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  • Murloc - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    is there really space for "new" players?

    I mean, Samsung even abandoned Europe completely with its laptops.
  • close - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    For niche markets maybe.

    Looking at these pictures I suddenly realized how Apple managed to build their image where so many have failed. The first picture of the Vaio S suggests the lid (screen) is extreme thick and bulky. And even looking at the next pictures somehow I cannot shake off the "bulky" feeling. And I remembered how Apple's photos for the (then) new slim iMac looked like. Taken from an angle the thickness for the whole thing looked like it was just 2 cm. In reality the whole bulge on the back was being hidden.

    How important is a first impression...
  • makoto_woho - Thursday, April 28, 2016 - link

    Bulky? It's about the same size and weight as my wife's macbook air I think, just without the rounded edges of the mac. This S body looks like they recycled the body of the Sony vaio Z from a few years ago which I'm still using (right now), it's very sleek design. The lid doesn't have any bulge in it, same thickness all the way across on mine. It'll be interesting to try out the new Z's and see what they've changed, really looking forward to the sony bloatware being gone.

    As for high performance non-mac laptops, are there other good ones? I've heard the Dell's aren't that reliable.
  • Penti - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Model's like the Sony Vaio Pro 13 was a pretty popular choice over here in Sweden when it came to "ultrabooks" at least. It's really an old player (as it's keeping the Vaio brand) that has it's following. In the latter years such models as the Vaio Pro 13 made it price competitive against the competition over here at least. The over the top models with Raid 0 and yada yada shouldn't really be interesting to anyone though. Stuff like Microsoft's Surface Pro lineup also lacks business features such as vPro (most model's) and proper docking stations. They should have a small prosumer market (and some BYOD) to service though. But lacking DisplayPort is just a stupid decision. Many people are already on monitors or will still buy monitors that this or the monitors controller chip can't drive in full resolution over HDMI. VGA plus DP would make more sense when it comes to how many adaptors/converters you need to carry.
  • r3loaded - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    "Without any doubts, VAIO has no intentions to offer mainstream models right now and its main goal now is probably to offer good quality and excellent user experience, but not lower prices."

    And I firmly believe that they should stay that way and not try to appeal to the mainstream. Superior quality and user experience is exactly why Apple are the only ones making any significant profit off laptops. New Vaio should stick with the qualities that made the original Vaio brand great, and avoid the mistakes Sony made.
  • Miggleness - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I hope the Vaio S releases with a 25-28w CPU. I love my current 13" Vaio S (35w Ivy) and would've kept using it had it not been spoiled when I poured soursup all over it. There's just a lack of more powerful dual core alternative for Windows based laptops these days.
  • Miggleness - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    * Accidentally poured. One edit to go please
  • Samus - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    Get an hp elitebook or some real laptop and you can pour all the soup you want over it, and it'll still work.
  • Bob Todd - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    It's 2016, I'm not buying anything high-end that doesn't charge with a type C port. A $50 Kindle tablet still using micro USB is fine. However, if you want me to part with over a grand on a gadget that fits within the power envelope that USB 3.1/type C supports, you have to make it happen.
  • DanNeely - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Honestly, a laptop's the last thing I'm concerned about getting USB3 charging support for. Except for the lowest end netbook types, they're going to need a charger significantly larger and more powerful than a phone/tablet/etc will to charge in a reasonable amount of time. At the point of it needing what amounts to a dedicated charger anyway, its form factor becomes a lot less important.

    USBC on the phone I'll probably buy later this year would be nice; but its lack probably won't be a deal breaker because I know I'll have more than a few other long tail devices needing micro-b ports that will outlive it.

    It's things like tablets that only need smaller commodity size chargers but will potentially last more than a few years that I'm most concerned about since they'll be the long tail of the upgrade process and what I'll need to keep the last micro-b port cable around for (just like my point and shoot camera was my only mini-b device for several years). At the moment it's about half the reason I haven't replaced my old kindle keyboard ereader (it's not broke, don't fix it being the other half). I've gotten 4 years out of my current one and probably can get 1 or 2 more before the aging battery becomes more than a minor nuisance; but if I buy a 2015 model now it'll probably be the last thing I need to keep a legacy cable around for a few years after everything else I've got using them is finally junked.
  • Lonyo - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    If you buy a laptop now and expect it to last a few years, then having USB-C support is a reasonable expectation to avoid having multiple chargers in the future. Current laptops have non-USB chargers, so hoping for standardisation now is reasonable.
  • JonnyDough - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    Seconded. If you want to throw it in your car and charge it on the passenger side seat as you drive to your next meeting then it needs USB charging.
  • Bob Todd - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    I'm not concerned with the _size_ of the type C charger required for a laptop, I just want to schlepp around a *single* charger that can charge all of my gadgets. I already carry a laptop power brick, an Anker 4 port USB travel charger, and micro and type C cables. I'd rather not invest a grand or two in something now that won't diminish that annoyance when some good laptops are already moving in that direction. Then there's the goodness of external battery packs (that I also carry) actually being able to charge your laptop too.
  • digiguy - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    " It has been a while since we reviewed a VAIO laptop here at AnandTech and it will be extremely interesting to try a new VAIO that is no longer a Sony VAIO."

