Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I second this request

 

Personally, I prefer black, bought one today... as said, it looks simple and elegant without fingerprints. I was actually wondering what the carbon craze is all about...

 

So my take on the Z storage topic based on the recent info from Zoinks2k is this:

- The RAID array is very, very fast even with only two members disks.
- The only missing piece in the chain for TRIM to be supported is an updated Intel RST raid driver that supports TRIM (which is rumored to be in development, but not confirmed by Intel). The Intel raid interface is in many, many different laptops, and this driver need is not unique to the new Z.

I for one am extremely excited to take delivery on my Z (production has begun!) and I think the drive solution is excellent. I'm confident that Intel will ultimately produce a driver that enables TRIM at least for RAID0 on their interface, and even if they don't, I'm skeptical that without it the array will slow down to be slower than a typical 5400 2.5" HD that I've lived with in laptops up until now.

 

For what it is worth, I'm not liking the Silver.

First reason is that I don't like Silver (duh), second is that it seems very scuff-prone.

I'll take pics later, but the lid on the machine is already scuffed from me simply moving it around for pictures on a wood surface. Not sure if they can be buffed out or not.

 

You got it. Only other notable is that you have two options for the drives; JBOD and RAID0. The Intel Option ROM has this locked so no mirrors or RAID 5, 0+1

 

This is the best comparison I've seen....you can watch in HD if you want.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=813mS96RF6Y

 

Do we have any protection options yet? Like a giant sticker to protect the lid from scratches?

 

Only ones I saw online were laminates with wood or carbon fiber pictures on them.

I purchased several 12x14" transparent 3m sheets from BestSkinsEver.com. I'll be cutting them to size myself.

 

Thank you! I watched those videos before but I forgot about them.
Unfortunately the matte black and the glossy carbon fiber lids are shown most of the time, and the premium carbon fiber just very briefly.

I like neither the glossy carbon, nor any of the 3 silver lids, so I'm just trying to compare the simple black with the premium carbon lid.
I currently have an old, matte black Vaio VGN-S and maybe I'll just stick with this color on the new Z as well.

 

Can you simply leave two separate drives instead of JBOD array?

 

You cannot disable the Intel SoftRAID in the BIOS, so no. You can use each drive individually, but only in JBOD.

That said, the old Sony Z BIOS could be "feature enabled" which unlocks all the advanced configuration options. If this works on the new Z's, you should be able to select IDE, ACHI or RAID. Big if though. The later BIOS revisions for the Z591 stopped this from working.

Edit: Link to bios modification article
http://feature-enable.blogspot.com/2009/07/enable-vt-on-insydeh2o-based-sony-vaio.html

 

Why, oh why, Sony, do you keep on dumbing down the users' machines?

I'm sure that everybody remembers the whole VT debacle.

Then there's the models that come with an abg or abgn wifi card, but where 802.11a has been disabled for no apparent reason whatsoever.

And now we have RAID 1, 5, and 01 support disabled too.

Does Sony really believe that by protecting a small subset of users from themselves, they will make more money than if giving them enough rope?

 

http://www.gelaskins.com/catalog.php?DeviceID=14&CategoryID=58

 

Hi Chirality,

I know the post was not directed at me but since I own an 'old Z' (VGN-Z690) with the 256GB SSD in Raid 0, that it has been filled fully at least three times in the last 12 months (doing everything from Video editing, to running VMWare, to standalone large ERP systems like SAP with MaxDB or MS SQL...), I thought I'd give this test a try.

This was done straight off the bat, no prep, quite a few other progs running in the background (like Outlook, a dozen windows in Firefox, VMWare Infastructure Client, SAP Gui, etc.) since I just wanted to do a quick test.

I don't think the results are outstanding, but they still kick the butt of all my other laptops. And again, no prep. So, maybe I'll try to see if I can improve on that a bit.

I'm running Windows 7 x64, 4GB of RAM, with a C2D P9600 2.6Ghz.

Cheers

View attachment Crystal_Mark_OldZ_NoPrep.bmp

 

I ordered my Z just now. Went to the Sony store in the Menlo Park mall in NJ. They have the silver base model on display. Came home, called sonystyle, asked about a 15% discount. Rep mentioned that 10% is the norm with service plan, 15% with accessories. I sighed. She said she would ask for 15% and see what happens.

I built one - not too fancy - premium carbon lid, bigger drive, otherwise standard. She never asked me to add the extended warranty or for any accessories and I got 15% off. Sweet.

One comment after reading 500 posts about the SSD's. What's the real world impact of degredation? Read speed is unaffected, right? Write speed is the potential issue. Most of what I write to the hard drive tends to be small files - 1 MB or less - other than large files (like movies, etc) I'm copying from some external media that is going to be MUCH slower than the SSD itself. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks to this group for mentioning the discount. I saved $320 that I can now blow on other Sony toys!

