Sony vaio 11.1' or 13.1'

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#190256 17-Jan-2009 22:13

I would say go for eBay for anything like that - perhaps you could even get a Sony Z customised cover.

What model of the Z did you get? The $2999 or the $4399?

fatjoez

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#190257 17-Jan-2009 22:19

$2999 Z26GNB

I ordered a laptop skin off ebay, just looking for a keyboard cover now

heavenlywild

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#190259 17-Jan-2009 22:24

So did Sony include a pouch or any free stuff with this notebook?

What are your first impressions of this laptop? I guess I am wondering whether it is worth $$$$?

fatjoez

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#190264 17-Jan-2009 22:48

Quite rediculous actually
Nothing came free with it...

When I say rediculous, I mean because the $1500 vaios came with free Mice/carry bags..........
Purchased the pouch separately

Haven't actually powered on the notebook yet!!

I'm gonna try find a keyboard cover for it first cause without a doubt the
keyboard area takes the brunt of the dust breadcrumbs etc so yeah

Overall though I'll tell you this, if you want something portable & powerful you can't beat the vaio 13.1" Z Series

Used to work in computer retail fulltime and still keep tabs on the products in the market and I can tell you there is no real competitor to the 13.1" Z series in terms of size/spec and as far as I can tell thats how it's always been...

So it's up to you if I was you I'd get the base model 26GNB that I got and not the $4399 27GNB
There's a line when it comes to value for money, and the 27GNB crosses it.
The 26GNB however at 3K is plausible considering it essentially annihilates every other competitor (in this size/spec) be it HP or IBM or whoever

heavenlywild

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#190275 17-Jan-2009 23:11

Great to hear your feedback on it:) Thank you.

Yeah, I am a bit of a freak when it comes to wanting the latest and greatest. I am so tempted with the 27 ($4k) model because of the blu-ray drive, although I know I won't be watching many blu-ray movies.

I am still searching for a small external blu-ray player. I see many on eBay though... how come NZ doesn't import any? Oh well.

heavenlywild

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#190891 20-Jan-2009 19:59

How are you finding your Z after a few days of use?

fatjoez

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#190917 20-Jan-2009 21:49

Lol funnily enough I haven't actually used it yet!

Returned it as my parents had already ordered me one same model

Haven't set it up yet but I'll post back here with a decent review

I was looking at getting a SSD hard drive for it.

Going by: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820227359

It seems to be quite a performance enhancer for laptops...

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

heavenlywild

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#190926 20-Jan-2009 22:26

fatjoez: Lol funnily enough I haven't actually used it yet!

Returned it as my parents had already ordered me one same model

Haven't set it up yet but I'll post back here with a decent review

I was looking at getting a SSD hard drive for it.

Going by: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820227359

It seems to be quite a performance enhancer for laptops...

Did you face any problems dealing with Sony when you returned the product?

Also, where did your parents order it from? Any decent discounts?

I am surprised you can actually fit an SSD drive in the NZ version of the Vaio Z. Would you have to take out the hard drive or is there another bay for the SSD?

fatjoez

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#193477 2-Feb-2009 18:01

Ok buddy here goes

Been running the laptop for 2 days now

It's ok

Couple things

I partitioned the drive in half and installed Windows7 Public beta on it and use that instead of the default windows vista business

Windows 7 loads a lot faster than Vista on the laptop and I prefer it over vista so yeah

A few drivers couldn't be auto installed by Windows7 not sure what they even are cause the names are weird
But the main ones are installed so it seems ok

Loads pretty quick

One annoyance I have is the charger connector is quite flimsy and not as solid as my previous HP laptop where you'd plug it in and it'd be quick firm, this one wiggles a bit which is poor.

Another annoyance for me is there are no dedicated HOME / END / PageUp / PageDown buttons
I'm pretty quick with the keyboard and use these 4 buttons a lot and it'll take some getting used to cause now they're combined with the arrow keys which is annoying..

Nothing else to tell you apart from that

It's a good laptop, very compact, can take it anywhere...

heavenlywild

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#193852 3-Feb-2009 23:08

Thanks for your feedback. I have read online that many Z users have been suffering from damaged screens due to the flex of the cover. Even a light bump causes damage to it. Hope you haven't had any of those problems thus far.

How is the fan noise and the heat the computer generates?

fatjoez

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#193909 4-Feb-2009 09:55

nah nothing like that yet but hey I've got 3 years warranty so I'm not fussed really
Fan noise is quiet man. This is sonyyyy
man the lack of home / end / pageupdown dedicated buttons really gets me though ay cause I'm real quick on the keyboard with those...

heavenlywild

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#193911 4-Feb-2009 10:01

Oh cool man. Are you still looking at the SSD option? Can you install the SSD with the hard drive as well?

fatjoez

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#193915 4-Feb-2009 10:12

at this stage nah. can't be bothered is the main reason.

Anyway windows 7 is speedy enough

I dont know if you can install an SSD AND keep the existing hard drive....

Perhaps you can?

but none the less if you can't you have to replace the existing hard drive with the SSD

They're the same size SSD's are designed to be drop in replacements

But i've read some places that ssd's aren't that good an idea as they eventually wear out over time...

heavenlywild

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#193921 4-Feb-2009 10:23

Cool, good to know you can simply swap the hard drive with a SSD. I suppose they both use the same connectors and size-wise they are the same.

fatjoez

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#195225 10-Feb-2009 23:47

hey bra

just wanted to ask you

what exactly were those things you read about damaged screens. Ie what kind of damage?

Cause I'm running windows 7 on this laptop and check this screenshot out

http://iforce.co.nz/i/4420077c0a7d41178dadc327ff24ef18.jpg

My initial thought was that this was something related to windows 7 and perhaps driver issues or whatever

But i recalled you saying something about screen issues with the Z series so thought it might pay to check here

But given that i was able to actually take a Print SCreen , copy paste into paint and reproduce the issue, I'd say it's a windows issue rather than a laptop screen issue...

All the same check it out it's quite weird. I've installed the NVIDIA driver from windows 7 update center but still same

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