Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

We need lounge music, and as a Funky house music DJ, I can provide that. Ohhhh ya babyy!....If anyone wants any pics when I get my laptop feel free to ask. I can take some nice close up clear shots of all angles with my Canon digital camera. And ill give u guys a REAL true geniun review of the laptop. No bias bullcrap, or fendenging for it just cuz ive been so long waiting it and even threw up for it. If I dont like, il write what I find wrong,, pro's con;s etc.. and its going right back to Sony. Lets hope I like it though.


Oh and can somone please take a nice clear shot of the 1600x900 screen. Thanks.

 

After you wrote this I got all excited and went to do some research. I found three items of interest: NVIDIA's own Forceware (didn't know it had such a feature), registry editing, and PowerStrip. Unfortunately I had no luck...

Forceware won't let you add resolutions that are higher than what your graphics card shows it can do, or at a different aspect. My laptop can output to a 1600x1200 monitor, but I can't pump it up to 1920x1200. In fact, it wouldn't let me add any non-4:3 aspect ratios. One guide I read about PowerStrip mentioned to forget about any resolutions higher than what your graphics card displays, so no 1920x1200 there either. And I don't even want to touch the registry lol.

However my other laptop which is widescreen can do 4:3 aspects. Pretty confusing. I am wondering if it really is a software limitation, or if it's actually a hardware limitation.

Didn't mean to step on your toes on that fact, just wanted to chime in and mention that some laptops might have problems with non-conforming aspect ratios.

 

I'm assuming it's the natural progression any manufacturer does, which is start low and milk your customers on the way up. Okay, in all honesty I just don't think we are at that point yet. It takes manufacturers time to factor these drives in their production lines and considering 256GB has just surfaced and won't be in mass production until the end of the year, it looks like we have to stick with this for now.

For me, space has never been an issue. I have a 500GB external hard drive hooked up at home to my docking station and a tiny 320GB WD passport (these are awesome!) for business travel.

Awesome, thanks for the info! That's exactly the same setup I chose. And I'm certainly with you on having to recustomize Vista. I'm interested to see how the laptop performs with the Fresh Start and no bloatware.

 

It's still a pretty new technology for the consumer market. If they did have larger SSD's available they would probably so expensive they would never sell. Like anything else I am sure the price will come down pretty quickly I remember when I payed like 100+ bucks for a 1gb flash stick now you can get those for like $10.

 

My CTO Z590, ordered on 8/11, just shipped. It should be here tomorrow morning! I got the "being built" email just over 24 hours ago.

On the preconfiged front, last time I checked sonystyle.com, ALL preconfiged models show in-stock and ready for shipping. Vaio Z's are rolling out in full force!

 

As I posted in another thread, my first Vaio, a Z505, was purchased in 2000 and lasted 6-7 years! (I think it was probably still ok at the end, though the friend I'd given it to just wanted a new computer by that point...). The drive died once, in the first six months of ownership, that was the only problem I ever had with it.

My current Vaio, an S170, has been going strong for four years with zero problems -- although a friend of mine has the same model & he had to get the motherboard swapped sometime during the first few months. His has also been fine since.

 

Guys check this. In comparison with the Z. Size wise I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWpkZksn3Rw

 

I missed my Z today as the delivery was at home in the middle of the day. Normally, this isn't a problem as they either leave the package or just bring it back to the FedEx World Center depot (3 blocks from my house). Or, I can call them to re-route the next day.

However, they shipped it FedEx Home which is nothing like regular FedEx. That means they won't re-route unless Sony calls them to do it nor will they leave it at the closest FedEx center.

So, I'm sad...haha. I'll be working from home for sure tomorrow to make sure I get my hands on it.

 

Groovy, will you post a nice review of the Z on your website, siliconpopculture.com, like you reviewed your TR and S series there years ago?

