Official Sony VPC-Z2 (VAIO Z 2011) Series Owners' Thread

Same. I think the Z2 is a great machine but it definitely has a smaller niche than the Z1, which is why market feedback tend to be mixed about the Z2.

It's sort of like what happened with the newest generation of iPod Nano. People dislike it because the camera and some other functions were removed for the extremely portable size, yet they don't understand the Nano was never meant to be a portable multimedia player like the Touch. It should be an extremely portable music player, and something people carry along with their smartphones.

In the same way, the Z2 is supposed to do something very specific: To be extremely portable and long battery life when you need it. And powerful when you're at a power source.

 

Replacing the optical drive with a SATA disk is probably doable using the same methods as with the Z1x

Also folks, it may be possible to replace the PMD with a newer/faster version. If this is the case, people will be able upgrade.

 

it's definitely upgradable since u can buy the PMD seperately. Hopefully sony use the same cable/connection for future revision of the Z

 

I got back to waterfield today. It will be easier if i just post my reply to them:

 

Hopefully, Sony also don't use firmware & other crap to check & lock the PMD to specific VAIO Z series.

 

Me too.

Anyway, has anybody tried to listen to some music with a bluetooth headset (one with high quality audio) on this laptop??? I tried with MW600 and I found out audio quality to be dirty in high frequencies and voices (strangely, low frequencies are powerful and clean). I don't get why.
I firstly thought to be the lack of installation of A2DP service but it works. In addition I thought that when WIN 7 activate audio streaming, driver installation of Bluetooth Audio was a mono driver... but I checked that is a stereo driver.
So, I don't get it.. since this audio quality is poorer then MW600 paired with my cellphone (which is a X5800 nothing wonderful).
Something similar happens with my cellphone when I'm too far from it and the communication, to continue, decrease bit rate quality to sustain the connection.. in that case sound quality is similar... so it's like that Z21 works with a low speed bluetooth.. but it sound a little strange.

 

Did you turn off Dolby Home Theater in the speaker properties?

 

Great tip - this driver works much better for my style. You can set the pointing (start) zone to be above the button area, but you can still drag (or scroll) into and through the buttons .

 

Fair call out. I wouldn't put it past Sony to do that very thing.

 

I have my Z21 paired with a Samsung bluetooth speaker and I've not noticed any issues, the quality is about the same as my HD7.

Having said that, isn't it true that units from different regions have different bluetooth hardware? A separate card specifically for bluetooth in some units as opposed to integrated bluetooth on the Intel Wifi card? I'm in Europe and bought a CTO without 3G modem; device manager reports my bluetooth device as Centrino so I assume i'm running the bluetooth off the 6230 Intel card.

 

Nice work! Love the pictures.

Would you be willing to measure the 25-17 to report its external dimensions when you have the computer inside, including sheet battery? I'm buying a new bag, and would like a good idea of how much space I'd be using, worst case.

Also, I had the impression that with the sheet battery, the laptop was slightly bulging out the top. Do you think the flap version of the sleeve case would still close properly?

 

Can one of you Z2 users paste up the HardwareID string for the AMD Radeon in the PMD.

Control Panel ->
Device Manager ->
Display adapters ->
*Double Click* AMD Radeon.... ->
Details tab ->
Property = Hardware ID ->
*Right Click* the top line and paste it in the reply here or message me it.
Note: The line to paste should look like "PCI\VEN_####&DEV_####&SUBSYS_########&REV_##"


Thanks.

 

Here you go:
PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_6740&SUBSYS_9084104D&REV_00

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know that the synaptics add some more options that the sony drivers. Kind of strange that the sony driver don't have theses options. With the right settings you no longer need to actually press the right touchpad button for a right mouse click. For me, it makes the touchpad easier to work with.

 

That's one of the first actions made once Z21 arrived XD

All I know is that with Z21 treble and high are dirty (but a lot better then phone quality) ... but with Nokia X5800 sound's perfect. So there's something odd...

 

Or, to re-phrase that thought, there's something Sony going on....

 

So I FINALLY got my Z21 just 2 days ago. It arrived while I was gone for a short holiday.

The amount of bloatware is seriously driving me mad and I have to figure out how to backup the recovery partition asap, so I can do a clean install.

