Z1 vs. Z2 - Sticking with the Z2

There seems to be a few people on the ledge in their decision to move from the Z1x platform to the new Z2. Thought I'd start up a thread with some opinions since I've owned both machines.

These lists are in order of importance to me

Why I'm using the Z2 over the Z1:

• Super fast boot. The Z1 should have done this from the onset. The intermittent long boot delay on the Z1 really killed me.
• USB 3.0 - Very useful for me as I cart @ 2GB of Outlook PST files and contracts between the office and the Z2. Huge difference in my daily archival tasks. I'm using one of these
• Battery life - I have two sheet batteries and can go a true, full business day out of my SF Muzetto bag without worrying about juice. The protruding screws on the sheet battery are a pain tho
• SATA III SSD - Fastest storage available in a laptop of its size
• Aluminium palmrest. Hated the plastic bit on the Z1. The Z2's stays nice and cool too, although if you wear a metal watch, you might scratch it since the keyboard is further back.
• Light and feels more rigid than the Z1. I also like the fact that it is monolithic when closed. The Z1's screen looked like it was slapped on and was almost an afterthought.
• Always-on USB charging - I like charging my phone in my bag
• No internal optical drive - Never been a fan of internal drives. Wasted space, IMO
• PMD - I actually like the external BR/GPU. I never, I mean ever, used the nVidia GPU on the Z1 when traveling.
• Better power plug - The Z1's power plug was a bit loose and you can wiggle it and move the entire assembly. The Z2's is solid.
• It's the new hotness. I like being on the forefront. If I were honest, this would be #2 or 3 on the priority list.

What I miss from the Z1:

• USB ports on either side. All laptops should have at least one USB port on each side.
• Ability to keep the keyboard backlight on. No option for this on the Z2 (yet). I didn't like the yellowish LED color on the Z2 at first, but have since begun to like it better than the white color on the Z1. It is less distracting and makes the keyboard somehow feel warmer.
• Shorter - The Z2 is much thinner, but about 1.5" longer
• Traditional battery - The Z2's internal battery is user replaceable, but you have to use a coin to remove the screws. Not something you want to do on a flight. This is a huge miss on sony's part. I would have preferred to carry one or two more internal batteries than the sheet since they are super thin.
• Lacquered finish - The Z2's naked CF feels great, but I miss the glossy finish on the Z1. You were able to buff-out scratches on this coating with rubbing compound as well.

 

For me, Z1 has the added value that it can use my old VGN-Z's sleeve/case and AC adaptor.

 

huh? my z2 can use my vgn-z's ac adapter.

Agree w/ OP, i love the always on charging feature.

 

USB 3.0 (at half speed - pci-e 1.0's 2.5GT/s) can be added to the Z1 as a < $15-delivered expresscard so that's not a big deal.

 

^true. Didn't know there were flush-fit options. Even at half speed, that should be faster than most USB devices you can attach to it unless you have a huge RAID set in an external array. Certainly it would be faster than any single HDD/SSD/USB Key out there.

Still sticking with the Z2 tho

 

nice solution

 

Oh one more Z2 item, and it is high on the list...

They put a Fn key over by the arrow keys on the right hand side. Single-handed Home, PgUp, PgDn and End, glee

It would have affected the keyboard's symmetry with the screen, but they could have added dedicated keys with the extra width on the Z2. Design concession, I guess.

 

Not with the PMD...

 

But they decided to stay in 2008 and force you to hold the Fn key down to adjust volume, brightness, etc, didn't they? I just want to ask the person on the design team who evaluated that and decided to stick with it, What Were You Thinking??!! I'd gladly use two hands for page up and down if I could use one for all the F keys. Stupid, just plain stupid!

I know this is not a Z2 issue, though it is an issue that something clearly screaming to be fixed (at zero cost!) in the Z1 was not (the answer: nobody was thinking - at all). This is truly an Apple-esque tactic. Just as Steve doesn't think you should watch Blu Ray discs on your MBP, someone at Sony thinks you should have to use two hands to lower the freakin volume.

Ok, done with that now. Keeping my Z1 anyway, though. Some nice points, Zoinks, but none worth even $500 to me, much less $3,000. Though I have great respect for what they've accomplished - and for you and your reasoning - I have to honestly say that if, hypothetically you offered me a Z2 (that I could not sell, buy a Z1, and keep the profit!) for my Z1, even money, but I had to give up my Z1, I really don't think I would take the deal. Perhaps this says more about what's wrong with me than the Z21, lol!

