Amazing Discover about Z2 900p screen

Hey all, I just had an amazing discovery that the Z2's 900p is the industry's best kept secret: always known for its brightness compared with it's FHD stablemate, but otherwise considered a second choice the 900p in the Z2 is clearly from a different vendor than the old one and it breaks all known records for contrast and black values, while retaining it's excellent color gamut and other virtues. This is the stuff of legendary screens, like the HP Radiance and the Dell RGBLED. Think twice before jumping on the 1080p simply because, well, "everyone knows 1080p is always "the best." There has to be a reason that the 900p has always been either the same price or a nominal $100 more, given that it is HD+ only. the FHD screen is awesome, and if resolution trumps image quality for you, you can't go wrong with it. But if you want to see the best LCD notebook screen ever made, check out the Z2's 900p screen before you decide - preferably side by side with the 1080p screen.

Check out this review, note its specs if you know their significance. There's more to a great screen experience than pixels alone!

Review Sony Vaio VPC-Z21Q9E/B Subnotebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

PS: I wrote lengthy reviews of this in a different forum and edited them away because they were absurdly long posts. I will soon find a place to deposit them and will provide links for any interested in the (I admit, rather excruciating length) original research. Or PM me if you want a copy.

 

I'm glad you are finally starting appreciate the superiority of the Z2.

 

You would too, if you ever decided to get one

I decided to give my wife my Z1 so that when I need its versatility, I can let her use the Z2.

But this thread is about the Z2's new, amazing 900p screen and it's heretofore undiscovered greatness. So ignore what I've just written and let's talk about this screen!

 

Just curious, have the results from notebookcheck review for the Z2 900p screen been confirmed by other reviews? Are there reliable values available for the Z2 1080p screen in comparison to the Z1 1080p screen?

 

Ahhh, Grasshopper. You have much to learn. Including the perils of certainty in the absence of knowledge.

 

That's an excellent question and the answer, I've afraid, is no. The only testing operations I know of that do extensive testing with lab-quality instrumentation are Notebookcheck.net (or .com if you speak German, it's native tongue!) and anandtech.com. The former has done 3 extensive reviews of Z1 models, 2 with the 900p screen, 1 with the 1080p screen. The first review, of a Z11 with a 900p screen, used a prototype, which explains the relatively poorer performance. Use the Z12 (900p) review and the Z13 (1080p review). Yesterday I wrote in to Notebookcheck and explained this phenomenon and asked that they perform a comparative review of the Z2 with a 1080p and a 900p, or at least, review the Z2 with a 1080p. They are usually quite responsive. I also asked them why, in view of the off-the-charts measurements of the Z2 900p screen, their overall comments were a bit like "damn with feint praise."

Andantech does even more extensive testing - especially of displays - but they have yet to review any Sony Z product. I've also written to them to request that they do so.

This thing has grabbed my attention and I tend to be, well, perservering I will keep all posted.

At a minimum, I will find a way to have a Z2 1080p and a Z2 900p side by side and do an "eyeball" review.

 

Perils?

One can learn a good deal, oh master, by making statements in order to elicit responses which clarify an open question - or not.

 

Defintely not.

 

I happen to be German and in the forum thread for the review they stated they would most likely not get another Z21 for testing. Shame really and quite astounding that no other review site seems to do proper display testing...

 

Thank you very much for making me aware of this forum thread. I don't think it is accessible from the English speaking version, notebookcheck.net. I wrote a post about the observations I have recently made and posted in this thread and translated them to German and they are now officially part of the thread related to their review of the Sony Z21 with 900p screen. http://www.notebookchat.com/index.php/topic,32287.15.html I asked that they review their findings about the screen and, if confirmed, that they undertake to test the Z2's 1080p screen, and do a piece comparing the two. I asked, in absence of that, that they review the results of the 900p screen and revisit their assertion that it is "good" and that the 1080p panel is the "elite" choice, further asking them how, with the measurements they recorded for the 900p, it was not pronounced the finest notebook LCD they have ever tested, since overall the measurements put it ahead of EVERY other report they have made, including the very best screens from Dell, HP (Workstation) and Apple MBPs.

I'd be grateful if you could follow it up in Deutch and let me know what is said and if a responsive post by me is called for.

This is fun! Thanks again.

 

Just a wild guess, but are you actually the alter-ego for beaups, our resident Sony expert?

Otherwise, be content to dwell in that high place of omniscience and occasionaly come off your perch and bestow more than just wry humor and "wisdom," (both of which are entertaining, rest assured) but occasionally relay some factual information about what you know and how you know it. It took beaups a while to establish his credibility as a "Sony source without attribution," but I'm afraid you have no such claim to fame.

