Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I received Eclipse Touch mouse for my new Z and so far I like it.
It has a very unusual design and ergonomics. I had to spend a little time to get used to it but after a couple of hours I feel totally comfortable using it.
It has no mouse wheel; instead it uses a tiny touch pad.
Also the mouse is VERY LIGHT, even compare to Logitech Travel Bluetooth mouse that I've been using...

Some pics:

 

Does the touch pad function as the middle mouse button? I used that quite a lot in *nix. Also, does it go to sleep relatively quickly: e.g. after you stop using it for X seconds, you have to wait a bit before it wakes up?

 

no problems with going to sleep after seconds... i've noticed that it takes a little more time to initialize it after reboot when on batteries but nothing worth complaining.
yes, you can press on a touch pad as well.

 

Thanks, looks like a good candidate as my next mouse

Oh and does it do kinetic scrolling in Win 7?

 

Anyone engraved their Z11? If so does it look nice and what did you write? (name, bday, anni, first crush? heh)

 

Coming from an old Z (vgn-z550N) to a new Z (Z118x), I have the following conclusions:

The screen on the New Z (1600x900) is significantly dimmer than the old Z (1366x768).

When I say significantly, I'd put it at at least 25% dimmer.

The sound emitting from the New Z, while a little less than the Old Z is of a more "irritating" variety.

This is subjective of course but i'd characterize it as the difference between a refrigerator motor running (New Z) and a ceiling fan (Old Z).

It's not the perfect comparison but what i mean is the New Z is more of a mechanical "whine" whereas the Old Z is a more natural, 'inoffensive" fan sound of moving air.


Overall, though the New Z is loads faster, I'm not sure if these two practical drawbacks won't cause me to return it.

Any other Old Z owners care to chime in?

 

Tha wheeel think on the side kinda looks like the hinge on the Z, whoah...nice.

 

Turn off the auto-dimming feature (in Vaio control center). First though, be sure to put on your sunglasses (or you may well burn holes in what's left of your former eye sockets).

 

I thought that by default it was 100%. In any case, I don't expect anything one can do will have good battery performance after 5 years.

I charge mine to 100% and when the battery performance goes down, I'll buy the extended battery. But in the meantime I believe in squeezing every bit of life out of that little sucker.

Besides, I still haven't seen the hard evidence that shows how much I am actually saving the battery vs. how much I am giving up by walking around with a half-full (or as I like to think of it, half-empty ) battery.

 

Nice tip... but does turning off auto dimming preclude your ability to change the brightness yourself using the "FN" keys? I can't dim mine manually afterwards.

 

Probably a bit higher than that, but 105 is hot. Are you getting those temps? The CPU should automatically throttle to avoid damaging the hardware.

 

A couple of my observations about new VAIO Z...
I've been playing with my new Z for a couple of days now and I've managed to do a clean install of Win7 Ultimate, take care of some small configuration settings like disable defrag, turn off auto dimming, etc... I still chasing down a problem with an error related to Ricoh SD reader controller that I've posted about in another thread but this is pretty minor.

Just a note: I've moved to new Z from my old TZ-270N that has been a good fried of mine for the past 3 years and it still runs good (even with Win7) but recently some tools that I've been using started to show an outdated architecture and low response. This mainly triggered my Z purchase.


Coming from another Sony model I started to compare small things between two laptops and decided to share them. Disclaimer: These observation are completely subjective

First thing I've noticed is a bit large AC adapter that was included with super light Z. I might be actually getting Cooler Master Slim adapter that was mentioned somewhere in this post.


VAIO Z vs VAIO TZ adapter

Also I found that Z's adapter connector doesn't illuminate anymore

Adapter connector. Z vs. TZ

Another little thing that Z is missing is DVD drive activity LED. I found this LED helpful if I want to know if DVD drive is actually doing something.

Also I couldn't find Bluetooth on/off indicator like on TZ.

