Official VAIO Z Core 2 Duo Series Owners Thread

how long did it take you... i printed the **** thing out!

 

Just about 2 hours (Defrag is the longest on the Z I got the 320gb) but bootup is so much faster. Everything is more 'responsive'

 

Got my Japanese Z today ... much happier than with the Z590UAB. I'll do a more formal review, but here are some pics. I got the line forest cover.

Notice that the G and Z are not very different in size.

 

i'm sorry, did you say you did everything recommended in the guide?

 

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ALL LINUX USERS!!! READ THIS OR YOUR HARDWARE MIGHT BREAK!!!

UBUNTU 8.10 (Intrepid Alpha) affected [1,2]
openSUSE 11.1 BETA 1 affected
much more

Fedora 9 + 2.6.25 might be affected, too [1]!

Sorry for "screaming", but this is really important to all Linux users: Kernel Only kernel 2.6.27 fully supports the Vaio Z's hardware. However it might break your network card permanently (won't work under windows, too). The problem is caused by the e1000e network driver, that seems to overwrite part of the network card's firmware. I was using 2.6.27, but luckily my network card still works. Probably this is due to the EFI system firmware, but I wouldn't trust this. For me, I'm going to disable e1000e immediately (using other hardware) -> only wlan.

[1] http://www.heise.de/newsticker/Fehlerhafter-Linux-Treiber-beschaedigt-Netzwerkkarte--/meldung/116350 (german)
[2] https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/263555 (launchpad - Ubuntu)
[3] http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11382 (Kernel Bug Tracker)
[4] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=459202 (Red Hat)

IMPORTANT NOTE: The information, that Intel Boot Agent Utility might be able to recover the network card given at some places (e.g. [1]) is WRONG (at least seams to be). It might make the problem even worse (network card no longer visible on pci(e) bus). Read [2] and [3] for more details.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ALL LINUX USERS!!! READ THIS OR YOUR HARDWARE MIGHT BREAK!!!

 

Hey guys,

Just got my vaio z590 today!! So excited, its been a long wait... Everything looks perfect so far except for this strange creaking noise on the right side of the keyboard when i type. Anyone experiencing this as well? I think it has something to do with the CD/DVD drive. Did somebody mention anything along these lines in an earlier post? Thanks for all your help. Other than the noise Im all set.

 

Noob question: If you get the Vaio Z with the "Fresh Start" option, is there a reason to do a reinstall to "tweak" Vista?

 

i have the z550 (non-cto) and i don't experience that... is yours cto?

oh and congrats, i love mine!

 

Mine isnt a CTO either. Ill have to compare it to some other models at the store and see if mines is defective. I sure hope not. Im probably just thinking about it too much. Thanks for the response.

 

The more I play around with the Z90US I got today (which was technically a CTO), it's way better built than even the Z590UAB I had. Outside of the G2 which I thought was good, this is the best build quality I've seen on a Sony laptop yet that I've owned.

 

so im back to being a proud owner of the Z, the SR's screen is ridiculous..

does anyone know what voltage should the ram be?

im planning on getting one of these two::


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227307

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134786


but as you can see, the OCZ has 1.6v where the Kingston has 1.5v

does anyone know if there is any difference? will it consume more power?

which should i go for?

 

If it is DDR3 1066, it doesn't matter as far as the voltages go. The motherboard will take care of that....

 

but why do they have different voltages? do they consume more power?

should i go with OCZ or Kingston, cause the OCZ has Camo Motif XTC Heatspreader

is this useful at all?

 

Careful! those two you linked us to are DESKTOP RAM, not notebook RAM!

The ones you're looking for are 204 pin, while those are 240 pin, and are longer. There's no danger of you getting this and accidentally inserting them (they're way too big for notebook RAM slots) but it'll be a headache if you get them and find out you got the wrong stuff.

What you want is more along these lines:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0&Description=ddr3+pc3+8500+notebook&x=8&y=30

 

Congrat's, that was fast!

How do you like the screen and the resolution? Much better, eh? Do you plug into an external monitor often or do you find the screen sufficient for all your work?

 

Gotta love Japan

The Z is now just right. The difference is night and day. Where 1366x768 is too small on the TZ, and 1600x900 is too small on the Z, 1366x768 is just right on the Z. No mucking with DPI, font sizes, zooming in browsers, etc. I know some of you like 1600x900 - more power to you. I think at 13.1, 1366x768 is perfect.

