Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

I asked Sony and I was informed that the 590CTO is discontinued... Now, the Z series is a couple of hundred more dollars and only gives you a more powerful processor. They left the weaker Intel wifi 5100 in there? Why?!? So disappointed... Now, I don't know what to do... The Sony Vaio Z series was a top contender for me but now it's even more expensive and I think it's a bit of a trick to up the price.

 

Would there be space for the Intel 5300? Does the SR also have the 5100?

 

Just wait a bit. The prices will start dropping soon enough. I bought my Z570N/B for $2350. Now you can get it on Amazon for like $1850.

 

No problem. Glad to be able to help.

Congrats on your purchase. You'll love it. One more thing. Don't forget to take & post some photos of your Z when you receive it & share the excitement of opening up your Z for the first time with us!

 

Do we have a consensus on the battery life for the 600 series in stamina mode? I'm probably returning my 1340 for this computer and one of my main reasons for returning the 1340 is the 3 hour battery life...I need more. Thanks!

 

Yes I will!!

 

The 1340 only pulls a few hours? Seriously? Screw that idea...

You'll get north of three hours on the z690, though I haven't actually attempted to get an actual number yet. This post is being brought to you by a z690 with 82% remaining and a battery estimate of 4:50 -- likely too high given its idle state, but... for what it's worth.

 

Yeah, I need at least 5 hours on the computer...I know the 9 cell battery gives 9 hours but it also adds 0.5 lbs to the weight . If the 6 cell can do 5, that would be great!

By the way, I know the 10% student discount and $300 off can be combined online now, but can we also negotiate prices with the sales reps on the telephone like at Dell? I saved about $300 on top of the student discount just by calling in rather than by ordering the Dell online.

 

The Z should be able to get 5-6 hours with wifi using the right settings. In order to get this you will need to have a good flashblock and no script installed and have your brightness at around 30-40% with BT of.
Notebookjournal reviewed the Dell XPS M1340 and battery life was not great really.

 

What's a flashbox? On the 1340, with the regular graphics card, it goes 3 hours, but with the boost performance, it only goes for about an hour and 20 min .

 

It blocks flash ads which can cause your battery to drain faster.
Ad block is a flash block that you can use with Mozilla.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865
Try turning of Aero as well if you are on battery as that should help improve your battery life as well.

 

Ad Block Plus = Love

Another add on for Firefox I'll point out for Z owners would definitely be No Squint, to zoom in whole page or text ... and more importantly, save that setting. Great for those who like the resolution but find some websites too small.

 

Still waiting for Z640... arrrG

 

For the people who have replaced their hard drives. Can you guys go in detail on how to pry off the keyboard? I did a search and I found that topic but I want to hear from other people. Is it hard to pry it off?

 

Consider the 610 or 620, they seem pretty good too.

 

...or consider the Z690 too...

 

I was considering Z690 but I don't think I can handle the high res. I enjoy my 15.4 (1440x900) resolution [~112dpi]. I don't think I can handle the higher res 13.1 (1600x900) resolution [~140dpi]. Might be a little strain on my eyes.

 

I think it depends on the your luck with which rep you manage to get on the phone. However, you can always call them up & try your luck. Good luck.

 

Yeah since you mentioned the 640, I didn't include the 690. But look into the 610, it's beefed up, no? Specs can't get much better than that, unless you want a p9500 or something specific like that.

 

Oh, I see what you mean.

Sony should have release the Z640 together with the Z690. Even the Z690 should have been released like Dec. of last year, but they dragged till start of Feb. to release them. One has to wonder what is up with Sony these days.... Maybe the current economic conditions plays a big part in their decisions...

 

True.

Qeuqeu, if you are really going to go with the Z610, do take note that that model do not come with built-in WWAN. Just a piece of info for you to consider if you definitely need the WWAN.

 

I´m currently recover my z21wn, the problem with standby and hibernate can´t be resolved. Hope it never happen in the future...

 

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully, Sony (or Microsoft) will have some kind of patch to fix that in the near future...

