Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

Thank you for the reassurance. I guess I'm just really anxious since it's new and all. But I am searching the forums now (darn that 40sec lag) and am finding some threads about these.

 

Just got my Z540. It came with Vista Business (my first Vista PC) and an XP disc. I'm actually trying to avoid doing clean install.

Is there any way to uninstall the AOL junk? It is NOT listed under Control Panel>Programs and Features.

 

random fact: after using the 690 for a while on 1600x900, i have realized that I get a headache after looking at the screen for too long and have now changed the DPI to 120 so that it's easier on my eyes

 

I have poor vision and if I bought the z690, I would have to set the dpi to 140 which the dpi calculator computes. To set at 140 dpi, this would be 146% setting in Vista and on the lower resoution Z to set at 119 dpi would be 124% setting.
I don't know if this would distort images or not. Has someone tested this or are running this dpi and how does it look and thanks.

Gary

 

One question about the student 10% discount from Sonystyle: does it work for everyone or only for actual students?

 

from what i know, it seems to work for everyone, at least in the US, it might be different in europe

 

Thanks, it is ok for me because some of my friends from US can help me to get Z from USA. European prices on Z are just terrible. Difference between prices on the Z in my country and USA is around 700$ (US dollars) or even more - depends on the shop.

Just look at this: http://translate.google.com.ua/tran...y_vaio_vgn-z11vrnb&sl=ru&tl=en&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8

 

It's a mixed bag and in the end, not really worth it form me. Too many web pages and applications look either fuzzy or out of whack. I don't want to have to keep messing with the settings. At 96 dpi everything looks perfect but small. However, when it does work, it works great. I loved the larger text when it was crisp.

 

10% discount makes me feel special, even though I'm not and anyone and everyone can use it. Good trick Sony.

 

So I take it your assuming I'm going to get the bundle AND the discount? It looks like your taking the discount but I know you want the bundle more and your rep told you it's one or the other. Are you waiting to see?

 

If you do it online you can get both.

If you order through phone they usually only give you one
I just took the 300 promo off the extended warranty.

 

Is that confirmed? Wait. Are we talking about both the $300 warranty + 2 accessories promo off & mail-in rebate?

 

I run my Z at 140 dpi, and after the initial readjustment of fonts following the DPI change, everything looks great. It doesn't distort anything -- images are measured in pixels, and will be the same size no matter what the DPI setting is.

The main problem is web pages that just aren't made for bigger fonts, and erroneously assume that a certain number of characters will fit in a certain number of pixels. Normally, these too can be viewed by pressing CTRL- to zoom out (I use Firefox, in Internet Explorer you would have to choose "smaller" or "smallest" fonts from a pulldown menu).

Another problem is that Vista only lets you choose between Huge, Enormous and Gargantuan icon sizes for the desktop, and you easily run out of screen real estate with a high DPI setting. Choosing "Windows XP style" icons (i.e. Huge), combined with adjusting the icon spacing in the advanced Appearance settings will help reduce the problem, but you still won't be able to have more than a couple of dozen icons on screen.

Anything else can easily be adjusted in the Appearance panel or programs, so you get the font sizes and fonts that work best for your eyes. And at 140 dpi, most fonts are very crisp and well defined, so even with bad eyes you can often go down a point size compared to a lower DPI monitor.

 

It also depends on how willing huntnyc is on making his on "trial & error" changes in the font sizes & such. If he/she is like me... However, you ( arth1) are absolutely correct.

 

Oh I just meant that Sony is clever in making their customers feel special through discounts so they will feel better about their purchase lol.

But the 10% discount can be combined with either the 300$ warranty rebate or the mail-in productivity/mobile bundle, it is independent. The question is whether you can get the 10% discount, 300$ warranty rebate, and the mail-in mobile bundle.

 

I believe he is talking about 10% student discount and the 300$ warranty rebate.

 

I think we're talking about 2 diff. things here. markhedder was told by his rep that he can't take the $300 warranty/2 accesories deal and still be eligible for the Productivity/Mobility bundle rebate. I got the warranty/accessories deal and am in the process of possibly being approved for the Mobility bundle rebate.

I think it's been established that the warranty deal can be combined w/ the student discount now both on-line and over the phone. What I am waiting to find out is if you can get both these deals AND the rebate.

As an aside, I'm thinking of returning the neoprene cases as I have no need for them. Do you think there is any chance they would go back then and void my warranty deal? Am I just being a greedy a-hole at this point?

 

The guy in the Sonystyle store told me that a special screen cleaning spray for Sony notebooks may be available for purchase as an "accessory" too for 20$~, which I find infinitely more useful than any neoprene cases (the other acessory I like being the CKZ case).

