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

I think people were satisfied that no significant changes are coming up, and ended up buying what they bought. So, not that many people are focusing on deals (which expire), and hence no one replied.

I don't know if the Bing cash-back is still going on (I tend to think no). I think Sony also might have an outlet. Microcenter, TigerDirect had deals, as did Microsoft (IIRC).

 

Discontinued as of Jully 2010.

 

I bought a Vaio Z11 on Vaio Outlet for 1600 Euro

Core i7 620m
8GB Ram
256 SSD
Full HD Screen
Premium Carbon
Backlight Keyboard
WWAN
TPM
Win 7 with downgrade to XP


I think this is a very nice deal!

 

That's indeed a very good deal there Valnar. Where exactly did you get this? Have you got a link?
Actually, I think that people who bought a Z11 just about a month before the Z12 came out where really lucky, since the price for a full spec'ed (i7, 256Gb SSD, 6Gb RAM, FHD display) model then was around 1830 Euro, and then when the Z12 was launched the price rocketed to 2500 Euro for a similar model (only difference was the 8Gb of RAM). I'm talking about Europe here... Taking into account that Dollar dropped further against Euro, someone is making lots of money out of us (IMHO). Nonetheless, my only consolation is that we are talking about today's best laptop in the market!

 

I've been trying to get a solid answer on that too Anzial. I'm afraid nothing positive as yet, only ambiguous results. I will keep on looking into it and post any of my findings. However I believe that you'll get a performance penalty if you break up your RAID configuration. Unless you have a performance degradation due to non-TRIMing now, do you?

 

I got my VPCZ1190 model 119GX today.
i720, 256GB , 4GB RAM, Windows 7 Pro
A few things...
Windows Experience Scores....6.9, 5.9, 6.4, 6.4, 7.6
I went thru the Vaio update... updated the;
Intel 6200
The Intel Rapid Storage
Vaio Power Management
Vaio Periferal Data
and then updated the bios from R1180C3 to R3030C3
what else should I update??
Video Drivers?

My touch pad does not do 2 finger scrolling.. but it scrolls along the edge (which I do not like nearly as much)
is the backlit keyboard only automatic? This refurb came with no documentation
Also how do I make a backup disk to re-install Windows 7 Pro? and how many DVD's will it take?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. This forum has really helped me to understand why this laptop was my best choice. I love the feel of this keyboard.
Seems pretty fast too...

I am sure I will have more questions, and I am so glad this forum exists!

Best,

Gary

 

for two finger scrolling, either download the official Synaptics drivers or use this: two-finger-scroll - Project Hosting on Google Code

Both seem to work fine (personally i use the one from google code, so i can vouch for that one)

Yeah the backlit is automatic according to the ambient light sensor above your F9 key you can change the sensitivity in the registry according to this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/521432-z12-keyboard-backlighting-threshold.html

Just hit the windows key and type regedit and run it. Be careful though, these are your registry values. And there's also another registry value that changes the max brightness too. i forgot where.

About the manuals, everything's digital, but if you hit the windows key on your vaio and click help and support the manual's in there. (afaik, no one's got physical copies)

click the "Assist" key (above F11/F12) and it opens Vaio Care and if you click the Recovery & Restore tab, there's option to create recovery discs (also, you should be getting notifications in the task bar from Windows Action Center tell you to make them)

The Recovery ISO image is ~ 8-9 gb, so either 2 DVD's (4.7 GB) or 1 Dual-Layer DVD (9.4 GB) will suffice.

Video Drivers, update to the uhh ones out for the VPCZ13, go to the esupport site and type in for your laptop VPCZ1390X (that's the CTO for the Z13 which is just your VPCZ1190X), or you can look for community created ones in this forum

 

@Achusaysblessyou:

I love your cooperation for newbies, you are a real Gentleman.

