Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

I have never 'partitioned' my notebook before but am planning to do so with my new Z. I googled a bit and am/was planning to just use the built-in feature that Windows Vista offers; http://www.lytebyte.com/2007/02/19/how-to-partition-in-windows-vista-extend-and-shrink/.

Any reason not to use Windows Vista but instead e.g. the 'Acronis Disk Director' gr00vy0ne refers to (or any other external program)?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by TZ300
The SonyStyle manager told me it has been pushed back to Sept 18th (or may be 28th, I did not pay much attention).


28th? these guys a really ****ing pushing it now. I might end up going for a Thinkpad, this is just getting stupid now. What store u talk to?

 

Any news about these european models that appeared in the uk support web page? Any news if we are going to see blu-ray as well?
What do you think about this model an price:

http://www.monclick.it/schede/prodotto.asp?codice=VGN-Z11VN/B

Is strange that in this site the Z11VN is cheaper than the Z11WN

 

It's actually the solder used for the graphics card. nVidia has been using high-lead solder on all of their cards up until late July when they immediately switched to eutectic solder. Eutectic solder seems to be more resistant to cracking due to thermal cycling. ATI on the other hand has been using eutectic solder since day 1.

It has been speculated that the high-lead solder is what's causing all the problems with nVidia's chips now that GPUs have become so advanced as high-lead didn't seem to show problems in the past. Their recent switch from high-lead to eutectic supports this claim.

But anyone who really knows what's up is nVidia.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39045/135/

So I guess if you can check your GPU's manufacturing date (usually printed on the PCB of the card itself) and the date says August '08, you're probably fine but then again it might not be the reason for failures.

When I first saw eutectic, it usually means combining metals to lower the resulting alloy's melting point. WHY would you want to lower the melting point?! But it must be a special solder that has a 'relatively' low melting point which should still be much higher than the max temp of the GPU.

Dang, I feel like I should know more of this stuff. nVidia already has one of the toughest hiring process. With this fiasco, I just know they're going to up the difficulty even more.

 

I haven't payed any attention to the left-side of the KB when typing, but I find myself mistyping alot of words with these slightly smaller keys than the Z. Maybe, it's the spacing?, Size?, the keys apart from each other? Who knows. But what I have noticed as I'm typing this reply, my fingers tend to press the space in between the keys causing it to type the wrong letter.

No squeaks at all. I pressed the left-side, center, & right-side and no squeaks at all. And just to add, no flex on the palm rest. If any, it's very very little.

 

You can try Proshow Producer. I've used it when I need to put together videos and images together quickly with effects. The result is very professional and I think it's pretty straightforward to use.

Link: http://www.photodex.com/products/producer/
Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B45wWZGah4

The website also showcases tons of videos made with their own software so you can see the potential it has.

There's also Adobe AfterEffects which I also used but that's if you really want complete control and thus a nice looking transition effect can take a couple of minutes to do whereas Proshow Producer can achieve the same thing in literally one second.

 

Just picked up the Z11VN in the UK. Ended up getting from my local sony centre as they offered me 50% off on Z Series accessories.

In case people are interested the Z Series in the UK DOES come with an XP SP2 downgrade disc.

Also anyone else registered their Z in the Uk for the free extended 3 year warranty? I registered it with no mention of the warranty extension - do I have to wait for an email with the extended warranty details?

 

I'm thinking about buying a Z soon, I didn't know about this registration thing, where can I read more about it? It would be awesome if I could get a free 3 year warranty with the laptop.

 

hmm speaking of warranty:

Did anyone order the extended warranty through SonyStyle? I haven't received an email or anything. No mention of it when I registered either.

Is it just built into the serial number?

 

Can I ask you a favour buddy. Can you take your gay display pic off, I mean no disrespect but I open this thread up at work and ppl wonder whats goin on when they see that pic. At work im runnin 2 dual 24inch monitors, so u can imagine. Thanks if you can chief!

 

There's no reason not to use the Windows Vista's built-in utility. I just happen to use Disk Director so I'm used to it. Any utility will suffice.

 

Yeah, it works perfectly. I am using a HDMI->DVI cable for my external display and it supports all resolutions.

 

After Effects has a much better timeline editor to manipulate effects frame by frame. Each After Effect 'fx' has dozens of properties you can tweak to get the fx just right. The drawback is that it can get tedious and the effects you can easily accomplish in ProShow would have to be done by scratch in After Effects although it will look more unique. Furthermore, if you have a lot of photos and videos you want to put together, it can get overwhelming trying to manage all the effects. Particularly if you're trying to achieve a unique transition effect for each transition. Presets can be used to help increase productivity however.

ProShow on the other hand is more friendly in terms of presenting videos and images. It uses slides with each slide having any number of images and videos (the equivalent After Effects term is Composition but has much more flexibility compared to ProShow). You can control frame by frame animation within each slide, manipulate layers and achieve a fairly professional look. It has a lot of slide transitional effects that you don't have to do by scratch. The only thing you can control is the duration of the transition. However, you can do some color adjustment effects along with motion layer animation to achieve a more unique transition (in After Effects this is something you would probably have to do for each transition).