One really important issue for me is the keyboard action - the Z2 keystroke is just too shallow, actually gave me carpal tunnel after 30 minutes the day I borrowed a friend's. Sure, you can get another keyboard, to store with your PMD, but the beauty of the Z1 was, let me say it one more time: One box, 3 lbs, c'est tout! Anything else is, well, a bother.

And I really use my DVD drive on average once a week - been tracking for past 6 months just to know. 3 brief examples: 1) many classic movies and TV shows are not available digitally - legally - especially indies and classic TV; 2) when a friend wants to send you (or you want to send her) some home grown software, other freeware, some personal photos, videos and music, etc, that add up to more than 1 GB, the good old mailed DVD is the cheapest, fastest way; 3) When you buy applications software on eBay, you can't really trust anything but a sealed box with a serial number label and matching disks inside (true, you could just use the label with the number and download the software, but try making an eBay fraud claim that way. These are just off the top of my head and from the past several weeks. And, it's no great feat of technological expertise to put a DVD drive in a laptop; it's all but miraculous to provide the space for it in a 3 lb one, all the more so when it provides a space that can alternatively hold as much as 1 TB of HDD or 512GB of additional SSD capacity in that "how in the world can they do that?" marvel!

And, while I agree that an always-on usb port and a usb3 port are worthwhile changes from the Z1, they really are available on $399 Toshibas too, so these might be considered "damn with feint praise." Unlike the DVD/extra storage in the Z1, these are nothing but $1.38 of current technology and it would only be "news" if they omitted them.

What bums me out the most is that in about a year, when the Z3 comes out, there will be no joy in losing my Z1 to a great deal on a used/refurbished Z2. Wonder if there will be a way to change Mobos and get SB cpus and fast memory to run in a Z1. Computer Cowboy??? Help!!

Ok, now I'm really done.

 

There's a reason for doing so. I believe this change to using "internal" battery is to eliminate the tons of user complaints about loose/wobbly batteries in the previous VAIO series.

 

I'm with you there. Wish Sony did a SB refresh of the Z1 with the SB CPU, SATA-III, USB 3.0 and gave it a GT525-GT540M, went a 7mm optical drive + 2.5" HDD arrangement to make it thinner. Closest thing Sony offers is the SA which doesn't hit the mark.

So looking elsewhere. If a powerful dGPU is important and can forfeit the 900P/1080P LCD and ODD, then consider a 13" LG P330 with GT555M. Or if require a ODD then a 4.4lbs 14" MSI X460DX with GT540M comes close but no 900P LCD. I wonder if the LCD can be swapped out?

If want a ULV 13" ultrabook with a 900P LCD, no ODD or dGPU or 2.5" storage or full powered CPU, then consider a Macbook Air or upcoming Asus UX31.

You can see there's quite a lot of compromises to try to get a SB equivalent of a Z1.

 

I posted in another thread that the thing can't rotate the external monitors!!!

This is a deal-breaker for me. And it's too bad because it hits the mark otherwise.

Back it goes.

 

Sounds like you want the JogDial back...

 

I hear you, man. On the Z1 I tried a lot of things, including sticky keys, and finally discovered that most apps support CTRL+arrow keys to use the page up, page down functions.

Sadly, the Fn key doesn't work with the sticky keys feature.

If the volume thing really bugs you, try 3RVX:
matt.malensek
Should not have been necessary, but since you bought it, you're stuck with it, right?

 

The Orientation dialog isn't available in the Screen Resolution menu, but there are portrait/landscape options in both the ATI CCC and Intel properties.

These don't work?

 

Try using your adapter on a Sony docking station. Won't fit. Same thing applies to the PMD.

Sony's silliness in this regard hasn't changed. They basically consider the PMD a docking station.

They supply two power adapters with the Z2's that have the PMD. One for the lappy, one for the dock.

I took a file to the plastic guides on my Z1 docking station so any power supply would work. Now that I have a glut of power supplies, I shouldn't need to do this on the PMB.

 

No Z2 works for my requirements. As a photogapher, the need to carry the PMD eliminated it quickly. I just got a loaded Z13 and changed out the DVD for a 1TB drive. This allows me to carry one device, store and even edit my pictures. As far as USB 3.0, I added an expresscard USB 3.0 card that is flush enough to stay in the expresscard port at all times. I can download a 32GB card in just over 8 minutes.

I really hope that next generation Sony goes back to an all in one style Z1 replacement, perhaps along with the two part Z2 style for those who like it.

