Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

It's so nice that my Z now plays full screen HD movies from my inserted 16 GB SD card, using Quicktime player no less. I went to my local Sonystyle store and bought a 3 year extended warranty for it before the 30 day limit ends. Also purchased the 2 year warranty for my iPhone 3gs before the 1 year warranty runs out in June.

 

Sorry for the slow response. I'm using a small 7" DoubleSight USB LCD. It uses the same DisplayLink USB drivers that almost all USB graphics use.

Once plugged into the system, it shows up just like another monitor in the control panel. You can rotate it in software to a portrait form factor as well. One thing to note is that by default, when you plug in the device, WindowsUpdate will download the DisplayLink software for you automatically. This software does not work 100% with the hybrid graphics drivers, and you'll see some weirdness when you switch graphics mode (like aero shutting off, or the system crashing entirely)

I found the DisplayLink 5.3 Beta 2 drivers fixes the problem completely So, if you decide to use an external USB monitor, make sure you use the beta drivers!

 

The new iPhone should be released the same time as OSv4 Though this time round it looks like the 1st gen iPhone is not going to be supported. I knew the older iPhones will gradually become less responsive with each update, just like my 3G is now. With the properly multitasking OS, my phone will fall onto its knees and start crawling I won't be surprised if Apple expects to phase out older iPhones sooner than its Macs...

 

Wow.

The laptop got to Memphis today...was on track for a Monday delivery. I decided to go out to dinner with my girlfriend and look for a 13" backpack for grad school + work. So I went to the Apple Store, and decided on a Hurley bag.

While I'm screwing around with the iPad, I decided to check on the ship status of the machine. So I got on my Droid and fired it up.

You'll understand my excitement when I saw it was at the Sort Facility in East Granby, CT. I live in Hartford, about 20 minutes from East Granby.

Quickly, I called up there to see if I could pick it up. They said sure, give them half an hour, as it just arrived. I quickly bought the bag (I had been on the fence) and hauled up there.

I got there, and they gave me the package...but they had no delivery slips. They searched everywhere...couldn't find one. And their e-service is a new system.

I'm staring at the package, thinking, "I knew this was too easy. It is in my grasp and I won't leave here tonight." I think one of the guys noticed and said, "Don't worry...you'll be out of here with it tonight."

And I'm typing to you on it now. My girlfriend was amazed at how tiny it is. So am I. Absurd, really. The screen *could* be a bit brighter, but hell...I'm used to the RGBLED with my SXPS16. ; )

The thing is ridiculously fast...I'm not bothering to take the bloatware off right now. I'll do that later. I'm loading Digsby, Tuneup Utilities, and FM on here, and I'm going to have a bit of fun before I have to turn in.

I'm already thrilled with the purchase. I called it the dumbest purchase of my life, but I don't care. I'm ecstatic right now.

 

nice, close call

 

Hello, I've been looking at the Z and I have one question about the special "Quad SSD" drive that Sony invented. I read that the dual SSD raid 0 is fast, but that the quad SSD is more than 6 times faster than a hard drive! Wow. So my question is;
if you only get one 128 GB special sony SSD RAID0 drive is that considered to be a dual or a quad SSD RAID0 drive?
If it is only a dual by itself, and if you have to have two lof those drives to get quad, then why are you not able to order it with two 128 GB SSD drives? The options go from one 128 and one 64 to getting a single 256 drive as your next option. I'm assuming that odd combination would not give you quad SSD because they aren't the same size drives? Do they do this to force you to buy 512 GB to get quad SSD? Or is each individual 128 GB SSD drive its own proprietary RAID0 Quad drive that will be as fast by itself as any other options?
By the way, today the USA Sony Style store removed the i7 option, only i5 available now, and the Signature i7 model is sold out.
Thank you!

 

That's what I thought too, shouldv'e ordered it then when I had the chance...
You have to look out for these mistakes though, I bought the new version of the envy thirteen inch (13-1100ea) from dabs.co.uk a couple of weeks back for my grandma for 500 pounds instead of 1500. They must've forgotten the 1 in front .

Since I ordered it on sunday, as soon as it was monday they rectified the error, but they still sent us the laptop without us paying extra even though they had the right not to honour the order until the payment went through (which it still hadn't when they rectified their mistake). So there are definite deals to make here on the net.

 

Congrats. Hope you won't miss your Envy 15!

