Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I have used both VGN-S and VGN-Z. The VGN-Z is quieter than VGN-S, but not by much. The new VPC-Z is supposed to be about the same as VGN-Z under full load (based on the decibels measured by Japanese review), but quieter at idle. So, in short, if you are annoyed by the fan noise of VGN-S, you will be annoyed by the VPC-Z -- maybe a little less, but I doubt it.

And, I don't think they kept messing this up. Look at how they responded on customers' feedback on things like back-lit keyboard on the new Z, and look at how many people that don't think noise as an issue for the new Z, I think it is pretty clear that Sony considered this level of noise as acceptable for most people looking for desktop or DTR level performance in 13" form factor and just try to squeeze more performance out of this noise level (instead of knocking down performance to make it quieter).

 

Maybe I'm just plain dumb. I really don't see any "issues" in the video. What exactly is the issue with the screen?

 

Pardon my jumping in here, but I don't see it. Your CDI results gave the following results:

HTML:

Seq          220.9     105.8
512k         171.4     106.9
4k           14.10    19.87
4k QD32      147.5    91.62

kevinhk has a quad 256 setup, and in this post he gets the following results:

HTML:

Seq          455.3     414.2
512k         371.7     410.7
4k           19.83    138.3
4k QD32      206.2    217.2

So, which CDI numbers show the Intel "trashing" the quad SSD setup?

Also, remember that speed is just one advantage of a RAID0 setup over JBOD. The other is capacity. Using quad-raid, Sony can put 4 cheap er SSDs together, and get a better price/(performance+capacity) value. How much would 256 or 512GB cost in Intel drives?

All this to say that, to me, there is no clear "winner". If you want a single SSD system, you aren't going to find a better drive than your Intel. You have a great setup.

If you want the best speed with larger capacity (understanding the risks of RAID0), and, I should add, warranty coverage - you can't beat the as-built Sony Z's.

-Peter

 

It has mutli-touch, but has to be enabled in control panel.

 

Is it possible that it's the battery looseness that you are feeling?

As we all know, that battery has a certain amount of compliance built into it that causes it to wiggle up and down. If you hold the notebook in your hand and move the screen up and down, I can see where the battery wobble could make it appear that it's the screen that is loose.

 

Hey Nobackup,

How come every time Zoinks congratulates you and wishes you well, you get more and more agitated?

Also, It would be good if you created a backup. ('cause of your name and all)

 

...and your true nature revealed.

You should work on your numbers as much as you do to belittle other people in these forums.

And for accuracy, I said nothing about your numbers being poor. I'm a fan of the Intel SSD's. I own two.

 

I don't get what's happening in the video; I am happy with my screen. I need to hold down the bottom to lift the screen because of it's lightness.

 

In the lower left corner you see the screen changing colors like you would be pressing it in with your fingers although you are only opening / closing the lid.

Am i really to spoiled from apple? I think this is not tolerable for a 2400€ System.

 

Macbooks have glass screens, right?

 

With wobbeling i mean that i can lift the lid on the right side quite a bit before the left side starts moving away from the laptop.

@ZoinksS2k:
Im just saying that it feels a bit strange. i dont want to keep a flawed notebook if its not 100% - not at that price point

 

Agreed, it can be a bit off-putting.

I stuck some foam tape in my battery bay to sure it up. Not elegant, but it works OK.

 

well get the apple!

 

Oh, I see. Well, that's because its very thin. It's almost paper thin. If they make the screen thicker (and heavier), it won't do that.

This screen is thin, light, carbon fiber, and flexible. So it feels different than a thicker, more rigid screen.

 

What you are seeing is normal. It is a bit strange, to be sure, but normal.

The screen is designed to have some flexibility due to its thinness. The last Z series had the same trait. The flex can make the screen deform a bit and distort the image, but it doesn't mean the screen is defective or will break over time.

