Vaio, now an independent company after being spun out of Sony (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 27), has announced its first new products, with a return to the premium ‘Z’ series.
The Vaio Z and Z Canvas are hybrid units, with 13.3″ and 12.1″ displays. The Z can take on notebook, tablet and viewing (screen facing away from the keyboard) modes, while the Z Canvas has a detachable keyboard.
While full specifications are still to be announced, we do know that the flagship Vaio Z uses a Broadwell Core i7 processor, and will last for up to 15.5 hours on battery. Vaio says the Z is its longest-lasting laptop ever (including those produced when it was part of Sony). The way that this was achieved is interesting; Vaio redesigned the battery, removing several layers inside the cell to improve capacity, without increasing size or weight. Additionally, there is a power-saving display mode that narrows the angle that light is projected at, which can reduce power use by as much as 40%.
Pre-orders for the Vaio Z have started in Japan now, for ¥181,000 ($1,520). Global availability is still to be announced.
Aimed more at creatives, the Z Canvas covers 95% of the Adobe RGB gamut and will be supplied with a digitiser pen. Resolution is (apparently) 2560 x 1704, with 1TB of storage. There was little information available about this unit, which isn’t due to be released until May.
Analyst Comment
While the battery life sounds great, the idea of reducing the viewing angle on the display sounds like a backwards step to me. (BR)
