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

Yes, the new ctos come with the Adobe Bundle.
And I agree that Sony does a relatively good job with keeping the bloatware light. Nothing that you can't uninstall yourself.

 

delete 10 char

 

Even the ones with Fresh Start? I think i remembered CTO'd VPCZ12's with Fresh Start didnt have the Adobe Bundle.

 

Yeah, they just started to include the Adobe Bundle with the fresh start with the VPCZ13s

 

Ahh okay, thanks for clearing that up edwordsigh

 

ya, they reassured me the adobe is included with fresh start, i use adobe all the time and would definitely need it

 

Hey all,

For the past several months, I've kept the "adjust brightness automatically" setting OFF; mostly because I found the change in display brightness annoying, especially if the ambient light seems to change frequently. However, I've recently changed that setting to ON, and have seen dramatically improved battery life--mostly because when I'm using the Z on battery, it's at night, in low light settings.

Just thought I'd share this information. If you're using the Z at night, or in low light situations, the battery life seems to improve DRAMATICALLY when using the "adjust brightness automatically" setting.

Hope this helps. Carry on.

 

Sorry, but Wrong Info.

Mine is CTO 1290, and Indeed it has Adobe Bundle that includes PS, and Premiere.

 

Hi,

I agree & have done the same & found that battery often shows nearly 4hr, instead of previously 3hr.


Howevevr, what I remain a little unclear about, should the brightness level be set to (in power options) to 100% before setting auto brightness on, as I notice it can sometimes do some odd things,

Cheers,
T

 

where do you set this?

 

Vaio Control Center > Display > Automatic Brightness Settings

you do lose control of the brightness though, i find the brightness they set is too dark for me

 

Hi guys,

I have just received my Z13:

256 GB Unidad Flash SSD SATA
Intel® CoreTM i7-640M, 2,80GHz
LCD 33,3 cm, 1920x1080, webcam
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M 1GB
8 GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM

Its incredible!!!. It's really fast....

The only problem that I have seen it's about Screen. So high resolution for a 13" screen i too much.... Not sure if I should have chosen a resolution of 1600x900. I worry about going blind. :-(

Any advice?.

Regards,

 

I am in same situation, same spec machine. As soon as I started using teh screen I felt I much preferred the 1600x900 on my VGN-Z11 :-( Even using DPI @125%

But I have started using it native, DPI100%, and I have kinda got used to it. Occasionally I swicthed back to 125%, I have added the display control panel icon to the desktop so its only a couple of clicks and a logout-login to change.

So, I am thinking, I now have best of both worlds, trying to be positive.
And maybe font scaling will get better in next windows release.

 

Hi remora, congrats on your new laptop.
I received my second VAIO Z13 two days ago, same specs as yours. It's a FHD compared to a Z12 I already own which is HD. It's true that the FHD screen is very high res for the 13" size, however it's so much crisper and you have so much more real estate than on the HD. The colors are a bit more vivid on the HD, maybe because of the greater brightness. Nonetheless, I have to say that the FHD is easier to work for longer periods (more relaxing colors), if you are ok with the font size. I do a lot of development and the extra space is invaluable. Browsing is a bit awkward, since some of the web pages have non-scalable extra small fonts.
Unfortunately, I had to return my new VAIO due to a screen problem to sony (difective pixel cluster - see photo), so didn't have more time to play with my new screen.


So, my suggestion is: give it a bit of time, so that you get used to the small font size, and if you don't mind dpi scaling, use 125%, which is perfect and clearer than the 100% dpi scaling of the HD screen. Let us know of your progress.

 

Thank you very much for your advices. The truth is I thought that I had made a bad purchase. I'll test and I'll share with all of you my impressions.

Regards,

 

Hello guys, anyone knows if the internal fan for the i5 & i7 z's are identical?

 

Its in Windows, select power options.

Click the windows globe & type in 'power options' and you can set brightness.

What I remain unclear about is if you set brightness at say 90% with auto brightness on, does the then range then applied by the auto brigness run from 0-90% insted of 100%, - what is the behaviour is etc.

Hope this helps,
T

 

Based on the service manual, the fan assembly is shown like this:



It looks like a part that doesn't have any variations, unlike say the iLink/USB:



Hence, I'm going to say that it's the same for both i5 and i7.

