Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

BTW, if you are willing to forgo dedicated graphics there are some solid 13" laptops for $400-$600 that are still much faster than atom based netbooks. I guess it all depends on what you are willing top sacrifice in you "back-up" machine. But the one I mentioned before seems like a really nice and unique machine for its size and price point.

 

So far this is all I can find on any possible leaks on the CES 2010.

 

i just ordered a Z820 B/G from Microcenter- $1499 is the best price for Z this good- I have been looking for months and finally broke down and placed the order- I did the overnight shipping so hopefully I will have it Tuesday...

 

Whoa, $50 rebate for the Z? That's great news - THANKS!

Here's the best deal I found but its gone 2 weeks ago - new Z, 2.8Gzh, 320/7200rpm, Bluray read/write, 4gb, GPS, 3 year Sony warranty with 1st year on site. $1800 shipped.

UL

 

Laptops such as ?

 

I just got my new Sony Vaio Z890 with a X-25m SSD. Amazing laptop so far...by the far the highest quality laptop I've ever owned.

 

Well, Im not too impressed with Microcenter so far. I ordered my z last night with overnight shipping. I got an email this morning letting me know that the "expected" ship date was Thursday the 24th ??? the website said that they had 16 instock at the Tustin store- however, the online store is a seperate deal- they are in stock but have a 3 to 4 day processing policy even though I have ordered the overnight shipping- on the phone trying to get them to ship it so I have it before Christmas.

 

The delay is most likely due to the Holidays.

 

There are a ton of 13" laptops in this range. I made the initial suggestion because Geee was asking about getting a back-up laptop. But I don't want to talk too much about other laptops in the Z owners thread.


Some 13" lower priced ($400-$700) laptops (non-netbooks) to consider would be the HP DM3, Acer T1410, Toshiba T135 and Asus UL30A. As I mentioned above, the UL30vt is a bit more at $800 but gets you a 33% faster processor and switchable graphics for the extra money. You can get lots of suggestions on the "what laptop should I buy thread."

Overall the Z is more powerful, lighter, better constructed and in a different league from these machines... but also a different price point.

 

for those of you with the z820 b/g can you recommend a clean install / semi clean install thread or instuction guide - it has the windoze 7 Professional 64 bit- not sure Im smart enough to do a full install but would like to get rid of the bloatwear without blowing the computer up or getting stuck...???? any help or links would be appreciated

 

My biggest quibble with my new Z is that the HUGE AC adapter. For a premium product that is priced accordingly, that adapter really is a shame. All our other laptops from Dell,HP, Asus, Panasonic and Acer are all considerably smaller.

Anyways, what would be the smallest aftermarket AC adapter that will work for the Z? And what about an auto adapter that will charge into the cigarette lighter?

Thanks!
UL

 

did ayone managed to turn on gps?
is it 1just me or my wifi goes off anytime i try to turn it on?
help

 

Yes, WIFI and GPS do not work concurrently. It is either one or the other. Bit of a bummer, but better than no GPS.

UL

 

My Wifi and GPS work concurrently. I have a Z11 with an Option Globetrotter GTM378 WWAN Card. And I am using VAIO Smart Network instead of SmartWi. With SmartWi it was not possible for me to activate WWAN and Wlan at the same time.

 

but do i need to pay? or just turn it on?!

 

Just turn it on. I do not even have a sim card in it.

 

How? just turn it on? will it pick up sat signal? do i have to use the MS streets?? or any other free alternative?

 

I have enabled it like described here. And I use MS S&T or Garmin Mobile PC.

 

Sad news... i dropped my Z tonight.


I was extracting my laptop from my Covertec racer bag (reinforced one) and i felt my laptop sleeve dropped from my hand. The laptop was in his sleeve bag Sony one and just knocked the carpet floor in the corner side of the laptop just about 50-60 cm high.

At the moment i didn t check since the impact was low and didn t expect such a situation.
Few hours after i opened the sleeve and i observed the range of the damage and didn t believe that!!

http://img121.imageshack.us/g/dsc00395rc.jpg/

the laptop is completey ruined, i never allow someone to touch it, use microber and screen protector filter....

