Sony Z2 - The pluses and minuses

So many great things about this laptop. Probably the best in its class, hands down. As always, nothing is perfect, so there are some things I am going to have to get used to.

Please do *not* let this thread dissuade you from purchasing this amazing laptop.

Having issues with cursor jumping around due to accidental swipes while typing. Installing "TouchFreeze" application fixes the accidental swipes.
Click here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/averatec/26711-cursor-jumping-around-2.html#post2589518

Other notes:

1) Yellow hue on the display. Hoping this decreases with time, as I have heard LCD's tend to ship with an initial yellow hue.

2) The keyboard is about an inch further north than the last Z. Will take some getting used to the new layout. Mouse buttons no longer exist. Finding them takes quite a bit of practice as they are just different in 'texture' than the rest of the mousepad.

3) Carbon Blue or whatever its called is in fact Tulip Purple so if you are like me and wanted to go with something a little different, prepare for a purple interior in certain lighting. Other lighting it does seem a little more blue.

4) Major MAJOR bummer that they've dropped Verizon as a mobile broadband option and went with (are they serious?) AT&T instead. Talk about a downgrade. Bad decision.

5) Everyone was worried about the larger bevel. Its the same size on top and bottom as last Z. A little wider on the sides. Not too noticeable after a day or two of use.

6) Typing is honestly quite difficult for some reason. Can't really figure out why. I think its become the keys are all squished up by the monitor. Side by side with the old "Z" the keys start nearly a full INCH further away than the old Z ... very frustrating to type on.

7) 1920x1080 resolution renders me unable to use the web browser. Things are simply too tiny to see. Needed to revert to 1600x900.

Those are the bummers so far, on an otherwise awesome laptop.

 

Too bad about the the AT&T downgrade. I was really looking forward to updating my z12...

Question:
Do you need to have to dvd/blu-ray player plugged in to watch a movie in full HD?

 

How are the internal speakers? Any improvement there?

 

beaups posted a not so positive outlook about that.

 

Ahma gonna save mah monies for Hawaii.

 

Only the american version has that problem... (as usual....). EU ver. can be used with any carrier without any modification. Are there no laws in that country? You can't just pay 2000+ for something that is locked to one carrier! If it is, it should come with a special discount!

 

Did you just call Europe a country???

 

^ No he didn't. Read it again.

 

Not sure how I feel about a negatives-only thread, but I'll play if everyone notes that I actually like the Z2.

By the numbers from the OP's post:

1. I didn't notice that. I have the 1600x900 flavor (currently). The keyboard backlight is yellowish, but the screen is great.
2. The keyboard is indeed moved back from the Z1. This works for me since it seems natural the the chassis config. I got used to it pretty quick.
3. I agree here, but after an hour, I got used this too. I like the fact that you can right-click almost all the way up to the top of the trackpad. All said and done, I wish Sony used some the the extra bezel space to put in a larger trackpad, a-la the newer Macbooks. I was accustomed to the Z1's mouse buttons being on the bottom ledge, the new layout is definitely harder to find by touch alone but not impossible.
4. Man up buddy or get a black one . I saw the purple one at the Sony Store and kinda liked it. This said, I purchased the black one.
5. Agreed here. I'm about to deconstruct the lappy, so I'll post whether or not the broadband card is user-replaceable.
6. Nothing to say
7. The keys don't have as much travel as the Z1 series. I can see how folks would hate it. It's not an issue for me and I like the fact that they mooshed up some of the keys, most noticably the "." and "?" keys, to make room for a Fn key by the arrow keys. I can finally use PgUp/Dn and Home/End keys with one hand. I even managed to highlight with the shift key with some finger gymnastics.

Some negatives not previously mentioned:

1. There doesn't seem to be a way to keep the keyboard backlight on all the time. The option isn't in the Vaio Control Center. The Z1 had it.
2. The Keyboard backlight is yellowish, which isn't horrible.
3. The plate battery is a great addon, but the thumb screws rattle even when fully tightened. I can't help but think Sony could have worked in a better attachment system. Good news is that it won't fall off, even when dropped, when properly affixed. The battery itself comes with a charging adapter, which is nice.
4. Not sure how I feel about the Vaio Gate SW. It's neat and all, but it gets in the way sometimes.

