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

You can check out some things here:

protective film on palmrest: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/478061-how-protective-film-application-z11.html

cases/sleeves/bags thread for the VPCZ, there's some lid skins in there as well as a keyboard protector i think, it's long. search through the Sony forum too (search tool is your friend): http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/291748-vaio-z-sleeves-bags-cases-thread.html

like ComputerCowboy, they'll just run slower (if CL9 at 1333MHz, it'll be CL7 @ 1066MHz). But yeah, the CTO Z11's in the US at least came with 1333 MHz Samsung RAM @ CL9, so it was downclocked to 1066 MHz @ CL7. Midway through the Z12's in the US, they switched over to 1066 MHz @ CL7 RAM... i prefer the 1333MHz RAM though, means i can sell them to someone with a SB laptop in the future (or maybe even Ivy Bridge... if it doesn't use 1600 MHz)

Yeah i just tried CPUZ, all it says is the Chipset and the Southbridge, no other info, so yeah, gotta open it up to look, i guess

 

will i be able to output to 2 external displays via hdmi and vga output? anyone knows?

 

Not possible.

 

You can use DisplayLink USB adaptors or a Matrox DualHead2Go or TrippleHead2Go.

 

In short, it's gunna be a little work. Not natively supported. Gunna take extra hardware and some tweaking.

 

Hi! I have a vpc z138ggxq. i just noticed that when my computer woke up from sleep, my wireless lan is off even though the physical switch is on. I already unchecked the box in power management where it says allow the computer to turn off the device to save power. Can you recommend any settings or things to do? thanks in advance

 

get the latest intel drivers

this will do the trick

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...&OSFullname=Windows+7,+64-bit*&ProductID=3200

 

Thanks Cowboy!

 

hi, i was wondering what is the newest official bios version for the z series (i have a z115 though). the fan has to be the loudest i have heard among all the laptops i have owned for the past 5+ years under full cpu load when its using turbo boost and i was wondering if there is an official bios that will address that, thanks

the one on my vaio is currently R3030C3

and also, on the other side of the spectrum i was wondering if there is any way to underclock/undervolt the cpu when its under minimum load (for the purpose of extending as much battery life as possible). my cpu is i5-540m and it shows 1.14ghz under idle, and being a acer timeline user before with ULV cpus i think i can live with even lower clock speed when im just surfing the net (800mhz on SU7300 under idle).

 

This is already the most recent BIOS. You can put your laptop in thermal mode "silent" to throttle rather than getting noisy. Other than that, you can't do anything about it, a Z is very powerful and heat needs to be taken out somehow.

Nobody reported being able to undervolt a i5/i7 yet (I am aware of). Over/downclocking could theoretically be done with SetFSB but the Z's clock gen is not supported.

 

There's no way around it AFAIK... the CPU gets really hot (try doing something CPU intensive w/ HWmonitor... you'll see temps go haywire) I usually prevent my CPU from Turboboosting (go to advanced power settings and set max frequency to anything less than 100%... because the CPU only turboboosts when it's @ 100%). It's quieter then.

 

Whats the best replacement eartip for the headphones that come with the Z series, I lost one and I love these headphones so need replacements.

 

Hey does anyone know the noise cancellation program that came with the Z?

Also, what software (bloatware) did you guys delete from the Z? If I delete them, can I install them if I do happen to have interest using them again? I was just wondering if I delete these I might need to pay to install them again.

 

I read the FAQ, looks like only Sony replaceable SSD's are the only option, what is max capacity for my model (in sig)?

Looks like I will get an eSata expresscard/34 + external esata enclosure and then pick a drive I want.

