Official NEW SVZ Z series Owners Lounge

I do use a cloth if I think anything will be pressing down on the laptop when in my backpack.

Unfortunately, by the time you find out if it's really necessary, it's too late. Your screen is already marked.

 

any feedback on this? thanks

 

VGP-PRZ20C/B for the CD/DVD version. I think the bluray one is the same but A/B.

 

I remember I saw somewhere said Z series no need keyboard protector, and actually it need to keep opened because it is where cool air go in.

btw, if possible, don't send back SONY for services. They do scratch the cover, and no reply after email them.
I sent it back because I used USB 3.0 flash drive for recovery media, and it's failed during recovery prosscess.

 

I have the same issue - some sort of white noise. It is reduced by muting the mic or the speakers but it does not go entirely away. Quite annoying.

 

have you reported that to sony?

 

is it a "new" dock? I was going to buy one... but I`m a little bit confused -
VAIO Z Series Laptop Power Media Dock with CD/DVD Burner | VGP-PRZ20C/B | Sony USA
sony says it AMD Radeon™ HD 6650M inside but not a AMD Radeon™ HD 7670M ?

can anybody clarify that? Thank you.

 

There's only one dock. 6650 CPU has been "rebadged" to be the 7670. There's no improvement in performance over the "old" PMD. It's been posted that the drivers will report the chip as either one depending on if the PMD is connected to a Z2 or a Z3.

 

Hello to the board.

I Ordered my Vaio Z3 last week. I have three laptops currently that I use for business (Lenovo W500, HP DV6 Pavilion, and Dell e6300 Latitude). I travel quite a bit so a smaller laptop is preferable. I am a technical consultant in the industrial robotics industry and often program robot systems using an oem cad based software package that requires decent graphics. The HP is a very good laptop for what I need but the 16" platform is not aircraft friendly. The Lenovo is a decent computer for everything but the offline robotic programming. This computer does not handle the robotic stations in the programming software very well and has been taken out of my rotation. The Dell is adequate for my needs, excellent in size and tolerable in graphics (integrated). However, this was a refurbish unit and the ethernet port just gave out (driver re-install does not work). I must have an ethernet port as this is the way I connect directly to the newer robot controller cabinets and download/upload/make online changes that I need to for my profession.

This brings me to the Sony. I wanted a better screen resolution than the 1366 x 768 that the Dell provides. After researching 13" platforms, I focused in on the Sony Z. The performance of the Z made me believe this laptop would best fit what I need for optimal performance in my profession. However, the price was significantly higher than other models even though performance of these lower cost models would not match the Z. With the failure of the ethernet port of my Dell I decided to purchase a Z. The following is the specifications of my Z:

Model: US-SVZ131190X
Intel i7 processor: 512GB SSD: 8GB RAM: PMD w/Blu-ray Disc player/burner: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Estimated Ship Date: 08/23/2012

As a business machine, I do not want bloat-ware installed on this machine so I ordered Fresh Start. I will be looking to get a SD card (probably a 128Gb) and a Sony Memory Stick Pro 32Gb (would prefer the largest size I can get - 64Gb?, 128Gb). The SD card and Memory Stick will be used as data storage for my everyday business files that I access. I am looking forward in receiving this laptop. I am not looking forward in installing and obtaining all the licenses I need for the software I use as well as the configuration of said software. This usually takes me up to 3 to 4 weeks to get straightened out due to the age of some of the software and the peripherals I need to install for use on the laptop. That said, I am looking forward to receiving the Vaio Z.

 

Sounds like cheating from sony ) I hoped to get better performance with "new" block but its even not a new ? Any possible upgraded model coming?

 

I've seen this asked many times before with no response. I don't anyone knows whether there will be an updgraded model out any time soon. I'd like to know as well - I'm considering orderingthe laptop w/o PMD and waiting but the PMD seems to be more expensive if you buy it after you purchase the laptop.

