Actually, it does come with FireWire on the SonyStyle store, it's called iLink and is an option over having 3 usb ports (2 usb ports and iLink). Theres no charge for having one over the other.
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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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Actually, it does come with FireWire on the SonyStyle store, it's called iLink and is an option over having 3 usb ports (2 usb ports and iLink). Theres no charge for having one over the other.
FFS. The i5 starts at $1899.
The $4500 figure, reminds me of every PC guy I've met when I show them a Mac I'm looking at - the first thing they do is max out the specs and then freak out about how Apple is such a ripoff because a 27" i7 iMac with 16GB RAM costs $8000 (pulling this figure out of my ass).
The Sony is yes, 1.3" thick. It weighs the same as a MacBook Air. In other words, if someone dropped a Sony Z laptop in one hand, and a MacBook Air in the other hand, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
It has a Blu-Ray BURNER option, something Apple has yet to bother to even hint at. It has the i5/i7, something that Apple has yet to even bother to hint at - and is probably weeks away from at the very soonest. ><
How did Sony make their laptop so darn good without having to resort to making it weigh 4+lbs like a MacBook Pro? Why do they have a legit video chip when Apple can't bother to even give us last gen graphics anymore. It's kinda irritating. (Yes, I know the 330 is a rebadged 230, still)
The $4500 figure, reminds me of every PC guy I've met when I show them a Mac I'm looking at - the first thing they do is max out the specs and then freak out about how Apple is such a ripoff because a 27" i7 iMac with 16GB RAM costs $8000 (pulling this figure out of my ass).
The Sony is yes, 1.3" thick. It weighs the same as a MacBook Air. In other words, if someone dropped a Sony Z laptop in one hand, and a MacBook Air in the other hand, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
It has a Blu-Ray BURNER option, something Apple has yet to bother to even hint at. It has the i5/i7, something that Apple has yet to even bother to hint at - and is probably weeks away from at the very soonest. ><
How did Sony make their laptop so darn good without having to resort to making it weigh 4+lbs like a MacBook Pro? Why do they have a legit video chip when Apple can't bother to even give us last gen graphics anymore. It's kinda irritating. (Yes, I know the 330 is a rebadged 230, still)
Vaio Z is actually closer to 1"
Sony Z's trackpad is comparable to non-unibody MBP's one in size and surface quality. And only advantages current 15" MBP does have over Vaio Z are screen size (albeit lower resolution/quality), better speakers, FW800 port and 2560x1600 support.
Vaio Z on the other hand is much more feature-packed:
- Expresscard/34
- 3xUSB
- Proper SD/MS readers (card doesn't stick out)
- Docking station
- Optional 85Wh battery
- 8-bit panel (Full HD, probably non-TN)
- Special glossy/matte coating with antiglare properties
- FingerPrint reader
- Built-in 3G modem
- Intel Wi-Fi/Wi-Max compatible
- Blu-ray at least as an option
- 3 lbs.
Build quality/rigidity may be on par with unibody enclosure (depends on many factors)
I suppose you haven't ever seen Vaio P with 1600x768 on ..... 8" screenWow. I did not think 1920x1080 on a screen that small was possible
Sony Z's trackpad is comparable to non-unibody MBP's one in size and surface quality. And only advantages current 15" MBP does have over Vaio Z are screen size (albeit lower resolution/quality), better speakers, FW800 port and 2560x1600 support.
Vaio Z on the other hand is much more feature-packed:
- Expresscard/34
- 3xUSB
- Proper SD/MS readers (card doesn't stick out)
- Docking station
- Optional 85Wh battery
- 8-bit panel (Full HD, probably non-TN)
- Special glossy/matte coating with antiglare properties
- FingerPrint reader
- Built-in 3G modem
- Intel Wi-Fi/Wi-Max compatible
- Blu-ray at least as an option
- 3 lbs.
Build quality/rigidity may be on par with unibody enclosure (depends on many factors)
I don't see any problems with any of these, because Apple is not in a monopoly position and thus can't force their way onto the market. If you don't like the iPhone and the policies surrounding it, you can get your mobile computer/cellphone elsewhere from another vendor.
And I particularly don't like how Apple is managing the iPhone myself. It's just not an anti-trust issue and it has no effect on the overall market.
And the court case is not 10 years old, it's still very much current. It started 12 years ago actually (with IE 4 and Windows 98), and it is still ongoing because Microsoft is Microsoft. They'll never change. As long as they have their monopoly, they will abuse it. I do not condone that and I will not give them any money nor will I use their products if I have a choice in the matter. My personnal computing is my own choice, thus I stay away from them.
For those of you talking about the $4500 pricing... check out the following from Sony HK - you get the TOP specced version for $2.5k!
http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/index_2.jsp
VPCZ117GG (top left selection) -- 20,000 HK Dollars, which translates to about US$2,580
Specs (http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/z117/spec.jsp)
i7-620
Windows 7 Pro
8GB RAM
256GB (4 * 64GB) SSD
DVD Drive
Geforce GT330M
13.1 HIGH DEFINITION 1920x1080 screen
3x USB 2.0 slots
Backlight keyboard
etc etc
So at basically $2,600 USD... can anyone still honestly vouch for the MBP/MBA???
