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

Was the glossy carbon lid a CTO option for Spain. I would imagine so with 128GB HD?

 

Thanks sonyzuser and TigerBone for sharing your experiences!

sonyzuser: I thought the added weight was minimal - would you say its a considerable difference?

 

Just bought a Z with i5/128gb config . Excited to own this exotic laptop!

 

Congrats! Welcome to the club

 

One more analysis says the large battery takes the win for me. I noticed when i propped the laptop up in the front so it sits flat like the standard battery, that i find my hands are stretching more to reach the higher keys (qwerty row, number row and above). When it sit at an angle with the large battery typing feels more natural and comfortable. It adds very minimal weight for the comfort and battery life you gain. I hope you make the right choice that's best for you .

 

removed - duplication

 

I only have the larger capacity battery, but did ask the sales rep about the difference before buying. Can't seem to find my notes right now, but seem to remember the difference was in the area of 1/2 pound, possibly more?

But my memory could be faulty - maybe someone that has both batteries can provide a more accurate comparison.

 

Do you guys know if theres a way to turn auto brightness off? It constantly changes on its own and its very annoying

 

Vaio control center/display/automatic brightness settings

 

Hi it was a free upgrade, also the finger print option was a free upgrade. total price € 2145,00 inc vat, oweverthere has been another slight delay. I forgot to include the headphones at €25 and to buy separate cost €135.
Does anyone have some they do not want

 

Speaking of the finger print reader, has anyone gotten that thing to work. I was trying to calibrate it for fun and it could not read a finger print, from any finger. I don't really care, but I'm curious if I'm the only one. Maybe I have a good chance of being a spy...

 

Mine works great. I use it all the time.

Because the fingerprint reader makes it convenient to log in, I set it to have only a short timeout before the password prompt appears (like 10 min). Keeps it a little more secure from prying eyes.

 

Take care you don't rush your finger too fast or too slow.Mine also works perfect, I use it as substitution to power-on password.

@hotelarce: I have some originally sealed for sale since I am a Bose QuietComfort15 user.

 

Sorry, non-native english here. What means 10 chars?

EDIT: Found out myself. Thanks for answering the dock-question.

 

So, nothing on compatibility of Power Gorilla and the Z11/12? I'm going to buy the unit on sale or return. £10 or so dearer than a cheap webshop, but I've got clearance to send it back if it doesn't do what I want. I'll report my findings here.

 

Why not? Take Tip L54 or L54D that must fit in the Sony.

 

A little while back I asked a question about whether the Gorilla was capable of delivering enough power for the Z11/12 but didn't get an answer. The manufacturers of the product say it will power other members of the Vaio family and that the L54D works with most Vaios, but they couldn't give me assurance on either question for the Z11/12.

 

Yes I use it, everyday, every login. It's great! I found that I have to apply the same pressure, and my finger must be dry.

It's always a little unnerving when I think about the need to have a 'backup' finger: what's going to happen to my 'chief' index finger? Is someone running around with a cleaver?! Is it going to get burnt? AaarraaaAArrgghh

 

Does anyone know how to check if their BIOS us updated? My vaio updater doesn't seem to work properly, so I wont trust it 100 %. The startup seem fast already, but if a update makes it faster that won't hurt at all.

Edit: Seems like my suspicion was right, my vaio care says that there is updates aviable, and leads me to vaio update, but vaio updates searches gives no results.

I saw in the Vaio F forum that someone read their boot-time in vaio care, however I cannot find such a function. Anyone got a clue?

 

It took me ages to registered my fingerprint. However, using the fingerprint reader afterward gives me no problem - you don't need to go as slow or as straight or complete as registration (which was an exercise in patience).

 

The BIOS version should be shown in the BIOS setup, you know, the one you can go to just after you press the power switch.