EDIT: I found the video of Sony doing some pressure testing on the screen (older model). The screen flex is scary, but Sony designed for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEfQHNQLxMU

 

Yeah the screen is thin and its quite flexibel. I was on Sonys Roadshow this year and met sonys vaios first on an it conference in germany. They promoted the flexibel panel as an outstanding feature to prove its stability. Might sound weird but this guy showing us the z bent the screen almost 40 degrees sideways holding the corner edges with both hands. pretty impressive. The multitouch feature works ok but I like Apples trackpads also much better. The best feature of the vaio pad is the momentum glide. Never saw that on any other notebook before. It compensates the small size of the pad quite well.

 

Where are you purchasing from to get the 10-15%?

Thanks for this reply. Your absolutely right, but TigerDirect is no longer in that list for 12.3%. The most for today is 5%. Based on your price, it would be an additional $1.00 to upgrade from 192 to 256SSD. I'm returning my Z on Thurs. and then on Friday, I'll check Bing to see if they post a 12.3% promo. If not, I'll just wait. Hopefully, they'll offer more than 12.3%. Thanks again for suggesting this. 128 I'm finding out is just not enough storage.

I'm glad I got to try the Z before making a $2000 commitment.

 

I'm really liking this Z - very responsive, except for Windows Media Center - can't get it to scan all cable channels. Have had this for 9 days and I totally forgot about the fan noise, which means, I never noticed any issues with it being loud - both at Home and Public use.

 

So, is that actually an upgrade (+64GB) or a downgrade (RAID0 x3 --> x2) that you get for $1?

 

Where did you get 5% from?!?!? I checked earlier this afternoon & I just checked TigerDirect less than 5 mins ago & it is still 12.3% Bing Cashback. Maybe you're doing the search "incorrectly?"

I'll advise you to try again by following the steps below:

1) Go to www.bing.com.
2) Type "laptop" in the search text box.
3) On one of the sponsored sites at the top of the search list, you should see TigerDirect's list with description saying "12.3% Cashback On All Laptops!" or something along those lines.
4) Click that TigerDirect link.
5) Search "VPCZ116GX/S" in the TigerDirect online store.
6) You'll be brought to the product listing & you'll also be able to see the amount of Bing cashback on the middle-right of the web page.

Good luck.

 

I used Saphier HD5750. nVidia cards won't work because of the onboard 330M and the custom made nVidia driver from Sony.

All you need to do is to use boot drive, then use the script I posted on
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=418851&page=43
then you will be able to connect to multiple monitors, all with rotate and gaming...

I like quiet environment so when play games, I will set the CPU to power saver with 1% CPU then let the 5750 do the rest for you. I find Z's fan is annoying as it is louder than the sum of my Antect 450W + Saphier 5750 which were right next to it producing no audible noise at all. Well, you are not able to get all good things on Z, it is a fine machine. Maybe next one will be better.

 

has anyone picked up the docking station?

 

And where is the information on the boot drive?

 

The Sony VPC-Z119 + HD5750 required the DIY ViDock bootdisk, with autoexec.bat containing the following lines to configure the underlying bridge:

Code:

@echo off
set port=2
set mem_win1=EFF1E001

echo.
echo [bridge.bat] Configuring underlying bridge hosting desktop video card...
@echo on
setpci -s 0:1c.%port% 24.l=%mem_win1%

:: Chainload Win7 using a method below, withever works
::chainload the OS
grub --config-file="menu.lst"

:: chainload using win7 bootmgr method
:: grub --config-file="menu.w7"

Win7 will bootup. Then standby, attach HD5750, resume the Z119 and Win7 will detect the HD5750 and work OK.

If considering such a setup, newegg.com is selling HD5770 units for $5 more than a HD5750. A good value choice if using an ATX PSU. Some HD5750 models consume low power so can run off a 12V/80W AC adapter, a setup where a HD5750 would be preferred. An overclocked HD5750 benchmarks similarly to a stock-clocked HD5770.

