Sony VAIO W, Z, F, and Y series hands-on: lean and green vs. gaming elite
By Ross Miller 
posted January 7th 2010 7:25PM
posted January 7th 2010 7:25PM
posted January 7th 2010 7:25PM
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I don't care about eco friendly. I just wish they made the laptops with 'aluminum' or 'recycled aluminum' if sony wants to be green. They do look great though, but probably overpriced.
@hp79 Not that overpriced this time. And what's wrong with magnesium alloy and carbon fiber?
@hp79
Are you kidding? The Vaio F starts @ $999, that includes a core i7
(quad core not dual) and Nvidia GT 330m gpu. If Apple had those specs they it would retail @ $1800 -$1900 easily.
@daytripper
I know! this is the first time I have been able to consider the F series because of the usual high price . . . big fan of its design and looks this time around.
Sony VAIO is been slip in sales ever since the Taiwanese Company Invade U.S. Market (Asus, Acers etc..) Problem is Sony can't produce anything that really unique and the price simply won't help. You can't sell stuff sorely base on Sony Brand.
@techlord
I don't agree at all.
I find their products to be much better than the average, attention to details matters to me and they offer good products in their line. Not everything is gold, but which company only makes great products?
On top of everything prices are very competitive if you consider what they are giving you for the money!
I agree that free would be nicer, but if you guys keep complaining they'll never give us any presents, right?
;)
@(Unverified) ASUS doesn't seem to have had that many failures, for one.
The F looks awesome, any word on the Nvidia video card options?
@Aleman
There's two options 512MB GT 330M and 1GB GT 330M. It would have been great if the offered the new ATI 5k series mobile cards.
@daytripper
Thanks for the information. Lame card.
VAIO F ---> sadly out.
Envy 15 ---> LET THE SAVING BEGIN.
@TareG If you wish to burn your lap, that is.
Vaio Z - Core i5, switchable nVIDIA GT 330M, 13.1" laptop + optical drive @ ~3lbs. match made in heaven. GIMME NOW.
Well 128gb SSD is now standard so yeah even better.
@azntech I have the previous version. Wish I waited :(
Could you tell us at least how the Vaio Y screen compares to the and if possible the older SR?
i officially found my next Vaio to replace my current one, that Vaio Z is gonna be mine
@delorean2006
I'm between Z and F. I know, they're completely different. My last Vaio laptop was a 17" A290 (I bought in 2004 or 2005), but it wasn't very portable because of the weight (8.6 Lbs), but it was an awesome desktop replacement for the time, now I'm Iooking to buy a new laptop, but I'm afraid if I get the F series (6.9 Lbs) I would have the same problem as I had with the A290, I just don't know what to do, although the Vaio F it's 1.7 pounds lighter this time around than the A290.
ill say it again why does the W have the stupid big battery.
@wupolo I'm sure that's an extra and you can just use the small one as well. -_-"
Damn I bought c2d f series just before christmas. I wished i waited.
Well the F series fixes two of my biggest gripes with my current FW series - lack of number pad and not LED backlight.
If they'd just make the keys back-lit they'd be all set with the best in class, cause 16.4" screen with the tiny bezel trumps the 15.6" on all the competitors, but ASUS is good for back-lit keypads and easily matches Sony on quality.
@KC For the Sony Vaio F you can add a backlit keyboard. It seems like it will be a great laptop!
Buying the VAIO F unless the Envy 15 is better on the inside...
Noooo, why did they need to add the numeric pad to the F series, it's what I love about the FW I have currently. I just hope Sony plan on outing an updated 18.4 inch model!
Sony is releasing the brand new S Series in Europe but not in the US at the moment, yet it is EXACTLY what I want in a laptop. Core i5 540m, 13.3" LED LCD, Backlit keys, NVIDIA 310m...WHY aren't they selling it in the US?? Why do they torture me this way.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vnp-s-series
@doublsh0t Wow, now that's what I've been waiting for!
Call me when they stop screwing with hotkeys, seriously, formatting & reinstalling Windows (XP, Vista, even 7) is a real pain in the ass on all series Vaio.
Allthought recent facts, more speciffically admitting that Memory Stick is sh*t, and starting to make SDs seem to improves things, I'm still hoping for a decent prized, and good-spec'd machine
Definitely getting the Y-series, better price for a similar configuration to Dell's Inspiron 14z.
Wow all of those look great! Now which one should I go for?
I used to worship Sony. Just about every piece of gear in the house was Sony, I even bought one of those hideous purple Vaio's around 2002 or so. Right around the time of the whole rootkit scandal, I had to go to three different stores to find the particular flavor of Memory Stick that one of my cameras took.
Switched over to Canon cameras, HP computers and Pioneer TV's. I miss the solid build quality of Sony gear (especially their cameras) but not their bullshit.
@BdgBill1
Cool story bro.
I've been looking for the perfect 13" for a while now, and I have to say that the Y series is the best looking one I've seen. Seems to be exactly what I'm looking for...now the real question is how is the battery life? They say 7 hours with the standard battery, but that's usually just a blatant lie. If it's actually somewhere near that I would go for this laptop in a heartbeat.
@nerdherd Wait, I meant 8 hours on the standard battery
@nerdherd This is CULV, so I would expect it to last quite a while. 5 hours at the least.
@revoltracers That would be fantastic. If this thing can get the battery life of something like the Asus UL30 series then I would be very pleased. Sony's previous line-up of laptops were fairly battery hungry when compared with other laptops with similar specs, but let's hope they've changed that.
My, that F Series Vaio looks great! Better than my FW, in fact. Damn you Sony, I got this laptop 4 months ago!
I see a lot of PC laptops with off centered track pads and have always thought that was an odd design. I use my right hand on my macbook pro, so it would be awkward to reach further over to the left to use these track pads.
I'm reserving judgment on these computers until I can touch one at sony style. Sony makes beautiful laptops but they always feel so flimsy. You can get a descent twist out of the models currently on display.