Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

The Vaio Z1 is not a member of the Vaio Z series.
See this site for what a Z1 is.

 

would be available the sony exclusive colors (shadow border) on us, because there is only the carbon and the bordeaux

 

i went to the shop and took a look @ the Z today. i felt that the gap between the keys were a bit awkward and i couldn't get used it it in less than 2 mins of usage. the speed on the system was moderately zappy, maybe because it wasn't running SSD.

i would like to know a few things though.

would the computer be better of a choice when compared to the macbook line?

how long does the upgraded battery last on a single charge?

 

That's impossible to answer. It depends on your usage, which model you get, and many other factors.

It's 50% larger in capacity, which means you get slightly more than 50% prolonged battery life. Slightly more, because to prevent permanent damage to batteries, you can't discharge it fully -- it always has a small reserve which won't be used when it reports "empty". This reserve doesn't grow proportionally to the battery size, which means you'll have slightly more usable capacity on a larger battery, relative to the overall size.

In English, the standard capacity of 2-8 hours depending on usage and settings will be extended to about 3-12.5 hours.

If I needed more than the standard battery, I would personally go with two standard batteries. There's an "emergency battery" (large capacitor) that allows you to quickly swap the battery while the machine is on standby.

 

I didnt know the system had an emergency battery that allowed for quick swaps during standby. If it wasn't for the fact that the extended battery tilted the system into a position that i liked (Better ergonomics) i'd go for that option.

 

I see now, thanks for the info

 

Yeah, I actually had to open a Z600-series once to flash firmware on the SSD inside of it -- quite a hassle. I don't remember anything about a switch near the battery, though... I've found a manual for the SZ, but does anyone have one for the Z?

 

Yay! I bought it about an hour ago and i'm using it now to type this post! When I arrived to check out the laptop to my surprise it was BRAND new, except for the fact it was opened earlier for testing to make sure it was working properly. I checked everything you mentioned and it's perfect except, like you said, there's a slight left angle with the fingerprint reader but it works fine. Everything else is perfect.. I got them to lower the price to $1100 so I hope I got a super steal on this unit... So far i'm in love with the fit and finish of the Z.. it's got everything a sub-compact notebook anyone (well me, atleast) could ever want!

Thanks so much for your help and glad to have joined the Z club with the rest of you.

Jay

 

That's what I got = 1 extra reg batt for add hrs.
**
Although on standby wouldn't the machine still be on?I rather shut it down and replace batt.

 

I've uploded the Z manual here.

 

Yea I have one, you can also find it on the forum, just do a quick search for "Z service manual". Seems like a lot of other people also opened their Z's without ever touching the switch behind the battery. Not sure why the service manual says you need to do that.

Congrat on the purchase!
Glad I helped. $1100 sounds like a steal for a brand new Z. What spec do you have on your Z610?

 

I had no idea of this feature. That's really good to know. How long do you have approx. before it completely shuts down?

 

To shut it down is safest, but the "emergency battery" (i.e. capacitor) on modern laptops should be able to handle the power drain of standby for the time it takes to replace the battery. At least I've been able to do so on all my laptops the last few years, except for a Presario. An IBM Thinkpad I had would even run on the capacitor for enough time to change the battery, if being quick about it. I haven't tried that with the Vaio Z, though.

 

Do I need to put the machine on "STANDBY MODE FEATURE" or not>>
Or the standby u mention would be automatically be set up by the lappy itself as like when u have a generator in ur house and lights go out and gen kicks in??

 

Did a quick try on my HP DV2000 dtd 2007)>>
-Removed the batt>>waited 5 secs >>reinserted batt=had to press the power
button and wait 4 the system to load up(same as a restart)**
I reckon this one doesn't got the "emergency batt"

 

If I follow this steps to open the palmrest and change the HDD thw warranty will not be voided?, is it there anyway to open the Vaio Z without voiding the warranty?

