Official NEW SVZ Z series Owners Lounge

The MC7710's GPS capabilities are not enabled on the SVZ and you'd have to modify the laptop itself, drilling holes and , to attach an external GPS antenna to the MC7710 module.

I can't remember where I got the driver, but, yes, it is the Sony Extension Firmware Parser and installing it will remove that yellow exclamation mark. I'm using version 8.0.2.3 on my Windows 8 Pro. Don't remember if I had to install it in compatibility mode or not...

 

The last missing driver was the Wireless State Driver (whatever that does).
At some stage I had the Smart Network Utility working, but I couldn't get it running again. Not much of a worry though, as in Win 8 you can switch on or off the radios through the Settings.

 

Thinking about getting one of these. I've noticed in photos that the back of the hinge protrudes slightly from the back of the laptop. Does that form a ridge under the laptop or is it flush with the back? The reason I ask is I use laptops primarily on my lap and a ridge would get very annoying.

 

forms a ridge, with the laptop resting on the back of the hinge. With the extended sheet battery attached, there's no ridge though...

 

Good people of the NEW SVZ Z series Owners lounge,

as a fan of ultraportables and frequent flyer, I was one of the few people left on earth who were still using the good old Vaio X during flights and in the train until recently, but at some point I could not deny any more that it isn't powerfull enough to perform even the most simple tasks of our time. It was only two months ago when I switched to a i7 256GB SVZ1311C5E, basically because it is light, powerful and unlike most other laptops not made in China. I have also picked up a sheet battery and the leather case with the "15th anniversary edition" badge, which I like very much.

A few days ago I encountered a problem that I wasn't able to solve on my own, so that is why I decided to come here to ask for help. The Vaio Care Software tried to update itself and showed this little "downloding update" sign in the lower right corner of the screen. After an hour or so, it displayed the message "can't download the update" and stopped working. When I started Vaio Care again, it claimed that it needs to be updated and could not perform any task. Today I deinstalled it in the application manager and then downloaded the Vaio Care Software from the support page for the SVZ1311C5E. It installed without any problems, but doesn't start. As soon as I start it, I get the message "VaioShell has stopped working"

Google won't tell me the solution to this problem. Any help in this matter would be highly appreciated, because this is driving me mad.

Jacob

 

The answer is... Sony doesn't love us anymore. :-(

____________________
Sent via TapaTalk

 

this. but tbh 1 of the reasons i stuck with the svz is because you can maintain almost everything yourself. no updates required from sony, just straight from the vendor. The only thing that would be nice (and sony will never do) is add things like secure boot to the bios.

Simple truth is format the machine, start fresh and use only drivers from the vendor, and the few sony until you actually need like battery care etc.

 

Thanks for your answers. Yesterday night I downloaded VAIO Care Update version 8.1.0.10120 from Sony Asia: VAIO Care Update version 8.1.0.10120 : Download : Sony Asia Pacific and installed it on my SVZ1311C5E. The model is not listed as compatible divece, but it installed without problems and runs without crashing. Of course I know it is not the most usefull piece of software, but I wanted to get in running out of principle.

 

Vaio SVZ1311C5E / First Impressions and comparison to VPCX128LG

Yesterday I posted a question regarding a Vaio Care Update in this forum, which has been solved by now.

As I stated in the previous post, I have been using a VPCX128LG for three or four years, still using it today sometimes, and bought a SVZ1311 on what they called a 'sale' in the European Sony Online Shop for just below € 2600,- . My configuration is i7, 256BG, Sheet Battery and the leather pouch with 15th anniversary imprint. My impressions so far are mixed.

In this post, I will take the opportunity to compare Sony's outdated halo device with the actaul one.

Power

Comparing the performance of these machines would be ridiculous. My impression is that the Vaio X is slightly faster than a Commodore C64 while the Z basically opens any software before you even finished your left click on the shortcut.

Build quality

Both notebooks are extremely beautiful and well build. Both belong to the few laptops which are not made in China. For me, the 'made in Japan' tag is one of the reasons why I am willing to spend three times more, compared to an ultrabook which would be absolutely sufficient for the tasks I run on it. I mean, what is the point of buying organic food, riding by bicycle to work and eating free range chicken eggs, when at the same time you work on a notebook made by exploited Foxconn workers? When the Vaio X was launched, rumours had it that Sony lost 2000 Dollars on each device that was sold, because it was so expensive to build. I believe this is true and think that regarding the detailed oriented engineering, the Vaio X is still the better device. The Vaio Z is a little bit less charming and cannot deny that it is being produced in larger numbers.

