Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

So, i kinda fugged up my Z's screen. It had a black splotch one day, and my attempts to make it go away make it much worse. Now I have several black splotches of dead pixels and about 15 green pixels all on the bottom left corner of the screen (thank god it's not anywhere near the center)

Really can't notice it most of the time because my wallpaper is dark or the movie bars when watching movies but load up a white webpage like google and the ugly comes out hard.

Been looking for a replacement screen
Found this:
http://www.laptopz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18590
and while the size is correct 13.3 the resolution says 1280x768, which i'm hoping is a typo?

also found this
http://www.smartmicrousa.com/sony-vaio-vgn-z-laptop-led-screen-13-1-wxga-anti-glossy.aspx
which has the higher resolution but says 13.1, another typo?

There shouldn't be a problem if I decide to put the higher res LCD when i had the lower one before would there?

 

Qwaarjet, I'm sincerely sorry to hear about your issues & I hope you'll be able to get it fixed soon.

I'm not trying to agitate you or anything but I'm just wondering if you would be kind enough to take some photos of your screen & post them. I'm really interested to see what it looks like as I'm curious. I'll like to stress that my humble request is just meant for self educational purposes.

Once again, I do apologize if I offended you with my request.

 

At first it doesn't look too bad with the right wallpaper


But then bam! :\


With a light website, even worse


looks ok when watching movies from a distance


but up close :\

 

You'll never guess how long I had to spend on the phone with Sony trying to get on-site service scheduled.

1. Called Warranty Support team to create a claim. They, however, could not schedule the service; I have to speak with 2nd level technical support. She then says she's connecting me to second level support
2. Only she doesn't, she connects me with first level support. So I have to wait on hold for 20 minutes just to find out she connected me to the wrong department and then be transferred again to the actual second level support
3. Which gets me nowhere. It turns out that the part I need (trackpad assembly, I'm guessing) is out of stock, so Sony won't honor on-site service (which I only find out after being a jerk and telling the rep that Sony is in breach of contract by not honoring their written contract that I paid a LOT of money for. What was their solution? Send it in for depot service. WHAT?? If the part is out of stock it will be just as out of stock there as anywhere else and, if not, they should ship it to where I need it. I ask for a supervisor but am told he's not available.
4. I am connected (80 MINUTES LATER) with Sony's National Customer Relations and there I finally find someone who's allowed/able to think for himself. He agrees that line by the real second level support makes no sense and hangs up to research.
5. Customer Relations calls back 10 minutes later to say that they WILL do on-site repair but that it will have to wait until the part is in stock. They will call me when it's in stock to schedule the repair.

The moral of the story? That certificate for warranty means whatever the heck Sony wants it to mean - unless you talk to talk to Customer relations (800-430-4433). I know they're trained to follow a script, but they should at least be able to think their way out of a cardboard box. Even the guy from Customer Relations gave me some pretty clear signs that some significant changes in Sony's service are needed (he sounded pretty exasperated by them).

All that for a lousy trackpad button.

 

So is that using the Vista drivers for the GPU then?

S

 

Qwaarjet, thanks for sharing the photos. I really appreciate it.

On the photos, the lower left hand portion of the screen really looks bad. Is your Vaio Z notebook still under warranty? If it is still under warranty, don't delay any longer. Quickly contact Sony & get it fixed under warranty.

 

Stopped by the sony style store this weekend and can confirm that the Z890 bios was updated and now supports enabling VT in the Advanced menu. Didn't check if TRIM is supported on the SSD. I'll probably go back to the store before choosing a drive option.

 

Guys I have a question, that I need your help with.

Can I use the MemoryStick DUO PRO (The Small One) that used to have a dedicated slot on the left hand side of the Vaio SZ, and use it directly without an adapter in my Z?

In the SZ I can insert it on the left without no need for an adapter, is it the same in the case of Z?

Or I MUST use an adapter.

