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

I agree with Ambroos, the data rates would probably be higher on something that could support it but I only have them two things in USB3 to test it with. If you had a Raid 0 external drive or a USB3 SSD then the rates would probably be higher. I rekon they are limited by the storage devices to be honest rather than the expresscard.

 

Has anyone installed the generic touchpad driver from synaptics website on their Vaio Z12? I find my driver seems to flake out from time to time resulting in inaccurate cursor control.

 

I'm running them on my Z13, works fine really. Pretty nice in combination with TwoFingerScroll (which gives you two-finger scrolling and two-finger rightclick etc).

 

Hi everyone,

Im new here and just boguht sony vaio z 2011 with 128 gb of hD. Is there anyway I can do a restore to get rid of all the sony bloatware and stuff to save space?

 

Good point, and thanks all for your contribution. Seems like USB3 is the way to go regardless!

 

Hm, I'm wondering... How many antennas does the VPC-Z13 have by default? I have a model that came with BT, WWAN and the Intel WiFi 6200 by default, but I can't get my WiFi speed to go above 144Mbit. Is it possible Sony connected only one antenna to the Wifi (with one on BT and one on WWAN)?

 

^should easily get 300 mbit/s any time of the day... the 144 is like it's hitting a barrier (all Z laptops have the same double antenna). On your wifi router... be sure to use WPA2-PSK or WPA2-Personal (anything with a number/type 2 in there), AES encryption, and also 40MHz channel (or at least Auto for the channels) to get the max blast speed
bye

 

Found the issue! Router settings were fine, the problem was that in the device properties in Device Manager the 2.4Ghz-mode was set to 20Mhz Channel Width only for some strange reason... Now I get 300 when I'm close and a good 120 in most of the house!

 

Done. Working fine so far. Thanks!

 

Hi all, I have a VPCZ11Z9E. My recovery DVD's were lost ( never got them ) , and I would like to perform a clean install. Is there a PROPER LIST OF DRIVER ORDERS for WIN7?

would apprecciate your help.

Many thanks,

 

It doesn't really matter... Just install drivers before utility software. And install the Sony framework-ish things (things from the site that aren't really visible software) before you install the real utility stuff like Vaio Control Center. And don't install useless stuff (like the WAN-manager or Vaio Care).

 

What do u mean by Sony framework-ish things (things from the site that aren't really visible software) ?

Could u please elaborate .

 

It doesn't really matter. Just download everything and start installing. Sony Setups give you a warning if you have to install something beforehand.

What I mean by framework things are SFEP, Sony Setting Utility Series and Sony Shared Library. Install drivers first, then install the three things I just mentioned, then the VAIO tools. Then you should be fine. It really doesn't matter much.

 

Quick question: does anyone know where the thermometer is in the Z? Is it in the fan unit?

 

There seem to be a few. Perhaps 2-3 on the CPU, one on the nVIDIA GPU.

 

EDIT: Nevermind.

 

By removing the battery, I take it that you are trying to increase its lifespan. In case you are not aware, there is a 'battery care function' in the Vaio Control Centre which prevents the battery from getting fully charged even when constantly plugged in. You can basically set the maximum charge to be 80% or even 50%. I've had my Z set at 80% since I bought it two years ago and have not noticed any degradation in performance (and I almost always have it plugged in).

 

When you use the regular restore disk, it'll give you two options. One is a full restore with all the bloatware, the other is a minimal restore with just Windows and the necessary Sony drivers and software. Just pick the minimal restore and you're good to go (well, aside from driver updates).

 

Good to know. I may, and that's a big "may" transition to a Z2. With these new internal batteries, it's good to know that your batteries in your Z1 have maintained well since inception @ 80% charged plugged in.

 

How do you guys clean your displays to really get them completely clean? I have a teacher that constantly touches my display while explaining something and it's pretty hard to get the display smear-free

 

I have an NW350F which had been plugged into a Radio Shack AC/AC adapter by mistake. It still works fine. but the battery doesn't charge with the normal adapter. I'm trying to figure out what piece of hardware has to be fixed. Motherboard functions normally. Any ideas?

 

I use three micro-fiber cloths.One I soak in a dishsoap solution then wring it out so that it's not dripping (hint: you can't wring it out too much). This one gets rid off all the oils and debris.

The second one is just water (to wash off the soapy solution). Same rule, wring it out completely so as not to drip water.

The third one is to dry off.

This leaves the screen as clean as clean can be without the use of harsh chemicals.

You can get micro-fiber cloths cheap at any grocery store.
For example Windex microfiber cloths:

 

This reminds me, any one of you found any of the VAIO "non-essential" software to be useful at all? I know the VAIO Messenger on mine keeps halting the transition between speed/stamina, so that's probably the first to go for me. (Have not removed the bloat ware, might do so if it is easy enough to do it!)

