Vaio FZ Owners Official Owners Thread

my touchpad becomes completely slow.when i move it by a lot,it will make a small move.twice i had to force shutdown by long press of power button.i have noticed this to happen when the laptop gets hot.i installed core temp.it reports my cpu temp to hover at 46 46 c.this touchpad problem is not common.it has happened like 4-5 times since purchase.

 

Hi, is there anybody who have found out a fix/solution to the problem with the heat/hot area on the lower left side of the notebook (where the left hand rests)? This problem is mentioned earlier in this thread, but no one presents a solution. Is there a setting in power management that reduce the heat in this peticular area? I have a FZ31Z and I also experience heat under the left palm when gaming and using the computor under heavy load. This is the only thing I find as a drawback with this notebook. But this might be a general drawback with most notebooks. There is a lot of post on this problem for many different notebooks in this forum.

 

In formula one they stuff dry ice in the cooling inlets, but i think it's easier to buy a cooling pad.... Otherwise there's no really solution unless you're prepared to do some serious case and fan modding.

 

Uh, hello??? This is an FZ thread not a TZ thread. You might want to find another place to post this.

Gary

 

Thank you Storm3016, I see I got a reply from a pro.

I have been thinking about the heat at the left hand and I think its the little part of the frame with the leds (where one can see batterycharging, WLAN etc) that beacomes realy hot and not the big plastic area belowe the keys. Is this slim part metalic or plastic or is it becouse this slim part might be connected to the frame of the chassi (If one looks at your picture Storm one can see that the heatsink from the GPU touches the frame around the vent http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=14245&d=1200557256)
and thus might lead part of the heat from the heatsink into the frame and this might be why it feals warm at this part of the restingarea of the left hands palm which is part of the frame.

If this is the case then there is no real solution to it, Sony should have put a isolation between the heatsink and the frame. Or maybe they should have placed the leads and that little part somewhere else then near the left palm.

One other reason might be that the intake under that case are very close the the surface under then notebook and sucks in preheated air (since the case itself acts as a heatsink and warms the surrounding air underneath before it is sucked in through the intake. Perhaps if the notebook would be more elevated from the surface underneath it would suck less preheated air at this location of the notebook.
I guess a coolingpad (as you suggests Storm) takes care of the last possibility.

Tanks again Storm.

 

Hi everyone, received my FZ4000 last week and so far very impressed.

The flora splash casing looks great and the hi-brite screen is amazing so far. keyboard is great and very quiet. My startup speed is about 45 seconds to full load and I think this is due to the hybrid hard drive. No problems with Vista so far. The right hand pad gets hot at times but nothing too serious. Would recommend to anyone browsing to go for it. Through sony style I got a hundred off as well by finding a coupon on an online site..just google vaio coupons and see if it works.

 

I am confused. The heatsink from the GPU could only touch the frame near the side/rear of the machine. The LED are near the front. If it were transmitting heat via the frame, the entire frame all along the side would feel warm. On my FZ190 the only spot that feels any warmer (and by no means hot) is near the embossed VAIO logo under the left Ctrl key.

Gary

 

Hi there,

I've got a FZ340E and I'm about to install Vista Ultimate, XP and Linux and have a triple boot system. Just wondering whether there are any tips to be followed in order not to spoil Instant on mode. Which boot manager would you recommend?

Cheers,

Leco

 

I just got a new FZ-4000 CTO a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that I can't understand all this talk of FZ heat/fan noise/battery life that I keep reading here. Maybe these problems were more severe with the early models from last year, but I haven't had any of these problems with mine at all.

