Finally a real Vaio Z review

I will make new batery-life measurement this night. I think, it can run now for ~7-8 hours (no bloatware, power saver mode, disabled optical disk drive/firewire/modem/...).

My battery has 5400mAh:



build quality:





But I still have problems with cpu performance in speed mode. Can anyone make the Cinebench 9.5 tests on his Z11 in stamina and speed mode?

I think that my piece has some problems with temperatures...



(speed mode, power saver, idle) | (speed mode, hight performance, load - 3D mark 2006 = up to 93°C)

 

wow very impressive pictures!

I would be afraid to hold my expensive notebook like that in the 3rd picture

Can´t you ask someone at sony regarding the cpu performance in stamina/speed mode? Maybe it adjust more than the switching dedicated/integrated gpu or fixing the cpu multiplier.

Also i thought in stamina mode the nvidia gpu would be deactivated, so why does it still burn energy and heating 67°C?

 

The left-hand GPU-Z pic is still speed mode, it's just that it's in a power saving profile and isn't under load. In other words, 67°C is the idle temperature. Seems a little high to me, but then I don't know much about GPUs.

 

I would say that 67°C in idle mode is OK, but 93°C under load is already a bit dangerous...I still prefer Nvidia than ATI, so I hope that this is not caused by another bad Nvidia chipset...

 

It's not mine so that I don't care

 

ah ok
reading really helps

I for myself don´t mind a noisy fan, when in speed mode, but i DO mind a noisy fan when in stamina mode.

 

Even though youre proving the strength, this image still scares me

 

Hi guys,

After reading previous posts concerning GPU temperatures, two questions have arisen in my mind.

1. Which GPU is in charge of handling HDMI port? (Intel or NVIDIA)
2. Is it possible to use the HDMI port in stamina mode ?

It could be that, after all, nvidia GPU couldnt be switched off completely even in stamina mode.

 

AFAIK, you need to use Nvidia for HDMI (and hence Speed mode)...

 

Therefore, there's no reason for nvidia to remain ON in stamina mode, since HDMI is useless in that case.

Thanks.

 

....uh, sh*t .... I don't understand why they can't add $5 chip to enable handling digital output by both cards in notebook like this.

 

They probably thought the inly time you need yiur HDMI port is to watch a HD movie and so you would also need the nvidia card ...

I also don´t get it ... I want a laptop that has a digital output, so i can use a big monitor, but only for work/2D.

 

Hm, this helps with fan (running less time):



Btw GMA X4500 has no problems with playing HD movies. NVIDIA card is needed only in 3D/games.

 

How silent is it in that mode?

 

So the fan stops sometimes when your are in stamina mode and idling?
Too bad i wouldn´t use stamina mode because i need to use the HDMI port :/

 

Fan is turned off since I have chose this option (15 minutes). Btw my Z11 has noisy HDD, but it's not as bad as fan.

 

Toshiba 320GB?

 

PhilFlow: Yes.

Btw fan is still off. I will try speed mode....

 

oh great its noisy?

 

Relatively probably.

 

is there any harddrive sony ships with their laptops that aren't noisy?

i have yet to come across a silent HDD on a desktop nor a notebook, that comes stock with the computer.

 

Some of them will be noisy, some not. Too bad they picked the Toshiba for the Z as performance isn't top notch either.

When the noise is a clicking sound it's possible to make it silent.

 

I will go for the SSD option from P1...even if is not the fastest at least is going to be silent and cool. Is enough a loud fan.

 

You did read that the random write acces of the OCZ Core can be a whopping 246ms?
http://www.alternativerecursion.info/?p=106

 

Is this bad comparing to the 5400 rpm 320 GB HD? I am not such an expert on hard drives but I used for a while SSD drives and they were incredibly quite. That's why I am considering them again. Maybe later on I will put better performance Samsung SSD instead of the OCZ. In terms of noise the 7200 rpm will be more than the 5400 rpm right?

 

Apples MBP's HDD are really quiet. And since it has no indicator light, I don't even know if it's thinking most of the time lol.

 

Yes it's bad. When that happens the whole system freezes up. It does not happen to everyone though. OCZ Core v1 is one to avoid in my opinion. Too many problems. Read the reviews on Newegg for more info.

Not neccesarily. It depends on brand and type too.
Some examples: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15079/14

 

That why you should go for the OCZ Core V2 OR

because there is a option to use 2 SSD than you could theoretically use 2 of these

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/27/samsung-goes-after-low-cost-laptop-market-with-new-sata-ii-ssds/

Imagine 2 * 16GB SSD in RAID-0 ?

 

At what temp are you idling?

Can you try coretemp.

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

I have my Z in silent mode and it idles around 40 degrees. The fan will turn off below 40, but go back on above 45. So it goes silent but doesn't stay silent for long.

 

Is there a way to just control the fan manually? You can do it on a Mac. Or is it coded in the Bios on PCs?

 

Have you tried to play AVCHD footage on the GMA X4500? Preferably full HD (1900x1080P) @ 25P or 30P? Say with PowerDVD 8?

 

Try lowering the VCore with RMClock

 

exactly how bad is it? how often? any videos of this?

 

So at 48 degrees your fan is silent?

 

My Z has the Toshiba HDD and it doesn't strike me as noisy at all. I have to check the indicator light most of the time when I'm not sure if it's busy. I guess I got lucky... If it gets noisy over time that I'll be swapping it out with one of the new generation SSDs I think.

