Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

Although I think Sony is definitely pushing sales with the newest round of discount, I can't see the logic of few used on sale means Sony is desperate. I personally plan to use my Z till it dies, which I expect to be 5-6 years from now, so why would I want to put mine on sale?

Having said that, I can get better spec now for the same price I paid a month and a couple days back, so maybe I should just sell mine and buy a new one...

 

Those were great photos of the prem. carb. Z. I agree, it would be great if this was offered in the lower res. Z.

 

Weiiii ! the jaggy appears everywhere on the picture ? bad camera
Hey, I notice that if u take pic of vaio Z ( mines z550, no prem carbon) under the organ light in the bath room, it looks most beautiful and best reflection by the carbon, can u try it ?
WoW page 492 now and still 3rd rank ? can anyone explain this ? i check the DV5 absolutely less page

 

SonyStyle (US), it was the Z590. Maybe I misunderstood you, but it sounded to me like you thought it wasn't possible to get a Z with the lower res and prem carbon together which is possible, at least here in the US.

 

She meant the 1366x768, like the 540 has, that one is only available in black.

 

yep! the 590 CTO has 1600x900 res..

 

Could just as well mean that everyone is so satisfied that they don't want to sell it.

 

I am satisfied with my Z. I always had bought Dell laptop.

I just wish Sony would put those 64 bit drivers out there instead of us hacking it out.

 

My Z shipped yesterday, I'll have it Friday. I'll post some more good pics of the premium carbon.

 

Hey you all out there. I read premium carbon premium carbon premium carbon premium carbon premium carbon...
It's a laptop and the most important thing on earth is premium carbon?!?
OMG please explain me.
It looks like no other problems are there with the Sony Z-series.
Well, that's really fine.

 

I agree somewhat. The visual design of the lid is only a small factor for me in my purchasing decision. I care much more that there's carbon fibre inside the lid for strength with light weight. The fact that I can see the fibres themselves is kinda irrelevant. But it's a personal decision thing... there are people who pay litterally thousands of dollars to get a personal paint job on their Voodoo laptops or whatever. Seems mad to me but obviously not to them!

 

its probably the least important thing...its just a cool add-on

 

OMG I just read that yesterday lol!! The guy got his Envy and didnt like the plain black finish, he called them up and paid UPFRONT $600 for a RED basic paint job + shipping !!!! And it took them 2 weeks to finally send it back to him!!!!!

I was in complete disbelief, $600 for basic RED paint finish?? I may like prem Z, but I am not insane!! lol

 

FYI: The Sony Z is now #1 on Sony sub-forum ranking! beat the FW finally WoOOT! lol

 

This is kinda similar to buying a car.

The following are just my thoughts:
Buying a Z with Premium Carbon lid is similar to buying a car with a rear wing spoiler.
Buying a Z with Regular (Black) Carbon lid is similar to buying a car without a rear wing spoiler.

 

No it isn't

Z Regular carbon is like a silver car.
Z Premium carbon is dark silver metallic... or Honda calls it metallic silver stone LOL

 

The only problem ppl with Z is... you pay less now with more features and add on... LOL

 

No offense but I don't agree because the choice of one car color over the other usually is the same price but adding a rear wing spoiler costs more than without adding it.

And just like adding the premium carbon lid doesn't improve the Z's performance, adding a rear-wing spoiler to the car doesn't improve a car's performance IMO.

 

Nah, its more like a premium car color (not that any of this matters lol)....which does cost more.

 

Whats up with carbon fiber compare to the regular Z540? Any much lighter?

 

Alrighty!

I'm now a VAIO Z owner! Almost!

Just placed my order in for a Z590CTO... Ship date is expected to be November 27th!

I guess now it's time to go grab me all them spiffy accessories.

 

Very few, but some cars, it does on some. If the spoilers aren't huge spaceship wings. Or anything you'd find on a Honda.

 

undervolters...what are you running your P9500 at?

 

congrats TemjinZero! what are you configs and price? remember to give us a brief review/first impressions upon arrival and unboxing!

 

Really really basic.

Vaio Z590 CTO

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
160 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive
1600x900 LCD 13.1" (XBRITE-DuraView™
DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
2 GB DDR3-SDRAM (DDR3-1066, 2GBx1)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Intel 5100 Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Standard Battery (BPS12)

Price Before Tax was $1780 CDN.

I'll be doing a clean install as soon as I get it.

Oh yea... just bought a Zeroshock III case for it too... I've heard a ton of good things about it, and looks like it'll even fit when I decide to buy a second, large capacity battery.

 

Nope. All Z lids use a carbon fibre structure for strength/durability with light weight. The 'premium carbon fibre' is just a cosmetic difference which means you can actually see some fibres on the lid.

 

To me its just look and feel like hard plastic on the cover. The keyboard is all steel or tin foil to me.

 

Best notebook in my mind will be:

Sony Design, ThinkPad build, Dell prices, Apple Softwares and Toshiba Hardware Supports...


Ok.. 6 more pages to 500!

 

Actually. I hate Dell pricing. There's never any coupons/real savings on anything other than Vostros and Inspirons in Canada. They say "oooh sale on XPS" but honestly, the prices look the exact same every week.

Ironically enough, Sony's pricing I thought was more fair (in general... though... that's a bit questionable on the Z. ) and they even did give Canadians coupons for prebuilts and CTOs. Right now... I'm a lot happier in the Sony camp than I ever was in the Dell camp.

 

So no undervolting of the graphics card is possible?

