Sony expands VAIO SZ line with new SZ6 series

Sony's made no secret of its plans to give its VAIO SZ line of laptops a Santa Rosa refresh, but it looks like the company's now let loose a few more details, including the all important word on pricing and availability. In addition to that Santa Rosa boost, these ones (dubbed the SZ6 series) all come equipped with 13.3-inch LED backlit displays, along hybrid hard drives boasting 160GB of traditional storage and 256MB of flash memory. According to Laptoping.com, a range of different pre-configured and build-to-order models are available, coming equipped with your choice of Core 2 Duo T7500, T7700 or T7250 processors, and an option of standard 120GB, 160GB, or 200GB hard drives if you're not quite ready to hop on the hybrid bandwagon. Look for these to set you back between $2,060 and $2,700 depending on the configuration, with them apparently set to ship on August 1st.

Read - Laptoping.com
Read - Sony VAIO SZ Series
Read - Amazon.com pre-order

[tpaul03 @ Feb 24th 2008 6:23PM]

I just purchased on, I love it. Pretty, fast, light and thin. What more could you ask for? I have a 2.5 GHz procesor 6 Mb L2 Cache, 4 GB Ram, and a Hybrid Hard Drive. It's absolutely lovely. Sony support has been helpful thus far. I had to call in for a minor Vista problem..and get this...once adamantly opposed to Vista.. I LOVE Vista ultimate. It's much more organized, and user friendly. There is a bit of a lag, I noticed it isn't as fast as XP but it certainly freezes less.

[JesperCph @ Mar 13th 2008 1:04PM]

Does anyone know if Sony is planning SSD and/or HDMI output on any coming versions of the SZ series (I guess it would be SZ7)? Would love to see a dual drive SZ series with both SSD and regular HDD as they've done with the TZ series.

[Rob @ Jul 27th 2007 6:36PM]

A question for those in the know.
What's that little antenna-like sticking out of the right hand corner of the hinges?
Is that a network antenna, or a tv antenna. I mentioned tv as I know of these units also come with Windows Media Center.

Any idea?

[Zadillo @ Jul 27th 2007 6:58PM]

It's a WWAN antenna, used for the Sprint Mobile Broadband connection (in the case of the SZ6 series)..... previous SZ series had Cingular WWAN connections instead.

[humpty @ Jul 27th 2007 6:38PM]

Sony makes the best freakin' laptops in the world.

[Zadillo @ Jul 27th 2007 7:02PM]

Yeah, definitely not bad (I briefly owned an SZ460, and had owned an S360 for quite a while). I'm hoping they have some of the software issues worked out though; the SZ460 with Vista Business had some annoying quirks (i.e. the wireless connection widget wouldn't recognize when it was connected or not). I also wish Sony would fix the loose battery issue that has been a problem since the original S series.

Finally, I really don't understand why Sony hasn't updated the keyboard on the SZ series. They adopted the old X505-style keyboard on the new TZ series and the CR series, and it seems kind of odd they are sticking to the old keyboard design with the SZ series. The keyboards on the SZ's are the other big knock I have against them.

But the screens are beautiful, and they're generally very nice. I've always loved the switchable graphics concept. I just hope the next SZ has an updated keyboard.

[michael @ Jul 27th 2007 7:15PM]

I agree. I'm using a Sony Vaio with Windows Vista, and I haven't had any of the same problems that other Vista users have been getting.

The only thing I don't like, is that they're still pretty expensive. I would really like Vaios to cut their price a bit, so that they can reach a broader audience. I recommend them since they work so well - at a price.

[daliminator2000 @ Jul 27th 2007 8:41PM]

I'd argue that ASUS actually makes the best laptops in the world...especially considering they make Sony laptops.

[humpty @ Jul 27th 2007 9:17PM]

I doubt ASUS are making the carbon fibre TZ.. maybe the SZ line and definitely the more generic models. But, the top of the line models are mostly Sony R&D at work.

[_V3ndetta_ @ Jul 27th 2007 7:33PM]

Its a LAN adapter.

[Jman196 @ Jul 27th 2007 6:52PM]

I'd take an HP, I like their designs and specs better.

[zach @ Jul 28th 2007 12:58AM]

why did he get a low rank? its personal preference, personally, i played with the phone-that-shall-not-be-named (not to turn it into THAT thread..) and liked it at first but as the fingerprints added up, i soon got the impression that it would be tough on the up keeping side (i like my stuff in pristine condition)

and although i own an HP i have nothing against sonys, aside from price, but still come on people can't like anything else?

[Ian @ Jul 27th 2007 7:32PM]

Umm whats up with this hybrid HHD? i guess i missed this one. can anyone explain? whats the purpose of it?