BTW, I thought AV Mode subsystem was a nice feature that was included with TZ. I was able to watch DVDs without loading Windows. Not sure why Sony decided to get rid of it.

Also this is just my personal opinion (flame suit on), why in a world Sony came up with this graphics mode switch? I doesn't really play well with the keyboard aesthetics...

Why couldn't Sony just create horizontally shaped switch?
Something like SPEED---------AUTO---------STAMINA

And finally a little thing I noticed, pushing the power switch requires much more effort compare to my TZ. Basically I need to use both hands to turn on Z, left hand to hold the laptop while pushing the switch with right hand...

I think I'm done!

Please understand that all these small things will not change the fact that new Z is indeed an amazing machine and stepping from old 2Gb ULV laptop makes it a dream machine for me.

 

The TZ power adapter won't charge the Z.

If you don't mind the wonky cable lengths, you can get the sony slim adapter. I just ordered one.

VGP-AC19V30 | AC Adapter | Sony | Sony Style USA

This will be useful when traveling and getting charged up at the airport.

 

yeah, I know - different voltage. I was just making a point that Sony is cutting some corners (cheaper adapter, less LED lights, etc.) well, it might be effects of financial crisis after all...

BTW, thanks for all your helpful posts ZoinksS2k! I spent considerable amount of time reading them.

 

I tend to agree with you, midimax.

I would have liked a Bluetooth connection LED and an insert for the memory stick slot like the TZ had. I used the memory stick insert on my elder Z, won't fit in the new.

Oh well, ever forward.

BTW, I think the graphic tri-selector looks better on the black Z1's but I would have preferred Sony just use Nvidia's Optimus and remove the switch altogether.

 

I've been following posts regarding Optimus but haven't tried the custom dirver set yet. So far I can say that hybrid system works for me, no complaints but newer technology is always better to have.

 

i'm having issues with my touch pad buttons...

earlier today in firefox i could click left and right at the same time to equal "middle mouse," opening a link in a new tab, and now i cannot...

tried firefox in safe mode, and problem still exists...

wondering if this may be a problem w/ the touch pad/buttons itself?

p.s. i just ran "pc decrapifier" and unloaded a bunch of what i thought was "crap." could something deleted have messed up this function.

(seems strange because all other touchpad functions such as scroll down work)

 

Nope. Shouldn't affect that at all.

 

Sandy - Thanks for the gaming benchmarks. Sad to see that GTA4 was still not performing better... Even on an i7 That game just just not well optimized!


Do you think there will be new update, that could include "Optimus" for current generation Z's? A major problem here seems to be that the Nvidia drivers for this Z, and the older Z, is that they drivers are outdated? Or do you think that there will be new "normal" drivers eventually for GPU, mobo and so on...?

I find it really scary, that it's so hard to do a clean install, and redo everything. I think I usually format my computer, like twice a year, so it's sort of scary... And I wonder why Sony are not allowing people just to download all the firmware, and drivers off their website? Why are they making it complicated for people to do a basic format, when they want to start over?

 

I went into a store to check out a Sony Vaio Z and to my astonishment, the 128GB version is only left with 70GB of space - how in the world is that usable, especially when the SSD is not upgradable?

I would imagine using an external storage device with the Z defeats the lightness and portability of the laptop.

Man, I think I really need the 256GB version (No CTOs in Australia or NZ).

 

Wait.. Ain't win7 only like 6-7GB?

What took up the other space`?

 

Exactly, I have no idea! Maybe all the Sony bloatware and recovery drive? It's amazing there was only 70GB left.

 

Hi,
My laptop, sony VPCZ1 comes with Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) diabled in BIOS

However, the Sony manual says enable this for better performance.

Can anyone explain the advanges & dissadvantages?

Does switching this on improve Win7 performance but impact battery life?