 

I would like one of those if SSDs were swapped for the HD.

 

Nope, not out of the box.

However, in the other thread Nautis found the right registry entries to at least enable orientation in the standard CP applet for the AMD driven monitors.

 

Thanks. For the moral support and the suggestion. Have you tried this app? I'm leary of such things, as some have forced me to restore my system to get it working ok again, once even a re-imaging.

 

3RVX works fine on my Z1, at least for what I use it for - global shortcut keys for mute, vol - and vol +. Don't choose shortcuts that might affect other stuff. I use CTRL+F2, CTRL+F3 and CTRL+F4 respectively. Basically the same keys, but with CTRL instead of Fn. Makes it easy to remember.

 

What USB3 Express Card are you using? The 32 card I transferred the other day took me 48 minutes.

 

I am using a 10$ shipped, flush fit AKE USB3.0 card from ebay which has a Fresco Logic FL1000 chipset. It maxes out all my external drives over SS USB @ over 100MB/s. The only downside so far is that it uses a coinstaller which seems not to work in Windows PE. I want that for backup and imaging purposes. I am still working on it. An optimized, bulk driverset for the card without crappy setup can be found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...s-esata-expresscard-review-5.html#post7035926

 

I'd like to buy a Z2, but I do not know if I'd better be waiting for the soon refresh or if it doesn't matter, as there won't be much difference with the upcoming Z22 I guess..

I'd like a blue colored one.
CPU : i5 2540M (maybe i7)
SSD : 256 raid 0 gen3
RAM : 8Gb, PMD : none
FHD, WWAN, Backlight keyboard.
2523,99€ X_x

Do you think there is any difference between i5 2540M and i7 2620M, is the i7 running a bit hotter ? throttling ?

Also, is the 128 Gb SSD slower than the 256 Gb when performing daily usage ?
(booting up, softwares/games installations, copying/transferring files, starting programs etc ?)
I also quite often reinstall W7, or Linux and I like it to be quick.

With the new refresh I'm afraid about pricing. In france when the Z11 was refreshed, the Z12 was globally 10-15% more expensive..

 

There is always something newer, so it's up to you on when to pull the trigger.

On the CPU side, The 2540 should be good for most folks. The i7 does run hotter, but the fan isn't all that chatty if you are in silient mode.

As for SSD performance, check here.

 

my z1 has always on usb charging, i just used it on europe trip to keep my phone charged on trains

i tested all 3 usb ports and they all charged while in sleep mode. not sure about shutdown or hibernate.

 

You are right about that, and I trust no one to know the options better than you, Nando. There's a reason the VPC-Z1 was-and is- a true "legend" among computer products and it takes an incredibly tone-deaf marketer - or an overly arrogant one, such as the fruit guy - to fail to appreciate what customers love about the Z1 and fail to deliver a truly upgraded version in either a Z2 variation that kept the old formula or by putting a decent screen into the SA. I don't think Sony has much appreciation for what its high end customers want and they just "guessed lucky" with the past two Z models.

Regrettably, though none of the substitutes you suggest fit the bill for me. I imagine the new Samasung 7 series might come close, as one of them is said to hae a 14" 900p screen in a 13" form factor (ultra slim bezel - yeah!) and SV SB cpu + discrete gpu (I could live with an HD3000 if boosted by a fast SV cpu to, say 4,500 3dMark bench score) and slot load DVD drive (not as likely to be modded to hold additional SSD/HDD like the Z1 can, though) and, overall, I have more faith in Samsung than any other mfr to offer both quality and variety in product lines.

The MBA an total miss: missing way too many features and the screen is a far cry from the Z1's 900p and nothing is upgradeable; also hate the shallow keyboard stroke.) I personally have no need whatsoever for anything slimmer or lighter than the Z1, if I have to sacrifice features (DVD, ports, etc) to get that. With ultraportable notebook computers, it really can be "too slim," lol! I don't even mind gaining up to 1 lb (to about 4 lb) to keep all the virtues of the Z1 in a perhaps sturdier package. I'm also not very impressed by the "instant on" capabilities of the MBA and it's Windows "ultrabook" copycats about to shoot out of the pipeline - that feature got old pretty quickly in the 30 days I owned an MBA 13. It's the cold full-boot times that I even notice at all, but the 45 seconds of the Z1 has never been overly burdensome to me, much as I've never understood why it had to take that long. I sure wouldn't spend $1,000-$2,000 more to save 20 seconds boot time, though.