 

Bit the bullet, ordered my 690 today:
2.4 ghz
2 gb ram
320 gb 7200 harddrive
premium carbon fiber
3 year warranty
2x neoprene cases

1800 after 300 bundle and 10% student discounts

Cant wait!

 

integra891, congrats on your purchase. Don't forget to post pictures of your Z once you get it.

 

I'm still dealing with Dell, but if I do get the 690, I was looking at getting the P9600 with 128 GB SSD and blu-ray...I don't like the 1600x900 resolution on the 690 and I could get the SSD cheaper on newegg probably, but opening the computer to replace the hdd seems kind of tricky according to the service manual. Problem is that this set-up would be very expensive but I plan on keeping the laptop for a while. The 610 is a good option because it has a better screen for me though, so we'll see. I'm not a fan of the 610's processor though...my tablet has 2MB cache and it is frustratingly slow!

 

What kinda CPU is on your tablet? One thing to note is that nowadays the CPUs are so fast, I feel that the amount of level 2 cache is "not that" noticeable when compared to a few years ago.

Example, the Intel P8600 CPU ( 3MB L2 Cache) in my Z610 is faster than the Intel T7400 CPU ( 4MB L2 Cache) in my SZ381.

 

It's a Core 2 Duo, but it's ULV clocked at 1.2 ghz. I'm not sure if that's the culprit or not but the bus speed isn't as fast as the P8600 (1066 mhz) either. Also has a 5400 rpm hdd compared to the 610's 7200 rpm. The tablet only has 2 gb ram whereas 610 has 4 gb...I really like that SSD on the 1340 and now going back to regular hard drives seems ancient haha.

 

That's the biggest "problem." An ULV CPU is never going to be "comparable" to a regular Intel mobile CPU. It is just like comparing a Vaio Z & a Vaio TT (in terms of CPU in both these laptops).

On a serious note, since an Intel P9600 CPU, a Blu-Ray drive, & a SSD drive is a must, then you'll probably need to go with the Z690. I'm not going to comment on the price because this is subjective IMO.

 

Well they're not musts because the price is way too much hahahaha, but I would like something that can last 2-3 years in terms of technology. It's all the things I would like to have but it's not realistic . I'm making my decision tonight and tomorrow because I'm not 100% sure I'm returning my Dell...they're offering me a CPU upgrade with perhaps a 128 gb --> 256 gb SSD HD upgrade as well if I keep it. If that's the case, I'd be stupid to let that pass!

 

That's a really good deal. Dell has always been good with such "compensations" to the customer to try to prevent you from returning their laptops when you complain hard enough & try to return your purchase.

I would also suggest that you call up Sony to see what kind of deal you can get from them if you're going to purchase the Z690. I guess it doesn't hurt to hear what they offer, does it?

Anyway, go ahead with what you plan to do with your laptop decisions. I do sincerely apologize if my delayed decision on selling my Z610 is affecting your decision somehow or/and is going to cause any inconvenience to you because I'll really need a day or two, maybe the whole weekend to sit down & think hard about my possible sale.

Good luck.

 

So, anyone able to give me more detail about replacing the hard drive? I get the screws part but I am trying to draw more information about prying the keyboard off. Is it easy or tough to pry off?

 

If I remembered correctly, someone mentioned about first prying the end of the keyboard/palmrest part, then the front of it....

My apologies for not being able to provide any help because I've not tried this & don't intend to do it in the near future.

 

anyone know what the max ram is for the Z? Sony list 4g but what can the chipset handle? 8? anyone running more than 4?

 

According to RamCity, it can handle 8 GB, as long as you use a 64-bit OS.
However, 4 GB DDR3 DIMMs are still horribly expensive.
2*2 GB CAS-7 DDR3 1066 notebook memory is $70
2*4 GB CAS-7 DDR3 1066 notebook memory is over $1000

 

Yep the guy at Sonystyle mentioned 8, but something like 500$ per chip, maybe more.

 

My Sony Z 21XN very slow...