 

$1100 Thats absolutely awesome! congrats on an awesome buy!
Hmm i wonder if i can challenge the Sony Style store next to me to a duel of some sorts to lower the price on a new CTO... lol

 

I agree with arth1 on this. IMO, the answer to the question of "which notebook is better" is partly subjective. Only you the buyer can decide which is the better notebook depending on your usage patterns. Good luck.

 

I've replace the HDD with a SSD. I've did this same with my SZ and hadn't any problems with guarantee. My Sony service point has fixed all issues without any problems or question. But it's my experience with my service point.

 

It is a great deal for a Vaio VGN-Z610Y/B. It is an even lower price than I got for selling my Z610. Congrats on the purchase.

 

The VGN-Z610Y/B was a "Best Buy exclusive." Below is the link to the specs:

http://www.advizia.com/v41/PDF/B2B-934899102-423.pdf

 

Jparity,

It's got a P8600, 4gb ram, 320gb 7200rpm HDD, standard DVD burner, standard 720p screen.. nothing out of the ordinary I suppose, but glad it's already got 4gb ram and a large 7200rpm drive already.. I don't have to spend any extra money to get it the way I want to now so I saved another $150ish or so on ram/HDD.

Jay

 

Oh was it? That's kind of neat to know.. What did they change to make it "exclusive to Bestbuy" ??

 

Hi,

I'm new here but I just had a few questions.

Im going to uni next year and have been looking for a laptop and came upon the Z series a couple weeks ago. I absolutely love everything about it!

My only concern is its size, does anyone have problems with the size of the 13.1 inch screen? as a primary computer, does it ever get annoying using a small screen? And the resolution of 1600x900, is it hard to read sometimes? Do you ever have to strain your eyes/go closer to read things?

I wish, it was a 14 inch, that would be sooo perfect

 

I do not own one yet, but already ordered one...

Take a look at other 14inch laptops. There are some nice out there.
The reason why I took the Vaio Z is the small form factor combined with the low weight (and high res display).
If you want to use it as your primary PC, you might want to consider getting the docking station and a 19" (or larger) display. For long office work, even 14inch is too small...

 

If you want it go for it...I think med school just sucked a little more life out of me than I had originally anticipated lol...It's no cake walk that's for sure. Best advice is to enjoy your summer before anatomy (I assume)

Totally understand how you are feeling btw. The entire process is so ridiculous that you feel so relieved when its finally over haha. Good news is that you get to do it all over again for residency lol.

 

can u recmommend any laptops around 14 inches as light, portable and as good a resolution as the Z series?
Ive only come across the dell studio 14z but it doesnt have an optical drive..

sigh, only if the z series is a bit bigger, id buy it in a flash..

 

Lenovo T400s (though it has no dedicated graphics card)
Acer Timeline 4810T
Asus U80v


Those come to my mind...
But well... they all are 14" - and they come in that size and weight... it is just like that...

 

Hi Everyone.

I've been reading the forum for weeks and I've decided to buy one of the new Z 790 CTO laptops. I'm planning to either get the 128GB (64GBx2) option that Sony offers or put in an Intel X25-M on my own. Their prices are close enough that I'm mostly concerned with performance.

Would one setup have a noticeable performance advantage over the other? Any other pros and cons to either approach?

Thanks.

 

Well, I moved from 15.4" ASUS to 13" Z for office work (40 hrs/week design, programming, documents, spreadsheets, some 3D work) and don't regret it. It's almost the only computer I use (the rest being servers). The only issue with Z - can't page through document with one hand

 

is the Z92 (sold from conics) the newest oversea model?
also what kind of ram does it use?
what kind of SSD?

 

^taken from this site http://www.sonystyle.com.tw/is-bin/...oryID=aX4KAQux7h8AAAEYgZgM_Bdz#productContain

i'm currently in taiwan and i saw this model . i was wondering if you know if the model number reflects to the current model in the USA?
the price for this is 89800NT which reflects to 2,729.471 U.S. dollars. from the looks of it, i can get this model here since i'm in taiwan for vacation. the price looks pretty good since i don't have to pay for california sales tax. it also looks like it comes with SSD and 2 batteries (one standard and one high capacity). also comes with dvdrw drive.