ProShow is easier to learn and you can think of it as an advanced version of Powerpoint with an emphasis on creativity. And it should be very capable in doing what I think you want to do. You can find some nice work done by ProShow on google or here: http://www.photodex.com/sharing/spotlight

After Effects is a bit more difficult. If you did some animation before, you'll probably pick it up quickly. It's just that After Effects can do a lot. It's more than just a tool to put together a bunch of images and videos with transitions in between. When you know how to use it, you can literally watch a TV commercial filled with effects and tell yourself, hey I can do that on my computer too!

Both software have a lot of tutorials on the web you can learn from. If you just want a tool to make a very well-done slideshow-esque showcase of your work then ProShow is all you need. Get After Effects if you want to go beyond that in the future.

ProShow Producer:

• Catered to showcasing work or presenting work
• Has a fair amount of control needed to get the job done nicely but not nearly as much control as After Effects
• Easier to use
• Costs about half as much as After Effects (I think)

After Effects:

• Very flexible and versatile piece of software but it's really used for movie production and movie effects
• A lot of animation and effects control to the extent that it can be overwhelming at times
• Can achieve everything ProShow is capable of but takes more time due to the amount of control you have
• Unless you have some animation knowledge, it'll take some time to learn
• Expensive and maybe too much for what you are trying to achieve

And yep, both should work fine on the Z!

 

Okay, time to remind self this thread is about the Sony Vaio Z and its user experiences and reviews!

I just recieved my leather Z cover in the mail today! Too bad it will remain empty till 2-3 more weeks =( it looks STUNNINGLY professional and very soft in the meantime ;D

 

... but as mentioned earlier only in Speed mode, right? Or does stamina / speed only affect sound output through HDMI?

 

The HDMI out port will only work in Speed Mode, its disabled in Stamina mode, or is there a way around this?

 

I just spent 30 mins to catch up some post on this thread and read some review article about the Z.

Now, I'm really considering about to buy it if it's true that it can work in stamina mode for at least 4.5 hours.
I'm using TZ. I never need to bring the AC charger when I go out.
I also like the performance of the Z when I'm at home.

My plane is to order the Z first, send my TZ to sony (recall) when the Z arrive and then sell the TZ when it comes back.

One thing I don't like about the Z is that it doesn't come with all black colour.

 

what's this?

 

yes, i can easily get 4 hours on stamina mode, with 3/8 of the brightness + wifi

 

Only works in speed mode. But if you're hooking up an external display, chances are you will have the laptop plugged in anyway, no?

 

Do you have an URL for me to this sleeve? I guess the Z deserves a "stunningly professional" sleeve

 

Absolutely! Linky

Its truly soft and very elegant

Its got a steep price tag but I got it with $300 off deal so it cut the price in half

 

Thanks . The pricetag is steep! Do you feel it's 'big' for a sleeve? I mean, will the 'sleeved' Z take a lot of more space in your bag than the 'unsleeved' Z?

By the way; is anyone using something to protect the screen of the Z itself, in order to prevent it from getting such a 'keyboard print'? I remember having read that someone advised to use something like that (possibly even the thing that's protecting it when you unbox the Z), but from the other hand I'm wondering; since the Z has this new 'Duraview'-screen technology, I can hardly believe that it's even possible that your Z screen ends up with a 'keyboard print', even in the long run...

 

No its very light-form but I think this may be what you want since you will keep it in your bag:

Linky

 

Yea I noticed that one, but I think it's the same idea as this one for the TZ: https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wc...-1&productId=8198552921665188959&tab=Features. And that's not what I'm looking for... Then I'd rather have a real 'zipper' sleeve I think. But thanks for the suggestion!

 

Hey guys, check out the case im getting. Now this is pure business class beauty:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/2310238570_9d16a1f8e9_b.jpg

 

For those who live in USA, how long did you wait for your CTO Z?

Right now the estimated ship date on Sony is 9/16. I really don't think it'll be shipped on time if I order it now.

Since I have very limited budget, I can only choose between Bluray drive and portable one SSD. Any comment or suggestion please?

 

i waited a week
ordered on a sunday and it arrived on the next wednesday, but i ordered when they were short in processors

 

I'm not sure if you are talking to me or not, but I ordered it online at SonyStyle.ca.

I plan to use an external TV as my monitor a lot when studying at home. Would I need to switch to Speed Mode when doing so? I will be using HDMI.

 

I read on tomshardware.com that at the end of July, Nvidia switched from the more failure-prone high-lead bumps to the more reliable eutectic bumps which ATI has been using for a while on their cards with no problems. I was curious if there was any way to know if the 9300M GS cards in the first batch of Z's have the high-lead or eutectic bumps. I was wondering if I should wait just to be safe.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-GPU-failure,6248.html

 

Thanks for that, guys. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that basically, high-lead solder is prone to cracking, while the lower-melting point eutectic solder isn't. I suppose in a way this makes sense... lower melting point metals seem to be more flexible.

