Sony Vaio Z i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

That helped equalize the look between the video and the frames, thanks. Too bad the threshold is still above black.

Yes, my monitor still doesn't get the right black point. The funny thing is the quality of the video(s), or their lack. They look pixelated, like badly compressed jpegs. I looked on the laptop screen, same thing, so it is not the laptop-to-monitor issue. Perhaps I should go look at other laptops with the same card and see if the same thing happens.

Pity, because the rest of the output is smooth and steady, very pleasing, easy on the eyes.

I should add that both on the external and internal monitor I get strange red and green halos around small white letters on darker background, particularly if they are parallel to each other, like moire. It's probably unrelated, but also something I haven't seen before.

 

I am wondering whether you have a defective video card?

 

Thanks! Worked a treat!

 

No clue. I called the store, they say 15% restocking fee.

 

Hi all,

been following this thread for quite some time. Thank you all of the great insights.

So I just received my Vaio Z series today. I am still amazed at how quickly I got it. Placed the order on Saturday and received it in the mail today.
I went with the i5 540m, 192 GB SSD, 6GB RAM, 1600 x 900 screen, premium carbon fiber and I LOVE the look / feel as well as the snappiness...

There are however also a few things Sony could have done better (initial impressions)
- keys are extremely prone to smudges (minor issue)
- screen could definitely be brighter
- speakers are horrid (what were they thinking)

Also, as I have not seen any CrystalDisk benchmarks for the 192GB SSD configuration thus far, I have attached a screenshot of my benchmark.

-dbam

 

wow those speeds look similar to the quad raid 0 setups! Wish my 256gb config was quad raid...

 

Congrat on your purchase

Your CDM results look good! Here's the quad ssd result for comparison.



If you enable write-back cache this is the result.

 

The laptop you own brightness has been measured at over 300nits. Not many laptops can match that. May be turn the ambient light sensor of to set your brightness where you want it.

 

yeah the only real problem is the speaker, if you are outside or in public then you cant hear a damn thing

 

New Overclock: 625 Core / 1066 Memory / 1400 Shaders.

Uber fast.

 

What do you use to o/c the gpu? TIA

 

gputool program

 

You should be able to, yes. You can burn your recovery discs from the Vaio Recovery Center (I think it's called that)...

 

What kind of videos are these? And what resolution? Because all video I've played on my Z has been as good as expected - actually a lot more pleasing looking than my SZ.

While I haven't hooked up to an external display yet, I've been reading that it seems like Nvidia typically defaults to 16-235 dynamic range on HDMI output, as this is what most TVs are expecting. This means that black is actually a dark grey, and it's the set's job to re-expand.

Check to see if there's a "color space" setting in the Nvidia control panel when you have an external monitor hooked up. Options (if it exists) should be RGB or YCbCr444 (try RGB).

You sure you aren't just seeing ClearType / font smoothing? I've attached an enlarged screenshot I made from the last time I clarified this to someone.

 

According to notebookcheck.com the new VAIO Z is basically silent during idle, can anyone confirm this?

 

Nope, I've got font smoothing turned off. I've used ClearType before on this monitor, no problems.

Videos were at 480p, playing at their native resolution. I've done it before. Now it looked like someone mopped their faces with wet rag, so you couldn't see much details. I've got noise reduction turned off in Nvidia, too, so that's not the problem.

Weird.

 

I might say it's basically silent, but not totally silent In a totally silent room, you can hear a silent whirr coming the fan.

 

Tried to get HDD model today though the GeekStuff4You but got reply:

Dear Sergii, We are very sorry, Sony did not accept our order for your VAIO Z11. Today Sony VAIO Z11 series production has been Stop. Your Order is now cancel, please find a full refund. Best Regards

Any ideas? Where to get FullHD custom model and why Sont stopped production?

