Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I don't know Zoinks, I'm on Windows 7 Pro and I don't have the "cleaner" option.

Is there any step that we're missing? It's "Complete System Recovery" right?

I'm getting same result as Treofred.

 

Not sure what to tell you just yet, but I don't think you are missing anything.

The Z11 I had also came with "XP Pro Downgrade" disks as well. Maybe I didn't see the option, but I guess the preconfig had the "Fresh Start" option.

I still have a backup of the recovery partition from this machine, although I discarded the recovery disks (stupid me). I may try pulling the media again.

In the interim, I am running on a default build. I uninstalled all the stuff I didn't like and cleaned it with CCleaner. It seems fine, although the Windows directory is larger than I normally like. I'm not hurting for space, so I may just leave it.

I did do a clean install last night. I couldn't see a speed difference, so I may just run the system as-is.

 

Can anyone test opening this image and seeing if they get any interference on screen as a result. On my fhd screen if I open this image I see vertical lines (mimicking the blue lines of the image) to the left and right of the image (mostly noticeable on dark backgrounds like the default wallpaper).

EDIT: Hmm, doesn't seem to work on an image from attachment, only shows interference when the image is viewed locally. Maybe due to additional compression applied to attachments. Basically interference can also be seen when running steam with the download windows in view which shows those blue lines that reperesent speed of connection.

Additional info: DPI is set to 125% (default), steam running the beta ui. Interference does not appear on other lcd screens I have around the house.

 

I can see them with a black background. Had to strain to see it.

I noticed the JPG compression artifacts first.

 

Zoiks found this method, so I can't take all the credit. It asks if you want the factory programs re-installed. You can also get them to remove the factory installed programs partition too. Which I also did.

I did not have to re-install anything from the sony site. After I did this I removed Windows Live and a few other Windows programs I didn't want (which these programs would show up on any clean install since they are part of Windows). I also removed I think a photo viewer or something since I have Photoshop. But all the trialware and other bloatware was gone and all the drivers and Sony apps were there (Sony Care). I think after this type of clean install before removing the other programs I saved around 10 gig. I think it was 88 gig left on 128. The only thing that I couldn't figure out was how to get rid of the partitions. Which I believe Zoinks did, but I have never played around with that stuff before. If you get rid of the one leftover backup partition you would gain another 16 gig I think.

Then I did the following

1. Installed latest Intel Drivers
2. Turned Defrag off
3. Installed Mouse drivers to allow two finger scroll (1 is already there, but I wanted two)
4. Enabled the write back thing for Intel

Then I was done and ready to install all of my program.

 

Hi, Folks!

After a lot of testing, I'm happy to report that there's a great solution for those who are wanting to upgrade the RAM capacity on their new Vaio Z11-series machines. For more details, check out this thread.

Cheers!
Mark

 

Just got my new Z and I love it!

Bought mine from Finland. Wondering if I can get the GPS to work. Anyone got it to work in Europe? According to Qualcomm Gobi 2000 should have GPS.

 

Posted some internal pics of the new machine

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6080220&postcount=326

 

I finally read through all the posts from last night and this morning. I bought the same pre-config model as Zoinks did originally. Only difference was mine was from Best Buy. I did not buy clean install, but I am running Windows Profession and mine had the XP downgrade disks included. So I am not sure if that made a difference or not.

Looking at the screen prints someone posted, after you could get rid of the bloatware partition (which I did) it then came up with a screen asking if you wanted to install the factory programs (which I said no). So that was the order of the screen. What I was never able to do was get rid of the partition of the backup of non-bloatware. Would the wipe and erase have done that? I just did the 3rd options which was full restore or something like that.

EDIT: It to 2 regular DVDs to complete the backup

 

then i would suggest you actually read what was written its 40% less (as a spare part from the repair center) than the Premium the local dealer is charging.

and its very easy to get the spares here (being part of Asia) as it is in the EU

your mileage may be different....

 

My mistake, 40% discount.

Still can't wait for you to share your experience doing this. Be sure to post pics!

 

Not the best pictures, but here are some shots of the Z1 vs the Z591









They *might* just be able to put more stickers on the bottom of this thing. Sheesh

 

In terms of reinstalling Win 7 to get rid of the bloatware on the HDD version, as there is no DVDRW is it possible to do this via an external USB HDD? I have an external USB DVDRW but she's getting a little long in the tooth and I can't rely on it to function properly. I've never used Win 7, will the network drivers be loaded in the vaio recovery software / win 7 recovery... could I use PowerIso or Virtual Daemon on a networked machine? Apologies if this is a dumb- question. Thanks.

 

I haven't been able to get the Vaio recovery disks to work from a hard drive. I guess you could copy the recovery partition to a USB drive and try booting from there. The Sony recovery software might complain, so no promises.

