Sony :: Are My Z Specs Alright- Is 1080P Res Worth The Wait
Mar 23, 2010
I am an owner of the old Z series(690) and have loved it ever since day 1. I think my only gripe was the gpu felt at times a bit weak for me, but that was to be expected. In general, it handled nearly all my tasks fine.
I am going to now be purchasing the new Z1190 CTO series. Right now, my specs are set to i7-620m, Win7 Professional, Silver, 4GB RAM, 192GB SSD. Is there any options you guys think I should change, such as an increase in RAM, or a decrease in something else, etc.
The only reason I have not purchased the laptop yet is because of 2 things, firstly is the 1600x900 resolution. I love the resolution, and while, sometimes, I find some things a bit small, overall everything is readable and fits well. When I heard they were having 1920x1080, that definitely got me excited. While I do not want to opt for the signature series Z, I am sure 1920x1080 will eventually come after a refresh.
Do you think it is worth waiting for the high resolution?
Is it worth it..or do you prefer the 1600x900?
Are there any major pros or cons to switching 1080p or is there not a large difference.
Lastly, the nvidia 330m, I do not know too much about. Most of the things I do on the computer, are not very graphic intensive, (light photoshopping, programming, etc) but will the Z with the specs I listed be able to run some games at decent settings with not everything turned down like the 9300?
I was about to Order FW490 from sonyStyle but while i'm searching about it i found this forum and the upcoming FW590
this is my customization.:
Code: * 16.4" widescreen with XBRITE-FullHD™ LCD technology (1920x1080) * 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm] *will be replaced by Vertex SSD which already have. * Large Capacity Battery * WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology * ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4650 graphics card with 1GB vRAM-great for games and movies * Engraving * Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz) * CD/DVD playback/burning * Chocolate Brown * Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit * 4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2) and this will cost me $1,139.62
now as i read here maybe at 10/20 or 10/27, SonyStyle will but FW590 online!, but don't know will be for Ready or just "Coming Soon"?
Do you think FW590 deserve the waiting and i should cancel the idea of buying this? I hope the FW590 is same price and the FW490, and also i get tired of thinking about the LCD in the FW590 will be LED or not which is like FW490?
I'm very happy with the LCD on my new Z555 and thought I would share the details after profiling the display. I was looking for this information myself and couldn't find much so here is what I've figured out:
The temperature of the display on it's own is about 6300K but deficient in green (too magenta). The color is consistent with either graphics adapter.
I have no way to measure the color gamut but it does appear to be at least as wide as my Electron Blue CRT and with more color contrast. As I found in another thread Sony is calling it the full range of the NTSC which is slightly larger than adobe RGB, though it's never stated clearly.
Since neither adapter's driver allows setting the brightness independent of the color I could only set the white point using the drivers and had to rely on the rather coarse range of the FN keys brightness with contrast at default. I tried to get more contrast out of the display by playing with the driver contrast adjustments but in the end it just complicated the color adjustments for no apparent gain.
The best black point I could get was .24 cd/m and the highest white point was almost 325 cd/m -- both excellent values for a laptop.
In the end the 6500K profiles I settled on had a black point of .37 cd/m and a usable brightness of 197 cd/m. This is over 500:1 contrast ratio (if I'm figuring this right) and is excellent for a laptop.
With a profile associated with each adapter (intel & nividia) Vista seems to correctly load the proper profile if the speed/stamina switch is changed though I need to verify that this is actually working. I'm sure Vista loads the correct profile from power on.
The display is sharp and crisp with a beautifully matte finish. There is some banding in large gradients, as I feared, but I'm sure it's typical for all 6 bit displays.
Loading the profiling software was no fun as there appears to be something wrong with the installshield Vista installation from sony but eventually I got it working. Next step is a clean install on a new disk but I think I'm going back to XP for that.
My $250 netbook works through the VGA port at 1080p resolution to my Samsung 1080P LCD TV no problem. My $200 Panasonic BD-35 ports 1080P through the HDMI port no problem.
With my new Z, I'm having a bit of trouble getting proper scaling on the HDMI. I am selecting ONLY external screen on the Sony menu (Not cloning or 2nd screen). The desktop extends BEYOND the edges of my Samsung LCD TV.
So I go in the menu and select the alternative and now there is a small black border around the Samsung LCD where the desktop is a bit smaller than the screen.
I'm gettin a Vaio FW as a replacement to my FZ. The only question I have now is wheter I should get the Xbrite-ECO 1600x900 or the FullHD 1920x1080 screen.
Will the 1920 be too small to actually use? Also my FZ is Xbrite-Hi Color, the sharpness and contrast and colors are VERY important to me that's why I never got an ECO display. Is this 1600x900 "ECO" like all "ECOs"?? (narrower viewing angles, less vibrant colors than Hi Color and so on..)
Or are they the same screen with different resolutions only?
Many folks considering the Sony Z have been asking the question of whether or not the "Full-HD" screen offered in some configurations/countries has "too high" a resolution, given the relatively low 13.1" screen size. While I can't answer that question for you, I thought I'd post a little table that can help to understand on a comparison basis where this sits, given current products:
As you can see, this walks through the spectrum from 24" monitors through the Sony Vaio P, which currently offers the highest DPI setting that I'm aware of on any currently shipping portable PC.