Fortunately, none of my needs will be unmet with 2010 cpu/gpu technology for at least the next year, likely two. I can cover the fast dataport need with an EC usb3 or esata and I can certainly live with the Sata II RAID0 SSDs that "only" provide 550 mb/s sequential read times - rather than the 1000 mb/s of the Sata II Z2s - if you drew them in the lottery (!!!) - for the indefinite future. Before I consider replacing the Z1 as my "daily driver," I would upgrade my DTR to do jobs that absolutely required the 2X-5X speed improvement of certain PS and other cpu/gpu hogging software.

Still, I would be willing to invest $1,000 or a bit more if it was possible to switch out the Mobo in the Z1 with one containing an SB cpu, 2000 mhz memory bus and, perhaps a faster d-gpu without needing a second box - ie, vidock/PMD - approach. I love the form factor, keyboard, screen and flexibility of the Z1 that much! Is this a technological impossibility, or just too difficult to be worth the effort and expense?

Computer Cowboy - up to the challenge? If not you, then who?

Thanks again for giving it your best shot, Nando.

 

Some sort of engineer perhaps? I am a drop out, a hustler, I am not at all qualified for something like that. Unless the motherboard was a drop in replacement, it's not going to happen.

 

No you wouldn't.

 

Oh well. Was just a long shot - but I knew if it was even a possibility for you, the challenge would possibly entice you.

Can you see any everyday applications in which the Z11 cpu/gpu will begin to feel seriously slow vs., say, the SB/AMD hdwe in the SA - thinking in terms of the next 1-2 years?

I know you are going to get your brown/gold Z2, and that having the newest thing is important to you, but are you likely to keep your z12 anyway, and possibly continue to use it as your daily driver unless the Z21 blows you away?

 

How hot is the i7 at full load ?

 

When running a multiple threads test for some time in TS bench, throttlestop reports a temp of 75 deg C.

 

thank you! It's quite better than vpc-Z1 actually

 

Coz it's not blue, more like purple. It's... blurple.

 

I won't ditch the Z1... If it turns out that I like to use the Z2 better then naturally I will use it more. If a Z2 ViDock actually happens that could really make it special. I like the Z1 quite a lot, even if I like the Z2 better, which is not likely, I won't be getting rid of the Z1. I could probably sell my Z1 but it doesn't seem worth it. Having both will allow for a back up machine also. I can take the Z1 tweaks even further when I don't absolutely depend on it for work.

 

Yeah I've seen that some people had plurple lappy, but I've seen other customer picture in which the laptop was rather looking blue than purple..
If it's blurple I'll return it.

Dunno if gold looks good once you receive it..
I can choose gold, for free...

I feel sick of the sony black color...

 

Blurple ®

That it is. I actually like the color, but it isn't for me.

 

..as long as it doesn't come off. Then it looks really bad. Whatever colour it is.

 

Good thinking, and great for the Z1 holdouts that you may develop some more awesome tweaks for them.

BTW, since a lot of the Z2 discussion mentions color, do you think I should pay about $200 to swap my silver Z1 for a CF one, all else equal? I'm talking resale here; I'm pretty indifferent to the colors, see positive sides to both. Just seems like the Z crowd just worships the CF "copper" color of the Z1, even if its palm rests tend to wear out quicker. Silver shows no scratches, dirt or fp marks and the aluminum ingot around the keyboard looks more "natural." Black is out for me, as it is a terrible dust magnet.

 

I have had all the US lids and if I were to have a silver Z, I would slap on a Metal Shield lid.

 

^
Yeah, the metal shield was nice...I also liked the metal mosaic.

 

Off Topic:
Any idea where to purchase the Metal Shield lid for the Z1?

-
On Topic:
With the Z2 being quite a bit different in many areas to the Z1 I can see how some could be dissatisfied with it. I think it all comes down to how you use your notebook and what your expectations are. All in all the Z2 is a fantastic system. I do worry a bit about the proprietary PMD and its proprietary drivers though.

 

These are the part numbers for the Z1 series lids:

X-2541-527-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY BK (Black)
X-2541-528-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY SV (Silver)
X-2541-888-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY PC (Premium Carbon)
X-2541-889-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY GPC (Glossy Premium Carbon)
X-2541-890-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY MS (D1) (Metal Shield)
X-2541-891-2 ASSY HOUSING DISPLAY MM (D2) (Metal Mosaic)

Can't find the ones for infinite octagon, infinite stripe or bordeaux.

