Official NEW SVZ Z series Owners Lounge

This works with the following monitors:
Dell U3014

This does NOT work with the following monitors:
ViewSonic VP2770-LED



Please contribute other monitors that do or don't work.

 

Can this be made to work with the latest drivers from Intel? There doesn't seem to be the possibility of changing the resolution.

 

I have a 512GB gen. 2 SSD, which came out of a VPC-Z2 but also works in the SVZ, for sale for $475 shipped. PM me if interested.

 

Follow the instructions for the AMD Radeon 7670M adapting them for the Intel adapter you have. This *might* work on the newer software where they don't allow you to manually setup custom resolutions and refresh rates.

 

Hello all I am new to this thread. I have a SVZ1311C5E that i have been trying SO hard to install a clean windows 8 on. I have had to revert back to windows 7 so many times cus i keep getting it wrong. Please can someone help me with a guide to do this - i would really aprrecciate your support. Thank you.

 

No joy: The custom resolution is not showing up in the graphics properties field. Odd?

 

[Post deleted.]

 

That's a new one, very odd. Any chance you can get CPU temps before it shuts off?

 

Something similar happened to me. After installing a terrible and non-working editions of Bit Defender (for Windows 8) and some other antivirus, I decided to remove either from the system, but I wasn't able to hence I went kamikaze and edited some things in the registry. Upon a reboot the CPU went mad (most probably driver issues) and the machine wanted to shut down not to burn the CPU. After a few attempts I was able to quickly reinstall the machine and I never ever came near Bit Defender since

 

Sorry, forgot to mention that. I've always been a Core Temp user to monitor the CPU temperatures in real time. Weird thing is that such temps never went higher than 58 degrees Celsius. Perhaps Core Temp isn't reliable? Or something else is overheating? Maybe the SSD is failing?

 

I have Windows 7 and generally install the Bit Defender updates. Still, I don't think I'm having a software problem (like you were) because the computer even shuts down before entering Windows, being at the black screen that states that Windows did not shut properly and lets you select Normal or Safe mode.

 

[Post deleted.]

 

I had BD on Win7 but a few months ago it didn't really run on Win8. I gave up the whole thing. Even the company admitted they'd had issues on Win8.

 

Does anyone know where I could find this sony vaio z case?
VGP-CKZ3

The best I could find was this ebay listing but it seems pretty expensive for my needs: New Genuine SONY 13" inch VGP-CKZ3 Leather Carrying Case Pouch FOR VPCZ13 VPCZ2 on eBay!

I am looking for a very small but cushioned case for a messenger bag that I bout recently. The computer would need to come out of the case/sleeve horizontally. I tried a few sleeves at Best buy, however, all of them have too much extra space around the laptop and makes it difficult to close the messenger bag (its quite small). The inside of the case is 9 x 14.5 and most of the cases I tried stuck out around an inch above the top of the messenger bag. Any suggestions? I would like the one listed above but $95 seems quite expensive. I basically just want some extra padding for when I am carrying the laptop in the messenger bag.

 

This company makes a lot of good items: Laptop Sleeves | WaterField Designs | Bags and sleeves for your laptop, tablet, smartphone | Made in SF

They have a fit guide here, and they can accommodate almost any dimensions of laptop: Laptop Sleeve - Notebook Sleeve - Computer Sleeve - Laptop Case - Windows - Linux - Android - TSA Checkpoint Friendly | SFBags - WaterField Designs

Check it out. They have many styles. I bought one of their sleeves and I love it.

- Tim

 

Try the Apple store, many of the MBP 13" sleeves will fit the Z3. I got my Thule sleeve there and have been very happy with the fit and protection it provides.

 

I already have a SFbag case and love it (I use it in my backpack but I can't for the messenger bag because it opens vertically and is too thick) but I didn't want to spend that much on a sleeve case for this bag. I do love that sleeve though.

The Thule bag would be perfect except it is too tall for the messenger bag, if it was a bit shorter it would have been perfect.

I am looking at some macbook air slip cases right now. I think I found a few on amazon. If you guys have any other recommendations let me know.

