Early Z11 series - any reason to stay away?

Hi, some of the earlier Z series models (Z11) are being sold in attractive prices, I'm thinking about it but then saw this,
Sony VAIO Z series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Z11 - 2010 post-CES model. Core i5 and i7 CPU options. SSD-only. Nvidia GT330m GPU.
Z12 - September 2010, updated graphics, updated iXXX series CPUs
Z13 - October 2010, added i7-640M CPU, TPM options.

I'm a bit worried to get a "post CES model". Does it have any notorious hardware issues? (e.g. graphics problems, power mgmt etc). I saw somewhere that the Z12 and later have 1080p capability and the Z11 doesn't. Is this true?
how about other limits? from the forum I most usefully was able to reassure myself that the Z11 can also take a regular SSD for the OS in case the orig one needs replacing (and not some super expensive custom one).

Any advice appreciated... what I'm looking for is a 3lbs SSD 13" notebook that has 6500+ 3Dmark06 for less than $1500, I don't really need the optical drive. I looked into the new S series (with the upscale graphics options) but they seem to be heavier than the Z. Thanks

PS no I don't want it to play crysis on it, I know for that it would need like double the oomph I wrote...

 

I have a Z11, I purchased it before it even came out.
I haven't had any problems that the 12 and 13 don't have.
Loose hinge (can be retightened easily)
And the palmrest wears.

and YES of course it does 1080p.
Would you mind pm'ing me where you can buy them cheap I have a friend who could use one.
Thanks

 

When I say it does 1080p it plays back 1080p but the resultion is maxed at 1600x900. Sorry if I confused you.

 

The 1080p screen option was introduced later in the USA, but in Europe (and probably everywhere except North America) it was available since the beginning, i.e. in the Z11, too.

IIRC in the USA there are/were no HDD VPC-Z models available. In Europe there are models that come with standard 2.5" HDD instead of the optical drive.

If you buy an SSD model with optical drive and still want to put a 2.5" SSD in it, you'll have to remove the ODD and put the SSD there. There are some guides here in the forum. But there were some problems reported by members, who had installed a 2.5" HDD/SSD along with the quad-SSDs (dual and triple SSDs were ok). Also, IIRC, there was someone, who managed to replace the custom SSDs with a stripped down 1.8" SSD (there was a thread about this, as well).

From your post, it seems to me that the HDD version of the Z would be the best option for you (unless you like modding very much). Don't know whether you can find one of those.

 

"post-CES" model just means that it's the first "model" to come out after CES. In essence, all three iterations of the Z are the same. Same GPU, pretty much the same CPU. As for the 1080p capability (at least here in the US) the only way to get the 1080p screen was to order the Signature Z series which was $4.5k. However, like mfpreach points out, it can output at 1080p no problem(i do it all the time). Starting with the Z12, the CTO here in the US got the 1080p option and the Z13 got updated processors.

There is not really a difference between the three models. they're just simple revisions.

 

I personally would not want the 1080 screen anyways. (Not saying this just because I have a Z11).
It is way too small on a 13" display, major eye strain and increasing dpi makes it look awkward.
Just my .02

 

No, there is no reason to stray away from the Z11s. Even though the current Z13 features the 640-M CPU it doesn't really exhibit great advantages over the CPUs in the Z11.

If you're a gamer, the 330M will bottleneck almost any modern CPU, even the low end i3's.

If you're a user with some needs in CPU power (movie editing, frequent file transfers), the CPUs in the Z11 won't disappoint either.

Anything that's a VPC-Z is top notch by today's standards. (Not to say the VGN-Z is bad though)

 

I feel no difference between my Z117GG and Z138GG.

 

Thanks for all the replies...! fantastic response. Just to make sure I understand, "the 330m Will bottleneck almost any modern CPU" you mean the 330 is not good enough for gaming? I'm not a gamer, but might want to run a flight simulator or two. Other than that mainly for video editing and such. For that I think 330m is okay.

By the way, all these replacement SSD options are also to boot from, right? not just as additional storage? just worried that in case of some breakdown I could always cheaply replace the main drive with an SSD.

 

The 330M is certainly capable of running flight simulators, even a macbook air can do that. Video editing and other less demanding stuff run flawlessly too. I don't think you'll see the difference between a Z11 and Z13 as there are only minor differences between the CPUs.

 

anything that can be done about the faded palmrest?

 

No, just live with it, I don't think it looks that bad it gives your computer that unique feel.

You can cover it with an invisibleshield , I tried to do that initially but I thought it looked worse and took it off.

 

Palmrest fading depends on your use of the Z, I got my Z11 since over one year now and use it every days, no fading for mine.