Hope Im clear enough

 

Hi, have you updated the bios? I have the same issue with the same model, new bios has resolved it.

 

Its a simple question, and I need the help so much, sorry, I'm a stupid and cannot read the manual.

Guys I have a question, that I need your help with.

Can I use the MemoryStick DUO PRO (The Small One) that used to have a dedicated slot on the left hand side of the Vaio SZ, and use it directly without an adapter in my Z?

In the SZ I can insert it on the left without no need for an adapter, is it the same in the case of Z?

Or I MUST use an adapter.

 

^You can use the PRO duo directly in the slot, not the micro

 

Why did you post this twice?

Anyhow, the Z has two card reader slots. One that takes SD and MMC cards, and one that takes MS and MS Duo.

Also note that MS Pro Duo is far slower than the old Memory Stick Pro -- if you also want to use the stick for readyboost, or don't like waiting for ages for your photos to load, either use an old MS Pro, or fork out extra for an "Ultra II" or similar "high speed" (in reality, normal speed) Duo.

 

No because I don't have one in there right now . You are actually incorrect in the assumption that is has to be full size.

 

Dead wrong. The slot will accept either. I know, because I have a Duo in the slot (and no adapter) right now.

 

No, Sony posted Nvidia hybrid drivers for Win7 but only for certain models (I think I found them under the Z690) and they work perfectly fine on any model Z that I know of.. I know nobody has complained about them not working. Why Sony hasn't posted video drivers for all Z models is beyond me though.

I fixed my brightness function by installing the unreleased BIOS Sony has on their FTP (which is linked for anybody to grab in the Win7 for Z thread).

My Z is 100% functional with everything working perfect on Win7 now, it feels like a brand new machine again and fun to use all over again!

 

Hi, people.
I have a VGN Z555 and it quit today while I was doing something else. When I went back to start it, I could not even get a blink from the little green light in the start button. Does anyone have an idea why?

 

Perhaps the the PSU has died. Take it back to Sony for repairs.

 

After a year and a half? I'm not a heavy user. The desktop gets most of the use and it's been going for 2.5 years.

 

Technology is like that, it can break down after a day or it could run forever. Bad luck Anna_Ember. Hope it gets fixed without any issues.

 

Guys, Finally Got it from the Manual:

Before You Use the Memory Stick

The Memory Stick slot on your computer can accommodate both standard- and Duo-size media and supports Memory Stick
PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, and Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo with high-speed data transfer and large data capacity
capabilities.

 

Hey everyone...I've had my eye on getting a Vaio Z for a long time now, but wanted to see what else came out with Windows 7 (nothing comparable in the end). I'm in the states in December/January, and am planning to have a customised one shipped to me then...P8700 with 160GB Intel SSD.

My question though: Should I wait for arrandale to arrive, and potentially a new VAIO Z model? I'm not visiting in the states again until August 2010, and my current HP laptop is driving me crazy (heavy, slow, 10 minute battery life, poor build quality with parts of the chassis that actually cause small electrical shocks).

I could potentially tolerate this HP for another 6 months or so though, if the arrandale will offer similar performance at much better battery life, than maybe it's worth waiting for....

What would be great to hear some opinions on this.

 

wouldn't be worth the wait unless you're doing some super crazy CPU intensive work. the P8700 will realistically handle anything you can throw at it for quite some time imo.

 

Was the question whether or not the adapter is required for a memory stick pro duo to function properly when using the memory stick slot in the Z? As for my Z550, I do need to use the adapter to view my pictures on a memory stick pro duo. Unlike the SZ750, which I've own, it does NOT require the adapter.

I can only speak for the memory pro duo which is half the size of the original memory stick. I don't know about the other types of stick's capabilities in regards to the adapter.

 

Question: I have a high definition Sony camera... if I get the Vaio Z without a Blu-Ray drive, is it possible edit the footage on the Z in HD (using USB transferring), edit it on the Z in HD, then output the video data to a DVD to play on a Blu-Ray player? Not sure if this is the right place to ask but yeah.

