— What are the most prominent features of the VAIO SZ? Terashima: A notebook computer always has to be thin, lightweight, and have ample stamina, but this time we also put priority on high computing performance. High mobile performance and high computing performance are contradictory goals, but we have realized both of them in the VAIO SZ. And if you look at computing performance, you will recognize that an important feature is the fact that, while adopting the new Centrino platform, we still have managed to keep this notebook computer as thin and as light as the previous model. — What difficulties did you encounter with the latest Intel platform? Tobe: Take power consumption. The average power of the latest Intel platform is very low, and if we compare it with the previous platform, power consumption during idling is quite a bit lower. However, performance is up quite a bit, as is clear from both processing and graphics. This is particularly true of the dual-core CPU, which rates double the score of the previous processor, as measured by the CPU2000, a benchmark used for determining CPU performance. But, as you would expect, maximum power consumption is up considerably as a result, and there's a lot more heat. So it was quite a job coordinating with the guys in mechanical design and software design to find a solution to this. — Wasn't there anyone who got cold feet along the way and suggested adopting the ULV solution? Hayashi: In the initial discussions there was a fair amount of anxiety, yes. Terashima: Yes, when we thought about how we wanted to do everything with this one computer, we realized it was something we couldn't compromise on. Other companies could look for gains in mobile performance through just using a ULV chip or internal graphics. But we were driven with the desire to do what the competitors aren't attempting, or can't attempt. Hayashi: When it's normal for others to give up, Sony doesn't. That's exactly why there were no compromises with this model — whether on computing performance, mobile performance, or battery life. We optimized all of them, without trading one off against another. — What solutions did you come up with to reduce power consumption? Terashima: This was the first time for us to put Sound Reality, a chip that offers high-quality audio, in a notebook computer. The Sound Reality features original VAIO functions, and since it's a Sony product, we wanted to put priority on sound quality. Being fastidious about the audio quality of a desktop computer is one thing, but doing the same for a mobile notebook is especially difficult. Yet, it was something our competitors were not doing, so we wanted to try our hand at it. Tobe: The Sound Reality chip is hooked up to the Intel High Definition Audio bus, but it was not intended to be removed or replaced. From the fact that the PCI Express has just such a slot, you can deduce that it was designed with removal/replacement in mind, so it is of course possible to shut off power. But the Azelia was not designed to be used in that way. First, we considered simply switching it off, but that was not technically feasible. So what we did was to shut down power to part of the audio codec which would not cause problems elsewhere, and only the part that has a significant impact on power consumption. Mizutani: For the user who really wants to minimize power consumption on this model, we make it possible to switch the Sound Reality off: picking "super stamina" from the VAIO's power-saving settings will turn the chip off. In addition, individual users who really want to extend battery life can directly turn the chip off if they want. So someone working solely with business applications — someone who doesn't need sound and wants to get as much as possible out of the battery — can switch off Sound Reality and enjoy a longer battery life. — Was mounting the camera a challenge? Hayashi: The SZ Premium uses LED backlighting, so the LCD panel is very thin. We promised the guy in charge of the LCD that we wouldn't mount a camera that was any deeper than the panel. Mizutani: To keep our promise we built the camera in-house. Finding a lens that would fit into such a thin camera was breaking new ground, as was just about everything else we did after that. Kawata: There was no camera around that could be fitted within a panel that thin, so we had to start from scratch, building everything from the individual components up. This was another chapter in the tale of trials and tribulations that we suffered. We even had to develop a completely new driver, which was no easy task. Hanamura: We have combined two paper-thin PCBs of 0.4mm thickness and reduced the depth of the lens. It's a fascinating design, though it was a headache to create. In fact this part is so thin that the resin is semi-transparent. Hayashi: If you give up on one thing, everything collapses like a house of cards. So I think we had no choice but to develop our own camera. — What about the keyboard? Hayashi: Despite the fact that the members of the mechanical design team were instructed to keep this model thin, we went with a keyboard that has a generous 3mm stroke. Reducing the stroke from 3mm to 2mm would have meant we could make the whole computer 1mm thinner, but Hanamura-san was determined to have a keyboard with a 3mm stroke that would be great for typing and just as good as the keyboards on the large "desktop replacement" portables. Hanamura: Isn't it obvious that "2.5" or "2.8" just doesn't hack it? I wanted to be able to advertise the round number "3". I discussed this at length with Terashima-san, and I did indeed insist on sticking with "3". Terashima: Here too we have the dual emphasis on mobile performance and computing performance, not just in the electrical specs. You can see our commitment to producing a hi-end machine from that fact that we chose a mechanical design that incorporates a full-size keyboard, equivalent to A4, in a mobile form factor. Again, no compromise. So I told him we should try hard to make it work. Hayashi: My feeling was that we shouldn't just aim for high electrical specs, but make absolutely sure that the computer is properly equipped with what it takes to be a high-end model. That premium quality, if you like. You can give a computer a fast CPU and bags of memory, but even if you then claim it's a high-end machine, there's really nothing more to it than that — CPU and memory. Our goal was to give the VAIO SZ solid credentials for being called "high-end" in every sense.