 

I remember someone on this forum jumping through hoops to get the VGP-CKZ3 and then being very disappointed in the quality, so I wouldn't make the effort for that one.

I don't use a sleeve in my briefcase, but when I use my backpack or want to go bagless, I found a cheap sleeve that's a perfect fit for the SVZ. It's such a perfect fit that if you have a logitech nano adapter in the usb port, it almost doesn't fit width wise.

Targus 13.3

Got mine at Office Depot, various stores have different colors. I know best buy carried it as well. Looks nicer in person than in the pics. I think it's great.

Targus 133 Ultrabook Macbook 13 Ultralife Thin Sleeve Gray by Office Depot

black one here: http://www.amazon.com/Targus-Ultral...ks-TTS001US/dp/B0096PD2NC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_pc_5

 

Ah, well, good you know about them. They do make horizontal ones too, by the way. But if it's too thick or expensive, I've got no other recommendations right now. Sure you'll be able to find something though.

____________________
Sent via TapaTalk

 

Thank you for the recommendation, I looked into that case and I think the dimensions are just a hair too big for my messenger bag.

I really like my sf bag and was so glad when someone on these forums recommended them to me a while ago. I think I have found a potential case though: Amazon.com: Lenovo 13-Inch Slot-In Case for Lenovo Yoga Laptops (0C48344): Computers & Accessories

Its for the Lenovo yoga 13 which has almost exactly the same dimensions as the sony vaio z and so I think I am going to find one fitted for that computer and buy it. The amazon one linked above looks promising but the reviews aren't very good. If you guys have any more recommendations let me know!

 

Hi guys,

I am considering buying SVZ (still deciding between Z vs Vaio Pro vs Samsung ATIV 9+). There is a great offer for top spec SVZ which made me thinking.

My biggest concern with Z is Windows 8...

Searching on internet showed that there are (were?) lots of issues, problems with drivers for external videocard and so on. I'll most likely keep this laptop for another 3 or so years so its better to be more or less future proof.

What is the current state of things with W8? Is system 100% working, are there all drivers available, are the drivers ok? What about external video card?

Please share your experience.

Cheers,
Alexei

 

Actually I am thinking also to buy an SVZ partly also because I hate Windows 8. Apparently Windows 8 now works well, even with PMD (external GPU) but needs a lot of tweaking. And of course you have no touchscreen.
If the ridiculous touch interface remains in Windows 9 I will move to a touchscreen laptop, but for now I think I will stick to W7 and consider to replace my z2 with an SVZ

 

i use w8 and its not an issue. just install classicshell ans itll boot in desktop mode like w7.

 

Hey all, I'm an early adopter of the Z21 (2011) model - the thread for this one is fairly dead but since the SVZ is kinda similar I thought I might ask here.

I've had a fairly major issue in the last 24 hours where I'll be doing anything (browsing, editing photos etc) without taxing the CPU. Suddenly the CPU fans ramp up to 100% and the laptop clicks and dies. When I press the power button back on the fans ramp up again after a few seconds and it dies again. Sometimes accompanied by the red LED on the front of the laptop flashing. This happens both with and without the battery / ac adapter.

I thought maybe it was an overheating issue so I opened the case and removed as much dust as safely as I could. Since I did this the laptop has been going ok with only one sudden shutoff (in the middle of editing a photo). It is not a RAID issue or OS issue as this odd behaviour can happen even when I'm looking at the Windows 8 repair boot menu (ie nothing going on).

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being fairly screwed, how screwed am I? I can only assume this is going to happen more often now in future. Sounds like a internal power supply or CPU issue? Typically how much would a repair cost? I'm way out of warranty (laptop was 2 years old start of August). Has this or something similar happened to anyone else? Thanks!

 

^
Are you sure it's not an SSD issue? Run a health check with HDTune or Verify for errors with Intel RST.

 

I had this with my Z13, and it was an overheating issue - throttling the max CPU "worked" to stop the issue

 

Hi All,

I have had my SVZ for 8 months now and suddenly my Chrome website logon stopped working. I do not get any prompts to log on to websites I have registered in TrueSuite.

