Vaio Z (2021) review | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
The Vaio Z sports a lightning-fast SSD and a gorgeous 4K display packed in a super light pattern, but it is egregiously overpriced and tin't compare to other flagships.
For
- Solid performance
- Lightning-fast SSD
- Gorgeous 4K display
- Decent battery life
- Super light pattern
Against
- Egregious cost
- Atrocious touchpad
- Ugly superlative bezel
- No USB Type-A port
Laptop Mag Verdict
The Vaio Z sports a lightning-fast SSD and a gorgeous 4K display packed in a super low-cal design, but information technology is egregiously overpriced and can't compare to other flagships.
Pros
- +
Solid performance
- +
Lightning-fast SSD
- +
Gorgeous 4K display
- +
Decent battery life
- +
Super calorie-free design
Cons
- -
Egregious cost
- -
Awful touchpad
- -
Ugly pinnacle bezel
- -
No USB Type-A port
When I first checked out the Vaio Z's benchmarks, I idea it was rather impressive for a laptop that probably costs somewhere between $one,000 to $2,000, but I was shook cold when I saw the actual cost: $iii,779. Why the hell is this thing so damn expensive? Well, the Vaio Z is one of a kind. It's the world'south showtime contoured carbon fiber laptop. But, what does that mean to the average consumer? Probably nothing, autonomously from information technology existence super lightweight.
The Vaio Z comes with solid performance from its Intel Core i7-11375H processor, a lightning-fast SSD, a beautiful 14-inch, 4K brandish and long battery life. Withal, when you lot consider the price, the lack of ports, the ugly top bezel and a frustrating touchpad, information technology's hard to become stoked about its advantages when other laptops tin exercise the same matter but cheaper.
I wouldn't throw the Vaio Z into the all-time laptops ring, simply if you're filthy rich, the Vaio Z is a solid laptop for those that want something incredibly lightweight.
Vaio Z (2021) price and configuration options
Vaio Z (2021) specs
Price: $3,779
CPU: Intel Core i7-11375H
GPU: Intel Iris Xe graphics
RAM: 16GB
Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD
Display: 14-inch, 4K
Bombardment: 10:thirteen
Size: 12.6 x 8.7 10 0.48~0.67 inches
Weight: 2.3 pounds
The Vaio Z I reviewed comes with an Intel Core i7-11375H processor, an Intel Iris Xe graphics chip, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB PCIe SSD and a 14-inch, 4K display all for a whopping $three,779. Yup, this thing costs as much every bit a MacBook and it's not even as decked out.
Really, I simply configured a 16-inch Macbook Pro on Apple's site. Y'all could get a 9th Gen Intel Core i9 CPU (5.0Ghz), 32GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M GPU (8GB of VRAM) and a 2TB SSD all for $3,899. MacBooks are already ridiculously overpriced, but compared to the Vaio Z, the Pro is the more reasonable option.
Let'south talk about the master reason for the Vaio Z's ridiculous price, and that's its entire chassis being built from carbon fiber. As Vaio has described, a 3D carbon molding needs to bake i by one in a kiln similar to ones used in airplanes and rocket designs. It's wild for sure, but is it really worth the toll when the average consumer can't tell? I take probably reviewed over a hundred laptops by now, and I didn't even notice the deviation in the material until I was briefed.
The other Vaio Z models aren't even remotely better. The cheapest choice is the $3,579 version, which drops downwardly to a 512GB SSD. Meanwhile, the most expensive selection ups to 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD all for $iv,179.
If the Vaio Z is out of your price range, as it might be for most consumers, consider checking out our best cheap laptops and best laptops nether $500 pages.
Vaio Z (2021) design
The well-nigh unique feature of the Vaio Z is its carbon fiber chassis, but the laptop nonetheless manages to look rather basic. The outside features a soft black color accompanied by a glossy black Vaio logo and 2 curved gunmetal accents on the bottom corners of the lid.
Meanwhile, the interior of this car looks more or less the aforementioned as a upkeep laptop, with a unproblematic black deck and a keyboard with a font that'southward reminiscent of those ancient Windows keyboards. At the very to the lowest degree, the Vaio Z is unique in that it's ane of the few laptops I've seen with a larger meridian bezel than a lesser bezel. It's unique simply ugly. There's also a large privacy shutter slider on the lip of the chapeau.