 

Yeah please guys- whoever hasn't bought the thing - please dont take this as a trash talking thread. I have the tendency to notice things that should be improved when I see something. It's what I do for a living.

So please dont take this thread a sign that the laptop sucks. There are some issues like right now its almost painful to type -im having to strain so much to push these damn buttons ... but i am sure ill get used to it.

To reply: (damn it is hard to press these keys!!!)

1) You'd need another laptop sitting next to this one to see the yellow hue difference. I have the old Z here right next to it. But I have seen this before. I think I did the same thing with the other Z when I first got it. I think yellow hue disappears after some time.

2) If your screws on the battery are rattling something is not right in your situation. Mine does not do this. Maybe theyd consider giving you a new one.

I think at this point my biggest issue is how much I am having to push to make a key type a letter....

 

One other thing -

I was super excited to see my battery icon tell me I had 16+ hours of battery life with the sheet battery attached. On the contrary, both batteries are showing 100% full, but the time remaining is a measly 7 hours 48 minutes.

Can someone explain this to me? Is it possible it's only reporting the time left for one of the two batteries? Why in Gods green earth wouldnt it reflect the time left with both batteries attached?

 

Good callout, Mr Burger. I'm sure you'll get used to the keyboard. I'm finding it much easier to use with the increased palm area. I'm writing this with the lappy on one leg, no problems. The metal top is a welcome comeback. The plastic part on the Z1 was a mistake IMO. The Z2 doesn't get warm and should handle wear MUCH better.

One more comment, it appears that the charger from my Z1 only maintains the current charge level. The battery icon shows it is charging, but it doesn't (???!). Battery care is off, BTW.

Wacky, they are both 19.5V. Switched back to the included Z2 power supply and it started charging up again. Boo

 

It does report both, at least it does on mine. The battery average gets better the longer you let it trend.

Edit: Pics

 

Hard to push the keyboard keys? I don't notice that at all. What IS hard to push is the power button. It's seriously ridiculous.

 

Is that being offered with a full voltage processor?

 

No but it comes with wind, surf and sun.

 

As long as it's high resolution.

 

He's talking about the key travel being very short which makes it hard to type. It's not that they are hard to push. I remember the very first Z being that way and it felt like I was typing directly on the surface of the computer. The latter generations of Z offered the better keyboard with longer key travel. This version seems to be going back to the beginning which doesn't seem to be a good thing.

 

That won't be a problem: I'ma gonna bring mah Zee1 to the beach, then look at pictures of Hawaiian beaches in high def FHD.

 

Thank Sony for that. You do not want that button getting pressed by accident every time you grab the laptop.

 

No. It requires way too much effort in my opinion. It's way beyond the tension needed to prevent an accidental press.

 

The power button's placement avoids accidental presses, but yeah it does take more than one Z2-pressure to depress it (you can balance the weight of the device on the power button and it won't click).

Not a huge deal since you depress down. The Z1 took two hands or a squeeze-press to power on. Better to press down than scoot the device left on a table.

Even worse was accidental power-ups in a closed bag. This is close to impossible with the Z2

 

Yes you nailed it, but I will definitely say I am having to push harder. if I push lightly, some letters don't get registered.

I also find myself going "too low" with my finger and missing the mousepad "grooved" area altogether - quite often.

And anyone who doesn't see the yellow hue on this display... in the white areas (of this web page) is color blind ...

As for the battery - thanks for your screen caps. Mine does *NOT* display like that.

I currently have battery 1 at 100% and battery 2 at 99% ....

The only program running is this browser, and my brightness is dimmed because the room is somewhat dim.

Yet it says I have "10 hours" remaining. I guess thats better than 7 hours (as previous) but its nothing near what I expect from this additional battery ... I was told 16 hours ...

What the dilly yo?

 

Don't know what to tell you on the battery other than Windows is notoriously poor at estimating battery life. Don't sweat it.

You might want to check your color settings, my screen has a slight blue tint which seems to be a Sony trait.

 

Okay now I have four browser windows open and the brightness is higher ... and the battery says 11 hours 42 minutes.

Still way lower than it should be, yet its higher by nearly 2 hours with more going on?

Something isnt reporting correctly with this battery set up...

