Minor (Design) Flaws in New Vaio Z11xx

As you can see from my signature, I own the Metal Mosaic (lower-end) Signature Series model. This is to report my negative findings - none of which are anything close to show-stoppers in my book.

Here is the list I have so far:

1. Plastic palmrest creaks ever so slightly when I rest the weight of my arm on it
2. The front microphone and head phone jacks have a design flaw. With the extended battery installed (which increases the tilt) the headphone jack that came with the laptop just BARELY clears the surface of the desk. Essentially the jack itself is parallel to the plane of the keyboard; this means that the line that the jack port makes intersects with the desk just in front of the laptop. This wouldn't be an issue if the jack was on the side like on the previous Z generation, but with this design, certain (many?) headphone plugs might not be connectable. What Sony should have done would have been to have the front jack have a slight "upward" tilt to counter the tilt of the laptop, resulting in the headphone jack making a parallel - or at least MORE parallel line with the desk.
3. They keyboard brightness varies across the keyboard, especially on the right-most side. For example, the arrow of the "Backspace" key is bright, but the the "ace" is dim. This is true down the entire right edge of the keyboard.
4. The front-most USB ports on both the left and right sides just barely allow for "comfortable" insertion of the USB cable. MAYbe it's because I'm using the extended battery; maybe not though. As it is, I find myself having to position my fingers higher on the cable plug than I normally would, making it harder to find the port without looking. The thicker your fingers (mine are skinny), the more I imagine this would be an issue.
5. The light sensor can make the backlight of the display flicker from passing shadows. In the artificial light of an office, that's not a problem, unless you have a window seat near a window on a partly cloudy day. Sometimes as little as you leaning forward and your head casting a shadow on the sensor is all it takes.

As I said, none of these are show-stoppers for me, and overall I absolutely LOVE the new design and performance. Still, I post this so that I can see if it's just my laptop and/or let others know better what to expect.

 

Wow, I knew I didn't like the fact the jack placements were now upfront and with what you mentioned is a great find...a disappointing one at that.

 

One minor design annoyance for me is the fact that the lid doesn't close tight on the body, a la MacBook / Thinkpad / Latitude (at least the Ds).
Yeah, now that I've ordered my Z11 I feel like I can complain about it xD

 

IMHO, nothing is prefect in this world. No matter how well designed the VAIO Z series or any other notebooks are, there are still bound to be some "minor imperfections." My question is:

Why not don't think about the minor negatives & just fully enjoy the brand new VAIO Z notebook purchase?!?!?

 

because secretly we hope that these will be picked up by the designers and improved in the next model

 

I knew the plastic palmrest would have issues. shame on sony!

 

It is even bigger problem if you plane to use head phones while you are not at your desk. For example while lying on the sofa. But this is no surprise to me. I know it will create problems. I will probably use bluetooth headset with it anyway.

 

I have to chuckle at the uneven backlit keyboard issue. We used to be mostly worried about the uneven backlight in LCD. Will we soon ask for good viewing angle and color accurate backlit keyboard soon?

 

I haven't noticed this with my new Z.

 

me neither

 

Oh, I absolutely agree with you...which is why I said more than once that none of the issues are show-stoppers for me. However, in a forum, I thought it would be good to illuminate ALL the issues since the impact of the issues is really measured by how an individual intends to use the laptop. Therefore, even though NONE of the issues are a big deal to me - though I AM going to look for a way to stop that annoying creak in the palm rest -I thought it would be a good thing to air out the potential issues and leave it to the individual to assess (for them) how big off a deal they are for them.

Quite honestly, it is an amazing testament to the quality of the laptop that I have such a short list of items, all of which amount to nitpick/pet peeves from my perspective. I truly LOVE the laptop even more than I loved my Z690 - which I already thought was the best thing since the invention of the computer chip.

 

Well, then...I'm officially jealous! Write that one off to a sample defect, then!

 

I think these are legitimate gripes. For someone who is looking into a new Z, this info is very useful when I go play with one.

 

I have noticed one flaw also.
Did you hear some sound when you adjusting the angle of the screen?
You need to put your ear close to the screen in a silence environment.

 

I didn't notice anything just now in my empty office.

 

Me threether

You should be able to do something about the creaking. The plastic bit is exposed so you could put some sticky, foam tape in there or something to sure it up.



I'm going to pull the keyboard sub-assembly apart when I get the Z11FHX/QX to either paint the plastic part or put some clear 3M protective film on it. I'll do a complete pictorial.

 

Maybe it is only my problem then. The other problem is the middle of the space bar is a bit depress. Just use for fews day. I will try to ask the repair centre when I go to extend my warranty

 

This should be fixable in software. Other laptops with sensors (like Dells) don't have this problem, as they don't react on a single sample, but a trend over multiple samples.

But, this being Sony and all, if a fix is made, it's likely going to be part of a refresh, with blocks on the installer to prevent Average Joe from being able to install it on older models. Prove me wrong, Sony