Vaio FZ Owners Official Owners Thread

Hi guys,

I'm getting back into laptops again and after lots of research I ended up looking at the Vaio FZ. More specifically, i'm interested in the VGN-FZ340E/B which seems to be the best deal right now.

My main concern really is durability and sturdiness. Do all the FZ models have this "magnesium alloy chassis"? Is it comparable to the Lenovo R and T series? My last laptop was a T60 and I was wondering how the FZs compare to it in regards to sturdiness. Do they feel well built? Do they have spill proof keyboard, hard drive shock protection? Reading through the all the descriptions of the different models, they seem like semi-business notebooks.

Anyways, thanks for any help.

 

I think that the chassis is the same Alluminum-Magnesium alloy in any model you choose. Keyboard is not spill proof. No hard drive shock protection. I came from an IBM and I miss this feature quite a lot.

Have a good day

 

Hi guys!
Is it possible to upgrade cpu on fz4000? I ordered mine with T8300, but it has 3MB L2 cash. Can I upgrade later with T9500 or some other faster cpu?

 

While no product should ever have a five word name, the 1,200-piece limited edition VAIO Graphic Splash Expression Collection throws branding 101 to the wind and, like a few other lines before it, pairs Core 2 Duo-based Vaio FZ laptops with three patterns (Victorian lace, flora, and leaf) and three colors (pink, blue, and black). That's a grand total of nine possible looks, starting at $1,300.
from :
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/26/vaio-graphic-splash-expression-collection-verbosely-lets-you-sty/

Direct link to sonystyle : http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...talogId=10551&cmsId=STATICS_FZ_Graphic_Splash

 

Too much replys to read them all. Im just going to jump in and hope you dont mind me asking some questions that have probably been answered already.

I want to downgrade my VGN-FZ21Z from Vista to XP and I was wondering, is there a driverpack or something I could download. Didnt find anything for VGN-FZ21Z/XP in Sonys webpage, only had drivers for Vista.

 

We do mind, but only a little bit. Learn to use the search box here, first. It will help you find answers to a lot of your questions without having to wait for a reply. Like the XP issue you brought up. There are numerous threads here with this answered in detail complete with links, and pitfall info.

OK, to the search function. DO NOT USE THE SEARCH DROP DOWNS. They suck! At the top of every page is a search text box. Use that. It will allow for search terms with two characters like XP and FZ. (The dropdowns require at least three characters which is why they suck.) So, got to the search box and type "FZ XP" without the quotes and see what you find. I think you will find what you are looking for.

Gary

 

Thanks for your advice. For example I found this link:

http://www.sony-asia.com/support/do...+personal+computer/modelfirst?site=hp_en_AP_i

Only problem is, my laptops accurate model code is FZ21Z ... So I dont have a clue will the drivers/software work with my laptop...

 

Try this review for the VGN-FZ21M,

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Sony-Vaio-VGN-FZ21M,review-29799.html

It has a fair few pages of technical info.
I've just bought a FZ21S, which has caused me no unfixable problems yet.
Let me know what you think of the review,

Matt.

 

The review is good but has a major flaw. The implication that it was not possible to run the processor at higher than 1.2ghz on battery is false. All you have to do is go into the power profile for battery operation and modify the setting to allow it to go to 100% speed.

Gary

 

Glad the search box lesson helped you out! ...big ol' grin...

Now as to your question, the entire FZ series uses pretty much the same drivers. There are variations of course, some models have Nvidia displays chips others have Intel, some have bluetooth some don't. But the point is the drivers between the various models in the FZ line are, at this point anyway, interchangeable.

One word of caution for you. If you did not go past the page you referenced above, you have not seen the following warnings about XP on and FZ model.

They also don't mention that there is no Sony power management function under XP. So battery life will be an issue.

Bottom line, you are better off sticking with Vista unless you absolutely MUST use XP. I am a developer and some of the work I do requires me to run XP. But I am using Virtual PC (free from Microsoft) to create a virtual machine and do my XP required stuff under it. Also if you have a particular app that needs XP you MIGHT be able to use the compatibility mode built into Vista to make the app think it is running under XP. That works great for SOME apps.

