Sony Vaio Z gets Core i7 processor, 1920 x 1080 display in the US
By Laura June 
posted June 20th 2010 11:01PM
posted June 20th 2010 11:01PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted June 20th 2010 11:01PM
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@werty1432k
Just as Vaio Z owns the collective Apple camp.
@guideXD damn right it does. 1920 x 1080 on a 13.1 inch display? that's INSANE!
@brrip
No, 940 x 640 on a 3.5" display is insane.
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA no, that's arguably pointless. SWIDT?
@1 Infinite Loop Cupertino CA
Yeah, because you get more screen real-estate that way! Wait, no. It's just the same OS upscaled.
While 1920 x 1080 on a 13" screen sounds impressive, I doubt anyone is going to run it at that resolution. The interface and text would be tiny. So you will instead run it at a non-native resolution, which isn't good.
They obviously included it for the optional Blu-Ray drive but you'd be running non-native most of the time and then switch to 1080p for a movie.
It makes more sense to do this on a 15".
@guideXD
Only to spec-whores that are easily impressed by numbers. Try actually -using- a screen that size at that resolution.
@TinWard I feel you have not used windows 7 yet, you can maximize icon and text size by keeping original resolution. I use my tv as monitor and operate from my bed by increasing the font size :)
@TinWard I do, love it. After using this and going back to my TZ, its annoying how much real estate you lose, with the 1920dis you can have so many apps open at once. Crystal clear.
Avatar on it is AMAZING!
@TinWard Sigh. How long is it going to be before people realize that's a really dumb way of thinking?
The 'resolution' of a book is really, really high, but no-one complains that the letters are too small to read. Why? Because the size of the letters doesn't depend on the frickin' resolution. And so it is on any vaguely decent current operating system, including Windows 7, OS X and any recent Linux distro. If you go into the font settings you can set the system DPI to match the screen DPI. If you do that on all your systems, no matter if the screen DPI is 72 or 350, all the letters will be drawn the same size. Magical, huh?
@TinWard
PCPro reviewed the 1920x1080 version back in February:
"The only drawback is that you’ll need to take full advantage of Windows 7’s text-scaling abilities to avoid squinting at tiny fonts."
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/laptops/355384/sony-vaio-z11
@Indefinite Implosion Time to go back to school, Indefinite Implosion:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=sqrt((1920^2)%2B(1080^2))/13.1
That's the one way.
Another way is to figure out the length of the sides of the screen (which turn out to be 11.4" x 6.4"), then divide the length of either side by that dimension's resolution.
tl;dr - It's 168 ppi, not 386.
@brrip HATE the physical size. Too small, but the keyboard. I'm in love.
@Indefinite Implosion
Your math skills = epic fail
You have overestimated the pixel density by a factor of 2.
@ebon I tried lol, and I must say, a movie on a laptop never looked better! Why would you want a bigger laptop screen anyway? When I use my laptop I always sit in front of it...
Is it still $1k overpriced?
Nope, none for me.
@kickerbockeragua
it's expensive, but you can't call it overpriced if there isn't an alternative in it's looks, portability, and power class
@JeremyBenthem
I would definitely call it overpriced. I actually own this laptop - had a choice of i5 of i7 and went for i5. As for the display, 1600 is about as high as I would like to get with it - any higher and I'd be going blind. (I don't like upsize fonts - the spacing between them and the rest of the graphics always looked a bit wierd to me.) In any case, I have external monitors both @ home and @ work, and the hdmi out drives it beautifully.
In any case, it is LIGHT and damned easy to carry for a fully fledged notebook I can game on. And obviously something I was willing to pour extra money into.
@kickerbockeragua
You think this laptop should cost under $1000? Nice joke, find me something in the same class that performs close to it.
@BoxBabaX he meant they should sell it for $1000 less not under $1000
@ror
...yeah, that would put it at just under 1000 dollars if you take a look at the config pages.
@Ray W
You understand the definition of overpriced? You need to produce something comparable to judge the relative pricing. Well at the moment this product is unmatched. I own one too.
I want. lol
"lol"?
I want this laptop so bad....but I cannot afford it.... :'(
@element4life3
Id grab one in a heartbeat if they dropped base price to $1,600 or less. It is by far the best 13 inch laptop out on the market. Has the power of a 17 inch, the portability of the 13 inch that it is, and looks that a macbook pro can envy.
ps Go Cougs
@James good use of 'envy' there. heh. +1
@James lol, Go huskies!
But in all seriousness, you hit it right on the head, It is portable, but powerful. I want this badly...
It still amazes me how much power Sony can put into such a small laptop. I'm using an old generation one with Core 2 Duo, and it functions brilliantly. Doesn't even get hot when doing resource-heavy tasks.
first
@blarugh Oh yeah, you were definitely first.
@werty1432k Yeah, first to be downrankEd to oblivion lol
I thought that it always had a 1080p display...
@ DrDr
"VAIO Z's matte 13.1-inch, 1600x900 resolution LED screen is something to rave about."
Copied and pasted from Engadget's review of the laptop. If you had just followed their link to that review, you would have found out for yourself, but whatever.
@Gad Get
Ya, no shit. I already read the review, but I also remember reading that it had a 1080p display option.
@Gad Get
Wrong. The european model has had the 1080p display for about 4 months now. Engadget reviewed the USA model.
@DrDr
The 1080p option has been there for a few months now...perhaps the US was left behind?
@Gad Get
I read the review. But I also read the comments and a few members mentions a 1080p option.
This article should have been "The US finally 2nd gen Vaio Z with core i7 and 1080p" from the start. This is not new at all and DrDr is right that the 1080p option is out there in other part of the world, like Europe and Australia, for a while now.
My bad.
@pk Actually, you could always get the 1080p screen in the USA. It was only available on the signature series (the $4,000 one).
@Xaijin
Which is why I settled for 1600 x 900 i540 :((
I wish I could trade mine for this version! Oh btw, this laptop is an absolute GEM. VERY light. Waiting for Sony to reduce the weight even further by next year.
Probably too expensive...
@XxTheRemedyXx
I customized one and mine was 2k. I didnt opt for the i7 for the battery life.
@mastassmasta
You know the power consumption is probably very similar... they are both 35W TDP processors.
What do you guys think Vaio F or Envy 17(I am debating between the two)? I need to get a laptop soon, my Dell E6400 can't play Mass Effect for some reason.
Maybe they will update the F series....
@Maj
If you're playing games the Evny 17 has a much better GPU.
Don't expect very impressive battery life though.
@Prevacator
The Envy has a better gpu, but the F has better styling. The Envy looks too much like a Macbook.
@Maj
I have an F series, and I love it. The short battery life is a bit annoying, but the laptop looks damn good, and it handles games very well.
For example, I'm running fallout 3 at high settings and it runs great.