Feedback from current Z-series owners, please

Hi there!

The moment I saw the VAIO Z-series, I stopped looking at any other laptop! I am a web-application developer / designer, and I would just like some feedback from current Z-series owners regarding the following:

• Battery Life
• Heat buildup
• Full HD 1920x1080 on a 13-inch screen - Have you gotten used to it

I am considering the following: http://www.sony.co.za/product/vpcz129gg

I would also appreciate your general feedback on this laptop - What you love about it / What you were disappointed about. I am itching to order this, but will await your feedback. my deepest thanks!!!

 

Battery life is pretty great considering the ultra low weight; about 3-4 hours of wireless productivity with standard battery (on Windows XP).

Heat and noise are extremely well taken care of, superb job here for a 3 lb package packing this much power. No complaints here.

1920x1080 screen is unlikely to give you more screen real estate unless you have really hawk eyes and sit very close. At 100% scaling the fonts will be kinda smallish. But it's still nice and you will get better font quality with 120% scaling or so.

Overall, I am really happy with my Z122GX/B. My main problem is that I have to run Windows on it, but that's not the notebook's fault.

 

Hi mate..

Just like me..when I see this laptop, I was fall in love with it. And now , I have it. I'm feel great.

I just bought Z series yesterday. Yeah, it's still earlier but I want give my experience with this beautiful laptop. My Z just has Intel Core i5, 128 GB SSD, and resolution is 1600 x 900 but it just enough to works faster.

I really love this laptop. It's amazing fast and the resolution is great. The color is great with 1600x900 resolution and when I play video, the video is looking nice and great with helps from GeForce GT 330M and it is smooth.

Believe me, this laptop is truly amazing. I'm just disspointed with only speaker. The sound is better than my HP but its speaker is not so louder. For me, when I set 75% speaker it actually equally to 35% of my HP eventhough its produce a quality sound.

For me, that's small matter because I can use external speaker. It's really light and I love to touch it. The fan is quiet for me and the heat produced is not too hot while the chassis is still cool. That's great. But, it will depends on the works that you do.

Overall, I love this amazing laptop. My Z is manufactured at Japan. This is just my humble experince and opinion. And sorry, my English is not good enough.

Hope it helps you.

 

Battery life: 4-5 hours on stamina, 1 hour on speed, go figure. But it depends what you do, some people have reported 5-6 hours on stamina, but they had the brightness down to like 10%, wifi off, and they were word processing(if it matters to you that much, you can order the extended battery, a 9-cell, and it's got 50% more charge than the 6-cell)

Heat buildup/management: This is GREAT! I game on my Z and temps in the CPU: 93+, GPU: 90+... yet after a session of gaming, the bottom remains fairly cool to the touch except right by the fan where all the air is coming out. BUT, this is a notebook, not a laptop, by placing it in your lap, you block a few air vents and then it might start to heat up.

1080p: unfortunately i havent got the 1080p screen, but here's a few trade-offs:
- higher chance of dead pixels (you do have 20% more pixels)
- higher battery consumption
- more taxing on your video cards
- the screen gets less bright (you're pushing the same amount of light through more pixels)

but... you get a FULL HD screen in a 13" chassis, 20% more workspace, and a very stunning image reproducing screen. (although the viewing angles are kinda slim which is also true for the 1600x900) And dont forget about the bragging rights.

General faults of the Z: wont do my homework for me =(, Video drivers are a sony specific solution so they take a while to get updated if ever(we are finally getting a video driver update to coincide with the "refresh" of the Z12 to Z13 very soon), backlit keyboard can't be manually controlled(it's controlled by ambient light sensor, so only way to turn it on, is to place something over it), On the models with the gray palmrest, there's a chance it could fade form use (mine did after 2 months, but i game A LOT and i've got sweaty palms), but it can be remedied by using a clear protector type material. NO usb 3.0, video card could be stronger, CANT output from HDMI and VGA at same time, speakers are short of pathetic(but you do get a free pair of noise-cancelling earbuds, at least in the US, but you should too).

Other than that, this is short of a miracle that Sony managed to pack a full-powered processor, multiple SSD's, dedicated video(although the integrated is now on the processor chip thanks to Intel =D), optical drive and full HD screen into a chassis =< 1.3" and weighing in at 3.1 lbs!

 

just bought my Z yesterday and I love it. Can someone tell me if the SSDs are set up to do garbage control yet or do I have to upgrade firmware?

 

There is a sony, behind-the-scenes (OS-independent) garbage collection utility that does it for you. In any case, there's no garbage collection for SSD's in RAID0 anyways(ie. if you had 2 intel SSD's in RAID0). If you don't believe me, read this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...g-term-ssd-performance-post-your-results.html

 

WOAH! Thanks guys for your really great inputs! @shurcooL & @Achusaysblessyou - thanks for the very comprehensive responses...you've both given me quite a lot of food-for-thought with regards to the Full HD screen. I work in The GIMP and InkScape quite a bit - larger screen resolution sounds great, but on 13.1 inches may be a battle more than a blessing.