Now, before the VAIO I had an HP dv6000t (C2D T5600, nVidia 7400 GPU). I only had it for a year before I started shopping for a new computer. Wanna talk about heat? Once I was eating a chocolate bar in front of my HP, and a small crumb (like a tiny chocolate shaving) fell on the palm rest. Before I could blow it off, it melted onto the plastic! That's how hot it ran -- I could literally make s'mores on that laptop. Battery life? The day I first turned it on, I got 45 minutes, tops. After a year, that was down to 35 minutes. And the fan noise? The latest HP BIOS upgrade had the fan revving relative to the processor load, not the temps. This meant that any program -- even any random background process -- would cause the fan to run like crazy for a minute, then slow down, then rev up again, without doing anything about the ridiculously hight temperatures.

Compared to that experience, my VAIO FZ is running like a dream. Even when gaming, I can't find a surface that's really hot to the touch, and the fan noise is probably the quietest of any of the four laptops I've owned (this one, the HP, and two Dells). As for the battery life, 2 hours is all I really need. If I wanted any more than that, I would have either bought the extended battery -- or a different computer altogether (one with integrated graphics).

It seems to me that either Sony must have fixed the FZ heat problems since introduction (and I'm sure the Penryn chips help), or they made some lemons in the past, or some people out there just have unrealistic expectations of how a modern laptop with discrete graphics should run.

I'm not posting this to call anyone out. I'm posting because I've seen a lot of people on this board asking questions like "I'm interested in the FZ, but I'm not sure if I can deal with all the heat and noise." I want these people to know that this isn't necessarily the case anymore. In a way, I'm actually glad I didn't read that many posts before I chose the FZ -- they might have convinced me not to buy a computer that I'm currently enjoying immensely. I think a vocal minority of FZ owners -- a few of whom I'm sure are having legit problems -- are giving this machine an unjustified bad name.

Heat, noise, and battery life are all relative. Compared to other GPU-equipped laptops in their class, the new FZs are not that loud, they're not that hot, and if you really, truly need more than 2 hours of battery life -- they're probably not the right computer for you.

 

Hello fellas .. i'm a future owner of an FZ laptop .. i did a search of this laptop at amazon and saw two models that have a great specs but the thing is im not sure which is the best of them for entertaining .. there we go :

Model
Brand SONY
Series VAIO FZ Series
Model VGN-FZ485U/B
General
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1G
Screen 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk 300GB
Optical Drive Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Video Memory 256MB
Communication Modem, LAN and WLAN
Card slot 1 x ExpressCard /34 Slot
Dimensions 14.00" x 10.02" x 0.98-1.40"
Weight 6.1 lbs.
Tech Intel Centrino Mobile Technology
CPU
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed T8100(2.10GHz)
CPU FSB 800MHz
CPU L2 Cache 3MB
Display
Screen Size 15.4"
Wide Screen Support Yes
LCD Features XBRITE-HiColor technology
Display Type Wide XGA
Resolution 1280 x 800
Operating Systems
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate
Graphics
GPU/VPU NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Video Memory Dedicated 256MB
Graphic Type Dedicated Card
Hard Drive
HDD 300GB
HD RPM 4200rpm
HD Interface SATA
Memory
Memory Speed DDR2 667
Memory 4GB
Max Memory Supported 4GB
Memory Spec 2GB x 2
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Optical Drive Spec Blu-Ray Disc Support: Yes (BD-RE/DVD±R DL/DVD±RW)
DVD+R DL Write: 2.4x max.
DVD-R DL Write: 2x max.
DVD+R Write: 8x max.
DVD+RW Write: 4x max.
DVD-R Write: 8x max.
DVD-RW Write: 4x max.
CD-R Write: 8x max.
CD-RW Write: 8x max.
CD Read: 24x max.
DVD Read: 8x max.
DVD-RAM Read: 5x max.
DVD-RAM Write: 5x max.
BD-ROM Read: 2x max
BD-R Read: 2x max
BD-R DL Read: 1.6x max
BD-RE Read: 2x max
BD-RE DL Read: 1.6x max
BD-R Write: 2x max
BD-R DL Write: 1x max
BD-RE Write: 2x max
BD-RE DL Write: 1x max
Communications
Modem Integrated V.92/V.90 Modem (RJ-11)
LAN 10/100Mbps
WLAN Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection (802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth Yes
Ports
Card Slot 1 x ExpressCard /34 Slot
USB 3
IEEE 1394 1
Video Port 1 x VGA, 1 x S-Video TV-out, 1 x HDMI
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone jack; 1 x Headphone jack
Audio
Audio Sony Sound Reality - Audio Enhancer
Speaker Internal Speakers
Input Device
Touchpad Electro-Static touch pad
Keyboard QWERTY, 82 keys with 2mm stroke and 19.05mm pitch
Supplemental Drive
Card Reader Multimedia Card Reader:
One Memory Stick Duo media with MagicGate functionality
One Secure Digital (SD memory card) Slot
Webcam Built-in 1.3 MP MOTION EYE camera
Power
Battery Standard Lithium-ion Battery (VGP-BPS8)
Physical spec
Dimensions 14.00" x 10.02" x 0.98-1.40"
Weight 6.1 lbs.
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 1 year limited
Labor 1 year limited
--------------------------------------------------