BTW, since yesterday I experirience a "qeeeeky"-sound when I press the Spacebar on the left side. Strange.

Rambler

 

I ordered my Sony Vaio Z21 almost more than week ago...still haven't received it due to it's sold out and I paid for it and according to customer service it will arrive in 1-2 weeks - it sucks.

 

To me the premium fiber carbon doesn't look all that impressive, especially when you factor in the price.

You can now get a 590 pre-configured with P9500 for just under 2k (with a free docking station, that's an almost $800 saving). For the same spec, I need to pay like $300 extra to get the premium carbon fiber (with 590CTO), and it's assembled in the US instead of Japan.

It's just my personally opinion, all I'm waiting now is the next Z refresh around Christmas (yea, I'm pretty poor, I don't have like 3k to drop on a laptop like some of you, so I want to get the best deal on the Z).

 

Undervolting CPUs?

I wanna undervolt... anyone have workable ranges for their P8400 cores?

 

huh, where are you getting this pricing from? Permium carbon fiber is $50 extra and that's it. A refresh is January is probably debatable (there was actually a big debate in this thread) but a refresh this Christmas is IMPOSSIBLE!

 

i think that after few weeks NHC (notebook hardware monitor) might works for Z

 

I was comparing the same spec 590 CTO with premium carbon fiber with the pre-configured 590 on pcnation.

Z590NGB - $1975
Same spec Z590 CTO with premium carbon - $2399
2399-1975= $424

My bad, it wasn't just $300, it's actually $424.

Yes, I know about the possible refresh in Jan. I check this thread everyday (I know...I'm that bored...). "Around Christmas"= 12/25 +/- 15 days... which extends to Jan. 09.

 

Well... I believe the majority of that extra cost comes from "parts installation and labor" of the CTO vs the Prebuilt.

 

Not really tho... Without any of the discounts, pre-configured models usually cost $50 more than the CTOs. Back in September, someone in this forum explained that the reason why the pre-configured models are more expensive is partially because they are assembled in Japan and shipped here (higher shipping cost), as oppose to individual parts shipped to the US (lower shipping cost) and assembled here.

Right now, the pre-configured Z's are cheaper than the CTO's because other online retailers are slashing their prices while the prices on sonystyle remain largely unchanged(Why? it's partially explained by Sony's president here).

 

Take note that for the US market, preconfigured 540 & 590 are also "Made in USA."

As of now in the US market, only Z520, Z530, Z550, Z570, & Z591 are "Made in Japan."

 

Is there a reason to take special notice of made in US vs Japan?

 

IMO, no. Certain people have a preference for "Made in Japan" goods but the ones "Made in USA" are just as good. I'll suggest that if anyone is buying a new Z, go for the config you want, be it a CTO or pre-configured because I believe that it is best to buy what you want & need instead of following this notion of "going with Japan made stuff is the best".

 

I got my Z590 CTO P9500 w/ Premium Carbon Fiber for $2,161.51

2161 - 1975 = $186

To me that $186 is no question worth the premium carbon fiber + Sony's no questions asked return policy

 

ok guys. Let's be realistic. When something doesn't sell as much, the used market does not overflood with such item. So why would so many people sell a xbox 360? Because they are not satisfied? People make stupid purchases all the time and then they resell, or they need the money or any reason.

I forgot to add. Sony just added a $250 coupon on top of the already discounted price. They are not desperate, huh? sure... LOL

Or maybe they just wanna get rid of the old squeaky keyboards.. LOL

 

I agree! A Z with OSX would be the ideal. I noticed, my first experience with OSX, no pop-ups like XP and Vista. Also, boot-up time and turn off time is fast.

PLEASE!, post pictures. Also one comparing lid to aluminum keyboard to compare variation. Thanks!
Does it look exactly like that one photo from conics?
What were your configs. for that price?

I went to SonyStyle Store yesterday and they told me to get the 10% student discount directly in the store, you have to purchase 2 accessories and a 2-yr warranty with ADH. Is it the same if you order through Sony online?

 

Has anyone explored the option of the premium carbon fiber lid as a spare part? Their spare part site is not so clear, I'm not sure if it's for sale or not ... or how possible the upgrade would be as a DIY ... but I'm certainly curious.

The 540 can be $250 less right now, so even if the lid were $150-200 it might be worth it to get the resolution you want + still get the fancy lid.

Actually, you know what ... what I wish for most is someone to sell those fancy Japanese lids. Gothic arabesque!

 

Sony Spare Parts (USA) does not sell them yet. I would think that it should be available soon. It is most likely going to be around $250-$300 before shipping and taxes.

 

even the original one is selling roughly 200 including shipping so I don't think it's worth the money

 

lol, then order from pcnation if you're pleased with the price. Since you said you read this thread often, you probably know well enough that I got mine from Sony and it's cheaper than pcnation + 30 days return no question ask (not 21 but 30 days to be exact!) I'm sure there are others who got it directly from Sony for much cheaper up here, except they're not sharing the price yet lol.

 

If you can, go for CTO because they're one of the best. I got two and none with any problem. If you're buying pre-config model then go for Made in Japan. Stuffs made in Japan will have to go through a tougher inspection before getting to the US and that's why % failure tends to be much lower.

 

B/c most of us here don't "order a lot from Sonystyle"....

Auh...what.........

I remember seeing someone mentioned this before... but I didn't know it's actually true...

Are you REALLY REALLY sure about this?.. Or can someone else who's also got a pre-configured z590 confirm this?.