Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

Actually, if you're going to buy an external USB/eSATA HDD, I'd suggest going a bit further and buy a 1 TB drive. They cost only about 15% more than the 500GB drives for twice the storage - cheaper per GB. I've been using a Western Digital My Essentials 1 TB drive (with a nice aluminum enclosure to backup all my computers (2 desktops, 3 laptops and the Xbox 360 hard drive for about 5 months now. I'm able to keep several backups for each device before having to delete one to save a new one. It's also thin enough to store in my Firesafe between backups for extra protection. Backups are fast, too. Anyway, that's my 2 cents (after inflation).

 

Just wondering how are z series laptops generally with gaming, what specs would you get if you wanted to game on a Z series?

 

Use the search function.

 

Can anyone verify the actual release date of W7? Is it feasible to wait to get a new Z when W7 is out?

 

If RC1 ends ~ March of 2010, W7 should be released sometime mid 2010 I believe...

 

This is driving me potty! Has anyone had any problems connecting the HDMI port to a TV?

I plug it in with the LCD TV swiched on, nothing is detected! I go to the graphics card, personalise, it gives me a couple of screens, such as extend desdktop, mirror it etc. I select. Nothing. I use FN and F7 and it gives me options of LCD only or tools. In tools I can find no way of getting it to work!

Help!!! I only bought this laptop because everyone told me a VAIO was worth it and because it has an HDMI port. I have another 14 days to try or I'll have to take it back and start again...

 

Its enough to handle games, but dont expect very high settings, I do manage to run HL2 in High at 1600x900 though, and it flows very nice and looks awsome on the Z screen.

The main problem is that you cant choose any other 16:9 resolution than 1600x900. If we could choose resolutions like 1024x600 it would display nicely in 16:9 as well as gaining a lot of performance.

 

The refresh has something new about the touchpad (see attached image).

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/vaio/products/Z/image.html


Seems like they have upgraded the WLAN part as well (see attached image).
Maybe they use the 5300 card when choosing 3x3?

http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Product/Vaio/Z/z92ys_ds_js.html

 

Yeah same problem here. Tried plugging into plasma and nothing. Adjusted settings on 2nd display and nothing.

Didnt have time to examine problem.

 

What you see is the Felica chip login pad that's only available in Japan (used for online purchase)

 

5300 can provide up to 450 Mbps by ganging up 5 Ghz an 2.4 GHz channels simultaneously and 3x3 MIMO. This card is about $35 in online shops so those who crave for even more throughput can upgrade their Zs

The 5100 in mine gives me 300 Mbps (after changing channel width to Auto from default 20 MHz), which is enough for me. Besides, you'll need proper router to utilize all advantages of 5300. I think, D-Link 855 is dual-channel.

 

may i know whats the idle temp when running on speed mode? mine somehow rise up around 67 ~ 68c...

running on vista business 32bit, driver no: 7.15.00.10.1502

i wonder if updating the driver able to lower down the temp? im already put the fan to run on performance.

 

I had the same problem and fixed it. When you plug in the hdmi cable just press FN and F7 at the same time, that should do the trick.

 

Yeah, I realised that Sony didn't produce anything with a Quadro GPU. But I always wanted a (Sony) lappie with nVidia (the cheapest and smallest one possible - chose the Z over the CS), so here I am......

My graphics seems to crash a driver or something once a month or so (can anyone comment on this crash - screen goes blank black and turns on again after 5 seconds or so, with Vista saying that it has recovered from a graphics driver crash or something...) - I can't reproduce the error, it seems to happen completely randomly and out of the blue. And it only occurs in SPEED mode, never on the intel card. Can anyone comment on this issue...?

Though I never knew that Quadro would decrease the rendering time in CAD 2 to 4 fold... I will try investigating that driver that ZugZug has posted.

I have burnt dual layer DVDs in the past, and I agree that it takes its time... And that was with 6x speed. I really wonder how long a 2x speed, 50GB burn would take...

I am discouraged from HDD these days since in the past I lost a LOT of work in a 2mont old HDD by simply carrying from school to home and vice versa. Learnt one lesson from that fiasco though - backup your data at least once a week!

The NDAS - Network Digital Access System (also known as NAS in some countries) option does seem like a good option though, since I already have a 1TB wireless NDAS media centre... I actually didn't think of that. I will try seeing how that will help me. Hopefully I could get the linux on that thing working with the router and Vista...

It is a pity that the Z doesn't have a sata port like some other lappies... Would have made data transfer and backup a bit more appealing...

 

Interesting point. Has anyone burnt a 50GB blu-ray disc? If so how long did it take? If it takes more than an hour, is it really worth the hassle?

 

I will tell you now that it will take more than an hour. I burnt a 5GB dual layer DVD (6x) and that took 20 minutes. So, a 50GB BD (10x the size I burnt on a DVD+DL), plus factor in the 1/3 speed... Though I am not too sure if the calculated time is feasible or not. Maybe someone wishes to comment...?

