Sony's durability test metes out years of punishment on the Vaio Z
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Mar 10th 2009 7:03PM
posted Mar 10th 2009 7:03PM
Well, we can think of a few other devices we'd rather see get the smackdown, but we really got a kick out of the Vaio Z durability test videos on Sony's site -- and we think that you might too. Sure, the company stops a bit short of the Survival Research Labs treatment (nary a fireball, gunshot, or cloud of shrapnel in sight), but if you're anything like us your inner child can't help but smile at the thought of a robot dropping, slamming, or crushing a piece of consumer electronics. And to the little guy's credit it does all right, surviving automated drops, shocks, spills, and other assorted abuses. In all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon -- although we're really looking forward to seeing what sort of trials the company has in store for the Vaio P.
[Thanks, Mehul J]
[Thanks, Mehul J]
first comment!
Of course, they test for every disaster EXCEPT blending.
The BlendTec blender is expensive...
I prefer the "Smash my wii" or "Smash my xbox" testing style
I also prefer the "smash your wii and your xbox" style.
I don't think it was designed to be that way, most Vaios aren't. One thing I will give the Vaio Z is its incredible screen if you have seen it in person, absolutely stunning and has some of the best color reproduction out of any laptop.
all well and good, but does the lettering fade from the keyboard in day-to-day use? :p
Yeah, but how many Cylon base stars can it take on at once? 3? 4? Phisssh! Doubt it!
Yeah, well, you people forgot atomic fallout, and robotic overlords. Geez, talk about incompleteness.
got any evidence or are you just doing the usual Apple shilling?
Most of the stuff was totally pointless - I mean, they should at least have tests for stuff that actually happens in real life. Such as a 4 metre drop test, a gallon of orange juice spill test, a car running over it test, etc.
Guess you DIDN'T click the READ link...
Pretty impressive stuff, if i wore a hat i'd take it off.
He said in his opinion, which means it's not based on any facts.
"although we're really looking forward to seeing what sort of trials the company has in store for the Vaio P."
I'm not. In fact, I'm not looking forward to anything from Sony. Stupid rootkits in CD's... can't trust that company for anything now.
Cool stuff. Good work Sony! :D
somebody drop a mac pls!!! and post some pictures or videos. I am interested to see what happens. It seems as if Apple is like a benchmark on these forums.
@Down, its totally relevant in the drop test. Its the height which uni students like me carry their laptops on their hands, or have it pushed off the side the table by bumbling roomies who are trying to clear books off a side of the table and not see that my laptop is there behind the books.
i have a vaio Z, am happy with it, had it slide off my table once or twice, still good, except that the metallic paint on the green power button is starting to chip *vaio z users should know what i mean*. And the stickers! omg, the plastic layers on them are coming off. wish there weren;t any stickers in the first place.
likes: durability, battery life, performance, WEIGHT or the lack of it, screen, and the little finger print scanner, hdmi out (you have no idea how this little sucker has improved my life), dedicated grahics switch.
hates: vista (windows7 seems promising though), stickers, and how the metallic paint on my glowing power button is starting to chip.
I work with Mac and Vaio computers but I am not going to compare the two.
Macs are pretty well built machines. One annoyance that people seem to make a mistake of are the durability of the casings.
The white MacBook is more durable than the aluminum MacBook. I've seen these things fall, stepped on, nicked, chewed up and spitted out. There are rare occasions where the plastic one does crack but this is rare. The white MacBook beats the aluminum one in nearly all test scenrios.
http://www.engadget.com/
lame, no sound.
things is these test never reflect true reality in most cases. Cus in my past gadget horrors when you drop your "precious" they always seem to drop in ways you would have never imagined and will break those all important sweet spots
How much for a drop machine?
i guess sony has so many laptops in stock and nothing to do with them since no one buys them so they do this for publicity
i didnt know a image had sound "Daniel" please tell me more (A) hole
Well, in my opinion, the Earth is flat. Doesn't make it so, however.
Usually, opinions are best when they're backed up with things like evidence and facts.
Problem is, he's an Apple troll. Nothing he says is relevant or true (notice this story said nothing about Apple).
Hopefully It can take this
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/6744/img00011200903091409e.jpg
lol
That looks like a failure of the wiring carring current to the backlight, though that screen looks like it should be a LED backlight screen so i'm surised that enough voltage/current would be carried through that wiring to do that.
Either way, wiring defects, either thats some CHEAP wire (wire has to be pretty damn cheap to fail for no apparent reason) or someone did something wrong and stuck that near a heater/fire/something hot...
Either way, loving my older z series sony, its going on 2 years old now ans still works great despite my lending it to friends constantly.
Oh and to those that think sony laptops=shit, don't buy them stateside, levels of QC for stuff shipped over here is lower than that of sony's asian stock, bought my machine in Hong Kong and it was made in Japan and its held up. Friends with machines bought stateside have had nothing but issues.
lol i love how on the spill test, during powerdown they do a cheesy wipe to the final moments before black screen. Even on a brand new vaio z loaded with im sure minimum software running vista still takes frikkin FOREVER to do anything, especially startup and shutdown.
lol.
