Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 (VPCZ1) Official Owners Thread Part 2

Good news : there is a solution to turn backlight on manually

Bad news : it is called "put a piece of tape on the light sensor" method...

But it really allow you to turn on/off the backlit manually...

 

Please where did you configure your laptopr for that price? I've been watching the sony us site like a hawk, usually a setup like that are $2600 +

 

Dude, what the hell is wrong with your ClearType settings?

 

@Lycium:

Something is not Correct with your System Specs/Price, a blu-Ray costs $500 alone, $100 for FHD, $150 for i7, $200 256GB Upgrade.

Base Price = $1969.99
Add the above and you should be Paying $2720 + $200 TAX approx. = $2920

That's all assuming you got it Brand New, not Refurbished/Used.

 

Even their refurbs with limited 90 days warranted are overpriced. I'm starting to dislike the brand on that basis alone.

 

The whatever programs that mess around with the picture may have messed it up too much... Is it blurry? It's kind of small on my FHD screen so I can't tell

 

where'd you get yours? that seems like a pretty good deal for those specs. out of my price range though, got mine for $1500

 

When did you get your laptop? I've usually seen that starting price at 1800.

 

eBay, it was a one off. got lucky looking at the latest listings. I think this is the Best Buy model, that's why it has the different model number and slightly slower processor. (I'll take that $300 instead of 140MHz thank you very much!)

 

You can find a factory authorized retailer selling refurb Z's for great prices. I bought a VPC-Z11FHX/XQ with a 90-day warranty for under $2100 (shipping and tax not included) just recently. That's a fully spec'ed out Signature Z1!

I had been tracking the prices for a lower config, but when the opportunity presented itself, I quickly ordered it. And in just a couple of days, their stock of that particular model was exhausted. Unfortunately, the vendor told me there were no more scheduled. I suppose the Z12 refurbs should arrive soon after the Z13 is officially launched.

 

what are you talking about? I ordered a base z1190x for $1659 +15% off sale. which is a damn good deal for a premium carbon fiber model. Even the Z with hi-res screen is $2049 before 15% off..

Their Z's are prices lower than a brand new one for $2019.

 

Oo here in germany we're getting 2 years warranty on refurb. laptops and new ones. But we also pay a little bit more $=€. I paid 1900€ for a brand new z12x9e I5 520/6GB DDR3/128GB SSD/WWAN/Fingerprint/Backlit keyboard/1600*900

 

@Nill1234:

Man, I don't know how are you people living there, its an amazing country, I picked up my E90 325i from there myself, but its a really really very expensive country in general, I enjoyed my stay a lot btw, but everything is like rocket high in prices, you must be making good money though

 

@Willy hope you enjoyed the lack of speedlimits at the "Autobahn" with your e90
ok now btt

 

I wish I see the models you're referring to because none of the specs I look at are by any stretch good deals. If there's one with a 256 gb harddrive, the Full HD screen and any combination of everything else for less than $2100, plz show me.

 

Do you mind sharing the name of that particular reseller or others I could check out? Thanks

 

I just bought an Asus U30JC. I ordered a SSD and 8 gigs of ram. I walk into best buy and a VPCZ12LGX/B stares me in the face. If I can justify the expense I'll return the Asus and get this because the Asus has a 310m and the Z has a 330GT! My question is: my Asus has an i3 2.4 but this Z has a 2.27 i5. Which is faster? Does the slower i5 beat a faster i3? Also, this sony has a 6 cell battery and the Asus has an 8. How much different will the battery life be? I know what Nvidia optimis does but what about CUDA?

I don't NEED a 10 hour battery, but I'd like to be able to surf / watch video for a good 6 hours. Please help me out. This is time sensitive as I need to return the Asus if I do this.

 

i5 520 can turbo boost to 2.93ghz, that could be noticable depending on what you use your laptop for, i3's don't turbo. what you don't notice is a difference between a 2.4 and 2.27 i-series.

A bigger difference is the 310vs330gt if you game. I personally don't care for optimus, I like to flip the switch as needed. The only advantage is the drivers should be more up to date for Optimus but we have Nautis to even things out for us

My fiancee has a UL30vt, and while i know it's not the same laptop, the Z's screen is likely a world apart from the U30JC. hardware wise, it's probably the best upgrade over the U30JC. Although my battery life can't touch my fiancee's UL30vt's battery life. There the asus has a solid win.