I did notice something alarming, however, and that is a protrusion on the deck. Information technology was unclear what caused it until I noticed a spiral on the underside that lined upwardly perfectly with the bump in the deck. I've reached out to Vaio well-nigh the consequence, and a representative explained when someone put the laptop together they accidentally used a longer screw than necessary. They said to keep in mind that this is a pre-mass production sample, indicating that something like this was possible earlier it striking mass product and it wouldn't happen when you buy it.
At 2.iii pounds and 12.6 x 8.7 x 0.v~0.vii inches, the Vaio Z is ridiculously lightweight and slim, even for a 14-inch laptop. We matched it up to some beefier competitors due to its equally beefy toll and specs, and so the Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2022) (4.3 pounds, 14.1 x 9.vii ten 0.6 inches), Dell XPS fifteen (four.5 pounds, 13.6 10 9.1 x 0.7 inches) and Asus ROG Zephyrus G15 (GA503Q) (four.two pounds, xiv.0 x 9.half dozen x 0.eight inches) were much larger and heavier.
Vaio Z (2021) ports
In well-nigh Apple tree-like fashion, the Vaio Z doesn't have many ports, so you'll definitely demand a dongle or a hub to acquit around.
The left side features a security lock slot, one Thunderbolt four port and a headphone jack, while the right side holds room for some other Thunderbolt 4 port and an HDMI port. This affair badly needs at least ane USB Type-A port.
If you lot're thinking about buying this automobile, you should cheque out our best USB Blazon-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.
Vaio Z (2021) display
Despite the way the display is presented, with a gaudy elevation bezel, the Vaio Z'southward 14-inch, 3840 10 2160-pixel screen looks stunning thanks to its assuming colors and decent effulgence, both of which compare well confronting the average premium laptop.
In the Cruella trailer, extra Emma Stone'south pursed red lips and crimson dress popped on the Vaio Z's panel. In an earlier wide shot of the manor grounds, the details of the stone railings that surrounded the distant characters were detailed despite how nighttime it was. And in the close-upward shot of Cruella's face, the minor freckles effectually her cheekbones were precipitous.
Our colorimeter clocked the Vaio Z at 115.7% of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, which actually crushed the premium laptop average (85.8%) every bit well as the MacBook Pro (eighty.7%), XPS 15 (93.7%) and Zephyrus G15 (76.8%).
However, at 388 nits of brightness, information technology was just short of the category average (393 nits). Information technology too couldn't catch up to the MacBook Pro (429 nits) and XPS 15 (434 nits), but it managed to crush the Zephyrus G15 (286 nits).
Vaio Z (2021) keyboard and touchpad
The Vaio Z's keyboard was surprisingly springy, which has its ups and downs. Overall, information technology's comfortable, thanks to the carbon cobweb palm rests, just the actuation force might be a little too calorie-free for some.
I hit 80 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is above my typical 78-wpm boilerplate. While the keys are like shooting fish in a barrel to press, they are relatively clicky, which fabricated them somewhat satisfying to type on.
The iv.3 x 2.5-inch touchpad was soft to the touch, but overall frustrating to use due to the thin discrete clickers. They're but way likewise tiny and bulbous, so clicking anything felt unsatisfying. However, Windows x gestures, like two-finger scrolling and three-finger tabbing, worked well.
Vaio Z (2021) audio
Vaio outfit this machine with two forrad-firing speakers located on the lip of the deck. The speakers themselves are rather loud, but tin be a bit abrasive and hollow at times.
I listened to Diamante and Breaking Benjamin's embrace of "Iris," and the opening guitar was bright and loud but a bit too sharp. The post-obit vocals were similarly practiced but had the same issue. Occasionally, in that location would be that indistinct noisy sound that comes through when speakers have too much bass or treble. However, when the percussion came in, it blended well with the other instruments without taking away from them.
While the Vaio Z comes with the Dolby Audio app, at that place are non many customizable features. At that place'due south a Movie, Music, Game and Phonation preset, but you can't change anything inside those options. There's likewise a Personalize tab, which lets you lot mess with an equalizer, but that can be as well much work if you're not an audiophile. Switching between the presets didn't seem to assistance the abrasiveness, however.
Vaio Z (2021) performance
Packed beneath all of that carbon fiber is an Intel Core i7-1137H processor with 16GB of RAM, which pushed through xl Google Chrome tabs and five 1080p YouTube videos like a New Yorker trying to catch a railroad train during rush hour.