 

To philg2000 and remora if the resolution is too high then try setting your screens to a lower resolution as i did for every day work and only use it at 1080 when the extra space is needed

 

I worry about the same thing. I get my vaio z13 next week, but i bought it from the canadian website and they don't even have a 1600x900 option... weird

 

YES! I thought it was only me!! I wrote an e-mail to sony about it with serial and stuff, but never received any replies. I'm going to raise it with them again (perhaps over the phone this time), as I think it defeats the expensive-top-of-the-line feel of the Z that you would expect paying €2800. Heh...

/D

 

Anyone else getting longer battery life estimates under balanced vers power saver settings? Its really weird... I have them at default and glass turns off under power saver but remains on under balance...

 

Thanks a lot TofuTurkey. I have examined quite a few Z's; i5's and i7's. I've noticed different levels of fan noise, on each one (and I'm not talking about different fan speeds - I'm talking of various fan noise levels at the same speed - it's the pitch and noise frequency that changes). I really believe that people having trouble with the fan noise level, could possibly change it with another part. It's a mater of luck to get a less noisy fan, but maybe worth the risk. I can't say anything about the cost though...

 

Hi All! My Z11 arrives tomorrow. Managed to find a clearance unit with the triple 64s and 1x4GB for an easy upgrade to 8. I figured I'd introduce myself and thank you all for the great info in this and other threads on the Z. While I'm sure I'll do a little general computing, primarily I bought the Z11 as an ultraportable workstation for race support. I had been dealing with an Eee-Pc for a couple of years which while mobile, simply didnt have the horsepower to effectively handle the data analysis and video processing I wanted to do while at the track. I did struggle a bit with the decision to go with the Z versus a T410s, given Lenovo's perhaps of late exaggerated rep around build quality, but in the end, I felt the Sony offered a better blend of power and strength.

Given race tracks aren't the friendliest of venues for computers, I figured I float a question to see if anyone had any opinions on the best strategies to protect the box in a bit more difficult environment than might be typical. Was wondering if there are any super skins or bag solutions made for the Z which were particularly rugged to help prolong the life of my box.

Anyhoo, happy to be joining the clan, I expect I'll be spending most of the weekend going back over these threads to flip things on and off and purge all the bloatware. Thanks again for having blazed the trail on this stuff.

 

Hi,

I as well am looking to buy a z11 from the sony outlet. Before I did I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me with what the differences are between the z11, z12, and z13.

Thanks in advance.

 

CPU revisions, most importantly. If you can get a good deal on a Z11 in good condition, it's definitely worth taking over a Z13 considering the differences are absolutely minimal.. in my opinion, at least.

 

mrrrrrrg wait wait wait

can the touchpad on the Z not detect more than one finger at a time??? so no two-finger scrolling or other gestures!!!!?????

or why does this not work for me??

 

it can, download this:

two-finger-scroll - Project Hosting on Google Code

 

Before asking these sort of questions, you might be much better served by looking around, and in fact, paying attention to stickies in the main Sony forum. Who knows, they might answer many if not all of your queries

 

Guys with FHD Z, did u notice any lag while playing 1080p movies ?

 

I had already actually. Saw the thread here. The mach 3 stuff which looked interesting, but a tad pricey and bit too elegant for my needs. The seasons a long way away, but I'll post over on that thread if I havent found anything by then.

 

Thanks, I found a deal in the outlet for a fully loaded z11 with 512gb hd, 8gb ram, large battery and win7 pro for $2695 I just had to jump on it.

My only concern is that is a refurbished model, can anyone vouch for the quality of a sony refurbished vaio?

 

Fantastic, thank you.

Actually I use Linux but as long as the hardware is capable, then I'm happy. I'll just have to figure out why the software's not supporting it yet.

 

Hard to tell, it could be in pristine condition although the price may reflect the condition too so it'll come down to luck, I have no idea what the return policy is for the outlet store, but as long as you have a way out in case of a worst case scenario, you should be safe.

 

I found that my carbon fiber color Z is a dust magnet. Is it safe to use a Swiffer cloth to wipe the screen, the lid, and the keyboard? I don't want to scratch my new precious.