 

You COULD get the 10-15% discount by buying via credit card over the phone.
But since I have a few thousands of dollars on paypal Im going to use that.
Thats why im looking for a way to still get the 15% of.

 

That might be , but those were not the numbers quoted in his over smart response, to my original post .. Those numbers were lower, so what was the point of posting them in response when the 4K values were lower...

I agree Raid should be faster, but i personally would never touch RAID in a mobile device as there is no way to de rsik (except for mirroring) their usage in the field, more things to go wrong, and a quick fix from a local component store not possible, Single drive's are easy to replace where ever you are in the world...

As far as I am concerned, SSD are not about ultimate Speed but Robustness and power drain, in the mobile environment

If I was looking for ultimate speed then I would look no futher than..

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/10/ocz-bids-for-solid-state-throne-with-new-vertex-2-and-agility-2/

which still meets the criteria of "standard" part whilst even traunching the values posted by your good self above..

Personally I did not want to invest so much money on a sony dead end solution, where the drives cant be reused in the future or upgraded when something else comes along

Intel currently tops out at 160 $410, the Kingston is 512 and cost me $1300, the seagate (256) $750, but I can reuse these in any machine.

As for Warranty coverage, not all the world suffers from the NA issues, changing "Like for Like" components in this part of the world does not void your warranty.

 

I've got the docking station. It's useful for my purposes, but might not be for everyone. If you have specific questions, I'll try to answer them.

-T

 

LOL! I had mentioned the 128SSD on my Z112 will be too limiting in the long run, which I paid $1800 (w/ tax). Through ProAdvantage, I can get a Z114 with 192SSD for an additional $200 ($2000.09 +$16.00s/h = $2016.09). Then, SpeedJJ suggested I purchase from TigerDirect, as he saw a Z116 for $2017.09 with 256SSD. That's where I got the $1.00 upgrade from - upgrading from 192ssd to 256ssd. All other specs. remain the same.
_________________________________

Anyway, what does that key between the ALT and CTRL do on the right-hand side of the space bar?

 

Thanks. I see it now. Originally, I had typed-in the brand and model no# Sony VPC-Z116GX/S in the search bar and it didn't show up - 5% was the most. Thanks again.

You really have to be careful as to how you place your order according to this, otherwise they can deny you the BingCashback:

 

I was playing Gears Of War for a few minutes with all settings in high, and I got this temps before and after I play. I heard the fan working too fast, and it was very noisy.

I want to Know if these temps are normal or not.

Before playing the game



After playing the game




Thank you very much for your answers!!!

 

Those temps look manageable to me... I wouldn't worry about it, and besides, the fan is designed to shift large volumes of hot air very quickly, since the chassis is so compact...

(I used to have my old Dell shut itself down quite frequently when it reached 100 celcius, so think yourself fortunate, lol... )

 

thanks mate! i was just wondering how easy it is to put the Z in and out of it.

 

I can see it too. A bit discouraging, yes, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's just the screen bezel making ever-so-slight contact with the screen itself.

 

I wouldn't worry about it unless the temps brake 100 C.

 

I usually reformat my machines when they arrive - to get rid of bloat and have a "clean" install.

However - i've never bought an SSD machine before and with all these posts on SSD performance coming up I thought i'd put it out there...

Do I need to do anything like slipstream a driver when I install windows or anything like that, flick any specific switches - set any particular settings e.t.c e.t.c....

I see all these terms like JBOD, TRIM, e.t.c e.t.c and since i've stuck with 7200rpm hdds up till now - I haven't bothered reading up - and links or pointers to useful articles would be welcome.

thx

 

So, if I were to get rid of the bloatware...what should I get rid of? What would you recommend I keep, if anything?

 

Any Idea why the have included 2xRJ45 ?

 

The temps after playing the game aren't the max temps. During the game CPU is more likely to reach 80°. Use HWMonitor if you want to get max temps. Because when you close Gears of war to read your temps, they actually quickly drop by about 10°.