So, this begs the question why ARE you trying to switch to XP? Is it just a preference or a requirement? If a requirement, what are the specifics? We might be able to help you around those issues.

Gary

 

I guess its more of a preference than a requirement. Last year I had a few different laptops and I kept going between XP and Vista.

I dont play much games and I dont expect the fz to be a gaming laptop... Still, what small time Id like to use with games, Id like them to work. The bigger problem is my usb tv-card. I know the fault is in the drivers/tv-card company, but the software keeps crashing always in Vista. Really annoying. Basically I can do most of my stuff in either OS but few small things bug me in Vista.

Probably 90% of the time the laptop will be in word/excel use and movie playback... So XP and Vista should both work ok.

 

Hi, I did a clean install (vista) on my fz31m. But the media keys won't work with winamp, furthermore I can't adjust brightness with the fn + f5/f6 combination. Is there a fix for these problems?

 

Whats up with the "VAIO Edit Components 6.4.00.13090" availabe on Vaio Support Drivers page. The are not installed by default on my fz11s nor available via Vaio Updare 3.

 

See the link in my signature for the guide to doing a clean install of Vista on and FZ. You are missing some drivers or auxilary utilities.

Gary

 

Well, you might want to try running that software in compatability mode and see if that helps. Like I said there are several things that won't work on you FZ under XP. If you can live with short battery life, no bightness control keys etc. you can install XP.

One more point about XP. The installer will not be able to see your hard drive. You will have to slipstream the SATA driver into an installer disk. Details of this can be found via the searchbox.

Gary

 

Thanks again for your advice. I guess its actually a big project to make the FZ run smoothly in XP. Ill probably stick with Vista for now and just try to make the tv-card work : - )

 

Yep, it is a hassle. And in the end the lack of FN keys and proper power management make the hassle not worth it.

I think you are making the right move. Try the compatability mode for the software and see if it helps. You should see if the TV card manufacturer has a forum. I am sure you are not the first person to have this issue.

Gary

 

Hi ,I have repartitined my vaio fz340 with gparted and now my C drive is 40 GB .only half of this drive is empty and this device is pretty new and I have uninstalled some of the bloatwares.the total amount of data on program files folders is about 3 GB.how can i understand what's filling my drive.?
thanx

 

Hey everyone. I've got a refurbed FZ290 on the way and had 2 quick questions.

1- does anyone have any memory recommendations? I got it with 1GB(x1) and would like to pop in a 2GB stick. Lots of choices at places like newegg so I thought I'd check here first.
2- anyone have any thoughts on extending the warranty? I normally never consider it bu Sony outlet products only come with 90 days which is ridiculously short. They offer a 2 year extension for 129, or 199 to include everything including accidental damage, i.e. I drop it like a bonehead.

Thanks!

 

Never see any lengthy disscusion like this but I've read through around 40+ pages in this thread

so what is the overall value of this FZ, is it reliable ?? I was about to order mine but read those comments about fan noise really scared me so I guess I should ask some one already has the experience ??

you think it worth order 2.4Ghz for only $70 more ??

 

Vista itself is pretty big. With only 40GB C drive, I wouldn't be surprised if its half full already. However, you can reduce the space Vista allocate to data for restores to save some space.

I think it is good idea to get extension, especially if it is only 129$ for 2 years. About accidental damage, I am not sure. I have it, but I got it cheaper (different place, different price).

Having owned FZ for 6 months, so far I don't have any complaint. Well, I could use 8600GT, but aside from that, I am happy with it. Om second thought, I am somewhat unhappy with the quality of webcam, but they use different camera now. I don't have so-called "crushing wave problem" myself, neither in Vista or Linux.

Assuming you are talking about the upgrade from T7250 to T8300, I think it well worths extra 70$.

 

What graphics card drivers are you guys using with your FZ? I have just changed from 167.43 to 174.31 and noticed little difference. I also find that my memory speed may in fact be under clocked from 900 to 600mhz, is this normal?

 

haha I have 101.28 according to the nVidia driver scan thingy. This is on my brand new FZ4000. Guess they don't like new drivers. The nVidia page also says that I should only get drivers from Sony. Can I still run new drivers such as 167.xx or 174.xx? Will it matter?