I found all the drivers at Sony, but are those all I need or is there actually stuff on the recovery partition you won't find anywhere else?

EDIT: I can't seem to find the link to the clean install thread. Help?

 

So, I received my gold Z221 maces up, except 256 GB SSD, wth PMD.

No issues to this time, even the trackpad is acceptable and also the speakers are somewhat good, coming from Tablet M400

 

I finally got to see the Z21 at SonyStyle. It's actually very nice. When the lid was closed, it reminded me of the VGN-Z because of the black carbon color of the lid, which seems to be a different variation from the black VPC-Z which had more shine than it being matte. When I got there, I expected a larger scale X-Series footprint, but not once while I was at SonyStyle did it scream X Series. Though, I saw subtle resemblances, The Z2 has its own unique character. I like that it has a larger footprint than the Z1. Call it a 14" laptop with a 13" screen as someone posted, I do liked it regardless. Besides, it is so thin. It felt heavier than 2.5lbs, but that's a good thing, because you felt it had substance rather than something hollow and fraile. It has a very simplistic look, but yet, very stylish. The wide-scaled bezel compared to the Z1 did not bother me. It was fine. The keys however, will take some getting use too. The travel is shallow compared to the Z1. I agree with the reviews from owners that this wasn't a big deal. The brushed silver hinge looked pretty good. I tried my hardest to break off those rubber guards. Those won't be coming off at all. They were very durable. Though, I can see them turning black, if the the Z2 is placed and opened on a dirty surface.

As for the PMD, it was larger than I expected. When detaching the PMD, I did notice the button you have to press before disengaging. I should have tested to see what happens if you disengage w/o pressing the button, but I didn't. I had Word opened, and when I did press that button, it did tell me to close all programs, which I didn't. Even after releasing the plug from the Z2, it had no affect on the document, which I never saved to begin with.

I'm contemplating on upgrading my Z1. The upside is I currently have 256SSD on my Z1. The downside is the cost of a Z2 with 256SSD. The display model had 70GB of storage left over (from 128SSD). I don't think I'll be doing a clean install. I agree from those that posted there wasn't a need to upgrade from a Z1 to a Z2. However, this Z2 impressed me more than I though it would. I like the thinness and 2.5lb. weight. I won't need the PMD except for burning recovery discs or installing programs and printer drivers that are off of a CD. I like that the keyboard is one piece and the palm rest integrated.

As for those shortcut buttons on top right-side. They were way cool. Though I won't use them. They didn't feel like buttons. They felt more or less like sensors where you tap your finger over them to activate whichever shortcut you choose. Useless I agree. It's too bad you can't use them to launch your top 3 favorite programs.

The base model is enough for me. The sad of the matter is I may have to carry an external hd for movies when travelling. I think it will hold maybe 10 movies plus have some decent storage left over for files, a few music, and photos.

Fortunately, my cousin is getting his next Saturday. So I'll play around with it and decide then. I have to think hard about this. Something tells me, I'll be owning one though......

 

Yeah when you go for the base model, storage can be the only concern. After all your apps are installed, and especially if you leave the recovery partition intact, you're a bit lacking in drive space.

I've gone down the route of having a spare 32GB SD card in the SD slot almost permanently with a couple of movies and tv shows and things on there. I got myself a USB3 enclosure for a 320GB 2.5inch 7,200RPM drive and whilst the performance is great, it's obviously something extra that needs to be plugged in whilst travelling; I mostly use it for copying across some movies to the main SSD or the 32GB SD card and then I disconnect it altogether.

I suppose if you get to try it out a little bit once your cousins one has arrived you can make your own mind up on it. Before I got the Z21 I was switching between my SZ and my X depending on what I needed to do; the Z21 for me is practically the perfect combination of the two.

 

Am I correct to understand this? If you decide to take the PMD on a flight to watch DVD Movies, that it won't work, because the PMD requires its own power supply, since the notebook itself can't power the PMD?

 

^
That is correct.

 

That is imo the only real downside of the PMD. But given that I personally rather see it as a (very stylish) docking station, I can live quite fine with it.

 

You could just buy a cheap £30 usb dvd drive and take that instead.