 

Thanks for both of your replies. Makes a whole lot of sense. So the true benefit of SSD then, from a few posts I've read, is that it launches applications faster than non-SSD's, it's great on battery (less power), therefore generating less heat. Any other benefits? So do any of you that ordered the Z with optional SSD really feel its worth the money. I guess that's obvious, since you've place your orders for one. I have the opportunity to get one configured at $3999.99 (Z590UAB), but I'm not sure if a laptop is worth spending that much on. Anyway, I have a week to decide on it. Thanks again for your replies.

 

sweet! my vaio says it has been shipped and fedex's page shows it has moved from the pickup to a sort center. freaking awesome. i thought i wouldn't get it for at least a few weeks

 

I am about 80% sure it actually uses more battery power because it always needs power unlike conventional hdd which can stop spinning when not in use. It generate less heat because it has no mechanical moving parts.

 

My vaio was built and shipped today!!!
ill be receiving it on the 3rd (Michigan)
but thats okay cause i will only arrive on the 1st

 

I just followed the guide that came with the XP disc with the machine, then the guide which comes from the Sony for the drivers and utilities. You have to follow it step by step in the right order, but it's nothing difficult.

S

 

Make sure that anyone with a Z CTO, put some reviews, I want to see how good it is compared to the preconfig. Hopefully mine will be in on Friday, well the guy guaranteed me. He was the manager of the store. and like i said before, $100 off! I think thats pretty darn good. and 20 day full return policy!!

Cheers!

 

Absolutely.

 

Hey torontoguy which Sony store did you order it from? eaton centre?

 

No problem. I've been trolling these boards for many months reading all the findings on the Zs so glad to finally contribute.

The only other benefit I have read about is that they are less prone to physical damage since they have no moving parts. We'll see over the next few years whether that is indeed true but it should be.

This has been a heavy topic on the hardware sites and it appears your statement is true, depending on the SSD drive in question. According to the most recent report by Tom's Hardware, OCZ and Samsung are thus far the leaders in SSD as their drives perform beyond the rest in power and speed.

Now I don't believe this has been validated, but I have read on these boards and elswhere that the Sony Z is shipped with the Samsung 64GB SSD drives.

Unfortunately that link does not put the SSD drives against traditional HD but we can go back to this review for comparisons of the same OCZ 64GB from the previous review vs some top traditional hard drives.

The tests between the two reviews are the same for power so you can be pretty confident the Samsung and OCZ SSD drives will perform better than any hard drive Sony is shipping.

 

whats the return policy for online orders?
full refund within 30 days?
do they charge restocking fees?
is it true even if they are CTO?

 

Hey Geeee,
I found a tool that lets you choose almost any resolution...
http://www.download.com/Resolution-Changer-SX2/3000-2094_4-10468528.html
I guess this will not work in games in full screen mode, but some games can be started in windowed mode also...
Also be careful with trying odd resolutions, my LCD(Targa 17" 1280x1024) for example is very picky and just stayed black with "VIDEO MODE NOT SUPPORTED" on it when trying 1280x920...

 

In case anyone is interested, I came across this link tonight:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Sony-Vaio-V...wItemQQimsxZ20080822?IMSfp=TL0808221814r25070

It's an after-market laptop setup with 128GB OCZ SSD and Blu-ray player at $3400.

Just be sure to read the fine text if you decide to do it: " Note: This laptop is purchased at retail price from Sony and then after-market upgrades are performed. As such the laptop box seal will be broken. Also the limited 1 year manufacturer warranty will be voided. If you wish to have a warranty, SquareTrade will offer one that is for 2-3 years at approximately 12% the purchase price."

