Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO VGN-SZ760N/C 13.3-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Vista Business)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have had this laptop for a month, and these are my experiences: Upon opening, I attempted to use the included XP Downgrade disc, but it was faulty (apparently not an uncommon problem). While support sent me another disc, I used Vista and decided it was okay but not good enough. When the replacement XP downgrade disc arrived, it worked. The webcam didn't work though. Many frustrating calls and chat sessions (Sony chat support is better than phone support), they said I needed a fresh install. So I installed XP Downgrade again, and it still didn't work. As it turns out, several drivers were not working with a fresh install and they had to be downloaded from Sony. After that, the webcam works, though the framerate is not as high as on Vista (15fps on XP). XP is quite a bit faster than Vista on this computer (not surprising).

The antenna attached to the notebook is cheap and flimsy. In the hustle of the airport, I put the laptop back in my bag, and the antenna got caught on the side of my bag and is now bent. I wish there were a way to take it off as I don't need the WWAN.

The battery (like other users attest) loses power even if the whole system is turned off. This is annoying as I do not use my laptop every day during the summer (I am a student), opting for the convenience of my desktop quite often. Therefore, I have to worry about my battery much more than I did with my previous laptop, which was a Gateway. I'm not sure by how much it loses power as I have only recently realized it has this problem, but it's ~10% per day. I have not attempted to contact Sony regarding the battery due to other reviews which make it seem futile.

In the end, this laptop is pretty cool. It looks nice, runs fast, says Sony on it, the keys make a satisfying click for fun typing, the screen is pretty, etc. However, I wish it had a slot-load disc drive, more USB ports, a backlit keyboard, better battery which didn't drain even when powered off, and a sturdier and removable WWAN antenna.

Many professional reviews call the Sony Vaio SZ the "ultimate no-compromise ultraportable notebook", and it seems that this is no exaggeration. My SZ750n/c is all that I could want from a laptop, and more.

But first, an overview of the major issues that keep most laptops from being excellent "lap top" computers (easily portable, use anywhere):

1. Weight / size - a laptop that's too heavy or bulky to be comfortably carried around become nothing more than a fancy desktop computer, since carrying it around becomes more trouble than it's worth.

2. Cooling efficiency - a laptop that becomes uncomfortably hot under normal use, or can't be used without careful consideration about air circulation becomes more of an annoyance than a convenience.

3. Noise - a noisy laptop (usually caused by overworked or poorly designed fans) can be very irritating, not only to you, but to everyone else around you.

4. Battery life - a laptop that only lasts 1 - 2 hours off AC power isn't much use as a portable computer, since you'll tend to want to stay near AC power.

5. Build quality - a laptop that isn't well built will soon start to fall apart just from everyday wear; parts can come loose, hinges can break, etc. Build quality is extremely important to any portable machine.

6. Computing power - a laptop that performs tasks slowly or can't perform certain intensive operations is of reduced value, no matter how portable, since it forces you to perform some of your work on other computers. Portability should not come at the expense of too much computing power.

The Sony Vaio SZ is one of the few laptops today that excels in all of the above areas. There are laptops of all sizes, weights, and varieties, but the Sony SZ is exceptional in that it balances performance, lightweight, silent operation, long battery life, etc. virtually without compromise.

- The Sony Vaio SZ is very light and portable, at 4.0 pounds. That, combined with it's size (13.3") makes it perfect for carrying around effortlessly, while the screen is still large enough for every-day use. It can easily be picked up and carried around with one hand, whether the lid is opened or closed.

- Most importantly (to me), the SZ has an excellent cooling system. Not only does it stay exceptionally cool internally (~30C CPU core temp) and externally (almost always cool to the touch no matter where you feel), but even when running on non air circulating surfaces like a blanket or a pillow, temperatures never raise more than 1 degree.

- The SZ runs almost completely silently. During the day, it's fan is almost impossible to hear unless held directly against the ear.

- Battery life is excellent. A well tuned system should be able to get 5+ hours easily, and 6+ hours is quite possible during word processing and light web browsing. I've personally got over 5 hours while doing various tasks including web browsing, watching videos, word processing, installing software, etc.