 

Posed a scratch mitigation thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/610365-vaio-z2-shielding-z2-how.html

 

whoops, wrong thread

 

Have you guys seen this video by Sony. They have one of the Sony Engineers of the Z2 and they do this tear down video and talks about the making of, parts, hinge, cooing system, and design.

SGNL | Sony | make.believe

Here's a video where he puts it back together from memory:

http://discover.store.sony.com/sgnl/#/episode/24

 

Hi All,

I'm a new owner here, just got mine on Friday! Opted to blow the bank and got the i7/8gb/512ssd/1080p/BR Burner! Been reading this thread, but at 148 pages, my eyes started to go numb after 1/3 of it.

So anything anyone thinks is a must have? I was looking for some type of laptop case, I have a leather thing from a different lifetime ago that works, but man...is it antiquated. I was checking out the Zero Halliburton cases and while the prices seemed reasonable, it didn't look like they had anything that would truly suit the size/thinness of the Z2. Maybe a leather bound thing and THEN put it in a 14 inch laptop case?

Tough, Hard Aluminum Laptop Case for Apple MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook & PowerBook - Protect your Apple Notebook with MacTruck

That thing kinda looks cool, but it seems its too basic for my needs. I'm a CEO of a company (albeit negatively profiting with a payrol of zero), but I demand the best! haha

Also anyone spot any silicone keyboard covers? I have used one for years on an old vaio and loved it. Too bad the PC is old now...but at least it has a new looking keyboard...hmmm...not sure if that truly worked out the want I had intended...

 

If you are on a plane with power available, you could still use the PMD.

 

Yeah...sort of a hassle though. It's another item (the power cord) that you have to plug in, let alone, the cord from the PMD to the Z2. I don't see why Sony couldn't make the PMD like an external DVD Drive via USB or Blutooth. Something tells me this will all be corrected in a refresh or later in the Z3.

I know I would probably never use the PMD, but a friend purchases and collects DVD's, which I do sometimes borrow. I don't think this PMD was well thought out. Oh well........

 

it would present the possibility the HD6650m would be powered from the Z2's internal battery, which it may not have been designed for (not to mention more than 25W power being drawn over a thin 5V power lead).

 

Found out the other day that Sony will be repairing my keyboard for free after my key switch fiasco. Apparently, when replacing the keyboard, they replace the keyboard bezel also. It is all one piece/part number. Lessons were learned.

On a side note, I was thinking of painting the top and bottom bezel/chassis from blueish black to Obsidian black. A friend of mine owns a body shop and has a Mercedes he needs to paint. He'll paint if for free if I give him the parts. It is very tempting seeing as I really do hate the blueish black color.

They should just rename the "Black" to "Sucker Black" and "Carbon Black" to "Real Black". +1 to all who recommended paying the extra money for Carbon Black.

 

I saw the Z21 in permium carbon, it wasn't bad, it gave a slightly faux-brushed metal appearance.

 

Is the Blue-ish Black your referring too the Black Carbon that's on Pre-Configured Models as well? Because I saw both the Carbon Black and Premium Carbon at SonyStyle, and the Carbon Black, at least to me, didn't appear Blue. It was displayed under direct lighting.

 

Hi guys,

I am correct in the understanding that, though the Z2 has a mid-range graphics card, this card under-performs its potential when it comes to real-world gaming results?

Do we know if this under-performance is due to:

Lack of throughput with the lightpeak tech creating a bottleneck?
or
Outdated drivers due to the need for custom drivers?

 

Probably a little bit of both.

People in this forum keep pointing out that this machine isn't "made" for gaming. It's made for business use, it's made for the prestige of having it, and it's made for those that travel alot. I'd say gaming was lower on the totem pole in the designer's minds.

There are always tradeoffs between weight, heat, and performance. The Z2 works wonderfully for the uses mentioned above - travelling, business and the "wow" factor. You could also get in a little bit of gaming with it, but I think it's unrealistic to expect 60 fps on high settings or something similar.

There are machines made for playing Black Ops and Crysis on an 11 inch screen. The Z2 isn't one of them. And heck, you could get one heck of a gaming notebook for the money you'd spend on a well-configured Z2. It's just going to weigh 6 pounds or more.