 

To Geeee::

Yes you can use the smaller MS Directly w/o an adapter in your Z, I'm currently using mine, just insert it easily

 

Like others said, unless you need the fastest of the fast, and the best of the best, wait. Besides, arrandale will be failry expensive when first released.

 

Thanks Raegletam, that makes sense. The more research I've done seems to indicate that the arrandale will allow for the higher performance, but at a similar TDP level as current lower level chips. That's all and good, but I probably don't need that extra performance for what I'm doing (the most intensive thing I do is probably my Photoshop work).

OK...now need to fully convince myself that the US$2100 is worth it...

 

Willy330Ci
Yeah, it did work. It seemed like the stick was going to fall in and never to be recovered. By the way, you must drive a Bimmer 330Ci. I like those retractable hardtops. Very cool!

 

hi there,
i was wondering if anyone knows if the WWAN card can be replaced with a mini PCI-e SSD hard drive? I am about to receive my Z790 and it'd be great if i could find out if that would work so that i would have the SSD arrive around the same time as the Z. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

what is the interest?

 

i guess for additional storage and perhaps a slight speed boost if i load the OS on it?

 

I dunno if the Z's BIOS can detect the Drive in a mini PCI-e. If it cannot, you won't be able to boot from it.

And all the PCI SSD that I know are not performant enough.

 

To Geeee:

I replaced my 330Ci for an E90 325i Fully loaded Premium Sport packages with iDrive, way way different, I'm living in a dream.

are you in a bimmer too?

 

Willy330Ci I had an X5. To many electrical issues. I love the X6. I'm waiting to see what the Z4 looks like with the retractable top.

Anyway, just to stay on topic - to not irritate anyone, how exactly does ready boost work using a flash drive on the Z? What needs to be downloaded to the flash drive?

 

Geeee:

Readyboost require nothing to work excep a High Speed USB Flash Drive, like the Contour Series from SanDisk, but if you have 3GB RAM or above, you will not be able to achieve better performance, Z has only 2 USB Ports, so save them, plus, you will be saving more battery when not using the USB flash drive all the time for ReadyBoost feature.

Finally, its a bit dangerous to Keep a USB Flas Drive connected all the time in your notebook, your port might break, if you forgot it in there and moved your notebook while not noticing this.

I'd say, just forget about RB, our Z is optimized with powerful Specs already.

If you need any help, just let me know, I'll be glad to help.

Will

 

Thanks Willy330Ci. You know what BMW stands for, right?

The analogy to Bavarian Motor Works is Big Money Worries (lol).

 

so if i want to buy a vaio z and i dont want to pay 3000$
what is the cheapest z out there guys
beside resolution and weight y is the sr so cheaper than a Z

 

$3000? What kind of spec are you looking at? If you don't mind getting the ram upgrade somewhere else (newegg for example), or skip on the SSD, Bluray options. You can get one under 2k. Better yet, if you try looking for discounts on the pre-configured models on the web, you can find a pretty well spec one for well under 2k.

BTW, I've been looking for the NVIDIA video driver for Windows 7 Ultimate 64x for my Z690 CTO. However, it is not listed under Sony's support website. Anyone knows where I can get the driver from?

Thanks!

 

First of all, ReadyBoost doesn't have to be on a USB drive. It works just as well on a Memory Stick or SD card, as long as the card is fast enough.

Second, ReadyBoost doesn't increase your RAM, perceived or otherwise. It works as a backing store for the paging file, where what gets written to the paging file also gets compressed and written to the ReadyBoost file. Because the ReadyBoost has much faster access times than the hard drive, paging back in again is faster, for anything found in the ReadyBoost cache. (If it isn't found there, it's paged back from disk just as without ReadyBoost.)