BTW palmrest fading isn't really an issue, it happens on a lot of laptop with painted plastic palmrest after a while. Early palmrest fading is the issue and it's not that common...

 

Could you let us know where you are finding them for a good price? I've been looking for ages and haven't found one less than $1600.

 

As far as I know, Z12 has the same graphics and CPU options as Z11. Z13 uses slightly updated i3/i5/i7 CPUs, and same graphics.

Am I wrong?

 

All VPCZ use the same graphics.

 

Here is mine:

 

Gotta get that silver spray paint

 

actually, it might even be faster, given the same configuration for configuration basis for cpu etc. because the z11's had their 330m's stock clock speed higher than that of the newer z's (sony downclocked them because of faster cpu's availability?)
im not really sure if the SSD's are different. but i own a z13 (us) and i think i have toshiba chips instead of samsung (offered in x2 raid-0 and not x4 raid-0)

 

Prevent palmrest deterioration: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/559950-vpc-z-invisible-shield-protection.html

 

^That only applies to people who haven't had their palmrest weared out yet. I'm quite shocked how you wore out your palmrest though mfpreach. Here are my ideas:

1. Wear out the whole palmrest
2. Spray paint your palmrest
3. Stick something over it to make it unnoticable

Options 2 and 3 sound more feasible but i'm not the first person who suggested option 1

 

Its not as bad as it looks in the picture, I can live with it. It gives it personality.
As I said before, I put on an invisible shield but it looked stupid around the edges and where the palmrest was.

The sweat from my palms must be acidic.

 

Well too right mate, it's better to live with it than to think about it every day, keeping you away from unneeded stress

 

I have a Z11, its going strong, feels faster than the 2011 13" MBP when doing certain tasks.

No reason why you should avoid it considering you can get one at attractive price.

 

Embarrasing but I can't seem to IM people here, how is it done?

 

imo I don't think there is anything wrong with Z11. I own one for less than a year now and it's the best Z and best laptop I've owned.

 

i am on the fence regarding purchasing a 2nd hand z115, the only thing holding me back is windows 7 sp1 support and conflicting drivers for the intel integrated graphics. are any z11 owners able to install sp1 from windows update safely and still stable using the graphics drivers released by sony? thanks

 

Also on the fence. I'm just worried there will be a new model in two months time that's half as thick cheaper with better graphics. In the last year or so it didn't look like it's going to happen any time soon, but now some models are getting close, like the Toshiba Portege R835-P56X (4500 3dmark06 $850+$200 for SSD).

 

I have updated to SP1 and no conflicts with the 'Dynamic Hybrid Graphics system'

 

There is a world of difference between the Z11 and the Portege R835. This is about way more than parts, synthetic benchmarks and weight. Screen, screen, screen! still better graphics/switchable, Raid 0 SSD, much better plus back lit keyboard, probably a few more specifics, but then there is that je ne sais qua about a Z vs. a Toshiba. Think Audi vs. Toyota.

BTW, I got a Z112GX refurb 2 months ago and it is purrrrfect! I chose it over the MBA, MBP 13, Envy 14/Radiance and a new Z13 (had each for a month with a few overlapping; have a BB "Silver Reward" membership and get 45 days to return, no restocking fee) and have never felt better about a decision. I have zero doubt this machine will be powerful enough for me as a second/travel machine for at least 2 more years, though I am not a major gamer or a "power user." I just don't like to wait, at all, and this thing is fast! Back to a used/refurb Z11 vs. a new Z13: no discernible difference at all and my Z looks, feels and performs (benchmarks and "snappy feel") as if it was brand new. Word to wise on palmrest fade: get the silver one - no fade ever reported.

Same here. just let W-Update do its thing and everything came out fine.

 

after hearing people that it's sp1-safe, today i took the big plunge and got a 95% new z115 (hard disk version) with almost 1yr sony warranty left, for about 1150USD

despite the price tag, and the slight difficulty in arranging the funds in such a short period of time, i am still somewhat excited about the machine, hopefully it will serve me well

 

Congratulations on your purchase!
I am sure you will enjoy your new toy

 

currently recovering to factory default and uninstalling bloatware and doing a test run on sp1 updates, noticed the following issues, maybe someone can enlighten me on this:

- when holding the laptop with my hands (not resting on the desk), is it just me of does the battery seem to be rattling a bit even if its "locked" in?

- screen brightness adjustment with the fn+function keys. is it just me or the brightness adjust doesnt seem to be too responsive which each button press? i noticed it says (auto)....does that have anything to do with it (maybe some ambient sensor)? is there a way for me to override any auto screen brightness setting and be able to adjust manually just like most other laptops?