 

It is still in stock in the US

https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wc...GmhZ7XxSH/X6 jNeu+KqZ/Qg/hs49Yu2ixOLHFdA5J/s=

 

Yesterday the Signature Z was sold out; today it's back in stock.

I also looked at the custom order page for the Z1190X and if you select the i5 processor, there's a 3-week delay in shipping, if you choose the i7, there's a 1 week delay.

 

That's good enough for me.

 

bizarre how Sony, widely regarded for quality audio products, could put such a feeble speaker system in the Z

 

There's just not a lot of room in the chassis for speakers. Maybe they included the noise canceling headphones to compensate.

THe speakers are basically taped-in, so they are very user replaceable, but I don't think you can get much improvement in such a small space.

The sound quality isn't a huge deal for me, I just watch YouTube stuff and never watch movies without headphones.

 

When it comes to text, some of what you're describing has to do with the nature of ClearType itself.

 

Thank you so much for posting these drivers. The smooth scrolling this driver provides is perfect. Not to mention it gives support for two-finger tapping and other tapping features. Using these with the stock Synaptics drivers that came with my Z. If you want smooth scrolling you have to give this a try.

 

This glowing review already posted?
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/sony-vaio-z.aspx

Apologies if so.

Laptop Mag:
"Verdict-
Some day Apple or someone else may be able to match the VAIO Z in terms of speed or portability, but at the moment this ultraportable stands alone as the fastest 13-inch notebook on earth. Is it worth $2,099? Definitely, although we think Sony should throw in the larger battery and a longer warranty for this price. As it stands, you’ll be getting a sleek and sturdy design, two SSDs, and a turbo-charged Core i5 processor that makes quick work of any task. We also love the backlit keyboard and switchable graphics. It’s only a few months into 2010, but we feel pretty confident in saying that the VAIO Z is one of the best notebooks of the year."

Personally I think Apple will always be playing catch up to other companies, but that's just my opinion. Their new 13" MBP says it all.

EDIT:
Looks like the MBP 13" GPU may not be as bad as what I thought. It has a 3D Mark on par with my MBP 15" with 8600M GPU.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=897364

That's pretty cool...but yeah, due to it's weight and C2D I still prefer my Z.

 

are you using a cooling pad or something? i can barely even keep 575 core stable. what temps are you getting while gaming with that?

 

Hi Guys, first post so hi!

I just wondered if anyone knows of a way to update the Z series with the latest drivers from Nividia. The drivers supplied by Sony are way behind those on the Nvidia site but I have been unable to work out a way to update them due to the speed switch.

Also, when playing games the GPU easily gets to 80+C and I start to see major artifacting (BF:BC2). Unsure if this is related to the heat or a driver issue so wondered if anyone else had seen something similar?

 

Did you try Conics? I ordered in Feb and i'll be shipped next Monday. I'm sure they'll start taking orders again once the components stock up.

 

There is some progress being made in the Hybrid Graphics thread on this board. If you download daleski75's hacked together drivers, you'll get an updated version with the Nvidia drivers at 197.16.

However, this hack isn't perfect. Switching does not work when you switch from Speed to Stamina, though you can switch from Stamina to Speed. You can also reboot into Stamina mode if you need to use the Intel graphics for better battery life, just be aware that if you flick the switch from Speed to Stamina, you'll get a blank screen and have to reboot.

For BF:BC2, I'm pretty sure it is a driver issue. Using the daleski75's drivers, the artifacts are completely gone in my BF:BC2 game

 

Ah, thanks for the pointer to the other thread Moo! I will keep an eye on things and help out with a solution if I can. Glad to know the artifacts are drivers and not an overheating laptop!

 

I ordered my Z (i7,FHD,256GB SSD) on 21 March and I've been notified that it is to arrive to Conics tomorrow.
it seems the wait time is getting lower so maybe the i7 shortage is over?