P9500 4 GB DDR3 SD 1066 Mhz 250 Gb 5400 Rpm SATA HDD



my hardisk test result

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7071/hardisktestpg2.jpg

What will I do ...I am think will be samsung SSD 256 gb but very expensive

 

Are you running Vista? If yes, do not worry. Do a search on the forum on Vista tweaks & you'll be able to improve the overall speed of your system.

If you can't find them, send a PM to sonoritygenius. She's got this list of links that teaches one how to tweak Vista here & there to get the best out of the system!

 

Well, I ordered my VAIO Z540 over the weekend and it had a shipment date of 7-10 business days, so I didn't expect it to come for awhile, when lo and behold, when I got home I found quite a surprising package. That's right, my new VAIO came early! In fact, I'm using it to type out this post as I speak. Anyway, here are some initial impressions/queries:

-I think its going to take awhile for me to get used to the "spaced out" keyboard arrangement. I'm just so used to them being scrunched up together that I find myself mistyping quite a bit.

-The laptop feels solid in general, but the short plastic tubes at each hinge are kinda loose. Nothing big, just something I noticed. Likewise, the "shutter" for the dock connector port on the bottom feels somewhat unsecured when it's closed, but that doesn't really matter too much. Still, I wonder if anyone else has noticed that too?

-This one's kinda hard to explain but, on the bottom of the outside lid, at the "crease" (or where the lid halves are put together), there seems to be some rough edges in the crease in the center and at the edges near the hinges. Looks like it was deliberate given the positioning of the marks, but it still looks like shoddy worksmanship (even if it's hard to notice).

-The box came with: the laptop, charger (w/ power cord), battery, and some pamphlets. Is that all that's supposed to be in it? Not even some CDs or an actual operations manual? The online description says it comes with a XP downgrade disk, but all I got was a slip of paper from Sony saying I need to go to this website http://www.qdirect.net/sony/VistaDG2.aspx (which doesn't seem to be working) or call a number to actually order it. Just seems really roundabout and inefficient, but oh well.

-When I heard everyone talk about the bloatware I was actually a bit incredulous (my previous computer had some bloatware on it, but it certainly wasn't that much in comparison), thinking it was just a lot of exaggeration, but OMG there really is a lot of crap on here. However, since I'm most likely going to downgrade to XP, I don't know if I'll bother trying to get rid of them right now.

-When placed on my desk and typing (or resting my hands on the palm rests), I can feel the laptop kinda "sink." I guess it doesn't lie directly onto the surface.

-All my old desktop wallpaper was in 1280X800 resolution, does anyone have any good sites for 1366x768 resolution wallpaper?

 

Don't forget to burn the Recovery Discs.

 

I'm trying to access the website that VAIO is giving me in order to get my downgrade CD, but do you happen to know if I get a Vista disk as well?

 

At least two copies, since the burn process doesn't verify, and you won't find any errors until you try to restore.

 

You have to burn the Recovery Discs. That is your Vista disks.

 

arth1 is right. At least 2 copies.

I'll also suggest that if possible, burn the recovery discs using different brands of DVDs for each set. That way you will have a higher chance of ensuring that you'll get a set of working recovery discs because certain DVDs may or may not work too well with certain optical drives.

 

You can try cutting your old wallpapers with the same aspect ratio as 1366x768 (like 1280x720 by shaving off about 80 horizontal lines). It will stretch it out a bit, but shouldn't be that noticeable.

 

Thanks for the suggestions you two! Do I just do the included Vista "Create a Recovery Disk" option?

 

Sony's bloatware nonsense is reason enough for me to go with Vista Business + Fresh Start just to sorta help with it. My God.

Re: the wallpaper question, I would start at interfacelift.com.

 

Also, my Z's fan seems to be on constantly. It'll turn on for like a minute then turn off for 5 sec, then turn on again. Is this normal? Is there a way to correct his? My old laptop is sitting right next to it and it doesn't have its fan on at all right now.

 

Go Luxor
Everything you mentioned and listed were the same experiences people had with their Z's including myself. This was covered in another thread when the first Z was released in July 08. So rest assured your not alone with those little annoyances.

 

The fan in my Z seems to be constantly on too. I guess that is normal since a lot of people have the same experience as what Geeee had mentioned.