This was a nail-biter of a decision between this and a similarly-spec'd (and priced) Macbook Pro 15, but ultimately I'm going with the VAIO.

On a final note, I'm not too au fait with SSD and RAID - how would I go about creating a dual-boot between Windows 7 and Ubuntu?

 

Also, I don't think I'm going to get a noticeable performance boost by going with the Core-i7 for what I intend to do (The GIMP, InkScape, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Web Matrix), so I'm going to settle on the Core i5-540M.

 

Yeah, the i5's are still very capable processors, i personally, the only reason i really went with the i7 was for bragging rights =D. I will probably NEVER notice the difference, but hey, I spent so much anyways, why not get the "best" (which isnt anymore because of the i7-640m)

 

great to hear!

Are you referring to the Black palm rest or Silver palm rest? Forgive me, but gray seems somewhere in the middle, and Sony only makes mention of Black/Silver.

 

haha it's the palmrest on the Black/Carbon Fiber models, the inside chassis/keyboard is gray*

 

just bought my vaio z. but the video drivers have crashed a few times since i bought it. It says nvidia drivers have stopped responding but have recovered. any fix?

 

I assume u were watching 1080p Youtube Videos? it's been a known problem that's plagued the Z, we're all waiting for the "official" drivers from Sony to come out that'll hopefully fix the problem, if not, Beaups has found some beta drivers in this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/518843-beta-graphics-drivers-vpc-z.html

you can install those, but the new drivers should be coming out with the VPCZ13, which should be out within a week or so(in the US at least)

 

Nautis also is making custom packages for the 260.63 and 260.61 series which work well but if you have a 64-bit OS, require you to follow the instructions for enabling "test mode" and signing the drivers with the DSEO tool: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/342947-my-discoveries-vaio-z-s-hybrid-graphics.html

 

@Achusaysblessyou - thanks!

 

One minor gripe I just remembered: On the Z11/12/13 series, there is no way to control the brightness of the keyboard backlight.

This is a huge inconvenience for me, because in complete darkness (the only time I actually need keyboard backlighting), the keyboard backlight is TOO bright and distracting, making me turn it off and simply touch type. >_>

Another con is that it's very very hard to install Linux on this machine and have it work flawlessly. I can't even get proper video output without hacking the BIOS. It was much easier to install Ubuntu on my previous laptops.

 

I have the Z128GG with full HD screen, 256Gb (64 x 4) SSD and 8Gb RAM / i7 processor.

My comments are below:
Positive
Extremely light compared to other 13" notebooks which is why I purchased it.

You don't really notice the 13.1" (cf 13.3" screen) difference in size

Text on the full HD screen takes a bit of getting used to and I initially scaled to 125%. I have good eyesight and except for some .pdf documents now use MS Office and IE at native resolution and scaling. The colours and vibrant, text is clear.

Oooo... the colours on the notebook are stunning. Fantasic for photowork (along with the specificiations) and makes my workflow in Lightroom 3 a pleasure.

The notebook is fast. I think people who are enabling write-back cache for increase in small file writespeed are running the risk of corrupting their drives as the only time you'd really notice is when installing programs. How often does that happen once you've had your notebook configured the way you like it? Fastest AND lightest AND best screen on the 13" notebook market. Period.

Near comparison is the Macbook 15" fully specc'ed with SSD drive which is also very expensive and heavier.

Runs games just fine. I run Dragon Age Origins at native resolution without difficulty and it's nice and smooth. The fan speed kicks up but the notebook remains cool.

Keyboards one of the best on the market. Lovely feedback, backlit and well spaced chiclet keys.

Negatives
Cost. It's expensive. And refreshed every 3 months meaning you'll have to satisfy yourself there's better shortly. But what you have is good for a very long time.

It's more fragile than my Latitude e6400. The lack of a magnesium alloy (heavier than carbon fibre composite) means it just does not feel as sturdy. Despite the published drop tests, I would hesitate to drop the notebook.

Screen brightness even on max with auto-adjust 'off' is not as bright as the Dell e6400 LED 1600x900 screen. I prefer the Dell for typing outdoors The matte finish on the Sony is a bit like the 'invisible shield orange peel, slightly mottled' coating.

Screen reportedy prone to smudges, marks (and probably scratches) if not looked after. I use the included cloth to cover the keyboard before closing. The screen is designed to flex without cracking.

Whilst I throw my Dell in my briefcase without a thought of a protective sleeve, I'm waiting on the mach 3 composite hard case and have the Sony CKZ2 leather and SF sleeve for the Sony.

No USB 3.0 or eSATA or fast charging. I'll be controversial and say some of the features on this notebook need updating (next remake perhaps Q1 2011) and make it more prosumer/enthusiast than purely business. Those business types perhaps are more likely to purchase the Lenovo T400, X201, Dell e6400 etc...