 

has anyone have this problem, when you right click on desktop. the pop up is not come up instantly unlike my old p4 desktop it just come up without 2second load time.

thx

 

For those of you who have experimented with overclocking the GT 330M to its standard speed or beyond, have you noticed or measured significant increases in heat or noticeable differences in battery life? I wouldn't want to melt the laptop by overclocking the GPU...

 

I haven't noticed any significant increases in load temperatures (around 5 degrees C increase). I cannot comment on battery life since I almost never use the nvidia card when using battery power.

 

Thanks. I'm trying to understand why Sony would have the GPU underclocked in the first place. I know heat and consumption are the items already thrown out there as speculations. But if overclocking it to the standard is only adding a few degress, why bother underclocking at all? I keep waiting for someone to post a horror story of a smoking overclocked GPU.

 

Wow, you're getting it ahead of me. I've been waiting so long, I think when I finally receive it, I won't actually be able to believe it's in my hands

 

Stability maybe? Perhaps under stress it'll break...

 

I placed my ordered from conics on February 22 and just yesterday Brett told me it will ship to conics in few days. I file the same way like you do. It feels like an eternity.

What is your configuration.

My Z looks like this:

Sony Vaio Type Z VPCZ11AGJ [2.66GHz Core i7, quad SSD option]
- 1st AC Adapter Option: Std, long cable Adapter
- 1st Battery: VGP-BPS20 (5200mAh, 315g)
- Bluetooth: Yes, Internal
- Colour: Premium Carbon
- CPU: Core i7 620M 2.66GHz
- Docking Station: None Required
- Extra AC Adapter: no extra Adapter
- Extra Battery: no extra required (1 only)
- HDD/SSD/Optical Drive: 4x128GB SSD(RAID 0), Blu-Ray-bur
- Head Phones: Not Required
- Keyboard: US English with backlight
- LCD: 1920x1080
- Memory: 2x 4GB (8GB under 64bit OS)
- Palm Rest Colour: Gray (for Black / Carbon colour
- Security: Fingerprint sensor & TPM
- Unlock the Modem: not yet possible for this model
- USB / iLink: 3x USB (2.0)
- Warranty: 3 year warranty
- Web Camera: 310K Pixel Motion Eye Internal
- WiMAX or WWAN[3G]: gobi 3G/WWAN [not tested], WiFi 3x3
- Windows Version: Windows 7 [Pro] English 64bit

 

Nop, here is the link to the components stock for vaio Z on sonystyle Japan.

http://translate.google.com/transla....com/Product/Vaio/Stock/z1.html&sl=auto&tl=en

They don't even know when will i7 be available.

 

Yours look pretty close to the Signature model...

Mine, I'm still trying to put hardware RAID in there I suppose that's one good thing about the long build time: my dream's still alive.

You know what would s*ck? It finally arrived but is all smashed up. Or there's just 1 dead pixel. I guess I can try the local SonyStyle store but any blemish will be exaggerated and I'll have to stop myself from smashing it against the wall

1 x Sony Vaio Type Z VPCZ11AGJ [2.66GHz Core i7]
- Windows Version: Windows 7 [Pro] English 64bit
- WiMAX or WWAN[3G]: WiFi (a/b/g/n) MIMO 3x3
- Web Camera: 310K Pixel Motion Eye Internal
- Warranty: 3 year warranty
- USB / iLink: 2x USB (2.0), 1x iLink
- Unlock the Modem: not yet possible for this model
- Security: Fingerprint sensor & TPM
- Palm Rest Colour: Gray (for Black / Carbon colour
- Memory: 2x 2GB (4GB under 64bit OS)
- LCD: 1920x1080
- Keyboard: US English with backlight
- Head Phones: Sony, Noise Canceling
- HDD/SSD/Optical Drive: 320GB HDD (no Burner)
- Extra Battery: no extra required (1 only)
- Extra AC Adapter: no extra Adapter
- Docking Station: None Required
- CPU: Core i7 620M 2.66GHz
- Colour: Premium Carbon
- Bluetooth: Yes, Internal
- 1st Battery: VGP-BPL20 (7800mAh, 460g)
- 1st AC Adapter Option: Std, long cable Adapter

 

I don't even have local sony store that sell vaio laptops in my country. That is the reason for me to import it from Japan (conics). So if something is wrong with it I can only send it back to Japan.