- Build quality is almost unmatched by any other brand. The SZ's carbon fiber chassis and aluminum palmrest makes up a very sturdy (yet lightweight) laptop. It feels very solid, even when picking the laptop up with a single hand (no real creaks or any warping at all). The keyboard and palmrest has no discernible flex unless you push unnaturally hard on the keys, etc. The screen (lid) is unusually thin (about the thickness of a hardcover book), yet remarkably sturdy (thanks to carbon fiber). The no-latch screen hinge works very well at keeping the lid closed, and at keeping it firmly in place when open. Even when holding the laptop upside-down by the body, the lid does not come open.

- Depending on your model, the SZ will range from very fast to incredibly fast. My model (the SZ750) has a relatively low-end T8100 2.1 GHz processor, yet it's still roughly 3x faster than my 3.0 GHz Pentium 4 HP laptop, and roughly 2x faster than my 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon64 desktop (not counting dual core - for modern applications the performance difference is 2x what's mentioned above).

Now on a less practical side, here are some other things about the SZ:

- The SZ's screen is one of the best on any laptop, with the possible exception of some newer laptops like the Sony Vaio Z. Color reproduction is stunning - better than many desktop LCD monitors. Brightness is incredible for a laptop - at 100% brightness it is actually uncomfortably bright indoors, and is bright enough to be viewed in direct sunlight outdoors.

- The SZ keyboard is different from most other laptops in feel (although the key pitch is 100% standard so you don't have to worry about adjusting to a cramped keyboard as with smaller laptops). Some people love the SZ keyboard, others hate it. I personally like it much better than any other laptop keyboard I have used, but if possible you should try a display model to see if you like it.

As to the underlying technology, the SZ has quite a few features that make all the above possible:

- WLED backlit LCD display - the display of the premium SZ models (such as the SZ750) is lit with White LED technology, as opposed to the outdated CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent light) on most other laptops. WLED displays are brighter, more vibrant, and considerably more energy efficient (resulting in longer battery life) than CCFL displays.

- Unlike most other laptops, the SZ has two GPU (graphics processing unit) chips - one from Intel that is energy efficient but relatively slow, and one from NVidia that is more of a power hog but very fast (useful for gaming and 3D rendering work). A "Stamina / Speed" switch allows you to switch between video cards, although unfortunately a reboot is required.

- Advanced internal circuitry (7 layer [possibly incorrect]) helps save power and prolong battery life compared to competing models even with identical CPU/GPU/etc. components.

- The standard 6-cell battery included with SZ premium models (like mine) is one of the highest energy capacities of any battery of it's weight / cells - 5800mah capacity. Most 6-cell batteries found in similar sized laptops (and even larger, heavier ones) are 4800mah - 5200mah.

The SZ does have some disadvantages, but fortunately they're relatively minor:

- When you first get an SZ, it comes pre-installed with a lot of "bloatware" - in other words, lots of software you probably won't need or want. Bloatware will slow down your system and reduce battery life and performance. This may be an issue if you're a beginner with computers, but otherwise it's not as hard to remove as some people say.

- The SZ series has a known issue where, when not connected to AC power, if you turn it off overnight, the next day the battery will be drained about 1-3%. This usually isn't a major issue, and if it is, it can be solved by simply removing the battery when not in use for long periods of time.

- Update: Originally in this review I added a "con" stating that Sony's website didn't seem to offer the same high-quality battery (VGN-BPS10) for replacement/spare purchase, and instead offered an inferior one (VGN-BPS9), which concerned me as batteries to eventually wear out. I've since found that the high-quality BPS10 battery can not only be purchased, but at a very reasonable price from http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/. What's strange is that sonystyle.com (their main consumer store site) only offers the inferior BPS9 battery, and at nearly twice the price of the BPS10.

Overall, the Sony Vaio SZ is an excellent "lap top" computer, far better than any competing brands (at the time of this writing). Unlike some competing ultra-portable laptops, the SZ does not sacrifice performance - it has a full power CPU and GPU, yet it still maintains excellent battery life and light weight. And unlike some high-performance portable laptops of similar size and weight, the SZ keeps exceptionally cool and runs remarkably silent.