 

so from what i could dig up from the thread:
Windows Experience Index

On my VGN-Z11VM in SPEED with Vista x86 Ultimate :
Speed Stamina
Processor = 5.4 Processor = 5.4
Memory = 5.9 Memory = 5.9
Graphics = 4.4 Graphics = 4.1
Gaming graphics = 5.1 Gaming graphics = 3.8
Primary HDD = 5.4 Primary HDD = 5.4

daneel3001 pg157


VGN-Z11VN 2.53GHz 4GB RAM 320GB HD
Speed Stamina
Processor = 5.4 Processor = 5.4
Memory = 5.9 Memory = 5.9
Graphics = 4.4 Graphics = 4.1
Gaming graphics = 5.1 Gaming graphics = 3.8
Primary HDD = 5.4 Primary HDD = 5.5

snipsey pg158


compared to the lenovo U330
Speed Stamina
Processor =5.3 Processor = 5.3
Memory = 5.9 Memory = 5.9
Graphics = 4.5 Graphics = 4.1
Gaming graphics = 4.4 Gaming graphics = 3.8
Primary HDD = 5.3 Primary HDD = 5.3


http://translate.google.com/transla...07/1358918.html&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


So what do you guys think? is it justifiable to pay at least double the price for the Z? (in my case triple)

 

The Z11VN is the high specs model in Europe right? Is way too expensice imo, 2499 euros for not even getting blu-ray or SSD. Why you don't import it? You will get a better analogy price-specs.

 

One more benefit of SSD: quieter. It makes almost no sound, based on my experience with the Samsung SSD. It's nice not constantly hearing a clicking sound. In a few years, we'll wonder how we ever dealt with the clicking noises!

 

Well, I am from Germany and I thought about importing, but look at this:
19% VAT
10% Customs
at least 50$ Shipping
Locked up SPRINT that doesn't work in Europe
US keyboard without äüöß etc...
Need to be sent to US for warranty...

In Germany we get 2 years of warranty anyways...

After adding all this together you save a few $, but you still don't have the warranty or the option to just send it back if you don't like it...

 

Similar in the UK
17.5% VAT
0% Customs
$50-$100 shipping
WWAN won't work
Keyboard different
UK is offering a free 3 year warranty

I am a business customer so could have reclaimed the VAT but it still wasn't worth it for me due to the warranty issues.

 

That price does sound high, you can buy it from Sonystyle UK for £1661 after 5% discount, VAT paid, which is about 2000 Euros on a 1.21 exchange rate.

 

Thinking of rebuilding my machine with XP. If I do that, will I lose all the applications that come with the machine? WinDVD, PhotoShop Elements, etc.

 

What I think? Stop treating WEI like it means anything. That was what I was thinking

Both will perform fine. If you don't need the features of Z (better screen, higher resolution, light weight or HDMI) the U330 offers way more bang for the buck.

And for gaming the HD3470 is superior to Nvida 9300.

 

Mhm I hard something about a refrsh in December true (Europe)?
And what are the new things? Only Blue Ray and SSD or something like a new graphic card,...?

 

just asking for a second opinion
plus, i couldnt find the benchmarks for 3dmark and etc

and im almost sure the U330 features HDMI

edit: yes, it does

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/ipbook.pdf

 

Yes, unless the installers are on the machine somewhere.

FYI it looks like the installer is on the HDD for Acrobat 8, so if you copy that off you might be able to reinstall it on XP, although I haven't tried that yet.

S

 

Pretty slick machine. I think I'll stick to Z for the discrete graphics. (and the Z is sexier )

On the topic of HDD noise and the quietness of SSD, do you guys who have it really enjoy the silence? Maybe it's just me, but when I can hear the drive spinning and the hard drive light going I take some kind of comfort in knowing my drive is working. I could never get used to having no drive activity light or drive noise on any of my windows mobile phones... maybe I'm just old skool like that.

 

Yeah I wasn't sure about HDMI.

In my opinion the U330 is much more comparable to the Sony SR. Same weight, same resolution, both glossy screens, comparable materials, same price range (if they had identical CPU). Too bad SR does not have HDMI. In that respect U330 wins.

Z is a very different deal.