I never plug into a monitor. The only time I ever use the VGA out on any laptop is if I'm doing presentations. I don't do dual desktop, either. Never have.

 

Hey, does anyone know where the microphone is located on the Z? I can't seem to find it...

 

Here's a head-scratcher that I hope someone can figure out.
Got my Z590NGB about two weeks ago, and decided to try Vista (more on that below). I'm running a powerpoint presentation with an .avi in there, and in speed mode, the movie is very choppy. Switch to Stamina mode, the movie is much smoother!
Is anyone else seeing this weirdness?

As for Vista, I was going to downgrade to XP (as noted in an earlier post), but there was no XP disk with the computer! As is probably noted somewhere in this thread, there's a note that the disk wasn't ready in time, and to go to a website to order it. To date, still no disk, no way to contact that company (sony is of little use there), no XP happiness. I'm gamely giving Vista a try in the meantime, and am really frustrated with this OS:
1) the movie issue noted above.
2) PowerPoint 2003 files take a very long time to save. 30-45 seconds for a 10 MB file. Horrible when Autosave is on, or some Mac fan sees this slow save and gets that smirk about OSX being better.

On the flip side, the Z series is a great system! I got the high-res screen, and am truly enjoying it.

 

Kolohe, here is the link to get the XP disk.

https://www.qdirect.net/Sony/ModelSerialNumber.aspx

Got an e-mail this eveing stating my is FED-X over-night.. Be here Wednesday.. by 10:30 AM ordered from the link on Friday

Hope this helps..There is light at the end of this tunnel

gb

 

What anti virus software are you fellow Z owners running?

I'm thinking of installing Norton 360 but I don't want to slow it down, the start up is already slow enough with Vista.

 

Bottom right of your laptop, under the right palm rest, near the Wireless switch, you should see a tiny hole.

I haven't tried out anything in PowerPoint yet, so I'm not too sure of the problem you're having. However, I have noticed my own share of what seem like video driver-related problems, such as choppiness in Photoshop while zoomed in. My guess is that this is driver related, maybe something related to the whole hybrid Intel/NVIDIA setup.

As for the XP downgrade, did you get Vista Business? I'm not sure what other versions of Vista were said to have this option from Sony (thought it was a Vista Business only option), but with my Z there was a little slip of paper saying that my Z "may" be eligible for the XP downgrade downloadfrom Sony's site. In other words, it's not on the computer when you get it.

I'm using AVG 8.0 on mine. I have a lot of stuff loaded on my Z now, but Vista is still very responsive soon after the log on screen.

 

I'm not a Z owner yet, but i've been running AVG 8.0 on my desktop under both XP and Vista with nothing close to the performance hit ive seen under norton. And I've heard Avast is quite good as well. Seeing as both offer fully functioning free versions you might want to give each one a try.

 

any of the people who swapped the ram memory want to sell their 2gb stick?

 

Why should there be a 2 GB stick left?
You go from 2GBx1 + 1GBx1 to 2GBx2 DDR3-1066 and there will be 1GBx1 left.

 

I'm using NOD32 at the moment and it seems to be pretty good. Doesn't seem slow or clunky like Norton.

I'm using XP SP3 by the way.

 

I can't recommend Norton. Too slow and too big footprint. If you really want to pay for AV go with Kaspersky or NOD32.

I would never pay for AV cause Avira detects almost everything, is free and has a very small footprint.

But at the moment I don't use AV software. I have Avira installed in case i want to scan something but it's not running in memory.

If you install Avira, you can disable the popup.

 

i also just installed NOD32 last nite... so far so good, but obviously i have barely any experience with it yet so far... only things i can tell you: relatively cheap and cool icon in tray.

 

guys, becareful when trying to put on a privacy filter (targus brand) onto the laptop.

i put 1 on the screen, and decided that the double sided tape (which hold the filter in place) look ugly on the screen. i tried to remove it and ended up with 5 bright pixels due to the strong double sided tape pulling on the screen..

luckily 10 minutes of massage managed to unfreeze all of it

wierd thing is... in process of trying to remove the double sided tape residue on the privacy filter along with the fingerprints, i think it generated some static.. coz when i try to put the filter back onto the screen, it stick quite firmly to the screen without any adhesive or tapes..

is that something to be concern with? static on the screen...
so far everything seems normal ...
no dead / bright pixels..