Model
Brand SONY
Series VAIO FZ Series
Model VGN-FZ490NGB
General
Operating System Windows Vista Business
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 2.6G
Screen 15.4" WXGA
Memory Size 3GB DDR2
Hard Disk 300GB
Optical Drive Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Video Memory 256MB
Dimensions 14.01" x 10.02" x 0.98-1.36"
Weight 5.75 lbs.
CPU
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Speed T9500(2.60GHz)
CPU FSB 800MHz
CPU L2 Cache 6MB
Display
Screen Size 15.4"
Wide Screen Support Yes
LCD Features XBRITE-HiColor technology
Display Type Wide XGA
Resolution 1280 x 800
Operating Systems
Operating System Windows Vista Business
Graphics
GPU/VPU NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT
Video Memory 256MB Dedicated / 1535MB (Total Available Graphics Memory)
Graphic Type Dedicated Card
Hard Drive
HDD 300GB
HD RPM 4200rpm
HD Interface SATA
Memory
Memory Speed DDR2 667
Memory 3GB
Max Memory Supported 4GB
Memory Spec 2GB x 1 + 1GB x 1
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type Blu-ray Disc / Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface Integrated
Communications
WLAN Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection (802.11a/b/g/n)
Bluetooth Yes
Ports
USB 3
IEEE 1394 1
Video Port 1 x VGA, 1 x S-Video TV-out, 1 x HDMI
Audio Ports 1 x Microphone jack; 1 x Headphone jack
Audio
Audio Integrated Sound card
Speaker Internal Speakers
Input Device
Touchpad Electro-Static touch pad
Keyboard Standard
Supplemental Drive
Webcam 1.3 MP
Power
Battery Lithium Ion
Physical spec
Dimensions 14.01" x 10.02" x 0.98-1.36"
Weight 5.75 lbs.
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 1 year limited
Labor 1 year limited


which one do u think is better .. does the 2.6 proccesor have an advantage on the 2.1 .. does the second one have Blu-ray reader and writer on it ???

 

Hi all,

Mi first post here! I just got a Sony FZ348E from Circuit City and i have searched the site and there is no mention to the FZ348E on the site. I have two questions:

1 Is it a good system?. I only can buy on retail stores and i want o know your opinionm about it.

2 It didn't came with WAU folder, or i didn't find it (i enabled the show hidden files). It's possible to do a clean install?

Best Regards.

P.D. sorry my misssplelling but english is not my strongest languaje.

 

Hi, first post also!

I'm in Australia and just have another week to go till they realease the FZ38 here. It comes with 9300 processor, 8600gs graphics card and 300gb 4200rpm hdd..

A few questions.. the first is that in all their product information sheets sony states that the blu ray drive "does not support playback of copyright protected contents recorded on blu-ray".