On the Geekbench 5.3 overall performance test, the Vaio Z scored v,993, which crushed the iv,096 premium laptop boilerplate. However, it couldn't touch the MacBook Pro's Core i9-9980HK (7,201), the XPS 15'south Core i7-10750H (six,179) and the Zephyrus G15'southward AMD Ryzen nine 5900HS (viii,640).
The Vaio Z transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 10 minutes and 38 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark, surpassing the category boilerplate (16:42). Yet, information technology once again roughshod short of the MacBook Pro (8:00), XPS 15 (10:06) and Zephyrus G15 (6:17).
Vaio's 1TB SSD surprised u.s. with its 1,826-megabyte per second transfer rate. That triples the rate of the average premium laptop (609 MBps) and completely wrecks the SSDs in the MacBook Pro (1,018 MBps), XPS 15 (298 MBps) and Zephyrus G15 (632 MBps).
Vaio Z (2021) graphics
With an integrated GPU, specifically an Intel Iris Xe Graphics chip, the Vaio Z couldn't do a lot of gaming, but information technology still impressed on the Sid Meier'southward Civilization Half-dozen: Gathering Tempest (Medium, 1080p) benchmark by hitting 37 frames per second. Premium laptops typically average 29 fps, only the XPS 15's Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU hit 48 fps.
There's a lot of gaming benchmarks the Vaio Z couldn't run, but to give you a brief comparison in ability, the Vaio Z hit 5,113 on the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics criterion. It beat the iv,741 boilerplate, simply was eclipsed by the XPS 15 (8,387) and Zephyrus G15 (21,137).
To be off-white, the Zephyrus G15 is a gaming laptop, so it's expected to take a lot of GPU power, just it's also over $i,000 cheaper, so that's something to consider.
Vaio Z (2021) battery life
Vaio promised over x hours of battery life and information technology wasn't lying. The Vaio Z lasted for ten hours and xiii minutes on the Laptop Mag battery exam, which is a few minutes longer than the boilerplate premium laptop (10:06). It even outlived the XPS 15 (eight:01) and Zephyrus G15 (8:06), but not the MacBook Pro (10:55).
Vaio Z (2021) webcam
At the very least, the Vaio Z'due south beefy top bezel is home to a 1080p webcam. It's not bully, but information technology'southward way better than the 720p shooters yous'll typically find.
The contrast was on the darker side, as my grey shirt molded into a darker black, and at that place was some particular lost in the poster behind me. However, I could actually read what it said in the test shot, so it captures some decent detail. The camera is also wide-angled, so y'all're getting more than detail from side to side. As someone who loves playing D&D Online, I wouldn't heed using this webcam. However, you could definitely find better ones on our best webcams page.
Vaio Z (2021) heat
And so how does carbon fiber react under pressure? Well, non also bad. After streaming a 15-minute video, the underside striking 114 degrees Fahrenheit, which is above our 95-degree comfort threshold. The centre of the keyboard and touchpad hit 97 degrees and 80 degrees, respectively.
Vaio Z (2021) software and warranty
Much to my surprise, Vaio does include basic software onboard the Vaio Z. There's the Vaio Control Center, which gives you lot access to power and battery settings, the ability to configure several F keys, disable USB charging, network settings and settings for the Windows Hello-enabled webcam.
Autonomously from that, there's also some Windows ten bloatware, like Hidden Urban center, Hulu and Roblox.
The Vaio Z comes with a one-year express warranty.
Bottom line
There's a lot to like about the Vaio Z. It has solid performance, long battery life, a gorgeous brandish, and a ridiculously fast SSD all wrapped in a super lightweight chassis. It'south really appealing until you come across that it costs $3,779. Then you'll notice that it doesn't take many ports, the touchpad isn't satisfying, and the top brandish bezel is thick.
Let me relieve y'all over $one,000: Get a Dell XPS xv. It'southward not every bit sparse or lightweight, but information technology'southward still portable, it'southward packed with ability, it has decent bombardment life and it has a vivid, glorious OLED display.
The Vaio Z is for a consumer packing a lot of dough, and who wants something truly unique. It helps that this machine has a total carbon fiber chassis and i of the fastest SSDs nosotros've ever tested.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/vaio-z-2021
Posted by: marrowabeatice.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Vaio Z (2021) review | Laptop Mag"
Post a Comment