Sony Z Series Review (i7, Bluray, 1080p, Raid SSD, AMD HD6650, dual battery)

1. Introduction2. Sony Z Series (Premium Carbon Version)3. Sony Z Series (Super High Res Gallery)4. Extended Battery (VGP-BPSC27)5. Extended Battery (Super High Res Gallery)6. Power Media Dock (VGP-PRZ20A/B)7. Power Media Dock (Super High Res Gallery)8. Installed Software, Hardware Configuration and Testing Methodology9. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra10. Synthetic: PCMark 711. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit12. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage13. Synthetic: 3DMark 1114. SSD Drive Performance15. Real World: BluRay Playback Performance16. Real World: MKV Performance17. Real World: Flash HD Performance18. Real World: Media Encoding19. Gaming: Resident Evil 520. Gaming: Dead Island21. Gaming: F1 201122. Gaming: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 323. Technical: Acoustics Performance24. Technical: Thermal Dynamics25. Technical: Battery Life26. Closing Thoughts27. View All Pages

Sony have been creating laptop computers now for as long as I can remember and their flagship range, the Z Series has been attracting the attention of aficionados for many years. Today we are looking at a fully specified Z Series system with Core i7, full 1080p 13.1 inch screen, 8 GB of DDR3 memory, Bluray drive, backlit keyboard, Raid SSD and power media dock with AMD HD6650 discrete graphics. This is only for the demanding enthusiast who desires a superportable machine, without making compromises.

When it comes to actually buying a laptop, I tend to opt for a superportable computer as I hate traveling with a heavy 17 inch machine. My current machine of choice is the IBM ThinkPad X1, as it delivers a bulletproof chassis, with class leading keyboard and nippy Core i5 processor. I also admire the 11 inch Macbook Air, it has a better screen than the ThinkPad X1, but feels a lot slower, with weaker battery life.

The review product today is more than twice the price of either of these systems, but has a seriously hardcore list of specifications. The VGPPRZ20A/B.CEK BluRay Power Dock adds £459.00 to the overall price, which brings the total to £2,336.99 inc vat.

VPCZ21C5E
(custom build)

• Processor Intel® CoreTM i7-2620M 2.70GHz
• Operating system Windows® 7 Professional
• Language and keyboard English (QWERTY)
• Finishes Premium Carbon
• Hard drive 128 GB SATA Gen3 Flash SSD
• Memory 8 GB 1333MHz DDR3-SDRAM
• Power Media Dock
• Display 33.2 cm LCD, 1920×1080, webcam
• Connectivity No Wireless WAN
• Security features Security features
• Battery Long-Life Battery
• Keyboard Style Backlight keyboard
• Microsoft® Office 2010 Office 2010 Starter
• Antivirus software No protection
• Adobe® Creation No Adobe® Creation
• Adobe® Lightroom® No Adobe® Lightroom 3
• Sony Creative software No Imagination Studio Suite 2
• Wireless LAN Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 3000
• AC Adapter 1 AC Adapter
• Z Series Power Media Dock
• Bluetooth® Bluetooth® 2.1

Become a Patron!