What does this mean? Will legally bought movies work on this machine? Would it only be illegal stuff burned to a disc that wouldn't work?

Secondly, does anyone know what brand the 300gb hdd is? I have a feeling it's a fujitsu mhw2120bj sata 300 but i wanted to confirm this.

Thanks

 

I must agree with Gary on this one DavidDavid. I think the heat we feel in that area just radiates from the CPU heat sink.

 

hi, everyone, first off great forum, lots of info. However, i can't seem some information.

i have a question, i can't seem find a solution anywhere.
A friend has a sony vaio vgn-fz11s (pcg-381m), the screen is broke, unfortunately he removed the screen, then stepped out, by the time he came back, his mom, thinking it was more of his computer junk (unusable stuff)- chucked it out. He never wrote the model number.

So now we are looking everywhere to find a replacement LCD, the inverter has two plugs, so i guess the screen will be a dual ccfl screen.

Do you know what screen originally comes with this model, and/or do you know which screens will fit this laptop. If you could give me model numbers if possible.

thank you very much

 

Hello everyone,

I've got a FZ-340E and its performance is mediocre, to say the least. From the outset I put the blame on the duo Vista HE + bloatware and decided I'd downgrade to XP and install a Linux distro as well. However, by reading the threads I learned I'd lose power management and function keys if I gave up on Vista. Anyway, I think I should have a clean install of Vista Ultimate and XP running on the laptop to be scrupulously fair with both OSs.

Before doing it I'd be grateful if you could help me with the following questions:

1) I intend to create four partitions (Vista, XP, data and Linux) on my HD, install XP, Vista Ultimate and Linux. Do you think this would be the best course of action?

2) Which boot manager have you been using? GRUB is great but it's rather cryptic at times.

3) Would it be possible to use another set of XP drivers since XP drivers for FZ-340E aren't available?

4) What would be the necessary precautions to be taken in order not to lose Instant Mode capabilities?

Thanks in advance,

Leco

 

Leco,

Yes four partitions would be good. Be careful though XP has been known to wipe out Vista restore points in a dual boot. (Yes I know it sounds BIZARRE. I called BS on it when I first heard the reports, but retracted immediately when shown a Microsoft Knowledge base article on this.)

For a this reason I would suggest a boot loader that allows you to hide the other two OS partitions when booting into a given OS. Boot to XP and it should not see the Linux or Vista partitions only your data one. The only loader I know that can do this is BootIT NG. I have used it before to do this very thing. I have NOT used it with Vista however. It is not free, but it is also not expensive either. It includes a great partition management tool. It is a bit cryptic to use, but once you understand it it is VERY VERY powerful.

RE: drivers you MIGHT be able to find substitutes from another FZ model, in fact I would venture that you can. I have no experience with doing so however.

RE: Instant Mode. I can't say. It does not work on my FZ190, because I have the Nvidia display.

Gary

 

Hi,

I would be interested in getting the Fz21s or Fz38m.

The differences are:-

Fz21s
2gb ram
2.2 ghz core 2 duo (not penryn)
x-black with double lamp

Fz38m
4gb ram
2.1 ghz core 2 duo Penryn
x-black (no double lamp)

Which should I get?
Will the non Penryn run a lot hotter and louder than the Penryn?
Is the Double lamp better?

Also, I've read about the sharp edges which make typing painful; is this really a problem? How long can you type before it starts to hurt?

Thanks very much,

bennyjips

 

My sister just got one of these guys from CC this morning and holy crap is it ever loaded with bloatware. It is going to take me HOURS to get rid of all this junk Sony put on there. It also includes a ton of VAIO... programs installed, does anyone know which are safe to uninstall or not?

 

Hi,

I just bought a SONY VAiO FZ38M. Nice laptop, just love.

I wanted to know what sort of connectors I need to connect it to my TV via the S-Video output. Does the S-Video port in the laptop has both audio and video output or does it just give video output??