Will

 

Haha, no problem, we were all once noobies and there was someone to help us then, so just paying it forward

 

Also go direct to the intel download site
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx


install the check tool and your done

download the latest wifi driver works fine... do not install the intel graphic update from intel direct it is not compatible with the hhbrid graphic system.

 

Although the resulting argument is valid: "the vaio Z cannot drive the 2560x1440 resolution" I'd like to point out something important:

For those resolutions, what is needed is DVI DUAL LINK connections. That is what really differs between dvi and hdmi. We are used to consider dvi and hdmi the same interface but the lack of audio in dvi.
But that is because usually, we do not need the full bandwidth dvi can provide.

To run those screens, you need dvi dual link connector from the graphics card, which in a desktop, is not really hard to find, unless you stick to the very bottom of the price list -and probably to something very outdated-.

You could run the 2560x1440 display with the Vaio Z using the docking station and its dvi-dl port.
Most dvi ports in graphics card are of this sort.

You should then check the cable is dual link too, since most of the regular cables are only single link.
To distinguish them, you can see in the single link dvi cables, they have missing pins.

Here you can spot the differences between connectors.

I wish the Z had a full DVI-I Dual link instead of having HDMI+D-SUB15 (the old monitor connection), since with the DVI-I DL we could use an adapter to get analog and a different adaptor to get HDMI (audio could be provided through optical out).

But hey, they chose the most user-friendly solution....

 

I bought mine directly from sony, and it came with the software in Spanish.

I did a system restore, but cannot tell if then I was asked to choose language.

What I know is you can choose, change or add languages using windows update.

Even if you get a computer in german, it cannot be to difficult to get in the control panel, go to windows update, optional updates and select a different language, can it?

 

I must add, with VGA and very high resolutions I have never been able to display quite a sharp image.

I do not know if its because of pushing the interface, the analog to digital conversion that takes places in the monitor, but it has never worked out for me.

About the different aspect ratios, that should not be a huge problem. Nvidia control panel must let you define a custom resolution that would match 1920x1080, but still short for a 2500x1440 or whatever the 27" has.

 

Since others already told you it has the same smoot finish as if you had a dvd drive, I would like to show you the inner part of the caddy, where you can see sony put good attention to detail fitting the caddy with extra soft padding where the hard drive seats, to absorb potential shocks:

VIEW PICTURE HERE

*The drive you see in the picture is not the conventional hard drive, I swapt it

 

Newest revision of HDMI interface - ver 1.4 - supports resolution 4096x2160, and even dual link DVI won't be able to handle that

 

thank you very much for your help, it is much appreciated!

 

I bought this on Sony Outletstore Germany
Now they have some Z12...

https://outlet.sony.de/shop/VAIO-Notebook-PC/Z-Serie-13-1

There is one Core i5 540M and 128 SSD for 2009 Euro and a Z12 with HDD for 1790 Euro...
The good deals are all gone

 

actually, last night there was this on slickdeals:

http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=719667&t=2312677

another MS clearance deals on the "old" VPCZ12... for $825 this time... versus 1200 last time. I'd post here, but notebookreview seemed to have some problems last night

 

Hi guys. What kind of battery life do you get with the *NEW* Sony Zs?

It says 7 Hours max, but I know most battery lifes are just a gimmick.

 

most people report between 3-5 hours. there are some standout cases where people have gotten 5+ hours but usually that's with like all the settings at lowest. I personally get ~3.5-4 hours. this is with mid brightness, wifi on and a few tabs open.

 

I get about 3-3.5hr with standard battery in Auto Mode with auto brightness on, wifi on (2.4ghz only), wwlan on but bluetooth off, CPU maz set to 70% & Thermal performance set to balanced. While running outlook mail, Internet exlporer & MS Word open.

If I use the DVD for a film, then batt. reduces to approx 2hr max.

Hope this helps

 

Since you guys are so knowlegeable about monitors...