At least conics will check it during OS installation before they send it to us

 

This is to other vaio z owners out there. Do you guys notice any warping of the lid? Mine seems to be slightly raised near the center edge of the lid and i'm assuming this is because the lid is so thin. Just wanted to see if this was the case with other vaio z owners.

 

my seq read is only 462.

 

It looks I was lucky then with the order timing..

by the way this is my config:

Sony Vaio Type Z VPCZ11AGJ [2.66GHz Core i7, quad SSD option]
- 1st AC Adapter Option: Std, long cable Adapter
- 1st Battery: VGP-BPS20 (5200mAh, 315g)
- Bluetooth: Yes, Internal
- Colour: Premium Carbon
- CPU: Core i7 620M 2.66GHz
- HDD/SSD/Optical Drive: 4x64GB SSD(RAID 0), DVD-burner
- Head Phones: Sony, Noise Canceling
- Keyboard: US English with backlight
- LCD: 1920x1080
- Memory: 6GB RAM [under 64bit OS]
- Palm Rest Colour: Gray (for Black / Carbon colour
- Security: Fingerprint sensor & TPM
- USB / iLink: 2x USB (2.0), 1x iLink
- Warranty: 3 year warranty
- Web Camera: 310K Pixel Motion Eye Internal
- WiMAX or WWAN[3G]: WiFi (a/b/g/n) MIMO 3x3
- Windows Version: Windows 7 [Pro] English 64bit

 

Relections on the new Z.

Well, I have had the Z11 for a few weeks now.
The other day I was running about 20 different apps. Surfing the web while programming in Eclipse, with virtualized Ubuntu running on the side monitor, it too is running a couple of things. Pandora is streaming along, copying massive files to the network drives etc. I always leave Task Manager and Resource Monitor running so I can monitor cpu loading. As usual the cpu loading is close to zilch.

It struck me that it was doing all these things so quickly and so transparently, that all the little issues we like to complain about, the wiggly batteries, fan noises, stuck pixels etc. all seemed insignificant by comparison.

I have gotten used to clicking on apps in rapid succession, say: Firefox-Thunderbird-Eclipse when I sit down at the computer. When I do that, all three are up and running in the blink of an eye. The other day I went to my desktop and did that, 2 minutes later it was ready to go. That's when it hit me that I had become completely accustomed to the speed and grace with which the Z does everything.

 

Hi I really now need convincing on which colour to choose so I can pull the trigger.

Im stuck between black or silver and I really really cant make my mind up. I have been unable to view the Z in person due to unavailability so this makes my choice even harder.

If anyone has any side by side shots of a silver and black Z then that woud be great!

 

I have a silver one and I really dig it. You just can't go wrong with silver.

otoh, you just can't go wrong with the black one either... (fat lot of help I am)

 

Thats my problem silver does look good, but then again so does the black......

Well I will order before the weekend is up as there is a free upgrade to the i5-540m cpu in the Sonystyle UK store.

What I did notice though is that the machines with W7 Pro and Ultimate come with a 2 year warranty, nice!

 

Question regarding the gt330m

I could swear that the very first time I fired up SecondLife on the Z, that it recognized the gt330m and used it. I could swear that I marveled at the low cpu utilization as it ran. This would have been a few weeks ago when I first got the laptop.

However anytime I fire up SL now, there is no difference between Speed vs. Stamina mode. In both cases SL states that it doesn't think I have a gpu (or it doesn't recognize it) and in either case the cpu churns like mad just to do minimum resolution settings.

Any ideas?