 

from personal experience:
given that you havent deleted your recovery partition and uninstalled the sony recovery center, if you run sony recovery center one of the options in the program besides restoring to factory defaults, is the ability for the program to open up the recovery partition and reinstall any sony programs that you may have uninstalled. happened to me and tried that and it works, provided that your recovery partition is still intact. note that any BS "value-added-content" from third parties, such as mcafee and adobe elements, might not apply

i deleted EVERYTHING that is not controling a hardware device (such as intel, nvidia etc) except:
- vaio care (if you dont need that i think u can kill it but it might be useful to keep if you run into troubles
- vaio control center (for obvious reasons)
- vaio event service (i think this triggers the hotkeys and hybrid graphics switch)
- vaio power management (for obvious reasons)
- vaio smart network (useless program but i kinda need it to turn bluetooth on and off but not affect wireless, otherwise i would have used the hardware switch at the front)
- vaio update (for obvious reasons)

you can also kill the included protection suite as your fingerprint scanner will function just fine without it. i personally only use it for easier windows login, which you can run natively in windows7 under control panel -> biometric devices.

 

Dear all,

My Sony (VPCZ13Z9E) was picked up for repair and 11 days later returned untouched. One of the problems I reported was the keyboard that is not properly fixed especially in the right upper corner.
Sony says nothing is wrong...
What do you guys think?
A video can be seen here (please increase your audio): YouTube - Vaio VPCZ13Z9E Numlock key issue
Thanks for your comments!

 

hello hello,

sometimes when i sleep my vaio z, i wake up in the morning and it appears it never properly slept.

this morning the green button was on and the fan was going a bit crazy but i could never rewake it? nothing i did worked so i crash closed it in the end losing some work.

any explanation or ways to prevent this in the future?

thanks!

 

Actually the FAQ is kinda outdated... so, from here you have 3 internal options for expanding memory:
1) replace with Sony SSD (hella expensive, not worth it)
2) replace Sony SSD's with 2 1.8" SSDs taken out of their enclosures <-- means you void warranty (you also need the right cable since you got a VPCZ1 <-- PM me if you need the cable or read a few of the more recent posts on it). See here and here
3) replace the ODD with a NewModeUS Hard Drive caddy and use any 2.5" SSD/HDD you want: 2nd hard drive / SSD caddy - Sony VAIO Z, Z11, Z12, Z13, VPC [SONY-2BAY-Z11] - $43.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

Or, you can buy an external drive like you said. Please note that you will be limited to the PCI lane speed (which isn't that slow). Here's a few cards reviewed by Pyr0: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/513653-esata-vpc-z-s-y-series-esata-expresscard-review.html

Check out his Sig if you want USB 3.0 one too (it's another AKE 3.0 fits sorta flush, i got one too)

Maybe try opening up your Z and see if the ribbon cable is connected properly. I opened my Z once... then after closing it realized my touchpad wasn't working... it was just because the ribbon cable wasn't attached fully.

If that's not the problem... give Sony a call again.

 

I don't think his problem is the key not registering, I think he's saying it "clicks" funny. Sounds more like a keyboard issue rather than the connector.

 

Anyone had any issues with burning a BD-DL?
I bought a single TDK BD-DL from newegg.com, I got it in the mail today and it is not recognized by my computer. I can burn DVDs just fine, but when I put the blank BD-DL in it spins up a couple times and nothing happens. IMG burn says "Media Not Present"

Is there something special I need to do to prep the disc to burn an ISO to it? This is the first blank blu-ray I've ever used.

EDIT: Called TDK and they said my computer doesn't support burning dual-layer, what kind of crap is that?

EDIT 2: I called Sony and they told me they don't know if my computer can burn Dual Layer Blu-ray or not, they said that they can send a tech to replace the drive. Maybe I should just have them do that and get a brand new drive. I have ripped about 200 blu-rays with this thing and my warranty is almost up. A nice new drive sounds like good preventive maintenance.

 

I can burn Sony BD-RE DL (50GB) discs just fine on my Z.
I didn't do anything special.
Just popped it in and burned.

 

The noise cancellation is part of the realtek audio driver installation.

 

That is what I thought... so it is probably the disc that is bad. RMA is such a pain in the butt especially for a $10 item.

can you confirm that the model of your BD drive is: MATA BD-MLT UJ242AS?

 

Hello there!