 

Nothing is broken.

The time remaining estimate is just that, an estimate. Run it to empty a few times and you'll learn the machine's battery personality. Windows gets slightly better at guessing over time, but it is still an estimate.

From the help file:

This isn't a problem and HP/IBM laptops with dual batteries do the same thing. Internal and plate batteries discharge at different rates, making the estimation more complicated.

 

Sony is going to run into problems touting 16 hours of battery life with the new sheet battery if windows is constantly reporting 7 hours instead. That's not even remotely close.

To be completely honest, 7 hours is what my other Z vaio reports when I turn it on with one battery in it. To have two full sized batteries attached at the same time - it should be at least double.

This isnt really an issue of "why is the time remaining changing drastically sometimes". That moreso relates to how the battery report changes with CPU usage. This is an accuracy issue.

Sony's huge marketing thing right now is this awesome sheet battery. Unprescedented battery life. If people are going to see 7 hours when they plug in, its going to cause problems.

 

Is anyone else noticing that you have to tap the mouse pad twice to get things to "register" as a click sometimes? It seems to happen to me about 20% of the time I click things. I notice that the mouse sometimes just jerks a tad bit when I hit the mousepad, rather than staying stationary and registering a click.

 

Well, for me, one of the things I dislike about the new Z2 is the trackpad. It just feels cheap to me. It doesn't have that tough feel of the previous Zs.

I'm really stretching here, though. I'm really in love with my Z2, and I'm not going to rain on my own parade by focusing on its cons. That's fanboy speak for you.

 

Battery time remaining is based on a consumption average of the last 5-10 minutes of activity, so it's normal for it to swing up and down a lot based on what you are doing.

That said, you are never going to get 16 hours. Light web browsing you might get 10 or so.

 

Hate to say it, but this isn't a conspiracy nor have you uncovered a huge problem or cover up.

Also, where are you coming up with the "huge marketing" statement? Now you are just making stuff up.

You also said you were told "14 hours." You were told "up to 14 hours."



Let the machine run down a few times and keep the hyperbole to a minimum.

 

^But those #'s are really total BS, especially the max brightness rating. If you throttle the CPU all the way down to nothing, disable nearly every process, and just let the PC "sit" there you STILL aren't going to get 14 hours.

 

May be, but most OEMs do this kind of thing. Heck, even phones and tablets tend to show best-case time estimates

 

Sony laptop battery estimates are always about 1.5x more than the real thing. They're not Apple.

 

Most OEM's use mobilemark, and while the results may not achieve real world #'s, they are at least attainable. Does Sony use mobilemark as well?

Apple is the only OEM I know of that gives real world #'s. They rate the 13" MBP at 7 hours, the advertising would say 15 hours or more if it was a Sony

 

haha i like that,

to be honest the battery is rated 44whr and the sheet is 49whr so combine it it is 93hrs to get 10hrs out of this it already impressive.

to get 14hr at max brightness, i think what sony did is just ran them in bios -P

 

max brightness probably means the brightness was set to maximum, but they just turned the screen off lol

 

Sony always uses some weird JEITA method for battery estimate, which, despite revision through the years, is still not a reflection of real active usage. The claim/real factor was more like 2 back in the early part of this decade...

 

Why is battery life advertised in different values throughout different places in the world? I've noticed some discrepancies between time advertised in the US, EU, and HK.

The Z1 was advertised has having 6-7 hours in the US and EU. It's advertised as having 5 hours here in HK, and I'm actually quite happy (I can chunk out a good 5:30, sometimes even a sub-6 hour). I asked the reps about battery life on this thing before my purchase, and they actually said it's closer to 2-3 hours for practical applications.

Same thing goes for the Z2. They are advertised as having 7.5 hours (15 with sheet) in the US while the Hong Kong versions are advertised as having 6.5 hours (13 with sheet). The SB was even advertised as having 5.5 hours in HK, but it's an amazing 7.5 hours in the US!

 

I'm just guessing here; but the average ambient temperature of a place plays a role. Less cooling on the fan's part is required if the ambient temperature is low enough, and hence less energy is used.

