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

Sorry i did not explain properly. I want to replace my 1600x900 lcd for 1920x1080 lcd, like this one NEW B131HW02 V0 for SONY VPC-Z SERIES/Full HD/compatible with LT131EE11000 | eBay

 

Hey guys im on the verge of buying a Z2. I've read numerous reviews and such, but I have some questions.

- Is there noticeable light bleed on the screen?

-can you upgrade the GPU on the PMD - as in taking it apart and putting in a new graphics card?

-I hope the screen doesn't flex enough to be scratched by the keys like how the previous Z1's did.

-Does the screen wobble a lot when typing at full speed?

-Is there any discoloration of the palm rests or keyboard? My sweat is not acidic, but it was a known problem for the Z1's.

 

Not on any of my units.

Apparently not.

Still does, sadly. And just as bad as the Z1 (and really, every single 'carbon' VAIO), if not a little sooner.

Depends on how hard you bang down I guess. Not for me.

Discoloration - not yet, but my sweat isn't overly acidic or plentiful. But marking due to lid components contact, definitely yes. Keys go 'shiny' really quickly.

 

Apparently Screen flex is suppose to absorb impact more, but i cant get pass the fact that my notebook might scratch itself while being closed. I'll be putting this into my backpack while riding a bike. its also inconvenient to put a cloth on the keyboard.

I am really tempted to buy a base model since sony style online is currently offering 15% off the vaio Z.

Does anyone have any pictures of the new Carbon Fiber Silver color? I cant seem to find any other pictures than the stock ones on the website.

 

I've been using it since November 2011, in a bag on my back on my bike every day. No marks of any kind here, rests or screen. I put the cloth on the keyboard, though. Seems convenient enough for me, having a cloth for my glasses at the same time

 

Flexibility is the future of laptop dude, Flex OLED VAIO laptop is a super-thin laptop product still in concept stage.

 

Anyone have issues disconnecting the PMD time to time?

I have the PMD connected to my HDMI Monitor which has speakers as well as a display and I sometimes will get "cannot disconnect due to HDMI Audio" even when I have no programs using the Audio open.

There is no way around it (shutting down, resetting, closing every possible application that could affect it in task manager)... I just have to disconnect the PMD and crash the system.

 

At risk of stating the obvious, you have tried disconnecting the HDMI cable from the PDM and/or turn off the monitor? I get a similar situation with a USB drive now and again and my solution is to power off the USB drive.

 

Let's hope the keys are made out of marshmallow in that case, eh?
(even then I'm sure Sony will find a way for them to mark the screen)

 

Prototype is already in Sony lab. , extremely durable and shock resistant, made of flexible bioplastic.
The keyboard has the ability to fade away and allow the screen to cover the entire interface.

 

It's time to get a new laptop and I've already been knowing what I wanted for long time. A high end 13" from Sony that has portability, power for work and GPU for gaming: Vaio Z.

Until recently I discovered that the S model with the same config costs like 1000$ less and I was wondering why. I did some research and saw/tried both models. The Z definitely has a nicer design, it's a bit lighter and smaller with better build quality. The GPU on the dock is slightly better and I guess helps a lot with the heat (even though in the S is switchable). Screen on the Z is supposed to be better.
But seems small stuf to justify such a price jump. Am I missing something? Is the screen really way better? Why would I choose a Z over an S?

Tought I'd ask here so I could get some of your experiences and what brought you towards getting a Z.

Thanks in advance!

 

I have tried that... has no affect.

 

Honestly the only reason to be if you have money to burn.

It's 100% more but probably only 20% better.

I got mine because I liked to use some beautifully designed, the screen (the main thing I use) is better and it travels well due to weight and battery life.

I am happy with it but I woulda went with the S if I didn't have the extra money laying around.

 

The screen is horrible on the S, Vaio Z's screen is way better.

Weight is also a lot less, and the fans are not annoying, like on the S series.

(I use the Z, my gf uses the SA so I know all about the whiny fans.. )

Definitely the Z is meant to be in another league, it is better than the SA.