ReadyBoost is beneficial no matter how much RAM you have -- it's just that those with little RAM swap much more, and thus gain more benefit from ReadyBoost. But all modern operating systems will swap out pages no matter how much RAM you have -- just look at the performance tab in Task Manager.

The only time ReadyBoost isn't beneficial is if during a disk defragmentation (for reasons too technical for here).

 

The W7/Vista 64-bit driver can be found here:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNZ890G&upd_id=5151&os_id=47

 

This happened to me the other day -- not sure why. Even with the power plugged in, it would not work. I swapped out batteries and it powered up. My guess is that I somehow drained the battery to the point that it wouldn't fire up and the computer wouldn't recognize the power cord.

If you don't have an extra battery, just taking the battery out and then trying it again with AC only or the battery replaced might be worth a try.

 

Just upgraded to W7 x64 and I really like the OS. The process of upgrading, requiring trawling posts to find the most recent drivers and decide whose upgrade process was the best one to follow was less fun than a root canal. Really amazing that when I go to the Sony US site and look for W7 support for my Z590 that nothing shows up.

Three odd things:

1. The W7 fingerprint software (bootup or wake from resume screen) is really hit or miss. At least once it has worked; the rest of the times it seems to not be operational. I can run my fingers ovver the sensor and it doesn't register at all. Any ideas what could be causing this? I'd like to avoid having to load the Sony Protector Suite if it's already native to W7.

2. When I first did a clean install of W7, the sleep/hibernate was unbelievable. I've had a big grudge against Sony for not being able to tell me why the sleep mode would occasionally wake up (when it had no airflow in my computer case for example) or just never resume (and required a hard reboot). With W7, the sleep was almost instantaneous and the resume from hibernation took maybe 10-15 sec. To get my F keys and brightness and touchpad back, I upgraded bios and drivers and loaded control center and event services. Now, however, waking up from hibernation takes almost a minute. Anyone else come across this? I did not load the Sony Power management driver/app because had heard that W7's power scheme was better than Sony's own. How can I go back to the resume speed I had before?

3. Keyboard lag seems to have gone away on normal offline applications as well as on most internet sites -- such as Gmail and typing on blogs or making posts. But, on Yahoo Mail, there is an awful lag. I literally have to type about a character per second to keep from dropping characters. This has been brought up before (by myself as well), but it was happening everywhere, not just on certain sites. Any idea what could be causing this?

One related note is that if your cursor is bouncing all over the place while you have the touchpad enabled, reload the Alps touchpad device driver and update control center. It makes an immediate improvement.

 

Guys I need to know why does the icon in the tray, which is responsible for TURNING OFF THE CD/DVD is not shown any more, can you tell me how to get it back there?

turning off the CD/DVD really helps in maintain more battery life to my system, it was there few days ago, but now GONE WITH THE WIND.

THX

 

Did you uninstall the Vaio Power Management?

 

This works only if VAIO power management is installed. If installed, go to Power Options -> Edit Plan Settings -> Change Advance Power settings -> VAIO Power mgmt and set CD/DVD to Auto Off

 

thx, it worked, you guys rock just as usual

Will

 

Thanks! So it works regardless of which model of Z I have or which version of Windows 7 I use?

 

Hi Everybody,

I plan to buy a used VGN-Z590. I'm not sure if is use the Texas Instruments firewire interface chipset or the Ricoh one.

I would appreciate if a owner of this laptop can check in the device manager (accessible from the control panel) for the IEEE 1394 device... What does it read ?

I know that the latest Z series is now using the Ricoh firewire chipset, which is not very reliable compared to the Texas Instruments firewire chipset (and I don't understand why Sony took the decision to replace it... that's very sad).

Thanks a lot !

udem1234

 

It's a Ricoh.

They never changed it. The Z5xx is a first iteration Z, and uses Ricoh for Firewire, MS and SD cards.

 

not sure if you guys read but I did read here that some people have actually deliberately NOT installed vaio power management driver/software on windows7 and have gotten better performance/battery life?

just a thought