A few interesting observations: For those who are accustomed to using E-Ink panels, the Z's full-HD screen offers essentially identical DPI.If you've ever seen a Sony Vaio P in-person, its admittedly very high DPI is indeed challenging for folks who don't have great short-distance vision.Even the low-resolution version of the Sony Z has a DPI that's higher than 18.4" 1080P notebooks.One source of debate relates to whether or not the Vaio Z's resolution is too high. Critics state that "magazines are 600 DPI+, how could you not read a much lower DPI"? The answer is that we're undergoing a critical transition.
The "problem" is that those who've used computers for years are actually accustomed to seeing pixels. Traditionally, operating systems and user interfaces have "assumed" a pixel density of around 100 DPI. What's changed is that we're beginning to undergo a transition from traditional displays to much higher density displays. Part of this challenge, led by E Ink, is how to effectively replace paper. In that context, viewing individual pixels is actually undesirable, while rendering fonts with authenticity is the top priority - precisely the top concern of most publishers.............
i was looking over at the VPC-Z12 leak page from Australia it shows that only the 1920x1080p screen has the 96% Adobe RGB coverage. Is this just australia or is the 1600x900 screen offered by Sony everywhere else (US & UK specifically) 96% Adobe RGB as well?
So with best buy selling the low end model for $1699.99 I'm curious if there is a resource for purchasing z series parts like the 1920 x 1080 screen from the international versions (or the $4500 US version). Even if it's a $400 service part it's still worth it.
I'd have no problem replacing the screen and likely able to see the 1600x900 on ebay for some cash. I just haven't seen a place for Sony parts
For maximum battery life, can the Z run full 1080p Bluray on the integrated graphics card and not use the 'external' graphics card? This is query for both old and new Z.
Been having mini wars in my mind pitting HP Envy 15 vs MacBook Pro vs Sony Z. Right now Sony Z's got the edge and my interest, and so these questions:
1. I'm interested in getting the Z with the 512GB SSD. Is ordering this configuration only possible via Sony's site?
At first I thought that to be the case, but then I saw in the several hundred page Sony Z thread, links to Jr.com and Amazon.com where they have the Z on sale in various configurations, but no 512GB SSD .....
the new dell studio 15 has a option fora 900p screen. this prob means a 1440x 900 screen but it just doesn't make any sense calling it 900p. it even confused me..
M1330 motherboard died for the 3rd time and was told on Nov 21st that they will be sending me a replacement model. How long does it take for them to send it? Sucks to be without my one and only laptop. TIA
I've got an Inspiron 9400 with the pathetic ATI x1400 living inside of it. I got a price from dell to upgrade to the GeForce 7900 for about 400$ Aussie dollars. My dilemma is that with DX10 coming along quite quickly etc...will i be pissing my money up against the wall by buying this card or should wait to get DX10 compatible card. Also the obvious..... what DX10 cards fit the Inspirion 9400's ?
A pretty good deal on the dell xps 1645 came up recently and I was wondering whether i should buy it now or wait for any updates to the dell studio xps 16 in the summer.
Do you guys think the studio xps 16 will have the ATI 5000 series graphics chip or new processor by summer time
I purchased a U430 ideapad 3 days ago. Set up the laptop without problems. Ran Windows Update and updated 8.1 with 40+ updates. All was fine - Until I powered off and later restarted.
The Lenovo loading screen was followed by windows user login. Entered password for user and the normal desktop appeared. Immediately a green window appeared almost filling the screen, with 'Please wait' in the centre and 'Cancel' bottom right.
Cancel does nothing and the Please Wait screen never goes - effectively locking the machine. The screen can't be resized, or closed, and the Desktop is only visible at the very top and bottom, but cannot be selected.
Pressing Ctrl-Alt-del and selecting Task Manager doesn't identify what has loaded to cause the problem and trying to switch applications shows the desktop and task manager but won't allow these to be selected, as the green screen just overlays everything.
I read online posts and did a factory reset, disabled the face-recognition software and repeated the Windows Update. All seemed fine, but next day the Green - Please wait - screen returned.
The only way I've found to regain access is to run the battery down to <10%. Getting a low battery warning at start up appears to stop the Green - please wait - screen loading and allows normal access to the Windows desktop.The laptop then functions normally until it's powered off and restarted and the Please Wait screen returns.
I need to know the specs of the RAM in my M4400 and was hoping someone here could help me out?
I know it has 4GB Ram, but how many actual Ram slots does it have and what speeds/specs Ram can be put in it? Basically,
i want to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB to give my VM's better performance without slowing down my base OS (Windows 7 Ultimate x64). I don't know which Ram to choose on newegg.
Just doing a final check to make sure these specs are acceptable (just listing the upgraded/important bits)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (3MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB) Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms) 500GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive (I'm pissed about this, there was a 7200 RPM one on there a day or two ago)
BluRay Disc Combo (DVD/CD read/write + BD read) Slot Load Drive ATI Mobility RADEON® HD 3670 - 512MB (don't need the upgrade) Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