 

How come that CrystalMark detects 64Gb drive instead of JBOD array (128Gb combined but visible as single drive)?

Does Windows see each drive in My Computer as a separate physical drive?
I want to be able to restore fresh image on 64Gb system drive while having all data untouched on second 64Gb drive.

And AFAIK JBOD means that raid controller just "sticks" one drive to other which results in possibility to use array as single drive (for example you can store huge file that exceeds the capacity of one drive without any problems)

 

Could be worse. I bought a Dell Z600 around Christmas time. It has two internal 1.8" SSD drives. Dell disabled all RAID options except IRRT, which is a craptastic marketing term for on demand mirroring. I returned it because of this. Well, that and the darn things are purple.

We may be able to undo this by changing the Intel Option ROM. I was going down this route of creating a custom BIOS package before my return window ended. I think it is doable.

 

I think you may be confusing JBOD with spanning.

JBOD is just a bunch of drives -- you see each drive individually.

Spanning is like RAID 0, but without the speed benefits -- you just concatenate one drive with another. (Why would anyone want to do that, I hear the cries. Well, there are a couple of scenarios it can make sense, like a HTPC with physical drives, where you allow one drive to spin down while the other is being accessed, and save on power / heat / fan noise. But mostly, no, it isn't too useful.)

 

Well, it depends on particular controller. Most of the time "JBOD" means concatenation but sometimes it refers to separate drives.

I assume that after braking RAID array in case of new Z everything will be indistinguishable from two dedicated SSDs connected to separated sata ports. Hence all advantages of having two physical drives.

 

Two Reasons....both of them are weight issues.

1. Carbon Fiber laptops weighs less.
2. I weigh $50.00 less.

 

Agreed Arth.

On spanning, the only other (old) reason to do it beyond what you mention was to create a large volume from multiple different size HDD I recall.

Otherwise no benefits I guess... Old stuff...

 

Anyone have a picture of a Z next to a 15.4 or 16.4" lappy? (preferably showing the same web page on both laptops?)

I'd like to get a visual on just how much smaller the Z's screen really is. Not just the obvious dimensions difference, but size + resolution.

Thanks...

 

See the last post Arth in this thread about the TRIM.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=634342

 

The SonyStyle US website doesn't offer black as an option--only silver and premium carbon (for a $50 premium). I don't want silver. I do want a matte exterior, not a fingerprint magnet. From the video posted elsewhere in this thread, the premium carbon seemed to be a brushed finish with some gloss. How does it actually compare to the black?

Do we in the US have black as an option? (Apparently not, but I thought I'd ask.)

 

What's the situation for acquiring driver updates for the Hybrid Graphics Zs? Do we have to wait for sony or is there some way to update the geforce drivers to the latest version?

The Z ships with driver version 180.80, and as a result a lot of the SDKs that nVidia offers do not work (for instance nVidia Optix for realtime raytracing).

 

AFAIK there's no difference in the material of the different lids, i.e. premium carbon and glossy carbon are just the names of the colors/finishes and are made of the same carbon fiber reinforced plastic as the others.

 

Does the Vaio Z CTO ship with the noise-cancelling earphones in Canada?

 

Ok, I'm at the point I want to purchase.
I'm still unsure about the i5 vs i7? Any word of advice before I purchase? Is the i7 really going to make that much of a difference? Otherwise I can use the extra cash for some other upgrade.

Also, in windows, do you/can you actually defragment an SSD? Have to ask this as I never had one.

 

From what I understand, the pre-configured models come with the earphones.

 

So when you broke your RAID 0 and ran those tests with the drives separated, was Windows still using the Intel RST driver? My understanding was that the Microsoft AHCI driver (the one that supports TRIM) can only be used if the BIOS can be set to "AHCI" mode.

 

Thanks so much! That's really useful. It looks like the degradation may have very limited effect, which is good news. Not certain though.

 

The best thing to do is just go to a Sony Style store if you can because even pictures could be misleading. The difference is big as I quickly noticed when I was at the store. You can put two web pages side by side on the Z but you have to decrease the text a few steps for it to fit. The screen is very sharp and clear but its no 15.4 or 16.4 inch.

You're obviously giving up screen size and weight when going to the Z. You'll probably be carrying it around you more often to coffee shops and when traveling than with a 15.4".

It's a tough decision if you've been used to a 15.4" for the past few years.

 

Cool! I look forward to seeing the results after you've shutdown everything except the DiskMark. I wonder why you don't see the stalling that everyone talks about?

 

And even more-so since I'm used to a 16.4"

 

Yes, read speeds are unaffected when a drive gets saturated. And large writes are far less affected than small writes ("small" here meaning smaller than the sector size of the SDD, normally 128, 256 or 512 kB, depending on the drive).