I tried uninstalling, deleting my identity and every version of TrueSuite I could find, to no avail.

Is there a way to get it working?

TIA,
Szadzik

 

Hi all,

I have a SVX131190X, about a year old now. All of a sudden I'm really noticing a whine coming from the fan that I don't remember hearing before. I do some hefty calculations, so I'm used to fan noise when I'm running at 100%, but this is a persistent and annoying whine even at idle.

Any ideas on what can be done?

 

I had the same problem and the only solution I found is to use a different version of Chrome (try canary). I tried everything you did but I think that the problem is accidentally pressing "Do not ask again" on a login. I still have yet to fix it (it happened a few months ago for me). If you do find a solution let us know because it would be really useful.

As for the annoying whine, I get that occasionally too. No idea what the cause is.

 

any win 8.1 users yet? going to do a fresh install tonight. expecting to see secure boot issues. FU sony for not supporting it because you refuse to update the bios.

 

no drama with 8.1. As expected sony didn't include secure boot support, so 8.1 complains about it with a watermark.

 

I have tried everything and now even upgraded to Win 8 and still nada. I believe it is the latest version of Chrome as well. For some reason it stopped working the moment I connected the laptop to Internet after a month of no use. I am for now ilving without it, but might find an older version and turn off updates.

 

I've returned it to Sony repair support in the UK, even though its out of warranty they have very kindly offered to collect and repair it for free (unless user or water damage is suspected). Great support from Sony as usual! However I'm traveling at the moment so I've not had a chance to call them to check on the repair status, its been with them just over a week. Hopefully the issue has been fixed! Will update later.

By the way I did try all the usual diagnostics, including ssd and raid, and it was not an issue there. Due to the fan speed ramping up in that particular fashion I suspect it was a motherboard or power supply issue.





Sent from my Lumia 920 using Tapatalk

 

For those interested in getting fingerprint reader for website logon working - I got it working under Win 8.

Uninstalled all stuff I had - TrueSuite drivers, delete Chrome cache, CCleaner cleaned up registry.

Installed WBF driver 3..4.84. Installled Protector Suite (free from Authentec). Enrolled. On websites I enter credentials and swipe an nerolled finger - it asks me to save credentials and it is done.

 

An update on my shutdown issue with my Z21 - like I said above I returned it to Sony and they promised a free warranty repair even though it was well out of warranty (only 1 year Warranty here in Ireland). The repair in fairness took almost 3 weeks because parts had to be ordered from God knows where, but in the end they replaced the fans, motherboard, keyboard and palmrest. I've no idea why the keyboard or palmrest were replaced. I've had my lovely Z21 back 4 days now and I've just about reinstalled everything (I decided on a fresh Windows 8 installation for housekeeping reasons) and it's working perfectly. The fan seemed noisy at first but perhaps that was just the new hardware "bedding in" because it's much quieter now. I also assume Windows was doing a lot of CPU-intensive indexing the first few days of the new OS installation.

So long story short, Sony provided a considerable repair for free even though the laptop was well out of warranty, and everything is working great again. A motherboard replacement would have been expensive. Cheers Sony!

 

anyone know where i can buy parts for z1311? eg. back cover

 

I have one. If you intersting message to PM

 

Hey guys, I came from the Vaio Pro forum, originally wanted to buy a Vaio Pro, but now looking into other options notebook options that has a full mobile CPU instead of the ULV CPUs.
Obviously Vaio Z is the next in line, but it is also discontinued. Looked in ebay couldn't find a good model. Are there any places I can find a a used Vaio Z? Or maybe some suggestions to a laptop with full mobile CPU but also portable (and not a Thinkpad)??

 

Hello, all

I have purchased a second hand vaio z3 (svz1311C5E) and the camera is not detected by the OS. Could someone post a screenshot of their device manager showing properly functional camera? Many thanks in advance for your help!

 

Here you go (SVZ1311C5E with stock Windows 7)

 

Many thanks!