 

For me, the PMD let me drive two HDMI monitors and that let me replace my desktop with this 2.5 pound device.

If memory serves, the S didn't have the SATA 3 SSD when the Z first came out -- don't know what the S ships with now. For photo and video rendering, I wanted the fastest drive possible.

Ultimately the S is the better bargain for many users. That being said, if I had to do it over again I would still buy the Z. I wanted the thinnest, lightest, and (at the time) most powerful 13" laptop available. And so I got one. I even like the "bluple" interior color.

 

Does anyone have the limited edition Carbon Silver color?

I can't seem to find any user phones, but only stock photos.

 

How?
The PMD has only one HDMI and one VGA output.

 

PMD HDMI + main unit HDMI.

 

Thanks guys!

Can I ask you why is so much worse, apart from the resolution?

 

@brandi

In terms of better screen quality. The S has a weak color spectrum and contrasts. Both are matte, but they both have pretty bad viewing angles. This shouldn't worry you to much unless you plan to do a lot of photo/video editing or watch movies.

If you are on a budget, I would go for the S. Virtually the same specs. Opt for the HDD because you can buy a cheaper SSD to replace it.

 

I work in visual effects so that's definitely something I'll take into consideration, I'll try to have a look at both next time at the store. Thanks for the help!

 

Sorry if I did not read the whole owners lounge but I am considering buying a new sony vaio VPCZ215GL with the slice battery for a very tempting price and I was wondering what are the problems it has.

Both my VGN-Z and my friends VPC-Z1 have scratched screens caused by the palm rest. Is this fixed in this one. They dont appear to sell the privacy filter here in Mexico.

What other problems might present? Is it true the ram is no upgradeable?

 

Hi everyone,

I have a maybe partly off-topic problem, but I hope someone can help me.

We have a Verizon FiOS wireless router (I can look up the exact model, if it's needed) and many computers in the house. The devices include: an iPad and Dell, HP, Toshiba, Apple MBP, Vaio Z21 and Vaio S (not sure whether it's SA, SB or SC) laptops.

The router was first configured with WEP encryption. With my Z2 I could not connect to the network at all. After trying to connect, I always got an error, that it cannot. IIRC it did not even ask for the password. The guy with the Vaio S had the same problem. All the other devices worked perfectly.

I changed the encryption to WPA2 (wanted to do this anyway). Now all the devices can connect, including the Vaios. But a new problem appeared:

Sometimes I just get disconnected from the network. If this happens, then afterwards it is hard to reconnect (error messages, that I cannot connect). When I manage to reconnect, I get disconnected again in a couple of minutes. I have to reset (unplug) the router and then it starts working again. Sometimes it works for a week, sometimes for a couple of minutes. It is really annoying.
Again, this happens only with the Vaio Z2 and S, the WiFi connection on the other laptops and the iPad works flawlessly.

I tried changing the settings of my wireless card. I have the impression that disabling 802.11n mode and setting the roaming aggressiveness to highest helped a bit, but the problem still persists.
I also think that I start getting disconnected, when many of the devices are connected to the network simultaneously. Maybe there is one specific device which causes it, I don't know.

Do you have any idea how I could solve this? Any setting I should change on my Z2 or on the router?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

i've never had a problem since i use the cleaning cloth that originally came with the laptop. while i find using the power media dock is perfect since i don't use any graphic intensive applications or the DVD drive while on-the-go, for some it's pretty useless and is a pain to dock & undock. if the laptop is put to sleep while docked and is undocked during sleep mode, the laptop tends to get the BSOD.

for some, the screen lid warps over time with one corner being in contact with the palm rest while the other is not. this was particularly the issue for in-store display models that have been used & abused continuously by customers.

personally, i find the front corners of the palmrest too pointy and my wrists accidently bump on it from time to time which is not a nice feeling.

the CPU fans tend to get really loud under the 'performance' power setting and while the VAIO thermal setting is set to 'performance'. but even under the 'silent' thermal setting, the Z2 is no slouch and still gets the work done quite rapidly.

other than that, the Z2 is the best laptop i've ever owned even if it's just the base model (VPCZ212GX). there are much more compliments i can give it than complaints.