 

I don't think the i5 is a 520. If you look up the model number on bestbuys website that's the laptop I'm looking at. How much DO you get out of your battery? Is it great but not godly? Or mediocre and not ty. I need something I can sit on in law school and take notes / look up cases online. And I'd like to be able to watch video when I'm sitting around between classes and not have to plug in. Also, the guy at best but said that when you're plugged in, take out the battery because it will shorten it's lifespan if you don't. I've never heard that before but I figured I'd pass it along for discussion. How is the SSD in this laptop compared to the OCz vertex 2?

 

The i5 is faster because it can turboboost although in real world scenarios i dont know if you can tell the difference in performance. The 330M WILL be a very noticeable boost in performance. The battery life on the Z will be 4-6 hours... (I personally get about 5 hours of use) But since the Z is so light, you could probably afford to carry around the extended battery with the extra 50% battery capacity(it's a 9-cell) which will give you about 6-8 hours depending on your own usage. If anything, the Z is lighter, better screen res, superbly better graphics and has a backlit keyboard PLUS membership into a very exclusive and distinguished community =D

 

Hi All

I have an offer - to buy one of these:
Z12X9E - €1400 - brand new one, full warranty
Z115GG - €1000 - used about 1 month, bought in Singapore with int warranty (but we all know, that it is not as international, as it seems to be).

What would you choose? If I buy the new one, I won't have enough money left (but it has 6GB of ram, Czech keyboard, 128GB SSD). If I buy the other one, I will have to swap the HDD for SSD (I really want it ), get used to English keyboard (not a big deal) AND - no warranty..

 

Look at the best buy page. I was there and it didn't look like it was backlit. The guy said it wasn't but what does he know? What kind of ram does it take? What SSD is in it? How does it compare to the vertex 2?

 

It has a 430m i5

And no backlight. Will this processor have any notecable difference to the Asus? And can't I just buy a 9 cell battery? Does is stick out evenly or is it uneven?

 

Sure thing--it's Clearance Club.

If you need a contact there, PM me and I'll give you the name and email of the person who should be able to call and/or tell you in advance as to what's coming in stock.

 

If the 2nd Z is HDD-optioned, it won't come with an optical drive, so that would be another difference that may or may not matter to you...

 

Nevermind! It is backlit!

Edit: I don't understand why the model number VPCZ12LGX/B does't come up on the Sony website when I search it. I can't really find much of ANY info about it online. I'm trying to figure out if its some cheop version of the real thing that they sent off to best buy to sell, and has crummy case / parts? The specs are fine, that doesn't bother me. I just want to make sure its not some crummy refurbished after market model that's going to run slower than the real thing.

Can anyone tell me what type of SSD is in this thing? What speed ram?

Here's the link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+...05764470&skuId=9988306&st=VPCZ12LGX&cp=1&lp=1

EDIT 2: I did find the page on Sony: http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=VPCZ12LGX unfortunatly it doesn't give its specs.

 

Big box stores like Best Buy sometimes get a specific unique model number. Dunno why, other than probably just an easier way for Sony to internally track them. When the revised CW came out, best buy was the place to get it because they had the best price on the 330m model, cheaper price than direct from Sony for the same hardware. They probably just get them extra discounted for ordering large quantities. They're not sub-par in any way. All Z's have backlit keyboards. Ram speed is 1066. Since it's a Z12, it's probably the toshiba made SSD's instead of the samsung.

You can't (easily) replace the SSD with say, a Vertex 2. These are custom made drives. What you can do, is remove the optical dvd drive and put in another 2.5" ssd/hdd if you want. Or you can go the slightly more complicated route of buying a 1.8" ssd, removing it from it's casing and replacing the SSD's it came with.


