Sony Vaio TZ review roundup

The first reviews of Sony's new top-of-the-line ultraportable, the Vaio TZ, are are starting to trickle in, and they're surprisingly mixed. While there's no doubting the overall hotness of the industrial design, the older, non-Santa Rosa chipset, 1.1GHz Core 2 Duo ultra low voltage processor, and integrated GMA 950 graphics don't seem to provide all that much bang for your $2,200 bucks, and the system seems to be preloaded with tons of crapware -- Laptop Magazine straight up says the TZ ran "as if it were broken" until they cleaned it up. Still, most reviewers found the design, battery life, available 32GB SSD, and WWAN options to be intriguing enough to rate high scores -- either that, or this thing is even sexier in person.

Read - Laptop Magazine
Read - CNET
Read - TrustedReviews

[Sneakz @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:41PM]

No thank you. I can buy a black Macbook for $1499 and get a SATA for $500 @ Newegg (Maybe the 1.8 inch IDE one and get a SATA adapter. Trust me, they exist). That will be $2000 in total and have much more than some Sony Vaio.

[Sneakz @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:42PM]

A SATA 32GB SSD that is.

[myles @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:13PM]

Sneakz, I think you're missing the point. Sonys, especially the ultraportables like the TZ were never meant for value. People buy these because: A) they have plenty of cash to throw around; B) they want something super-lightweight; C) they want to show off their wealth; D) they want something less common; E) they want something well built (Made in Japan as opposed to Made in China).

Not everybody has a Sony ultraportable, but it seems like half of the people in the San Francisco Bay Area alone have a Macbook (I'm exaggerating). If you're rich and you want something flashy, showy, and don't care about the money, you'd buy a TZ.

Also, comparing Macbooks to the TZ is like comparing apples to oranges. They're in completely different notebook categories. For example, it would take two TZs to match the weight of one Macbook (2.62 lbs vs 5.1 pounds). The former is an ultraportable, while the latter is not. Comparing the Macbook to the Sony SZ (~$1500) or CR (~$1200) line might be more reasonable.

[tsik @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:20PM]

why do u even bother comparing a macbook to this beauty??
I was considering buying the black macbook until i saw the vaio sz..
sony can make the best laptops in the world..they just break the deal for the common guy by adding a shitload of crap shareware on every pc they ship out..i ended up reinstalling vista to start enjoying the laptop..but boy was it worth it

[NineT9 @ Jul 24th 2007 10:05AM]

myles, thats the best comment ive read! About time someone realizes everything you mentioned jeez!

I have the Sony TX Series laptop myself, almost exactly like this TZ Series...

Your reasons, were about the same reason I bought my TX laptop!
I only cared about 1 thing: Portability. I was willing to spend any amount of money for that key reason. After looking at all the laptops out there, the Sony had the absolute best one, by FAR.

It is very light, very small, very very sexy (Compliments everytime someone see's it)... and yes, it is not that powerful, but I didn't care about power. It's a laptop, I need it for browsing the internet & viewing/writing documents. If I wanted to do video editing or play games, thats what my PC is for...

A lot of people compare this laptop to others which is silly... its in a class of its own... If you want a sports luxury car, you don't compare a Mercedes-Benz SL to a Mustang... If you want a muscle car you dont' compare a Camaro to a VW Bug...

[producerism @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:53PM]

sony, cut and run already. this is not your market. Don't you have some PS3s to make and deliver? Get on that, leave this one to the big boys.

[Mp3 @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:14PM]

Sony notebooks are awesome. This one is a bit expensive, but there isn't a cooler notebook out there. Funny to see Dell come out with copies of Sony notebooks in the new Inspirons... I guess style does sell in a notebook after all.

[Mr. B @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:39PM]

I wouldn't be 'elevating the discourse' by typing my immediate reaction to your ignorant remark. I'll just say Sony has been making beautiful laptops for about ten years now and they've been doing a fine job thank you very much.

[nikster @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:28PM]

yes style does sell, that's why Apple is growing, and why HP is outdoing Dell...

I am still surprised of how HP was able to suddenly make nicely designed machines, and the timing of that pretty much co-incided with them taking the #1 spot from Dell and never looking back.

Dell isn't stupid and tries to play catch-up but it really isn't easy for a company that has never cared about design, ever. HP shows that it can be done though.

Sony has always had nice designs; now if they did a 180 and suddenly had good service, I would consider them any time I buy a new notebook. But continual horror stories about Sony customer service make me stay far away from these beauties.

[James @ Jul 24th 2007 6:38AM]

To whom did Apple turn to design the MacBook after the laughable attempt at a laptop that was the iBook?

Sony.