 

I have fz340 .I should say that it has the worst horizontal viewing angle.the slightest change of your position from directly looking at the screen will result in change of color.the vertical viewing angle is not good at all too.sometimes I don't know if this is the real color of the movie I'm watching because in each direction you get a new color.too bad in my opinion.

 

guys can help me out with the issue that i lag when playing cs??? i got an FZ240N...with intergrated graphic..

 

I had a similar issue from this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=223034

Basically I tried to get the lower resolution for better FPS, but it wouldn't display whole screen, have you tried to set lower resolution in counter strike ??

 

Guys, please pick one thread and continue this conversation. Right now it is spread across three separate threads.

Gary

 

Hello, I'm considering buying Vaio FZ Series notebook but I'm concerned about it's battery life. For example would it be possible to watch a 1.5 hour dvd movie and not doing anything else on the notebook without recharging it? What about the large battery, does it have considerably longer life?

Thanks in advance.

 

On the battery saver mode, while only listening to music at 75% volume and surfing the net, I get around 2 hours and 30 minutes. That is with the standard capacity battery. I've found that to be sufficient for my needs as I am rarely without access to an outlet. I'm not sure how long my battery would last while watching a movie. The brighter the screen the less battery life, so a lot of it would depend on your individual settings.

I've only owned my FZ for a week and it is one purchase I do not regret making. I usually suffer a massive case of buyer's remorse after spending this kind of money, but I'm 100% satisfied with it.

[plug]On another note, if you buy an FZ and you are unsatisfied with the standard battery life, I have a brand new sealed genuine Sony extended battery in the for sale section of this site. I'm also including a brand new Sony Vaio messenger bag with the battery. [/plug]

 

Hi guys, this thread was very helpful to help me choose my new Vaio FZ, it´ll be my 2nd laptop (current one is a tohsiba) and i can´t wait to get it.

1.- Im wonder if anyone who already have one similar FZ can give me his/her thoughts and first impressions.

- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T8100 (2.1GHz)
- 2 GB DDR-SDRAM (DDR2-667, 1 GBx2)
- 200GB SATA Hard Disk Drive (5400 rpm)
- LCD 15.4" WXGA (XBRITE-HiColor™)
- NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT (256 dedicated memory)
- Standard Battery (BPS8)

2.- Does anyone have made a clean install whitout loosing functionalities? (a/v controls, webcam, etc)
Thanks,

 

Since this is your first post here, a bit of "protocol". Before posting questions like this take a look through the threads here. Both of these questions have been asked and answered NUMEROUS times. There are a couple of ways to search these threads for info you seek. There are search dropdowns on every page. They suck though, as you can't search for two letter terms like FZ or XP. However the search box at the very top of every page does a GREAT job, it will even let you search for two letter terms.

Ok, now that we have that formality out of the way, I can answer question #2 for you. The answer is yes. I wrote a guide on how to do it, and we have a HUGE thread filled with other folks questions, answers, pointers and info on applying the guide to various FZ models like the European ones. See my signature line below for a link to the guide and thread.

Gary

 

So my FZ died and I had to do a system recovery. The first one didn't even work, and the tech people told me I had to have a new HD installed by them. But I did a second system recovery and this one seems to have worked. But now I'm nervous it's just going to die again. Any thoughts? Do I have a reason to be nervous?

 

what made your FZ die ?

were you performing some techno operation like HDD partition , or some virus ?

 

Looking to buy an FZ21S in the UK. Does anyone know where is best go get one. Seem to be getting hard to come by with only the new "penryn" ones being stocked and these are around a £1000.

Laskys had one yesterday for £830 but the link no longer works. Was going to get the FZ21Z for the same price but put off by the slower 4200 hard drive.

Actually while I am asking just saw the new FZ31S for £954. Only difference I can see is the new penryn 2.1ghz and a slightly bigger 250gb hard drive) - worth the extra?

 

Contrary to popular belief, the 300GB 4200rpm HDD in the Z is not slower than the 250GB 5400rpm. This has something to do with the difference in density/platter size making up for the slower rotation (I'll leave the technical details over to the experts on this board).

In short, I'd get the Z. I had the same dilemma (31S vs 21Z) and I got the Z because the 21Z was cheaper than (and just as fast as) the 31S.