My CRT that I have been using the past 12yrs has finally died, and I want to know what you guys think is the best way to go:
16:9 (1920x1080)
16:10 (1920x1200)
or something else?

would there be any problem going with 16:10, stretching of the aspect ratio when watching movies? I heard it's not compatible with the playstation3 for example.

I am looking for a big one around 27" to 30" that I can also use as a hdtv, if you know any good ones to recommend.

 

Alright, well, looks like the Z is not an option. I need 5+ hours atleast. Such a shame.

 

I prefer 16x10, I hate it that Z has 16:9. It's BS that PS3 is not compatible with 16:10 displays - it may not be able to output 16:10 but every 16:10 can scale to 16:9, so it'll work anyways.

16:10 will NOT stretch over 16:9, it'll just add black bars on top and the bottom, but it'll be useful when used as a monitor because you'll have extra space for controls and stuff.

 

Buy the extended battery option, set in stamina mode, thats what I did.....

 

It switches to stamina automatically

 

i say go with 16:10, because the extra 120 vertical pixels gives you more workspace. the Z's HDMI supports up to 1920x1200, so u'll be fine. Thing is, i've seen many deals on 1080p monitors, very few on 1920x1200

 

The only 1920x1200 with tv tuner I have found is a hannspree, I haven't found any others at all except a samsung which is a lot smaller, and I have been looking for weeks. is hannspree any good?

 

Then maybe buy monitor and the TV tuner separately. The Panasonic business plasma displays do 1920x1200 when used with DVI-D TH-50PH20 spec

 

when ever my new Z1190 come back from sleep I get a pop up message from Intel Rapid Storage, that says Disk on port 1: Detected
then it will say disk on Port 1 removed.
When I open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program, it shows I have 2 x 122GB HD's making up this one volume
it says Volume0 type: Raid 0
on the left side it shows one is on Port 0 and one is on Port 2, so nothing is on Port 1... so why am I receiving this messages when I sleep or hibernate?
is this normal or is something set up wrong.

Thanks,

 

Port1 is probably the DVD/optical drive and will be disabled when on battery and/or sleep by default.

 

What's the best driver for this laptop?
Still running stock drivers.

 

I'm actually sporting a 25" (24.6") HDTV/Monitor Combo from Hannspree for my dorm. It works fine, and with a few adjustments, the color looks nice. I cant say for your 1920x1200 monitor though. The one i got was only 1080p from costco:

Costco - Hannspree 25" 1080P LCD HDTV

By the way, it's a reputable company from China. It was cheap, so i took it.

 

Yeah, sort of, at60Hz....

It cannot cope with 1920x1080@120hz which dvi-d DL can...

Anyway, no 1.4 in our vaio Z, so, the only way is through the dock station and its dvi DL port.

 

I do not agree: to stretch or not is entirely up to the screen and what it decides or lets you decide.

Usually, through a pc, you can tell (for example in the nvidia control panel) if you want to
1.- scale to fill the screen (stretching)
2.- scale but respecting proportions using the graphics card
3.- scale respeecting proportions using the monitor hardware

3 may not always be available, but it would be weird not to have it.

The problem with a PS3 and similar devices is they only allow 16:9 or "HDTV" resolutions and if the screen is a different aspect ratio, they ignore it, and provide the resolution they can to the screen.

At this point, it is entirely up to the monitor.

If you are lucky or the monitor has professional aspirances, you probably get the option to choose in the OSD menu.

If you are not lucky, it may fill the screen and stretch it or, may be, just add some black bars.

Looking for quality 27" and bigger, I love dell models, although the newest are 16:9 and need dual link to provide their native resolution (not exactly easy to achieve). They are thought for professional use and care more about colour reproduction than fast movement, so maybe not what you are looking for...

