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

could anyone please tell me where i can find all the colours/designs of the Z series?

I've found here the metal shield and mosaic designs, but still wonder how Infinite Stripes, Infinite Octagon, Premium Carbon, Glossy Premium Carbon look like

thanks

 

same here. I have a new Z with 128GB SSD, and only about 75GB free. also, I too feel it could boot up a bit faster.
I have a question: I bought a Z with i5-430m from best-buy (I thought it had a better processor when I bought it, nevermind that, long story...), and now I have the option to send it back and buy a Z with i5-540m, but it would cost me much more (because I live in Israel, and prices here are different), like about $400 more. I'll be using the laptop allot for heavy programming. do you think it's worth it? I guess not, I just thought I'd ask...

 

Absolutely agree with you gurnisht, I believe it's not worth it. The only real difference between the two processors is the clock speed. Since you mostly use your laptop for programming (like I do too) - using Visual Studio or similar products - I believe you won't find any noticeable difference between the two machines.

 

well, after calling sony germany and requesting a service pickup tomorrow (my baby gone for at least 10 days, waaaah) i managed to recover all my data on the raid and boot windows thanks to TESTDISK (running from knoppix), as i said, amazing little app. the vaio is gonna go to service anyway, hope they replace the ssds and dont just send it back to me without doing anything...

 

That doesn't seem like the one provided by Sony for Z13 (?) Do you have a Z12? The current driver installed is from a Z12, that worked fine...

Do you have the part number for a keyboard+palmrest+fingerprint scanner+backlit? And black?

And just to have more options: there's this option for a different keyboard font, but no backlit. Are you able to get the part number for that as well?

Try the Japanese Sonystyle website. I went there yesterday and saw quite a few more options than I knew.

 

I was wondering if any owners could comment on the speaker quality. How do they sound? Sure they're small so I wouldn't expect big sound but hows the fidelity?

I really like the small speakers on my current laptop. They have a very nice crystal clear high range. Do you think the Sony Z12's would be similar?

 

Well that's good news! Make sure you backup the data before sending it back. And remember to burn Sony recovery CD's--they come in handy.

 

where did you get the new Nvidia driver.9024? I saw beta site.. but what is the link, I can't find it anywhere.

 

The speakers are ... calm, shall i say? Really good quality sound with a low max volume. You can always crank the volume higher by overshooting, easily done through VLC, but you'd hear distortions almost immediately after 110%. The sound will fill a small room at best, but then again, if you anticipate a large audience, you should get some speakers anyways. For personal consumption however, irrespective of how good the speakers could possibly be, plug in the supplied earphones and immerse yourself in sound.

 

I just did a windows chkdsk run on it. Fixed a couple of bad sectors and i was good to go. Still received the error though, fact, the second one has come up with an error too. I had write-back cache turned on though and the errors appeared after unexpected shutdowns so it was kinda expected.

Last line definitely inspired by hindsight lol.

 

Yes I wouldn't expect them to be loud. Just for light background music listening as I work. I was just hoping that they have a nice crisp clear sound.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics-40.html#post6738332

 

Hey guys, can anyone direct me to where i can get more info on the Z and Ubuntu compatibility?

Will the basic functions work easily like wifi and usb ports and video cards(just the intel one is good enough)?

Also how is the battery life compared to windows?

Or should i just forget about it.

I want to install Ubuntu in a dual boot

 

Hello,

My local Microsoft store has the VPCZ122GX/B 2.4 i5 on sale for $1,499 -10% for student discount and a free xbox 360 = $1,350 to me.

Is this worth buying seeing that the 2.4 i5 is almost two generations back?

Thanks in advance!

 

i5 processors are new, released this year, same with the Z12

It IS worth it since the new Z13 is barely an upgrade.

 

Dummy's question again: I have the i5 M520 CPU. I always thought this is dual core. But task manager shows me 4 cores? What is what now?

 

Core i5-520M is indeed dual core. It has two physical cores.

However, it employs a technology called hyper-threading (HT), which means each physical core runs 2 virtual cores (called threads).

Therefore, you have a total of 4 virtual cores, and that's what you see in Task Manager.

Hyper-threading is good because it increases the overall speed of your CPU.

 

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Anyone please highlight the following:

- Is this IPS, S-PVA etc? What kind of LCD is it?
- How are the viewing angles on this... LCD/ Laptop? maybe compared to a Thinkpad IPS LCD?[/QUOTE]

 

I made a semi-clean install which worked like a charm. Now (after having Office 2010, Firefox and iTunes installed) I have 85 Processes and around 33% occupied memory. Windows folder has 15,5 GB.

 

[/QUOTE]

The display in the Vaio VPCZ1 is not an IPS or S-PVA as far as I know. I think it is similar to the one in the Lenovo W510 (RGB LED or RG-ph LED).

Check out the reviews here:
Review Lenovo Thinkpad W510 4319-29G Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews
Review Sony Vaio VPCZ11X9E/B Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

There's a thread on it, "ubuntu on vpcz1". Right now it's on the second page of the Sony forum.

I run Ubuntu on VirtualBox, it's so painless that sometimes late at night when I'm all alone I giggle and think perhaps the world isn't so bad after all.

 

I hate the cheapo speakers and pretty much always use earbuds or external speakers. There is some quality about the Z's speakers that makes sound strung out and lifeless. That being said, the sound is clear, I just don't enjoy listening to it.

 

Looking for a higher end IPS 24-27" monitor for my Z with an good (non grainy) matte or anti glare screen.

I read that some of the Dell displays are really good.

Feedback from Z owners and recommendations appreciated.

