Unboxing the Sony Vaio TZ

Talk about instant gratification! Just two days after I ordered the Sony Vaio  TZ (VGN-TZ170N/B), FedEx brought it to my door.

While confessing about choosing the TZ over a new UMPC, I asked whether any of you were interested in seeing it covered on the site, as subnotebooks are generally not given any attention here. The response I got was unanimously positive, so I've decided not to discriminate against the TZ and will treat it like anything else around here. In fact, I'm planning to go to extremes by lavishing it with attention and writing up a series of feature-specific reviews similar to the ones I wrote for the Sony Vaio UX180P.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, let's get everything out of the box.

You'll be inundated with my thoughts and musings soon enough, so this unboxing will be a quiet one.

Box contents

It's been about five years since I last bought a Vaio notebook, so maybe this is just the norm these days, but I'm surprised that there are no software CDs and recovery discs included.

Samsung Q1 comparison

If I hadn't bought the TZ, my likely CES 2008 companion would've been my Samsung Q1P with the official Q1 organizer and keyboard.

I think getting the TZ was a good decision.

Closer look

And that's it for now. Believe it or not, I haven't even turned it on yet!

It's been charging this whole time, but I see now that that the battery indicator on the front has stopped blinking. I've read horror stories about initial boot-up because of all the preinstalled bloatware, so I'll take notes about that, make the recovery discs, possibly do a clean install, and then write up my first impressions in the next few days.

By the way, did I mention that I've never used Vista before? That should be fun . . .

Comments

[Benz145]

Wow! You already got it?! Where did you oder from, and I'm assuming you bought super fast shipping? After getting a real life comparison of the TZ against the Q1 can you see now where my thoughts about not using a large UMPC any differently than a tiny notebook like the TZ were rooted? You can tote both around really easily and one is a lot more powerful than the other. This is all price aside of course. Looking forward to future info on the TZ!

[Rodfather]

Beautiful.

[Greg]

After seeing the size comparison with the Samsung, why would anyone not want the tz instead. If it weren't for the price, I would already have one.

[Don]

You will love this computer---the initial boot time is painful though---the keyboard is alot better than the TX too--it is still really portable and can do alot of things with no attachments!

[Jenn]

@ Benz: Sony Style, believe it or not. And shipping was actually free! This was the first time I ever got free shipping from them; they usually charge crazy amounts for next-day delivery, even though "next day" usually means "2 or 3 days" in Hawaii.

I definitely see where you're coming from now, though the Q1 organizer is a bit bigger than something like the Kohjinsha SH6. I'd like to see a real-life size comparison.

@ Rodfather: Agreed! I haven't made up my mind about the look of the battery yet, though. It is a bit more seamlessly incorporated than on the TX, but I kind of think it sticks out too much when the lid is closed.

@ Greg: Yes, I'm still cringing from the price. It's typical of Sony, I guess, but you would think that they could at least throw in the recovery discs and maybe a sleeve or case of some kind.

@ Don: You're telling me! Initial boot and overall setup was absolutely awful. "Up and running in no time" is something I can never say about the TZ, that's for sure. I don't know who to blame: Microsoft or Sony?

I'm still tweaking, uninstalling stuff I don't want (I cannot, for the life of me, get rid of SQL Server for some reason. I want to, but Windows won't let it go!), and sorting through what Vista has to offer. It's so cautious about backups that it's wasting gigs and gigs of space.

[Dominik]

About recovery discs, nowadays all the recovery data is stored on a special partition on the device's hardware and you normally don't have to make the discs anymore. Though it is nicer to be on the safe side.
Not to mention that this takes again precious hard drive space :(

[Adrian]

Yeouch! Nearly $4000 Australian to buy one, I think I'll stick with a pen and a small paper notebook.

[Marc]

I got for a bit more than one month the european version.... at the moment, I prefer to use the oqo 02 I received at the same time...it is lighter and much more convenient during appointments to type some words in word or outlook or to project some reports or software with a light infocus LP120....
I suppose, when I will get a double battery, I will use the sony TZ11 which is quicker for large spreadsheets (over 200mb).... but till I can't use a PC for a complete day without charging (actually it is 4 to 5 hours).... the OQO 02 (1 to 2 hours) + charger is much lighter then TZ11+charger and much smaller...
At the moment the TZ11 stays on my desk...

[Jenn]

@ Dominik: Good to know. I always thought recovery partitions were only on UMPCs because of the lack of optical disk drives.

@ Adrian: Yikes! Which model are you looking at? The same one as mine or the SSD one?

@ Marc: What are your thoughts about the OQO keyboard? It looks quite usable and somewhat comfortable for typing short notes. I'd like to demo one eventually.

[Marc]

Actualy, I feel quite comfortable to type with the OQO keyboard.... of course less the sony's one...
Unluckyly, as french to get accent, I use a targus or a stowaway Igo BT keyboard...
But, for browsing on internet, using various software or type anything in English the OQO is very good... much better than the HTC X7500 ... so now I use for long travel OQO02+ HTC P3600 .... and it's almost perfect...
even DVD's are perfect with OQO which surprised me a lot .... (I don't travel with the DVD station)

[MegaTRON]

Question, though! I'm purchasing one of these for myself for Christmas (truthfully, this is the reality regardless of the answer to this question) but I just got a *beautiful* hi-def 60" flatscreen 1080i, and it's only flaw is that it doesn't have a VGA cable (can't hook it up where you'd usually hook up a second monitor), so I need to see if this laptop has ANY kind of HD capability. I don't "think" that s-video is hi-def, and they don't seem to make HDMI-SVGA converter cables. Any suggestions? Will I be able to use this tiny, tiny laptop on my big-ass TV screen? Lemme know, pleaaaassse! Thanks!

-MegaTRON

[Balan Nadrajah]

My email address nadarajah555@gmail.com.

I bought the new Vaio TZ92 from Japan. I do have problem with the bluetooth connecting to my headset. My bluetooth mouse and GPS connecting fine. Only the headset not connecting. giving parameter is incorrect error. I have tried 3 different headsets. Anyone can help me solve this issue?? Please email me.
Thanks
Balan.

[Craig]

Hi, I have had a nightmare, I made the DVD recovery disk and formatted the hard disk to get rid of all the bloat ware on the machine. However, error the dvd has an error on it and fails everytime (why didn't i make a 2nd copy!).

I can get hold of the disks from Sony because I am in the UK at the moment.

I found a supplier online who could provide the recovery disks, however I now have these and they don't work either - it says they are for a different model number.

Is anyone willing to make and send me a recovery disk for this model (VGN-TZ170N) by any chance - for a fee naturally and postage to the UK. I would be so grateful.

Drop me an email on craig-rheidol@tiscali.co.uk if you are able to help.

Many thanks
Craig