New VAIO U101 in Japan...

[neuroking]

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/PCG-U101/

Go Babelfish Go!

Also new Z Series...
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/PCG-Z1/

Brandon

[Ioman]

oooh I really like the 2nd laptop. In fact, if it was available in the US today I would buy it. It uses the new Intel Centrino chip too which means it is not only powerful but the laptop can be thin and light due to low voltage.

[Ioman]

Dude, I take that back, it IS available in the US: http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTE...llbTI&Dept=cpu

The only downside I see is that the video card blows...only a 16mb ATI card! At least it has Firewire support!

[neuroking]

Argh! I thought for a second the U series was gonna be available in the US! I was trying to figure out how to sell my U1!

I'd have to play with one to relly have an opinion. I used to have an R505 that had the incredible power of integrated Intel graphics, and it wasn't THAT bad. Hey, it's not a gaming machine. No ultra lites are. It's all a matter of how snappy WinXP is and how long the battery lasts.

That's my $.02. Enter coupon code CY345738 and price match with Best Buy.

(sorry - just 'browsed' over here from fat wallet )

[jeo4long]

Hi Guys,

If you want to get the U101, just visit my website at http://www.icube.us

I hope you like my store.

Thank you in advance.

[neuroking]

Here's a post I made to the VAIO U1 Yahoo group on stores at the time... enjoy...
(more can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vaio_U1/ )
Also note that JapanRush has since much improved their response time and community participation. I would give them another look if I was considering another purchase.

Also, all will buy an older model, like the U1, for about 1/2 the ebay market price (around $500 +/- 50).

THESE PRICES WERE FOR THE U1, BUT THE TRENDS HAVE REMAINED VERY SIMILAR OF THE LATER MODELS (Remember that these have all been introduced in less than a year).

************************************************** ***********
Dynamism
U1 1774
RAM Upgrade 200
XP Pro 150
DVD (D2) 499
Shipping 48
----------------------
Total 2671
TAX (in IL) 233.71 (I'm an IL resident and get sales tax)
REAL Total 2904.71

(+) Plusses
Free tech support shipping (after 1 year still free to-from Japan)
Fully English install/rescue disk*
Located in US (actually 30 minutes from my home)

(-) Minuses
Price
Mixed feedback

Sales rank: 2
Emails were returned quickly, but contained some inaccurate and some
mud slinging at other companies.

Comments:
Dynamism is where I started my search and only found the other sites
from lists and smaller web sites. They seem to offer premium
service, with the fully english install disks and lifetime toll-free
tech support, but at a very hefty price. The prices above are not
listed on their site, but received via email when asked about price
matching. This line was particularly disheartening: "BTW, if Conics
goes out of business, it will be basically impossible to get your
machine repaired as Toshiba Japan will NOT accept shipments from
outside of the US." A) it's a Sony B) good thing I'm IN THE US (and
C) all prices quoted were with XP Home, when I've expressed interest
in only XP Pro). TIP: Sell your company's benefits instead of
putting down others or supplying false information.

*NOTE: I have YET TO RECEIVE THE RECOVERY DISKS. I got a Windows XP
Pro disk and a folder with some drivers. No app installers, and
Movieshaker and Picture crash on startup. Also, a bug with the
version of notebook setup was solved by Brett at Conics within a
couple hours. It has been a couple weeks and I have yet to hear from
Dynamism. Being so close, you'd think they might worry about me
throwing rocks through their windows....
************************************************** ************
Conics
U1 1389
RAM Upgrade 200
XP Pro 160
DVD (D2) 465
Shipping 45
----------------------
Total 2259
+ 6.2% 140 (credit card surcharge)
REAL Total 2399

(+) Plusses
Price (with wire transfer)
Plenty of positive feedback from past customers.
Very fair exchange rate on memory upgrade.
Community Support

(-) Minuses
Credit card surcharge
Pay shipping for tech support
_Slightly_ do-it-yourself for drivers/software
Located abroad
Monthly credit card cap too low

Sales rank: 1
Emails returned quickly. Answered questions clearly. Passed along
referrals. By far the best support you can ask for. I didn't feel
hurried, worried, or like any info was being held back. Brett should
offer a tech support program for a fee! Maybe set up a website with
password protection and registration.