 

You should have gotten the custom-Z Privacy Filter offered by SonyStyle: fits perfectly onto top and bottom edges, no tape! I love it. (my classmate next to me is telling me I should return the Z cause he can barely make out what's on the screen, you should have SEEN the big smirk on MY face!) - gosh I wanted to tell him mind your OWN f'n business you're not SUPPOSED to see what I am doing! lol

 

I second "stay away from Norton" even though they're recently rewritten it from scratch (allegedly).

I've use both NOD32 3 (on desktop) and AVG 8 (on Z) and both are outstanding in terms of low memory use, low system impact, and low user input.

 

it's given by sony style as part of the free gift when i got the Z
the reason they give me the targus is coz sony did not produce any 13.1 privacy filter.. only 13.3

 

FWIW I went from Norton 06 to Norton 08 recently and that made a world of difference in terms of performance. It still has too many annoying pop ups / warnings etc. though.

 

Sony's 13.1 filter for the Z is the VGP-FL14. It is great. I also have the matching SOny one for my G. If someone at Sony told you they didn't make one, they don't know their product line.

 

Hi. I would be interested in selling my 2GB RAM stick. I got a Z with only 2GB RAM and would like to upgrade to 4GB. But I want to keep both sticks of the same kind/make. Please send me a private message if you are interested.

 

I'll return my Z590 CTO which keeps making high pitch electrical noise when plugged in. I contacted Sony and they only let me return, no exchange. I bought it with ADH + 2 accessories + $300 off. Now, that deal is off, I ask Sony about it and they tell me that they only accept returns. Dam!

I find out buying from Portable one is cheaper. With the same amount of money I can also buy a Made in Japan Z from Conics. Although I have to choose a slower CPU. Any suggestion? (^_^)

 

Eh guys, this is the new Vaio TT, whats so different about it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m05xMY0jxEE


And heres a Vaio Recovery video that might be helpful to ppl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnv7xagOMFk

 

I was super tempted by a Conics Z for a fancy lid, but for what I want I'd end up paying more to have it configured the same ... but beyond that, the deal breaker for me is not having the Sony USA warranty. You'd have to ship back to Conics for anything, and the wait for even a small repair would be pretty big...I think you'd probably have to ship on your dime, too? While I was tempted by the pretty lid, it's not worth that trade off to me. :/ Something to keep in mind if you originally bought a USA warranty w/ ADH.

 

how do I turn on the scroll thing on the mousepad?

 

Thank you !!!

 

no.. you can order the Z with 2GB, and its 1 x 2GB

 

Sony Vaio TT

 

Hi, great to hear your disk is coming! I went to that site shortly after getting my Z; to date, no confirmation that it's coming, and it won't let me log in again with my IDs, as it says it was already done.
'nuff griping on my part. I just got today what looks like a hand-made downgrade disk from our vendor's rep!
We'll see how this goes.

 

Mine came at 9:30 this Am
Made back up of Vista and started the XP Downgrade install

AND
" THIS SOFTWARE WILL NOT WORK ON THIS COMPUTER"

" CHECK MODEL NUMBER"
So I will call them Thursday AM.
Can't win...............

 

you have to insert disc, reboot, go to BIOS boot up first device Optical Drive D

 

This isn't really a Z question, but it kind of is because i'm on a z...

When I go to youtube, it shows up as tz.youtube.com. I tried changing it, it goes to the regular www.youtube.com site, but it's still popping in mandarin (or cantonese not sure which).

Any ideas on w.t.f. is going on?

Thanks guys

 

"Cannot use this recovery disc for this computer.
Confirm the model type>

 

Well, all I can tell you is when I'm in another part of the world sometimes sites like google will default to where I am, even if I type in google.com. So if you're in that part of the world, that would be my best guess.

 

Question, if I had xp professional already can I downgrade using that disc instead? or do I have to request the xp downgrade disc from sony...

Also, does neone know if this is available for users in canada also?

thanks!

 

Is there SONY or aftermarket power brick that is smaller than the one supplied with the Z that will perfectly power the Z? I don't care if it does auto/airplane, etc. just a/c power, and don't want one that has a bunch of tips that can fall off, etc.

 

aamsel: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3935111&highlight=VGP-AC19V29#post3935111