VAIO VPC-Z1190 CTO on Canadian Site!

Wow, no pics at all in this thread?

So what's the latest status on the Canadian Z1190 CTO models:
-do they come with US layout keyboard for 100%?
-backlight keyboard, right?

Thanks.

P.S. How does the screen on the new 2010 Z compare to the older Z790/Z690 series? I saw a Z11 in a Future Shop, and the screen's colours did not impress me as much as the older Z790 that I've seen. :|

 

Yes, to both of your questions (for 100%, I am a happy owner of one)

I cannot comment on the comparison to the older Z models, but I have to say that I love the screen on my Z1190. The colors are vibrant, blacks look really black, whites look white and I haven't really noticed much of the light bleed either (or maybe I just didn't have opportunity to see it yet).

If you have any doubts, I would say: go for it! You won't be disappointed

 

I never seen Vaio Z in future shop, FS only sell public laptop that was not expensive, like the Sony CW (and yes this screen it's not terrible) but about my Sony Z1190, it's awesone. I use a lot a different laptop in my work, and this one is the best I seen on ultraportable category.

 

I saw the Z11 at FS 2 weeks ago but not all store had it. They also just recently (within this past week) added it on their website...

 

Re-added, actually. It was on their website for a while, but about 3 weeks ago it got removed for some reason (I think they had some problems). Now it's back.

Thanks for the info guys. That's really good news about the CTO being US layout; I can't stand the Bilingual keyboard with their short left shift.

 

hey all

im going to be a proud owner of my first sony vaio z tomorrow and i would just like to ask if anyone could suggest what the first few things i should do to the system..

thanks

 

I just got my Z delivered its still in the brown box and I am anxious to open!

Finally I get to see what all the fuss is about.

Cheers.

 

I got it and I opened it immediately. Most beautiful laptop ever and I have owned two mac laptops in a row.

 

I'm loving this laptop so far especially the carbon fiber. No burnt pixels which was my first concern so I'm happy about that. Very little heat under the laptop unless you plan on setting the video card to speed then you can feel the heat.

Did anyone else notice the blue Sony Online Coupon for 20% off. Good if you want to buy an extra battery or perhaps a case or blue tooth mouse. But you have to spend $49.99 to get it which shouldn't be too difficult.

There is also a shortcut button on the face of the laptop so you can set it for a program you would use the most which is fantastic haven't decided yet what to set it for yet.

The only gripe so far I have is that the buttons below the pad or somewhat small and skinny, but other than that so far so good.

Anyone else get there recently?

Sunfox how is your Z coming along?

 

Just had to go pick up my vaio z from the fedex depot just a half hour ago...they made a delievery this morning but i didnt even hear the door bell lol...instead of waiting for an attempted redelievery on monday i decided to go pick it up myself..so far took it out of the brown box but havent opened it..and just the box itself looks great lol

 

I had ordered an i7, carbon fibre, 6gigs RAM, and 256gb SSD, original ship date was April 27th, ordered a few days before the sale ended.. Called on April 7th to inquire if it was being built, got an email the same day, and rec'd it on the 9th of April.. way ahead of schedule.. Had to leave for vacation that evening, so other then booting it up, I haven't been able to play with it yet.

I did notice that the i7 isn't available in Canada anymore?? is there a problem with it? It is still available in the US.

Looking forward to using it... any must do's you all can recommend?

 

that a pretty quick turnaround you had there..i had ordered during the sale and i just recieved mines today..almost the same specs as your computer minus the ssd and the ram....i wonder why you got yours so fast..

 

what is thsi sale you guys are talking about?? the March Madness 200$ off?

 

yes that would be it the marchmadness sale

 

The i7 CPU is sold out from Sony for the Z. It will not be offered on the Z until the next refresh which is June 20th.

If I could change one thing on my new Z it would be that I should have ordered the 6GB Ram because its a 64 bit machine. I'm already using 50% of my 4GB Ram.

I'm hoping for a possible Ram increase in the future so I can bump it up to 6GB, this is of course if the ram becomes available to the public.

 

Source please?

 

No problems with my Z - it's been working as expected... and blowing away the overall feel of performance on my desktop thanks to that SSD RAID. And despite the heat produces it stays remarkably cool (but feel that exhaust!) Love the weight - only 0.8 lbs less than my SZ, but it's very noticeable.