My other reason of favouring a BD drive is to keep my Z futureproof (at least, for the next 3 years).

 

sorry to ask you this again, may i know whats the temperature of idle state for nvidia 9300gs? and do you put the fan to performance state? thanks.
i feel its way too high on mine, and am wondering if this is normal to your z.

for the screen crash / restarting means, the gpu might get overheating. im cant sure of this, but have friend who own acer aspire with ati x1600, and the behavior is the same when he running intensive gpu software (gaming).

 

I remember running a temp app a few months back, but I don't do so any more.

But if memory serves me correct, idling temp on my Z was 60'C with the SPEED mode. I saw it peak to 86'C when I was using CAD and rendering. But I never saw it go any higher than that.

Idling temp depends on what your computer is doing when it is idling (eg, is it connected to the internet, downloading something in the background, antivirus software active etc.) In my case, it was running MS Word when I checked. It will also depend on the environment. I checked that temp back when it was summer, so a room temp of approx 26'C or so.

Don't worry about the idle temperature. You should worry if your peak temp goes over 100'C - that could mean something.

I use my Intel card most of the time these days (only use nVidia when doing intensive 3d stuff). On Intel mode, I use balanced fan performance on AC, and silent on battery. If I am on nVidia, I use balance on AC, and again silent on batt. I may sometimes use nVidia on performance if watching bluray files, but it seems that the intel card handles the bluray files well with balanced settings.

And my crash happens completely randomly. Sometimes, it isn't doing anything graphics intensive, it just blanks out and comes back on with a crash notification. I do have a scenario which the crash happens often (but not always).
Go open a pdf file, and pressing the CTRL and using the mouse pad scroll, zoom into the file. Do all this in SPEED mode. My Z sometimes crashes doing that, and starts lagging and flashing its screen black and to desktop (and I have to open task manager using CTRL+SHIFT+ESC and close adobe down, all the while it is lagging). When adobe reader closes, the flashing stops, the screen returns to normal, and Vista displays a little balloon at the bottom right saying a graphics driver has recovered from a crash (I can't remember the exact driver name, though it starts with a n....)

Would anyone be able to comment on this? I think it would be best to get this discussed and over with while I remember it...

Hope that helps.

 

i just try out what you said above, and its works fine to me. my adobe reader run smooth and no choppy behavior.

thanks for the input on the gpu temp.
anyone is welcome to post up their gpu temp.
mine usually ranging between 67 ~ 70 when doing some browsing, irc, messenger and a winamp running.

 

When I plugged an HDMI display in I got 5 options with Fn+F7:

LCD only / DVI only / LCD + DVI / HDMI only / LCD + HDMI

The DVI options are there because it was also in the Z dock. It all worked fine first time. I'm on XP too.

BTW this is on the SPEED setting. I'm not sure HDMI output works on the STAMINA setting.

Hope this helps,

S

 

Thanks Stevod, I don't get those options. It is in Speed Mode, which is about the only thing that manual says about the process of connecting. Mind you, I am on Vista Business, perhaps that's the problem?

Anyone out there know of a fix / workaround for me?

 

@yarny21: Make sure that you select HDMI source with your TV remote, only then would notebook sense it.

 

When I first connected my Z to an HDTV via HDMI Cable, everything was automatic. The movie displayed and the Z screen automatically shuts off.

Did you do what ZugZug mentioned above my post? You need to select the input on your remote i.e. Input 1, 2, 3, 4, USB, 5, 6, 7. I have a Sony TV and there's 7 inputs. One for the DVD Player, another for Digital Camera. Select the correct one for HDMI.

Also, there's a settings tab in control panel under DISPLAYS, specifically for this type of connection should you decide to modify any further.

 

My Z-690 just came in. Almost a week early! I'm still in the process of setting it up, but so far its great. I do have a question regarding the GPS... has anyone been able to make it work? I have not activated a plan with Verizon, and I don't plan to. Is that required to make the GPS work? When I click "Turn On", it turns off after a few seconds... Also, it seems like only WWAN or Wireless LAN can be turned on at once? So we can't turn GPS on and use WiFi????

 

Ok, i've made some progress. I had to reinstall the "Gobi UNDP-1 Driver". That is the driver for the Verizon WWAN/GPS controller. I noticed that when I turned on the WWAN module, device manager reported that the Qualcomm device couldn't be loaded. So I downloaded the drivers off Sony's website at: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNZ690&upd_id=4386&os_id=34#

When I rean that program, I used the Uninstall option. Then I ran it again, installing the new drivers. GPS seems to work now, but it shuts of WiFi when I power it on. Looking for a solution on that right now...

 

Ok guys, I just installed Windows 7 on my Vaio Z and its amazing. Its 10x faster. You don't know what your Z Vaio is capable of until you install windows 7. I presume its because Windows 7 knows how to use the hardware much better and more efficiently.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

yep, my LG LCD has several HDMI inputs and I selected the one where the laptop is. I also deactivated CEC like the Sony manual says on this issue. Nothing!