Wow, your smart. Carbon fiber (which the Vaio Z screen backing and bezel are made of), is 5 times stronger than aluminum. There is also a one piece aluminum keypad, and a low number of seams.
I'm pretty sure if a MacBook goes through all of this, the weak hinge would most definitely snap. The soft aluminum would have some cracks and be smashed out of shape, like throwing around a tin can.
At least the hinges on my 1+ year old SZ don't snap in daily use like the hinges of a less than one year old MacBook Air.
Carbon fiber has incredibly bad impact strength - if you compare a carbon fiber bicycle and an aluminum bicycle after a crash, an aluminum bike would bend, and the welds may crack, but the metal itself won't break. Carbon fiber on the other hand, might - look at Lance Armstrong's Trek on the Tour de France stage where he fell off the road.
What this means for a computer is that if you throw a laptop in a bag, I would trust the carbon fiber case to flex less if other things were lying on the laptop, but if I accidentally drop the bag on pavement or concrete (especially with other heavy/hard objects), I bet my laptop would be safer in an aluminum encased machine - though uglier after the dents and deformities.
Com'on apple users lets see how your stuff stands up.
No offense to anyone but everyone thinks sony is garbage except they don't realize the stuff sony truley has to offer nice design, good performance and very solid quality and I agree mostly on the asian side. I have had my sony for 3 years now going solid need to upgrade and looking at the Z series again, though I do wish they had their last year keyboards in them now those were very well laid out keyboards
My favorite is the one where they pour a glass of water into the keyboard. Crazy.
Wow redleader.
I like the way you start off everything with, "Wow, your smart." and can't even use the right you're.
Carbon fiber is NOT 5x stronger than aluminum. I don't know where you got that number from, it's not even close. Carbon fiber is NOT more durable than aluminum and in 10 years, something made of aluminum will be in better shape than the carbon fiber. Basically, the only thing that carbon fiber's got going for it is its low weight and cool pattern. I say skip the fiber and combine a crap load of carbon. You now have a diamond notebook. Congrats. It'll last forever.
I begin by stating I have no experience with a Vaio Z. I have, however, used several VGN-SZ Vaios over the last few years which couldn't take a punch. One drop from desk height broke my first one. The sides popped off my second. The DVD-Rom drive came out of my third. The screen also makes contact with the power and sound buttons so you get a permanent scratch on the bottom after a couple months of use. Hopefully things are better with the "Z", but I've switched to Asus after so many awful experiences with Vaio. I also give high marks to my 17" Compaq which survived three years of college on a communal coffee table. Many drops and several spills couldn't take it down.
it's not about opinion you tard, it's about fact, and the fact is the macbook won't stand up to as much punishment, to bad that you love your mac so excessively you wouldn't be that harsh
@Aliasfox, that´s not entirely true. The difference with for example a bicycle is that the carbon strains are in 1 direction (its tubulair) while for casings but also for example car shells the layers are in different directions in order to make it more durable. The end result is then also that you get a lighter and stronger casing then if you would use only aluminium. Though as far as I know carbon casings arent only carbon ussually there is also a nickel or magnesium alloy used to strengthen it. For example the x505 one of the first laptops with a carbon casing is actually carbon/nickel.
So while I´ve never seen a test between a macbook or a vaio its a fact that carbon casings are lighter, only in case of bathering it could happen that carbon gets damaged, yet this is only possible with a piercing hit not a blunt. That said I´m rather convinced that carbon casings > aluminium casings.
I own this laptop, these demonstrations are entirely misleading. I had to have the LCD replaced within a month of purchasing the laptop, now I carry it with a cloth in between the screen and the keyboard because the bump in the aluminum tray scratches the coating off of the screen otherwise. The LCD, which is otherwise beautiful, is so thin that, they're right it does flex, but it also damages the screen when it flexes and creates bright and dark spots all over the screen. The computer fell from about 18 inches onto a carpeted floor while in a padded laptop bag and the case CRACKED. The hinge feels like it's going to snap off at any time. The keyboard squeaks when I type. The seam where the aluminum tray meets the outside of the body is very poorly constructed, it squeaks, and I've had to tighten the screws repeatedly to eliminate gaps that develop at the seam. To top it off, the wireless network adapter failed within the first month that I had this. This laptop is very poorly constructed, Sony is full of shit.
Ironically, my Vaio Z slipped off my coffee table (~1.5ft) and the LCD casing cracked open. Had to send it in and, just now, approved the $300 charge to fix it. I don't believe a single claim Sony makes about the durability of their laptops. I always baby mine and this time made a mistake (can't we all have magsafe?!?!) You can't be as careless as you can with a Thinkpad, which really will withstand a beating.
As someone that has worked in a testing lab that does these exact same things I can tell you this is useless propaganda unless they show the competition going through the same tests and failing.
Is it just because if the drop test, or does it really take 18 seconds from power on before the POST screen comes up?