 

Thanks, I'll see if I can find something similar. I've honestly never seen or heard of anything like that before here in Belgium

 

Hi, I saw a listing on Ebay of a VAIO VPC-Z12AHX/XQ. One of the photos looked like this:


A brown Signature Vaio Z (with what look like railings)?

The seller has since deleted the listing because according to him, he would do so as soon as he got a "Buy it now offer".

I would have pulled the plug on this, but the photos were too horrendous and I would have wanted a clearer description for this kind of money.

I'm still in contact with the seller via email. Do you think there will be more high-end Z1s (i7, HD) that will be listed out there in the coming weeks, knowing that some of you will be upgrading to the Z2 soon? (Most of the Sony Outlet listings of the Z1 are mostly i5s with 2.4GHz and below.) Thanks.

 

Was there a brown model? Maybe it's the reflection of his ceiling in the lid, if that is possible.

 

According to the seller, it is indeed brown.

And according to him, the potential buyer has backed out so the item is for sale again, for $1,800.

 

Tell your teacher not to touch the display ever. I don't care who it is, if anyone's hands come near any of my displays I have no problem literally slapping their hand away.

 

I might do that next time

I have my Z a little over two weeks now and am starting to get slightly annoyed by some things.

Mostly: after carrying it in my bag today (in a protective skin-ish case, designed for MBP 13"s, but the Z fits nicely) my lid looks a bit damaged. It has all these things that look like tiny scratch spots even though that shouldn't be possible since it was completely in the protective bag all the time! Could having a few papers in the protective sleeve together with the Z cause this? I've tried getting it off in a number of ways, but nothing even gives even the slightest improvement. Any ideas?

http://i.imgur.com/JSkFi.jpg and http://i.imgur.com/p9ojF.jpg

Secondly: the display. It's so hard to clean, and when the lid is closed the keys seem to leave markings on the display! The rubber things aren't big enough or something, the keys are touching my display and they shouldn't!

Aside that I absolutely love it. The display quality is amazing, the weight is awesome and the battery life is just great (I get 7 hours from an 80% charge in class while taking notes with WiFi and BT (for mouse) on!) I just feel that those things (especially the keyboard touching the display) are just not allowed to happen with a €2000+ laptop.

 

A Sony VAIO VPC-Z12AHX/ XQ. That model comes with a glossy premium carbon lid. That is why you're seeing reflections off of the lid.

 

The keys touching the screen is common. It doesn't happen to me, but people with that problem usually get a microfiber cloth to put over the keys before they close the lid.

 

Oh well I'll just live with it and enjoy the display then... And let's hope it breaks in the summer so I can send it in for warranty, hope Sony doesn't have replacement parts (warranty fixes/replaces have to be 14 days or less in Belgium) and then hope they give me whatever new shiny stuff they'll have by then!

 

I guess so. It probably looks like this VPCSA2SGXT.
.

The item is being sold by an antique shop in Maryland. I hope it doesn't look like it's from the 1800s.

 

Wow, I think it's a scam! The seller and I agreed on the transaction. I got an email from [email protected] essentially telling me that the transaction has been approved.

Before that, there was an Ebay listing of the notebook with all the specs and a couple of crappy photos. The seller was supposedly a "top-rated seller". Then the listing disappeared. According to the seller’s ad, he could delete the listing once he gets a "buy it now" offer. So when I emailed the seller, he claimed to have received an offer from a buyer who layer retracted.

So we started e-mailing each other on Gmail (seller's email is [email protected]). Once we agreed, I got the email from [email protected]. Here's the rub: the seller wanted me to pay through Western Union!!! So I told him "Are you kidding me? No way I would pay through Western Union."

And then he made the excuse of his Paypal account being blocked because of divorce proceedings, etc, etc. Wow. What a waste of time. I guess $1,800 for a notebook like that is too good to be true (although I would think not quite). >>:-> So buyers beware. Now I need to go on hunting again for the Z1 of my dreams.

 

I would keep an eye on eBay. Earlier this month got a loaded Z13 (i7, 1920 screen, 8Gb, 256 SSD, docking station, Gobi, 3 power adapters) in absolutely perfect shape for $1800+. Added 1TB Hitachi in place of optical drive, which is now in an external case and calibrated the screen. Wife is using it for photo storage and basic photoshop when she is off on assignment. She loves this thing.

 

I have been on the lookout for the past week but most of the listings are i5s or overpriced i7s that match the prices of the Z2. I almost pulled the plug on a Z2 but realized I didn't like it. I need to put a 1TB hard drive inside for photo storage.

 

Sigh. First Z1 has hundreds of dead pixels. Now the second one has developed a bruise (bright patch that shows on bright colours/white but not black). I haven't had it long enough to even take it off my keyboard stand so it has never been moved and there has never been anything placed on the lid.