 

Provantage has 13 preconfig. models. Quite a bit of those have i7. Maybe, those interested, can find a suitable configuation. Here's the LINK.

On the Right side, just click to "PRODUCT OVERVIEW (13). It will then provide a list of 13 models and how many in inventory.

(edit) all i7's are special order only except for this one below which they have 11 in stock.
VPC-Z11KGX/X i7-620M 2.66GHz 6GB 512GB DVD/RW 13.1" W7P 64B 3-Year

 

Same here in Italy since 2 days ago, website didn't allow i7 order.
Yesterday, website allows i7 option, I spoke with local SonyStyle vendor and he assured me that the shortage of ì7 is "partially" resolved, then he was authorized by factory to accept my order on Z11 i7 and confirmed 2-3 weeks delivery....crossing fingers

 

Congratulations! And right before the week end, hopefully they forecast crappy weather for your area so you have one more excuse to stay inside

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=469272

 

Thanks for your report.

I worked with Nando4 last night tried to make my DIY ViDock work. I have a BIG news, it works!! You can plug in an Ati card to connect to multiple external screens. I tried to watch New Moon on the testing Ati 5450 card and it plays! Now I can have 3 video cards in my system.

The process is very simple, all what you have to do is to reserve E0000000-EFFFFFFF space for Port 3, then you will have this card working for you. I can see myself plug in a Ati 5890 at home while when mobile, using the on board 330M. WooHoo! Now I am in heaven!

For more detail information, please visit bottom of page

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418851&page=42



I'll try to post my screen capture this afternoon.

 

So upgraded my 500GB to 160SSD (intel x25M) ..

don't see what all the fuss is about in needing the Special Sony SSD..
Ill update to the latest FW later .. then try the Kingston Next week ...

 

well, the custom SSD is just so they can fit 4 drives in a very confined space and configure then in RAID 0, it can yield very interesting results when compared to a single drive:

(write-back cache disabled)

(write-back cache enabled)

from http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6043394&postcount=16

 

Obviously you haven't looked at the performance of the dual and quad setups.

jqrd's results are typical. For the time being, the quad SSD setups are the fastest option.

EDIT: Er, awharton's results.

 

After analyzing those models, the VPC-Z11LHX/x: http://www.provantage.com/sony-vpcz11lhx~4SONN1UK.htm

which sony has here: http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/product/VPCZ11LHX/X

has everything the Signature Z has minus the fullHD screen and glossy premium carbon fiber for about $400 less.

 

Agreed and this point was raised earlier too. Actually I believe you need to also add the broadband wireless card's price (which comes built-in on the Signature model), which probably narrows this difference a bit.

 

Agree, not to mention the additional tax savings. I'm considering the base with 192SSD ($2000.09). I now have the 128 (approx $1800 with tax) so its a matter of $200 + $16 s/h to upgrade as long as they don't charge tax. I still have a week to decide.

If I did this directly with Sony, it's a $400 + tax to upgrade the SSD alone.

 

From what I read, GPS and broadband are included: http://www.advizia.com/sony/B2BSSOnDemand.asp?User=SonyComputers-B2B&Model=VPCZ11LHX/X

So its just HD screen and premium glossy carbon that are missing. Blu-ray and 512GB SSD are all INCLUDED. That $400 could be used for an extended battery and dock or even case.

yeah, tax on the Singnature Z is like another $330, making it almost $4900 dollars.

 

No...I have baseball practice tomorrow, so I don't want bad weather.

But I'm at class right now...have been since 9am...only used 25% of the battery over an hour and a half. Giddyup.

 

Im paying with paypal for my Z, the reps told me that the 10-15% discount could only be done via CC. Isn't there anyway to pay with paypal and still get that discount?

 

According to this there isn't enough stock of this model to satisfy demand.

http://www.shopblt.com/cgi-bin/shop...1000100U0129_BCN3825P.shtml&order_id=!ORDERID!

 

and it shows for normal WORK/Surfing that a single SSD smashes the custom ones... or when was the last time you needed to load 100MB files its the 4K NCQ performance that counts..

its like a drag racer great in a straight line crap on corners

But I understand you need to convince your self that spending >$2400 was worth it.. I prefer to have a faster system for ~$1900, which I can upgrade as I wish

 

I'm glad you like your custom solution and it works for you, Nobackup.

