Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I noticed the poor viewing angle too. Especially the horizontal viewing angle. I have to sit directly toward the middle of the screen in order to eliminate color fading out. This is very noticeable in a pure white/black background situation such as booting screen or google home page.

 

Yeah, it's terrible IMO. Totally unacceptable too. Cheaper $500 laptops have better viewing angles and colors than this. I'm totally serious.

 

whats up with these horizontal lines on these new z series??? is it that bad? i have my new vaio z cto on order.....would i have the option of returning it if i find that these horizontal lines are too much?

whats sony return policy on cto items?

 

It's not THAT bad, it's just incredibly annoying and it makes the screen quality look cheap. My old Toshiba U205 had a MUCH better screen and I got it over three years ago! What bugs me most about the screen is the viewing angles. Even when I type and the laptop as a whole shakes the colors fade in and out. It just doesn't seem stable. I really don't like it and I'm not even a picky person.

 

I think the FHD scrren might be better since it has 95% adobe RGB gamut. But the viewing angle on this 1600X900 screen is not what I'm expecting for. If it's a Thinkpad then I would just live with it but with sony z series this is not acceptable. I start to consider returning the product(I purchased it at a local sony store) but I doubt they would waive the 15% restocking fee because of the poor viewing angle.

 

I'm still getting used to 100% DPI on this screen, but daaang, I can't even imagine how unbearable it will be to read the full HD screen without adjusting the DPI. I would never go for anything higher than this resolution, even in 50 years.

 

I would like to ask You one more time about built / casing, keyboard and chassis quality. I was in shop and there was Vaio VGN-Z590NJ/B and salesman told me that new Vaio VPCZ11X9E/B will be made from the same materials. If that's true than VPCZ11X9E/B I won't buy VPCZ11X9E/B because quality was awful. Just regular plastic. Can You tell me how does it look with VPCZ11X9E/B ? Where do I find aluminium, carbon and in which places there is plastic ?

kostek

 

The main chassis is aluminum. the other components are plastic: lid, underneath, palmrest, keys. Build quality seems fine to me.

 

Feels sturdy to me, sans the screen, which is pretty flexible and thin. Gee I'm sure picking on the screen tonight, aren't I? XD

 

It's never too late. Sony gives you full 100% refund on CTO's and Preconfig. purchase online within 30 days.

Now, I'm really curious about these horizontal lines.

30 days online full refund. Sonystyle in-store has 15% restocking fee - must be returned within 14 days.

 

My beautiful engraving says otherwise.

 

Hey Everyone,

Looks like Intel has posted the new RST 9.6 drivers.

According to Intel documentation (Help File), TRIM is supported for all RAID volumes except RAID 5 in this driver version!

I'm running the new drivers on my Z now and have had no issues.

Here's a link to the driver:


Driver

Stefan

 

So that enables TRIM for the Z? Which means all the worrying was for nothin'? It can't be that easy!

EDIT: I can't figure out which to download.

 

The file is called: STOR_allOS_9.6.0.1014_PV.exe

 

So even if you order the Black Carbon Fiber one, the lid and palmrest will still be plastic?

In the last several pages, I've read complaints about vertical and horizontal lines. What does that mean? What does it look like?

Thanks.

 

The only thing that was missing was for the Intel drivers to pass down the TRIM command to the storage controller since these drives use software RAID.

These new drivers look to enable that functionality... so this might be it.

Stefan

 

In Windows 7, can you simply run Windows Update to install any new drivers? Or, and I say this from my usage of WinXP, can you go into Device Manager, select the SSD, then right click to check for new drivers?

Or would you have to have the good fortune of reading a thread posting like this, be aware of a new driver, then manually install it?

Thanks.

 

In this case it would be the latter... you'd need to know about the driver. Since RST is both a framework and a driver it's more than Windows Update would traditionally do.

Stefan

 

Thank you for the clarification!

 

Can anybody elucidate how the graphics switching mechanism works and how it's triggered outside of the Speed/Stamina/Auto slide button?

I've had two crashes in two days after a clean install and both times I was running two video streams from separate programs (screen goes black and system loops last sound). No BSOD, no crash dump, no system event log errors prior to crash.

Not asking for help troubleshooting (though I'm open to suggestions) -- just suspect it's video related and was wondering if I could force Windows to use only the NVidia or only the integrated graphics?

Thanks!

 

Thanks. Good to know.

So if this new driver does implement TRIM successfully, does that mean things like wear leveling and turning off boot-time manager (I use both terms without fully understanding of them, only that I've read about them in here as concerns) are no longer issues and can be ignored?

 

Has TRIM now been removed from the Official Billboard Z Worry List only to be replaces by a new #1 with a bullet of Viewing Angles? And lets not forget those stalwarts of Loose Battery, Diagonal Lines and Battery Drain that have been on the charts forever...Screen Scratches seems to have finally been deleted though?

 

I notice when using Vaio Care for Registry Cleaner/Defrag I get the message:
"If you have a solid state drive your Hard Drive does not improve system performance. When you use System Tuneup Windows Defrag schedule is disabled."

 

Just a couple bench marks showing the before and after installing the Intel drivers. (incase anyone is wondering I have dual raid 256GB)


Before:



After:



Take that with a grain of salt though; you know how Crystal bench mark is. And its not like I did anything super precise, so like I said take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, also good to note, I havnt even had the drives long enough to need trim. But regardless, thought id post it. Im not complaining. My numbers went up!