Why is the default in BIOS not set to 'on' if this feature improves performance

(Ps, I have not installed or have any Virtualisation s/w)

Thanks,
T

 

Yes don't forget the recovery partition, that enables to restore the computer to its factory state without using any recovery DVD. I guess that would take at least 10 GB.

Then Win7 takes more than 7-8 GB I think, more like 10-15 GB. I remember having installed it on my EeePC T91 with only 16 GB of SSD, that was a tight fit. (typically you aren't allowed by default to install on a 16 GB drive, you must do a custom install)

Add to that the hibernation files, which takes as much as your RAM size. From 4 GB for a 4 GB Z to 8 GB if there is 8 GB!

And finally the so-called "bloatware". There must be things like Microsoft Office trial, which should take as much as the registered Office, I don't know how much easilly several GB. The same goes for other trial software, some of which can be quite big...

All these added must certainly take the missing 50 GB from the 128 GB SSD.


In the end I wouldn't say that it's impossible to live with the 128 GB SSD: especially if you are a power user and don't need hundreds of GB space. You can remove all the things you don't need, you can lighten Windows a bit, you can make sure update files are deleted after their installation etc. And you can add some little extra space with an SD card for instance since the card fits entirely in the Z, being flush with the case. I'd also say that even in 70 GB you can still fit a lot of things, it really depends on your usage.

But if you need more than 50 GB free space, or if you're not a power user or simply don't want to care spending time cleaning your computer then going for a more spacious SSD seems the wisest choice.

 

This would enable better performance in virtualized environments. You wouldn't see any performance gain in Win7, neither should it impact battery life.

Basically enabling it is a must if you're doing virtualization, otherwise you simply shouldn't care and keep the default settings.

 

I had around 100GB free space when I got my Z. with OS and all the sony programs installed.. I just installed office 2010, counter-strike, warcraft, and a bunch of other software and I'm left with 70 gb exactly. Sure it's not ideal but it is FAST! I have a desktop that I use to hold all my movies, so I think 128 gb is do-able.

 

I guess my main concern is the inability to upgrade the SSD - this is my number 1 annoyance with the latest generation. Wish we got HDD options in Australia.

 

Hi,
My Z11 just ran VAIO Care automatically and found multiple "problems" and suggest Registry defragmenter and Registry cleaner. I have the lastest Z11 with 256 SSD and i7. Has nyone tried these "repair" functions? My Z11 works fine and I dont want a Sony software to fcuk-it up....Shall I run CCleaner instead? I also read somewhere you should not do any Regsitry cleaner or defrag on an SSD drive?

Thanks for comments,
Chris

 

I use CCleaner quite regularly, so go for it. Doing what Vaio care wants wont hurt either

No need to defrag the registry.

 

Thx fir quick reply. Any specific settings I need in CCleaner because I have an SSD? Do you use the CCleaner for cleaning or registry cleaning?
Best,
C

 

Hey guys, anyone suffering any battery drain with the i5/i7 models?

 

I regularly use CCleaner both for cleaning and registry cleaning.

 

Hi,
Yep, I did this - it did work & all was fine.... but its set to run monthy and I disabled it because I had the following concerns
1/ A message appears saying 'Defrag' not recommedned for SSD yet it appears to proceed & Degrag anyways.
2/ The REGistry Degrag worked but is not eligant - after reboot, it ran the defag from a DOS type start-up window (prioir to Win7 boot) & I was in intial panic that this was a major failure but it did work fine.

However, what is not clear & hence my disabling it - is; whether it did a DEFRAG despite the warning message.

Hope this helps & any other views welcome...

 

Hi,
Yes - but not nearly as bad as my previous Z laptop.

Drain seems to be about 3-4% per day from standard battery with laptop in Hibenate.

I fully charged Laptop on Sunday evening, took on trip and swiched on Tuesday evening, checked Battery straight away & showed 94% available.