Please help me out..!!

 

razorz:

S-video is just video, so you'd need to run another cable -- an audio "Y" cable -- from your laptop's headphone jack to the red and white audio inputs on your TV, next to your S-video input.

HDMI is the only connection that has both audio and video.

 

Damn - you need parts from each! Dual lamp is definitely better as is the Penryn which is optimized for power. Personally, I look at the monitor more than I am away from a power source - I would go dual lamp!

Don't worry about that edge thing - you'll never notice it unless you typically type on the laptop at chest height or higher!

 

Wow, this thread is full of first-time posters all asking the same questions..... hmmm....... man, to bad there wasn't a search feature on this forum... wait, what's the button above that says "Search" ??? Hmmm... well that can't be it, that would be to obvious....

 

Search is not always a cure all because not everyone thinks with the same logic - and keyword can give you more crap than you can get through. I for one do use search before I ask a question. I am sure the question has probably been answered before, but I had no luck finding it - or it was asked in a different manner.

You can certainly choose to to ignore them instead of taking a stab at humor. This is the same MO with every technical forum on the web....

 

Hi there,

Sony Asia has released XP drivers and applications (Sony Utilities and Vaio Power Management included) for CR3, FZ3, SZ7, TZ3 series. Even though I'm not sure if those drivers and apps would work with American models, they might be worth a shot...

Will definitely post the results of my experiments here! The weekend is just around the corner...

Cheers,

Leco

http://www.sony-asia.com/subtype/usefulinfo/asset/216869/product/vgn-fz37g?site=hp_en_AP_i

 

Let me know how it goes, do you think the drivers and apps for FZ3 would work for FZ470?

Thanks in advance!

 

Has anyone been able to install Vista SP1 by running Windows Update? I have an FZ 290 (with Vista Home Premium) and Vista Sp1 doesn't show up when I run Windows Update. Are there problems with any of the drivers in the FZ that prevent Vista SP1 from installing?

 

Yes there is a problem driver: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948343

Gary

 

I was able to install VISTA SP1 on 3/18 and I am running Trend Micro Internet Security.

 

Through Windows update or using the standalone installer. If the latter you should look at the Knowledge Base article I just referenced and check your drivers. If you have one of those on the list you should update it ASAP. The standalone installer, sadly does NOT bother to check and for some folks this has led to some very real issues.

Gary

 

I did it through WU and did nothing special.

 

I updated the SigmaTel® Audio Driver to 6.10.5614.0 from the vaio support website, which meets the Vista update requirment, and I don't have any of the other drivers that Microsoft says will prevent the update. However, it still does not list the Vista SP1 update. I guess I'm out of luck right now. I just wish Microsoft would state what specifically is preventing the SP1 update when I run Windows Update.

 

There are other things in the article I referenced that might also be causing this.

BTW when did you update the driver? Do you have any hidden updates in WU? Did you happen to use vlite?

Gary

 

There is a post on the DCF that states that MS has pulled SP1 for a bit but I would think that something like that would be all over the internet. Also MS can only handle a certain number of downloads at once and simply stops showing it when that threshold is hit. I have SigmaTel 6.10.5614.0

 

But you still didn't answer the question WHEN did you update the driver. SP1 will not show up IMMEDIATELY after you update the driver. Did you look at the other issues in the Knowledgebase article?

Gary

 

Yep, how fast after you updated the driver? I have had anywhere from 1 to probably 7-8 days go by on high volume type updates.

My AMD-based HP desktop got SP-1 on the release date.

 

I've a FZ39VN (Centrino2Duo T8100) and I've downgraded to XP for use at work. The downgrade was ok using the Full XP downgrade Drivers on sony support website, but something does not work, that is the Fn keys (mainly brightness and screen output) and the power management.

I've read lots of posts here, but none solved my problems.

Any update on the problem?

 

Why not ask this in the thread where it is being discussed?