Very small random writes are what stalls noticeably. Like database inserts with very frequent commits, or updating or creating a whole bunch of small files at the same time (web cache, refreshing thumbnails, installing certain apps, remote sync). Reports of 1 second or more latency per write have been seen. Usually incorrectly blamed on Windows or the app the user was using.

 

Here's a question for current/future Z owners... has anyone found a nice laptop sleeve that would go well with the Z?

The Z-series leather case on SonyStyle is backordered, and it does not seem to deliver much for the high price premium. I've been shopping around based on the dimensions of the Z and i haven't found anything that would give a snug fit yet... at least, as far as I can tell!

(My Vaio Z ships next week and I'd like to get protection ready for it )

The closest I could find so far is a Case Logic PLS-13 laptop sleeve, but that still seems a little deep. I guess you could think of it as having extra space for the extended battery.

Anyone have any other suggestions>

 

The Shinza Zeroshock cases always worked for me.

 

I am happy to report that Mass Effect 2 runs at 1600 x 900, high settings at everything with 4xAF at 25-35fps.

For the record, I have tried to install the Docx drivers for nVidia hybrid graphics, but with no luck. The drivers install in safe mode, however once the machine reboots, there is a very very intense discoloration (almost color inversion I'd say) and flickering on the screen while in Speed mode...Is there a way to unarchive the Sony driver redistributable and get access to the files?

 

For my VGN-Z I've been using a Tucano Second Skin for the MacBook Air (found out it is a perfect fit) and will also accommodate the extended battery.
http://www.tucanousa.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=BFUS-MBA13-RZ
comes in black and grey as well.
With either standard of extended battery it is a snug fit, not loose at all.

 

Hi,

Congrats on your Z. Can you install acronis and norton ghost trial editions and tell us which one works to take an image of ssd to prevent disintegration. Thanks a bunch!

 

In light of ZoinksS2k's comment about no AHCI option in the BIOS, I went back and took a closer look at dimensions6's Device manager dump. Even on his HDD model the Intel RST/Matrix driver is in use, which means a retro-fitted Intel X25 SSD will still not be getting TRIM commands!!

dimension6 - could you confirm your BIOS also has RAID as the only option ?

 

I've been busy with work! At any rate, all is good with the i7. If heat is your worry, then my stress tests have shown that heat is not a problem. We'll have to see how it will handle the Japanese summer, but for now, no throttling whatsoever. Additionally, by swapping the HDD out with the SSD, you'll be generating less heat. I think the X25-M doesn't get warm at all, even under maximum load. As for battery life, we'll have to wait for some proper tests between the two CPUs (using the same FullHD screen) to determine the difference.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yesterday, the Sony Vaio rep at BicCamera told me that if I want to use the notebook constantly (more than 10 hours per day), I might be better off with i5. Based on our talk, he obviously didn't have much insight, so didn't listened to him and odered i7. Now I feel the pangs of anxiety and remorse So I appreciate experience-based comments!

EDIT: In idle mode does the fan stay on low mode all the time?

 

I'm using the Sony VAIO neoprene sleve with my Z and it says in it whenever I'm going through an airport (often!) even though it is not officially TSA approved.... it is the VGP-AMC1 and fits the Z perfectly. I use the accompanying power adapter case to carry my universal power adapter (from Kensington) which is lighter & smaller than the Sony one.

You can find both here http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...&langId=-1&productId=11035374&tab=featuresTab

 

Here are some photos that I copied from another forum. I have others, but this is the best representation of the premium carbon.

Both photos depict Premium Carbon



Matte Carbon Left and Premium Carbon Right

 

I don't know about US, but here in Japan the basic options are either silver or black. To me the black lid looked almost identical to the lid the new S in store had on display, if that is of any help. Black lid is matte and more "rough" than the carbon premium lid, which seems to attract some fingerprints cause its smooth and bit shiny, but much less so than the new glossy carbon. All in all, I like black, but it's kinda tricky to describe personal tastes and colors in writings.

 

So I picked up the base model vaio z at a local sonystyle store and so far i'm very happy with it except for the fan noise... I don't know if this is normal with sony vaio laptops but there is a really annoying buzzing sound that the fan makes and it is really noticeable in a quiet room. Can existing owners of the new vaio z chime in and give me their thoughts on this? Thanks.

 

You may want to check out the WaterField sleeves.

Use Universal Extractor to get access to the files.

 

Does this mean that even if we break the RAID and go with JBOD, we still cannot use TRIM..???

 

Yes it would seem that way The only driver that currently passes TRIM commands to the drive is the Microsoft native AHCI driver, and this wont be used unless you can select AHCI mode in the BIOS.

We just need confirmatiuon from someone that purchased the mechanical HDD model that the BIOS in that version is the same ie only RAID mode is available.