Putting it simply, the SZ is the perfect "lap top" computer, which you can use wherever you go, for everything you need. It's light enough to be not at all uncomfortable to carry around. It rarely gets more than cool to the touch, whether being used on the lap or on the bed. It gets excellent battery life, ensuring that it will run (cool and silently) for many hours (5+). Build quality is extremely high (carbon fiber, very well put together), which means you should get many years of enjoyment out of this excellent, well proven and tested laptop (it's been around for years, and has generated an excellent reputation).

At the time of purchase, this was the top bang-for-the-buck under 4lb laptop. The LED backlit screen really is wonderful and the speed is enough to make even Vista seem acceptable. The HD is good at 250Gb, but 320Gb would have been a nice option. The video switch (Speed vs Powersaver) is a fantastic feature that I haven't tested yet.

Negatives:
o Crapware: You'll spend days finding and removing it.
o The black color makes this look too bland
o No lock for the lid

Overall a nice blend of features and I am happy with the purchase.

What can I say, it's a Vaio and that is all that needs to be said. The hardware is excellent, runs like a race horse and feels great. I bought from Amazon instead of direct from Sony because Sony took too long and was a headache on payment. The only problem is the Operating System, Vista. The Vista OS is installed and no CD is provided. You have to make your own restore CD which there is no written instructions. And the Vista OS is terrible all round. I will put Linux on this puppy and I found it runs even better and discovers wireless well.

Great laptop! Fast proc, nice Keyboard layout, brilliant screen, great wifi wwan ability, 4lb for a lappy that sports a centrino 2 proc and dvdrw. The bad side? Well the battery has leakage issues, the screen has to be handle with two hands or you risk cracking it. The right shift key placement should be better, I don't mind a smaller arrow key as I sometimes hit the up arrow and miss the shift key altogether. Vista.... I guess I don't need to say too much about this bloated OS system. But my biggest concern is the CRAPWARE! so much stuff that it took a whole day to figure out which needed to be removed and which didn't. In the end I removed everything and reinstalled just the event driver and the webcam drivers and cut my processes in vista from 87 (that's right!) to about 65. Now with 4gb it runs amazing. Best laptop for this size and price. Hardware wise it's on par or even better than a macbook pro which I own for the price except for the fact that it has vista installed, I would rate this better than a macbook pro! Yes I said it!

I have been a vaio sz user for more than three years (~3.5), have bought a 750 for my wife and 650 for my brother as well. I have used different versions, 160, 330 and 650 last. It is surprising to see so many negative feedbacks as I did not experience anything that bad past three years with so many different computers.

I mainly use the computer for research and simulations. As regards to performance, it is fast indeed. Even if you are running many programs together including matlab, mathematica, photoshop, office programs etc. high speed mode can handle them pretty easily. I don't see the reason why people are getting troubles with speed.

Yes it is coming with lots of software junk however I don't understand what those people uninstalling for three days. If you are a little patient you can get rid of them in an hour after you first turn on the computer. Besides you don't need to wait there watching your computer uninstalling. It might be handy to have some these software too if you don't have your office or adobe cds ready, you can use the trial versions in the meantime for a while...

The overall design is really sleek, and keyboard really feels soft and nice, your fingers are sliding on the keys. The downside is after a year of frequent use there is a slight wear that you can guess from the outer look which keys are used most frequently (may be this is a problem in all computers out there). It is still fully functional however a better material should be used.

Some people say it doesn't come with a restore cd, well it has a very nice restore program, you can just say go and it restores the computer to after factory state, and if you like you can burn your own DVD's too. It would good to have an xp downgrade cd though for those who want to use xp.

As it comes to the service I don't have experience with other brands to make a comparison however I can comment on my personal experience. In the past I have sent my previous computer for the fan had started making too much noise. The next day I called sony service, a prepaid overnight ups box arrived to send the computer to them and the computer came back within a week with the fans cleaned up and problems fixed.

As to compare between different models although initial models had some problems, it is improving in time, going quieter and faster.