I'm planning to upgrade my ram to 8 Go :
What are the characteristics that they must have to be fully compatible?

Would this work ? : 8GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-10666 CL9 SQ Series single laptop memory module for Laptop Computers

 

That looks right but for that price you may as well buy from crucial and get their compatibility guarantee and lifetime warranty.

8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 upgrades for Sony VAIO VPCZ110GB Laptop/Notebook, CT1829727 from Crucial.com

 

Hey guys - I have the VPCZ1 with the Nvidia 330m card. I'm running the 8.16.11.9024 NVIDIA drivers..

The system keeps crashing when running starcraft, video, etc... this won't happen when I'm using the intel drivers. I've tried reinstalling the Nvidia drivers with no changes to the problem... any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks

 

Thanks ComputerCowboy !!


Edit: As I'm not familliar with ram, what would be the best choice and precisly why ?:

- 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 upgrades for Sony VAIO VPCZ13C5E Laptop/Notebook, CT1894445 from Crucial.com
or
- 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 upgrades for Sony VAIO VPCZ13C5E Laptop/Notebook, CT1894437 from Crucial.com


Thanks !

Oooor, you could buy one of these : 48GB FileMate SolidGO ExpressCard 34 mini USB Ultra Solid State Disk as I just did !
(Keep attention at the fact that some use USB 2 protocol (relatively slow (R/W ~ 20/10Mb/s)), as an usb key but waaaay cheaper) or PCIe (way faster (R/W ~ 120/65Mb/s) but more expensive).

I choose this particularly one to use as an audio drive for all my DAW sessions (for multitrack record and mixing) and some sound Samples

One of the advantages is that it completely fit in the expresscard slot so you can simply forget it (and eventually use it as an external ssd with the usb cable)

If you're not interrested in speed, for the same price you could fine more storage space!

 

I got the 1066 RAM because that is what the Z takes. The 1333 RAM will work but I have heard that it may actually run slower due to the latency timings

That card is sick, I want the 98GB version

 

this happened to me too.
ebay, for $2 for a whole set of tips.

 

as a generall rule, if i have lots of movies stored on my computer will its run slower. 10 word or less explanation of why this is?

also, can anyone recommend good external hard drives? dont want my z overloaded. from the bit of research ive done they seem like notoriously fickle things for what appear to be a simple piece of technology.

want at least 500gb probably 1tb+

 

It's not advised to overload the system drive. For obvious reason, the more it's close to full capacity the more your z will go slowly. If you have and ssd it won't be as significant as a hdd but still...
One explanation in one sentence could be that the system have to search informations in places which may be very distant.
For example try to imagine the disk like that :
---> |System.dll ---- Film.avi ------My pictures.jpg -------My docs -- ..... -System2.dll|
If your disk want to read System followed by system2, as the physical space between on the disk them might be consequent, the reading head have to travel a lot on your disk, so it could slow your system.
But this example is accurate for HDD, on SSD, it's slightly different.

But I think that is not your films that slow down the most your comp, it's more lilely due to a huge number of program. Try to keep your Vaio clean (Use Ccleaner or GlaryUtilities ! I find Vaio care far too invasive and it gives no details)

I have a WD Passport 500Go USB 2 which satisfies me entirely !

Edit "Simple piece of technology", hmmm... Not quite !

 

My VPCZ12 have its free space maintained at 150gb...it has 64gbSSD X 4. So everytime I downloaded a movie, and other large accumulated files I transfer it immediately to my cheap western digital portable 500mb HDD.

I noticed when the free space is less than 80 GB its run slower...

 

I've been buying Fantom Drives 2TB USB/ESATA drives from buy.com
I have three of them now and they all work great. I can store tons of blu-ray rips which are huge. They are all just about full, I need to get another one soon. Also it is a standard 3.5" drive inside so you can pull it out of the enclosure if you like. I have done that with one of them. I took the 2TB drive and put it in my server then put a 500GB 7200RPM drive in the enclosure.