You can extract or copy the info from a Windows 7 install ISO/DVD to a usb drive and boot to that. Just be sure to set the partition to Active and run bootsect to make it bootable.

 

You mean the recovery partition?
How big is it? I think I will probably try to remove it as well when I have my Z11 that is...tomorrow hopefully!!!

 

3 to 9 GB, depending on the flavor

 

I figured I would post my mini-review of the new Z. I have the i5, 4 GB, Silver one you get from Best Buy. First I will address issues others have had and then my thoughts.

1. Battery Loose Issue - OK, I have to really try to wiggle it, but pushing down on the battery and moving my finger side to side, so to me this is not an issue. Nor does it bother me one bit.

2. Fan noise. My Dell is soooooo much louder that the Z seems quiet to me. I also am never in a completely quiet room as I have neighbors with kids, a dog, TV, a husband, etc

3. Viao Update not working - I got the automatic icon in the tray saying to turn automatic Viao update on. I thought I would have an issue, but when it went through it said I needed to update the update program for it to work. I did this and then everything worked. It scanned for updates for the Viao center and there was none.

4. Diagonal Lines - I don't see them unless I am an inch away from the screen and move my head. It is not an issue for me and does not annoy me. I have the same issue with my Dell, it is a little more noticable on my Dell, but still not to the point I care.

5. This machine flies!!! Going from two really old PCs, I can't believe how fast everything is. Internet pages load faster, programs open and operate way faster. Things are so much more simple with this machine and I have kept it in Stamina mode a lot. Mainly because I move around the house a lot, so I am on battery a lot. I will be testing this more when I try to load Mass Effect 2 that my hubby gave me to try on the PC.

6. Finger print reader is soooo cool. So I never had a PC with one of these, but here are some of the features I thought were cool. Assigning a finger to a program. You scan that finger and the program opens. Web page logins via fingerprint reader. You put the login ID and PW in to the fields and scan your finger to set it up. After that point when you go to that website you just have to scan your finger and it logs in for you. To me these features are just REALLY cool and I haven't seen it mentioned before.

7. So light and thin. Just a pleasure to walk around with it. I still can't get over how light and airy this thing feels, but at the same point it doesn't seem fragile. I don't feel like if I touch it I will break it, seems well built.

8. I said in an earlier post after doing the built in clean install I had 88 left, I was wrong. I have only used 26.2 GB and that is with Office Ultimate and Photoshop now installed. So the clean install really did take a lot off and I deleted Windows Live and a photo viewer. It also seems to be running pretty clean, no processes running and slowing it down and it boots up fast (approx 30 sec).

That is it for now. I have not gotten to do anything intense on it yet, I am just starting to get some of my programming stuff installed, so we will see how that goes.

 

Main thing is: Turn on the gps in SmartWi.

 

Okay thanks for that. I thought that should be possible. Wish I could afford the SSD version and swap out the DVD drive for a massive HDD for file storage and to use as a swap disk for photoshop.... then I wouldn't need an eSata express card adapter + external HDD. Since there's no eSata port I reckon there's fat chance of seeing using USB 3 on the Z for the time being. Dammit !! Maybe I should wait and save up another £400.

Many thanks

 

Once I go from "Your Vaio is being built" in the order status, how long have you all seen that it takes for shipping?

 

same day to next day

 

Talking about stickers, I see you've removed them all from your Z11 (and it looks much better that way.) I know we've had discussion on that but was wondering what was your process for this particular palmrest?

Thx

 

I read those posts too.

Despite recommendations to the contrary, I used my fingernails. Just lift the sticker, don't dig into the palm rest. I had just trimmed my nails, so there was a good sharp edge on them.

Most of them came off cleanly. The Nvidia one left a ton of goop, so I used the sticker itself to remove the adhesive left behind.

I thought about putting the BluRay sticker on the drive, but it was no longer sticky. Oh well, probably for the best.

Now to decide which stickers on the underbelly to remove...

 

I didn't know this. The color of the aluminum on the Signature Series is different from the other models. I thought it was only the lid that was different. That's cool that Sony made it different all-around. Can you take a photo? Thanks.

Thanks. Interesting that the base Z has the Bloatware removal tool, but others can't find it on theirs. Can any other base Z owners verify?

 

I have installed SmartWi (in Europe we have Smart Network) but there is no option to turn GPS on.

Someone managed to do this (install SmartWi) with old Z and got GPS to work in Europe.

Help would be appreciated.

 

I'm not sure this is different from other grey/black models. The is the only grey one I've seen. I noticed the purple hue outdoors. I don't see it with indoor lighting.

