sony fz series

[nrmalle]

hi everyone,i am considering buying fz series with blu-ray.
i know there were some teething problems with ar series.
can onyone please advice if it is a good choice.

thanks everyone

belgrave

[MattWilson]

From what i have heard it is an excellent machine.

There is a minor problem with the graphics card - because it is so new there are only beta drivers for it although the final release drivers should follow shortly.

As for blueray - sony supply WinDVD BD which has had some problems of its own and most people have decided to use PowerDVD Ultra instead but you will have to see if it works for you.

[Thalamus.]

Hi belgrave,

there is a review of the Sony Vaio FZ series (VGN-FZ11L) review available here if your interested..

[kee-lo_]

I would see if the price of the AR has gone down, in certain shops it will do, then you'll get yourself a bargain, same for the FZ in a few months time.

[fai_lok]

I have an FZ11S. Its basically your average FZ laptop without the blue ray (and 128mb less dedicated memory).

Teething problems there were! But it's a great machine. My Vista index experience is currently 4.1 (Aero experience) due to the BETA driver in graphics and only 128mb dedicated VRAM, but this is still a great score! I hear tell that this should rise at least 0.5 when proper drivers are released but I have a feeling this is a myth.... I hope not!

That said, your Aero experience should be improved with a FZ11Z because there is more dedicated memory. (the 1.8Ghz processor is hardly different to the 2.0Ghz when talking DC!) But I didn't see the point in blue ray yet, especially for an extra £300/400....Im a student! lol

The screen quality seems better than my old model (FE21M) and the looks are nicer in my opinion. So far it has not locked up, crashed or even slowed. Great Vista experience!

[jumpsuit]

Hi there

I also guess it depends on what you're planning to do with it. For example the FZ is more portable than the AR, but has less storage space etc.

[MattWilson]

Well if you get the FZ11Z (one with the bluray drive) you will not get the full HD experience as you would with the AR series as the screen only has a 1280x800 resolution. This means that if you want to watch a disc at its native resolution you will need to connect it to an HD TV.

Personally i would say leave the bluray for now and then buy a external drive when they are sub £100 because it is unlikely have anyone will really watch a movie when they are out with it scaled down.

[kee-lo_]

Well if you get the FZ11Z (one with the bluray drive) you will not get the full HD experience as you would with the AR series as the screen only has a 1280x800 resolution.  This means that if you want to watch a disc at its native resolution you will need to connect it to an HD TV.

Personally i would say leave the bluray for now and then buy a external drive when they are sub £100 because it is unlikely have anyone will really watch a movie when they are out with it scaled down.

I would agree with you there Matt, save yourself the anger and disapointment.

[fai_lok]

yeah good point. Fz11Z not really worth it. If you havent bought it already you can be one of the lucky people in the world who were slightly more laid back about when they needed their laptop and purchase a FZ11S for a tidy £899.........

Even more reasons to choose the S.......

no more needs sayin!

[luisarn]

Hello,

Our Portuguese design agency bought a Vaio FZ11S and a Vaio FZ11Z.
I'm the lucky user of the FZ11Z! :smileygrin:
Besides the blu-ray, there are other minor things that makes the FZ11Z better, mainly the 4MB L2 Cache.

I'm not happy with the FZ11S because I found out that it came with a faulty HDD that gives me system slow down and several "Blue Screen Of Dead" when I access it heavily, like a complete virus scan or transferring a great amount of data.

KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR, 0x0000007... something like that.

I will return it asap.

Anyway, I think FZ11S is the best choice if you don't need a very fast processing unit. I do a lot of graphics and animation stuffs, so I preferred the FZ11Z.

I initially planned to use the blu-ray for backup but after checking the blu-ray disk price, I changed my mind. A 50GB blu-ray disk cost 50€ here in Portugal. I think is preferable to buy an External harddrive with that price!