For around $100 you can get 2TB drive in a versatile, nice looking metal enclosure. Can't really go wrong with that. The only down side is they are not all that fast. They are great for storing tons of crap, but not so great for something like video editing.

 

Does the Intel Wireless Display feature work on any of the Z series laptops with the I5/I7 processors?

 

No, it needs a Sandy Bridge cpu (second generation intel core cpu)

 

Darn, thought my decision was made on a laptop......Will the SA or new Z please step forward please!!

 

thanks.

when we're talking about external hard drives though,

what are the relevant numbers besides size?

 

Speed I suppose. The drives I recommended are 5400 RPM and they are pretty slow. If you need faster drives you'll want 7200RPM drives. The thing is there are a couple more things to consider. If you are using the drives with USB2 you won't really benifit from faster drives. If you are going to get 7200RPM drives and want more speed you'll need an eSATA card or USB3 card for the laptop. Obviously you'll also need to make sure that the drive you select supports eSATA or USB3 if that is what you plan to use. The drives that I bought have both USB2 and eSATA. Some of the newer Fantom Drives are USB3/eSATA so you really can't go wrong there.

If you want drives for just storing stuff then USB2/5400RPM is fine. If you want to do video editing I would recommend a RAID array attached via eSATA.

 

Is it possible to underclock a intel i7 processor??

 

Yes ! But you can't go beneath 40% in the case of the 2.8GHz i7-640M using the Power settings.
Mine automatically switch in 40% when I switch in Stamina mode. The lap is pretty reactive though !

Or SSD in expresscard !

About that card I told you before, they are cheaper in Newegg than Memoryc if your're in USA : Newegg.com - Wintec FileMate 3FMS4D096JM-R ExpressCard 34 96GB USB 2.0 & SATAII MLC Internal / External Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

Those are great but for a different purpose. How am I going to store 5TB of blu-ray rips on a SSD express card? I want to get the express card for documents and project files. I was talking about massive storage. 96GB was massive 10 years ago, now it is just par.

 

Yes, I agree !
It depends on the use of the cards.
Moreover it would be a waste to use SSD just to store films! :/

Obviously, I missed that. And obviously SSD are not for you in the moment, unless you want to spend 1000$

 

hello again, I now experiencing "windows explorer is restarting", what should I do? I've scan my whole system for virus, but there's none. What's the next step, please help.

 

Heh, that just started with me as well. Windows Update breaking things again?

I'm still having my random disk crashes thrice a week, where every thing becomes unresponsive with the disk led perm on, the bluescreen. I'm going to have it sent back to sony in a bit. Been esitating cos I don't want to lose my data.

 

Happened to me as well, maybe its a de-tuned update package, but it happened once, just for the record.

 

Anyone know if I copy the program files of an application to an external drive then uninstall it, may I still reinstall the application later? I just wanted to remove all the stuff I don't need right now but may need later on my Z.

 

@Brianho1337:

What??? are you serious? This is like thinking in the 1950s, Sorry, but NO, plus, its a Click on the ASSIST button and you can restore the application that you uninstalled.

And I'm talking about Vaio Applications, and even Vaio Drivers, as for other 3rd party applications, its still a No-Go!

Why?

Ok, when you install (Setup) an application, it copy parts in the Program Files folder, and sometimes other files in Windows Directory, also, some of them copy files into your USER folder, let alone the Windows Registry.

Deleting the files in program files will keep your notebook cluttered with lots of orphan files. so be warned.

try to use REVO Uninstaller FREE, it will help you get rid of applications, and their traces, which are sometimes left behind, deep inside your system!

Regards;

 

That wouldn't work. What programs do you want to uninstall? We may be able to tell you if its possible, worth the stress and how you can get it back.

 

you can rip down the recovery dvds to expose the installer files for the individual apps. I did it by following a guide on this forum. Search around the forum, there are an number of posts about it like this one http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/121966-extract-software-new-sony-format-image-3.html

 

No way...


both from computer shopper website. The first one (left) has a link to the Vaio Z page (right).