Sony VAIO Z demo video is fully rendered, somewhat dizzying, still worth watching
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 9th 2010 3:22AM
posted January 9th 2010 3:22AM
When three SSDs just won't do, Sony's VAIO Z is the fix. We've had a chance to briefly see one in person, but still found ourselves oddly entranced by the promotional video embedded for your pleasure after the break. It shows a rendered Z floating about in space, flaunting its various assets (backlit keyboard, switchable graphics, side-talkin' power button) before ending with a branding slogan that's so powerful you just can't help but reach for that credit card: The Executive Decision. Yeah, we're getting chills here, too -- but that's probably because someone left the door to the trailer open again.
wonder why it didn't highlight the blu-ray...
@afrokenjonny
Blu-what? whats that..?
@afrokenjonny well, they did flaunt a nice VGA port right up, you've been following vaio books for a while haven't you ;)
@Wesscoast
How original, an iDouche making a snarky comment.
This looks pretty freaking sexy. Depending on specs and cost Sony could very well get my money when my xps 1330 dies again.
@James Sexy indeed. But as with all laptops, I want to take the thing apart and put it back together to see exactly *how* sexy.
You give me those features on that form factor that can be taken apart and allow easily replaced parts and we're living the dream.
@James if only it ran OSX...
@PalmIsGarbage
It doesn't have to, it runs Windows 7.
@futuredavid
I took apart a Z to replace the HDD once. Never ever going to do it again. Almost broke the whole thing.
it's funny they highlight the SSD and yet you can't customize it with one on the sonystyle website
@Seven It is because you are looking at their old Z, not the new one.
The new one is not available for order yet (http://www.sony.com/pr/zseries/)
Last I heard, the previous gen Z could be had(from Sony) with 2x256 SSD, but I don't remember if that was with or with out the optical drive.
i was sold the moment they showed those hovering key's
@glenskey Haha me too. Something about the VAIOs always look off too me. Like they're trying to hard. They don't have the minimalism of Macs, nor the utilitarianism of Lenovos...
@MrAffrox
Well put. I feel the same way. The unusual styling tends to age poorly compared to e.g. IBM/Lenovo or the Macs.
@bebop
You say minimalistic, I say bland. I love the fact that Vaios have some character, which is very often lifted directly from Apple for use in their own products.
@DaveBrubeck "They have character, just not their own"?
(I don't mind the styling. I just thought that was a funny way to put it.)
@pyrthas
No, he's saying Apple takes design cues from Sony. Such as the isolated keyboard.
@uwaga dude
Yeah, exactly. My fault, I meant "by Apple".
@bebop Talking about "aging" and "Lenovo" is like cheating. Thinkpads don't age because they can't age.
And that's why they rock, nobody can tell if you have "the new thing" or a laptop from 2005.
Did they just show that if you drop the laptop, half way down the fall it would levitate preventing it from breaking?
@NineT9 Precisely.
@NineT9
...and did you notice those waves? Waterproof!
@NineT9 I would buy it without thinking if it did
@NineT9
You almost sound surprised..?
Does anyone know which Nvidia gfx card will be in this one?
The previous ones had the 9300M GS.
@naujoks NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, of course. Would you expect anything less? Switchable with Intel integrated graphics.
Yikes. The 1080p HD stream off Youtube brings my CPU to it's knees, 90%+ usage and the tiny occasional stutter. (AMD Athlon X2 5050e, ATI 4670 GPU)
@bebop
Mine's struggling, major stuttering :(
(core2duo 2ghz)
@(Unverified)
Mine's stuttering a little on my 2.66GHz MBP, and that's not even in HD!
Is it just a stuttery video?
@bebop Mine stutters a LITTLE in HD (1.86GHz C2D T5600)
There are two available HD streams, 720 and 1080. 720 is perfectly smooth for me, 70% CPU usage.
@bebop
My CPU is on 19%.
@bebop
CPU flicking between 40-70% with the video playing (2.4GHz C2D MBP)
@bebop
You should get the flash 10.1 beta 2. Decreased the CPU load on my laptop significantly when playing HD content from Youtube.
@Canizorro
Firefox + Flash 10.0 + YouTube is a Major Memory Hog
@bebop My last generation Vaio Z (VGN-690) plays the 1020p without a stutter or hickup having preloading the video. CPU usage hovered around 48%, although I do keep a lot of background processes running and had a couple of browser opens open.
@bebop:
No problems at all with 1080 HD playback on my XPS M1340 with P9600, GT210M (driving an external monitor) and 256SSD. In fact, no problems with any types of video on any site... so far; the occasional slow internet connection or Crysis Warhead on "Enthusiast" settings are the only things that seem capable of slowing this thing down.
WANT
uuu shiny :P and sexy :D like it
looks good but i think it would be better with an OLED screen [maybe] and a wider screen so it could fit ina numeric keypad
@(Unverified)
A numeric keypad would be nice but this is a 13.3" laptop. They would have to completely change the form factor to fit a keypad in.
@Steve B
*13.1
SLEEK FLAT SMOOTH KEYBOARD LIGHTS AUTOMAGIC GRAPHICS SPEED AND STAMINA ENGAGE WARP SPEED SEXY ON MY SMART SERIOUS SPACESHIP OFFICE DESK WIDESCREEN BUT COMPACT MEETING ROOM HEAD TURNER PUMPIN OUT BLAZIN FAST FUTURISTIC BUSINESS LULZ..............BOOM
@kompulsive
Oh dear...
@kompulsive
whoa homie!!
I love my Z (last years model) but won't upgrade it until the new Z's have USB 3.0.
Sexy!!
I had an SZ, then upgraded to a Z last year. It's a great machine. I use it as my main machine now, hooked up to my 24" through the docking station. With my extended battery I get 8hrs with wifi+bt in stamina mode (onboard GPU).
What processor? blu ray?