Hopefully our Zs are using the eutectic bumps.

 

I had an estimated ship date for 9/8 and it ended up shipping on 9/4. Very surprising because I ordered the Friday before labor day weekend so pretty much nothing was processed until 9/2. The processors were in stock at the time I ordered though.

Sure no problem. Definitely give the trial a go and see if you like it. I'm pretty sure it's the program you need to do just what you want.

You can ask some buyers to see if they can find a manufacturing date on their GPU. If the GPU was made before August, then it was probably made with the high-lead solder.

 

hey everyone, i've been following this thread for a while now and you guys have given me a lot of insight.

i was just wondering for those of you in canada, do you know if the keyboard is the US keyboard or the billingual one w/ the annoying shift key?

i haven't ordered the z yet but i think i'm going to wait since it's not going to come to canada until the 18th supposedly...

also, has anyone looked at the dell e4300?

thx in advance for all your input!

 

What's the best bag to prevent the Z from scratches?

 

The leather notebook cover on SonyStyle or the leather carrying case they offer see page 303 for links lol

 

thx. Something else: In Belgium I couldn't order the BD-drive on the Z. Does somebody know if it is possible to replace the dvd-drive with a blue-ray drive myself? And Where can I buy a compatible BD-drive?

 

Good news for UK users, I just bought the Vodafone mobile broadband service offering 3gb/month for £15/month over 12 months.
I tried the latest version of Vodafone Mobile Connect and it's working perfectly.
Hopefully this will prove much more stable than my 3G connection using my mobile phone modem via USB connection..
Only quirck I found is that both WLAN and WWLAN need to be working at the same time but I guess it's not too much of a big deal.

 

It's built in the the Serial Number. After you Register - head over to the Service Centre site of sony - once you log in and review your registered products you'll see it has a warranty which expires in 2011 ! (UK Only)

 

Does anyone know is Command and Conquer 3 or Spore would run on the Z? I really want to know, as it would affect my purchase.

 

These games will most likely run i dont see any reason why they wouldnt... If no one replies ill let you know on Monday/Tuesday wen i get my Z... (next week)

 

Is anyone using (or going to use) something to protect the screen of the Z itself, in order to prevent it from getting the infamous 'keyboard print'? I remember having read that someone advised to use something like that (possibly even the thing that's protecting the screen when you unbox the Z), especially if you're travelling a lot with your notebook (here, walking around on campus from class to class falls under 'travelling' as well ). Yet, from the other hand I'm wondering; since the Z is a really high-end notebook, that has this new 'Duraview'-screen technology, I can hardly believe that it even is possible that your Z screen ends up with a 'keyboard print', even in the long run, while travelling a lot...

Insights? (If I had to guess I'd say that Phil was the one who advised to use some kind of screen protector?)

 

I wouldn't worry about the Key prints on the LED screen; its first of all scratch resistent and I think (from videos and close ups) there is a bitttt of a space between chicklet keys (advantageous) with screen. .

I think carrying around a little film of foam or bubble wrap everyday is a bit too tedious - and paranoid lol
(though for a 2.4k notebook, who would'nt be!)

 

Should run. My friend brought over his new Dell XPS M1330 and showed me Spore, ran really smooth. It should run without a hitch on the Z. C&C3 I don't know.

I've had the "keyboard print" on my other laptop before (17" glossy screen), and they've always come right off with some gentle rubbing of a soft cloth and a little moisture if necessary, so I'm not too worried about the Z's 13". Still, I'm gonna cut the sheet that came with it to size and use that.

 

CANADIANS: Guess what ppl! Almost all Sony Stores have their laptops in!!!!!

 

This is messed up!!! I ordered the 2.53 Ghz processor and now I have to wait till the 23rd of this month for it to ship out.

 

Here is what I did.

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Hardware and Sound
3. Personalization
4. Display Settings
5. Advanced Settings
6. GeGorce 9300m GS tab
7. Start the nVidia Control Panel
8. Under "Select a Task" hit "Change Resolution"
9. tweak your external monitor settings. Mine needs to be at 1680 x 1050
10. I turned off the display on my laptop, so i only look at one screen at a time.

This eliminated the fuzzy text, etc. for me. I am a novice at Vista and reached this solution by trial and error. Hope it works for you.

 

Red Alert 3 Beta (higher spec then CnC3) runs fine in full res.

 

Yes!!! My laptop is in!! Goin to go pick it up today!!!!!!!!!!

The crappy thing now though, is that all the excutment is going to be over.

 

Review (14 pages!) of Intel's X25-M solid-state drive
Might be interesting for the Z, although relatively slow write performance like most MLC-based SSDs.

 

Let me know when you get your Z. I'm curious if Sony waited for Nvidia to switch before they began to install the 9300M GS in the Z notebooks.

thanks.