VaioTz
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Sony recalling VAIO TZ models due to overheating risk (Update: now official for US)
Own a Sony VAIO TZ? Well, we hate to be the bearers of bad news but your TZ is likely infected by a possibly dangerous manufacturing boo boo. As such, all VAIO TZ models sold between May 2007 and July 2008 are subject to overheating (unrelated to the Lithium Ion battery, mind you) and eligible for free repair. So far, the announcement only covers Japan, we have yet to see any announcements for the rest of world. However, we do have a reader tip saying that US-based Micro Center stores have pulled all the VAIO TZs from its shelves. We'll update you with US and European support information just as soon as it's available.Update: And here we have it, the official statement of voluntary recall for the US. 73,000 VAIO TZs -- VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series sold between July 2007 and August 2008 -- are affected after 15 reports of overheating resulting in one consumer who suffered a minor burn. Full notice after the break.Update 2: UK recalled as well. Apparently, more than 200 laptops globally have overheated resulting in seven people suffering "light burns." The recall amounts to about 440,000 laptops.[Via Impress, thanks BigDaddyM and Chris W.]
Sony hates you, offers $50 "Fresh Start" option to build your laptop crapware-free
Sony has quite the history of crippling excellent, beautiful hardware with horrible, useless software. The company's UX UMPC bluescreened on us the first time we turned it on, and crashed the first time we tried to shut it down thanks to all the bloatware on it, while a Laptop Mag review says their Vaio TZ ran "as if it were broken" before they managed to wipe it clean. Lucky for us, it appears Sony is finally seeing the error of its ways, but instead of removing the crapware altogether, Sony has the nerve to offer a $50 "Fresh Start" option, which "scrubs" the machine clean before shipping it your way. At the moment you can only configure the TZ2000 crapware-free, but hopefully Sony will be rolling out the choice to the rest of its laptops soon. Or here's an idea, Sony: stop trying to milk profits and start giving consumers laptops that actually work out of the box.[Thanks, Camron T]Update: In case you missed it, it looks like Sony had a change of heart about Fresh Start. (What, already?)
VAIO TZ with 64GB SDD + 250GB HDD gets a ship date
Somewhat lost in Sony's massive CES VAIO spec bump was an update to the super hot (but generally overlooked) top-end VAIO TZ that features both an SSD and HDD, which allows you to speed up booting and other system tasks that rely on quick random reads by running Windows off the SSD while still being able to lug all your data around on the traditional hard drive. The no-compromises model got bumped to 64GB of SSD and 250GB of HDD, but we didn't know a ship date until now -- looks like Sony's taking pre-orders now on sonystyle.com for delivery in March. The new model also includes 2GB of RAM, a Sprint EV-DO card, fingerprint sensor, and external dual-layer burner, as well as the TZ's usual 11.1-inch XBRITE screen and 1.33GHz U7700 Core 2 Duo processor -- looks like the TZ isn't going to give up that "hottest ultralight" crown to the MacBook Air so easily, now is it?[Thanks, Tim]
Sony Vaio TZ review roundup
The first reviews of Sony's new top-of-the-line ultraportable, the Vaio TZ, are are starting to trickle in, and they're surprisingly mixed. While there's no doubting the overall hotness of the industrial design, the older, non-Santa Rosa chipset, 1.1GHz Core 2 Duo ultra low voltage processor, and integrated GMA 950 graphics don't seem to provide all that much bang for your $2,200 bucks, and the system seems to be preloaded with tons of crapware -- Laptop Magazine straight up says the TZ ran "as if it were broken" until they cleaned it up. Still, most reviewers found the design, battery life, available 32GB SSD, and WWAN options to be intriguing enough to rate high scores -- either that, or this thing is even sexier in person.Read - Laptop MagazineRead - CNETRead - TrustedReviews
Hands-on with Sony's VAIO TZ superultraportable notebook
Obviously unaware that we're not exactly the classiest folks around (we were the only ones there wearing shorts and a T-shirt), Sony invited us to a decidedly swanky "product unveiling" at Rockefeller Plaza's 66th floor Top of the Rock observation deck, replete with such pricey fare as caviar, salmon canapes, crab salad, tuna tartare, and grilled shrimp, along with four varieties of champagne (from a 2000 Veuve Clicquot Reserve Rose to a 1996 Bollinger R.D., if you must know) to wash it all down with -- and as if that weren't enough booze, several bottles of well-aged scotch sat prominently atop a fully stocked bar. This whole luxury theme was meant to sway our coverage about reflect the high-end status of the company's 11.1-inch VAIO TZ, whose $2,200 minimum price tag gets you a waif of a Santa Rosa-based ultraportable featuring a carbon fiber exterior, 32GB SSD, WWAN in the form of EV-DO Rev. A, and a MacBook-style keyboard, among other goodies. Sorry to cut this short, but we're off to shower and shave with the pleasant smelling men's products that Sony stuffed in our gift bag (we gave everything else -- cigars, lip balm, four dollar bottled water, book on wine -- away to elevator operators and people on the subway), so this would probably be a good time to check out the gallery below. And, as a special, one-time only bonus, we've also included photos of the recently announced VAIO-branded LF-V30 LocationFree streamer, whose component jacks enable HD place-shifting, and with which the entire VAIO lineup will soon be compatible thanks to pre-loaded software... %Gallery-4973%
Sony VAIO TZ first impressions
Sony's SSD-riffic VAIO TZ laptop still hasn't officially made it to North America, but that hasn't stopped some folks from doing the importing thing to get their ultraportable fix, one of which has kindly put together a few first impressions for NotebookReview. On the whole, the individual (known only as "Outrigger") seems to be quite pleased with the purchase (despite the premium price), especially digging the laptop's good looks and LED-backlit screen, as well as its "extremely long" battery life. On the downside, as nice as that SDD drive is, Outrigger would have liked to see more than 32GB of it, as well as more than one RAM slot. Not surprisingly, he also found that the laptop is "not made for gaming," with none of Santa Rosa's benefits to be found either. Still, if portability is your top concern, it looks like a solid enough choice, assuming that the near $3,000 price tag doesn't turn you off, that is.
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Sony Vaio TZ sports 32GB SSD and 160GB disk -- the best of both worlds
Oh hotness incarnate, the VAIO TZ lives. Sure we peeped those catalog shots more than two weeks ago, but there's nothing like seeing the 11.1-inch ultra-portable in the fo' realz. The specs are in line with what we already knew with one tiny surprise: the system can apparently (judging by janky machine translation) be configured to run both a 2.5-inch 160GB disk and a 1.8-inch 32GB SSD simultaneously -- store the Vista OS and your critical apps and data on the lickity quick flash drive with everything else bunged into the traditional spinner. Nice. The TZ also features a newly designed keyboard carried over from earlier Sony's and similar to the one found on the Apple MacBook. The Vaio TZ starts shipping in Japan May 26th which means the rest of the world should get theirs shortly thereafter. One more pic after the break.[Via Impress, thanks William M.]