 

that's because no one cares about 3d that much, 3d is still has ways to go to get settled as a standard

 

Well, if you buy a cheap crappy display, then you deal with stretching/artifacts issues. Any quality display will be to handle any resolution and PS3 or not, it will work properly in any situation. In any case, I doubt there is any crappy 1920x1200 display left on the market - it's exclusively 1920x1080 domain, so it's a moot point - you can't argue that 1920x1200 will stretch because every single monitor capable of this resolution, like you said, will have "professional aspirances,"

I disagree about dell - it's never a professional monitor manufacturer, it's a mass manufacturer. If you want professional grade display - you have to look at NEC or Iyama, no dell will hold a candle to the top of the line NEC display, in particular if you are concerned with color reproduction

 

But there's neither DL dvi on the notebook itself like you wanted in the first place So if your needs are satisfied with the dock, buy it and stop whining about the lack of high-res ports on the notebook.

 

My new Z12 is arriving next week. Probably a dumb question, but how do I make recovery disks? I've searched around for a step-by-step with no luck.

Should that be pretty much the FIRST thing I should be doing? Any other tips that I should do right away?

Thanks!

 

if you press the "assist" key at the top of the keyboard, it'll open up vaio care. then click on the tab on the left that says recover/restore and there will be "create recovery disks" option. if anything, i remember a ton of notifications from Windows Action Center that bugged me incessently to make my recovery disks. it should takw either 2 regular DVD's or 1 dual layer DVD

 

Also, it does this nagging thing that it keeps reminding you about: click here to make the backup disks, click here to set up this and that...

 

I am 20 years behind on display technology so what is up with DL-dvi or dvi-d and the hdmi versions? I thought dvi is already obsolete and everyone uses hdmi now, isn't hdmi the same as dvi except it carries sound and uses a smaller connector?

What benefits are there to getting the Z-dock?

 

I disagree. The IPS DELL monitors are from LG. Are your comparing a $500 monitor with a $2000? If so then sure you could also compare a Cadillac with a Toyota Yaris.

DVI .
It is not a full docking station it is only a port replicator.

 

Hey guys, i heard that if you still want it, you can call in and ask for the deal through the sales rep (This was true of the MS clearance for the VPCZ11 too)

 

I have a problem with my z12 where the wireless radio will turn itself off periodically. It will work work fine for some time then it will suddenly by unable to find any networks in the vicinity, the only way to fix it is to disable/reenable the network adaptor. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

@jkh13:

I know that you don't know this, but this subject has been beaten to death, through the new Z thread, please guys try to read through the pages, you will know things that will surely turn your head.

Any way, UPDATE your WiFi Drivers this will solve your problem. And will Fix lots of your problems as well.

the best version is this:

Sony eSupport - VPCZ1290X - Software Updates & Drivers

 

Should be getting my VAIO tomorrow. I am positive this has been discussed before, but I cannot seem to find the post that provides a checklist of things to do upon unboxing. If someone can provide a link, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

Not sure where/if there is a checklist, but things I would be sure to do:

1. Make recovery DVDs from the Vaio Care app
2. Make a drive image backup using Norton Ghost in case you want to go back to a factory install (recovery DVDs don't include Adobe pack for example)
3. Decide whether you want to reformat or uninstall bloatware, and whether you want to delete the recovery partition to recover space. If you want to delete the recovery partition it's best to reformat at the same time.
4. If you're reformatting, download all the drivers from the Sony support site for your model and put them on a DVD or USB drive.
5. More clean install info here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/467565-vaio-z-vpcz1-clean-install.html
6. Tweak power profiles from the Power control panel advanced page (I'd turn off hibernate after xx minutes, disable hybrid sleep, disable wake timers)
7. In the Vaio Control Center, disable auto-dimming so you have full control over panel brightness
8. Make another drive image backup once you have things running as you want them

All I can think of at the moment

 

Is there a way to control the backlit keyboard? when I am laying in bed with the lights very low, the keyboard still doesn't come on. Is there a place to set it myself?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/521432-z12-keyboard-backlighting-threshold.html