Of course the longer you have things the more issues you find with them. For me, I find the speakers horrible and the noise cancelling earphones are "sharp" sounding (although other headphones sound fine). I've had 2 black screen crashes playing video via Nvidia, but it's expected that's a video driver bug. I've had some odd issues getting used to the touchpad, but I think I'm "working into it" as it's been fine for the past couple of days. Ended up disabling the auto screen brightness as it's too sensitive and keeps changing, plus I find a like a brighter screen in middling lighting environments than it wanted to provide.

When I ordered I was offered 20% off any number of accessories I wanted (at any time) but I actually don't even know what's available for the Z yet (when I ordered there were no listings). Thinking I may get an extended batt, or a case, or something...

 

Sony themselves.

 

Sunfox,

Do you know if you order the extended battery if it comes in the same color as the carbon fiber. I hope they don't just offer it in silver because that would not look good.

I'm still contemplating on the case I want to get, Sony has nothing that stands out. I saw some fairly good ones at MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) on King St. and Henry's has one made by ACME which was nice as well.

Anyone else seen anything worth buying. I would prefer a case with a strap as the sleeve I could only use to put in my backpack and obviously not going to just carry the my laptop using the sleeve as it could slip from my hands and end up a disaster.

 

I meant a link please.

 

Someone at Sony told me. You can call for yourself.

 

Can someone help with this issue, I'm trying to create a system image using Windows 7 Home Edition.

I go to the option in backup and restore and select " Create a system image"

I have an external hard drive that is completely empty and when I hit refresh to select a drive it gives me an error message. I took a screen shot of the message...any suggestions helpful.

 

that would be pretty early for a refresh..the vaio z only came out in march..but i think sunfox did post something up on the userforum about a refresh...and i think he mentioned that if there was a refresh it would probably be a minor one...maybe a few color options and maybe a slight price drop..

apparently the vaio z is a hot seller for sony and i dont see why they would need to do a refresh so soon..

anyways i will open my new vaio z tonite .....and post up comments after =)

 

I received the info direct from a knowledgeable Sony rep. I do know that they will offer the full HD screen when in comes out in June 20th the 1920x1080. I don't know anything else, of course there will be a price premium for the HD screen.

Regarding my system image question I just found out that Windows wants an external drive that has 1.15TB of empty space to do an image....1.15TB. Why it asks for so much I don't understand I assumed it would be much much smaller.

If anyone else has any further info that would be great.

 

Search the owners' thread for my post, where I detail what to expect to change over the next 2 years, and what I'd expect for the next refresh.

Typically Sony only does minor refreshes during a model cycle, however they're quite frequent. The problem is I'm not aware of any significant new hardware coming out in the next few months, which means if there IS a refresh it will most likely involve colors, slight price adjustments, and a shuffle of specifications (so basically different combinations of parts in new colors). Maybe some stuff not available in North America (but available internationally) will be made available, ie. full HD screen, HDD option, ilink.

Historically Sony has occasionally released CTO updates where absolutely nothing has changed over the prior model.

For the two years that the SZ was available, there were no significant differences between the first generation and the last generation. New CPUs came out. New chipsets for the new CPUs. New wireless cards. Different amounts of memory. Bigger hard drives. New operating systems (XP - Vista). There was a minor change on the webcam. Part way through they updated the video card from the Nvidia GO 7400 to 8400 (which is why I would expect *one* video update on the new Z, but not until at least the 1 year mark). But no new features were added. The 100mbit onboard network was never upgraded to gigabit. HDMI output was never added (no ports were ever changed).

June 20th is probably right for the standard 3-month refresh cycle, but I won't bother waiting unless you don't actually need the laptop for the next couple months, or if for some reason what you want can't be bought now (ie. i7).

 

Delete, problem solved.

 

Hey

so can anyone speculate as to how much the hd screen would cost to cto in the next refresh? i cant imagine it being cheap ....

also, to all the new vaio z owners here in canada what have you guys done after recieving the system? ie: install the intel ssd drivers, disabled ssd defrag? can any one quickly list the things i should do once i run the system for the first time?

