Sony Vaio Z, How I Love Thee. | Brit Mansell :: Life's Influence on Design

category: Productivity

Sony Vaio Z, How I Love Thee. 0

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would actually have emotional feelings toward a laptop, and I didn’t until now. My new Vaio, replaced my first-gen McBook Pro, which I still think is a great laptop. The one major drawback for the McBook in my situation is that I primarily do Microsoft ASP.NET web development, which means I need to boot into Vista via Boot Camp. I’m a big fan of Boot Camp and for the most part it works great, but there were a few nit picky things that just drove me crazy. They’re not worth discussing here because they will just expose the depth of my OCD. Plus, it was just time for a replacement.

In comes the Sony Vaio Z-Series. I wanted a laptop that was light, thin, and powerful, plus had some buttons other than the keyboard and a card reader. I went through several different brands and models and even ordered a Dell XPS M1530. After further fondeling of the Dell at a local Best Buy I decided the build quality of the chassis and keyboard wasn’t up to par for what I wanted. While I was there, I noticed the Sony Vaio Z on display. The one major drawback to the one on display was the smaller resolution. The Best Buy models are usually not the fuller featured models so I went back to SonyStyle’s website and did my research. Hands down this thing has it all.

After a few weeks of using it, I have to say it is the best piece of hardware I’ve ever had, ever. The battery life is great, the keyboard feels nice to the touch, the SSD is cool, too. It comes out of standby almost instantly, which was something that drove me crazy about the McBook (when resuming Vista). The weight and feeling of the chassis is absolutely unreal. It’s amazing that Sony has packed this kind of punch into such a small machine.

The only problem I’ve had with it is the power cable’s connection to the connector. I’m overly careful with this part of the hardware, almost to the point of driving my wife crazy having her tip-toe around the power cable stretched across the floor, but somehow it must have gotten jerked around and in doing so it bent the little piece of metal that makes contact with the power connector. I took a small pick and bent the metal back down inside of the laptop so that it made better contact. All seems well now, but I’m still worried about this part of the chassis. I much prefer the mag-safe design incorporated into the McBooks.

Other than the above mentioned issue, this laptop is amazing, especially for the price paid. If you’re in the market for a new ultraportable powerhouse, give the Vaio Z a glance. You won’t be let down.