Anyway the laptop runs well but completely damaged with visible motherboard in the lower left side and the palmrest is bent...

What can i do?? i bought the laptop in Tokyo Sony shop 8 month ago but i actually live in Paris and have international warrantly but won t apply to this situation.

Can t imagin what happened to me!!
help

 

WOW- thats a lot of damage- back everything up and send that to Sony for a repair estimate- then you can decide if you want to fix it or buy a new one- it still works- thats little consolation- sorry for your loss.

 

i got my z820 from Microcenter and all is working well- i came from a sz and am finding the z screen a bit small- is there a way to minimize the task bar so i have more screen size while browzing? this z820 is pretty fast- loaded office 07 pro and photoshop cs3 - haven't figured out how to move my itunes library yet. so far so good- this is really a light computer- really nice for working while on the couch....

 

i figured out how to "auto-hide " the task bar- it makes browsing much easier- I find that just another half inch of screen high is a very good thing- also, windows 7 is a huge improvement- this should have been xp like everyone is saying....I canged the font size to medium which made the type a bit easier to read with my old eyes...

 

Will send it to repair center but have to managed with inspection fee but doesnt delude oneself that the cost of repair will be almost the price of new one...
Sony japan sent me mail and informed that there is nothing they can do, since the damage resulted from dropped.

Bottom case, palmrest and screen bezel need to be changed, since my vaio is japanese one the palmrest is different from other.
Checked on ebay and nothing for repair pieces...

 

VAIO Z & ThinkPad x301

Hello all,
Please advise if you have experience only on java development on a laptop. The manufacture spec is not always indicate about the quality of the product.

I'm a software developer/business owner and looking for a portable business machine which allow me run eclipse, tomcat, mysql, and all you need as a development work station. (maybe JBOSS)

The portability is very important because the laptop should go with me overseas.
From research i've done so far, i found two unit which serve my need:
1. SONY VAIO Z 850
2. LENOVO x301 with 128 SSD drive.

The key differences of the two:
1. Lenovo has 1.4 proccessor while vaio has 2.53.
2. VAIO has 320GB 7200RPM while Lenovo has SSD.

If you are a developer and you have a recommendation for a 13-14 laptop please post. The budget is more than $1500

THANKS!

 

buzword- my guess is that any machine with less than 2.2 is going to be too slow for you. I would consider the Lenovo T400s for what you are doing- the z will be fine also- you can get them with ssd- look at portable1 for some ideas.

 

A notebook with SSD will help a lot with builds on Eclipse and starting Jboss which are time consuming otherwise.

 

Fixed my crashed Z, but need to find spare parts, any idea??

here is before (yesterday)
http://img121.imageshack.us/g/dsc00395rc.jpg/

and after today after one day of work on it
http://img163.imageshack.us/g/dsc00405y.jpg/

 

Well done podam! That looks a lot better already.

S

 

Do you need the optical drive? Because the X200 has a more powerful processor than the X301 (same as the Z's have) and its smaller form factor allows for a bigger battery that gets you all day battery life for the same weight as the X301 or Z.

Also, not sure if your software needs dedicated video. That is the main advantage of the Z over the lenovos.

 

after fixed the whole computer i may have a look for new bottom case... unfortunately sony repair center won t allow to send parts, any idea to find Z parts??

 

You mean like this?:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-VAIO-PCG-Z...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item587d9c0164

They list that they ship worldwide.

 

After reading a few more of your posts, looks like you got a handle on the accident to your Z. Did you purchase ADH Warranty (Accidental Damage and Handling)? If you did, I believe you are covered under this warranty.

 

No. He is looking for VGN-Z parts, not PCG-Z

 

Sorry, missed that... Hopefully they get a Z base in stock. They only have a few other sony bases and it looks like no Z.

 

Contacted Sony competence repair center in france, they can provide botom case assembly and audio module, but can t order for japanese palmrest, so i may go for black palmrest and qwerty keyboard.

The bottom case is 96 euros and audio modul is 38 euro, not that expensive.