 

Why don't you try to sell those 2 neoprene cases here at the MarketPlace section of NBR? There is going to be someone who wants to buy them at a cheaper price than else where. Furthermore, you won't be losing too much money by selling those here, will you?

 

I personally do not recommend using any sort of spray cleaning thingy for your Vaio screens, whether it is "special" or not, but that is just me. A microfiber cloth will do the job well.

 

It may help won't it in some cases no? Just spray a bit on the microfiber cloth and wipe.

EDIT: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=180803&highlight=notebook+cleaning+guide

Here's a guide, part 3 out of a 4 part guide to cleaning your laptop overall, this one deals with all the methods to cleaning your screen.

Dry microfiber is only good for small specs of dust, not good for anything beyond including gunk or fingerprints, if you want that brand-new clear LCD screen look and adding water to it doesn't make much difference beyond the plain cloth.

 

I know this sounds quite unreasonable, but having had my new Z for only about a day now, I still can't get on board with the constant fan noise. I've tried all the power management tips and what not, but the fan still blows pretty constantly (the only exceptions being intermittent "idle" periods, lasting about 1 minute at a time, when no air is being blown out). The noise is simply unacceptable IMO (my friend even commented on how loud it was right off the bat), and I can't seem to find any solid solutions to this "problem" (I've read about undervolting, but poster comments seem to indicate that it only helps lessen the sound when using the laptop at "full power"). I don't expect to find a completely silent laptop, but I do want one where the fan isn't always blowing like that.

 

Yeesh, how bad is the fan really? It seems like people mentioned it sometimes early on in this thread, then nobody talked about it for a while, now it appears again. Any comparisons of the fan to other laptops?

 

Yeah, I didn't read anything about that for a while now. I thought the fan noise problem "went away" either by a firmware/bios fix or people discovering the "trick" on keeping the fan off more.

 

The fan in my Z590 is far quieter than the fan in my old Compaq laptop, or my wife's NR. It's audible, but not by any means loud, either in silent or performance mode (I have reassigned the S2 key to switch between the two). It's no louder than the hard drive, and far less noisy than the DVD drive.

If the fan is especially loud, it's likely due to sloppy installation or less likely due to a bad part.

 

I'm fully prepared to accept that it may just be a difference in preference on my part, but to compare: my 3-4year old Dell 700m laptop (which has a 12" inch screen, so it's one of the smaller laptops) is quieter than the Z even when the Z is in its "idle" periods in Stamina mode. And even when both laptops are "blowing," my Dell never quite reaches the same loudness as the Z (though both are noticeably audible), and certainly never stays blowing for that long either. For another comparison: in a crowded room, or one with a decent amount of ambient noise, I don't think the Z's noise is all that bad, but since I do most of my computing in a quiet environment, it is really noticeable. The Z's blowing sound isn't "sharp" like a bang or something, but its consistent hairdryer sound (a comparison I've read in some threads that is very apt now) is enough of a distraction for me to really consider returning it.

I've been happy with my Dell, but given its age and my changing needs in the near future, I need a new computer. Although I didn't know much about Sonys before I started searching for a new laptop, I had always heard they were of good quality. Now, I can understand why the fan may be set to blow so frequently (the Z is definitely cooler than my Dell), but the sound is just too annoying for me, especially given what I'm used to. I'm not trying to lambaste the Z (as I love everything else but the fan), but I simply cannot get used to the constant fan blowing.

 

The fan has not been a problem at all for me. I too read about it towards the beginning of this thread and was anxious to see if it was fixed. For a while, I thought maybe the fan was broken on mine because I never heard anything from it. When it does come on, it sounds normal to me and isn't usually on for very long. Maybe it's cuz I'm not doing anything CPU heavy, just surfing or watching a movie mostly (and when I watch a movie I have headphones on).

 

I only really do spreadsheets/Word/surfing/movies on my laptop too (nothing I think would be considered processor heavy, especially since I've been doing the same things on my older Dell with no big problems), but the fan is always blowing. I've seen some posts like yours, but I can't tell if you all just have a higher noise threshold (maybe honed from past noisy laptops) or if you all's computers are really just that quiet.

 

The 610 I saw at Best Buy didn't have a problem with the fan either. It seemed quiet and trust me, I've had quiet laptops in the past, so my noise threshold is very very low. It blows plenty of hot air out but the fan doesn't make noise...maybe that was just an isolated incident though.

