Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I've been using the Speed mode with the laptop plugged-in ever since I got it. I'm not sure what this means either, when I first saw it I thought what? Is it running 32-bit? But obviously that's not the case.

 

Did you find out what was causing the 2 second lag?

 

I've been following this thread and someone else had the exact same issue - i think the solution consisted of an update through the sony center, but i am not completely sure. I'll try and see if i can locate the post

I googled the issue and i found two potential solutions
1) add /PAE to your boot.ini and reboot your system
2) Run command prompt as administrator and type "BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable"

 

I installed the latest wireless drivers from Intel and so far the radio has not been turned off. Let's see if that fixes it.

Yes, I still have that 2 second lag, which is really weird. I have not looked into that yet, neither the memory capacity issue.
Thanks ssyed1 for the tip, but I don't see why I would need this. As far as I understand, Physical Address Extension is a feature for use by a 32-bit OS running on an x64 machine. I can confirm that it is only showing 3765 MB as Total Physical Memory available in Task Manager.

 

Umm that 2 second lag was discussed before in this forum. It had to do something with an Intel item that wasn't functioning properly. There was a patch that needed to be downloaded and it fixed the problem, the lag is not because of the bloat/crapware...

The 4gb ram being reported as 3.68gb usable has also been discussed and explained someplace in this thread. I'm sorry I don't got the links or the reasons why the two are like that, I'm sure some informed member of this thread will help you two out, or you can just search the thread... but gl >.<

 

Yes, I figure that with 611 pages worth of discussion, it must be somewhere out there.
I also don't remember what was the solution for the VAIO Update 5 issue. Need to find it here too. For now I need to get some sleep :/

 

I've searched quite a bit of this thread as well as the search function and can't seem to find any high quality pics showing the differences between the black, silver, carbon fiber, and metal shield. Any chance you could help me out with finding some comparisons? Thanks in advance.

 

my z just got to Anchorage, hope it will find a quick way to Seattle expected delivery date is still 12th (far to go), and it's expedited shipping.

 

The backlight is set to turn off when you're not typing in order to conserve energy. There is indeed a setting that can control how quickly it shuts off. It's in Vaio Control Center under Keyboard I believe. You can set it to never turn off if you want.

 

Thanks Oscar2. I'll have to check the Display Settings tonight and see if I can determine if it's actually switching. Now that you mention it, I do remember getting a message indicating my DVD drive was being turned off when switching to battery, and I'm not getting that message anymore...

 

I know these are not the best photos, but at least they're consistent.


Black


Silver


Carbon Fiber


Metal Shield


Metal Mosaic

 

Uhhh, just got an e-mail from SonyStyle that they were no longer able to send in the replacement for my Vaio Z and are going to issue a credit

I guess will have to order it again

EDIT: dang... the 1080p option is no more FREE :cry:

 

I would not accept having to pay any extra for the 1080p screen. It's not your fault they can't send a replacement. They should give you the 1080p option for free.

 

Yeah. I am on the phone with Sony rep, and she said they will give the 1080p for FREE as per my original order. Lets hope the order goes fine and I get flawless notebook this time

 

Placed my new order :smile: and for some reason it came out ~ $50 cheaper than last time

 

I just got my notebook an hour ago and to be honest, i wasn't all that amazed - i'm going to return it

 

I have one of these, works well when watching a tv/in bed. Get a good mouse and use this, no trackpad can beat a good solid mouse: Portable Lapdesk N315

 

Why not? I find this a bit hard to believe.

 

Sssh!! I need (a lot) more people like him, so that the next time I buy the Z, the price would have gone down

 

Why is that ? I have had many notebooks but Sony Vaio Z is one of a kind! Light and Fast !

Care to share what problems you having with the Z?

 

Good luck with your new order! Long time to wait again.
You got free FullHD screen and 15% discount ?

Was your return by normal warranty or by extended one (or simple return)? Have you canceled the extended 2 years warranty?

 

Actually we need more people like him since Sony will blow out the customer return laptops for cheap in the Sony Outlet.

So yeah, the Z sucks!!!!! Everyone return their's today!!!!!

 

Already placed an order and got the free Full HD + 17% discount. It was a simple return since there was a defect on the screen and I noticed it on the second day I got the notebook.

Once I get my new notebook which should be by 07/15/2010, I will call back and cancel my extended 2 years warranty

 

For those that cancelled the warranty, does Sony rescind the promotional discount?
Additionally, did you have to send a letter to some administrator to notify the cancellation (or is that just CA residents only)?
Also anyone tried getting the warranty from provantage (after canceling the one purchased through sony) and registering that with no issues?

Thanks!

 

Thanks for those pics. But quick question: what is the main difference between the "silver" and "metal shield"?

 

I believe Silver is just plain silver color while the metal silver is made of metallic material(?) with tiny dots on it.

 

Try this page, there's this pic you can enlarge, it shows the patterns on the shield and mosaic:

VAIO ZƒVƒŠ[ƒY„  ƒp[ƒ\ƒiƒ‹ƒRƒ“ƒsƒ…[ƒ^[ [–@lŒü‚¯] gVAIO BUSINESSh - Sony Style

 

No they dont rescind the discount.
No, there's no letter to send(even for CA residents, at least I didnt)
I didn't buy another warranty, so i wouldnt know.

Just call in to return to Sony, and the sales person will give you a Returns #, that, if the warranty was actually an object, you would include with the returned item. But since it's not a physical item, you jsut keep it for tracking/status of your cancellation purposes

 

I just got my sony Z12 yesterday, and i noticed that it is running way hotter than you guys say they do. (its real hot to the touch). any reasons why it would, is it worth giving sony a call?