Do think i can remove track pad from my z and use on the new palmrest??
i ve a felica model vaio so i ve to remove the felica plate.

Someone already complete a palm rest change?
i am waiting for a second estimation for repair from this center since i am bit worried to dipatch the whole computer.

 

I had spilled maple syrup on the keyboard of my Z, which wrecked the keyboard. Since the keyboard is part of the palmrest "unit", the whole palmrest, silver bezel, and some other small parts had to be replaced at the local Sony Service Center (which happens to be inside the Sony HQ building). The parts and labor cost ￥45,000, but I really had no other option. I would have repaired it by myself, but the parts are simply unavailable here in Japan (at least I wasn't able to purchase the parts for my Owner Made model). It's a good thing the SSDs or the screen didn't get damaged! The trackpad also wasn't replaced, so I believe that you won't have to buy a new one.

 

Is it JCD or MGMI?
Are they agree to sell these parts alone?

 

Technically you have more space for your browser, as the sz was 1280x800 and the z is 1600x900, that is you can see more on screen. What you do see will be smaller, and if you have an issue with that, the solution is probably to raise the dpi setting.

 

I bought my Z at microcenter in the US, happy, but there are two issues with it:

Sony's satanic bloatware practices (doesn't even all work) - any tips on cleanup on Windows 7?
the US keyboard - I've tried using UK keyboard driver, which gives me my £ key, but then I don't seem to have a \ key (should be to the left of the z key?).

 

I've just received my Z series -

3.06 GHz Processor
8 Gig RAM
256 Gig SSD

It really is a lovely bit of kit with Windows 7 ultimate. It's replaced my old Sony which served me very well for 3 years.

I've always been surprised at the amount of noise generated by the fan on my old one and even more surprised to find that my new one is by no means quiet in comparison to other laptops.

Is this a Sony thing?

 

SOB Hitachi 7200 RPM 320 GB has JUST FAILED on me with Bad Sectors everywhere, spreaded on the whole ty drive, its have been 2 months since I bought my Z (Specs in Signature).

I even cared for it more than my wife, she feels bad all the time while I use my Z (lol), never felt, Dropped or anything, it just happened to me.

I take great care for it, and I never move it while ON, although HDD Protection is on MAX Level for Protection.

I replaced it with a Scorpio Black 320 GB, but unfortunately w/o a free-fall sensor.

Any suggestions to maintain this new HDD?

what do you guys use, to repair BAD SECTORS on HDD?

Regds;

Will

 

I guess you are from french Hardware forum fr, i ve posted too to have advice to repair my z....i crashed myself in his bag..what a shame.

Unfortunately they can t sell theses parts alone, since the machine need to be sent for inspection and repair charge but not that expensive, the pieces price are low, is this new one or used?? for half price that Sony propose.
But i will go for repair charge, that may be fair.

palmrest is 132 euro with keyboard include but they can t have a japanese one, i love my japanese one...

so i asked for black palmrest and gave me the reference
PALM(E),KEYBOARD(GB/CZ) GM (S) if someone know what is the (E) and (S) i guess that (E) is for europe?

 

OK, just tell me how much they will charge you for the repair when you send it to them

 

Did you call Sony to have them replace it under warenty? If it is only 2 months old, you should still have a warenty as there is a 1 year warenty on the PC.

Sorry about your bad luck, sometimes you just get a bad HD, I had that happen once in a gateway.

 

What kind of SSD do you have installed? Is it a Samsung?

 

Yes, the Sony models have Samsung SSDs.

However, there seems to be a difference between the SSD models that Sony gets from Samsung versus the SSD model that Samsung sells outside to retail customers.

 

Thanks for reply. Vaio Z with SSD are more than $2500

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117974

Just look around.

It was available at the time I posted this.

 

And here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

 

Thanks tktk,

I had a look and it indeed looks a good product especially when upgrade to SSD and i don't really must optical drive but , 12.1 seems to be too small for me. I'm a heavy user 13.3 is a minimum.
even 13.1 from sony is a compromising. (but with 0.2 i can live

This laptop will be my primary pc for the next few years.

THANKS