Battery-life. Using the processor kills the battery. Light word processing, surfing the net, powerpoint, reading pdf after the system has stabilised after bootup yields usage of 12-14W which means about 5 hours or so on standard battery. Realistically though if you do use the processor power intermittently you'll expect 4-5h. 50% more with the extended battery, which I have.

Screen brightness only adds 1W or so to battery usage, not that big an issue really. I use the brightness at my comfort level (about halfway)

Slow charging times. I can plug my Dell in for an hour and have it ready to go again for several more hours. Can't do that with my Sony. Battery wear? If I've paid for a Vaio Z I can buy a new battery in 2-3 years no rather than fuss over battery care.

Reported hinge issues. Mine is too new to notice. But the screws are hard to access and they really should have used locktite on them during assembly if the reports on the loose plastic covering is common.

Hard to open to clean. Fragile components if you do.

Plastic palmrest paint prone to fading. And it's plastic!

No trackpoint. But fantastic synaptics touchpad makes up for it.

Bloatware, video driver issues as above. I don't mind the bloatware much. I did deactivate the Vaio taskbar up the top though. Adobe Elements 8 is a bonus and nice. But Adobe Elements 9 is now released and they don't give you the installation / recovery options to reinstall it if you need to!!!

 

AGREED! And this: two-finger-scroll - Project Hosting on Google Code makes it even better!

 

Question. My old Dell M1330 has a remote to control media playback. Does the Vaio have something similar?

About the palmrest paint being prone to fading, is it not the case for the other colors? I thought the palm rest is made of aluminum, not plastic? I like the aluminum palm rest on my M1330 (I think it's aluminum, right?)

 

I agree with just about everything tanalasa said.

One clarification though, the palmrest is carbon-fiber reinforced plastic--which is often simply referred to as "carbon-fiber". The lid of the Vaio is made of the same material. (The difference between the black/silver and the premium carbon fiber option is that the latter uses long strands of carbon fiber rather than milled fiber (essentially carbon fiber powder mixed with a plastic resin). Drvec posted a lengthy explanation of carbon fiber in the Sony Vaio Z 15/17 Official Owner's Thread. He also provided the following link: Zoltek: Products - PANEX 35 :: Carbon Fiber Manufacturer/Companies, Aerospace Composites, Carbon Fiber Uses and Applications, Carbon Fiber and Alternative Energy, Investing in Wind Power, Carbon Fiber, Alternative Energy

I think that the pros far outweigh the cons. My previous laptops were Toshiba Porteges. They were cased in magnesium, thinner (.8'-.9'), just as light (even lighter, in fact), and surprisingly tough. The latest iteration--the Portege R700--looks like another winner. I decided to go with the Vaio because I think that it is, on the whole, a better laptop--SSD drives, better keyboard, better screen and graphics, quieter fan....

I don't regret the decision. (Then again, I haven't dropped my Vaio yet. I dropped my last portege three times, with no ill effects.)

 

1) I'm sure I'm misinterpreting this, but it sounds like you've been seriously contemplating dropping it to test the claims

2) I have the firewire option but also wish it has eSata built in. I have the latter via expresscard so it's not so bad. If there's a built-in eSata port, I hope it's bootable too.

Some say that it's not aluminum because in certain countries they use Felica, the chip for which is placed below the palm rest and hence the chip won't work if the palm rest is metal.

 

I think the palmrest isn't aluminum because its uncomfortable (always hot or cold) and many people are allergic. The plastic is comfortable, but perhaps doesn't wear well. I'd like to see leather or something soft.

 

High five! I couldn't live without that handy tool and its amazing two-finger scrolling.

I only wish they'd update it and add an option for scrolling momentum.

 

How is this different than the two finger scrolling in the recent synaptics drivers?

 

Hmm I wouldnt know since i havent tried the synaptics =). But if you wouldnt mind trying and posting a comparison for us, we'd all be grateful =D

 

It's smooth. Moving your fingers by a millimeter will scroll by a few pixels, not 3-5 lines of text.

The last time I tried Synaptic's two-finger scrolling, it simply replicated the mouse wheel and it was not smooth.

 

I'm debating between the metal mozaic and the carbon fiber color. Is the former really made of something metal? Does it make the mtal mozaic more durable than the carbon fiber?

 

i downloaded the two-touch scroll, but when i launch the .exe file, it gives Class ID error

 

maybe try an older version? I don't know what would give that error. Version 1.0.6 works on my Z... anyone else got an opinion on this?

 

ooohhhh, the synaptics one is kind of crappy. gonna check this out!

 

You need Synaptics drivers installed for the two-finger-scroll application to work.

 

Hi guys! Thanks to everyone that pitched in and gave your feedback! @tanalasta - very comprehensive! Thank u!