 

I'm curious if anyone has done a secure erase on their SSD and have they had any unexpected issues with the process? I'm looking at switching from Ubuntu to Arch Linux and thought it might be a good idea to secure erase the SSD so all blocks get marked as available before installing Arch.

 

I was waiting for some time to pull the trigger and at the end there were no more SVZs available.

I started getting in despair because I didn't like where the ultrabooks and where Sony isgoing. I need a docking solution and the portability and power of the Z. When I read the review of the Thinkpad T440s which it finally managed to get a good FHD screen, I realised that it gets 6 hours of autonomy and it weighs as much my Z with the battery sheet which gives at least 7-8 hrs.
I checked back at Amazong and luckily there was a reconditionned offer on the French Amazon. Except of the 256GB SSD, it is a full configuration (Bluray PMD, etc)

I just started it up and I am writing now on it.
I was worried a lot about the Full HD screen compared to the HD+ of my Z2. Well, I set it back at 100% and I am so amazed and satisfied with its quality and the extra work space.

Now some first impressions and questions to our helpful community that will help me decide if I will keep it. I have a 30 day window and will not have time to set it up and use it for the next 10 days since I am leaving again for a business trip.
The keybord is a bit worse (feels a bit spongier, less feedback from my VPCZ2 that I have next to me). The trackpad also is a bit noisier, makes a small noise when I land my finger on it to do a single touch (it feels as it is less well attached than the one on the Z2.

But what worries me the most is heat and battery life. Right now, almost idle (just firefox open) it is showing almost 10 degrees C more than my Z2. Isn't this also going to impact heavily its autonomy on batery? What is your experience? How about heat?

Do you have some things I should check or any recommendations in setting it up? I want to see if I will keep it, then I will reinstall the system to try to free up space by erasing the restore partition.
Any advice is welcome. I am planning to keep this laptop a couple of years and it has everything I need (hoping battery will not be an issue)

 

My wife has a Z2 and I have an SVZ. To me, the keyboards feel exactly the same. Concerning the trackpad, I know exactly what you're talking about but it's actually happening on her Z2 and not my SVZ, so I guess it's just a general manufacturing snafu that slipped past QA. My wife's was a refurb we bought of Amazon (it's the only way I was able to find it in Indigo which was what she wanted) and she's used and abused it for over 1.5 years now between school and now work, the trackpad has the exact same feeling to it, never got worse so I wouldn't worry about it.

Temp wise, despite the SVZ being a quad core, I actually get nearly identical temps. What temp are you at idle? Mine varies between 38-41 at idle for both machines. Heat won't factor much into battery life unless that heat is coming from a CPU at load. If at idle you're under 1% load, I wouldn't worry about it. If you're super anal like I am though, you can crack open the Z and remove the dust filters on the bottom housing. Not sure how much it affects temps, but I always say the less resistance the better. We keep our house clean and our jobs are in medical facilities that are kept clean too, so we don't worry about dust and of course I perform regular maintenance every now and then to make sure they stay clean.

 

Thank you very much for the reply. I will definetely keep it.

I realised that it was not that idle when I made the first comparison and then I made a small battery comparison using more or less the same apps for an hour and found that battery drain was almost equivalent. Nevertheless, I see that it has a bit higher temps most of the time, but it is not at a disturbing level.
The screen, the rapid wake and in general the speed gain are very significant.
Thank you also about the trackpad information, it is interesting to know that it always stayed like this. Well I have 2 years warranty, so I don't worry that much.
Have to find to sell my Z2 now

 

Anyone upgraded to Win 8.1 today and knows how to fix Secure Boot isn't Concifgured Coorectly watermark?

 

I don't have that watermark.


Anyone that has done the update manage to get Smart Network utility to work? Keeps telling me it's installed, but doesn't show up anywhere. Sure, I can used the integrated toggle, but the SNU was faster :\

 

What BIOS version do you have? Set in UEFI or Legacy?

 

secure boot requires uefi, so you'll only see it in that mode. sony fk you because they refuse to update the uefi to include secure boot support.

 

My Win8 would not install without setting BIOS to UEFI so I have it running as that and still no luck