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

Does anyone know if the US version contains the TPM chip?

 

It should be only with the WWAN models.

 

Are the Z2 SSDs in RAID0? if not, that's probably why. The Z1 takes longer to boot because it has to wait for the RAID drivers to POST. If you break your RAID0 array and run your drives in JBOD, you'll see the same boot speed probably.

The Glossy Premium Carbon lid in the US was only offered on the Signature models ($4500). The regular Premium Carbon lid on my Z is matte (prone to scratches though). There was a regular black offered when the Z13 came out in the US, but i thought it looked too plain for a laptop of this caliber.

 

^
The Z2 SSDs are in dual RAID 0 configurations.

 

Z2s have RAID0 with Intel SSD RAID technology, CTRL-I to get into RAID config, shows:
128=2x60GB Samsung SSD

 

Guys we found out that probably Sony has used this technology http://download.intel.com/pressroom...itePaper.pdf?iid=pr_smrelease_vPro_materials2 that you can compare to this image http://weekly.ascii.jp/elem/000/000/048/48360/110706gian_vaio003_1000x.jpg .

This is a speculation but it is really likely.

It's possible that the Light Peak used here don't have a thunderbolt/lightpeak controller.. and that the transmitter die which converts electrical signal to infrared one is connected directely to PCI-E bus (we talk about 12.5 Gb/s per channel, so 25). If it's like this, implementing this for eGPU would become really easy.

And to know that, someone with PMD must do this:

- connect PMD and waiting for its activation/switching

- disabling integrated gpu in Device Manager and see what happens:

1) if the screen switch for a while and turn into a proper screen resolution (NOT VGA compatibility mode) OR nothing change, we have a muxless setup and this means that Light Peak is directely connected to PCI-E BUS without any controller -> it would be easy with a little modification at actual DIY dockin stations to work it out a 4X connection for eGPU

2) if the screen switches to VGA compatibility mode, there's a LP controller in the middle.

In addition, it would be useful to run GPU-Z under load and see what's the state of the 6630M, if it's @ 4X or not.

I'd like to do it, but I don't have my laptop yet (will arrive next week) and I didn't purchased the PMD.

Thanks for help!!

 

Good to know. Not surprising as I've never understood why someone would want a lower resolution display but still, good to hear.

 

What do you guys think of this video?
‪SONY VAIO Z & Power Media Dock ????‬‏ - YouTube

 

Yes, it has the TPM chip.

 

...so all people are choosing the 1080p display but I've preferred the 900p one (even though the price difference was only 40€ .

reasons:

- if 1080p is too small for you and you're increasing the dpi-scaling, you have to reconfig that if you're connected to an external monitor

- pictures in websites blur if you zoom in (in order to increase text size)

- 1080p is around 20-30% darker (max brightness)

- having the same brightness, 1080p consumes more battery

- games might decrease by 5-12 fps if you play them in 1080p (if you play them in 900p on the 1080p screen, the resolution is not native = not optimal).


...took me a long time to decide, but eventually I am used to max brightness of my Z11 display and that's my main decision criteria. of course, if you're looking for the additional space you should have a look at 1080p.


can you confirm my considerations?
do you see a major improvement in sharpness if you compare 900p and 1080p on such a small display (sharpness of text etc.)?

 

I'm about to do a clean install soon. Did you experience any diffuculties? Is there any "tips and Trix" you could share? Except from the "fast boot" is everything working? ..(I don't care much about that function anyway)

Thanks for all input

 

Hi there thank you for your feedback, office are moderately noisely, and I'm not to worried about that. What I would like to know is how noisy it is: in the following situation:

Playing 1080p file, at night in a quite room .
If it's not to much to ask ,If you have a smart phone they are plenty of sonometer aps (better than nothing) they can help mesure the ambiant noise.
you can get the floor noise , then the noise with the laptop on , on and spinning etc.. and make mesure like 50 cm from the laptop.

Cheeers

 

I've finally almost given up resisting the Z2. Apologies in advance for the following rant.

It's not that I'm falling in love with the Z2 right away, I'm just so frustrated from waiting for an alternative "affordable" and stylish sub-notebook with a good high-res display that doesn't have an apple on the lid. Given the overall progress of the industry I simply can't understand why almost all laptops come with the same or even poorer quality displays than 3 years ago. I'm still angry about the entertainment industry powered move from 16:10 to 16:9 "HD" which in my opinion makes XGA resolution less usable than before. I will never "downgrade" from 1280x800 to 1366x768, because I need *vertical* pixels above horizontal ones, no matter if it's web browsing, word processing or editing photographs which still come in 4:3 format! When I buy a new computer I expect to get a *better* experience in every regard than from my old model.

So, the high res Z display is a *huge* factor for me, even if it's not an IPS panel as in the (low res *sigh*) Thinkpad X220. That being said, I have traditionally a big dislike towards Sony to the point where I was boycotting them for all the proprietary, restrictive and anti-innovative stuff they have done in the last years. But there simply doesn't seem to be any alternative to the Z series, so I'm finally ready to give in and accept Sony in my life again...