 

for anyone willing to try the new window 8 consumer preview, i just recently installed it. i had to uninstall ATI Catalyst Control Center and re-install it after the upgrade, but otherwise everything is working great. although, i did an upgrade instead of a clean install. Vaio's aren't very clean-install friendly and i've always had issues with getting the Fn buttons to work properly

 

^ How is it compared to W7..watched a video on Utube and didn't ;ike it myself...

 

azian_advanced - just tried a win 8 clean install, windows auto installs default drivers for both the intel and amd graphics cards but when i attempt to install the sony provided driver it says it completes successfully but looking at device manager it actually silently fails as the version no of the divers are not updated and the AMD CG has a warning. Attempting to remove the default drivers and then install the sony driver also failed. I then attempted to manually install the sony supplied driver ( directly from the packages directory generated when you unpack the sony exe) but that fails with a warning about attempting to install on an unsupported version of windows.

 

AMD drivers for W8 - dont't know, if it works on switchables or Z2

[ http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Windows8ConsumerPreviewDrivers.aspx]

 

Just restored back to win 7. Couldn't get the PMD to work with win 8 (would see the drive but not the card) and it was doing something funky with the screen brightness. It would drop it to 0 randomly even after shutting all the screen brightness crap in the power manager.

 

Hi:
a few days ago I asked a question about the effect of interference by the VGA output when connecting the charger. Well, Sony has phoned me to ask if my chargers (normal + Docking) have two or three way (in the black box of the charger 2 o 3 hole) I have a new question: how are USA chargers, two or three way (two or three hole)?
Thank

 

Thanks for the link Palda, unfortunately the AMD win 8 driver causes a blue screen (or the new version of a blue screen anyway). Also tried the experimental sony driver from here http://www.vaio-link.com/cbcdl/VPCZ2_Gfx_driver.zip this fails with;

"Driver install: the driver package does not specify a hardware identifier"

 

having used the windows 8 developer edition, i've gotten used to most of the features. losing the start menu is probably the biggest (worst) change but i can see why windows is getting rid of it. at this point, i'd still rather have the start button (and there are ways to activate it in windows 8). it would also be beneficial to get used to the new windows shortcut keys/gestures. besides that there are many new features that really pleases me, but at the same time i can see why people don't like it.

 

Yea i actually quite like it, but going to have to revert to win 7 until i can get display drivers working, need my multi-monitors. A quick review; Did some real work today and yesterday in win 8, there is a little learning curve getting used to moving between metro and the desktop. When in desktop mode it is a bit jarring to be jumped into metro when doing a search but you get used to it. However i don't think MS are finished with the desktop mode just yet, wouldn't be surprised to see graphic and search/program launch changes in there before final release. The tablet mode actually works well with mouse and keyboard but you will have a finger stuck to the windows key. The docking of metro windows is a nice feature (and metro apps can be docked with the desktop too). I also like the design of metro, its clean and very smooth. Going back to win 7 there just seems to be too much graphical stuff on the screen, window borders are too chunky etc.

 

my thoughts exactly.. it seems microsoft has found a new type of GUI that they want to merge to but the biggest problem is getting all software recoded to have that metro-style interface. there are far too many useless borders, tables, lines, etc. to the current windows now which makes it look too busy and is somewhat an eye-sore (literally) compared to the ease of viewing of metro. there are just far too many things displayed on the screen in windows 7 and prior versions like the taskbar icons, system tray, scroll bars, etc. that aren't needed when focused at the task at hand but windows 8 makes it easy to have access to these when needed. imo, simplicity is key and the not-so-needed features should stay hidden but still easily accessible. i also like how there is very little white space and lots of color is used. it makes using windows feel a bit more fun to use. too much white space on the screen is also hard on the eyes after hours and hours of continuous work.