[harveyhanson @ Jul 27th 2007 7:56PM]

Are these solid state drives they are on about re: hybrid.

If so, SSD's have lower power consumption for a start, and a few other advantages, whilst obviously not being advantagous in the $$$$!

[Arnie @ Jul 27th 2007 7:58PM]

Hybrid HDD have volatile memory on them which acts as a buffer between the actual platters and the RAM. I believe they are actually the solution before solid state HDD can even come close to being affordable. They currently offer a much better performance over traditional HDD and are also affordable. I would like to see more of them.In fact, in some reviews I read they offer performance close to the 10kRPM drives and they are cheaper compared to those drives.

[Ian @ Jul 27th 2007 9:04PM]

@Arnie

Ahhh thanks that makes sense to use it as a buffer. right on thanks

[nikster @ Jul 28th 2007 2:27AM]

Arie: Almost - the flash memory on the hybrid HD - 256M in this case - acts as cache, but because it's flash, it's non-volatile. If the HD loses power, the contents of the flash memory are preserved.

HDs always had RAM buffers, but they were much smaller than those hybrid flash caches and they were volatile.

The question is how much benefit these HDs would provide. One would expect there to be some power savings, but at 256M I don't believe that it would be much. I am using much more than 256M on a regular basis.

In theory it could also be faster but I have not seen any benchmarks to support that. Would be interesting to see.

[nikster @ Jul 28th 2007 2:31AM]

tomshardware has tested this hybrid drive and the results are far from impressive. whatever the theoretical gains of hybrid tech, these drives are really on the slow(!) side in practice.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/13/should_you_care_about_hybrid_hard_drives/

[eric @ Jul 27th 2007 8:32PM]

should i cancel my m1330 and get this since it doesnt like im getting the dell anytime soon?

[mbslrm @ Jul 27th 2007 8:37PM]

Go for it. You'll never regret it.

[imrmoh1 @ Jul 28th 2007 12:24AM]

Which laptop would be more suited for a college student majoring in Finance, a VAIO SZ or an Apple MBP?

[drt @ Jul 28th 2007 3:00AM]

i'd say the vaio.

it's got vista (most software available, esp biz stuff), huge hard drive (go for the 200g), fingerprint reader (for encrypting porn/torrents/etc), and (i think) this model has 3g (the previous cingular version used slower EDGE), so internet anywhere (if you subcribe to it).

plus you don't wanna look like an art school dropout plunking down a mac at some fancy internship interview ;) the carbon fiber vaio looks (and is) very pro.

[eric @ Jul 27th 2007 8:45PM]

when is this coming out?

[karlthebaer @ Jul 28th 2007 5:28PM]

I've had a 370P for about a year and I LOVE it. my only grip is with the finger print scanner. sometimes it fails to recognize anything when you boot up so you have to hard reboot in order to log on. Additionally, the fingerprint scanner isn't compatible with Firefox so it's usage for me is limited to securing sensitive files and logging on. As to the loose battery issue, three strips of scotch tape layered on top of each other give enough resistance to make the battery problem go away.

[Isaac Cheung @ Jul 27th 2007 11:25PM]

If this had HDMI and digital audio out it would have it all. Business and pleasure in one neat package with good battery life. As it stands, the m1330 edges it overall (considering features and price). Still very desirable.

[andres @ Jul 28th 2007 12:38AM]

should be out between Sunday and tuesday. The word on the street is sunday sony's website will get updated.

This article also gives a date *august 1st*

[Steve Lim @ Jul 28th 2007 10:09AM]

Yo,hi guys..i just wondering if i should get SZ483N by this week or
wait till this model comes out..My choice still left between SZ
premium and TZ series.. Which would serve better in long term? Im
still a student though! I also doubt if SZ6 incorporate with SAnta Rosa tech? Will the performance boost after the New tech been applied? thanks for the advices..peace

[mbslrm @ Jul 28th 2007 11:28AM]

Wait for the new VAIO SZ6. It's a much better laptop wince it has much better specs and stuff. And resale value.

[Samo @ Jul 28th 2007 5:39PM]

I'll keep it short and sweet:

I Want.

[Steve Lim @ Jul 29th 2007 6:41AM]

Is the antenna fixed on the SZ6?! I just dont like the antenna.Haha.Heard from some comments saying that Santa Rosa on SZ6 wont have much differences in overall performance..Will it be available in Malaysia end of this year? I need to get one before February next year..thanks again~

[baalpeteor @ Aug 12th 2007 1:43AM]

this looks soo cheap n crappy or maybe its just me b/c i brought an overly expensive laptop last week and all the new laptops that come out screens are SOOO small compared, and processor and gfx card SOO weak and burners sooo trivial... and hdd space soo loow