 

I have been reading over and over again about the PMD and that the graphics card is the same in the Z3 as it was in the Z2. Was the Z2 (now Z3) graphics with the PMD lacking in performance? Or is the integrated graphics in the Z3 that good that the difference between integrated and discrete graphics is negligible? Thanks.

 

I also have the same problem.

 

My Z family grows. Snagged a very cheap Z2 for the wife to go along with my SVZ

 

I think maybe the z3 has an inherent problem with noise propagating through the speakers from the nearby electronics. The white noise goes away when the codec chip cuts off the speakers. In my case, I'm running Ubuntu Linux and when audio stops playing there will be a few seconds of white noise before the audio codec chip cuts off. I believe that there have been similar reports from Windows users so it is likely not an audio driver issue but simply the hardware that is plain broken.

 

did anyone notify this issue to sony?
if yes, any response from them yet?

 

The second one.

 

Oh well, I guess I just ordered the PMD as a redundant item in terms of graphics. I will keep it at home in my office as my stationary docking station and will get a portable DVD writer for travel on the road then. Live and learn, I guess. Thanks for the response, Matt.

 

I do not have this problem at all on my SVZ, so it must be on a device by device basis. I however DO have the webcam problem and will be sending it in to Sony tomorrow for that.

 

The PMD does offer a few benefits (other than the very slight graphics processing increase) and if you buy it bundled with the computer it's not too much of a rip off. Specifically, it allows you to connect more external monitors to your Z, as well as offering a quick and easy way to connect a keyboard/mouse/display with one connection. Now, a USB dock like Toshiba PA3927U-1PRP Dynadock U3.0 Universal USB Connect Docking Station would offer similar options and only costs $150, but the connection between the computer and the dock is slower (USB 3.0 vs Lightpeak). Also, it doesn't include an external optical drive. In general you're probably better off buying a dock like that and then an additional external optical drive (total probably around $210 vs $300 or $400 for the PMD) because they will work with any computer, not just the Z. But the PMD is still a nice solution if you need all of these things in one package for your Z.

 

While the integrated HD 4000 is very good, I have certain games that do play better with the PMD. Also, you will experience less throttling since there will be less heat build up in the CPU since the IGP won't be working.

 

The only reason I would consider the PMD is the fact it will allow your Z to drive 3 external displays and its own for a total of 4 screens. That is very impressive for a laptop. Also, you can find the bluray version used for a bit over $200

 

I haven't seen the problem where there is white noise coming from the speakers (or at least just haven't been able to reproduce it), though I HAVE noticed a sound that SOUNDS like white noise coming from time to time from the fan. At least, it seems like it is coming from the fan - it is a kind of hiss/high-pitched crunching noise, but almost sounds like static. Definitely seemed to be coming from the fan or some other inner electronics, but not the speaker.

It actually sounds a tiny bit like the noise a hard drive would make when seeking, but much quieter.

For folks who have the speaker/white noise issue, can you give a specific test case using a common tool or program? And where does one put one's ear in order to hear it best?

- Tim

 

On mine it happens, not all the time though, you hear it on the side the CPU is.
No tool required to test, just turn your puter on and listen, you will need to be in windows as I'm not sure that the speakers turn on before that point.

It stops when I turn on my USB headset (as that takes over sound processing)

I will note, I can only hear it if i'm in total silence with my ear 5 CM from the speaker.

 

Believe it or not, I started liking the Blue-Purple color Your wife should appreciate that kind of Gift

Would you mind sharing the Wallpaper from the SVZ? It matches the Black color of the Z.

of course if that's not too much to ask !

 

Umm... which side is the side the CPU is on? How can you tell which side it's on?

When looking at the computer head-on, is it the right side or the left side? Do you listen on the top, the side, or the bottom?

- Tim

 

It is a very nice color, she loves it. Hardly ever see any premium laptops with color.

