCT -- Thanks for your report. The Vaio Z does indeed sound exciting. I post to say that your reason for watching BD movies on a 13 inch screen, because you can, is the most logical explanation posted at MacRumors yet. With all the uproar going on around here lately concerning Apple's refusal to make BD burners available for its computers, your rationale for having one has been the most sensible one I have seen.Full HD movies are so sharp and detailed. Why would you watch a blu ray movie on a 13 inch some might say? because you can
Finally, windows 7 just isnt that bad. It does what it is supposed to, looks alright and is fast. One practical scenario is launching Word. It takes the Vaio Z around 1.5 seconds to launch that app compared to about 6 seconds on my mid 2009 with SSD. Matlab takes 8 seconds launch on the Vaio compared to 25 seconds in the Unix version on the Mac.
Finally, for the past month, I have been running Windows 7 in a Fusion virtual machine on my MBP. I agree that it is decent and in some respects excellent and has by far the best UI MS has ever offered.
Lifequest: im sorry but that design is UGLY. features are nice though! it reminds me of the dell laptops... YUK.
Vaio Z - user experience.
I went to see a Vaio Z at Microcenter yesterday and my first impressions were not that great - to the extent that I've made up my mind to buy a macbook pro when they come out with the new revisions.
Pros:
1) Keyboard is really sexy and easy to type on.
2) Switchable graphics were really cool.
Cons:
1) The screen flexes quite a bit and is quite thin - probably since it is only 3lbs. I would rather have a more well made product rather than something that feels like sometimes plastic at that price.
3) The trackpad was really small.
4) For asthetic reasons, I didn't like the raised portion by the trackpad below the keyboard, which is common from what I see in VAIO notebooks.
I went to see a Vaio Z at Microcenter yesterday and my first impressions were not that great - to the extent that I've made up my mind to buy a macbook pro when they come out with the new revisions.
Pros:
1) Keyboard is really sexy and easy to type on.
2) Switchable graphics were really cool.
Cons:
1) The screen flexes quite a bit and is quite thin - probably since it is only 3lbs. I would rather have a more well made product rather than something that feels like sometimes plastic at that price.
3) The trackpad was really small.
4) For asthetic reasons, I didn't like the raised portion by the trackpad below the keyboard, which is common from what I see in VAIO notebooks.
Flimsiness would worry me, too. The thing I loved most about my old Powerbook G4, which I bought 7 years ago and still have, was its incredible sturdiness. Fortunately, The Macbook Pro, with which I replaced the G4 as my main computer, is just as well made.
If you read over at notebooreview.com you'll find a LOT of unhappy Z owners....
Sounds like the same problems I had with the Z's I owned over the last few years, heat, noise .... it's a good read.
I've never read as many complaints on the MBP's or MBA, not even close...
That has to say something.
Sounds like the same problems I had with the Z's I owned over the last few years, heat, noise .... it's a good read.
I've never read as many complaints on the MBP's or MBA, not even close...
That has to say something.
I haven't seen any complaints about heat, most of the complaints are about fan noise. A few people disagree and say the fan is actually quiet, but it may be just that people have different tolerances, or perhaps some actually have defective fans. In any case it seems likely that we will find more complaints about heat against the MBPs and more complaints about fan noise against the Vaio Z. And that is exactly the tradeoff we would expect. As to which is preferred, between good cooling and quietness, I suppose that's a personal preference.
My gf lives with me and she has an imac and mbp which i use quite alot. I personally own a vaio Z albeit the ver. before this. So i can confidently say that i'm relatively un-bias of my opinion.
I love OSX. It is heaps more streamlined than windows vista or xp can ever be. It is even more streamlined than windows 7. I recently upgraded my vista to win7 on my vaioZ and i must say that it is actually not too bad.
Her Mbp, she just got it half a year ago. My vaio Z 1 and half years ago, yet our specs are the same. 2.53ghz blah blah blah. When i do use her mbp, i do wish quite a number of times that she had an hdmi port. I've dropped my Z quite a number of times. I'm a college student and i carry my Z everywhere, its light and durable. I chuck it in my bag, no protector, nothing, dump it in the back of my car, it is made to be abused. The mbp however, it always seem that i have to carefully carry it around, plus it weighs a ton. It already has 2 dents and numerous scratches, not that my Z has no scratches, but the mbp feels like it has to be baby-ed.
I can confidently drop my Z from the height of 1 metre and nothing happens. In fact my gf did it twice just to see if its true, still works, nothing wrong with it. Now what do u think would happen if u drop a mbp from that height, or even from a height of half a metre.
The Z is perfect for me, I think its perfect for a business person on the go or a college student like me who does the occasional gaming or photo editing or sometimes need the cpu power to process intensive programs. I'm not saying that Z is perfect for everyone, but it is an amazing laptop.
So heres what i think, if u want osx, larger screen, dun intend to move around much, go ahead and get a mbp. If ur someone who travels alot, i take my Z everywhere on holidays, just check it in with my luggage or carry it in my backpack and never have to worry what would happen to my laptop. Wants a equivalently powerful laptop, definitely get a Z. Its crazy light and durable. The screen quality is amazing and eventhough the screen size is small, i've learned to live and love it.
its not that expensive if u go for the HDD version.
I love OSX. It is heaps more streamlined than windows vista or xp can ever be. It is even more streamlined than windows 7. I recently upgraded my vista to win7 on my vaioZ and i must say that it is actually not too bad.
Her Mbp, she just got it half a year ago. My vaio Z 1 and half years ago, yet our specs are the same. 2.53ghz blah blah blah. When i do use her mbp, i do wish quite a number of times that she had an hdmi port. I've dropped my Z quite a number of times. I'm a college student and i carry my Z everywhere, its light and durable. I chuck it in my bag, no protector, nothing, dump it in the back of my car, it is made to be abused. The mbp however, it always seem that i have to carefully carry it around, plus it weighs a ton. It already has 2 dents and numerous scratches, not that my Z has no scratches, but the mbp feels like it has to be baby-ed.
