Sony VAIO TZ150N user reviews (black)

Pros Super sexy, ultra-portable, beautiful screen, wwan...

Cons was slow and loaded with crapware - before 2gb memory upgrade

Summary Owned one for 4 days now.... As other uses and CNET have commented, this thing is loaded to the hilt with crapware. It took me half a day to clear the thing up.... But once I did, it was a completely different ultraportable... Also, I boosted the memory of the unit to 2GB from 1GB, cause I didn't think Vista would much like 1GB.... Even though the 'Vista performance rating' didn't improve, it does make a big difference....

The keyboard is fabulous for an ultraportable... The space between keys keeps my fat fingers from butchering text on a routine basis!

BTW, MS made the consumer a nice, quick and dirty assessment rating by creating that Vista Performance Rating....Now I just go from PC to PC, Control Panel, and System to get a real quick assessment of the PC's performance with Vista versus the machine sitting next to it, etc.... I know, it's bound to be a bit inaccurate, but still, it's a great Vista tool!

Pros Size, battery life and screen clarity

Cons Screen too fragile! Cracked 4 weeks after buying; many have had problems but Sony blaims the owners of misuse!

Summary I will never buy another Sony product. If my screen had broken due to my error or misuse, I'd be honest and admit it. But why pay a premium for a carbon fiber enclosed laptop and have the service tech admit that he sees a lot of these coming back - some days after purchase - with broken screens. When I asked what can I do better, he said try not to open the screen too much since even opening it could cause the internal screen to break!! Really. Say no to Sony!

Pros lightweight, packed w/useful capability

Cons really needs 2GB RAM; junk-ware loaded onboard

Summary It's not too tough to clear off the junk software that comes preloaded... it's actually helpful: while you are sifting and sorting, you get the software build down to the tools you will actually use on the road. (And since everyone's needs are different, Sony put a batch of stuff on there.) It is ESSENTIAL to upgrade to 2 GB RAM... Vista will be pretty slow without it. Use a good Registry Editing application to get the speed up to where you need it. Sony also offers a useful (if elementary) course on Vista, which this XP user found quite helpful.
Bottom Line: worth the cost ($1700 delivered) and VERY much appreciated when carrying this thru the 3rd airport on a road trip!

Pros Light weight, bright screen, long battery life (4 hrs solid)

Cons Cooling issues, many useless software slow down performance

Summary To be honest with you, it is never easy to use a single word to describe a VAIO laptop due to conflicting views. First, I want to say this is the 9th laptop I have from Sony since 1998 and I can say I am not a truely devoted buyer, brand loyalty means little to me. It is however true that I put a heavy price on style, it is a major factor when I consider buying a laptop.

This vaio is by far the best I have seen in style. Light weight (really light), well designed layout (keyboard, memory card slots, built in DVD drive) and extremely beautiful screen (11.1'). I have to mention the screen because it is basically what attract me the most. I have another VAIO SZ and I put them side by side, god! I thought the SZ got the best screen in the business. Wait until you see the LZ screen do its thing. Bright, almost eye piercing and color representation is right on the spot.


On the performance wise, many people complain about the under par performance and even the Cnet editor openly critized it, I think to put a fair justice, we have to look at the performance issue from a different perspective. What is true about bloatware is that Sony really loaded a lot of software that is nice to have but we never have the time to use. All of those AOL stuff should be uninstall at once, and if you are not interested in using software from SONY, consider it gone. I have meticulously removed so many junk to a point that the performance has jumped dramatically and load time has decreased by 30%! It is very obvious that you need to know what you are doing before touching the system setting utility (msconfig), which allow you to disable unwanted program to reduce memory consumption.

The other part of the performance equation is Microsoft Vista, which is getting more and more ridiculous as I spend more time on it. The OS is not designed to run fast! I have 2 other machines, running Duo Core CPUs and none of them can give me a satifying experience, by that I mean a smooth, flawless desktop work experience. The slow performance from this laptop can be attributed by Vista, even if you have stripped it down to its core, it will still be slow. I guess you have to wait til service pack #1 from MS to get these problem straighten out. In case you want to roll back to XP, fine, but not recommended since you might not be able to get some of the drivers for key componoents such as figer print biometric device or webcam. I'll leave other people to finish off the review since the rest of the stuff is fairly factual and standard.

Just some final thoughts, if you ask me will I recommend this laptop? I would say yes (it is your 2nd laptop), No (you need a lot of juice for graphics).