 

Here's mine after drivers, on my Metal Mosaic 192 GB SSD i5

Sorry, did not test beforehand.

 

Anybody got Signature Collection Z Series VPCZ11FHX/XQ in his hands ?

 

Did you format the drive and made a 64GB X3 in raid mode?

 

"Premium Carbon" is the name of the lid finish, it has nothing to do with special materials being used with this lid. "Silver" lid does not indicate that anything would be made of silver on the laptop.

The lid is carbon fiber reinforced plastic and the palmrest is plastic (according to the post here and the photos we saw).

 

If you are asking me, no I did not. I did use Vaio Care to clean the registry however.

 

Does anyone know whether installing the HP drivers which enable two finger scrolling removes the pinch to zoom function?

 

With regards to the screen problems....

I have a Sony VAIO that has a maximum resolution of 1280 X 800...(prehistoric in comparison to today's screens).

Although this resolution is probably not acceptable for gaming or Photoshop type applications, for every day web surfing or light duty computing...it seems to be fine to me.

My question is .... If you change your screen resolution to 1280 x 800, do those lines go away and other screen issues for that matter?

 

No, pinch to zoom still functions.

 

Well I just tried installing the HP driver- it adds 2 finger scrolling and keeps the pinch to zoom function (and 1 finger scrolling if you prefer that).

Much better than before.

EDIT:

You posted just a second before me Thanks anyways!

 

My SR-390 does that. Starts up at an appealing brightness and then goes darker. Never figured out why.

 

No. Different issues.

TRIM prevents a specific problem where a drive that's been used for a while enters "saturation mode" and has to erase an entire sector on most writes, which causes stuttering and decreased performance for some types of operations.

You still want to avoid excessive number of writes to SSD drives because they have a fixed number of writes per sector (10,000 is a typical number).
Defragmenting moves blocks around on the disk, causing a large amount of extra writes without giving a performance benefit on SSDs. So turn it off.

 

Ok... Took the plunge on the i5-540, 4GB, 256GB SSD, Verizon (wanted GPS). So far so good. Backed it the image to the WHS server, Added Office, Visio, Project, VMWare Workstation 7, MapPoint 2010 (yes it works with the GPS)...

One thing I've not seen discussed is the ExpressCard slot. We could add an additional SSD (up to 128GB), or a USB 3.0 card or an eSata... While I'm not thrilled with the properietary SSD setup, there are some options available.

Now as for traveling, I have a great Tumi case I used for the Toshiba M200 and the Z fits it, just not in the same internal pocket. Love this case, its couple years old and I'm not sure if they make the exact one anymore. Everything I've seen currently opens like a book but this one is just top access with an expander if you need more width. Don't need it with the Z... Tumi is great.

Now I'm trying to find out if there is a smaller AND lighter AC adapter that will work with the Z. Has anyone tried the Kensington Ultralight AC Adapter. Are there any other alternatives people have chosen?

 

Ran some test with the new RAID driver. Indications are good that TRIM works, although I would like somebody else to independently verify my results.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6045053&postcount=31

 

You might want to consider turning on the write back cache (its under "manage | advanced" in the Intel Rapid Storage app). You will see your 4K write go up.

Also, it will helps by giving the ssd less of a pounding on all the small block writes.

 

lol... I didn't know you had gone through with that.

It's the 3rd one on that list right? It says, quoted below, and "one of the following-????". Which one for the Z? Thanks. And do you still need to disable defrag. even with this new Intel Driver supporting trim?

I don't see any other download options beyond this point.

I agree. Thanks to this forum and those that contribute to it. THANKS ALL.

I think you answerd one of my questions. So with this new Intel Driver, still disable defrag., correct?
____________________________________

SO MUCH TO KNOW! IT'S LIKE GOING TO SCHOOL!

 

Can someone link me to that driver for finger scrolling, por favor?

I wish all these IMPORTANT helpful hints and drivers can be posted on the first page without having to do a massive search later on.

Every Vaio Z, and vaio notebook for that matter should come with a RED leaflet stating, "STOP! Before proceeding, join NotebookReview.com and Read Official Z Owners Thread for Important Information/Driver Updates/Helpful Hints to make your Z experience LIKE.NO.OTHER.

 

Wondeful! thank you very much

 

Got mine on Friday.

Stefan

 

Can you post some photos, including the Glossy Carbon Lid. Also, what's your experience with text on FHD? Thanks.

 

Seconded! Pretty please!

I'll host the pics if you need me to

 

Sure! Let me know if you want any other photos... but I took a couple quick ones here.

I find the resolution very workable, I really like it. I tried DPI scaling but preferred the 100% DPI setting and really like the resolution.

Here the pics:







It's tough to capture how nice the glossy carbon is... don't want to make it too harsh with a flash.

Stefan

 

Drewl-icious - very nice looking

Is this the FHD screen - if so it's great somebody can use it with 100% DPI - makes me think it should work for me too (as I already have a 3" mobile phone with a 800x480 WVGA resolution - why should it not!)

 

It is full HD... very readable, I really like high resolutions.

Stefan

 

Congrats on your new glossy Z.

It's gorgeous!

I also use 100% DPI on mine. I love the high resolution.

 

Thanks for the reply!! Is battery drain really something to worry about tho?
And to the people that have the 1080p screen, how is your usability coming along? is it ok to work with or a little hard to read even with the DPI setting? And how has your battery life been so far?

Thanks...

 

Hi Stefan,

- Where do you live ?
- How much time from the date of shippment until take in your house ?

Appreciate your reply.