 

First, I am not saying you are wrong, but what are you basing that on??? I am pretty sure the platter size is the same, but you are correct that the density is higher on the 300 GB/4200 drive by about 20%. However the rotation speed difference is about 30% in favor of the smaller drive. But in reality neither of those is an accurate measure. The numbers we really need are transfer rate and average seek time. Neither of which I have at hand. Have you seen those numbers for the two drives? They might support your statement.

Gary

 

Gary, you're right. I based my statement on posts on other boards, but the only data to draw any significant conclusions from are the actual benchmark data. "Not necessarily" would have been more appropriate in my post.

Actually I'd love to see some benchmark data, as I remain sceptic that the smaller drive will outperform the HDD installed in the Z.

 

Hi guys,

I have two questions.

1) My FZ11E has 64mb v-ram, so is it possible to change it to 128mb?
2) What is the difference between the v-ram and the dedicated ram?

Thanks

 

For a comparison of a wide variety of notebook drives, see:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage25.html

Now, all you need to know is the make, model and generation of the two choices, or else average up all the drives of those same capacities and speeds in the above chart. That should be your best objective comparison.

 

Hi,
I decided I want to load windows XP on my Sony FZ240E.
I've shrunk the disk so I have an 80GB free partition - and I've downloaded the FZ190 drivers from the sony website which I read should work with the FZ240.

Problem is, windows XP installation is saying it can't find any hard drives (presume this is because it doesn't have SATA drivers included). I copied the FZ190 drivers to CDROM and told XP I want to provide my own drivers - but it just tells me I don't have a floppy disk drive (which I don't) - it won't look for the drivers on the CD. I've read of other people getting XP onto a FZ240, so can anyone provide any advice about how to do that in regards to my SATA driver issue?

Thanks

 

I own an FZ11S, and I have some problems with my touch pad. I have noticed that after few hours of work I cannot use 'Tapping function' on my touch pad. I have to use keys instead. Only solution I've found yet is to restart vista. Does anyone has the same problem? I reckon it may be vista that causes this problem.

 

Anyone know what make hard drives these laptops use for comparison?

 

Hello everyone,

I was given a FZ340E last Wednesday and decided to check its performance running Windows XP and Linux before settling for a Vista Ultimate / Linux dual boot system.

It'd be great if someone could shed some light on the following doubts:

i) There are XP driver packages for some FZ models (FZ19, FZ39, ...) on the Internet and I was wondering which one would work better with FZ340E. I've been thinking about using one of those packages and scour the Web for specific drivers.

ii) I often use tomsrtbt ( http://www.toms.net/rb/) FDISK to format and create partitions. It's far from being user-friendly but it does the job. Which other applications have you been using for creating and formatting partitions (EXT3, EXT2, NTFS, FAT32...)?

iii) Is battery life a major issue when using Linux?

iv) Any comments on Linux drivers for FZ340E would be truly appreciated.

Cheers,

Leco

 

My FZ340 has a 250GB 5400rpm Hitachi Travelstar. The model and family numbers for Hitachi drives can be found here:

http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.edf693c2139b099056fb11f0aac4f0a0/

If you go the your device manager and search specifically for your hard drive model number, you should be able to find more info. I'm on my desktop right now and can't remember the exact model of my laptop's drive, but if you go to the advanced search function on that link, you'll see that the Hitachi model numbers look like this: HTS548020M9AT00.

 

Asked and answered NUMEROUS times here. Use the search box at the top of the screen and serach for "XP FZ SATA" without the quotes. Just remember even after you get XP installed and all the drivers you will have no function keys and no power management.

Gary

 

Does that mean that with a FZ470 if I get a computer professional to wupe out vista and install xp pro I will lose the function keys and power management? That would really stink!

 

That is PRECISELY what it means. Sony has not released XP versions of the UTILITIES that support these two things. All they have released are XP drivers.

Gary

 

wow am I glad I read this...I would have been really annoyed after the fact

 

i am also having same touchpad problem.i am guessing that heating might be the cause.but you are saying restart solves problem.
what shall be the problem?

 

What sort of trouble are you having? Once or twice since July, I have had the "tap" function just disappear. But I did NOT have to reboot to restore it. A log off and log on restored it.

Gary