 

i have to disagree, the U330 also got hybrid graphics
the only problem at the moment with the U330 is that you can't customize it.

but i see what you're saying, the build quality of the U330 is probably more comparable to the SR than to the Z

but the price is a big bonus for the U330

U330 > SR in every aspect, cant think of any advantages of the SR over the U330

 

Well the SR has option for much faster CPUs up to 2.8(!) Ghz.

I haven't read any reviews of the U330 yet, but the screen of the SR is really good. Measured brightness of 248 cd/m² and a contrast of 496:1 according to this review.

Maybe U330 will come close to these values, but I would have to see reviews first to believe it.

Another advantage of the SR over U330 would be the keyboard, in my opinion.

The SR has been reported to get over 5 hours, up to 6 hours on the standard battery in this review. I wonder how the U330 does. Do you have any reviews?

 

so the SR has a better contrast than the Z? (according to your post in "finally a real vaio Z review")

this is the review i was reading on the U330:
http://translate.google.com/transla...07/1358918.html&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

 

Yes Notebookjournal measured it to be higher.
This may be due to the glossy screen that SR uses while Z may loose some contrast by the Duraview (anti scratch) coating.

PS. I am not sure but it seems that the U330 gets 200 minutes battery life on the X4500 graphics. Not as much as the Sony gets with HD3470.
http://translate.google.com/transla...07/1358918.html&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 (although testing conditions may have been different)

 

Over the past 4 years I've had a laptop paid for by my company so I never really cared much to maintain it. If it ever broke I just took it in and got a new one.

This is the first laptop I'm buying since I started college in '01. With that said, I have a question about the battery.

I know constant charging/recharging of the battery will lower the battery's useful life. My old old laptop would charge the battery to 100%, then use battery power until it got to 97%, then recharge, then use, then recharge, etc.

Is this still the case with batteries? I was wondering if it would be good to charge the battery fully and then remove it from the computer. While I'm near an outlet, I'll just use AC power (without the battery plugged in) but if I plan on moving around I'll stick the battery back in. Then not charge the battery again until it's out of power.

Is this a good plan? Or are charging stations smart enough nowadays to realize if a battery is charged and to just use AC power automatically?

 

There are pros and cons of removing your battery. It will prevent the 'frequent top up' scenario you describe, so will enhance the life of your battery. (Modern laptops shouldn't use the battery when on mains, but the battery will gradually lose power anyway over time and when it reaches a certain threshold, the laptop will top it up again.)
However, keeping the battery in will mean that if you temporarily lose mains power, you won't lose whatever you're working on.

On Vaios, there is a 'battery care' utility which you can set to only charge the battery to 80% or 50% of it's capacity, which is supposed to be much more healthy for the battery if you're almost always using AC power.

To be honest, I just make sure to cycle (i.e. charge and discharge fully) my battery once a month or so and it seems to keep it in good health. No rechargeable batteries last forever so you need to judge whether you want the hassle of removing the battery and potentially losing your work during a powercut against the potential savings in replacement batteries which you might need to buy every 2 or 3 years.

If you're always on AC, you should use the battery care function and leave the battery in the laptop, IMHO. I personally wouldn't like the hassle of removing and replacing the battery and keeping track of it's charge status every time I wanted to use my laptop on the go...

 

Batteries will also lose their ability to hold their charge if you don't use them at all, for example having them fully charged all the time on AC power. I didn't use one of mine on battery power at all for quite some time and I recently discovered it now doesn't hold more than 5-10 minutes of charge. That battery care utility sounds like a great idea to me, since I plan on being near an outlet most of the time.

 

does anyone know the brightness value for the z? is it higher or lower than the 248 of the sr?

 

Helligkeit (=brightness) und Kontrast
durchschnittl. Luminanz cd/m² 276,00
Kontrast bei maximaler Helligkeit :1 394,00

http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/inspection/638

 

Sorry guys,

I've cancelled my order. Mine was supposed to shipped tomorrow.