 

It is easy to put the Z in and out of the docking station. There are plastic guides that line up with the round "hinge" of the laptop, and then you press down gently to dock the laptop. Undocking, you just pull up. I thought it might be difficult to line up the docking connector, but it really isn't.

The Thinkpad dock I had with my previous laptop was more highly engineered, and latched the laptop in place. You had to undock the laptop either by pressing a button on the dock or selecting "undock" from Windows before it would unlatch. The Z dock doesn't have anything to physically prevent you from undocking in the middle of a file transfer or something like that.

One annoyance with the Z dock is that there is a tiny plastic door on the Z that has to be pried off before docking. I've decided to leave the plastic door off my Z, figuring that it would get lost in less than a week if I took it off and put it back on each time I docked and undocked. There is a little slot on the Z dock to store the plastic door, but it is an inelegant solution.

-T

 

I've looked on the Sonystyle site and could not find it. Does anyone perhaps have a link to a page with this docking station?

 

USA site:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...productId=8198552921666055167&tab=featuresTab

I'm a bit torn on whether to purchase it. Lack of higher DVI resolutions and audio-out are major annoyances, and would rule out my using the dock at home since my home monitor natively displays 1920x1200. On the other hand, 70% of my Z's use is at work, where my current monitor only supports 1440x900 anyway, and I don't use speakers; I'm mainly just trying to avoid the hassle and wear-and-tear of daily plugging/unplugging in cables (in my case, it would be power, USB, Ethernet, and DVI). And $200 ($170 via other retailers) isn't *that* bad of a deal considering my old Thinkpad Advanced Mini Docks each cost that much a few years ago and didn't even come with AC adaptors; at least the Sony comes with one, which normally costs $80.

 

To be honest... the docking station must be a joke. It's job is to connect the Z to the workplace, but we have just one digital video output, no audio, no express card slot or something similar - so we will have some additional cables once again

 

I think the docking station is a convenience. It provides a DVI port and saves me from plugging/unplugging Ethernet, power, and video cables each time I get home or leave. It wasn't very expensive, considering it comes with an extra AC adapter and I used the 20% discount I received for registering my Z.

I have a desktop for my primary computer, so the docking station is primarily used to sync my files and email quickly and be a convenient charging station. It would get complicated if I wanted to use the Z as a primary computer, as to use the docking station effectively I would have to invest in a USB sound card and a USB video adapter for a secondary monitor.

-T

 

Thank you everybody for your answer

 

I see; mine does the same thing in the same place yours does, but it's not big deal to me. I would not have noticed if you had not showed it.

 

Is it true that the docking station limits you to 1920 x 1080 resolution???

 

I've not played with all the settings, but this is my experience:

Using the Nvidia driver, I am able to set my external monitor to its 1920 x 1200 native resolution. I don't know if this is this the maximum resolution possible, as I don't have a higher resolution monitor to test.

I haven't experimented with the Intel driver yet.

-T

 

I am not sure what you mean by lack of higher resolutions. Since Z can support 1920 x 1200, why would the docking station make it impossible?

What I find weak is the four USB 2 ports (no USB 3?) and a lack of eSATA connection. Yes, no audio out is weak, too. All in all, not very impressive.

Oh, and why no serial port of PS/2 keyboard input? This is definitely not on par with Lenovo docks.

 

thanks for your comments mate, much appreciated.

i agree on the point that the docking station is mainly a matter of convenience, indeed i'm using the Z as my main computer. it covers all the ports i would use, bar an audio jack for my speakers.

as such, is there something like a 3.5mm jack to USB adapter? or would that be a USB sound card.

 

A 3.5 mm jack to USB adapter is what I meant by USB sound card. They are fairly simple, many look like thumb drives, and are fairly inexpensive (Amazon has some for $1, though brand name adapters start around $20).

-T