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Sony Vaio Z
Machines sport carbon fiber chassis and quad SSDs

Sony has announced a new ultraportable notebook called the VAIO Z series. The notebook is the top-of-the-line model from Sony and packs in all the latest technology for performance and ultimate portability.

The machine chassis that is constructed of carbon fiber and aluminum. It can be fitted with 6GB of RAM and features quad SSDs in a RAID-0 array (64GB x 4 or 32GB x 4). The notebook also offers NVIDIA GeForce GT330M graphics with 1GB of GDDR3 RAM. The machine uses dynamic hybrid graphics to switch between the NVIDIA discrete GPU when performance is needed and the integrated Intel HD graphics when more battery life is needed.

The Z series weighs less than 3.2 pounds and sports a 13.3-inch LCD with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 for watching video content in full HD resolution. The screen is LED-backlit and has a 96% color gamut. The machine can be had with integrated 3G connectivity and the series uses Windows 7 64-bit operating system.

There will be two models offered initially including the VPC11Z9E and the VPC11X9E. The first machine will sport an Intel Core i7-620M processor, 6GB of RAM, full HD resolution screen, NVIDIA GT330M/Intel hybrid graphics, and quad SSDs with 256GB total capacity. The VPCZ11X93 will get a Core i7-520-M processor, 4GB of RAM, quad SSDs with 128GB total capacity, and a 1600 x 900 resolution 13.3-inch screen.

Sony will ship the VAIO Z notebooks at the end of March at a starting price of $1,900.

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Insane dot pitch
By Leper Messiah on 1/19/2010 11:23:01 AM , Rating: 5
1920x1080 on a 13.3 inch screen, hopefully it comes with a free electron microscope so you can actually read the text at native resolution.




RE: Insane dot pitch
By amanojaku on 1/19/2010 11:37:40 AM , Rating: 3
You can change the font size in nearly every OS GUI. I just increased it after moving from a 32" @ 1366x768 to a 46" @ 1920x1080.

You can change the font size in applications, too. Firefox supports both text and full page zoom, IE supports at least text zoom, and various other programs alter text size.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By tastyratz on 1/19/2010 11:50:26 AM , Rating: 5
yes you can,
but it never truly works out looking clean. It always makes things look disproportionate and overstuffed. 1080p on a 13.3 is more than a bit much... I would have liked to see a laptop this premium offered with a bigger screen. This isn't a netbook, most people who want that much juice need to actually have the screen real estate to fit the software they are trying to run.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By Flunk on 1/19/2010 12:35:52 PM , Rating: 2
Try the new screen scaling in Windows Vista or newer, all of those old problems are preitty well mitigated although some older programs may still have small glitches.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By Aloonatic on 1/19/10, Rating: 0
RE: Insane dot pitch
By The0ne on 1/19/2010 5:15:47 PM , Rating: 2
19200x1200 on my 17" laptop is already tiny, on a 13.3" I have to say no thanks. Granted some people have better eyesight than 20/20 but I guess most of us don't to have it even smaller :)

Increasing the font size is just begging for future unhappiness. You'll eventually learn that not all applications play well with windows; heck, not even the spacing of icons will :D


RE: Insane dot pitch
By Zoomer on 1/20/2010 8:55:33 AM , Rating: 2
This will be great for displaying non-roman languages, particularly logograms.

Hint: Written Japanese are logograms; so are Chinese and Korean. Increased screen resolution makes these characters crisper and easier to read.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By mooncancook on 1/19/2010 12:54:44 PM , Rating: 2
I would prefer the 1600x900 option for screen of this size for readability. 1080p is perfect for its F series 16.4" screen, and too much for screen under 15".

Oh and why 64GBx4 SSD configuration? Wouldn't it add weight to a portable notebook like this? Why not just 128GBx2 or just a single 256GB SSD?


RE: Insane dot pitch
By amanojaku on 1/19/2010 1:10:35 PM , Rating: 2
If I understand the diagram and another user's post the SSDs are soldered onto the motherboard. The majority of the space and weight comes from the casing, so there is not much different in size and weight to use 64GBx4, 128GBx2 or 256GBx1 if the casings are removed. The major difference is the additional controller for the RAID, and that's smaller than the SSDs.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By quiksilvr on 1/19/2010 1:28:11 PM , Rating: 2
That's still way too much. Its a 13" screen. If you can't tell the difference between 720p (1280x720) and 1080p (1920x1080) on a 32" TV, why put it on a laptop? Just make it 1280x720. Anything higher would be pointless overkill and just adds more cost.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By Johnmcl7 on 1/19/2010 7:42:01 PM , Rating: 3
You can easily tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on a 32in TV, just as you can tell the difference between 1080p and 2560x1600 on the high res 30in monitors. The difference between a TV and a monitor is that the TV is usually viewed at a distance hence it's not so easy to tell the resolution apart whereas it's very easy when the monitor is right in front of you.