The fan gets a bit noisy when you're hammering the CPU (but not so much in 'silent mode' as I think it caps the multiplier). I ran Ortho to test my 9x clock initial undervolt and after a short while the fan was running fast and pumping out some real heat (although 11°C less than when I did the same with the stock voltage!). The noise wasn't too distracting IMHO, but I was surprised by the heat coming out of the left hand vent. I guess 25w TDP produces more heat than I'd imagined? By the way, I have the P9500.

OVerall, though, I'm very impressed with my Z so far. I love the screen and even the Vaio software seems quite useful in the most part - the wireless/network control tool is especially nice IMHO and reminds me of IBM's Thinkvantage Connection Manager on a Thinkpad.

I'm yet to decide whether to do a clean install. Firstly I'll just uninstall the trialware crud and then maybe apply Black Viper's services tweak list.

 

Can someone please give us full spec of Toshiba 320HDD (model number...). Also, is it smart to purchase/replace this HDD with Scorpio or Momentus? I'm not asking this for performance issue, but rather from heat/noise point of view.

BR
Miki

 

Toshiba MK3252GSX.

Not sure about whether it's smart to replace it. Mine isn't noisy.

 

Right. Maybe swarm's one was affected by the clicking noise?

 

Thanks mate. Good to hear it's quiet .

I was thinking if Scorpio or Momentus are running significantly cooler, than it might make sense to change is as for such a small housing you should always try to minimize (those you can !) various heat sources (GPU, processor, HDD).

Cheers,
Miki

 

A black scorpio or 7K320 will give a good performance increase though, but will also make more noise.

 

I agree. The Z is my first ultraportable and also the most powerful laptop (or indeed PC) that I've ever owned... and it certainly puts out a lot of heat when it's under stress.
However, I'm really impressed how the bottom of it remains cool. My Samsung got uncomfortably hot underneath and my Toshiba work laptop makes me sweat, even if it's not uncomfortable in its own right for short periods. However, my new Z just seems to chuck all of the heat out of the left hand side and the bottom remains quite cool. It's a great novelty to be able to use a laptop as a laptop (without a folder/tray/book/whatever underneath)!

 

, good thing those days are (hopefully) over. My current SZ71 generates pretty much heat underneath (though keyboard stays pretty cool/slighlty warm)

Phil, thanks for you input mate!

I'm aware that 7200rpm will do some performance increase, but my goal is to make as less heat as possible. I know there has been endless discussion on 5400 vs 7200 (performance/heat/noise) and that some 7200 HDD run even cooler than 5400, that's why I have asked if it would be smart to change Toshiba but unless some significant coolness I don't see point. My SZ has customized Mat****a (Panasonic) 200 GB 7200 HDD but it runs hot. Now, I know this is not latest and greatest in terms of techology, and as I don't play games (mainly Office applicaitons, spreadsheets, powerpoint, Outlook, PDFs) I wonder if Scorpio will give me significant increase (assuming it runs cooler than default Toshiba) as this is my priority.

BR
Miki

 

Yes, fan is off. But if I do anything (web browsing,...) else than writing in MS Word, fan is sometimes turned on.

PhilFlow: I don't hear any clicking noise. This HDD make similar noise as fan in my ThinkPad R61.

I made new battery test (Stamina mode, Power Saver, 30% LCD brightness, wifi off, "readers test"): 5 hours and 55 minutes. It's funny that battery shows remaining time 10 hours with 95% capacity. Maybe I have a bad battery in this Z11.

 

WD3200BEVT (Scorpio Blue) runs notoriously hot. I think it will be safe to assume the Toshiba will be cooler.

I don't have any data on heat, but power consumption is often an indicator of heat:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...er-consumption,684.html?p=,,,,,1891,1872,2037

 

Wow, thanks Phil for the link, really useful, as there are many models and many comparison charts to choose from. Way to go!

BR
Miki

 

I wonder if there is any difference in fans that might account for the various noise levels reported. Perhaps there are different fan models in different markets (US, Europe, Asia) or perhaps the P9500 has a better fan than lesser CPU's (akin to the way the 2.8 GHz T9600 has improved cooling in Japan). Or maybe Sony just has multiple suppliers for the fans with the same cooling specs, but different noise specs.

Could Z owners post the make/model of your fan, if you are up to popping the case open? (Just be careful.) This might also tell us if it is possible to replace the fan with a similar, but quieter model.

 

Yes that was what I thought too, I would spend 10$ to 20$ for a less noisy fan...

 

i wait the z series for a long time..

But the main point is . the 9300gs graphic card can run the 3d game how well???

i saw from other forum ,someones said that the 9300gs is worse than 8400 gs...

can Z"s graphic card run the game【E.G FIFA 08,WARCRAFT III】 by show the good performance??

This is the mean problem..becasuse i have narrow down to buy neithing asus g50 or Z~~

 

I suspect the 'differences in fan noise' between all these anecdotal reports are just subjective analysis of the same fan sounds. I personally think the Z fan is quite quiet, but it's a lot more noisy than my (purpose built to be silent) desktop machine... so if someone was expecting absolute silence, it would seem noisy to them. I just know that the Z (in silent mode power saving) is quieter than my Toshiba work laptop and a lot quieter than my poor old Samsung, and the noise doesn't bother me at all when I do hear it. In an office, on a train or even in a library with air-con, I'm sure I couldn't hear the fan on my Z when working on it. I might feel differently if I spent most of my work time doing CPU+GPU intensive tasks, because the fan works hard in those circumstances and the noise is much more obvious.

The exception to the different fan models theory above may be the 2.8GHz 35W CPU model which IsamuX owns, which he reported had a tweaked cooling system to cope with the higher TDP.