Gary

 

You have to live with this if you opt for XP. They don't work with XP.

 

I installed it yesterday, and I erroneously thought it would shop immediately. You're right though, it finally showed up today. Problem solved. Thanks

 

I downloaded the update for the Sigmatel Audio Driver from the Sony Support website and when I run the file, a window pops up saying checking your system's information, and then a box pops up saying this update is not intended for use with your computer model, even though I downloaded the driver updates for my computer (FGN-FZ290). This happens with every update I download from the Sony support site. My Sigmatel Drivers are not up to date and I feel that may be the reason why I have not downloaded SP1 yet. Any help is appreciated.

Ash

 

Sounds like you pulled a driver for the wrong model. The Sony installers are very particular that you have the EXACT model not a "similar" or "almost the same" model. Give me the link to the actual file you downloaded and I will take a look.

Gary

 

FZ vista nowadays all come with hidden partition and it easily chews up 15-20GB from your C:\, say eg a 200GB 5400rpm. Does Sony provide a free recovery cd in the first 12 months of purchase like IBM ?

I miss the olden days of sony where they automatically split into C:\50 and D:\150Gb, so that when you recovery C:\ it will only takes 40-60mins to recover a fresh install windows and you dont have to worry about all DATA (doc, mp3, movies, pictures) in D:\

Do you guys know if you use something like partition magic to create another partition, will hidden recovery restore successfully to C:\ still ?

 

hey does anyone know what amount of dedicated RAM the 8400M GT comes with in the 4000CTO's nowadays? I hope they're all 256MB...or better lol.

also...any personal opinions on the HiColor vs. Eco screens? Is the HiColor worth $50? I would think so but just lookin for other opinions.

and finally, how many cells is the BPS-8 standard Li-Ion battery that comes with the FZ?

 

First the recovery partition only takes about 7-10 gig. Sony does NOT provide the recovery disk, they provide an application on the FZ that allows you to burn a recovery disk(s) from the recovery partition.

If you partition the drive and use the recovery disk, I am pretty sure it would wipe out all partitions. But the ONLY reason you would ever want to use the recovery disk anyway is to return the machine to it's out of the box state. (And to use the application/driver installer program on it.)

Once you have the machine partitioned and configured the way you want it and all updates applied, you should use some imaging app like Ghost or Acronis to make your own image of the C: partition. You would use THAT image to do the sort of restore you talked about. (Which, btw is an EXCELLENT way to set up the machine, separating apps and data.)

Gary

 

The 8400 with my CTO FZ4000 has 256 megs of dedicated ram. Also for $50 the hi color screen is definitely worth it, brightest screen I have ever had.

 

does your 4000CTO have a blu-ray drive? i've heard that sony only puts 256MB 8400M GT's in FZ's with blu-ray. the others get 128MB or 64MB. :\ but that's just what i've heard.

ok so i read from the 4000CTO pdf on the sony site that all 8400M GT's are now 256MB. my new question is how much battery life does the dedicated graphics card take out of the laptop as compared to an FZ with only integrated graphics? Assuming that I don't play video games too often, maybe 10-15 hours a week running games on WoW/warcraft 3 quality.

 

I do not have blu ray, under display settings - advanced I have

NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GT


Dedicated Video Memory: 256 MB

 

For battery life I haven't really had enough experience with it yet, only had it a few days. But the icon says 1 hour and 35 min on "High Performance" and about 2 hours and 20 min on Saver. So it appears to be not that great but this is also with the hi color screen.

 

ok thanks a lot! i guess what i'm looking for now is someone who has an FZ4000CTO with 8400M GT dedicated graphics and an ECO screen to give me their thoughts on battery life. i don't know how much better it will be if all you're changing is the screen brightness.

 

Gary, here is the link to the driver i downloaded and tried to install from the Sony Support website. My current driver version is 6.10.5511.0 so this is an updated driver. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNFZ290&upd_id=3225&os_id=28