I can confidently drop my Z from the height of 1 metre and nothing happens. In fact my gf did it twice just to see if its true, still works, nothing wrong with it. Now what do u think would happen if u drop a mbp from that height, or even from a height of half a metre.
The Z is perfect for me, I think its perfect for a business person on the go or a college student like me who does the occasional gaming or photo editing or sometimes need the cpu power to process intensive programs. I'm not saying that Z is perfect for everyone, but it is an amazing laptop.
So heres what i think, if u want osx, larger screen, dun intend to move around much, go ahead and get a mbp. If ur someone who travels alot, i take my Z everywhere on holidays, just check it in with my luggage or carry it in my backpack and never have to worry what would happen to my laptop. Wants a equivalently powerful laptop, definitely get a Z. Its crazy light and durable. The screen quality is amazing and eventhough the screen size is small, i've learned to live and love it.
its not that expensive if u go for the HDD version.
Wait, what? This is flat out not true. If we're talking about the new Z11, 99.9% of the posts on notebookreview are extremely positive.
I would slap the living daylights out of anyone who did that to my laptop, regardless of it 'being able' to take it or not.
Really? I haven't really seen many complaints about the vaio z especially the most recent one.
I've owned a macbook pro (every revision except the first and most recent one) for about 3 years now and just recently switched to the new vaio z after waiting 3 months (sold my mbp back in jan) for apple to refresh it's mbp line (still hasn't happened). I'm gonna say that I have no regrets of getting the new vaio z. The only thing I do miss is the mbp's trackpad but that's about it. Both machines are very well built and extremely durable however, I've always been bothered by the weight and size of the 15" mbp so when the new 13.1" vaio z was released I knew that I would end up considering getting it. I'm still amazed at how sony managed to cram the specs it has into a 13.1" laptop while still having it run very cool.
When I was researching 13 inch laptops, I eliminated the MBP from consideration because it was too heavy compared to the MBA, and now the sony Vaio Z, which weighs only about 3 pounds. I was also turned off by the relatively low resolution of the 13 inch MBA's graphics card, especially when compared to the Vaio Z's.
I still want a 13 inch machine but not the Z because I need OS X, not the MBA because of its limited 2Gb of RAM, and not the MBP for the reasons stated above. Thus, I won't be buying until I see what Apple's updates to its laptop line turn out to be.
Uhh... how does you owning a Z and your girlfriend owning a Macbook Pro make you unbiased? Obviously, for ego reasons, you'd want to defend your own purchase creating bias.
Uhhh, care to give an example as to when? Considering you have another laptop and an iMac around, I highly doubt you consistently find yourself in situations when you're like "omgz must plug this into my TV".
Admitting you have a problem is a good first step.
Expensive, tiny laptops are definitely NOT made to be abused. A Toughbook is made to be abused.
Perhaps the fact that it's not your computer makes you feel like you need to be more careful with it. Any rational human being would feel that way. And no, it doesn't weigh a ton. Macbooks/Pros are some of the lightest/thinnest laptops on the market.
I can confidently say you should not be doing that.
I completely agree with your decision. I really wanted to wait and see what apple had to offer but unfortunately I sold my mbp and bought a crappy netbook (temporary use) in early Jan thinking the macbook pros would be updated soon. The more I waited for the mbps to be updated, the more I couldn't stand using a crappy netbook, just doing basic web surfing, listening to music, and using ms word was a living nightmare.
I bought one 3/13/2010 it is a really amazing notebook. I am however selling it due to no other reason besides its really overkill for my needs and i do miss OSX. I love the optional dock and wish all macbooks had a true docking station. The Z is fast, backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad (though apples is better), amazing screen (come on apple 13" with a res bump!). Its a killer machine but at $2100 for the machine and dock its overkill for my basic photo needs and web browsing. anyone interested
I think it looks great. The wedge shape though would reduce the space for that 12-14 hour battery.
I am counting my blessings, despite Apple's long delay in updating the Macbook lineup. My MBP with 6Gb of RAM has become the best computer I've ever owned. It runs all the apps I want to run and lets me keep them open on the OS X desktop. Miracle of miracles, this includes multiple Windows 7 apps, thanks to VMware Fusion running in Unity mode. Now, if Apple finally comes out with an updated MBA that will let me do everything with it, I now do with my MBP, I'll be a happy camper.I completely agree with your decision. I really wanted to wait and see what apple had to offer but unfortunately I sold my mbp and bought a crappy netbook (temporary use) in early Jan thinking the macbook pros would be updated soon. The more I waited for the mbps to be updated, the more I couldn't stand using a crappy netbook, just doing basic web surfing, listening to music, and using ms word was a living nightmare.
Apple still wins
I was a Vaio user about 6-7 years ago before switching to mac. I always thought sony designed great looking products and still do. However not sold on this one. I love the materials and finish but the body design is just not up to the standard of MBP. Also its the little flourishes that apple add like MagSafe and even down to how the actual cables feel help give it the edge. Can't compare specs yet but the fact i love OSX to much to ever go back to Windows also makes MBP a no brainer.
I was a Vaio user about 6-7 years ago before switching to mac. I always thought sony designed great looking products and still do. However not sold on this one. I love the materials and finish but the body design is just not up to the standard of MBP. Also its the little flourishes that apple add like MagSafe and even down to how the actual cables feel help give it the edge. Can't compare specs yet but the fact i love OSX to much to ever go back to Windows also makes MBP a no brainer.