Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

The reason why is academic. It just sounded like you were inferring that BD movies on this screen look blurry and I just wanted to clear that up for anyone out there considering the BD option. While the BD image may be scaled down, it does not look blurry and is in fact superior to the DVD image.

 

Is there something particular I should be staring at in that image when I do the full screen vs. tile test? It's hard to compare the two cuz unless you have 2 Z's, it's impossible to do a side by side comparison. Is there a way to switch between the 2 with 1 click? That would make it easier to compare. I'm not saying I don't believe you, I just wanna see how much difference it makes.

 

Any scaling whether up or down will result in quality loss to a certain extent from the original source. In most cases however downscaled video should retain much of the quality of the original. PCs are much better at this than something like a television.

Not sure if an image would be a good example as in most cases scaling of something like video uses much better algorithms. Though it does prove the point of potential quality loss.

I definitely wouldn't use the term blurry. Though there should be some quality loss, it shouldn't be too noticeable.

 

so where can i find real pictures??

 

Laptop shipped from CA. Should get it tomorrow and I'll compare it with the 1340 before I decide which one to keep!

 

Where in CA?

 

San Diego (more characters for length requirement)

 

Carlsbad, CA...I'm in Nashville, Dell territory. I take frequent trips to Los Angeles to visit my parents though so hopefully this laptop will come in handy with its light weight and good battery life (I hope...)

 

Im still waiting for my CTO to ship. Already got my neoprene cases, ordered friday. Estimated date for shipping is 2/27. Has anyone tried to return the neoprene cases that come with the 300 off bundle without having problems (ie they saying no because it is a bundle)? I have absolutely no use for them and only got them cause they were the cheapest accessories so that the bundle price would be the lowest.

 

Hey, guys, what do you think about the "VAIO® Z Series Leather Carrying Case VGP-CKZ2"? Can it be useful? Is the price worth it?

 

Got the laptop and am just setting it up now...right off the bat, the 1600x900 resolution isn't that bad. I actually like it more than the 1280x800 resolution on my Dell. The fan is on and makes some noise, which is annoying but because it comes with a SSD, other sounds are nonexistent. It doesn't seem like the brightness of the screen is that good (I turned it up the whole way too)...my Dell with an LED is much brighter...not sure why. It seems pretty fast and the keyboard is nice to type on.

Mine came with the special edition shadow border design on the lid...I don't really like the look of it and comparing the lid to the 610 at BB, I like plain black better.

So right now, do I think it's worth it? Probably not...if it was $2000, I would consider it, but because I spent $2800 all said and done (tax in Nashville is 9.25%), I'm really not sure what to do. I'll play around with it some more, but my gut is telling me that the 610 is the way to go, even though it doesn't come with the 3 year warranty (or the SSD or the P9600) I got with this one. I really like the design better than the Dell so I'm probably returning that one.

 

Neoprene for the win brosef. And apparently the Sonystyle guy was wrong about the spray being an accessory, bummer. I'll probably just use one of the neoprene to blow my nose with if opting for the warranty rebate.

The CKZ2 looks really expensive. Personally I am going to go for the CKZ1 because I kind've like the easy slip-in easy take out with the magnetic and it is a hard case. But I haven't looked at any 3rd party cases for the Z so I would personally like to hear what anyone else is using!

 

BB sells warranty I believe. Besides, I think for Bestbuy, the extended warranty covers free battery replacements, whereas the Sony extended warranty does not. The more you know.

What sucks about the Sonystyle right now is you either have to choose a Z540 CTO with a 32 bit OS, or go with the Z690 which is more expensive in a way. I mean, I'd probably choose the Z690 anyway, but the Z640 should have been available along with the 690 imo for people who like to have options.

 

Yeah but I don't get $300 off the price of the laptop by choosing a 3 year warranty at Best Buy . I noticed that out of the box, there were 92 processes running on the Sony, as opposed to the 60 on the Dell. Too much bloatware! It needs a good ol' reformat.

 

True. But you do get the Mail-in rebate that's worth 379$. So maybe you can sell the stuff.

 

Oh yeah that's true. Well I'm still not sure yet what to do. I am returning my Dell, so now I just need to decide between the 610 and the 690. I actually like the 1600x900 resolution and the SSD is a nice, quiet feature to have. I can tell the P9600 is faster than the P8600 on the 610 but it really doesn't justify the extra expense. On the other hand, this laptop will last me at least 2-3 years, so I don't want to skimp TOO much, but the 18 mo no interest BB is offering is nice to have (I withdrew my app for the Sony one since I didn't need ANOTHER credit line). The shadow border does grow on you though.

 

I hope you don't mean in practical applications because the only way you can tell the difference is through synthetic benchmarks or when you are fully utilizing the CPU through CPU intensive applications. The CPU is not a bottleneck at all for maybe 99% of usage, only to heavy users will they notice a slight difference.

 

I definitely noticed it when shutting down and starting up...it seemed to be much faster than the one I restarted at Best Buy. I figured the extra 3MB cache would help in this regard as well.