 

Hello everyone,

Took the plunge and bought a z12, with an i5 and 128Gb SSD and non-FHD.
I was very excited till I came home and started playing. I'm an IT pro and after 15 years of messing around with pc's, I have never ever got that many Blue Screens of Death!!! I would appreciate any help and wisdom offered.
I've managed to reproduce the problem which often occurs when changing the font dpi scaling, during the logoff cycle - however not always, but very very often. I reinstalled the system software from the recovery partition twice, but this didn't cure it. Uninstalled many useless programs etc, but no cure. Let me note that if my observations are correct it mostly occurs when in stamina mode. Actually only then! I'll try to reproduce the BSOD in speed mode as well, but not happened yet.
When first booted it, it happened after a while, and then I couldn't even install any programs at all, 'cause it was giving me BSOD every few minutes!
Please help!

LAST FINDINGS: Checked it again and again. BSOD occur only in stamina mode. Video drivers are all up to date. Now installing unofficial latest driver, hoping this might fix things.

 

As an IT Pro, but in a completely different and unhelpful area, I have no specialist knowledge. However, the combination of stamin mode (Nvidia card "on") and DPI adjustments would (probably stating the obvious here) point the finger at video drivers or something closely linked. I know we're not supposed to use NVidia drivers, but is it worth checking that all the drivers are as up to date as they should be (I presume there is a Sony update app)

 

I'd also do a full memory check, including on the NVidia chip if you can, as I've been hit by that one before.

 

Thanks for the quick replies guys.
To ianmsmithL: Ian, how could I run an NVIDIA memory check. Have you got any utilities to suggest, if it's not too much trouble (I'll also google it)?

Latest unofficial drivers did NOT work!
Definitely happens in stamina mode only (or in Auto - apparently when it switches to stamina)!

 

I would link it to a hardware fault. The drivers should be up to date can you list the driver version your running so other member and myself on this forum can compare to the drivers we're running. If anyone else is running the same drivers less the BSOD it can simply be a bad video card or something else possibly hardware related. And i wouldn't hesitate to send it back ASAP.

 

Drivers version is the latest 8.16.11.8880.
I agree TigerBone, it's a Sony visit time I suppose!

 

Yep I'm running the exact same drivers and never BSOD from day one. I wouldn't settle, in fact this is my third Z first one was a Z11 changed my mind to get windows 7 Pro. In between the return was a Z12 refresh in which the first one rec'd had a dead pixel on the FHD screen, and then finally the one I have now. In the end I gained the Z12 refresh with the i7, 8GB of Ram(Orig 6GB) GPS (Orig None),256SSD, Adobe bundle which i use and love, Office 2010 Home and business (Orig 2007 no outlook) for $250 less. Who knows they may refresh during your return

 

I've been having this restarting problem with my Z12 that I just picked up a month ago. So I turned off sleep and hibernate and left my laptop on with only google chrome opened. If I leave my computer on overnight, it will always, without fail, have crashed and rebooted itself. Then in the bottom left I get a message saying Intel Rapid Storage Technology failed.

This shows up when I open the thing


I already took it into Sony for repairs and they gave me an entirely new SSD (I have 2x128GB).

Anybody else have this and/or knows how to solve it?

 

My Vaio's about to arrive! I ended up not getting the WWAN.. felt like with immanent rollout of 4G here in NYC, I'd rather get that.

Will move my Z590 to work. I originally upgraded that HD to 320GB myself. Got the Z12 with the 256GB SSD option, but heard that I can't user upgrade the HDs because Sony uses an unusual form factor. I saw a lot of posts about replacing the optical drive but I chose Bluray since I want to watch movies on planes, etc.

Is that not the case?

Also - worth upgrading to 6GB running Win 7 x64?

TIA!

 

So your getting this error after the newly installed SSD's? and your computer is working fine now? When it happened initially did you loss any data, and was there any physical sign of drive failure ie: not able to access certain files etc?