Uggghhhh...

 

I've been watching your recent posts thinking "What about this obvious fraud does this person not get?" Then I realized, we've all been there when we first forayed out to eBay for a computer deal.

The following is long, but it is thorough and if you follow it you will likely do well. Hope it helps.

1. Do not, do not, do not buy anything ever from this person!
2. Seriously consider reporting him/her to eBay. What they did, trying to take the transaction away from eBay, is not only a violation of their rules that will get them banned for life, but it deprives you of all the very very strong buyer protections (ie, FRAUD!) that both eBay and PayPal provide. Never buy anything online except thru PayPay, as their buyer protections are almost as strong as eBay's.
3. This whole thing seemed fishy from the start. Do not be overly concerned about the cpu or RAM in the Z1 (or if it's a Z11, Z12 or Z13). There is virtually no difference between the three models (all made within 6 months of each other, mostly just added options, such as i7 cpus, 1080p displays). As for cpu, there is precious little useful difference between the lowest - Core i5-520 - and highest - Core i7-640 cpus offered on the Z1s. Check it out on notebookcheck.net. Even where there is a 10-15% difference on certain benchmarks, the real world performance will seem virtually identical. Because of the perception you have, others have it too and will pay more for an i7 version than an i5 version, hence, you can often get a better deal buying a Z11 with a Corei5-520 than a Z13 with a Core i7-620 when, in reality, there will be no appreciable difference.

4. As for screen resolution, my distinguished colleague, Computer Cowboy never saw an extra pixel he didn't want, lol! Truth be told, there are as many arguments for as against the 1080p vs the 900p. (My bias: I own a 900p by choice; have owned 7 Z's, 2 with 1080ps, rest 900.) The higher res will definitely be useful for photo editing, movie viewing, picture viewing and the crispness of characters - provided you have a magnifying glass to see the difference! Most people need to increase the size of characters on the 1080p to read them without eye strain. The Z's 900p, sill about the highest dpi (measure of pixel density) on any screen ever made, except the Z's 1080p! They are both insanely high resolution for the tiny 13" screen. The only way to tell for sure which you prefer is to see them side by side with different images and text - which is what I did and how I decided. As for specs, aside from the higher resolution, the 1080p has a somewhat wider color gamut (again, we're comparing excellent to superb!) but the 900p is significantly brighter and has higher contrast ratio (ditto as to comparison, though I personally really like a bright screen.

Bottom lines:

1) Never buy from eBay sellers who don't have nearly 100% positive ratings and 100s if not 1000s of transactions (so don't buy from me!). Never, ever, let an eBay seller convince you to take the transaction outside of eBay, even if they offer to lower the price. If you have any significant problem with the product, eBay will get you your money back. It's a bit of a process, but you are protected. Once you go outside eBay, you're on your own. Not only can the seller get kicked off eBay for doing it, so can you.

2) Don't let the specs of the various Z1 models concern you. The only things that can't be easily changed (and that matter) are the SSD and the screen. There just isn't enough difference that anyone would notice in "real life" to care whether you have a core i5 or i7. And that especially goes for a Core i5-540 or i5-460, but even so, from the lowest to the highest, there just isn't much difference. It's been said that the i7s do generate a bit more heat and maybe take a little battery life away, but I can't vouch for that. Also, don't worry about which model - Z11-Z13 you get. If it has the specs you want, buy it, regardless of the model number. Of course, don't pay up for more RAM. You can get 8GB new for $50.

3) Color. The ones everyone prizes - Carbon Fiber, Black - are the ones that show wear the quickest. There are coatings and skins you can put on to protect that, and if the seller of a used unit has done so since it was new, you are likely to get a like-new model. But it's kinda like my grandmother who put plastic covers on her furniture when it was brand new. Kept it new looking underneath, but who wants to look at or sit on plastic covered furniture! Silver is the least desirable color because to many it is the least "sexy." Regardless, it is by far the most durable. Not only does it conceal scratches and dust more, but you can use car polish to rub out surface scratches and protect it from future scratches. It's a matter of taste, but I find a well polished silver to look really slick and it will stay that way pretty much for the duration. I love the looks of the CF and Black ones more when they are new, but they cease to look new pretty quickly, and the options for protections are, well, like my grandmothers' furniture!

Good luck!

Oh, PS: you may pay a few bucks more, but the Sony Outlet has the cleanest refurbs, you can return them for a full refund for up to 30 days, you get a 90 day full warranty and you can upgrade to a long term , ADH wtty. May be your best bet. Gotta keep checking, as stocks of those change daily. Also, prices aren't consistent. One day a Z13 with 128GB SSD and a 900p screen will be $999 and the next it will be $1,400.