Mine was still missing blueray and blueray is not available in the UK.

Also now that the Dell Studio XPS 13 been announced, who knows.

I could always re-order the Sony later and hopefully Blueray be available then if the Dell 13 is not suitable.

 

They've only been leaked as far as I know. Not announced unfortunately. There's usually a delay on the dates. So maybe November/december they'll be here.

 

I've been waiting since Jan, whats another 4 months or so now. I still have a OverClocked Quad Core desktop ;-) so not in a real hurry.

Hopefully Sony UK will have a another High End model with Blueray.

I'm not too fussed about the backlit keyboard and esata of the dell. It's the blueray that made me cancel the order and if I perform a upgrade myself (providing i can get hold of the drive that is), I will lose the 3 year warranty.

 

yippie, my Vaio Z11 has just arrived. I would like to thank all of you for posting so much information within this forum. It made the decision so much easier for me

Configuration:
Sony Vaio VGN-Z11WN/B SW1 (Swiss-Keyboard)
Intel Core2Duo P8600
WXGA++ (1600x900) X-Black LCD DuraView
4GB DDR3 (yes DDR3 not DDR2 as written on most shop pages) 1066MHz
250GB Harddrive
DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM Drive
WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n, Ethernet, Modem, Bluetooth, Cam
TPM and Fingerprint Recognition Security
WWAN 7.2Mbps (HDSPA, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS)
Windows Vista SP1 Business with XP Downgrade CD (I may going to install Vista x64 later this week)
Bundled with a Swisscom everywair offer to use the HSDPA tech 6month without a monthly subscription fee.

Made in Japan

Keyboard Layout:


I'm going to perform a dBA check tomorrow but the fan in Speed Mode seems to be more quiet than my old Samsung X30 one.

[Edit: ScreenResolution]
I'm absolutely exited about the screen, I was worried about the text size using a 1600x900 resolution as I had serious problems reading the text on a FSC 15.4'' WXGA+ without changing the dpi to 120 but on the Z11 it isn't a problem at all reading the text using 96dpi

 

Hi guys,

Figures regarding SSD and HDD power consumption

Samsung SSD 64GB SATA 3.0Gbps 2.5" SLC
Read/Write 0.41W/0.41W
Idle 0.32W
Stanby 0.24W
Sleep 0.24W

Toshiba 250GB and 320GB 7200rpms SATA 3.0Gbps 2.5
Spin-up 5.5watts (typ)
Seek 2.2watts (typ)
Read/Write 1.9watts (typ)
Active Idle*** 1.2watts (typ)
Low Power Idle*** 0.9watts (typ)
Standby*** 0.18watts (typ)
Sleep*** 0.13watts (typ)
(***) S-ATA power management features applied.

Hitachi 200GB 7200rpms SATA 3.0Gbps 2.5
Startup (W, peak, max.) 5.5
Seek (W, avg.) 2.6
Read / Write (W, avg.) 2.3
Performance idle (W, avg.) 2.0
Active idle (W, avg.) 1.0
Low power idle (W, avg.) 0.8
Standby (W, avg.) 0.25
Sleep (W) 0.2

I know some real tests should be performed, since those figures are extracted from manufacturers' datasheets.

 

Hey everyone,

I was just reading Anandtech's very interesting blog on SSDs.. it is concerning me because it states Vista LOVES to write/rewrite sys files over and over and that SSDs lifespan may decrease because of this??

I would prefer SSDs because of no noise, no moving parts, and cooler Z

Any inputs on Vista+SSD=bad?

 

From what I've read, modern SSDs have good 'wear-levelling' algorithms, so the flash memory should wear out evenly and what with modern flash memory having a long lifespan, I don't think we need to worry about them wearing out with normal usage (even on Vista) before you'd have ditched the laptop anyway. That's my interpretation of the available data, anyway... obviously no-one has used a modern SSD for many years (yet) to confirm that!