Apple better respond fast!
http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/index_2.jsp
VPCZ117GG (top left selection) -- 20,000 HK Dollars, which translates to about US$2,580
Specs (http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/z117/spec.jsp)
i7-620
Windows 7 Pro
8GB RAM
256GB (4 * 64GB) SSD
DVD Drive
Geforce GT330M
13.1 HIGH DEFINITION 1920x1080 screen
3x USB 2.0 slots
Backlight keyboard
etc etc
So at basically $2,600 USD... can anyone still honestly vouch for the MBP/MBA???
Apple better respond fast!
It's not like you need more than one USB 3.0 HD to be able to use it to it's full extent.
You can't beat Sony for cramming specs into a tiny machine. The MBA serves a different market though. This is like a very portable workstation, maybe even a desktop replacement. I cannot see myself using the MBA as a primary machine. I had one and it was just not fast enough.
Wow. I did not think 1920x1080 on a screen that small was possible
The US Sony store won't allow you to configure a Z with the 1920x1080 screen, its 1600x900 only. Actually, the US version is totally lame compared to EVERY other sony store .. they can configure with a traditional hard drive, versus the ungodly expensive (no trim) SSD.
I can't make a custom configuration in my country's Sony store either. This sucks.
BTW: Why wouldn't the SSD have TRIM? TRIM is built into Windows 7. OS X still doesn't have it...
There's no TRIM in Raid 0? Welp, that sucks. So one would have to maintain the Vaio's SSDs manually.
Sigh, you know this is like beating a horse that's long decomposed and fossilized. /rant begin (stop reading now if you are a fanboy)
Sony and Panasonic have been doing tiny machines that they don't sell in the US that have amazing specs for years. They will likely almost always be better in specs, weight and size than Apple, Dell HP etc. It's the market they have. No one has room for a 17 inch laptop in japan, it would take up half your apartment and provide the heat for it too. Things have to be tiny to sell.
As for thickness vs wt, it's an important balance. But considering I put my macbook pro into a zeroshock case which doubles it's thickness, before I put into a laptop bag, I would say that there's an acceptable level of thickness. Weight is also a concern. You could make a super thin laptop out of a slab of osmium... but that would weigh like 20+lbs... be indestructable and all... but no one would carry it due to the weight.
As for random numbers on who would buy it or what not, I love how I can make up the fact that maybe 75% of you will get angry reading this post.
Apple will likely NEVER be the best in any spec on a laptop. I say this because they A. Don't make many different laptops to suit a wide variety of spec needs. B. Emphasize making a healthy profit margin on every laptop, and C. Emphasize an whole machine experience over having the best gear.
People will always talk about % reliability etc, but the numbers done by squaretrade show that apple is one of the better manufacturers but by no means the best. (hp is the worst though...)
The Vaio Z is a sexy machine. If apple came out tomorrow with one with the exact same specs and price, many fanboys would probably explode in the pants. I would buy one if I could hackintosh it as well as the mini 10v I carry as a backup. High resolution is nice, specs are nice and I can say from personal experience that the high end sonys last a long time even with abuse. The cheaper low end ones are prolly crap. I have a 5 year old TR2 which has been dropped... puked on... and more... and it still runs great... and the screen is still amazing for a 10inch laptop.
In the end no one will change their minds. Fanboys will still be fanboys. Unix lovers will still need command line interfaces. The hardest thing for people to do is to approach things with an open mind. I know this because I used to hate on macs... (but then they used to only use power PC chips). I bought a macbook thinking I would boot windows and use mac os infrequently (since they finally had the nvidia 9400, and I despise intel integrated slide show graphics) But after a bit of use I almost never boot to windows, and I even hackintoshed a dell mini to carry around. I still use windows 7 as my desktop OS, but If I had let myself be close minded and kept hating macs, I would never have found out. Now I recommend them to my family members and friends... I've even purchased 3 and set them up for family.
Why can't we just be impressed with how much sony could pack into that machine and how it was built? Why does everyone have to hate on something because you might be jealous or feel like anything is a personal attack on your computing religion. It takes mature individuals to be able to critically and objectively evaluate things they like and the competition. Apple is by no means the "truth" or source of all innovation etc. Sony was making the chicklet keyboards and ultra thin laptops long ago. Apple does a great job of refining ideas and polishing them. Let's hope that they do the same and make one based on this.
/rant end
Sony and Panasonic have been doing tiny machines that they don't sell in the US that have amazing specs for years. They will likely almost always be better in specs, weight and size than Apple, Dell HP etc. It's the market they have. No one has room for a 17 inch laptop in japan, it would take up half your apartment and provide the heat for it too. Things have to be tiny to sell.
As for thickness vs wt, it's an important balance. But considering I put my macbook pro into a zeroshock case which doubles it's thickness, before I put into a laptop bag, I would say that there's an acceptable level of thickness. Weight is also a concern. You could make a super thin laptop out of a slab of osmium... but that would weigh like 20+lbs... be indestructable and all... but no one would carry it due to the weight.