 

I wouldn't use a Swiffer cloth, it will probably scratch. Get a microfiber cloth and get it lightly damp with distilled water.

 

Do you know if there is a way to turn down the sensitivity on this? mine seems to scroll a bit too fast with the 2 finger (but other than this I really like, and recommend it.

 

Try looking in the toolbar and right click the two-finger-scroll icon and choose setting and play with them

 

Has anyone tried COD: Black Ops on their Z. How is it? Would you recommend or stick to console to play it?

 

Does anybody with the Sony Z experience the unit freezing when it comes out of standyby after being on but not used for a while?

I am getting this for the past week now and only way out is to unplug, remove battery and reboot....

 

Check out the reviews for the PC game...

Amazon.com: Call of Duty: Black Ops: Pc: Windows XP: Video Games

And the thread about that is here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/531509-call-duty-black-ops-sony-vaio-z.html

I prefer BF:BC2 much more than these purely console ports...

 

Are you dual booting your Z? because i had the same issue when coming from windows xp and then out of stand by in windows 7 i would black screen so the only work around i found was to restart twice before going into windows 7, and that seemed to work. It's a small price to pay, to allow real backwards compatibility.

 

n00b question: How do I monitor the temperature of the notebook? At what temperature is considered too high and dangerous?

 

I have a Z112. Will be selling it due to the small capacity 128SSD. Anyway, I'm considering the Z135GX/S or the 137GX/S. The difference in price is approx. $100USD.

1. Is the only difference between the two models the Built-In Verizon Wireless Broadband?

2. Also, the following came directly from TigerDirect's Spec's Sheet:
Capacity: 256GB
HDD/SSD Drives Included: 2x 128GB
Drive Types: Solid State Drive
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Core i3
Processor Type: Dual-Core
Processor Speed: 2.53GHz
Processor Number: i5-460M

What do they mean by Processor Class: i3? However, Processor Number is i5?

3. Lastly, for those with 256SSD's, after all the trial apps. and OS, how much hard drive space was leftover out of the box?

Thanks.

 

I'll take #2:

It's a typo; the minimum processor (and the particular one featured in that model) is in fact a Core i5.

 

I think most people (myself included) use HWmonitor:

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

As for safe temps... i've pushed my Z's CPU to 99 Celsius and GPU to 96 Celsius while gaming... If that's your idle temps... i'd be scared. the idle temps for the CPU ~60 (note: that's with turboboost turned off, you do that by setting max processor state < 100% under advanced power plans)

 

I would advise against this step. Unless you'll make a direct trade-in, most likely you'll lose more than $100 USD in the process.

I would suggest simply using Newmodeus caddy and adding a second hard-drive instead of the seldom-needed DVD drive:
http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_39&products_id=335

Adding a second hard-drive is not that hard (took me on hour of work, and I'm a really lousy technician ). I used a WD Scorpio Blue 500GB drive as my second hard-drive (a total of 628 GB) and I no longer consider hard drive space as a factor, I just install and forget.

But that is up to you to decide, of course.

By the way, don't worry, if you do decide to purchase from TigerDirect, the CPU is 100% an i5 processor. There is no such thing as an i3 Vaio Z.

 

Hi guys,

What about SSD defrag procedure?. I have read a lot of things. Is it needed?.

Any suggestion?.

Best regards,

 

Nope!. It works like a charm!. I supose that I7 processor and 8Gb helps!. ;-)

 

Sorry, mate, but I have the oldest and 'weakest' Z11 i5-520 CPU and 4GB RAM, and I have absolutely zero lag in FHD movies. I watch them all the time. The CPU is hardly the bottleneck in FHD movies, and 4GB is quite enough these days.

Oh, and do NOT defrag your SSD. You won't receive any performance gains (no head seek time like the mechanical HDDs), and it'll just shorten the life of your SSD drive. Not by much, I bet, but it is really not needed.

avmaxfan, most likely you have a problem with the settings, if you're displaying the movies via HDMI cable to your FHD TV, perhaps you didn't fully extend the view (the laptop screen shouldn't be on at all), perhaps there are some bloatware leftovers, you use an inefficeint movie-viewing application or even a demanding Anti-Virus program intereferes.