^this configuration is directly from sony style education store with the customizations to match the model i saw in taiwan. the OTD (out the door) price is $3,449.39 including shipping and tax.

can anyone see the difference between the US and Asia model?

someone chime in and educate me please. thanks

 

What do u mean page thrugh document?
is there no scroll function on the z series?

 

LOL, do you really expect all the random people here to understand Chinese?

Yea, the specs look the same to me. It really is that cheap in Taiwan? Damn... Should have asked a friend to bring me one to the states, instead of buying mine here...

You sure the listed price includes the 9-cell battery? Because it says the larger capacity battery is just "選購電池".

 

Yeah, based on the specs from the Vaio VGN-Z48TD notebook given by twe90kid, it mentions that the included accessories are:

1) AC adapter
2) Standard battery (not larger capacity/entended battery)
3) Cleaning cloth

 

What he meant is that in order to use the "Pg Up" or Pg "Down" buttons, you'll have to simultaneously press the "Fn" key plus either the "Up Arrow" key or "Down Arrow" key. The thing is that you'll have to use both hands to perform this function because the "Fn" key & the arrow keys are at opposite ends of the keyboard.

 

I just installed a Nlited copy of XP on my Z...

I've lost the ability to control backlight among other functions.. I've installed every single driver from the support site for XP and none of them restored the backlight control.. What's going on? Why would they not provide the correct software to restore this functionality? The Z's amazifying backlight is giving me a sun burn!

Also, the "Alps" touchpad driver never gave me horizontal/vertical scrolling either.. it didn't add anything.. I thought I had a Sypnatics(sp) or however you spell it touchpad, support site thinks I have an Alps.. maybe this is the issue?

 

Have you researched the Sony Vaio CS. That's a 14inch notebook.

 

Wow. There are so many people here that can read Chinese.

The SR is 13.3 in.

 

So even with only one battery, it's still cheaper by about $500.
should i pull the trigger? everything else looks on par with the american customized version right?

does anyone know if that's the newest model being sold right now?

 

Everything else looks on par, except the guarantee.

 

Are those the same people that slightly damaged/marked their Zs when removing the keyboard? Unless you use the slider it seems that you have to prize the keyboard off in a way it's not supposed to.

S

 

so basically everything is the same. what is the standard warranty for laptops bought in USA?

also for someone who can read chinese, do it show that the case is carbon fiber? how do i check if this is the latest model?

 

You do realize that in this day and age you don't really HAVE to speak Chinese to get a basic understanding of wat it says, right?

Nothing about the carbon fiber though, so tough luck

 

The warranty "terms" are the same, just the service location is in TW if you buy Taiwanese models.

Also, this is the latest model that is equivalent to Z7xx here in US and has the premium carbon fiber top cover.

You can find lots of pictures of Z48TD in this unboxing thread.
http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=258&t=1105103&last=12953143

--
BTW, it also has the black palm rest instead of the gun metal gray palm rest...

 

thanks man. that site you directed me is awesome. very detailed photos.

also thanks for the confirmation that it is the newest model with carbon fiber.

 

Bought in US - warranty & service in USA only. Bought in Taiwan - warranty & service in Taiwan only.

 

When you read a document it is more convenient to move page by page instead of a line (or several) at a time. Scroll is clunky in that case. Try it.
To do "Page Down" you need to press together Fn+DownArrow and they are too far apart for one-hand operation. It's not critical but somewhat inconvenient.

 

Anyone noticed that the Vaio Z notebooks from the above link has got a Sony sticker covering one of the screw holes on the bottom chassis:



Doesn't it "for sure" void the warranty if one is to open up the notebook?

 

This doesn't sound like a big deal at first, but for those of us who live in console-based environments and use the keyboard a lot, it's significant not having dedicated PGUP and PGDN keys. One way to mitigate this is to use Sharpkeys (works in Windows 7 too) to remap the unnecessary keys. I remapped the Windows "secondary button" key as PGDN and the right ALT key as PGUP on my Japanese keyboard. Does anyone actually use the secondary button regularly?