The default RAID 0 drives it comes with are extremely fast, so there's no real reason to do it other than for s*** and giggles like some of us

 

the i5 430 still turbos to 2.53
Intel® Core? i5-430M Processor (3M Cache, 2.26 GHz) with SPEC Code(s) SLBPM, SLBPN

new generation duo core CPU's with hyperthreading (essentially 4 cores), RAID 0 SSD's, sweet LCD, in a super light weight package. She'll make you happy, don't worry

 

Do you guys think the case is sort of .... flimsy? Seems like the case is just not very strong. Also, every time I raise volume or brightness, it makes a PC beep on the initial push. Can I uninstall that Sony software that makes that big panel @ the top come up? Is there any thing I need to do before I start using it? Or should everything be updated out of the box?

My BIOS version is R2074C3. Should I update it to the newest version or leave it alone?

 

the case is strong, the fact that it's so light might give you the illusion of it being flimsy. We tend to associate weight with strength. The LCD does flex a bit, but it's part of it's design. Someone here has a pic of a Z being held by just the LCD, it's stronger than it looks despite the lack of heft, it's part of the reason for paying a premium on the Z. You'd rather have something flex than crack.

Not sure what panel you're talking about but i'm positive you can uninstall it or just disable it. When it comes to installing update, run Vaio Update, it'll tell you which BIOS, firmware, drivers, etc you'll be suggested to install.

 

Thanks for all your help. What about the beep when I raise volume / brightness? Also, I cant adjust my brightness properly. I have it all the way up and on a dark desk, its still dimmed. If I turn on my desk lamp, it brightens up properly! I don't want it to "auto dim" beyond what I can control.

 

This brightness thing is very annoying. It keeps changing the brightness, even though my brightness bar is on MAX.

 

Start --> Vaio Control Center --> Display ---> Automatica Brightness Settings and uncheck the auto adjust box

 

HOLY HELL that is BRIGHT!!

 

Thanks a ton for your help. You don't feel like the bottom of the case and the screen have a lot of flex in the plastic? I barely touch the bottom of the laptop and i feel / hear it give a little. I suppose its the price you pay for a small laptop. Is there anything I can do about the "BEEP" it makes when I change brightness or sound?

 

Is this a quad core i5?

 

no, it's dual core with hyperthreading, so windows will register it as a quad core.

 

There's this .wav file in one of the Sony directories. If you can find it, you can rename it to something else (or delete it).

 

Any idea how to find that thing?

Also, the keyboard on this thing seems to smudge pretty easily. Best way to clean it? I really appreciate everyone's help!

 

Thanks for tip, there's no drive. But it is €400 cheaper

 

I just a got a Z12. It's awesome! apart from the annoying 16:9 ratio on the screen, I'm so used to 16:10, my old notebook is also 13.3" and this one seems so narrow.... I guess I'll get used to it but it's a little annoying - even less stuff fits now

 

I threw 8 Gigs crucial in mine!

Is it okay to just go to Nvidia.com, download the most recent drivers and over-write the current ones?

 

nnoooooooo don't do that

 

Care to elaborate? I have Driver version 188.80 and the nvidia site says that there are more recent drivers for the 330M GT. Why not download them?

The official driver version is actually 8.16.11.8880. This is what is on the Sony website as well.

 

For anyone who is wondering what the part number and cost is for the black palm rest: https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-part-number-A1769482B.aspx
$93

 

The stock nVidia drivers do not support the hybrid graphics in the Vaio, which has both nVidia and Intel display controllers. Any video driver updates have to accomodate the hybrid hardware setup.

More info in other threads, I suggest you start here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/477806-sony-vpc-z11-frequently-asked-questions.html

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll just use the sony driver. It works fine. Question: is the optical drive on this laptop easily replaceable? Is it a super slim? I was interested in getting a slot loading blu ray drive. If I did that, would I be able to map the eject button to eject the disk instead of the tray? Even if I just forgot the slot load and bought a standard blu ray drive, would I be able to do it?

 

the vaios drive is a tad smaller. if you did find one to fit however, it wont be flush and would look rather funky. if you must have blu-ray you may well consider an external option.

 

Thanks for sourcing out that part for us that have a problem with the palmrest =D. Now if only I could get Sony to replace it under warranty... but i dont think i could live a few days w/o mines...

 

New UJ-242, buy original Panasonic UJ242A UJ-242 4X BD-RE Blu-Ray Burner 9.5mm Ultrathin SATA DVD Drive - $259.99

Would that fit flush?