Sony's TZ ultraportable series gets official-er

Not that there isn't plenty of fresh laptop goodness to go around, but for some reason Sony's been a bit gun shy with its new ultraportable sexiness, the TZ11. And there's really nothing to be ashamed of, we already knew the the thing was a looker when we spotted some leaked catalog shots last week, and now that this new leak includes better pictures and every spec imaginable, it's pretty clear that Sony has a good thing going here. The biggest drawback is the lack of Santa Rosa under the hood, Sony's instead settling for a 1.06GHz U7500 processor, 802.11a/b/g WiFi and Intel GMA 950 graphics of the last generation. Still, at 2.62 pounds, with a built-in DVD super-multi drive and LED-backlit screen, it's hard to fault the laptop too terribly much. Peep the read link for some more pics and full specs, and stay tuned for a possible summer release.

[Via SlashGear]

[Kevin @ May 11th 2007 12:28PM]

It has gigabit ethernet just no wireless n. I don't see it as a deal-breaker, they probably left out the n to improve battery life.

[iKipapa @ May 11th 2007 9:43AM]

Wow, MacBook style keys. At least it looks like it.

[kev @ May 11th 2007 9:58AM]

They've had them before.

[Mike @ May 11th 2007 9:55AM]

Great looks, and I can deal with the processor for the better battery life...

[Mr. B @ May 11th 2007 10:03AM]

Sign me up!

[Donnie @ May 11th 2007 10:10AM]

Man, I really wish they would start making light-up keyboards with their laptops. Anyways, I love the black color but I do not see any reason to replace my current TX. The Core 2 Duo is a decent upgrade from the core solo processor. And yeah, the lack of Santa Rosa is a big drawback as well =(. Damn it Sony, stop giving us crumbs!!!

[outoffocuz @ May 11th 2007 10:30AM]

Hey...wait a minute here. Just wireless a/b/g? I thought the Santa Rosa chipset was all about integrating 802.11 n with the Merom processors. Why no n WiFi here?

[outoffocuz @ May 11th 2007 10:39AM]

Anybody know how much better this thing would perform if it had the Santa Rosa chipset? A lot? Jus a lil? Wondering how big a drawback it is...

And...does anyone besides Apple make notebooks with backlit keyboards?

no WiFi N...e-gads Sony. Agree with Donnie...nothing but crumbs. I think this has changed my purchasing decision.

[Endeavour @ May 11th 2007 10:46AM]

@iKipapa

No, they are 2004 VAIO X505 Extreme style keys. Apple copied Sony (oooh!)

[Jeff @ May 11th 2007 11:07AM]

Did anyone follow through to the notebookreview link? God-DAMNIT, I hate when people put "click to enlarge" links which lead to the SAME FREAKIN' PHOTO in a new window. Can we make that illegal? Punishable by stoning? Something? Please?

It's more than just annoying; it's also monumentally stupid.

/needs more coffee, I think
//or less?

[outoffocuz @ May 11th 2007 1:51PM]

But Kevin they also left out the new Santa Rosa souped-up graphics proc. and faster front side bus designed for the Merom CPUs. I'd be curious if anybody here can conjecture on whether these omissions make a big performance difference or if it wouldn't matter much.

[L.Rawlins @ May 11th 2007 1:52PM]

I'm loving the hunger for backlit boards presented here. I was beginning to think it was only I who was banging their head against a brick wall for that simplest of features.

The only possible explanation would be that Apple patented the damn thing. Therefore meaning all the rest of us can choose to either squint, or buy a Mac.

...

Squinting it is then...

[Naveed @ May 11th 2007 2:04PM]

no santa rosa? effin pissed

[L.Rawlins @ May 11th 2007 3:54PM]

Wasting battery power? Are you kidding me? Ambient sensors only turn them on when the system detects lowlight conditions.

In all honesty, I'd love a full OLED 'Optimus' style laptop board, but that definately would choke the system! So I don't think the faint glimmer of alphanumerics is too much to ask... especially of a several grand modern setup.

The same goes for packing VGA and not DVI out. I spit blood every time I see a thousand pound+ machine touting that archaic standard.

[Stanoislav @ May 11th 2007 9:25PM]

What are the alternatives for the laptop of this size but with Santa Rosa?

[Jitty @ May 11th 2007 9:51PM]

This is the perfect laptop for me, I don't want to waste money on a laptop with core 2 duo and a good graphics card. I want to waste money on something like that :), something ultra light, petite, and with excellent battery life. A step above a UMPC but a step below a regular laptop.... I don't need my laptop to be able to do any hi-end graphics stuff, all I need is a laptop that is good at running a word processor and is okay at surfing the internet (basically any laptop but this is the perfect size for one IMO)I only wish it had an SSD. The only problem I'd have with a laptop of this class is the boot time...

[Donnie @ May 12th 2007 12:46AM]

I doubt a backlighted laptop keyboard would waste that much battery power. Like L.Rawlins mentioned, I am sure they would have some sort of sensor that would activate it in lowlight conditions. Besides, you have 7+ hours of juice on these babies. Battery power is the last thing you should be worried about.

[ebf @ May 12th 2007 11:39AM]

I'm using a TX to write this. I've had it since April 2005 and I love it. The biggest improvements that I see are dual core processor (albeit the slowest possible), an improved keyboard (huge plus), express card slot (only because PCMCIA is so 1998), tiny Bose speakers (just kidding), camera and microphone built-in (not kidding). This is an incremental upgrade, which, doesn't totally out date the TX. It is possible this laptop can handle wireless N. Certain Mac's are upgradeable to N via a certain software update (but don't count on it). Future T-class notebooks featuring hi-def optical drives would be nice since the current TX is amazing to use for DVD viewing.