 

No, I don't think CPU speeds affect that. Netbooks can bootup in 25 seconds. Bestbuy probably has their own b2b agreement bloatware for the 610's. If you aren't utilizing all of the CPU, you won't notice a difference.

 

The question is how much you really can get from selling it? For example, the productivity pack (those 3 accessories) cost $313.19 from Amazon.com right now.

 

Exactly. Btw 313$ isn't too bad. One CKZ1 case went for around 50$ and the shipping was like an additional 8$. I think the battery will go for a lot since the only ones are available for 250$+shipping. I've been looking for these on eBay but can't seem to find a good deal on them, no one ever lists batteries for bid and cases always have a lot of people bidding (what I really want).

 

Well, if I can get the productivity bundle with the Sony laptop I got, that would be even better! =) I'm waiting for Bob's update.

Is it just me or is the battery life on this computer not all that impressive? Web surfing gives me about 3.75 hours, which is not what I was expecting. The screen is dim too...maybe I got a busted battery? I was expecting 5 hours with minimal work.

 

You mean this?

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...-1&productId=8198552921665453950&tab=Features
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...-1&productId=8198552921665453981&tab=Features

 

And oh yeah, the packaging for the computer was really nice I thought...better than the unboxing videos I saw on the internet. The box was black in an apple-ish manner and all the internal packaging was also black with the computer pretty much suspended in clear plastic.

 

Great price cut. Makes the mobility bundle less marketable now.

Where are the unboxing videos?

 

The following thread should be helpful to you. Good luck.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=291748&highlight=z+case

 

Can you take a photo of that shadow border design on your Z? Your the first on this thread to own that lid. Congrats!

 

Just did and posted them to my member gallery. I think they're still pending but they should be there soon.

 

Can you post a link to the your photos in member gallery? I was just there and there a quite an amount of photos. Thanks.

 

I believe the following is theguac's photo:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1730

 

The image is still pending.

 

Yeah how long does it take for it to get approved? I wonder if there's a faster way to do this haha.

 

Does this link work maybe?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gallery/uploads/145988/IMG_0532.jpg

 

Why not just post your photos in this thread, like I did with my Z?

 

How do I do that? It says I need a URL when I want to add pictures to my post...

 

SHIZ!!! My estimated ship date went from 2/27 to 3/04!!! Has anyone else noticed that change with their order? Is sony having problems with components or financing or something? I was looking forward to getting it early like others have, I guess now I just keep waiting.

 

dude, what's so difficult? Just use any free photo hosting services out there, there are tons of them: imageshack, supload, imagehost, turboimagehost, and so on.

 

No image; all I see is someones blanket. Thanks for your efforts though.

Yes there is. Just upload the photo by clicking on the picture icon. The icon that has mountains on it.

I agree. Please, don't make us hunt for it. Life is stressful enough.

 

hmm.. just wanna ask does the HDD needle park upon sleeping?
cos my laptop is subject to jerks when commuting, and i do use the sleep function alot.. (not hibernate) thanks!

 

Don't worry. I'm sure they will ship it out well before the estimated shipping date. Probably today or tomorrow.
Which one did you order btw, is it the 690 or the 540?

They changed my 690's estimated shipping date from the 26th to 27th after a day of ordering it (I ordered it on phone last Thursday), and guess what?
They shipped it out last night Estimated delivery: 28th.
I also just got my 2 accessories today in mail.
Of course, I have to wait till Money to actually get my hands on the Z.

Can't wait!

Good luck.

 

^+1 I've asked this question a couple times and it's fallen on deaf ears. I presume no one's tried it. It would cost me $10 to ship back so I'd come out about $30 ahead. I'm thinking about it but I'm lazy. Let me know if you do it and I'll do the same for you.

 

How many here use the HDD protect feature? I have it set to the lowest sensitivity (performance), yet it's still to sensitive. If I move it from my lap to the table (or vice-versa) even moderately fast it triggers protect mode.

 

I ordered 690. You meant to say 690 right? I ordered mine on Friday(2/19), so hopefully from your mouth to sony's ears that it ships tomorrow. I got my accessories the next DAY (2/20) (2 neoprene cases)! The only thing that is worrying me is that my date went from the 27th to 3/04 while your date only went forward 1 day. Crossing my fingers that it means nothing.

 

Yup, just used imageshack...thanks. Being a med student doesn't allow me much time to explore the world out there. But now I know.

Hm, the image of the mountain brings up a "enter URL of the image" thing.

 

How can I know if my Z520 is supplied with an internal WWAN? and my friend has Z540 too, how can we check?

 

This is the Shadow Border design on the 690YAD. Hosting actually didn't take much time! Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Ooops! Sorry I meant the "paper clip" icon; but looks like you figured it out. Thanks! It looks like premium carbon and regular carbon fused together to make this shadow border design. If you don't like it, I'm sure you can still return or perhaps exchange it for the premium carbon. It's definitely different.

 

Now the question is...return the 690 for the 610 or keep the 690?...ugh...I'm very indecisive.

 

Any clue guys?

 

Device manager?