Here's the WP
InterfaceLIFT Wallpaper: Sebastopol Lagoon

plenty of matching options here:

InterfaceLIFT

 

Anybody solved the problem with Premiere Pro CS6? Error is: "Adobe Premiere Pro could not find any capable video play modules. Please update your video display drivers and start again." I have Googled everywhere to no avail.

 

z3 owners - do you find text generally too small to read with the 1080p display? like for web, word, and spreadsheet usage?

 

Sony and Square Trade charge around US$299 for a 3 year warranty ( No Accidental....) and we as customers only have 90 days from the date of purchase, not from the day we received our CTO in the mail, to enroll it.....

Since this is a very pricey warranty, I was wondering how much would be an stardard repair for this particular model, excluding accidental damage.

In other words, if a repair is around $350, would not be wiser, just to pay for th repair when the time comes?

I have had laptops that fail within 3 years of purchase, but not more than once....

Any thoughts?

 

I keep my Z3 at 100% dpi instead of the 125% it defaults to, and really it depends. I'm under 20, and from about a foot and a half away from the screen I can read everything perfectly. However, if I lean back, then I tend to use the pinch to zoom on the touchpad to up things to between 125% and 150% while web browsing, as most web pages at 1920x1080 just have bars on each side with text in the middle anyway.

 

I wouldn't say "solved", but characterized and resigned to. Premiere Pro CS3 apparently doesn't like running with HD 4000 graphics using Sony's combined ATI/Intel driver. It works fine when the Power Media Dock is connected, and the Radeon GPU is operating.

Following a suggestion in Adobe's forum, I replaced the ATI/Intel driver with the current HD4000 driver from the Intel site. When I did this, Premiere Pro ran fine -- without the PMD. However, my experience was that reinstalling the ATI/Intel driver wasn't so easy. I eventually had to resort to System Restore to get back the correct driver to allow the PMD's graphics to be used. Of course, that created other problems that I needed to resolve.

So, I've decided to give up on running Premiere Pro without the PMD. If you don't have the PMD and never intend to get it, or if you have better luck than me with reinstalling the ATI/Intel driver, you could install the Intel-only driver from Intel's website, which would allow you to run Premiere Pro using the HD 4000.

As far as an explanation... who knows. I don't think it's simply a matter of Sony using an old version of the HD 4000 driver. I tried using the Intel-only version of the driver located on Sony's website, which uses the same version of the HD 4000 driver as the ATI/Intel version, and Premier Pro ran just as it did with the driver form the Intel website.

Here is the Adobe forum thread.

Derry

 

this built-in wan model in svz supports 4g lte?

 

Any recommendations for hard sleeves for the Z3? Also laptop backpacks/messengers? I'm a college student.

If i get a hard sleeve, is a laptop backpack even necessary?

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place, I have no idea which Vaio Z I have, just that it has a core i7 and is new...I've had my Vaio Z for about a month and really loved it until yesterday, when I tried to plug in an external microphone and realized there was no jack. Assuming that the headphone jack was some kind of combo jack, I bought a microphone/headphone splitter, but when I tried it I was still recording my voice from the computer's microphone, not my plugged in clip-on mic (the headphones worked through the splitter, though).

I absolutely need to be able to use an external mic. I found this USB adapter online, but I'm wondering if I should bother - I already have one adapter that doesn't work. I also found this, which looks like a longer version of the one I bought.

Is there some kind of setting in the control panel I need to mess with? I tried setting up a new microphone, but that didn't work either.

Incidentally, when I plug in a combo headset/microphone, sound is still recorded from the laptop's microphone.

 

I'm having an issue with the Vaio SVZ (i5; 4GB RAM) I ordered from Sony online and received earlier this month.

There is a near constant, high pitched whine emanating from the laptop; it seems to originate around the middle of the keyboard, and makes it sound like there's someone composing Morse code messages inside. It's distinct from the fan, which operates at an acceptable volume level.

I've run all of the diagnostic checks, played around with the power settings, checked for interference form surrounding electronics, and confirmed there's no issue with peripherals etc, but I'm no closer to locating the cause or finding a cure. It's slightly worse when operating on battery power, but is still there when connected to the mains.