I tried get a photo of it but can't get the angle right.

I'm doing a restore of the Win7 Pro recovery partition that had the option now. I pulled a complete Ghost image at one point.

If I can burn those images, I'll try the "cleaner" install. Not sure what impact this will have on Win7 licensing. I'm operating under the assumption that lessor editions of Win7 are workable with Ultimate.

 

I think there are two steps to this:

1. Get the Vaio to create the 'DVD's. If the recovery program must write to a proper DVD drive, you can use virtualcd-online.com. It allows creation of an iso (I think the location where the iso is created can be specified), and mount that on a virtual drive. Hopefully that is enough to trick the program into thinking it's writing to a drive. This should produce the iso images.

2. I'm not sure how multiple images located on the same HDD can be retrieved. I'll try instead 'burning' the images onto USB sticks, or whatever media the Vaio can boot off of. Or perhaps a Blue-Ray image is sufficient to contain everything, and that image can be booted from a HDD.

I suppose the other alternative is to ask the closest Sony centre if they are willing to make the recovery disks for a small fee

 

Anyone tried to use diskeeper on the quad ssd ? Any performance improvement ? Does it worth buying ?

 

By the way, did somebody try to install programs like virtualcd or Daemon tools on the new Z.

Reason I am asking this is because somebody said (I think it was Arth1) old Z and new Z use software button to eject DVD/Blueray. He said that software on old Z activated by that button was assuming that your DVD/Blueray drive is the one with the last letter.

If you install virtualcd for example and this is still the case, than you want be able to eject your DVD/Blueray using eject button.

 

I have the new Z and I have installed daemon tools
the eject button works fine

 

same here...

 

Thanks! Then I will probably remove it after having made the recovery dvds.
I guess it can be removed manually right?

By the way, as I am supposed to have my Z11 tomorrow and I will be a bit time-constrained in the evening: how long does it take to do a recovery DVD and a clean install, i.e., without bloatware?

Thks!

 

Thanks guys.

 

Help!! I just got my computer in mail today. But it did not come with ANY discs! There is no Windows disc or any other discs included in the box. Is this normal? Please let me know!

 

Yes, it is normal. The laptop doesn't come with any discs. You need to burn them yourself from the VAIO recovery center.

 

Thanks! I will have to find out how to do that. I did the "fresh start" so I thought something was wrong with it. And I will have to go through this forum to see what else needs to be installed.

 

Do I have to install all files listed on the Sony software support site? I'm talking about this - http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VPCZ1190X&SelectOS=45

 

Another one to use is Virtual CloneDrive.

 

Open Vaio Care and on the left hand side click on Recover & Restore. There you can create your restore CDs. If you have Windows Professional it will take 2 DVDs, if you have Ultimate it will take 3.

 

haha, i do that too when taking a sticker off anything. works really well!

 

Weird thing happened yesterday with my Z. I just started up a 1080p movie file in WMP player, fast forwarded it a bit, and maximized it, when I heard this screech and the screen went grey.

No button pressing or ctrl alt deleting helped the matter, so I had to do a hard reboot. I have no idea what actually occured but it wasn't pretty...

In other news, the diagonal lines on the screen get extremely irritating when watching video (ie HD video) and the scene has a lot of movement/panning.

 

Can you use the film to protect the lid? If so, where do you buy it from?

 

SurferJohn,

I purchased several blank sheets from BestSkinsEver.com. I will cut them to the right size.

I've done this on other laptops a few times. The last one I did:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=232943

 

IzzyB68
If its not any trouble, can you please post a screenshot of that page where it ask you if you want Bloatware to be removed - just to see what it looks like, without you actually having to reinstall all over again? If its a hassle - totally understand. Thanks. I'm picking up my Z, hopefully, this Sunday. I'll just try and search for it when creating the discs.

Which drivers on the Sony Site did you have to download after that clean install? Any particular order? Or perhaps, better yet, not necessary. Thanks.

Some are also saying, even with the Bloatware, its still blazing fast - nice.

 

Here you go Geeee:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6057494&postcount=2100

 

I Have a problem with a vaio soft, the one that controls the hotkeys Fn+Fx for brightness for or volume : sometimes it becomes very laggy so that you cant adjust volume or brightness.
Has anyone encountered this problem ??

 

same thing happened to me while watching a video on hulu. i enlarged the video and the screen freaked, went gray and wouldn't respond to anything.

i hope this isn't another issue with the sony nvidia cards...

 

Are these with the FHX or 16:9 screen? I know you said 1080p movie, but I want to make sure the screen is that resolution as well.

 

i just have the 16:9 screen

 

Thanks Zoinks. I have never posted a picture before I am sure I could figure it out eventully, but now I don't have too