 

Another heads up on a driver update for wifi

Product Detected Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200
Current Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility Installed 13.2.1.0
Newer Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Utility Available: 13.3.0.0 Download Now

File Size: Size:41607 (KB)
Download Time: Time @56Kbps:96.31 min
Detailed Driver Description & Driver Documentation

 

Awesome deal, jump on it if you still can, sell the x-box and use the Sony rebate program to get $400-$500 back That'll make your laptop cost around $900 which is unheard of for this fine machine

 

I agree with Anzial... you aren't gunna see a deal like that again... and even if you don't want to xbox, sell it on Craiglist to get an even deeper discount

 

I have the DELL U2410 (H-IPS 24") which is really amazing. But I use the monitor on my Desktop computer.

 

Hmm, when I download a file, a movie or game etc , my wifi ends up dropping.

I have to reboot my Z for the wifi to work again.. anyone have any idea what this could be?

The wifi works... just not when I'm downloading

 

How do I obtain the Sony discount? That would be HUGE!

The link did not show a rebate program.

Thanks for looking out!

 

Sony TradeUps

 

get the latest intel driver from the site, vaio update doesn't show it

 

you need to go direct to intel and install and run the check tool


http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx

I have installed the latest and works a treat.

 

Hey all,

Just wanted to poke my head in here and say we are hoping to get some hard data from you Z owners regarding your palmrest situation (if any). If you've owned yours for over 60 days (or so), would you mind taking a sec to cast a vote regarding your condition?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/523271-palmrest-paint-fading-sony-vaio-z-owners-place-your-votes-now.html

Thanks! It'll help us prospective buyers.

 

Hi all,

I have a Z11 with 500GB config but I am tempted to upgrade it to a Z12 with the 128GB SSD config (rest of the specs are exactly the same between the two laptops). A friend of mine is willing to buy my old Z11 off me but it still works out to be c. $500 for the upgrade to Z12. Which means that I am paying $500 for the HDD and internal optical drive. (and a new machine)

What do you guys think? I have never owned a SSD before so not sure what sort of difference does it make. I use it mainly for work (word/excel) and some gaming (SC2, wow).

Thanks in advance for any insights!

 

I own a vaio Z with 1080p and a dell 2709W.

The vaio screen is the only other monitor I have seen approaching dell's incredible color rendition and brightness, although, the dell screen is better (better colour and more bright).

On the other hand, the dell screen, which is two years old now shows it bigger response times.

Now, dell has replaced my screen with a 16:9 which has more resolution (2560x1440) despite the switch to 16:9.

Only one thing to note, with resolutions greater than 1920x1200 you will need to use the dockstation's dual link dvi connection to plug the dell screen since HDMI only goes up to 1920.
Get very well informed about this before buying!

 

could the Z-series owners please take piture of the design of your Z? I would order one but with one of the special designs, therefore I want to see some in real, and not the small pictures on sony website
thanks a lot ^^

 

I think StarCraft2 works only with low graphic/detail settings.

 

I get 60FPS in SC2 at 1600x900 with the following settings:
Texture quality: ultra
Shaders: medium
Lighting: low
Shadows: ultra
Terrain: medium
Reflections: on
Effects: ultra
Post-processing: medium
Physics: ultra
Models: high
Unit portraits: 3D
Movies: high

 

That seems more logical to me, If the Z can play Crysis & Call of Duty Modernwarfare 2 smoothly, How can't it play SC2 with Great FPS

 

Okay then I got some wrong information about SC2 and the Z. Not sure where it was. Anyway.

I think I'm now done with my upgrades ...

VPCZ122GX/B $1780 + RealSSD C300 128GB (for OS and Apps) $300 + Samsung SSD 256GB (for Storage) $380 + BluRay drive UJ242 $238 = $2698
On SonyStyle.com a VPCZ1290X with 540M CPU and 256GB SSD (2*128GB RAID0) and BluRay Drive costs at the moment $2769 . I spent less and got more.
I also saved at the 3y warranty with ADH, I paid $240 vs SonyStyle $399 .
And additional power supply $55 vs SonyStyle $89 .
And for cables, mouse and other accessories I spent $200 .

I know I can get with the CTO model the i7 CPU but that is only around %10 more performance. And no I definitely don't want the FullHD display (1920x1080).

Two upgrade options are still possible: large capacity battery and 8GB RAM. But that is something my family can buy me for Christmas

 

Yeah, but your warranty extension doesn't cover any of your upgrades, in fact, they may have invalidated any warranty

 

The SSD's will last for ever and for the optical drive I have a backup (the old one). I did not invalidate my warranty because I never opened the notebook

 

Finally decided to bite the bullet and upgraded to the Z12 and very happy with it - SC2 runs smoothly on medium settings on the full HD res.

I have to say that I am extremely impress with the speed of the quad SSD set up (I have 64GB * 4). I had SC2 installed last night and it took less than 5mins to install - pretty impressive! (I recall it took a lot long to install on my desktop)

 

What are you on? Can I have some too?

 

Actually he is absolutely right, I have a Newmodeus Caddy and 500gb HDD installed and my warranty in still very much intact...

"No Mr. Sony Sir, I've never opened this laptop. I wouldn't know how!"

 

Hmm, turns out the VPCZ13 CTO in the US still has the 1600x900 option and the 128 GB SSD option... And the base model costs $100 more for the only difference... an i5-460m instead of an i5-540m... but there is "Bordoux" as a color choice...

 

Not to mention a ridiculously minimal discount on the 1290X's as well as compared to what our neighboring country received. I hate to say it, but I think I am just about to give up on this purchase and find another machine...

 

The reason is that Sony wants you to buy a VAIO Z13 & not a VAIO Z12.

 

Just ordered my Z1390X CTO.

i7, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, Full HD.

Really looking forward to this machine...