Whilst it's not a major problem when I'm at home, it is an unnecessary distraction when I'm in quiet environments like the library, especially given that the prospect of a low noise SSD was one of the main reasons I bought the Z.

Is anyone else experiencing similar issues? I know that the F Series had a comparable problem on certain units.

I've made a video to illustrate.
https://vimeo.com/47774111

I'd appreciate any suggestions that might help me fix this.

 

The earbuds that came with my VAIO contain a microphone. I haven't found it to be great, but it does work.

The cable adapter you found probably has a four-conductor plug, which is the one used for smartphones. The VAIO uses an odd five-conductor plug, which I haven't been able to find. I asked the forum a while ago whether anyone else had found one, and received no replies. I am not surprised that the four- and five-conductor plugs are not interchangeable. I compared my iPhone earbuds plug to the VAIOs earbud plug, and the conductors do not line up well.

I would think that the Logitech USB converter you found would work, though I haven't tried it. When at my desk I've settled on using the microphone in my Logitech Pro 9000 USB webcam. It works well.

Also, you need to make sure the right microphone is selected as the default input device. You can type "Manage audio devices" in the start menu search box, click the "Recording" tab, select the microphone you want to use and click "Set Default".

Good luck!

Derry

 

Hi Derry, thanks so much for the help. The earbuds/mic that came with the Vaio are the ones that I used to test it out, and even thought the mic works when I use it with a phone, it doesn't work with the laptop. When I plug it in, the laptop shows that it was plugged in, and I double checked to make sure the correct mic was picked, but nothing.

I think I'm going to forget about trying to find an adapter for the headphone jack and go with a usb adapter. Hopefully that will work!

 

If you are under warranty, I would call Sony. It sounds like something is defective or not set up correctly. The earbuds microphone does work with my VAIO.

Derry

 

i picked up this lapdesk.
Amazon.com: Labtec Logitech Portable Lapdesk N315 with Retractable Mouse Pad - Victorian Wallpaper (939-000389): Electronics

it matches vaio svz very well.

+ razer orochi chrome edition.

+ extended sheet battery

-------------

now i need to get a portable keyboard and a perfect bag..
PMD is pointless for me, i'll pick up one of those if the price drops..

 

I am under warranty. I guess I should. I hate dealing with companies, would rather find a quick fix, but you're right.

 

Hey everyone:

I just ordered a sleev for the Vaio and if anyone is curious, the dimensions of the Vaio INCLUDING the sheet battery are as followed:

Width: 13"
Depth: 8.3"
Height: 0.7"

Without the sheet battery it will differ in height and you'll have to take 0.75" off.

WITHOUT the sheet battery it will be:

Width: 13"
Depth: 8.3"
Height: 0.63"

I will post pictures of the sleeve when I have it and how it fits my laptop. I will also be testing the webcam and check if there are any strange noises that the laptop makes.

 

Does anyone know of a good screen protector made for the sony vaio z, all the ones I can find are for the older version which has different screen dimensions I think.

Edit: Actually it looks like they might be the same size, can anyone confirm this? I assume since they are both 13.1" screens with 16:9 aspect ratio they should be the same size. Anyone know about this particular one? eForCity - Invisible Screen Protector for Sony VAIO Z Series 13.1 Widescreen Laptops - 353240

Also any opinions on this for protecting the outside of the computer and the palmrests? A little pricey and I know you can do it yourself.
Sony Vaio Z2 Series Skin + Screen Protector | Clear-Coat.com

 

I just saw that my computer has been completed and has shipped. The delivery date is actually 8/23 due to expedited delivery. Gotta love speedy deliveries! :thumbsup:

 

If anyone is interested in selling their PMD, drop me a PM please. Preferably in EU but open to non-EU. Thanks

 

im interested in buying one as well. drop me pm.. location usa.

 

Does anyone know if the slice battery on the Z2 works on the SVZ? thanks