It's just that at this point I'm so used to waiting that it's hard to actually make a move. I've waited for more than a year for DELL to come up with anything worthy. There was an announcement for a new series of thin and light XPS laptops - followed by months of nothing, a short note that the series was scrapped in development and finally the release of the complete and utter disappointment that is the XPS 15z. Screw you, DELL.

And don't get me started on HP and the disappearance of the Radiance displays in the Envy series...

I'm also giving up hope that the promised wave of "Ultrabooks" will yield anything other than desperate Macbook Air clones with decidedly poorer displays.

Now with the Z2, I was worried about a lot of things, some of which have been addressed already:

- high price in Germany, almost 1:1 Dollar / Euro conversion
- driver issues with the PMD
- noise levels
- stability of the construction
- no express card slot
- only one 3,5mm audio port
- SONY factor (proprietary stuff, no user replaceable RAM or SDDs)
- I was also not completely sold on the looks, especially the big bezel.

But I have to say, the more time passes, the more I appreciate the concept of the PMD. It will provide me with an odd and graphics power, both of which I really don't need on the road - and it will keep my desk *clean*, even powering the laptop when connected. Sure, there could be a better graphics card, but it will be enough for my purposes. Also, there is so much potential in Lightpeek. I expect to see the addition of other peripherals from Sony and third party manufactors in the middle run.

Now I'm only going to wait for the notebookcheck.com review before calling up a Sony rep and trying to get some discounts the way it has been working for me with DELL for many years...

tl;dr: didn't want to buy the Z2 at first, but will do so anyway for a lack of alternatives and because I'm sick and frustrated of waiting.

 

Also just to let everyone know my USA Z2 has also been delayed by a month !!! LOL

ETA Ship date from Sony for me is now the 9th of September. NOT even the 6th! ughhh

If I was okay paying the extra $1000AUD I would have gotten the Australian model which comes in TODAY in "GOLD"! oh my oh my... I dont want this spoilt attitude so I shall calmly wait for my USA model to arrive (without premium carbon either)...

Max: Samsung Series 9 isnt too bad either..

 

It took me some time as well to decide between 900p or 1080P, (brightness and lower consumption vs more working space).

In the end I selected the 1080p, more working space was for me the main reason to go for the Z in the first place along with its portability I think 1080p will also help against nosy people, looking and reading what you're doing. Maybe they will sit closer to you and ask questions about the resolution and other specs.


I got a new email from sony today, telling me that my order has been confirmed. I don't know what they are doing over there...but they already told me that more than a week ago...

Anyway...always good to have another confirmation .

 

YES!
but experiencing quite strange things while playing with the Intel SSD RAID settings..
eg. turning on write-cache (deactivated by default) results in a massive degradation of sequential reads.. (800MB/s from 1000MB/s)

dont understand that...

ciao,
jx

 

yes lol sorry for the confusion

 

When was it that you placed your order?

 

I got the same email... and I am in the same situation as you... with the minor difference I am in Singapore... lol

 

At least in Germany we have all the color options, including blue.



Ugh.

 

And can you also tell me if the US version has the Gen3 SSD's?

Thx.

 

I placed my order on the 3rd of August.

 

^ and have you ever received email of starting production?

 

mine was on the 4th Aug 2011.

 

Can anybody who received the unit comment on screen color saturation on the Z2? My concern is that without Nvidia's digital vibrance the screen will look dull with Intel or ATI graphics.

 

I see that that in the US Sony has the base Ready to ship model in stock - can ship tomorrow. Also PC Connection has several models all in stock but every one of the models that they have only have 4GB RAM.

 

I could have written almost the same rant, if I ever sat down long enough to write that much.

For me, the number one factor was screen quality/color/resolution, above all else, with the second factor being reasonable battery life, and the third being a non-ULV CPU. When it came to ultra-portable, or even semi-portable (14"), there's basically no other options but the Z when it comes to the first requirement, let alone the next two.

I had the Envy 14 and was happy with it until a failed BIOS upgrade (bricked laptop) led HP to replace the laptop with a unit that didn't have a Radiance display. That was the end of that machine for me. Then I looked to Dell, but they never quite delivered.

I share many of your concerns about the new Z, but I think the fact that it meets or exceeds my requirements on my top 3 concerns and stands head and shoulders above the rest if those are the only considerations, I think I'll be happy with it when it shows up.

 

Great job crystal! Thats good news, and its good to see you campaigning this. I support you to the fullest!


All you people that got wwan and got delayed to september.....jeez that sucks.

I just got a 2nd email saying my order had been "delayed" to aug12 (placed jul13). My order history still says aug17

 

^ thanks!! I think that the big problem will be to HAVE/OBTAIN those transmitter die without buying a PMD. If it will be possible, the problem won't be hard.