 

What custom solution would that be ? ... the Sony SSD is a custom solution, I just exchanged 1 SATA Standard Drive with another, which I can reuse in any other system, so future proof investment if you ask me ....

 

It is custom to the laptop's original configuration.

We've discussed "future proofing" before. Like I said, I'm glad it works for you.

 

Why not considered a VAIO Z notebook from TigerDriect instead? They're currently having Bing Cashback of 12.3%. I'll suggest that you get the VPCZ116GX/S that comes with 256GB SSD from TigerDirect. Since you're located in CA & TigerDirect don't charge sales taxes for shipping to CA, the final price after Bing Cashback for that model shipped will be $2017.09.

 

How stable is the whole thing?

Is it possible to provide simple, detailed step-by-steps?

 

Hi all,

I hate bring this up again, but I wanna talk about fan noise! This is a big issue for me in deciding whether to get the Z, as I have an old Sony S (VGN-S480P) with the loudest, most annoying fan ever assembled. (How does Sony keep messing this up??)

Has anyone posted (or can someone post) a video of their Z at a point when the fan is at its loudest?

If there is a video somewhere buried within this thread, please direct me to the page or link.

Thanks!

 

Do you think that will be of any value? I mean how will you know what level to play it at? You will play it back at whatever level your volume happens to be set to and you will decide based on your own volume control setting whether it's too loud. Also, one of people's main issues is the harmonics. You won't get the full effect unless recording as well as the playback environments are both equalized to be reasonably flat

Best would be if you can just go and listen to one in a very quiet room.

Second best is just go ahead and buy one along with a good set of ear-plugs

 

IMHO, if you like the VAIO Z notebook, just buy it from an authorized seller that has a "good" return policy. Then check it out for yourself. IMHO, that is the only way to really find out if the fan noise is too loud &/or whether you're able to tolerate it. Good luck.

 

The entire issue about fan noise is starting to get annoying.

Even if someone describes it, it won't have much value as its a very subjective matter. Everbody has their own way of experiencing sound and describing it has so many subtleties which makes it pointless.

Making videos and audio recordings don't do it much justice either, as it could make the volume higher or lower or even mask a certain frequency that you would here in real life.

Just go and see the VAIO and judge for yourself, so you could only blame yourself when it gets annoying.

 

+1 for the owners club Trigger pulled on an i7, I can't wait, had enough of large heavy laptops to last me a lifetime

 

Sorry u feel that way... perhaps we can talk about it another time .. I am sure that there are others out there that would like to know how easy it is to upgrade to a standard SSD from the HDD and that it is actually faster in real world usage than the Sony SSD Solution..

 

Well, one problem with switching the HDD for the intel's SSD is the fact that HDDs are not offered in North America. And even for some regions (ie, Asia, excluding Japan) HDDs are offered with the 900p screen. Some of us, are willing to compromise the SSD for the 1080p screens. While others are unable to have the chance to even decide to opt for the HDD model. But ultimately I understand your position and would have taken your solution if it was possible.

 

Not sure what you mean. I'm glad it works for you.

I don't believe your drive is faster, but I'm open to being mistaken.

Run some other benchmarks and let us know.

 

Yeah, good points about the fan. I just need to hear it for myself. I only asked for a video because I heard it wasn't a wooshing but more of a buzzing, which a video may be able to convey, regardless of volume.

One other question - It is my understanding after reading that the US only gets the 900 display, so does this mean even if I spend the $500 for BluRay, the playback won't be in 1080P? I was thinking maybe it costs $500 more because that includes the 1080 screen...?

 

which ones then that dont just give a synthetic... "Theoretical" result, in reading here in NBR the CDI is usually used to show real world at the 4K as things like Outlook and even office tend to add to the files not rewrite from scratch...

 

It is quite simple actually, just head over Gaming forum, follow what Nando4 said on the first page, edit the Bridge.bat to EFFFFFFF-E0000000, and boot from USB drive to Win7 using Grub. It sounds quite complicated, but it is not. After initial setup, all you need is to plug the USB drive and boot away.

I'm working on Chainload using Linux, so in the future, you don't even need a USB drive, just boot as usual then you are done.

I borrowed one Ati 5750 card from lab, it gives me 12059 score!! About twice of embedded 330m.

