New Sony TZ150 owner. Need some help and advice.

Hi, I just purchased a new TZ150N/B and am hoping those with experience can answer a few questions. I have read the TZ owners thread as well as the various posts regarding downgrading to XP Pro but still have a few questions.


1. Can I install a RAM upgrade before the first time power up.

2. Will Kingston Value Ram 2GB SODIMM PC-5300 work/be suitable.

3. Is it really worthwhile to downgrade to XP Pro and if I get the free downgrade from SONY do I lose the ability to go back to Vista.

4. If I do downgrade is it best to delete the hidden partition? I would first make recovery disks of course.

5. On the Sony order page it describes several things that won't work with the downgrade. I assume that work arounds/drivers etc have been found to get everything working?

Any advice and guidence would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Ken.

 

1. Yes although you may have to update your bios if it's not recognised;

2. The max ram in for your laptop is 2gb so i'm not sure if you can use a 2gb stick instead of 2 1gb sticks.

3. That's a personal preferance. I think vista's great.. once you dissable uac

4. If you make recovery discs then yes.

5. There's still incompatibilities with certain things as far as i know, or from all the threads people start after the downgrade.

 

Thanks for the info.

Please define UAC. I have never used Vista and have no idea what this means.

Thanks.

 

User account control. Basically every time you try to run a program, vista will ask you if you want to run it with an annoying popup:\

What were you thinking bill gates?

 

How do I disable that blasted UAC?!

 

Control panel > security > security center
Then in "other security settings" set it to off and enjoy

 

If I recall, you go into your user account from control panel, and uncheck a box.

 

Totally don't have an "Other security settings".

 

UAC was in User Accounts. Thanks guys, I was tired of that damn screen popping up every 10 seconds.

 

No prob

Enjoy your new system.

 

The Vaio TZ 150N/B only has one removable RAM stick. The second RAM stick is soldered onto the machine, and you can't remove it. Both sticks are 512 MB of RAM.

If you want to achieve the maximum of 2 GB RAM, you must purchase a 2 GB RAM stick. Then, you will take out the removable 512 MB RAM stick that comes with the TZ150, and stick in your 2 GB RAM stick. Your total RAM will be 2.5 GB RAM, but only 2 out of the 2.5 GB will be used by your machine. So, you'll have 500 MB of extra, useless RAM that does nothing, and you can't put it to use.

 

Gosh Golly! Willy S and Gazelle, you are both wrong about the TZ memory. There is no soldered memory onboard, and there is only 1 slot. The memory that comes in your TZ150 is a 1gb stick. You will not need a bios upgrade for your memory to be recognized. The 2gb Kingston ValueRam you mentioned will work perfectly, and YES, you can install it before you boot up the computer for the first time.

These forums can be a great source of information, but they can also be a great source of mis-information from those who don't know the specifications of the model in question trying to answer your questions.

 

You're thinking of the TX series, Gazelle. This is not true of the TZ series. There is no onboard RAM on the TZ. The only slot comes populated with a 1gb stick on the TZ150.

 

Oh! I'm sorry. You're right, I was thinking about the TX models. I just checked, and yes, the TZ comes with a 1 GB RAM stick.

The conclusion is still the same, though. You must purchase a 2 GB RAM stick in order to get 2 GB of RAM for the TZ.

 

Thanks for the info. I ordered the downgrade disk from Sony on Wednesday. It will be delivered tomorrow. So now to decide what to do about installing XP. I think I will try Vista first and go from there unless someone can advise a compelling reason to switch over.

Looks like I have one bright blue pixel. Not sure what it is with me and Sony's but my z505 had the same issue at about the same location.

Oh well...with pixels this small you can hardly see it.

Ken.