Comments:
PLEASURE to deal with via email. Unbeatable price. Knowing how to
install items individually is a plus with me. I don't know if I like
the small business aspect of it, at least with big ticket items like
this (so hurry up and start opening chain stores! ) Shipping for
tech support is a pretty big minus, but I've only had to send 1
computer back to the manufacturer (when it was 5 years old). The
most significant minus was the credit card surcharges - 6.2% added
on. I REALLY wanted to do a wire transfer, but after the sily
excitement wore off I decided it was best to take the safe route.
Unfortunately, that nullified some of the price difference. I TRUELY
hope Conics takes off. Maybe a push to sell to corporate america at
slightly higher prices - I work for a pharmaceutical company and I
would LOVE to use one of these in the field instead of my 9 lb.
Compaq. There are several tens of thousands of reps from various
companies. Signing any one to an agreement would ensure significant
profit. You can believe that I'll be showing this off to people I
work with.
************************************************** ****************
Japan Rush
U1 1700
RAM upgrade n/a
XP Pro 200
DVD (D1) 550
Shipping 0
----------------------
Total 2450+

(+) Plusses
Trade up
Free shipping
Located in US

(-) Minuses
No micro-DIMM listed on site
Custom rescue disk $150 extra

Sales rank: 3
Email not returned.

Comments:
Wish I could say more, but all the info I could really get was on the
web site. The trade up program is a great idea, though, and makes it
worth serious consideration. The DVD drive listed was the older D1
model, and no RAM upgrade was listed. Again, the only reason for the
3 ranking was the lack of communication/slow response time. I know
at least one employee is active in the online support community,
which is always a good sign.

I think you have mistaken U1 and U101. U1 is the first generation for U series. Then there is U3. The latest one is U101 which is going to be released this coming Saturday.

Cheers

Muliadi

Opps I missed reading the line that the post is actually saying about U1. please disregard my earlier post.

I have to agree that U1 is a good value right now. But if you are looking for better performance, then U101 is the choice.

If you are worry about having the unit repair quick, Dynamism I believe has the most experience on all three, As for Conics, I will rather go on Ebay and buy from people like Lawrence Camera You will get better price that way. Japan Rush is pretty good to deal with. Jae Lee is a very nice person He is specialized on C1 and U3 notebooks (especially C1)

I am consider as the new kid on the block on this arena. What I try to pursue is to give people balance between the price and the value and also give more options, Also my vision with my company is not just stop in providing laptop from Japan but more stuffs from all over the world as well such as smart phone from UK.

With all our laptops, I offer 3 different pricing:
1. Super duper cheap (relatively the same as Ebay price) but you get only software support from us.

2. Moderate price ( 100-150 extra ) but you get the free hardware shipping for the warranty service (3 - 4 weeks turn around time).

3, Premium package ( another 200 extra - this will bring our price relatively the same as Dynamism and Japan Rush ) and you get all the good thing from both which is Priority Major Carier shipping for the warranty service (up to 10 business day turn around time), 1 Year Exchange program as well as you can choose one free of the following items ( cdrom, bag or memory upgrade )

I hope those offers will give some attractiveness to everybody.

Muliadi
ICUBE
http://www.icube.us

[neuroking]

Muliadi,

Welcome to the block!

I wasn't trying to saying ANYTHING against, you, or take away any of your business. Just wanted to make sure you know that. Getting a Japanese-only laptop is pretty difficult for most people, and they usually end up going with Dynamism, just because they get the most press, so I wanted to list out the options they have, which now includes you. Kewl beans!

Yes, I know all the differences between the U1 and the U3 and the U101. However, I only have buying expereince with the U1, so that's what I posted about. They have the same policies and plusses an minuses for the most part.

Current U101 prices posted:
Dynamism: $1999.00

Japan Rush: $1899.00 (not posted on site)

Conics: $1699.00


ICube $1799.00

I remember Conics being around $1699.00 without English Windows, $1799 without. I know D, JR, and C will all haggle on price a little. Note that the U1 cost $2199 according to Dynamism's website, but were quickly talked down to $1774 when I asked for a price match.)

I would recommend posting payment methods (credit cards, paypal, checks, money orders?), all warrenty info (does customer pay for shipping in a repair situation? What about a hardware situationt hat requires return to Japan?), and any info on whether you have a trade-up program. Also, prices for upgrades (memory, drives, software, etc.) would help too.

Very nice looking site, too. Extra Kudos for posting a hello message on the Yahoo group and mentioning T3 Magazine (LOVE that mag!)

Welcome!
Brandon

[Ioman]

I used to have a subscription to T2 here in the states before they stopped selling it here. Now its only available in the UK I believe. Awesome magazine.