That and different levels of acceptance (depending on where one comes from) of marketing "deception", for lack of a better word

 

The ambient temperature here in Hong Kong isn't particularly high, ranging from 8 degrees to 33 degrees celcius every year on average. That's well within the operating temperature of a computer (and in fact, the average indoor temperature ranges from 15-20 degrees).

I guess that the level of acceptance of marketing "deception" (I too can't think of a better word) here in Hong Kong is not very high. People essentially nitpick anything that can possibly be considered as fraud and misdirection. That might be the reason why it's marketed closer to real life numbers here in HK.

 

^
I agree.

 

That's not really a good idea - there is no power management in BIOS (EFI), or in DOS mode (e.g. if you boot from a USB stick in DOS for flashing something) - CPU will be constantly on the highest P state.

Furthermore, there is no proper multitasking with putting CPU to idle - so it is busy-waiting all the time...

You can see all of this by leaving your laptop in BIOS/EFI for a minute or two - the fans will start working like it is under constant load - and... it is

 

No need for the sour attitude. A full page (aka: huge) promo (aka: marketing) for the sheet battery on Sonystyle.com touting a 14-16 hour battery life (aka: statement), qualifies as a "huge marketing statement".

Irrelevant. We already eliminated the "up to" issue (battery consumption based on CPU usage, etc) in previous posts. We were discussing something different. Reporting accuracy. When something reports "7 hours" remaining with 100% battery charge, zero programs running, and CPU practically idle, that qualifies as a major reporting discrepency. I am now aware that this is a known Windows issue.

As a side note, you actually posted an image that says "up to 16 hours". Not up to 14. So my bad. Even more reason why "7" will confuse people when they power up.

I do 8 hour days, all week, on the Z laptop I've had for the last 3 years with *one* battery. I consistently got 7+ hours on a full charge. Now I have *TWO* batteries, and I would expect 14 hours at least. Maybe i'll never see 16. But i sure as hell wasn't getting only 3-4 hours on the single battery. The math / logic doesn't add up. It would be nice if the battery reporting feature wasn't 50% off. That's all.

What I am going to do is simply time how long the batteries last and - for those who are interested - I will report back here. I know all of us have experienced seeing a "1 hr 30 minutes" remaining situation, and noticed 45 minutes later that it still said "1 hr 23 minutes" remaining. At least I have. So in my opinion the estimate is extremely *understated*. I believe it will last a hell of a lot longer than it says it will. Let's see...

-NB-

 

New *MAJOR* issue with this notebook. While typing, my palm hits the mousepad and wherever the pointer happens to be placed, my cursor goes there. This results in words being transported up to paragraphs above as the cursor is "re-placed" there mid sentence.

In 3 years this never happened with my previous Z. Not even once.

Example:

Here is some text that I already would have written further up the page. While typing in the paragraph below, you'll see the word ends up here izza tastes great | because the mouse pointer was left floating here by coincidence.

Here is the second paragraph I am typing and one of my favorite foods is pizza. The reason why I like pizza? because p

This is happening way too often and driving me insane right about now. It seems the lower knuckle on my right thumb is what keeps brushing against the mousepad while I type, causing this.

 

^

FN+F1?

10 char.

 

That's your solution? To disable the mousepad completely? So if my car has a design flaw, the solution is to just stop driving it?

Posts like these always crack me up.... if I could see into the minds of some people ....


http://forum.notebookreview.com/averatec/26711-cursor-jumping-around-2.html#post2589518

Did some searching and found this solution. Thank God because I absolutely can not be typing all day and moving my cursor back to where its supposed to be every 5 seconds. I am going to post a new thread about this so people can find it more easily. I guarantee this is going to be an issue reported by many.

 

stop dragging your palms when typing son

 

Easier said than done. Quite often the laptop is - er - in your lap, or some other less than ideal platform. With a desktop you can have physical vertical separation between the screen and the keyboard; with a laptop, you don't. If you have the keyboard where you want it, the screen is too low, and vice versa. Many times I have had to hold the laptop with one hand and type with the other, leading to frustration with combination keys, e.g. function keys.

 

That's a good enough solution in my opinion. You should even be grateful that there's one, because I don't have such an option with my Z1. How hard is it to press TWO keys to disable the touchpad when you're typing a paragraph or a post? It's really an effortless maneuver if you ask me.....