 

When testing the DIY ViDock, I found all you need to do to extend your portable gaming time is to switch to Speed mode, and in power management set the Power Saver with maximum CPU level 1%, then it will extend your battery life for one more hour if you are not playing CPU intensive games.

If you use DIY ViDock, the fan exhaust when gaming using power saver is room temperature! Of course you are going to get lower frame rate, but not that much. in RE5, with 100% CPU and 1% CPU, the difference is 13 frames(45.6 vs 33.3fps).

Just some interesting findings.

 

You cannot possibly avoid the sound of a mini-turbine engine fan going off from the new Z. Sit in a quiet lounge or even in your bedroom without the tv or ambient noise. You'd be deaf not to hear the thing whine.

 

Well I am sure that come July when its time for the next refresh here in "AsiaPac", that they will bring the 1080 + HDD versions

My aim was not to have ultimate speed with the SSD but to reduce power consumption... i.e. get longer battery times..

with the SSD installed on wifi "GoogleAppSync" running in the background (Full Syncing Outlook fresh to a 5G work mailbox). Max Processor @ 85%, screen on Auto, BLKB on, Stamina + Power saver plan... now after ~30mins on batt... Battery Bar pro reports 7:10 (97%) .... thats better than the ~6 before .. so that's ~1:40 better (Small Battery XX Cell?)

BTW I did a full clean install and have installed M$ security essentials

will try the Kingston next week, and have a Seagate SSD on order (which is less power hungry than Intel or Kingston).

 

$500 is just for the bluray upgrade. Unfortunately, you'd have to get the Signature Z series ($4,500) in order to get the 1080p FullHD screen.

 

surely it depends on what your doing ... cant hear anything from mine ... except a slight humming noise when doing B-Marks (CDI)

 

So you go the VIDock to work correctly? What graphics card? Did you have to do anything special to get it to work?

 

I am about to start configuring my Z (bought at Micro Center in Santa Clara, CA, US for $1699 - my old Thinkpad croacked, wanted to get something right away). It's the US standard-equipped one, i5, 4GB, 1600x900, 128GB SSD. I have read every single post in this thread (I believe in RTFM), but I have some questions about data storage. My intended use is basic business apps (a lot of Power Point, alas :|), plus quite a bit of Photoshop as a hobby (fairly intensive use) with the laptop hooked up to an external monitor and keyboard while at home/office.

I have read about potential SSD problems with saturations, stalling, etc., read the other two summary threads, and I feel comfortable now not to worry about it too much. I figure I have not paid through the nose for the speed of the SSD to start using external drives as primary storage to protect the precious, so I intend to just ignore any potential questions, blast the bejeesus out of it, and enjoy the speed while it lasts.

However, 128GB is not enough for my data files. Therefore, while I intend to keep work-related data on the SSD (and external backups) for instant availability, for my hobby I will need to use external drives to save files after processing them on the SSD. My dilema is what drives to use. From my experience, USB2 drives are dog slow. I was thinking either of using eSATA or USB3 through an express card. I want to use two drives attached at any given time - one to store data, the other to perform nightly backup from the first to the second. USB3 powered through USB ports would be sweet, but they will likely require two USB ports each, and I don't think an express card would provide four USB3 ports (I have only seen two-port cards). I have seen cards providing two eSATA ports, but those drives require external power, which is fine at home, but is a hassle if you want to take them anywhere on the road (plane, car, etc). Is eSATA even worth bothering with for practical use considering the arrival of USB3?

I could potentially use one USB3 drive for ongoing storage, and one USB2 drive for nightly backups.

What is the opinion of the more hardware-enlightened Z brethren here? Which of the solutions would work better?

 

Up to you. Just looking for you to quantify your statements.

 

No mate, your just looking for something to criticize...

you your self used CDI to show the Speed and performance of the SSD in another thread... now you dont like it that a cheap Intel SSD trashes your super duper Sony SSD set up on 4K speeds... so now CDI not good enough...

I asked what BM's you wanted to compare on... and that was too tuff too...

what a waist

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=301841&page=3

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2614/8

ooppss

 

Hey Guys,
I just got my Z and i gotta say for the price im a bit disappointed.
Pro
Great build quality
Beatiful Screen
Mad Performance

Neutral
No Multitouch

Cons
Screen is wobbeling around like crazy - why would Sony save money there?


I think i will keep it though. But i want to switch it because of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J65AHh3QzTI