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

Anyone else getting a nasty CPU whine? I've had the system since just after release, I either didn't notice before or it wasn't as bad as it is now. The CPU whine is so loud I can hear it over the fan noise, even when the fan kicks up when under load.

I know most laptops these days have a perceptible CPU whine if you put your ear close to the bottom of the laptop, but this is the worst I've heard and it's both distracting and annoying. Anyone else getting this?

 

I've never heard of "CPU whine" before. What causes it?

 

It's some type of capacitor resonance thing, not truly a "CPU" whine, but folks call it that.

This video is basically what I'm hearing laptop whine - YouTube but I'd say my Z2 is worse as I don't need to be 2 inches from the laptop to hear it.

 

Is it a very high pitched sound? On that video I can get a few hints of something very high but I mostly hear nothing. May be hearing loss on my part.

I used to be really sensitive to high frequency sound. Clearly I'm getting old.

 

I sometimes hear it too from Z2, but like once in a month for few seconds. Nothing tragic nad quickly goes away

 

I've never hear the CPU whine either. Didn't even know such a thing existed. Just the loud fan once in a while when it kicks on.

 

No CPU Whine on my Z22.

 

Anyone have any recommended sleeves that are of decent quality and fits the Z2 (and perhaps with the extended battery as well)?

I quite dislike the cheap $20-30 neoprene style sleeves.

 

Anything that's made for the 13" Mac Air should fit the Z2 pretty well since their dimensions are similar. May be a problem with the extended battery though.

The absolute best sleeves and cases are sold from sfbags.com. They've gotten great feedback from users on this forum.

Check it out here.

I bought their Waterfield bag (based on recommendations here) and can vouch it's a very well made product that fits the Z2 perfectly.

 

Well, I use this one with my slice battery, and it fits quite well : Colore for notebook 13/14 it has just about an inch of space, but it's not important, as the widest part is ok.

 

I use a Booq Vyper XS3 for my Z2 (without sheet battery), but should fit just fine with the battery as well.


It's really sturdy and water-resistant. I really like it.

 

It is definitely high pitched. I made my own recording to try to better characterize it than that video.

On my Z2 the noise is dependent upon which power plan is selected in Windows. In Balanced it is almost imperceptible, in High Performance it is loud, and in Power Saving the noise is higher pitched, but still perceptible.

In my recording below, I have it set to Balanced until about 6 seconds, then I switch to High Performance until about 10 seconds, then I switch to Balanced again from about 12 to 15.

15 seconds to 29 seconds is High Performance with me minimizing and maximizing various windows to demonstrate how the sound varies during use. From 29 seconds to the end of the clip is Balanced again.

Here's the recording: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9854/whine.wav

I applied some noise cancelling to this clip to remove some of the fan noise and isolate the whine: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9854/whine_no_fan.wav

It appears to emanate from the keyboard around the WASD area.

My Z2 did not make this noise initially, so this appears to be a new development.

 

I have also experienced choppy scrolling on several websites (FB, Google Images, ...), but not always (either with PMD connected or not). I am using Opera 11.52. This never happened on my 8-years old desktop.

 

Boy is that annoying! I can hear that even on the Z2's tiny speakers.

 

I'm using a zeroshock from elecom, the width is about right, maybe an extra 1/4 inch, the depth is about 1 1/2 inch deeper. So not the suggest case, but it's feeling pretty good. I might pad the case at the bottom with a piece of neoprene or foam for a better fit. But the case is a pretty nice one.

 

HEY FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAS A Z2.. is your speaker weak?

i mean while the sound is settled under 23%, you don't hear a single sound coming out of the speaker even in a quiet room? because that's my case, my I don't know if you guys experienced this low unaudible speaker while set under 23% of the volume.

 

Hi! Can somebody please upload the original vaio z login screen backround. Thanks

 

Yes, that's the case with my Z21. I have the sound set to 100% all the time.

 

Are there any german users with the crackling sound on the left corner as on my my machine?

Is it possible to make a sony support call to fix this or can i do this by myself?


Here is my video showing this problem:

VAIO Z crackling sound - YouTube

 

German user here, no crackling noises. This sounds quite annoying, you should contact support about this (good luck...).

 

How did that happened ? this supposed to be a sturdy carbon fibers!!

 

This happend out of the box...so i think i must open a service call with on-site-support

 

No crcking on my either - Germany CTO

 

I'm in the U.S. My Z2 is also a bit soft around the area you show in the video and does flex, but it doesn't make any creaking sounds. However, I could see how it could cause a cracking noise in some units. I really don't think it's a defect and probably wouldn't send it in.

 

Hello! Could you please upload vaio z default login wallpaper please?! Thanks in advance!

 

Hello! I was wondering if you could post the vaio z default login backround, please ?! Thank you in advance.

 

A question for those who use the newest touchpad driver from synaptics instead of the Sony stock version.

What are the differences / advantages of using that driver? What settings do you use?

Thank you very much.