    Are you planning to review the Z Canvas? It's one of the most innovative convertibles in my option though very expensive. So far it has only been reviewed by few websites, mainly mobiletechreview and thedigitaldigest (latter only on youtube).
  • III-V - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I hope these are way easier to take apart and service now, and have way less proprietary driver bullshit.

    Not going to happen, but a man can dream, right?
  • harrkev - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    The 1990's called and they want their analog VGA port back. Seriously? A "cutting edge" brand still sporting a VGA port?
  • Spectrophobic - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Harsh reality is that a lot of institutions still use VGA equipments.
  • ciparis - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    If I ever hear an executive ask for a VGA cable, I plan to slap them upside the head with whatever digital video cable is handy while shouting "NO!"
  • tipoo - Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - link

    So keep an adaptor on the cable.
  • JonnyDough - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    Adapter. Yep.
  • EnzoFX - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I detest seeing these ports as well. On motherboards too. I get that they're trying to keep the legacy support. But how about offering versions without them? They make plenty of versions with stupid little changes like one with 2 gbe ports.
  • willis936 - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I'm working in a brand new (as of a month ago) building with 10G backplanes and two gigabit ethernet links to every desk and 90" 4K displays. No VGA ports anywhere. It's been a huge nightmare. Whenever people come in we have to scramble to try to find a VGA female to HDMI female adapter. VGA ports are just a good idea.
  • willis936 - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    * the 90" 4K displays are in conference rooms. An edit button would be nice.
  • DanNeely - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Buy one/conference room and use cable ties to keep it tethered to the HDMI cable?
  • willis936 - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    The issue is when someone shows up with mDP and/or VGA only. VGA is ubiquitous in a world of competing high speed video interfaces. You don't need a 250 MHz pixel clock, you just need something that works. Good luck even finding an HDMI adapter that has a female output.
  • JonnyDough - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    Scramble? Just invest in a box of them and quit being archaic.
  • warsurplus - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link

    @harrkev, Many conference rooms and lecture halls still (in 2016) have AV equipment with VGA cables for presenters. Even though a projector may have DVI or HDMI inputs, the projector may have been mounted on the ceiling years ago when VGA was the standard and the other inputs don't have cabling attached. Adapters don't always work without issues that one doesn't want to hassle with during a presentation.

    And VGA was in use as a standard on many desktops well into this century. Your 1990's comment is an exaggeration. The inclusion of the port just makes it that much easier to connect and present without hassle. The fact that they (Vaio) were able to include it and an RJ45 port on such a small chassis is testament to their engineering.
  • Pranav_S - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    The 6200U and 6267U are both Core i5 processors, not Core i7s.
  • foxalopex - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I am still using a Vaio VPC-Z11 laptop that was manufactured from five years ago! For such an old laptop you would think that it would suck by today's standards but it doesn't. It has a mobile i7 CPU capable of shattering 3Ghz turbo, discrete Nvidia switchable GPU and even a DVD-Rom drive to boot. At about 3lb and only a tiny bit thicker than these modern Vaio laptops I have to admit the engineering that went into these is impressive. Of course the downside was that the Vaio Z's were expensive and repairing them was a nightmare. (Not to mention even more expensive). But they were state-of-the-art for their time. The Z11 even had proprietary raid 0 SSDs which I later learned how to mod to a modern msata SSD which ran faster. Sadly these new Vaio laptops don't feel like they're in the same league. Razer appears to have that now.
  • sonicmerlin - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Wow these laptops are amazing. They have better battery life than Core M laptops and even weigh less. The Z series is just ridiculous. 15 hours of battery life with an Iris processor and only 2.5 lbs. holy cow.
  • munim - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    That power brick is not ideal, and it's not premium. I would have expected it to have something much more compact. This shows me the product team doesn't really about smaller details that matter when living with the laptop.
  • DanNeely - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    Higher power CPUs (28W in some models, possibly 45W in others - the last generation canvas used a 4770HQ); require larger power adapters to keep charging times reasonable while using the system heavily.
  • munim - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    The Macbook chargers are designed better. You can neatly wrap the wire with the charger and plus you don't have to fiddle with velcro and a separate wire piece. The third party Zolt charger is a tiny cylinder with 70W output and 3 USB ports.