 

How much did you partition for W7? Any driver issues? I'm still having problems' haven't work on it for days though. Can you provide a quick step-by-step guide of your installation? Thanks.

 

Did you open the program on your Z that your using to play the DVD, for example WinDVD? It should display.

 

Have you tested the cable elsewhere? You never know.....

S

 

Hi i'm writing for the first time on this forum, its great. I decided finally to buy a vaio z, because for so long i was postpone it, waiting for upgrades.Now its out of stock on uk site(carbon version, 2.93 cpu) and on usa has a big discount. so i'm wondering if it will be soon a new model? does anyone know somethink?
thank you thodoris

 

first and foremost, welcome to nbr forum. im not sure about the refresh update for Z for uk and us, but currently in asia, they are starting on the sales order. the refresh Z does not really give major difference, only that it comes with higher cpu speed for p variant processor, higher ram capacity.

you can take a peek on refresh z for asia. i think it shouldnt have much difference for uk/us consumer too. the refresh Z for asia start with VGN-Z4XXX/X.

http://www.sonystyle.com.cn/products/vaio/z4.htm
http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/vgn_z48gd_x.jsp

 

I just noticed that SonyStyle US is discounting upgrades on the Z series (like they've been doing for SR).

I just configured a 690 with p9600 (only $93 upgrade from p8600), 4GB RAM (only $46 upgrade from 2GB), and 320GB 7200 HDD (still an $83 upgrade from the base 5400 drive) for $1840 in the SonyStyle Education store. That's enticing.

Maybe this is to clear out old stock in preparation for the refreshed models?

 

Is it? Considering that 2 GB of high quality DDR3 memory with the same latencies as Sony's RAM is 30 bucks, and a new 7200 RPM 320 GB Scorpio Black (a better drive than what Sony gives you) is $70, I'm not so sure.
Well, with the Sony-provided HD, at least you won't have to void your warranty by opening the laptop to change it, but the RAM? No need to pay Sony's prices.

 

Can you post the link to that site. My impression was that Sony took the Student discount upon check-out. Thanks.

 

For me? Yes.

The "news" isn't that all the discounted upgrades are a steal. It's that they're at least competitive. I love Newegg, too, but I'm not going to bother with them for RAM for a price difference of 7 bucks (still have to pay NE for shipping).

Replacing the HD on a Z isn't a 5 minute operation. I value my time more than I value the $7-10 savings, plus whatever difference there is between the drives.

And the CPU upgrade went from being way more expensive than what competitors charge to way less expensive. Plus, it's nice knowing that everything from lid to battery is under one warranty. (If only the educ store offered onsite warranty options like Sony does for b2b. Might have to call about that...)

@Geeee,
It's the same site as SonyStyle US. Just click on the special offers link and choose the one about savings for students. The discount shows up in cart for pre-built models and on the configuration page for CTO models.

 

Just bought my new vaio z wit discounts. One question, is it possible to put 6GB of RAM on the motherboard? If it is do you just take out a 2GB and put in a 4GB or is there a special hack?

 

Dunno if this is been discussed before...what kind of laptop cooler would you recommend? My Z can get to 80-90C when playing games and gets pretty hot even if I am only watching videos. Room temperature is not hot but rather cool and it's pretty dry since I live in SoCal.

Thanks!

 

Hi:

I'm thinking of buying a VGN-Z21 MN/B. Looks great.

But, I've seen that Z31s have been released. Anyone know if there's a major difference? Was there a particular flaw with the Z21s that has been remedied?

Cheers
chickentrain

 

when I tried to install SmartWi update (released on 2nd June) for Z590, I keep getting this error message: this update can only run on Microsoft Vista. I'm on Vista.
Any idea?

ps. this is not the first time I get this message, I also got same message with update for Vaio Update 4

Cheers,
Miki

 

Did you try undervolting?

 

there aren't much difference between Z21 and Z31, you can go for the Z21.

 

Undervolting and gaming - it isn't a perfect combination.

 

Undervolting + Gaming = great...

 

Yeah I did. That's the temperature I get after undervolting. Without undervolting, it's so much worse lol.

And I can't notice too much of a difference in performance after undervolting.

 

With discounts SonyStyle has on the Z690 now, Im thinking to get: P9600, 4GB RAM, and 7200rpm HD.

My question is would the P9600 processor cause the laptop to over heat or anything? I think I read something about that before so I wanna make sure before I make the purchase.

By the way, I dont play games on my laptop.

 

Guys was Outlook 2007 installed on the Z with base install? I can't remember if I installed my own or if it came with the computer.

The reason I ask is because my Outlook 2007, after a week running it on Vista 64, is freezing over and over and over. I have updated Windows Update to Vista service pack 2 and all Office updates. Its still happening.

Anyone else?

 

Most likely the Office you got with your Z was the trial version which expires after 60 (or is it 90?) days.

 

Then I must have installed it myself .... and it is not working... it was working fine on the TT model

 

Try to reinstall whole Office package. Happened to me on another machine.