Sony's classy mid-size Vaio FZ packs Blu-Ray and a clear screen at its high-end. Did it stand up to our grueling tests?
Review summary of the Sony VAIO FZ:
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 The Sony Vaio FZ is a pretty, admirable laptop with some great qualities, including a top-notch screen and a nice selection of ports and connectivity options. Performance-wise, the laptop could have fared better. For a multimedia machine with a Blu-Ray drive, we expected better gaming performance, and we'll never be satisfied with a battery that can't last an entire 2-hour disc. Still, at this $2,200 price tag, the Vaio FZ is a rare bargain among Sony's laptops, and should perform well within the expectations of home theater buffs looking for a portable they can plug in on the road. Release: January 2008. Price: $2200.
Pros: One of the best laptop displays we've seen. Good variety of ports and options, including FireWire, Memory Stick and SD, and 802.11n networking.
Cons: Battery can't last through an entire movie. Lacks DVI port. Display 720p, not Full HD as suggested.
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Full review of the Sony VAIO FZ:
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Design - Good
The two-tone Sony Vaio FZ may not be as staid or as dull as your standard corporate Wintel laptop, but some of the design elements left us disappointed. For one thing, the black plastic on the keyboard, especially where it meets the magnesium alloy shell, felt a bit flimsy and creaky to us, and yielded when we pressed down. Also, though we tend to be extra-careful with our review units, the top outer shell of the laptop picked up some scuffs and scratches, though it was never dropped and always carried in a dedicated laptop case.
We like the relatively thin size and light weight of the machine, though this won't be any competition for design like we see on the Macbook Pro, but even looking around the case there are some design flaws. The AC adapter plugs in with an L-shaped plug, and when this isn't oriented properly towards the back it perfectly obscures the Blu-Ray drive from opening. Also, though the machine has plenty of ports, they are literally scattered on all four sides of the device, which may be convenient for some, but caused us some cable confusion.
Input - Good
The tiny size of the Vaio FZ's trackpad didn't bother us as much as it did on the device's larger brother, the Vaio AR, but it still felt smaller than we would have liked. We prefer a large, wide trackpad with buttons that are at least as wide as our fingers. Above the trackpad, the keyboard on the FZ was quite roomy and comfortable. We like Sony's key design, and the keys had just enough travel for easy typing. We also prefer the dedicated AV buttons on this device to the nubs we found on the AR laptop. The circle arrangement makes more sense, and though we would have liked more varied control, for simple playback options the FZ's buttons worked just fine.
Display - Very good
Sony's bright, colorful display is among the best we've seen on a laptop. Colors were crisp and clear, and the movies we watched, including our Blu-Ray copy of "Underworld: Evolution" looked quite dark, with impressive blacks and a deep contrast ratio that brought life even to the drab, blue palette of the film.
Sony might be misleading customers when it claims Full HD resolution on the machine, as the display is only capable of WXGA, or 1280 by 800 pixels, while Full HD is 1920 by 1200. We've seen higher resolutions on laptops, up to 900 pixels on the vertical, but for HD playback, we're not sure the extra pixels matter. Certainly coders and pixel pushers will want more screen real estate, but at 15.4-inches, movies will hardly look better at 1080p resolution than the 720p that the Sony Vaio FZ can provide. And we can't imagine video looking any better on a screen this size. Besides, the FZ does provide Full HD over the HDMI output, which means that users who use this as a Blu-Ray player with a home theater, and we suspect that will be most buyers, will benefit from the best resolution Blu-Ray can provide.
Connectivity - Very good
It's no secret that Sony has always been interested in pushing their own proprietary ideas, and the Vaio FZ cuts a nice balance between Sony's own concepts and industry standards. The Blu-Ray drive notwithstanding, Sony also includes FireWire, which they call i.Link, as well as three USB ports. We would have liked to see the faster FireWire 800, instead of the 400Mbps, 4-pin port on the machine, but we're happy to see the standard hasn't yet died out. Also, though Sony includes the obligatory Memory Stick slot up front, right beneath is a standard SD card slot, which we found to be a welcome, and even surprising addition. For wireless, users will find all flavors of 802.11 Wi-Fi, including a/b/g and the Draft n spec, and the machine had no trouble hopping onto the 802.11n network created by our Apple Airport Extreme.
The only port the Vaio FZ is missing is a DVI connector to attach an external monitor. HDMI is included, and admittedly most laptops don't include an HDMI port, but we still miss the option nonetheless. Clearly, Sony expects this laptop will be used with a hi-def television, and not necessarily with a large monitor. Otherwise, for video Sony includes S-Video, which seems almost unnecessary at this point, as well as VGA, so PowerPoint users will still have a way to connect to a projector.
Performance - Very good
The Sony Vaio FZ we reviewed had been outfitted with the latest Penryn chip from Intel. The new chip uses smaller transistors, which should mean lower power consumption and less heat. We didn't have the older generation to judge the difference, but we were overall impressed by the processor performance by the machine. Vista ran quite smoothly, and apps opened quickly and reliably with little to know slowdown as we opened program after program. Blu-Ray performance showed no stuttering, like we saw in the larger Sony Vaio AR, and that could be an unexpected benefit of driving fewer pixels on the built-in display, though that's just our guess.
Wireless performance was also impressive, and Web pages sprang to life on our 802.11n network. Streaming videos loaded very quickly, including the 1080p "Iron Man" trailer that's now available, though it wasn’t quick enough to start watching the massive file immediately. Graphics performance from the Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT card was good, but not nearly good enough to handle the intense requirements of Crysis. This is definitely a movie and home theater device, and not a gaming machine.
Battery - Good
In our battery tests, the Sony Vaio FZ was not able to play through an entire Blu-Ray disc on a single charge. After about 1:15 of playback, the player quit abruptly and warned of low battery levels. Fifteen minutes later, the machine shut itself down. In casual Wi-Fi browsing tests, paired with a Bluetooth keyboard and with a screen at about half brightness, we got just over two hours out of the device, which is better, but what we really want from one of these Blu-Ray machines is a complete movie before the battery dies, and we haven't seen that yet.
Niche - Good
As a multimedia laptop, the Sony Vaio FZ earns a few notable bragging rights, but won't satisfy some folks looking for the most versatile, capable multimedia laptop on the market. The screen is incredibly bright and clear, and though the lower-than-1080p resolution didn't bother us so much, we can imagine that spec-hounds will be craving a true Full HD experience on their built-in display. Ditto the lack of a DVI port; though we definitely understand the choice of HDMI over DVI, we wonder if including both connectors would have been so difficult or cost-prohibitive. The biggest drawback to multimedia travelers should be the battery, which is better for casual browsing and usage than movie playback, but that defeats the purpose of this machine, which is to play Blu-Ray movies. Until a manufacturer can provide enough juice to get through an entire movie without a power outlet nearby, we would be hesitant to make the leap.
Comparison
Compare the Sony VAIO FZ with similar products
Who is the Sony VAIO FZ for?
Multimedia enthusiasts
Price and availability
Available in the U.S. in January 2008, the Sony VAIO FZ is priced at $2200 .
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