 

Haven't seen the metal finishes in person, but the metal mosaic looks real pretty, like raw unfinished steel.

I bet the texture gives it a more three dimensional look than the rest. I have premium carbon and it's only noticeable in really bright light at an off angle once you get past the glare, or in daylight.

 

What's the temperature? Where is it hot, it's usually way hotter on the left side where the hot air is blown out.

 

It should only be warm near the vent, the rest should stay pretty cool to the touch.

 

unless you've blocked off the air intake vents, then the bottom gets hot.

 

SHURCOOL, OSCAR! Thank you very much for your FAST and oppotune answer and suggestions! (hope you can read this).

I've already ordered my Z. I ordered a 128Gb SSD, 1600x900, i5, 8Gb RAM, P. Carbon w/blu ray one. I think it'll be terrific.

When I receive it I'll keep posting my impressions... cannot wait though... three long weeks.

Greetings

 

Congratz ! waiting gonna kill you though

 

So I checked, and sure enough, my Z is not following my instructions. Through Advanced Power Settings, I have it set to switch to 16 bit color, a 40 Hz refresh rate, and to turn off the ODD when on battery. This stuff all used to happen, but it definitely is not happening anymore. I went to the Advanced Settings under Screen Resolution after unplugging, and the refresh rate was set to 59Hz and the color was set to 32 bit. I'm pretty sure the DVD drive isn't turning off either.

Anyone know why my power plan instructions are not being followed? I'm thinking there may be a conflicting instruction somewhere (after all there seem to be a dozen places where you can set power/screen options). I checked other possible places for these kind of settings (like the Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel and the Nvidia Control Panel), but other places just seem to react to my manual Windows settings, so I don't think they would be trumping my automatic settings. I can't figure it out.

 

In the control panel Power Options settings you should be able to see all of the Power Plans.

It's likely that the one you modified is not the currently active one, for whatever reason (you can check this by clicking on Advanced Settings). Perhaps something switches you out of the standard plans as conditions change?

On the left hand side you can select "Create a New Power Plan". Instead of using the pre-defined ones (e.g. Balanced, Power Saver, High Performance). Instead create your own, select it and set it up the way you want.

That's what I did and it seems to always stay in that plan.

 

Yes, I have already created a custom power plan and it is definitely active. I'm with you, and stay away from the pre-built plans. Let me know if you have other thoughts, but I'm going to post this in the W7 forum and see if anyone has seen this before.

 

Are you covering the vent on the left? Make sure it is free for air to flow.
It should stay cool IMHO

 

Haha, no problem, and you're welcome. I hope you enjoy it very much, it's an awesome machine.

 

I agree. The right side stays cool, the middle gets a little warm (but not uncomfortable), only the left side by the vent gets hot. @Jschrader50, try running HWMonitor or some kind of temp monitoring program to get some actual temp readings. Post those and the community can help you discern whether there is something problematic with yours.

 

wow I don't care what anyone says, but this laptop is flat out incredible. I don't know if I got lucky, but my screen is flawless, the fan makes almost no noise and it's just as fast as I imagined. i don't understand how anyone could say they are not impressed with this computer

 

^

+ 1 ! I was a bit hesitant after reading some review about the fan making noise and etc. But when I received mine, it was dead silent ! and incredibly FAST! and the screen is just beautiful! unfortunately my screen had some issue, but Sony took care of it ASAP!

Looking fwd to receive my replacement, and I am as excited as I was at first :laugh:

 

I have the latest model (MC340). Thanks for the heads up on that article. Still doesn't explain why after dropping a connection, the Z12 can't see any access points.

 

Dear all,
I have recently bought a Z11 but to my surprise I noticed many hardware issues (curved lid, lifted keyboard keys etc) and had to send it back to Sony for a repair along with a full list of problems. During the approx 15 days in the repair center, I called them twice as I wanted to know the repair status and which parts fixed or not. I found it impossible to make them tell me any details. All I got was "We are waiting for some spare parts" I also told them that I would like to call me before they shipped the VAIO so I know what was done but again no luck at all until today when I got a txt message from Sony saying I should be receiving my VAIO in a couple of days...
I am really disappointed by the customer care.

 

I'm using Firefox 3.6.7 and now I get a message stating to shut down firefox if I want to change the screen brightness. Even with Firefox off the brightness no longer changes anymore when I press the Fcn F5/F6 keys, the levels move up/down but no change. Only when I unplug and replug the power cord to the changed take effect. I remember updating the Vaio Center and I think it happened after that.

Anyone with similar problem or suggestion.

Cheers.

 

Dear all,
On my 2 week old Vaio Z, I wanted to add some keyboard shortcuts/macros using the Keyboard Control Panel as described in this microsoft article:
Assign macro or function to keys on your keyboard

But when I open the Keyboard Control Panel, the only 2 tabs I have are Speed and Hardware. There isn't a "Key Settings" Tab. Am I missing something? Has Sony disabled this?

Thanks!

 

@admiez - have you found anything else about the VAIO Update 5 issue. I can tell you, I spent an hour or more with Sony Support on Chat. The only thing we came up with is that VAIO Update 5 DID work if I started the computer in safe mode - ie, it seems to be incompatible with some other piece of software. We didn't figure out what that was. Others on the thread had commented that in their experience Sony doesn't do lots of independent updates, so I figured that every long once and a while, I'll start up in safe mode and update that way. Or, I'll do the individual checking on the support site. It would be nice to just have it work normally though.

 

It seems that when my sony downloaded the latest viao update - it installed some sort of new wireless driver.. now my network connection is buggy and turns off after about 40 min to an hour.. anybody have this issue?

 

I think it's fixed now.. you have to roll back your driver to 13.0... otherwise everyone will probably have this issue.... I found the ans on another forum.