Lift the lid, though, and the Z starts looking a bit more like its old self. That metal accent just doesn't jibe with Sony's typical laptop design, and screams, "I'm expensive!" Well, we knew that.
Moving along, Sony also added a brushed metal strip to the the back edge of the lid - an over-the-top touch for a machine that doesn't need to prove it's premium. (And yes, it still glows that familiar green.) When we first unboxed the Z we a bit disoriented, but the new arrangement looks slick and also serves a practical purpose - that new dropped hinge gives the keyboard a nice, subtle tilt when the lid is open.
The power button, meanwhile, sits on the upper-rightmost corner of the keyboard deck. In fact, at first blush it looks like the Z's missing a hinge. Like many VAIOs of yesteryear, the last-gen model had a rounded hinge with the power button baked in, whereas this one has a sunken display that sits so low that it grazes the table when it's open. And that's not even counting the ones you'll find on the Power Media Dock, which we'll walk you through in just a moment.īut the cosmetic differences between this year's Z and the last-gen model don't stop at inches and pounds. But the Z at least justifies its "heft," if you can even call it that: it houses a whole lot more I/O openings, including a headphone / mic port, an Ethernet jack, USB 2.0 and 3.0 sockets, VGA-out, and separate SD and Memory Stick slots.
#SONY VAIO S I7 SERIES#
The Z is, of course, thicker, than either the Air or Samsung's 2.8-pound (1.3kg) Series 9. And yes, for those of you who were wondering, it's also lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air, which weighs in at 2.96 pounds (1.3kg). It feels even less dense than some netbooks we've tested, and it makes Lenovo's 3.7-pound (1.7kg) ThinkPad X1, for one, seem unwieldy by comparison. The result is one unbelievably light notebook - the lightest 13-incher with a standard voltage processor, to be exact. That's right, this is a pancake-flat laptop the whole way through - a departure from the deceptive wedge shape you'll see on scads of other laptops. And when we say 0.6 inches, we mean at its thinnest and thickest point. Because of that, it was able to knock the weight down to an absurdly light 2.57 pounds (1.2kg) and whittle the thickness from one inch (25.4mm) to just six tenths of an inch (15.24mm). As we mentioned, Sony gutted the Z so that it no longer houses an optical drive or dual graphics cards. This time around, the Z got a facelift and a touch of liposuction - a makeover that's left it half a pound lighter and a whole lot flatter. The last time we reviewed the VAIO Z, we didn't have a whole lot to say about the design - after all, the company didn't muck around much with the Z that came before that. What's a well-heeled geek to do? Let's find out. But will it satisfy those who always liked the Z because of its no-compromise design? And then there's the issue of that $1,969 starting price, a likely stumbling block for people trying to decide between this and an equally thin, less expensive ultraportable. On the one hand, this inventive design is sure to intrigue the Z's usual early adopter fanbase. That's quite the gamble Sony is taking - after all, the company is essentially betting that you won't need to do anything too intensive while you're on the go. (Don't worry, it does squeeze in lots of other goodies, including standard-voltage Sandy Bridge processors and expanded solid-state storage.) If you want that Blu-ray burner or the stock AMD Radeon HD 6650M graphics card, you'll have to plug into the Power Media Dock, an external peripheral that uses Intel's Light Peak technology. This time around, the Z has no optical drive, and packs just an integrated Intel graphics card on board. Whereas the last generation combined it all, cramming in an optical drive and switchable graphics, this year's model leaves much of that at the door - or, at least, in an external dock that ships with the laptop. It also might not be the Z you were expecting. The 2011 VAIO Z is, indeed, thinner, lighter, and more powerful. People who missed out on the last-gen Z wondered when they'd next get the chance to buy, while some lucky folks out there with thousands to burn started itching for something thinner, something lighter, something. After all, the Z is part of a small fraternity of notebooks that combine an impossibly lightweight design with performance worthy of a larger system. So when it disappeared from Sony's online store earlier this year, more than a few techies took note. Make no mistake: the Sony VAIO Z, a skinny ultraportable brimming with cutting-edge technology and powerful innards, is that kind of gem. We see countless laptops come and go through the seasons, but a rare few have built up something of a following.
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