Sony is starting to make available some models of the new VAIO VGN SZ7 series (last month, Notebook Review came across the information on Sony’s website as well as online retailers). At some point it will be fully replacing the SZ6 series.
While it shares many things in common with the SZ6 series (similar 13.3″ LED-backlit displays, Same Hybrid Intel and NVidia graphics system, carbon fiber casing, Vista Business, etc.), it offers several different features, including upgraded memory, larger hard drives, and most importantly, Intel’s new Penryn CPUs. The Penryn line is faster, with better power consumption (and in theory less heat), and in some instances it adds more cache (up to 6MB L2 Cache).
Earliest ship dates (with minimum options):
SZ740 – Maybe shipping now using existing Intel Merom-2M CPUs
SZ750N/C – Ship Date of 2/20/2008
SZ770N/C – Ship Date of 1/30/2008
SZ780 – Ship Date of 2/3/2008
SZ791N/X – Ship Date of 1/30/2008
Differences and prices between models:
– SZ750N/C – $1899 at Amazon/Sony, Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn T8100 (2.1GHz), 2GB Memory
– SZ770N/C – $2249 at Amazon/Sony, Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn T9300 (2.5GHz), 3GB Memory
– SZ791N/X – $2499 at Amazon/Sony, Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn T9300 (2.5GHz), 4GB Memory (May have “Premium” Carbon Fiber Case)
Configure to Order Models (CTO):
– SZ740 – Starts at $1429 – Options vary – see SZ7 page for details
– SZ780 – Starts at $1541 – Options vary – see SZ7 page for details