Cheers,
T

 

(DEAD)Sony VAIO Z112 13" Netbook: Core i5-520M 2.4 GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3, 128gb SSD, 13.1 in LCD LED backlit (1600 x 900) W/ Webcam,WIFI N, Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M & More $1145
Specs:
Intel Core i5-520M 2.4 GHz CPU
4GB DDR3
128GB SSD
13.1" in LCD LED backlit (1600 x 900) W/ Webcam
Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M & Intel GMA HD w/ HDMI
DVD+-R double layer/DVD±RW drive
WiFI N
Bluetooth
6 cell battery
Weight: 3lb
Windows 7 Professional
Microsoft Store Home

enter CLR-MSAFL-40%-PC to bring price to $1140

-------------------

Deal is DEAD. Can you cry over spill milk?

 

Thanks for your reply! That doesn't sound too bad especially when the laptop was on hibernate. Perhaps there wouldn't have been a drop if it was completely turned off?

 

nope i am keeping my computer cool. just saying if i want overclock the computer even futher, at what temp should i stop pushing the hardware so it doesn't go over the limit.

 

Actually in hibernate mode, the computer is completely turned off. It's just the operating system that is in a different mode i.e. to restore the previous state of the computer instead of the normal "clean" boot. Try it: put your computer in hibernate mode, then remove the battery. You can boot it days later, it will still works as expected.

Maybe you were thinking about standby mode? Where some computer elements are still on, typically the content of the RAM is kept on-line. I would be interested in knowing the drain with the Z in standby mode; I plan on using it quite a lot. In that case if you remove your battery while your computer is in standby mode, all your unsaved data is lost; Windows will do a clean boot and will probably complain that it wasn't properly shut down.

Such a drain when the computer is off is quite common... It's a shame nonetheless.

 

If you're overclocking the CPU too much, you'll certainly get a BSOD before the chip burns.

If you're overclocking the GPU too much, you'll certainly see artifacts in the rendered scenes before you get a BSOD before the chip burns.

I'm not saying you can overclock your computer overconfidently, I'm just saying that there is few chances that you actually burn anything... That can still happen, though. Just stop going further when your computer starts behaving eratically!

 

SOLVED: Helpful Tip: Middle-Click on a Touchpad Laptop Mouse

Not sure if left and right simultaneous clicks did indeed work when i first started using my laptop, or if I just imagined they did after using my old one. In any event, if you find it annoying not being able to mimic "middle click" to open a link in a new tab in firefox, check out the link above.

 

Am I completely screwed or do you think that, if I wait, I will see another deal that will come at least within $250 of that crazy $1200 deal I just missed out on? Boy is that killing me (Yes, my tears are spilling on milk). How long did that sale last, 4-5 hours? I could have finally ended the horrible term of indecision and bought the vaio Z.

 

Wait, was this available again this morning?

 

Had a weird issue just now. I was gaming (although overclocked) temps seem OK. And then suddenly after like an hour the laptop just popped to off .. had to start it up with the power on button again.

Windows event viewer said it had something to do with power, pretty weird hmmz...

 

Then why can't you buy it from UK. There is an HDD option.

 

just wondering if anyone seen a version for Z11 or will this fit in the Z11? any alternatives?

2nd hard drive or SSD caddy for Sony VAIO Z (replace optical) [OBHD9-SATA-SATA-B] - $42.00 : NewmodeUS, Hard Drive Caddys for Notebooks

ty

 

I am seeing the exact same thing. Just got my Z1190X CTO on 5/26/2010

 

Due to the 32-bit Windows installed. 64-bit allows your system to see and use more than 3GB of RAM.

 

me too

I'm sure the Vaio Z's(all of them) come with 64-bit Windows, in any case, mine's 64-bit yet it still says 3.68 gb usable.

 

We've beat this subject to death

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/469244-z11-replace-dvd-hdd-working-solution.html

 

Woooohooo! Just ordered my Z128 today. Should be in-store in a week. Managed to score 16% off with a free ps3. I'm in Australia.