 

The Full HD screen is only $80 more on the UK CTO site. It has its downsides as well.

 

You could use 1600 x 900 for general use, but pump it up to full 1080p when watching a Blu-ray movie. That's what I'd use the resolution for.

 

1600x900 on a 1920x1080 screen would look bad. The downsides are lower brightness, higher power consumption, reduced viewing angle and some reported backlighting consistancy issues (ie dim bottom left quadrant of screen, bright center).

 

With Windows 7, you could just turn scaling to 125% or something for 1080p on 13.1".

But honestly, I think 1600x900 would be a better option for me... :| 1080p just seems so cool on such a small screen. Cool, but not really practical. For me, that is.

 

Has anyone here created a "system image" from within Windows just in case of a crash. And if so, how much space was used up and what did you use a backup (ie) external drive.

I'm trying to make a complete system image and Windows 7 is asking for 1.15T of empty space even though I've only used up 50GB of SSD space.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Has anyone decided on a bag, I've read in other threads that some are ordering the Muzetto or Vertigo Mambo Combo. What does everyone think of the looks?

http://www.sfbags.com/products/muzetto/muzetto.htm

http://www.sfbags.com/products/mambocombos/vertigosuite.htm

 

I bought this one:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TW210ZM/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY

I think its the best hands down, its really small, has pockets for ac adapter etc.. The only thing is the corners aren't hard but I don't have a problem with that because I don't really drop things.
Its also reasonable in price.

 

I'm just about to order the following from the U.S.:

* Intel® Core™ i7-620M
* 192GB SSD
* 6GB RAM
* Microsoft Windows® 7 Pro 64-bit (FRESH START)
* Standard Capacity Battery
* DVD/RW
* Silver

I'm saving $171.50 from student discount and the total came to $2,511.24 including tax. I read through the thread and came across 10% savings from the rep.? Do you guys think I could receive further discounts if I called? Also, those of you who already received their notebooks, what specs would you recommend? Thank you in advance!

 

Docking station for the new Vaio Z is now available at Sonystyle Canada's website.

 

Hey

have been using my vaio z for the past few hours and i must say this is by far the best system ive ever owned light and very stylish just the way i like it...

now on to the not so good part...ive discovered that my new vaio z has about 3 or 4 stuck pixels on the top left hand corner of the lcd....ive called up sony canada technical support and from what they told me it is apparently normal to have all those stuck pixels....the rep took down all my info and she apparently said that she will get a customer relations person to call me back on monday.

Just wanted to ask you guys what are my options? ive waited so long for this system and spent so much and it just sucks to have this problem with my screen. Can i return this vaio cto? which isnt what i want to do cause my intentions are to keep the system.

What do you think sony customer relations can do for me? would they have to replace my lcd? or would they offer me something else?

anyways any opinion would be greatly appreciated.

 

Just FYI, Sony's US warranty doesn't apply to those living in Canada.

 

It's not normal, if it was normal it would be on every Sony laptop sold. Don't let them prevent you from getting a new laptop. I would return it asap, you've spent a lot of money....and if you wanted stuck pixels tell them you would have bought an Acer instead.

The quicker you return it the quicker you get it back. If I had even one stuck pixel I would have returned mine the fact you have 3-4 is a definite return.

Due to the defect they should even give you an extra discount while still replacing it, this is simply a quality control issue.

Just my opinion.....cheers.

 

I've been using my noise canceling headphones that came with the laptop and when I wear them they have an echo sound to them on my iphone its terrible, am I doing something wrong or something that can correct the problem?
When connected to the Sony Z there is no echo. Is there no way to use these headphones with an iPhone?

Does anyone else have this problem?

My only real complaint so far with my Z is the touchpad......it feels a little sticky when my hands perspire and causes the cursor to not move as flawlessly as it should. I wish the touchpad was smoother and had less friction so the finger glides better.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for your opinion i will wait until tomorrow when the sony customer rep will get back to me and will try to reach a fix for my problem. I really dont want to return it completely cause i love this computer but if they wont do anything for me i think ill have to return it. Can you tell me whats the time period to return a cto computer? can we do that in canada? i remember reading on the sonystyle.ca website a while back that states that a cto computer cannot be returned only repaired if anything is wrong.

also if i return this system i dont know when the core i7 will be back as a cto option as well..