Battery Life and portability

With a weight of 700 grams and a thickness of 0.55 inch you can put a Vaio X in a backpack and forget that it is there. I sometimes had to open my laptop case to make sure it is in it. Unfortunately it is not very suitable for the real world. The sheet battery of the Vaio X looks horrible and without it you are looking at 2,5 hours of usage at full brightness. It also can't be clocked down in the power saving settings, because then it even lacks the processing power to make a cursor blink. No matter which software you use on a Vaio X, the processor and the very annoying fan will run at full speed almost all the time, which unfortunately does not prevent it to get scorching hot on the bottom.
While the X is suitable for a (wealthy) backpacker who wants to read his emails deep in the jungles of SE-Asia, the Vaio Z is a perfect tool for the frequent flyer or traveller who actually needs to work while being on the road. The weight of 1,18 kg is bearable for most of us and the battery life is slightly better as long as you don't use it at full brightness. With the sheet battery attached to the Z, it has the power to last for approximately 10 hours of browsing and word processing. I have set the maximum processor speed to 0% in the 'Power Saver' profile. The fan is off almost all the time and I still can't feel a decrease of usability.

Prestige

The prestige factor of the Vaio Z, which I must admit is important in my job in the private island business, is not as high, mainly because it is much more reasonably priced when you take into account that you get a lot of bang for your buck, which obviously wasn't the case with the Vaio X. To show off in a meeting, the Vaio X is still the better device, because in 99% of the people have never seen this device before. It has the word 'expensive' written all over it and really turns heads. The only problem of the X is that it is so slow that you basically can't use it for anything else than reading an online-newspaper or taking notes.

Picture and sound

The screen of the Vaio Z is not bad at all, it is better than any other display I have seen in the common ultrabooks, but I expected it to be better than the three year old X. It is simply not bright enough to use it outside. I am not able to see any difference in terms of quality when comparing it side by side to the screen of my three year old Vaio X. The screen of the Vaio Z is even less bright, which is a really unpleasant surprse. Here you can see a picture of the laptops, both showing a picture of the same island at highest brightness. Screen comparison Vaio VPCX128LG vs VPZ1311C5E:



To prevent Vaio Z owners to killing themselves after reading this comparison, I have also compared it to the screen of a Macbook Air:

Screen comparison Vaio SVZ1311C5E vs Macbook Air 2012



Regarding the sound, the Vaio Z wins the comparison with flying colors. The speakers are only the second worst on the market, which means that you can actually watch a movie in a very very quiet place without using a headset or external speakers. If you have good ears that is. With the Vaio X, I would not even dare thinking about doing this. The pieco beeper on my PC's mainboard is louder than the speakers of the X.

Keyboard and mouse

Both notebooks have island style keyboards and both are horrible. If you buy such a high premium for a thin laptop, of course you can't expect to get key travel, because it is phisically impossible, so I won't complain much about it. I can't even tell which keyboard is worse, because I haven't been typing a lot on the Vaio Z and got quite used to the Keyboard on the Vaio X. Same goes for the mousepad. The Vaio X has a poststamp-sized mousepad which supports three finger movement. The good thing is that it has buttons that seem to work much better than those on the SVZ. It is possible to write an email on both devices, but would recommend using a mouse when you use Photoshop and similar software which requires a bit more control of the movements.

Conclusion

Both devices are ahead of their competitors in terms of quality and design. In the case of the Vaio Z this is also true in regards of it's performance. In my opinion, the Vaio X was the more outstanding device at the time. It looks to me that Sony wanted to show everyone else who is the master in the field of building miniaturized gadgets. I will now use the Vaio Z most of the time as the screen is larger and it has more power and stamina to deal with all tasks all day long. But I would also like to point out that I am looking forward to the day that Sony releases a successor to the Vaio X. with todays technology it should be able to build a 11-inch laptop with Full-HD screen, low weight and awesome specs to go along with it. I expect it to be a Macbook Air 11-inch killer and would not mind to spend 3000 Euro for it.