 

Succes¡ I can finally say, GPS is working on Sony Vaio Z2 and Huawei EM680/ Gobi 3000. Obtained fix and correct location even though, signal is low, but correct. It takes a while to find the sattelites, but I shall post my findings in this thred : http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/624532-z21-gobi-3000-wwan-location-sensor-windows-7-a.html

Glad to help, even though, my suggestions proved useless. But about the grpahic driver, we tend to use the newest drivers found here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/636724-universal-driver-set-all-switchable-intel-ati-graphics.html, thanks to leshcat and YaD effort and mak1 thread.

 

I am a European user, but I have two power connectors, one with three contacts (power, neutral and ground) and one with only two contacts (power and neutral). I noticed some cursor jumping on the touchpad when using the two contact version, due to electrical interference I guess. It's gone as soon as I touch the handrest with my other hand at the same time. I also use a VGA monitor (a good old CRT) with the 2-contact charger, but did not notice any trouble. This might be different with your monitor, though. So if you have a 2-contact charger you might want to try and find one with 3 contacts, that might help.

 

Anyone found a good setting for the toucpad to avoid accidental clicks / cursor misplacement while typing? I have my Smart Sense Setting to "max" but still seem to trigger clicks on the touchpad with my thumbs hovering over the space key much too often. The advanced filter does not seem to help much. I set a really small active zone and 1 sec to activate the filter.

 

I have question, I would like to buy new Vaio Z in US store, but will be used it in Europe, what WWAN modem should I take? there are 2 options:
-Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint 3G wireless mobile broadband
-Verizon Wireless 4G LTE wireless mobile broadband built-in
I have standard european sim card and GSM network here, thanks for help.

 

My chargers have a 3 contacts. If I cancel (with tape, for exmple) the ground contact, the problems missing, I have no interference. Wait to SONY solution.

I forget, the driver is very well, but se SONY support in Europe does not recognize the driver, I do not understand.

Thank

 

I would guess, the 3G version could work with proper firmware. b

 

Interesting, I found those two posts of mine to be related: the 2-contact charger interferes with my touchpad as described above, and this keeps the advanced filter for accidental mouseclicks from activating...seems like the touchpad thinks there is action all the time, and so does not activate the filter! Nothing one can do about that I guess, except using another charger...thought I'd share this experience to save others some trouble.

 

I have been using the TouchFreeze utility which turns off the touchpad while typing. It's pretty good.

 

I'm also curious if anyone here ordered the Silver Carbon Z, if they can post photos or post a link to photos. Obviously, SonyStyle doesn't depict the true reality of what this lid looks like.

Went to SonyStyle Store and they don't have one displayed either.

 

See pictures here.

http://demo.ovh.com/fr/2cc4336d1c17f09c895bee0b66d74028/

Have a nice day !

Chris

 

Thanks, but what I was hoping to see was the "SILVER CARBON" lid, since it's a new lid design for Sony.

Thanks for your efforts though.

 

Does anyone have an idea how I could solve this?
I got a new Intel Wireless update through Vaio Update today, but the problem still exists.
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

I have the same problem with mine at home.

1 router WGT624
=> if more than 1 computer over wifi, there are some problems...

But this not only happens with my Vaio... The only curious thing is that it's only the laptop that is far from the router which loses the signal when another laptop (not so far from the router) connects to the wifi.

 

Are there any dock station compatible with Sony Vaio Z2? Or are we stuck with the default?

 

Thanks for the reply!
In my case, the strange thing is that only the 2 Vaios (maybe both have the Intel 6230 card) have this problem, none of the other devices. And the guy with the Vaio S had the same problem, while he was sitting next to the router.
But the number of connected devices may be an influencing factor, I'm not quite sure.

 

Hi,

I'm about to buy a 64GB Sandisk SDXC card with 95MB/S write and read speeds and are planning to use it as an extra HD in my Vaio Z.

Does anybody know if I'm able to get those kinds of speed? If the card reader in the computer can handle it? I'm worried that it's limited to 30MB/s speeds.. I hope not.

Thanks for any input. I know that there is someone here that is using a 128GB SD card in their Vaio Z, but i can't remember who.