 

My first Z, the one I returned had exactly the same fan noise as you mention. The fan was constantly on, but it's not IMO noisey as such...again depends how you define noise?.. My SZ fan is noiser!

Undervolting does help, especially in idle..the fan does run slower and quieter but still constant, very cool too only 35c that was with the T9600 2.8GHz, the T7700 in my SZ runs so hot you could fry an egg on it. I think the Z is more effective at cooling the T processors than the SZ...

you would think the P8xxx P9xxx's processors ran even quieter...

 

Yes I've tried 4 different models in the SonyStyle store, all were silent, but then again, that's in a public store so might have assisted in drowning out the sound a little bit, who's to say.

 

In my opinion, fan noise is subjective. There are a lot of factors that contribute to what is "loud" & what is "silent."

Some of the factors:
1) Different people have different perceptions of how loud or how soft the fan noise is.
2) Different people have different level of fan noise tolerance.
3) Different environments where the laptop is used will play a part. Example, the fan noise of laptop A in Best Buy may seem "quiet," but use the same laptop A to do the same tasks in the library may make the fan noise seem "very loud."
4) There are always going to be some slight variations in the production of products in all these laptop parts. When all add up together, it may or may not contribute to the "louder" or "softer" fan noise. No 2 items of the same brand/model will be exactly the same.

 

Same here. I went to Best Buy first to check out the Z, and didn't notice anything particularly noisy either (granted, even at its emptiest, Best Buy isn't the quietest of places, and even if I was specifically listening for laptop noise, I could very well have missed something).

That's the thing that gets me. I can tolerate the fan when it's on idle (it's not too bad, though I can still hear it when I'm not doing anything), but it never stays on idle! At best, it's maybe a 5:1 ratio when it comes to "blowing" time vs. "idle" time (both in minutes).

As for what's noisy, I agree it depends on how you define it. The fan blowing is not noisy in the sense that it will suddenly distract me from actively doing something (like a "bang" or a "click" sound). However, it is noisy in the sense that I can't completely tune it out (it really does sound like a low hairdryer: not particularly harsh-sounding, but you can't ignore it either, at least not for long periods).

 

The fan noise on my Z610 is definitely "louder" than the fan noise on my SZ791 & it seems to run constantly too.

 

Btw what model do you have?

 

I believe GoLuxor have a Z540 that he/she just got yesterday.

 

That's both comforting and disappointing at the same time. On one hand, it's somewhat nice to know that I'm not the only one, yet at the same time, it doesn't give me that nice of an outlook for if I want to exchange for another Sony. Unfortunately, my window for returning my Z is very small (and even then I'm likely to come out of this at a loss b/c I maybe hit with a restocking fee depending on whether they agree with my reasoning for return), so I have to make a decision quick, and right now, I'm leaning towards doing a refund and starting my laptop search all over again.

 

Looks like it, apparently he was the same one that brought up this topic a few pages ago too. Thought it was someone else.

 

Correct. I (I'm a he haha) have a Z540NCB.

 

Where did you buy your Z540NCB from? I thought you bought a Z540 CTO (& not a pre-config Z540) from SonyStyle web site... At least the good news is that you didn't buy your Vaio from Newegg because they don't accept returns.

 

I got mine from Buy.com. I'm reading their return policy/procedures right now actually.

 

I think Buy.com do allow exchanges...

 

Yeah, but I'm actually leaning towards a refund at this point. Given what I know now, I just don't think the odds are on my side for either getting an exceptionally quiet Z in exchange or learning to tolerate the constant fan-ing.

 

@arth1,

Thank you for the confirmation. Looked at the Z today and the screen was definitely cripser than my FW and even more vibrant. Will think some more about whether I could practically use this small screen even with my little vision. Thanks again for your help.

Gary

 

Attention to all people with 1600x900 screens. Do me a favor and measure the word "Explorer" (from internet explorer desktop icon) in mm please. Thanks! Having second thoughts on going with which res.

 

To match the display DPI exactly (assuming you have 16.4" 1600x900) set the DPI to 112.

The trouble is with Windows in general that it doesn't allow you to increase Shell Dialog font size.

 

hahaha, i know european prices are ridiculous, it goes like this..

USA<Canada<Europe

i live in canada and the prices here are also ridiculous, no bundles.. coupons.. discounts or anything, so i got my 690 for 2.6k+

 

oh thanks, i'll try that out later, and.. what is shell dialog font size..?

 

16.4"? What do you mean by this? The Z is a 13.1".

 

We may see the Z640 CTO soon. I tried to config a Z540 w/ P8400 and a P9500. Both out of stock (with no temporary msg). However configing with P8600 still works. My 2cents.