Price ranges from between roughly $250 USD for black/silver to $437 USD for Metal Mosaic. Metal Shield is listed as $349 USD.

Places to buy the lids:

Sony Vaio VPC-Z1-Series (VPC-Z1390X) Laptop Miscellaneous Parts for Notebook Computers
https://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/index.jsp

Prices above are from sparepartswarehouse. Sony Direct is more expensive. All prices exclude shipping and tax. Shipping is possible outside the US from sparepartswarehouse but if you factor in shipping costs, VAT and customs duty the checkout price almost doubles. So yeah. About $500 to import a Black plastic lid into the EU (madness).

I'm enquiring about part availability and price from these guys: Sony Laptop Repair UK - Vaio Laptop Repair Specialists for the UK. They should get back to me on Monday or Tuesday but so far, it looks like Sony spares prices are just ping pong space giraffe insane.

 

I took a good picture of the "blue" color in the post below. It really does look like that under bright lights. Happily under dimmer lighting it looks less obviously purple. Under a camera flash it does look blue as it does on the sony web site.

I found the color doesn't bother me and I like how the black keys stand out against the "blue."

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...2011-series-owners-thread-64.html#post7820418

 

The Blurple model is iridescent, looking deep blue from some angles, purple from others. That pic is a worst-case

 

I agree. It is iridescent. That's a good description.

The color in the photo is the one I saw when I first opened the lid out of the box. It was a bit of a shock. Sitting in natural light as I type this, the color fairly blue (ish).

Honestly, if I had it to do over again, I think I'd still get the blurple.

 

The only thing i didn't like about the Metal Mosaic was that it was easier to scratch than the Metal Shield. Although, it was hard to notice with the design.

Say what you want about the silver Z. If customization is your thing, the silver Z looks good with all lids. Not so much for the black Z.

 

The good folk of Notebookcheck.net seem to share all of your worries! They just published a review of the Z21 Review Sony Vaio VPC-Z21Q9E/B Subnotebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews and praised everything they could find to praise in, but the PMD just tested totally mediocre, and get this:

" Following this came the OpenGL test with the surprising error message: 'The graphics card doesn't fulfill the necessary minimum requirements'. Is this possible? Cinebench requires OpenGL 2.0 as a minimum requirement. The analysis with Everest confirms: The adopted Intel HD Graphics 3000 merely supports OpenGL version 1.1.0 - up to date in 1997! The HD Graphics 3000 should be able to support version 3.0 by definition."

Is anyone having problems with Open GL with the HD 3000?

Seems they felt drivers were the main issue with the PMD graphics/fps disappointments as well, but were none too pleased with the mediocre GPU chosen - AMD 6650 - saying it tested between an nVidia 525 and 540 except in one game. Even the 900p screen tested less bright and with reduced color gamut than that of the Z1s they tested (though they tested 3 different models of Z1s and got quite a bit of variation among them too. Seems like the model they got had only 128 GB Sata II SSDs - only got 400-500 mb/s sequential reads. All this for 2,800 GBP (about $3,800 US!)

I am really disappointed that Sony didn't "sweat the details" before releasing the Z2. I'm hoping the first refresh will come soon and have some big changes - nothing sounded hard to remedy - but until they do, it puts a bit of a taint on the whole "Z mystique," and people are finding it hard to recommend it over an MBA 13, even while acknowledging its areas of superiority. Shame on them; they owe their loyal fanbase better, IMO.

 

As is usual with notebookcheck those observations all seem to be spot on IMHO. People are indeed having problems with OpenGL (if I am not mistaken with both AMD and Intel parts). There were similar OpenGL issues with the SA/SB/SC but those seem to be remedied with updated drivers (not from Sony of course.) The drivers as far as I can tell are a huge part of the issue. I have been trying to put together a package to update them but for whatever reason it doesn't seem to be working. (I don't have a Z2 so it is difficult to troubleshoot.)

The drivers also seem to have many features locked down. Features like rotation are disabled which seems odd for a notebook that is intended to be run with external displays.

My reluctance with the Z2 and its PMD is due to its proprietary nature. The only saving grace for community supported switchable graphics has been that implementations used were common with a variety of systems. This of course means that there is a much higher probability that problems and fixes will be common to other switchable graphics notebooks. Since the PMD and Sonys implementation of lightpeak is new, it is difficult to know if there will be any other companies attempting this approach. If there are not, we have a switchable graphics implementation supported almost entirely by Sony.