Official NEW SVZ Z series Owners Lounge

Hm, got tracking code last night, it's in Frechen . Maybe I'll get it on Friday..... or Monday..

 

Its optional

 

OK, I'm trying to get my system clean but having some issues. I created a recovery USB on a 32GB stick (and was amazed that the recovery partition requires 21GB).

After booting from the recovery USB into the advanced options, I selected the option to delete the original recovery partition and the hibernate partition. It reformatted the drive and went about creating the single partition. When it was done, it asked me to remove the recovery USB and restart. I didn't see any option to select which programs were installed upon recovery.

The computer then rebooted and went through a recovery process where it proceeded to reinstall everything, including all of Sony's original software. It took a VERY long time... probably 2+ hrs (remember this is after the USB drive was removed, so I'm not sure why it took so long for the SSD to go through writing everything).

When it finally finished, it booted into Windows 7, but not with the normal name/timezone/etc setup steps--it went straight to the desktop. There was a Sony utility popup saying something about boot options and "audit mode". It showed an error message when trying to view the programs through Vaio Care utility. I guess the good news was that my C: drive now showed 117GB available with 79GB free.

This recovery status seemed incomplete to me, so I restarted the recovery process, but again it seems to be just going through installing all of Sony's software. I'm waiting again now at 18% complete.

Where was the option to select the software installs? I'm not sure why this process is taking so long and seems to be having problems.

 

Hmm, well anyways, I let it go through the recovery process overnight. I came in this morning and clicked 'ok' to confirm the recovery completed and reboot.

After restarting, it appeared to come up to the same weird desktop with visible hidden .ini files and some command prompt windows, but I just waited this time before doing anything. It seems to hang there, but actually continues to run setup after a few moments. It eventually rebooted automatically, bringing me back to the familiar Vaio startup walkthrough.

So for anyone going through the recovery process, be aware that you can accidentally interrupt it at this point, as I did. I'm not sure where the option to remove Sony's software appears in the recovery boot process, but I missed it. Anyone have more specific instructions?

 

My SVZ just came in, it's beautiful. How quickly my beloved Z1 has become a red headed stepchild

 

Mine just came in this morning. I was worried because last Fedex scan was in Japan 2AM 6/21. But it arrived at my door just before 11AM 6/21 (east coast US). I love 13 hour time difference.

 

blah, no wwan mini pcie slot in my SVZ.

 

Really? no wwan? there was a sim card slot in Z2 right?

 

Also got my DPD tracking no this morning, looks like DPD picked it up in Frechen last night. The latest update is something called Consolidation, whatever this means.

Have you got yours yet, if not has it reached UK? I'm thinking pick my up from their London depot near Park Royal if its here by the weekend.

 

My unit has left the factory, now the wait for it to arrive

 

I've talked with a sony guy today. The first RAM module is directly soldered to the motherboard !!! So if you take the 4 GB version, you'll have a soldered 2 Gb and another 2GB on a slot which will make an upgrade to 8 (4x2) impossible.

 

Been tracking it like a hawk... like every hour. It checked in their hub in Oldbury, Midlands 19:34 yesterday, went out for delivery 7:56 today and delivered at 10:36.... so it says according tracking. I'm at work and no one's picking up the phone at home, so just being a bit paranoid now. I want to go home now!!

 

When did DPD picked up your laptop mate?

My still looks like this:

06/21/2012, 20:56, Consolidation
06/21/2012, 20:56, Pick-up

I hope it can reach my local depot tomorrow so I can pick it up in person.

 

Mine looks like:

06/20/2012 17:01 Frechen (DE) Pick-up
06/20/2012 17:01 Frechen (DE) Consolidation
06/21/2012 19:34 Oldbury (GB) Hub scan
06/22/2012 01:25 London (GB) Inbound
06/22/2012 07:56 London (GB) Out for delivery
06/22/2012 10:36 London (GB) Delivered

As you can see, there's a 26-hour gap between Frechen and arriving in UK hub. So I'm guessing your laptop will arrive in UK hub tonight 19:30 ish and forwarded to your local depot relatively shortly after.

 

I finally got everything removed correctly. Ended up with around 80GB free out of 119GB with page file still active. Good enough for me, at least for now. I've been going through Sony's programs, keeping the ones I want. Some of them like the Vegas Studio movie editing software I'll give a try. It seems to have OK reviews online.

One thing that I've found genuinely cool, which I did not expect, is the fingerprint reader. It makes it quicker to log into windows and you can just swipe a finger to automatically launch an internet window with whatever website you choose and login. Each finger can be assigned to a quicklaunch shortcut, so you can set pinky=bank, ring finger=e-mail, middle finger=credit card, etc, and different passwords will all be remembered. Very neat and actually useful.

 

That's a lot better than the initial 46GB of free space! How's the touchpad now you've used it for a couple of days?

Could you possibly do some SSD benchmarks for the 128GB model? I've only read 256GB benchmarks so far, and i'm wondering if the smaller SSD is much slower. Thank you in advance!