 

After big troubles with Sonystyle Mexico CTO (prices offered not real, long delays etc etc) I am finally (seemingly and hopefully) settling on a line model Z-120GL: i5-540, 4GB, 128GB, 1080P, standard battery black color.

From responses given earlier in this thread I am really intrigued to get the high-capacity battery, can You guys confirm the model number? (I'd look to buy it on ebay)

Thanks!

 

Hello forum citizens,

My Z will be here tomorrow and I was wondering if there is a helpful post that has a laundry list of things to do with your new Z. I searched, but didn't get any results. Thanks

 

A F.A.Q. "How to set up your Vaio Z" would be nice. I am pretty sure there are many of us out there, that want to install a fresh Windows 7 and i think there are some things to do in a certain way to lower the wear of the SSD's, have all things working you really need (fn-keys) but installing useless crap, like Media-Players and Adobe's PITA suites.

 

It is pretty easy to do. Install windows, while installing wipe out all the recovery partitions. Then download drivers for your model with download taxi, follow install instructions.

No big deal.

 

What might be useful are settings, if any, to maximize battery life, turn off the auto brightness stuff, etc... which I've read here but prob could be consolidated into a FAQ - by someone with more time than me!
;-)

 

Sounds like a very good idea, as mine is enroute and the experience of exsisting users would be much appreaciated.

 

Curious if anyone who has recently received their Z12 has an impression of fan noise. The buzzing sound was an issue at least for some for a while, but it seems to have died down. Everyone satisfied with the level of noise coming from the fan?

Thanks!

 

No problems here had 3 Z's Z11 and two Z12's which all sounded the same. you have to be real picky or have a defective fan for it to bother you IMO

 

Is it just me or has the option to change the refresh rate 40hz been removed under Power Options >> VAIO Power Management tab? I knew i wasn't getting the same battery life as before! this is urgent can someone else verify this??

 

Mine is still there.

 

i had it before but i'm still getting the error, even after getting it back. i still get the error. the computer runs perfectly fine. everything works well, fast and smooth. i haven't gotten errors anywhere. the only problem is when i let the computer idle for long periods of time (like when i go to sleep).

 

Seems like I don't have this. Not sure where you had it, but did a search of "power options" - did not see VAIO power management tab, searched "VAIO power management" and no results.

 

Silly me I'm running to an external monitor that's why the option wasn't available.

 

There is a very faint hum that I only seem to notice at night. During the day, while programming, the fan noise is imperceptible. If I put my ear up to the vent, the fan has a faint metallic whir to it, but that isn't noticeable while sitting infront of the laptop.

I haven't stressed the Z enough to really get the fan kicking up, but I've heard it spin up at moderate stress levels and I wouldn't say that it is any more harsh in tone than most other laptop fans. What blows me away is how cool the Z stays, even with an i7 and 8 GB of memory.

Just my opinion.

 

I just placed an order for a U.S. CTO configured as follows:
i7 - 6GB RAM - 256SSD - 1600x900 - W7 Pro plus 2 accessories (neoprene case and a BT Mouse) and a 2-Year Express Warranty for $179.99. Final Cost with a 15% call-in discount $2526.80.

As soon as I get this Z, can I call Sony immediately and return the Warranty? I don't need it. Using an AmEx CC provides me the same 2-Yr. Warranty. Is it just a simple phone call to let them know that I don't want it or do I need to send an actual warranty card back to them. Thanks.

 

Are the 256GB and 512GB Z12 having also Toshiba SSD's?

I did a little upgrade in my Z12 with that: .

And check this: How to replace SSD's in Sony Vaio VPCZ12 with other 1.8" SSD's

 

Hey, i thought the Z12 is using GDDR3 VRAM but Sony told me its DDR3.
Where can i see the VRAM Speed/Type? Using SIW Portable for example?

 

I'm switching from an old SZ2 and boy, is the new Z quiet. Fan is barely audible on idle and SSD vs. 7200RPM... I'm very happy with that.