    I like the USB port on the smaller one though.
  • Gunbuster - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    the 12 people nationwide who wanted a surface pro experience but at twice the price will be sorely disappointed.
  • pugster - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    I never brought a VAIO because it was too costly. I am guessing that this will not change.
  • nerd1 - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    They FAILED with cheap prices and sony branding. Now they lost sony branding and prices increased by 50%.

    Are they serious?
  • tipoo - Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - link

    Vaio has always been expensive. They had cheap /models/ that were inexpensive because they were...Cheap. But the premium line always had a markup.
  • Bobs_Your_Uncle - Monday, February 1, 2016 - link

    So basically Vaio is:

    - NOT targeting the broadest consumer markets ~ pricing & hobbled support for media consumption
    - NOT targeting business/enterprise ~ hobbled bus/ent feature sets like TPM, lack of encryption etc.
    - IS targeting an "Executive Class Clientele" through premium priced lines that lack much functionality

    Are these the same "Executives" who make purchasing decisions for the businesses & enterprises that Vaio is NOT targeting? The type of folks who possess both financial & technical acumen? People who professionally drive to achieve high price/performance ratios?

    The only other target market demographic I could imagine Vaio is trying to niche-out on here is the: "Hey that's a purdy PC "More Money Than Sense" class of Executive.

    I don't believe Vaio has a clearly defined marketing strategy that extends beyond placement of "promoted content" (that even fails to convincingly masquerade as "news").
  • JonnyDough - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    The broadest markets are already saturated with offerings on the low end. Competition there is more fierce. Going high end is a smart move for a small company trying to establish themselves. Think BMW - they aren't stupid just because they aren't selling something to compete with an Accord.
  • azrael- - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    I simply cannot grasp why any manufacturer would choose DSUB over DVI-I for analog out. DVI might be on the way out, but it's still infinitely more useful than analog VGA over DSUB.

    By the way, I'm thinking in general here, not only concerning notebooks.
  • willis936 - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    How exactly is a less used connector more useful?
  • azrael- - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    Because it can carry both analog and digital signals?
  • nerd1 - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    Look around and you'll see that MOST of macbook users carry VGA dongles.
  • Pessimism - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    You underestimate the staggering number of analog VGA projectors in educational institutions and businesses. Even when the projectors are replaced, a VGA cable has already been run in the ceiling or wall, so that is what you have to plug into.
  • SimonO101 - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    Looking at the photos you realise why have Vaio already lost. DSUB over miniDisplayPort or Thunderbolt. USB 3.0 over USB-C. I think Vaio need to be way more progressive with tech if they want to position themselves as a premium laptop brand. This is just another relatively nice looking laptop. It doesn't stand out in any way.
  • bigboxes - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    "For Sony, which spends billions of U.S. dollars on marketing and advertising every year"

    FIFY
  • nikon133 - Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - link

    My wife will probably be happy with this... she still uses her 2nd gen (I think) Vaio S.

    In all the fairness, machine did go through a lot of abuse and still runs fine.

    Still... much as I am concerned, for something that was - supposingly - reasonably premium machine, 720p screen with very poor viewing angles was a big letdown.

    The new S looks fine... 1080p is good for 13", I think... hopefully it is good quality IPS panel. Touchpad looks disappointingly small, though. Enough space around it to make it quite a big bigger.

    Don't know. When time comes for her to replace her Vaio S, I'll try to influence her in direction of EliteBook (840 G3 would be my pick right now)... maybe a ZenBook if she wants 13". X1 Carbon looks nice but is probably above what she wants to pay for laptop, at least here in NZ.
  • Pessimism - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link

    I wish more manufacturers would make quad core skylake models. So sick of weak dual core cpus in every model. Where are the 6700HQ, 6820HQ and 6920HQ models? Its not like 45w TDP hasn't been done in a laptop before.
  • Wolfpup - Thursday, February 18, 2016 - link

    These probably still won't be for me, as I don't care how thin a notebook is-I want great cooling, no "switchable graphics", and high end hardware (and preferably Blu Ray + 2 drive bays). BUT I'm still glad to see 'em back, and they even still look like Sony's stuff.

    Kind of a shame, especially when it comes to tablets. Sony's tablet hardware is nice, but...it's running Android, and it's running Android that'll never get updates. If it were running Windows...

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