 

Im looking into the Sony VAIO VPCZ21TGX/X Signature Series 13.1" Notebook PC
with the following: Intel Core i7-2620M 2.70GHz / 6GB DDR3 / 256GB SSD / Intel HD Graphics/ 802.11AGN / Webcam / Blu-ray ROM & Radeon HD 6650M on Dock/ Windows 7 Professional

The site selling it is JR.com JR.com: Sony VAIO VPCZ21TGX/X Signature Series 13.1" Notebook PC in PC Notebook Computers
$2849.00

Ebates has an additional 2.5% rebate.

How does that sound?
Is the ram easy to upgrade?

 

Crap, another BSD, The Z was docked and in sleep mode. I removed the docking cable and then attempted to wake it up. It started to wake up and showed the desktop and then flashed and BSD on rthdmivx.sys

 

ok after reboot undocked, no longer recognizing my dock when I plug it in.... windows shows the external display not connected...

 

after complete shutdown wile undocked, then docking, then power up, it appears to be working again.

This is so unstable, its ridicules, does Sony expects us to power down our machines before docking/undocking in order to avoid these issues?

 

SWD = BSD

(Sleep While Docked = Blue Screen of Death)

Except in my case it should be Blurple Screen of Death.

 

at least I'm not the only one, but thats horrible user experience. Hopefully driver update will fix this. For now I guess I will need to stop using the dock and plug in power, HDMI and USB cable (to USB hub for keyboard/trackball) and network cable. Thats 3 cables too many but the save I have to do with my X

 

Well, is it really so dificult or annoying to power up the Z from sleep for 2 sec to start, 5 sec to undock and 2 sec to sleep again? Used every time, and is working like expected

 

Hi everyone, just got my Z2 a few days ago, and I couldn't be more pleased. I'm a bit of a Vaiophile - I started with an S years ago, got an X about a year and a half ago, and not I'm up to Z.

I've been very active in the notebookreview Vaio X forum, figuring out driver configs and such. I'd love to be in on the conversation here as well. Any advice for a newcomer to the Z?

I got mine at JR.com a week back, fast and cheap ship, perfect condition despite being labeled "open box". Paid $1950 shipped. I'd give the open boxes a try - they've got 30-day return.

Check here - http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_VPCZ214GXBB/

 

Did your come with any scratches or blemishes?

 

Not one - it's mint. The sheet battery and the PMD were still sealed. The only thing that it was missing is the PMD stand, disappointing, but well worth the $600 I saved.

 

other way around I think...
undock before shut down.

you can dock whenever you choose.

 

The machine can go to sleep while docked, and then wake back up again just fine. But don't undock it while sleep! And when it wakes back up, you don't need to shut down to remove docking, just press the undock button on your cable.

I had a Dell a few years ago and it acted the same way if it went to sleep while docked and then undocked while in sleep mode.

I have two different docking stations at two different locations. Just to be safe, I always shut down first. For some reason, the Z2 isn't that fast coming off sleep anyways. I had a TZ series Sony that came off sleep instantly, but this Z2 definatley takes it's time. Good thing the boot-up is fast!

 

Well, you mean 2 sec isn't instant?

 

I haven't timed it, but it seems like 5-10 seconds. I'll time it next time. And yes, that's a long time compared with my old TZ which was instant.

 

i just bought a vaio vgp-cksr1 case and it fits the z2 with the sleeve battery perfectly. highly recommended if you're ooking for a cheap $20 oem vaio case with decent quality.

 

I just timed it and it takes at most 2 seconds to wake up from sleep (new Windows installation though).

 

I timed it as well, mostly clean original install with not much installed. It takes about 15sec to come back from sleep on my Z. I will need to change by behavior to stop the BSDs. Still its a quite crude way of dealing with things. There should be code in place that handles this more graceful then throwing a BSD although I understand these are 3rd party drivers and not Sony code.

 

Thanks for the info, shut down is not an option for me as I have way too many apps running / things open. Would take quite a bit of time to shut down / restart and reopen all and complete productivity killer in my case.

 

Are you doing the wake up while docked? The few times I've tried that it did take much longer (15-20 seconds) than when I wake up undocked (2-4 seconds).

 

Yes docked and connected to 24" Dell via HDMI, keyboard and trackball. I put it to sleep via start menu. Then press the power button to wake up and took about 15 sec the two times I tried. Then undock, about 2-3 sec so its about a 20sec procedure. Not a huge deal but when one is in a harry to run out of the house to drive to a train station to catch the train, 20 sec is a loooong time

 

Well, it's strange, I have original Sony install, and even docked it take just 2 sec to unsleep with HDD, mouse connected to PMD

 

Perhaps one or more of my drivers is slow to reconnect. When I dock initially it takes 30 seconds or more to get everything "on." I can watch the USB drives activate and the connect light for the mouse turn on in sequence.

 

thats definitely not right. It takes maybe 15 sec on my to dock. I can test when I get home. Perhaps you have some apps loaded in that take a while to start/wake up.