Just do it the Sony way: Take a product that has been around for a while (for example Mac Air 11-inch), redesign it, throw in every possible feature imaginable, and then make it smaller and lghter than everyone else's machine. Then triple the price.

 

Is there a way to measure the number of cycles a sheet battery has been through? I just got one from amazon, mfc date is 2011-12, and the box was pretty bashed. Battery itself looks brand new, but wanted to see if I can check the cycle count.

 

I am interested in buying an svz palmrest or top case with US keyboard to replace my German keyboard. What would be the part number? Or if you have one, please PM me.

Sent from my GT-P6800 using Tapatalk 2

 

I have one of the last refurbished svz131190x (256 GB) version that I need to sell. PM me if anyone interested.

 

After realising that there is no Facebook page for the SVZ13, I have created one this morning: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sony...3-Owners-Club/346926888761138?bookmark_t=page

The page shall a collection of reviews and information about the SVZ13 series. For users who have specific questions, I included a link to this forum. I hope that in a joint effort we can create a valuable information base for owners and aspiring owners. It is also a way to show that high end non-touchscreen devices have a following, and don't we hope there will be successor soon?

 

Uhm, I think I need to correct this part of my review. Today the Vaio X fell on the floor and took an irreparable damage...RIP!

 

Hi there,
I have question to users with PMD. Have you notice any issue with blueish Toolbar, Tabs bar etc in Firefox?
I notice that if I am working on my Z without PMD this never happens, but if I am working at home with PMD connected this issue appears sometimes.
It's looks like this:

Print screen:
1. Just after the occurrence of the problem
2. If I move mouse over tabs / clicks on it, this blue color disappears temporarily.
3. How it should looks like..
I have a classic theme in Windows 7.
I'm having this problem since about a month.

 

If anyone has a sony svz (UK) for sale, pm me please thanks

 

I have a Sony Vaio Z series SVZ131190X with the VGP-PRZ20A docking station.
When I undock I always push the blue undock button and wait for the blue light to go off. If I plug the dock back in 10 seconds or 1 week later my dock video and blu-ray come back online but sometimes my USB ports don't. In order to get the USB devices (mouse and keyboard) to start working again I have to reboot. This started happening within a couple of days of getting my computer in early December 2012 and has been happening ever since. A really annoying USB problem. I've seen this sort of thing with cheap USB hubs in the past, but this being a dock shouldn't have this sort of USB power problem.

Has anyone else encountered this?
Does anyone know a solution to this?
I've even updated the USB and motherboard drivers.

In the past I've posted about this when it happened all the time and found it was due to a bad Tanita/Garmin scale USB driver. Now it only happens sometimes but again, rebooting is the only way to fix it. Even if I undock gracefully, unplug the PMD power, reconnect the power, and reconnect the PMD, the usb ports won't come back until I reboot.

 

I have same model as yourss and don't see any problems whatsoever as you have described..

 

Thanks, good to know it isn't the model!

 

I had some USB problems with Windows 8. Incl. a corasir usb-stick (usb 3.0) not working when connected to a usb 3.0 port, only with the usb 2.0 ports. I solved that problem by manually changing the .inf files of the Intel USB 3.0 drivers to allow the Intel USB drivers to install on Windows 8 as well as updating the renesas USB drivers on Windows 8. Problem solved. Might give it a shot if you're running Win 8, as that generic MS usb 3 driver does noone justice it seems...

 

Hi guys,

I recently purchased a z13 with the power media dock. I have since found that after I dock/undock the laptop, most my running programs turn out with a black screen, this is most common with my internet browser tabs and MSN. I have been refreshing the browser to fix the problem each time, however for msn I have to resort to exiting and resigning in. This is extremely frustrating as I will lose all prior conversations (some important, some not). Is anyone having a similar issue or know how to fix this?? I am aware of the message that prompts the user to exit any graphics intensive programs however I do not believe internet browser and msn fall under this category. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have the SVZ13115GGXI model laptop and VGP- PRZ220A PMD

 

Browsers are GPU accelerated nowadays, you can usually disable GPU acceleration in most browsers if you wish. Might help.