 

I have never seen the "Black" version, but the "Carbon Black" is truly black; not a hint of blue. (I guess the lid is very dark gray, to be more precise.)

 

Anyone have an idea when the PMD will be on sale in the UK separately?

I didn't have the cash when I bought the laptop.

 

There's 3 colors? Black, Carbon Black, and Premium Carbon. I saw the last two, but not the "Black". Or is the Blue-ish Black on the Purple keyboard? Confusing...lol.

Sony had an SB that had Navy exterior and Purple interior. Maybe, they did something similar to the Z2.

 

From what I know there is regular carbon black and premium carbon black.

 

To me, the standard carbon black has a slight blue cast to it. Of course the blue interior looks purple to me so what do I know?

 

In Japan, there are four colors, Black (blueish black aka Sucker Black), Blue (Purple), Gold and Brown and Carbon Black (Real Black that matches the keyboard bezel)

 

My cousin is getting his on Saturday, so I can verify for myself the actual color for the base model. I just didn't notice the blue hue on the lid. In my original post, I even mentioned how the lid color reminded me of the VGN-Z which was a matte black. The VPC-Z1 was not the same lid texture as it had more or less of a polished black look to it. And the texture of the lid felt smoother on the VPC-Z than on the VGN-Z and VPC-Z2.

 

Hi guys,

Tonight I had tried playing games for the first time on my new vaio Z with pmd attached and I found that the fan noise was so high that it was almost unbearable. The game which I tried was Portal 2, with screen resolution setting to 1600x900 (although I have a full HD screen).

Is this normal? I thought that when PMD is attached, the dock is doing most of the work so noise level should be ok, or am I wrong here? Please help!

 

For anyone experiencing problems with their Wireless connection dropping, it seems to be an issue with a power-saving feature of the Intel N6230 card.

If your Wireless N router doesn't play well with some advanced "power save polling" feature of the N6230, then when you are running off battery you will either lose the Wifi connection on your laptop (and have to reboot), or it will cause the wireless to drop on the router itself. Lots about this on Google if you want to research it. It shouldn't happen on newer routers, or routers with modern firmware.

These disconnects had been happening about 5-10 times a week with my D-Link DSL-2740B Wireless N router. The router has been 100% stable connecting with a wide range of devices for about 2 years (honestly might only need to power cycle every few months) right up until the day I got my Z21 when it would stop broadcasting the SSID and stop responding to wireless connections (LAN would continue to work). Would happen at fairly random intervals whilst the Z21 was in use, and would never happen when the Z21 was off. I only finally copped this week that it only happens when I'm running off battery on the Z21. Updating the Intel drivers to the latest available from intel.com seemed to reduce the number of disconnects but not eradicate them entirely.

The solution, for now, apart from getting a newer Wireless N router that properly handles this power saving mode, is to change the Power Saving Mode to "Maximum Performance" in the Windows 7 Power Plan settings. Problem solved, as the advanced power saving feature is turned off. Not sure how this will affect the battery life, but it's better than power cycling my trusty old router.

 

Amazingly, I managed to not only get my keyboard fixed for free but I managed to get a carbon black chassis for free. I complained that when I ordered the laptop they didn't have a model that I could see the black. I literally ordered the laptop the day it was available for ordering, 8/13 5pm JST, so it helped in the argument.

Ironically, the Sony store had a sample blue lid from the SB. I took it to match it next to the "black" Z2 and they looked very similar.

 

So I've just followed this guide, but I haven't installed any of the VAIO applications because I got the impression they were all a ton of bloatware.

Which of them do I actually NEED?

I'll mark everything I haven't installed in BOLD.

 

Hey guys,

I finally got the be.ez LArobe Air for my Z2.
I'm quite happy with it's fit, but see for yourself:

Galerie: Be.ez LArobe Air - abload.de

 

all in the bold is needed except the instant OS thing

 

Uploading a new Z2 PMD graphics driver for testing. Gonna need some knowledgeable and daring people to test. I may post a public testing thread in hopes to get more people in on it. I really want to get these drivers updated as I expect a driver update to benefit the Z2 in many ways.