I have to correct myself about data: if this is the tecnology, we would have 50 Gb/s per optical fiber. Since in Z21 we have 2 channels, we have a 2x50 Gb/s. One channel is probably for DP, driven for laptop screen, the other channel is connected to PCI-E bus of CPU (not northbridge). This means that if PCI-E bus is set grant 4X connection we would eGPU going REALLY @ 4X sinche it's 32 Gb/s which is below 50 Gb/s of fiber channel. If PCI-E bus is more likely set to grant 8X or 16X we would have fiber channel going @ 50 Gb/s which is its limit. We would have a "6X 2.0" against the 2X 2.0 which thunderbolt can grant now (since those active copper cable can sustain no more then 20 Gb/s).

If it's like this.. wow.

I ordered 4 Aug and the laptop was in production on 5 Aug .. theoretical delivery date from there is between 12 Aug and 18 Aug .. and I didn't ordered WWAN. I think they'll respect time table ... since I'm in Europe and here we spend more XD

 

That's really strange. Didn't you already get a letter saying that your system was being built? If it's already being built, then why on earth would there be a delay then?

 

You were able to run Civ 5 on the HD3000? Wow! What resolution/framerate?

 

Yea I'm not really sure. I think they are using the delay emails to make sure customers know its coming the 12th since its wrong on the website and they probably cant change it for some reason.

 

Very strange. I still haven't seen anything (delays or otherwise) since I got the order update saying they were starting the laptop build on the 4th.

 

Yea. Just checked my Order status and it has been updated to COMPLETE! And they have charged my card. Now I just need my tracking number!

 

When did you place your order?

 

^ Reordered on the 31st, Got my "Vaio is being built" email on the morning of the 4th. My estimated shipping date still says the 12th.

Edit: Got my Fedex Tracking number. Currently estimated to arrive on the morning of the 12th.

 

My Vaio started to be built on 5th.. I hope to receive your kind of email tomorrow

 

Anyone got their vaio z yet? The black series model.

Can you guys help me to check something?

I went to Sony store to purchase it. But upon testing it, I realized that the fan have a loud whirling noise like squealing sound. If I were to compare a sound to it, it would sound like a key maker replicating a key.

This sound is more noticeable when you pick the laptop up and try to tilt it left and right

 

Got my shipping confirmation!!! Estimated arrival on August 12!!

 

congrants

/10chars

 

Got tracking number for mine as well. I still have concerns about display. What are the rules about returning CTO laptop to Sony USA? I can keep it unopened until I see one at sonystyle

 

Since none of you Z2 owners out there currently are gamers, I FINALLY found a link to someone that has attempted Crysis 2.

‪Sony Vaio Z217 review‬‏ - YouTube

He claims all settings are jacked. So, if this is 1080p at cranked settings, 720p without AA and shaders should fly. Oh, and lets not forget about the hopeful overclock.

Come on Z2 owners, show us more results as the rest of us have to painfully wait it out!

 

Mine arrived last thing yesterday, just started to explore it. Very fast, quiet, 1080p screen amazing and the whole thing is so so light, the battery slice is also very light. Premium Carbon is really nice looking but it is a bit of a finger print magnet, supplied cloth isn't anywhere near as good as Ecloths with iPads.

Very little bloatware though there are about 30 different versions of activeX on it (language packs I think)

Can't get it to see my SIM card...

but overall, very happy.

 

^
Congrats on your new Z2.
Say...is the cloth like the one in the VPCZ1 and VGNZ?

 

Did anyone try Starcraft 2 on it yet?

So the plain black is a better bet if you don't want finger prints?

 

Can someone tell me what size of HDD this thing comes with - i.e. can I replace it with a standard 2.5" SSD?
Thanks.

 

^
Nope...Sony are using customised SSDs

 

^besides that there is no HDD option.

 

I'm afriad I don't have one to compare. It is like a charcol coloured cotton cloth doesn't have the soft feel of eCloths and it no where near as effective.

Interestingly the instruction tell you to lay the cloth over the keyboard without any creases when you close the lid to prevent screen damage. I know on my old Toshiba r400 that eventually the keys did mark the screen but after 2 years and many miles of it being bashed about in my back pack.

I wish they would hurry up and launch the accessories, I really need a proper fitting case for this.

Just installing my apps, copying files etc. In balanced mode, all through wifi, used 60% of battery in about 3.5-4hrs.

 

I went through all the same thoughts when I bought my Z1. I went for the 900p display and then decided I'd made a mistake and got the 1080p version (also with larger SSD and i7). For a while I had both and did a lot of side by side comparison.

With both displays, I use the zoom in web browser a lot, modern browsers do that very well and I rarely notice where images have been scaled up. Text is definitely better on the 1080p, as you'd logically expect. Characters of the same physical size just have more pixels in them and so better definition and more accurate spacing, which leads to better readability.

The brightness difference was not 30%. The 1080p is like the 900p set just one step down on the brightness control.

The 1080p seemed to have better colour, it's the one with 96% adobe coverage or some-such and I thought my photos looked better on it. When they're not side by side it's not that noticeable though.

Both displays are excellent, and no other latptop is as high-res on 13.1". If you need to work on Visual studio or something like that, 1080p is the way to go, otherwise it's just preference and very nice that Sony uniquely gives us such choices.