ADD:
also, i know that im running on HDD and not SSD so i am not expecting lightning fast performance, but dang recovery takes forever, and uninstalling the pre-installed office components take forever (uninstalling office was fine, but uninstalling business contact manager is dead slow)......is there a way to tell recovery to not install the bloatware when restoring the hard disk?

 

The battery does move a little bit when you grab the laptop by the battery but it is perfectly normal. There are 2 slots that stick out and prevent the battery from sliding out, so no worries on that.

You can override the auto brightness setting by going into VAIO control center>Automatic brightness setting and uncheck the box that says use automatic brightness.

 

Congratulations! Sounds like good deal, even if it is the HD version. You can swap that for an SSD for as little as $200 USD if the speed bothers you. As far as bloatware, unfortunately you can't do a "restore" without getting the bloatware. You have to do a clean install of Windows 7 to start fresh and just add the programs and drivers you want. I'm pretty sure there is a thread here with instructions.

Just curious, but where did you locate this machine? They are hard to find used/refurbed except from Sony, who prices them quite high.

EDIT: As for the battery wobble, a lot of people get that. I think it varies a bit from unit to unit (mine gets it a bit, but not enough for me to do anything, and I'm pretty picky about such things), battery to battery, but sad to say for a $2,000+ computer, many put a small paper "shim" in with the battery to make it completely tight. Be careful not to put it under too much pressure though.

Best of luck.

 

speed doesnt bother me, in fact i kinda wanna stay away from ssd versions of vaio z because of the raid setup; raid0 on a ssd sounds too risky to me if there is hardware failure and all my files will be unrecoverable. if a HDD fails there is still a chance for data recovery.

im a canadian who happens to be taking a long vacation from work in hong kong, which is where i am located right now. i was intrigued by the Z135 displayed in stores (z135 is the HDD variant) because as you know only ssd models are available in north america. that was early feb2011. when i decided to actually go buy one. sony style decided to take down all stock for the Z135, and other retailers also followed suit. so i guessed fate doesnt want me to get this laptop, so i moved on.....until last night i was way too bored and searched hong kong's local yahoo auction listings for any vaio-z, and found this z115 for the mentioned price. he has all the boxes and original invoice from a major hk retailer and dated march2011 so warranty should last until march2012. the catch is, i believe the warranty might be local only (i have to check with sony style) but personally as long as the machine works fine thats all i care, and if anything happens i can still get it fixed while its under local warranty (i still have a month left before returning to canada)....thats why i am doing tests now first before comitting to it (as in transferring data over).

my guess is.....this guy (seller) has connections with major retailers in hk and is able to purchase final stocks through the backdoor, and resells it.....hence the recently dated retailer invoice. so at any rate its a private sale so to speak and i do not believe the guy ships outside hong kong either. heck the dude's even got c2d vaio-z available for sale....not sure how the warranty fares though

ADD:
not necessarily a disappointment literally, but dang i am "disappointed" by the amount of bloatware sony puts in this thing....and i thought acer was bad already in terms of bloatware (i have been a timeline fan) but i have to say sony is worse in this case. oh well, nothing patience cant solve

 

I don't know if the fact it is a HK version is the reason you have a lot of bloatware, but my Z11 didn't have that much bloatware, just had to uninstall a few programs.

 

I just realized, that(HK) version has a black lid behind the screen...That's kind of a nice touch, when comparing to my vpcz1190x which is silver on the lid.

 

has a bunch of office 2007 stuff, more than acer's office stuff
has adobe photoshop and premiere elements
has evernote, norton, macafee
has way too much of sony multimedia stuff and movie maker stuff, also took off vaio gate and utlities that i wont use

all of which i uninstalled, in my opinion it takes longer to remove all the crap on sony than on acer

and then vaio update takes forever, maybe the sony server is slower than say microsoft's windows update

 

ugh....i think i see a dead pixel, just one though and its so damn small on the 1600x900 screen i thought it was dust all along......will sony fix that under warranty?

also, will uninstalling sony entertainment platform affect performance or other programs and utilities? i kinda want to remove all sony programs except system-related utilities

 

You should try talking to Sony HK.
I have had an excellent experience with them.

 

AFAIK most companies have a dead pixel policy and it is usually more than just one, it usually has to be a number of them.

You tried unsticking it with software?

 

I have a very early Z11VN , it is the only Z not to support Windows 7 , and no matter how many ways I have tried I am unable to get the Win 7 BIOS upgrade and the NVidia chip to agree with each other....

So just don't buy an early one if you want Windows 7

 

He was asking only about the VPC-Z, not the VGN-Z (there were 5 generations of VGN-Z before the VPC-Z).

 

is there a way to remove that annoying "prepare your vaio" window every time you boot into windows? i have already uninstalled vaio transfer support but the window still shows up