 

I would also humbly like to add that frequently checking the NBR MarketPlace is also a great idea simply because there are great deals on super mint condition VAIO Z1xxx series to be found from time to time. Furthermore, I humbly think that there is a lot less chance of getting scammed by a fellow NBR member.

Good luck.

 

excellent post. Rep added.

 

Excellent points all around. Sadly for sellers, there just aren't many buyers and excellent Z's have languished for weeks, months. And I agree that NBR folk are cut from a more reputable cloth.

You are most kind. Thank you.

 

I am so sorry for all the bad luck you have had! Do you think there is some kind of curse between you and this computer? By and large, these are pretty darn nice products, close to the best ever made in the size class. They have their faults - more sensitive to cosmetic damage or I guess physical damage if you hold it by the side of the open lid! Also, I wish it had a waterproof keyboard. But you just need to get a really good example of one and I think you will be really happy. Fortunately for you, they should be steadily going down in price with each passing month. I can tell you that I just sold a 1390X base model for $950 that is an absolute jewel and the buyer is ecstatic. Could you be working with too small a budget and getting units that have had too much abuse? Can we help?

 

Thank you for your reminders — I appreciate it a lot. I would have wanted to report the seller to Ebay, but I don't remember the account name anymore after the listing got deleted.

I will keep your expert observations about the CPU differences in mind. After reading your post about real-life CPU performance, I will definitely keep an open mind about the i5s. But I do have a bias for the 1080p because I mostly do photo editing. It will come in handy when I'm away from my 1080p external monitor. I also read that the Z1 1080p screen is still brighter than the old Z from 2008. I am using a TT now, whose features I find adequate, by the way. But I might still opt for the the 1600x900 screen. Thanks again.

PS
Is $1,995 a good price for a refurbished Z13? i7 2.8GHz, 8MB ram, 256MB SSD, 1920x1080 screen, Wi-Fi and wireless broadband, DVD burner (which I plan to replace with a 1TB hard drive).

 

Your photo editing definitely makes the 1080p worthwhile. Still, if you find a fabulous deal on a Z1 that has everything you want except the 1080p screen - and money is an issue - 900p is extremely high resolution on a 13" screen. Still, if you are willing to wait, you're likely to find a decent deal on a 1080p screen, which on average adds $150-$200 to the used value, despite being a $0 to $100 option when new!

That price is on the high side of for that configuration, but if you can afford it and can verify that it is in excellent condition, it's not way out of line, though you can find good ones like it on eBay for as little as $1,700.. Is it at the Sony outlet? If so, it's definitely an ok price because their refurbs are usually in new condition and they have a 30 day refund and 90 day wtty policy, and you can get an extended wtty on them. Refurbs from others, particularly "seller refurbished" have another name: "used!" There's no way to prove that anything was done to the machine and no guarantee with it. By the way, the Sony Outlet is having a 20% off sale through 10/1. The inventory changes every few hours, so if you don't see anything worthwhile, check again several times a day.

Good luck and feel free to keep checking in. And let us know what you get because the fun really starts when you get your Z and you have all kinds of questions and (hopefully not many) problems. The "brain trust" of the Sony Foum on NBR (of which I am NOT a member; I only know how to buy them!) is awesome and really helpful. If you have an unusual problem, create a separate post for it in the Sony forum and you are bound to get a handful of suggestions within the day.

 

Thank you! I have been reading in the Z1 owners' lounge since last week and there really is a wealth of information there, just like in any other NBR threads.

About the unit I was referring to, it was on the Sony Outlet website, unfortunately the price has gone up by $600+ in an hour. I will definitely keep an eye on the site and hopefully find a fair deal.

Thanks again.

 

My Z1 came with 900p screen. I bought and installed an aftermarket 1080p. It is a very nice screen and is indeed useful for photo editing and even more for 3D (never enough space with many panels and timeline open).

But the text is just too small. I am considering going back to 900p - I'd rather avoid straining my eyes on the go, and I can use external monitor when I am at my desk. Not selling my 1080p LCD yet though. Even with 900p people keep asking me how I could read such small text.

Just another opinion.

 

I don't get why most people think the text size on our Z's is too small, I love it! At school we have a few people with a 15.6", 1366x768 display, and they increase the DPI in Windows. It makes everything HUGE and most stuff pixelated! Gah

The only issue I'm having is that I can't use my desktop anymore Everything is way too big, and the colors (which I always thought were pretty good) are absolutely horrible

 

^ sounds like you need a DELL ultrasharp. The only monitor that I have seen that looks better than the Z screen. I know that there are super high end monitors out there that are even better... but the DELL is pretty awesome.

 

i posted this query a while ago and got no replies. its still ocassionally happening though. any ideas as to the cause of the problem/potential solution would be greatly appreciated

thanks,

tom

 

also +1 to dell ultrasharps being great monitors

can generally find some pretty good deals of ebay with a bit of patience