It's a real pain in the neck Sony are the only ones who offer high resolution 13in panels, I like using 13in laptops but 1280x800 is such a painfully low resolution it makes them difficult to use at times. Unfortunately I can't justify paying twice as much for the existing Sony Z series with its 1600x900 screen which is a superb screen.

John


RE: Insane dot pitch
By erple2 on 1/25/2010 5:52:11 PM , Rating: 2
My arms are not long enough to make your statement relevant.

Yes, you can tell the difference. Do some work with it and you'll see the difference immediately.


RE: Insane dot pitch
By aguilpa1 on 1/19/2010 3:48:02 PM , Rating: 2
Yup way to high for the tiny screen. I have 1920x1200 on 15" Alienware and that is small enough. I can't imagine similar on a 13".


RE: Insane dot pitch
By OKMIJN4455 on 1/24/2010 6:37:17 AM , Rating: 1
http://www.brand-bar.com
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---**** Hoody_m $ 50 ---**** Manicure Set $ 20 ... ...
http://www.brand-bar.com


Old News
By 67STANG on 1/19/2010 11:00:05 AM , Rating: 5
RE: Old News
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 1/19/2010 11:03:17 AM , Rating: 2
LMFAO


RE: Old News
By NicodemusMM on 1/19/2010 12:41:44 PM , Rating: 2
A must have for every room of the house.

Thanks, I needed the laugh.


RE: Old News
By bhieb on 1/19/2010 12:45:06 PM , Rating: 2
Yah that one is good. One thing I hated about the Sony's is that the SSD is usually memory fused to a board, and not end user upgradeable. A VP had one with 32GB but quickly ran out of space, tore it apart but could not upgrade it.


VAIOs are overpriced
By RMSistight on 1/19/2010 1:23:05 PM , Rating: 2
Seriously? $1900? Give me a break.




RE: VAIOs are overpriced
By RMSistight on 1/19/2010 1:25:59 PM , Rating: 2
I'm interested to see how Sony supports users too. Nothing compares to Dell's NBD support from my experience.


RE: VAIOs are overpriced
By sigmatau on 1/19/2010 6:47:21 PM , Rating: 2
I guess you can get an Apple with no SSD (never mind 4) and a non-OLED screen and pay the same or more.


RE: VAIOs are overpriced
By OCedHrt on 1/19/2010 11:21:12 PM , Rating: 2
If you want a cheaper ultra portable, there is the X series. The Z has always been in this price range, glad that while the new one isn't more expensive it is significantly faster.


Did Sony make an error in specs?
By Zeeon on 1/19/2010 1:30:48 PM , Rating: 2
AFAIK there is no Core i7-520M - it should be Core i5-520M. Yet this press release mentions the processor of the VAIO VPCZ11X9E as an i7-520m...

https://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?Ne...

??




By Camikazi on 1/19/2010 2:56:35 PM , Rating: 2
Seems they fixed it, it says i7-620M CPU now.


pricing
By dr4gon on 1/19/2010 11:37:10 AM , Rating: 3
Well i suppose..
By drewsup on 1/19/2010 5:11:18 PM , Rating: 3
4 SSD's are better than 4 batteries, it is Sony after all, imagine the explosion!




Just what Anand needs
By Calin on 1/20/2010 2:19:15 AM , Rating: 3
He always says the quality of the laptop displays is terrible, and he said he would give at least an Editor's Silver Award to a laptop with actual decent screen.

Can't wait to see the review of that Sony on Anandtech :)




By troysavary on 1/19/2010 11:55:07 AM , Rating: 2
Is the girl in that BidRodeo ad screaming in agony as she gropes her own tits? Not sure what they are trying to convey.




By SunAngel on 1/19/2010 6:18:45 PM , Rating: 2
These last two - three years have been hell for Sony. Its a breath of fresh air to final get something from them that no other is attempting to engineer, design, or sell.

I felt like the last man on the planet for so long looking at Samsung, LG, and others increase there marketing awareness and Sony playing standby.

Its so nice to go buy something simply because its better and not pay a premium just because some company got lucky and paid 100 + 1 tech sites to promote it (the iPhone does apply in this situation).




SSDs...
By Qapa on 1/20/2010 10:37:21 AM , Rating: 2
Well, more important than getting 4 SSDs is, what SSDs are being used?

Depending on which brand and model, it could even be true that a 1 or 2 SSDs solution would be faster, more reliable, and of course, cheaper!

For some reason, I couldn't find that info (googled it for the 1st hits..).

Btw, $1900 for the cheaper 4x32 laptop means that $400 is for SSDs... that's a lot of $... I guess that's why these are sold as premium laptops...




Raid 64GB limiting in speed
By thebeastie on 1/22/2010 12:29:28 AM , Rating: 2
128GB SSDs tend to be a fair bit faster then 64GB because they tend to use internal raid0 between the chips.

They would of got better performance doing raid0 x 128GB SSD instead of just 64GB.




"Folks that want porn can buy an Android phone." -- Steve Jobs









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