 

I've cleaned my 256gb a bit, with Windows fully updated, Office 2010 w/updates, Photoshop CS6, & Diablo 3 installed I have 180gb free of the 230gb available. After creating restore media & doing a Windows system image of my cleaned and updated system, I deleted the recovery partition. There's still an unnamed 8gb partition, but I'm guessing that's related to Rapid Wake?

I'm extremely impressed with the Intel HD 4000 IGP. I had read about how great it was (for intel igp's) but seeing in action is still shocking. Granted Diablo 3 isn't a demanding game, but it runs great. Going to install Skyrim and a few others later to try it out. I have a gaming desktop for all the crazy stuff, but it's still nice to be able to play something without having to use the PMD which I don't have just yet.

I decided to spend the money towards things I can't upgrade in the future, as in the SSD and ram. Went with 256gb and 8gb. I've seen the PMD for sale, I figured I'd pick one up in the future once we know 100% if there's any difference whatsoever between the Z2 and SVZ dock.

 

Sony Vegas Movie Studio it is very good software. Used it long time, after that switched to Vegas Pro.

Are you sure both USB port in computer are USB 3.0?

ArekS

Sent from Xperia S

 

I've warmed up to the touchpad. I upped the pointer speed a bit and the size isn't a problem. 2-Finger scrolling works well for me so far.

Is there a good free program to run benchmarks? I don't have a lot of time to spend. A 2xSSD Raid0 config is going to be so much faster than anything out there, so the hard drive speed is not even close to a concern for me. I think the space is a FAR FAR better reason to pick the 256GB setup.

 

Thanks, and yes both USB are blue on the side so they should be 3.0.

 

It's good to hear the 2-finger scrolling works fine, because it doesn't work flawless on all notebooks (especially windows notebooks).

Most people use CrystalDiskMark for benchmarking a harddisk. You can download it here on their site ( Download Center - Crystal Dew World). There's also a portable version, so you don't have to install the program. Thanks again!

 

OK, I'm off AC power, but put it into High Performance mode. 128GB CrystalDiskMark results:

Sequential Read: 822 MB/s
Sequential Write: 289 MB/s
Random 512K Read: 569 MB/s
Random 512K Write: 290 MB/s
Random 64K Read: 194 MB/s
Random 64K Write: 215 MB/s

 

Hm.... so you judge it only by colour. Is it possible for you to messure speed of copying one big file on to USB stick in both ports for comparision.

I sorry for involving you is some additional tasks

 

Thanks, it's pretty fast indeed! The 256GB isn't that much faster actually.

 

Do you have write back cache enabled M4?

mine:

SR: 1084 MB/s
SW: 505.7 MB/s
512k R: 606.6
512k W: 407.7
4k R: 20.73
4k W: 270.2
4k QD32 R: 382.5
4k QD32 W: 262.1

 

No clue, I'm not familiar with that setting. Where would I check?

 

Intel RST. Click on the array and then advanced. Enabling should boost your speeds

 

M4 (and others), what Sony programs do you find useful / worth keeping? I have never used a Vaio so got no clue about the Sony programs and wouldn't mind some input regarding what more seasoned Vaio users tend to keep.

Will of course try / check out the stuff myself when I get my laptop on Monday and before I do a clean install but it never hurts to get some input from this community.

 

OK, I ran it again with write back cache enabled. Scores:

Sequential Read: 837 MB/s
Sequential Write: 311 MB/s
Random 512K Read: 573 MB/s
Random 512K Write: 341 MB/s
Random 64K Read: 192 MB/s
Random 64K Write: 312 MB/s

Definitely better write times, but nothing drastic.

For whittling down Sony's programs, look for Application Manager for Vaio in the Control Panel Uninstall utility. It brings up a huge list of Sony programs, hardware applications (like WiFi networking or Fan Diagnostics), some PlayStation software, and manual documents.

I got rid of the media playback programs, photo managers, Vaio Gate (the launcher at the top), PowerDVD, Roxio Burner, Bing Bar, Sony Reader program, and probably a few others that I forgot. Important ones to keep are things like Vaio Care and Vaio Control Center.

It's difficult to tell what some programs are without launching them or searching online. Some of this stuff I am also wary to uninstall because I don't want to screw up drivers or do something like make my WiFi stop working. Many of the utility programs are only a few MB anyway, so I ignored those. You can reinstall these from the recovery disk rather easily if you need to do so, but if its not bothering me or taking up space, I'll leave it on.

Other programs I thought might be useful to keep are the Vegas Movie Studio, Acid Music Studio, Sound Forge Audio Studio, DVD Architect Studio. These are about 100-200MB each. The Sound Forge Studio also came with like 3GB of sound files to mix/play with.

All in all, I guess some people would find these programs worthwhile. There's not a whole lot of supplemental software that you know Sony got paid to pollute onto your hard drive. Much of it is their own software that they're providing for a "full" experience. My frustration with their boot image is really just the available space that they leave you with due to the enormous size of the recovery file and rapid wake partitions. I just wish Sony would be more upfront about how much space they're leaving you with.

 

Does anyone know how to enable Fast Boot after a clean install from my own Win 7 Pro disk?