As for random numbers on who would buy it or what not, I love how I can make up the fact that maybe 75% of you will get angry reading this post.
Apple will likely NEVER be the best in any spec on a laptop. I say this because they A. Don't make many different laptops to suit a wide variety of spec needs. B. Emphasize making a healthy profit margin on every laptop, and C. Emphasize an whole machine experience over having the best gear.
People will always talk about % reliability etc, but the numbers done by squaretrade show that apple is one of the better manufacturers but by no means the best. (hp is the worst though...)
The Vaio Z is a sexy machine. If apple came out tomorrow with one with the exact same specs and price, many fanboys would probably explode in the pants. I would buy one if I could hackintosh it as well as the mini 10v I carry as a backup. High resolution is nice, specs are nice and I can say from personal experience that the high end sonys last a long time even with abuse. The cheaper low end ones are prolly crap. I have a 5 year old TR2 which has been dropped... puked on... and more... and it still runs great... and the screen is still amazing for a 10inch laptop.
In the end no one will change their minds. Fanboys will still be fanboys. Unix lovers will still need command line interfaces. The hardest thing for people to do is to approach things with an open mind. I know this because I used to hate on macs... (but then they used to only use power PC chips). I bought a macbook thinking I would boot windows and use mac os infrequently (since they finally had the nvidia 9400, and I despise intel integrated slide show graphics) But after a bit of use I almost never boot to windows, and I even hackintoshed a dell mini to carry around. I still use windows 7 as my desktop OS, but If I had let myself be close minded and kept hating macs, I would never have found out. Now I recommend them to my family members and friends... I've even purchased 3 and set them up for family.
Why can't we just be impressed with how much sony could pack into that machine and how it was built? Why does everyone have to hate on something because you might be jealous or feel like anything is a personal attack on your computing religion. It takes mature individuals to be able to critically and objectively evaluate things they like and the competition. Apple is by no means the "truth" or source of all innovation etc. Sony was making the chicklet keyboards and ultra thin laptops long ago. Apple does a great job of refining ideas and polishing them. Let's hope that they do the same and make one based on this.
/rant end
We'll written response
although I'm suprised how many people in this thread are really impressed with the Z, given most here are diehard Apple fanboys. It's the people that hack on OSX and promote Win7, or vice versa that really irritate me. The truth of the matter, is that they're both good platforms.. it just boils down to personal preference. Oh, and yes, I would explode in my pants if Apple came even remotely close to matching the Zs specs, even with the 15" MBP!
We'll written response
Makes me curious though... should make a post where we take the Z's specs and make it a 15 inch macbook pro at 1899... and ask id people would buy it, even with usb 2.0
Yeah, you should try that, post a 13 inch MBP with the exact same components as the Vaio, with an i5 or i7, a cutting edge GPU, a Blu Ray burner, hdmi out, 1920x1080 resolution, 8 gigs of ram, 2 SSDs 256 gb each (or hell even one SSD) and a 6-7 hr battery life (basically the same exact specs as the Sony Vaio Z) all under 4 Ibs. I think people here would die from happiness.
Monopoly schmonopoly.. The world of personal computing has changed dramatically since 12 years ago, when the original DOJ case was brought up. Microsoft is no longer a monopoly in personal computing by any stretch of the imagination. There are plenty of have choices in consumer OS market, be it MacOS, varieties of Linux, or soon ChromeOS.. There are about 5 or 6 browser choices out there. Today, Microsoft is no more a monopoly in personal computing than Apple is in smartphone market.
More importantly.. Apple's recent behavior has been just as (if not more) evil than Microsoft's ever been. What counts is how the companies are behaving in the NOW, not 12 years ago.
Umm, MS has something like 90 % market share in PC operating systems, Apple has around 13 % market share in smart phones. How is that in any way a meaningful comparison?
yeah...i told my hk friend to get one of this for me this afternoon since MBP is not out today...im very happy.
And i used a Z and SZ before..i like 13" and the powerOh, please. Not another one of these theads where people are espousing the great specs of a Windows-based PC.
Did you say "approach things with an open mind"? However, you've dismissed people as fanboys. Almost everyone here has had personal experiences with Windows and Windows-based PCs. So if there is a bias, it is based on personal experience.
Where does it state that I have to like Windows, and Windows-based PCs. I've tried almost every brand, and every windows OS, and just don't like them. Does that make me or anyone like me fanboys? Nah. It just means we prefer to buy what we want.
I do agree that if you put these specs in a MBP a lot of tech savvy people will buy it.
I think we need to change the tone in some of these threads. It's alright to disagree. However, we shouldn't be disagreeable.
Looks like the new Z walks all over the M11x GPU wise:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/alienware-m11x-review/#comments
4.25 hours battery life with the 330M engaged? Must be a mistake. That's too long.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/alienware-m11x-review/#comments
4.25 hours battery life with the 330M engaged? Must be a mistake. That's too long.