Respectfully Submitted

 

So many assumptions you make. One of which is the notion that I have the slightest interest in establishing "credibility." In that I am not involved with politics, real estate, financial instruments or other confidence games, the matter doesn't interest me.

 

I hear you. But if this is the case, would you please go back to just being very funny? These half-hearted "advice" posts you make, [without] "the slightest interest in establishing credibility" (and often don't)* are confusing at the least, frustrating to "some," who are somewhat passionate in the hypotheses they bring to the forum. Plus, when you are funny, you are very, very funny.

*yet, not by coincidence, sometimes they are credible and useful, but there is no greater deception than random deception, occasionally peppered with credible, even useful responses.

 

I have owned both the 900 and 1080p variants of the Z2. I found the 1080p more creamy. The 900p had more grainy/screen door affect.

Just my observations though.

(not owned or tested side by side)

 

Yes, I know what you mean, but I only detect this in 1080p video, mostly only with faces and up very close. If the Z2's 900p screen turns out to be the same as the the Z1s, I will definitely get the FHD for my Z2, but if NBC's measurements are correct, and it really is a new screen with such awesome features, I can live with a tiny bit of that, the few times I actually watch 1080p video. I find the FHD screen to be dark and a bit reflective if there is any direct light nearby.

This weekend I will get one a Z2 900p and put it next to my Z1 900p and report in.

 

Make sure you turn intels display power management on and off. That makes a difference on the Z2.

 

Sorry Maven, I don't follow. Can you be more specific?

 

right-click on your desktop. select "Graphics Properties..." (the one for the Intel IGP). (i'm using the Advanced mode.) select "Power" from the tabs on the left and change "Power Source" to "On battery". uncheck "Display Power Saving Technology". it really messes up the colors on VAIO SA's display.

( i hope that's what he meant in his post ;-) )

 

Funny, I've been using Intel's Graphics Control Panel for years and never noticed the power profiles. When you suggest changing power source to battery, I assume you mean only when you are running on battery, am I correct? And when you suggest to uncheck Display power saving technology, is that for whether plugged in or not? Does the Windows 7 power setting affect these as well, or do they operate independently? Will I save battery life by selecting "on battery" when off-AC, or is this just about colors?

Are there any similar controls in the nVidia control panel that should be used? My only problem with it is that it oversaturates color, especially reds.

 

^
(1) no, what i meant was that there is a variable called "Power Source" in the Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel that can take two values: "Plugged in" or "On battery". you should select "On battery".
(2) the option to disable Intel's Display Power Saving Technology only appears when you change "Power Source" to "On battery" (see (1) above).
(3) i really don't know if this option in any way affects Windows 7's power settings or not.
(4) i believe it's meant to increase the battery life by changing the brightness and contrast of the display on the fly, but seriously if i have an amazing LCD like that of VAIO Z, i don't want some clueless engineer at Intel to mess with my color profiles! ;-)
(5) i have never used an nVidia GPU before, so i'm afraid i can't be of any help here.

what it does becomes especially nerve-wracking when you're watching a movie with scenes changing between dark and bright; it does this to your pictures.

 

Ok, got it. I never noticed any problems before, but I'll try it and see what, if anything changes. I never got the color changes in the link you posted. Also, I find that every time I re-boot, or just re-load the Intel IGP CP, it resets to plugged in (if I have it plugged in) and the box is re-checked. Know of any way to keep it from doing this?

Do you not have the nVidia gpu on your z? I thought they all did.

 

a semi-workaround is to run msconfig.exe, and from the Startup tab, disable the Intel Common User Interface entries (igfxtray.exe and igfxpers.exe) -- i also disable hkcmd.exe as i don't like unnecessary programs running in the background. this prevents the change you've mentioned above from happening on a reboot. but yes, if you load Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel, i guess it'll revert back to its defaults.

i have a VAIO SA, but a Z. mine is a Radeon HD 6630m. i'm just reading this thread because of Z's display!

 

I tried all of these approaches but didn't really see a difference in the image quality.

So, have a little Z envy? I know of one for sale. (Forget the gaming, though)

 

haha, no, i love my SA, and even its display does not bother me at all. it's just that Z has a better display. the SA has everything i need in a laptop.

 

It's a great laptop (the SA). Has everything I love about the Z1 that was left out of the Z2 except 2X faster. I'm sure once i got used to the SA screen I wouldn't miss the Z - well, maybe not for while, lol!

 

So Lovelaptops, what ever became of the side by side comparisons? I have been thinking about going back to a 1600x900 purely for gaming and surfung reasons. I find video watching only about 15% of my usage.

From what I remember, the colors were the same, only a mild screen door effect. I do remember being able to use it for longer periods of time without resting my eyes.

1080p is awesome, no doubt about it. However, having to scale every darn game out of native resolution is the pits.