[humpty @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:08PM]

F*CK YEA! Mine's coming in a couple of weeks. This unit is pure sex.. Apple FanBots look the other way.. morons.

[Rory @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:10PM]

no dvi = deal breaker... shame really - you think it would be mandatory on something costing this much even if they had to go the apple route with one of those mini-dvi ports requiring an adapter to keep the size down.

[Taka3G @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:13PM]

I don't know what the hell you're talking about Sneakz. Thats a nice laptop. Besides, Macbooks are heavier, fatter, and the battery don't last as long.

[ninjakamster @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:15PM]

Nilay, ultraportable never give you that much bang for the buck, their main draw is their high battery life and portablity. Too bad most people don't realize their beauty, satisfied with their "disgustingly" large notebooks.

The fucking Macbook does NOT compare to this beauty.

Its a shame that in Japan, you can custom order the TZ. For example in Europe and U.S at least, if you want the Premium Carbon lid color, you have to get the most expensive option with 32gb SSD, not in Japan.

Also Japan is the only place that gives you an option for a 160gb 5400rpm hard drive to take the place of the optical drive.

[kevin rummelhart @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:31PM]

Apple need to put their lead weight laptops on a diet before I will consider them

[Ryan Russell @ Jul 24th 2007 12:54AM]

Yeah too bad the native resolution on all sony notebooks blows. Um yeah. I loooove 15.4 inch widescreen notebooks with a res of 1280x800. Seriously? This is just one example. Everytime I walk into a sony style store I swear my grandma has been in their playing solitaire on every laptop. (Shes 86 and can't see worth shit.) Not to mention the plasticy flimsy feel. Or maybe how they are just completely overpriced. No one can ever say "sony makes great laptops" cause they simply don't.

[SteveA @ Jul 24th 2007 1:23AM]

Yeah, I'm sure this sony must have a 'plastic flimsy feel' being that it's carbon fiber and all. No strength there. nope.

[Ryan Russell @ Jul 24th 2007 1:38AM]

Actually it quite possibly could. The laptop is not "made of" of carbon fiber. You need to read closely. Most sony laptops have carbon fiber frames. But this is far from being "made of" carbon fiber. The outside is cheap plastic retard. You fell right into the marketing. I was commenting on the feel anyway. No where in my comment did I say anything about the actual strength. Go grab a sony laptop on both sides of the screen and give it a gentle twist.

[Sando @ Jul 24th 2007 3:17AM]

The TZ models have a native res of 1366x768 on a _11.1"_ display. I don't think anyone would want it to be any higher.

[Bryan Chang @ Aug 18th 2007 2:46AM]

You're an idiot. The Sony Vaio TZ has a higher resolution than your 15.4". Usually people like the higher resolution because there is more detail and have more screen real estate. If you have crappy vision, all you have to do is up the font size or change the resolution in the control panel.

[Arias @ Oct 18th 2007 2:47PM]

Looks like the external resolution is maxed out at 1600X1200. That is truly lousy from a machine as lauded as this. I don't understand why companies like Sony would put out such a beautiful machine, with a docking station, but not support High Definition external displays.

[hldan @ Jul 27th 2007 5:13PM]

It's amazing how people complain that Apple's computers are expensive and yet some of the posters here will justify paying $2-3000.00 for this overpriced, underpowered nothing of a notebook. It has the aging GMA 950 GPU, no Santa Rosa processor and what can you possibly do with 32GB ram these days?
Sony will sure take money from the idiots who give it to them for this paperweight. :-)

[MAguro @ Aug 30th 2007 4:28PM]

They used the GMA950 because it takes half the power as the new Santa Rosa chipset. Intel hasn't released an ultra low voltage processor based on Santa Rosa yet.

[hldan @ Jul 27th 2007 5:17PM]

At least the Macbook can dual boot and has more to offer for half the price. $3000.00 for Carbon Fiber huh? After paying $2-3000.00 why should anyone have a slow machine that they have to go through the trouble removing all the crapware to get it to run only seconds faster. What a joke.

[joebob @ Aug 9th 2007 12:00PM]

If all you do is sit at home adding junk food to your huge posterior, playing vids, and posting blogs then this is not the laptop for you. If you already lug a ton of crap on planes, trains, and automobiles while they traveling the globe on business or into the field then this is a serious frustration saver.

I'm, currently, uninstalling a ton of crapware on a non-SSD version (TZ150) for a client. If you can afford $2100 (current config), it's worth the convenience (read: opportunity cost).

The bloatware is the greatest detractor. After taking half an hour to uninstall the Acrobat 8 demo, I'm "concerned" about Adobe.

Speed is a step back but that's always the case with something as ridiculously light, small, and energy efficient as this. If you want speed, go blow your wad on some 17" monstrosity by Dell, Voodoo, etc.