 

Dear fellow Vaio Z owners:

Please join the Vaio Z owners club on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sony-Vaio-Z-series-Z21-Z23-and-SVZ13-Owners-Club/346926888761138

 

Undock without popup warning dialogs.
I've noticed that often when I push the undock button for my docking station I get two pop-up dialogs one with an OK button and one with cancel and continue buttons. Of course one can click "continue" and the undocking will proceed, however it is annoying and inconvenient to have to grab the mouse to do this.

I just discovered conclusively the source of this problem. It is "Vaio Messenger" when it has "new messages" at least. It appears as a little opened white envelope in the task tray of the computer. After testing my theory by right clicking and selecting "Exit" on "Vaio Messenger" numerous times I concluded that is *is* the problem. So I uninstalled Vaio Messenger and don't have this problem any more. Undocking bliss, I push the button and within 2 seconds I am undocked.

 

Hey, what's up guys! New here, but I have a couple questions regarding my recently purchased, but not yet received, Sony Vaio Z (i7-3612QM, 8GB DDR3, 256 SSD):

1. Do any of you do any streaming with it using the Black Magic Intensity Shuttle? The shuttle is notorious for working with a select few USB 3.0 chipsets and motherboards, despite it using what's supposed to be a UNIVERSAL connection haha. Someone mentioned that the Z uses a Renesas chipset for its USB 3.0 ports, which is one of the few that actually work! Anyone with first-hand experience / thoughts?

2. To follow up the first question, the Shuttle also lets you capture in uncompressed HD, which usually requires very fast HDDs. The Z, to my knowledge, thanks to its SSDs in RAID-0 has some of the fastest around. The problem is that 256GB really isn't gonna cut it as far as space, considering how gigantic uncompressed HD clips / videos are. Would there be any way to have the SSDs do the heavy-lifting, but use an external harddrive for storage all at the same time? The only way I can think of would be to add like a 2/3TB external HDD to the RAID configuration, but I would rather not do that (I don't know if you even can since 2 would be internal , the last external) . If I did have to go that route, would I lose TRIM for the SSDs?

3. I don't plan on actually moving my Vaio Z around for at least a month or two, in which case its really just going to be sitting on the charging adapter; to prolong the battery life, I was thinking of actually removing the battery until I have need of it again. Would that work? If not, any other ideas to prolong the life of the battery if its going to be sitting on the charger for a couple months?

 

Hey,

I'd never even try removing a battery. I still have my 5 years old Z1 and its battery is approx 80% healthy after 5 years! Now that's great if one asks me. What I do is this:
1) When working at home I keep it charged on 50% while using the charger
2) Once or twice per month you have to fully discharge the battery and charge it fully
3) Then let it go down to 50% and keep it that way

Perhaps there's a better strategy to prolong the battery life but this one is surely working for me

 

I have,
latest, 256gb with PMD, England

 

What typical battery life are you getting? do you know what the average discharge rate is when using it (battery bar tells you fro eg)?

 

You mean with my old Z1? I believe I can get another 5 yrs out of that battery. The battery status is good (excellent, poor and critical are other possible states). Battery bar is a bit above 80% (compared to a 100% of a new battery) if that's what you meant?

 

When you say discharge, do you mean you just leave the laptop on until it gives you a message saying it has to shut down because no battery life left?
And then you just plug it back in till 100%?

For my old Sony SR laptop, I left it plugged in all the time at 80% setting. After like 4 years, the battery dies within 10 minutes idle for some reason even though in the battery indicator, it says the battery life is still good and it has 1 hour left.

 

I have been using it 90% of the time on 50% of the full charge. Twice or a few times per months you should discharge and recharge it fully to keep the battery alive I suppose. If I charge it fully to 100% it can last approx 2-3 hours, depending on the load I throw at the machine.

I do the same with my Z3, bought it in late December last year and will enforce the same battery policy

 

i do the same with battery protection - says excellent on both my internal and sheet. feels like i get 4h out of each battery though, was expecting more. this is with all the latest vendor drivers, balanced profile, screen at 75% and wifi + general surfing.

 

X-Silencer, so do you just unplug the charger at like 60%, let go down to 40%, and repeat?

 

I mean I keep it usually at 50% (plugged in but not charging) or 80%, then a few times per month I unplug it and let it go down to minimum, then I recharge it fully to 100%, then again unplug and once it drops to around 50% I plug it back in (plugged in but not charging). I also have the extra sleeve battery but didn't touch it yet, will have to try it as well.