 

It might be even quicker if they just fixed it. Sometimes Sony can run some special software that gets the pixels unstuck rather than replacing the screen. This happened with my Canon camera I had a few dead or stuck pixels and they ran some special software that fixed the problem, they did not replace the screen and I got the camera back very quickly.

This could be the case with the Sony Z screen as well, I am not sure but it is hope. The i7 cpu is sold out and will be available in the next refresh in around June 20th according to Sony, it will also have the option for the 1920x1080 full HD screen if you can wait that long.

I sympathize with you as I've waited so long for my Z that it would be tough to have to wait again but a machine like this can only be owned in perfect condition in my opinion.

Cheers.

 

Hey

Just an update to my situation with the stuck pixels...i had to call into customer relations today and basically what they are telling me is im stuck with this computer and i cant return it since it is a cto and there is no way of me getting a replacement at all even though i only got the computer last week.

Their reasoning was that 3 or 4 stuck pixels on the screen is acceptable. I asked them if i had bought the laptop from the store they would have taken it back no problem and he agreed with me. So basically if you decide to buy it from the store you would be better off cause it would be easier to return.

The only thing they told me to do was bring it into a sony repair centre so a tech can check out the problem and see if it needs to be replaced.

This whole experience has left me disappointed and in the future i would only be buying from a sonystyle store where their return policy is easier. So word of caution to anyone in canada that wants to order a cto computer from sonystyle.ca. All sales are final on all cto computers...so if any problem arises you cannot return your computers only can be sent out for repairs.

Ive waited to long for this computer and i dont think i can wait another 2 or 3 weeks to have it repaired..i have settled on having it as is but am dissapointed on sonystyle.ca return policies.

 

aznblitz,

I would take it into a Sony repair depot and see what they say, they could possibly even fix it on the spot. These stuck pixels can be unstuck in some cases, manufacturers use special software that performs a screen calibration and gets rid of the stuck pixels. I don't think front line Sony would know about this but it can be done. I'd call back and speak with a senior supervisor...first level support at Sony is almost comical sometimes they really don't know too much and just want to get you off the phone to make a sale.

Who knows maybe it will only take a week to fix. it's worth getting it fixed.

At the very worst there is always small claims court and I'm pretty sure a judge will understand your situation regardless of Sony's policy...its not law. Believe or not you can always try voice your complaint to Pat Foran of CTV News if you live in Toronto, if Sony finds out you contacted him they will bend over backwards for you. Here is the email to Pat Foran at CTV news [email protected] and tell them your story.

Cheers.....good luck.

 

have you tried any of these stuck pixel fixes online? I did not read alot of this thread. Maybe it will help not sure I think its worth a shot. I personally dont have any experience with these solution options but I would take a shot.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-software-solutions-to-fix-a-stuck-pixel-on-your-lcd-monitor/

 

I have no idea what the Canadian sales reps are talking about...I talked to Sonystyle Canada three times, and no one said the docking station for the new Z will come with a power adapter.

In contrast, there are forumers from the US claimed that the docking station does come with a power adapter.

I am getting frustrated here on how to take advantage of my 20% off accessory coupon.

 

$150 OFF spring sale event on CTOs, min $1500. Till May 31st.

Coupon code: SPRING150

Not as good as the previous march madness, but it's better than what Sony normally offers...zilch.

 

Hi,

I would like to share my news that Z1190 was shipped to me on April 23 (ordered on March 25, i7, Premium Carbon, 8Gb, HDD 192Gb, Windows 7 Pro).

I did not find neither Windows XP Pro disc nor recovery disk in the package even I ordered Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with XP Pro downgrade disc.

Can somebody advise whether those disk should be part of the package or
I am supposed to download them somewhere?

Thank you.

Vlad.

 

For those that want to eliminate the annoying beep noise when changing the volume up/down go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Event Service and rename the pi.wav file to something like pip.wav and that should stop the beeping.

Cheers.

 

Did anyone else notice that the Premium Carbon finish is no longer available as an option for Canadian Z1190 CTO at sonystyle.ca?



Whereas it's still available on the US website sonystyle.com.

Strange. It _was_ available just a few months ago...