Sony Vaio Z2: Everything is Peripheral
by Dustin Sklavos on February 13, 2012 12:55 AM ESTBattery Life
The 45Wh battery that comes standard with the Sony VAIO Z2 could probably seem at least a little anemic, but we've seen there's a decent amount of latitude with Sandy Bridge when it comes to ekeing out running time. Sony's own VAIO SB produced a tremendous amount of running time off of its main battery, so much so that the value of the battery slice for that notebook seemed like a genuinely questionable value. So how well does the Z2 handle our battery tests?
It may not be at the top of the charts, but the Z2 also features a 35W processor instead of the usual 17W low voltage chips found in ultrabooks and other ultraportables. With that taken into account, the Z2 suddenly looks a lot rosier. Add the battery slice to the equation and you're suddenly looking at the vaunted "all-day running time." If ten hours of productivity isn't enough for you, consider taking a break.
Noise and Heat
Where things start to fall apart again for the Sony VAIO Z2 is specifically in noise. Internal heat is a little higher than we like to see, but it's the fan noise that becomes troublesome. Sitting at a normal distance from the notebook, it produces about 43.3dB under load, though fan noise ramps up very gradually. That's not the real issue, though; the real issue is just how high pitched the fan noise gets when the system is under full load. During testing there were times when the fan from the Z2 actually hurt my ears. Thankfully, under load the external dock doesn't produce much in the way of fan noise and is easily drowned out by the Z2.
This is, of course, a good part of the reason why the fan noise is so nasty: even running at full tilt, the fan has a hard time keeping the i7-2620M's core temperatures under a blistering 90C. While the surfaces of the Z2 never feel too hot, Sony may well have been overreaching trying to put a 35W processor in this chassis.
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quiksilvr - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
The ONLY comparison you had for these benchmarks is a 17" laptop with one of the most powerful notebook GPUs in the market?Dustin Sklavos - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
We just refreshed our benchmarking suite. I explained that. In the review.nbgambler - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Wait a second... you want us to read, BEFORE flaming??? I'm going back to Yahoo answers!JarredWalton - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Note that we also include 3DMarks for precisely this reason. You can see how graphics performance stands up to previous laptop reviews there, and as we add more laptops to our 2012 test suite, we'll have more comparison points (which will be added to Mobile Bench).kenyee - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
For this expensive an ultrabook, I would have expected a 16GB max :-PI've seen it in a Sony store though...this new 13" 1080p screen is indeed amazing...looking forward to the next generation of tablets w/ 1080p or higher displays :-)
MadMacMan - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
After reading this review and last night looking at HP EliteBooks and considering their respective price points, who was it again that came up with the whole thang about Apple notebooks being prohibitively expensive!?? I applaud HP for bringing IPS back to notebooks (at 10-bit color no less) but that bag of tricks will set you back way north of $3k unless you'll settle for mediocre specs and a dual-core CPU.As for the whole low-wattage deal, Ivy Bridge will do away with those issues in a couple of months and 1080p being considered high screen density? Let's see if those 2880x1440 so-called "Retina" display rumors will come to fruition for MacBook Pro's, because if they do, even a 12" 1200p screen will pale in comparison, and don't go any lower either or you'll bump into a certain "1536p" panel in a 9.7" shell of sorts I keep reading about. Yea, baby. ;-)
Dianoda - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Hi, I'd like to request that future display reviews include comments specific to the display's ability to reproduce smooth gradients (ie, black to white, reds, greens, blues) without any noticeable banding, and the ability to reproduce the minute differences between white/extremely light gray and black/extremely dark gray. The gradient banding, black level, and white saturation test images available at http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ come to mind.I know that great LCD monitors are rare in laptops, but to truly distinguish an exceptional laptop display we need to examine more than just resolution, contrast ratio, color gamut, and viewing angles (although those aspects of the display are very important as well!).
Thanks and keep up the good work!
polyzp - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
This is by far the most powerful ultrabook out now. I have a feeling AMD's ultrathin trinity will give this a good run for its money!http:// AMDFX.blogspot. com
JarredWalton - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Except on the CPU aspect, but yes, Trinity should do wonders for IGP performance. 50% faster than the Llano IGP means it should outperform the 6650M and use less power at the same time.bji - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
My friend's Dreamcast broke pretty early on in its lifetime. My PS2 never went bad.I believe I have just refuted your entire anecdotal evidence rampage.