 

No need to manually connect and disconnect the charger. There is an APP for that. Power Management/Battery in VAIO Control Center

 

I figured as much, but seeing as I've never gotten nitty-gritty with all the options available, its very cool that it can manage that all through Vaio control panel. Thanks! I'll be sure to do that when I get my hands on my new Z.

 

I don't think we understood each other here - I always use VAIO Battery Care, this is how it stays on 50% or 80% and doesn't charge even when plugged in. But eventually, a few times per month I disable the battery care function in VAIO Control Center to let it discharge and recharge properly, then I enable the battery care again and let it stay on.

 

did they keep the dvd integrated?

 

Anyone on Windows 8 with the PMD here?
Which drivers do you use? I tried several of leshcats, but apparently they all make some problems (like enabling the screen backlight).
And I do have occasional freezes and hang-ups, maybe I need other system drivers as well - where did you get yours from?

Why oh why doesn't Sony update their 2000$+ paying customers anymore...

 

hey guys been using my Z3 for a while and LOVE IT.
Question I removed old WiDi drivers so i could upgrade to new version. now it wont let me install. I have latest intel wifi + graphics drivers already installed

has anyone ran into this similar issue and know of a fix? appreciate it

 

if you install batterybar pro, what discharge rate are you seeing?

 

Seeing as no one here seems to have any experience with the Vaio Z in conjunction with the Black Magic intensity shuttle, do any of you guys know what's the exact motherboard and USB chipset that the Z uses? I've looked around and have had no luck finding any information regarding those two things.

 

Sony Extended Sheet Battery (VGPBPSC27)  for SVZ only $85 new on Amazon! In for one.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

Any BIOS hack / unlock for the SVZ ?

 

I have an svz with German keyboard which I want to change to usa or uk. On Ebay, I found a uk palmrest or top case with keyboard for the vpcz2.

If I were to swap out the entire top case could I make the wireless hardware switch, present on z2 but missing on svz, work? If not I may opt to swap just those keycaps that differ between the German and UK layouts. How easy is this going to be without breaking the clips holding the keys. The number and size of the keys match in these layouts so that will not be an issue. Thanks!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

Just got my brand new Z, and I'm loving it! Speedy, light, powerful!

One little hiccup though; referring to my previous USB 3.0 question, does anyone know how to update the firmware and drivers for the 3.0 chipset? I went to the Intel website to download USB 3.0 Driver: Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver but it fails during set-up: anyone have any idea why? Could it be because Sony is using its own system thanks to the lightpeak port?

 

Be careful buying the external batter from EFJ on Amazon right now. Got it for $85 "new" came without the original packaging and had several scratches on the battery. Not really that big of a deal for me, since it was so cheap. However, the batter won't charge, either directly from the wall (which gives a flashing status light meaning battery error) or when attached to the computer (stays at 0% with neither internal or external batteries being charged). Very frustrating. In the process of exchanging it to see if I can get one that works. It does make the computer a lot heavier than I was expecting, but its already extremely light in the first place.

 

i've installed win8 and i am unable to adjust the Brightness using my Fn + F5 and F6 keys. i've done a search in this thread but did not find a solution and i can't seem to find the "Hotkey Utility" software on the Sony eSupport page. does anyone else have this problem? thanks.

 

Just wanted to post some useful information on high resolution monitors.

I'm running on a Vaio Z series SVZ131190 Windows 7 64 bit with the power media dock

I just purchased the SIIG JU-DP0011-S1 USB 3.0 to DisplayPort adapter driving a ViewSonic VP2770-LED 256x1440 monitor and it works quite well for my work in software development. I should also mention that up to 6 of the JU-DP0011-S1 devices can be plugged into a single computer. I haven't tried more than one yet but am planning to buy a few more and a few more monitors. The adapter can drive up to a 2560x1600 monitor.

I've plugged the SIIG adapter into the USB 3.0 port on my power media dock. I haven't tried plugging into the laptop's USB 3.0 port yet but don't expect any trouble from that.

 

Let me know how it goes! I hope i didn't reply too late. I'm in a similar position wanting to swap keys/the entire palmrest. I think the latter will be very problematic as it requires you to disasseble the entire laptop. Swapping key caps, on the other hand, is very very easy, and you wont break anything at all. There's a thread in NBR detailing how to do it.