The only problem I have is that I have to pay attention extra care to protect the lcd as the casing is pretty thin and doesn't feel strong enough. I wish they made it a little more sturdy.

In the overall it is definitely a fast, sleek and very portable computer. I would definitely recommend this computer if you want a portable one yet you do not want to sacrifice performance.

Great Laptop except touchpad reverses evry now and then ie left becomes right / up becomes down Google this issue for more info. I find closing the lid and re-opening usually fixes it. Annoying fault spoils a great machine

I think Sony Vaio are the best notebooks on market. I have chosen SZ because of it's power and mobility. It's great. The only thing I don't feel good about is speed of the hard drive. Well, I was using desktop with Raid 0 before so 5400rpm drive may seem slow :). It's not a bug, it's a feature :).

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ770N with 2.5GHz CPU speed, Intel C2D T9300 processor, 3GB RAM, 250GB HD.

I've had this laptop for about 3 years now (bought it some time in march of 2008). Back then, I paid approximately $2,500, but now I realize the price was too high (this laptop compares to apple macbook pro 13 inch which costs around $1,200).

The laptop, overall, is very good. I didn't have any major problems with it - I used the XP downgrade cd right away very easily and managed to install all the drivers correctly. I actually think that Sony's tech support website is very accessible and it's easy to find all the drivers you need in case you lose the restore cd/dvd.

In general this is a very powerful laptop - LED screen, which is one of the first laptops to have introduced this type of screen; plenty of video ram; plenty of RAM. The battery life in my case was pretty good: even now after 3 years the laptop runs for about 2 hours in SPEED mode (which increases the processing capabilities). Compared to my previous Dell, the battery here is much better and I didn't really notice too much leakage as in previous reviews. Also, I did not have any problems with the touchpad, except for some occasional situations when the cursor would move a little slower than usual (although this might be a software problem), but after a couple of seconds it will get back to normal. The antenna for WLAN is a little uncomfortable, but after a while you forget it's even there.

The only major problems that I saw with my laptop are:
1) Very noisy cooling fan - the fan is much noisier than other laptops! Also, due to the video memory card the laptop gets hot very fast and the cooling fan isn't very successful, so you might want to buy a special cooling support for the laptop (which I did, but again it's not very comfortable to keep the laptop on a support all the time).
2) After 2 years of use the cooling fan actually failed and began emitting a very bad noise (screeching) but I took it to a local Sony support center and they took care of the problem. But I did end up paying about $270 to replace the fan. As I was told, the fan is a usual problem on Sony laptops and they'll usually fail right after your warranty expires. So if you buy a Sony laptop my recommendation is to use it for up to 2 years and then try to sell it.
3)The casing surrounding the keyboard isn't very strong.

But overall, I am very pleased with my SZ 770N.

I've been debating buying this computer for nearly a year now. I started out wanting the SZ650 then the SZ670, but I always thought it was more than I wanted to pay for a laptop. I finally got it and I have to say that I have wasted a lot of time that I could have been productive with this incredible laptop. The SZ has exceeded my expectations in every way I've owned 4 other Sony laptops (SR, FZ, AR and the LS). The SZ beats them all. Performance is on par with any desktop, the screen is on par with my best desktop screen. I was extremely surprised when I sat this next to my 24" Dell screen and the Dell's whites seemed yellowish compared to the bright white on the SZ screen.

The full-size keyboard is great. It has both PCMCIA and ExpressCard slots, so it's more expandable than 99% of the laptops out today that only come with a single ExpressCard slot. Sony was even nice enough to include a multi-card reader that plugs into the ExpressCard slot so that you can read SD cards without an adapter. The carbon-fiber case is very nice. Doesn't show fingerprints at all. The differet power-saving mode including the abilty to switch from Stamina to speed mode will give you up to 4 hours of battery life on a single charge.

In "Balance" mode, I get 2 hrs of battery life
In "Power Saver" plus "Speed" mode, I get 3 hrs, 15 min of battery life
In "Power Saver" plus "Stamina" mode, I get nearly 4 hours

Keep in mind that this is with the standard battery. I can only imagine what the 1.5X extended battery would provide.

If you are on the fence about this one, get it. You won't be sorry.