 

Today I spotted on the (Belgian) Sony website that the price for the Vaio Z is lower than on 18/06, when I placed my order (this was the final day of the promotion for a free upgrade to a i7 CPU). When i put together this same config today there is a price difference of 25 €, but more important: this lower price also includes the extended battery! Good for those who order now, I myself am not too happy about this!

 

Does anybody know if the Z can drive an external monitor with 2560X1440 resolution?

The monitor have D-sub, DVI dual link and HDMI inputs. I guess HDMI is out of the question and the only option is VGA?

 

It's impossible.

 

Great, waited 3 weeks for it to arrive tomorrow, now I have to return it and start to look for a new laptop again.

I'll give Sony UK a call tomorrow to see if they have any solutions.

 

I've been hearing about how terrible the speakers are on this generation of Z (the last Z1, Z2, and current Z3). Now that I received my Z3, I can understand what they meant, fortunately it doesn't bother me too much.

I've also heard that people (and reviews) said even though the speakers are disappointing, at least there's the Noise-cancelling headphones... Well... I can't find such headphones in my CTO build (UK), I've turned the box inside out. Is it not part of the package by default?

 

Sony Vaio US state headphones in their Z specification but Sony Vaio UK don't have it in their Z specification. Just don't think UK Vaio offers them with the Z

 

I see, that's too bad. Was looking forward to those headphones.

 

Someone tried > 8GB already? I need at least 12 for virtual machines

 

i dont believe that's an option. give the vms smaller mem and more disk instead. with 1g/s read and 500w it will help (yes i know less than perfect).

 

With all respect, but if that is such an important point, wouldn't you make sure the machine meets your requirements before spending sucha large amount of moey on it?

 

Well 3 weeks ago I was not considering buying a 27" 1440p monitor, so it did not factor into my choice of the Vaio Z.

Beside the machine is still at Birmingham, looks like it will not be here until tomorrow at the earliest, so still go a day to decide on my options.

P.S. Why did Sony choose the only courier service (DPD) that don't give an estimate delivery date on their tracking site? How could you ask for a day off work in advance if you don't know which day the machine due to be delivered?

 

Z3 uses removable memory. But they are proprietary. With these said, I guess it's not possible to have more than 8GB memory.

 

The maximum resolution HD4000 supports is 2560*1600, according to Intel. I can't find a reason why VGA on Z3 won't support that. I guess the HDMI on Z3 is at least version 1.3, which can support up to 2560*1600 as well.

Note, for HDMI to work, you need cat-2 cables (aka HDMI High Speed). If you are lucky enough, you old cables shorter than 5 meters may work despite they are not labeled cat-2.

However, I can't find any credible source to confirm these. Sony product specification says "no" in "Max res. VGA" and "Max res. HDMI". That's nonsense.
Please share with us the facts after you receive your laptop.

 

Those of you that got a PMD with your SVZ, what's the model number showing on the unit?

 

88king, it would be awesome if you could test the Z3 with your 1440p monitor when it arrives.

 

By the way, I thought this would be interesting for those considering a Samsung Series 9 13". I have both next to each other here, and the Sony clearly destroys the Samsung in color reproduction:

 

Hey for those with SSD's try this out to see if the speed increases. This was a utility i made last year for my self to seepd up my laptops with ssd's. Dekstops it wont make a difference. I'm interested in this laptop but i just wanted to see if the SSD is being used to the max. The benchmark included with my app is less taxing on the ssd in terms of wear and tear.

I made it my self, its clean. But just in case:
https://www.virustotal.com/file/04a...02076fca5e08d4735a1c0e7429bdc7268f5/analysis/

Before:



After:


The above was with my M4 a few months back on SATA II speeds due to my crappy acer.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dju4wvnten7lwfw/SSD SpeedUP.rar

 

My new SVZ company laptop has arrived and I'm pretty happy with it. I have an i7/8GB/256GB UK model. I would really love it if Sony released a higher specification PMD with an nVidia GPU (for CUDA work) but in the meantime the only thing that is really bugging me is the trackpad. I'm not a fan of the multi-touch gestures and what I really want is to get the web assistant features that I'm used to from the Alps touchpad on my TT. I tried installing the drivers from the TT but the web assistant was still missing. Any ideas?

I created restore discs and then did a clean install of Windows 7 Enterprise and have lost quick boot (or whatever they call it) as a result. Is this a big deal? How can I get it back? Also, I tried enabling UEFI boot in the BIOS but gave up with it in the end because I couldn't figure out how to run the Windows 7 installer in UEFI mode (didn't Google long enough probably). Is it worth giving it another go?

 

I was wondering if anyone else is experience a little flickering of the screen when using office? My new SVZ screen flickers like it's refreshing the screen.
It happens often. I don't have any issue with any other programs but just when I am using Outlook, Excel.....

You think it's a software issue or hardware issue?

 

Not noticed any screen flickering here.

On a different subject, I notice there is no mic input. I was wondering if perhaps the headphone output contains a mic input and if so what type of headset would be compatible? (I have the UK version which doesn't have noise cancelling headphones by the way).