Sony Vaio Z - almost a year together

Introduction

In August 2009, I purchased a Sony Vaio Z11MRN laptop, which I want to talk about. As the sticker on the case indicates, the device itself was born on 09.09.2008. So for the whole year my pet stumbled around the warehouses and / or stood in the shop window.



Criteria for choosing a future device:
1) Small (ideally 13 inches) and lightweight
2) Powerful within reason
3) Not glossy (applies to all parts of the case and the screen)


As a result, I chose between IBM (Lenovo) ThinkPad X200, a pair of Acer 's and Sony Vaio Z series (Z11 and Z21). What did “fascinate” me with Z'ka in addition to the three criteria above?
1) A body made of carbon fiber (in common Carbon) weighing 1.5 kg
2) Stylish appearance (by the way, in August 2009 there were very few laptops that had a keyboard with “separate” buttons ala Mac, maybe even only Sony)
3) HDMI port

Full specifications of the laptop:

Processor: Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz
RAM: 4 GB DDR III SDRAM 1066 MHz (2 strips of 2048 MB)
Hard disk: 200 GB Serial ATA 5400 rpm + G-sensor electronic protection of the hard drive from shock
Drive: DVD + - RW / + - R DL / RAM
Screen: X-black with 1366x768 13.1-inch LED technology
Ports: 2 usb, IEEE139, Memory Stick ™, SD, microphone jack, RJ-11 (modem), RJ-45 (network), VGA , HDMI, audio output, Express Card
Wireless interfaces: WiFi 802.11b / g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Ethernet 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX / 1000BASE-T
Sound: Intel® High Definition
Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS 256 Mb and Mobile Intel® GM45 Express

Here's what Sony herself writes about the Z11

The Vaio Z series is based on the principle of mobility without sacrificing functionality. The optimal balance between power and comfort is achieved through a unique compact 12-layer motherboard. The case of the Vaio Z is made of carbon fiber, so the laptop is not only lightweight - up to 1.5 kg, but also withstands a drop from a height of 72 cm when turned on. The laptop keyboard is decorated with a decorative aluminum panel. The 13-inch screen is equipped with an LED backlight.

Purchase

At that time, prices danced at Price.ru and Yandex.Market from 58,000 to 65,000 rubles. Therefore, when I saw Z11MRN in the wonderful Eldorado chain supermarket with a large yellow price tag of 47,999 rubles (and the crossed out figure of 62,000 rubles), I immediately took it. Sales consultants informed that the laptop was in the window for a very long time since the contingent of the store does not imagine buying a laptop for 50k. Then there was the traditional “steaming” of an extended warranty and unnecessary accessories, and now, finally, the treasured box in my hands.

First impressions

After the first switch-on, I got a very big “Wow effect”. First of all, I was struck by the display with an excellent matrix. Bright and rich colors, excellent viewing angles. So far I have not seen the display better than in my Z'ke. Another addition to the screen - despite the fact that the technical specifications say “glossy”, it can be considered matte without a stretch (this is a merit of the X-black Xonev technology, which they advertise in this way). The case is of excellent quality, no backlashes and creaks. Preinstalled Vista ran fast. Naturally, a giant bunch of Sonevsky utilities and trial software from other manufacturers were also preinstalled. All of this was instantly deleted, except for the VAIO Control Center. without it, the Fn + ... button combinations do not work and the battery care function is activated.

Free Update to Windows 7

Remember this great promotion? =) The laptop was bought during the period when it passed. Therefore, I honestly followed what was happening on Sonya’s website, hoping to get the seven “for free” (if you do not take into account the cost of delivery, as it turned out later). At first, there was no exact information on the update to Seven, and the inscription More information Coming Soon flaunted ... Later, a list of models for pre-order appeared. Naturally, by the law of meanness, my Z11MRN was not on this list. The closest “brother” in the list was Z21MRN, which differs from my device only by the presence of a finger scanner (for fingerprinting) and an HDD of 7200 rpm (against my 5400 rpm). The rest of the iron is identical. I believe that Sony decided to hack the excess dough (as well as most other companies) - if you want a new axis - buy new hardware. Although there is no need for a new hardware. Now I think I’m lucky that I flew with the update share because people on the forumclub.vaio.sony.ru spat a lot on this whole event (I can’t give a perflink - there’s no search on the Sony VAIO official forum ... for almost a year now ...

Windows 7 vs Hybrid Video Drivers vs HDMI audio

Now, perhaps, the most interesting part of my article will be. As you can see their technical characteristics in the laptop there are two video cards: in the STAMINA mode the Mobile Intel® GM45 Express is turned on, and in the SPEED mode - NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS 256 Mb. To make all this happiness work together, Sony makes special hybrid drivers. Thus, I can’t download the latest firewood on the 9300M GS from the Nvidia website, but I need to wait until they’ll finish it for my VAIO. Of course, again, under the law of meanness, Sony really does not like to deal with drivers, it does it slowly and often clumsily.



It was time to install Windows 7. The process went smoothly, all the drivers got out of the box (the seven video drivers “ate” the Vista drivers). However, small bugs were revealed:
1) in SPEED mode, screen brightness adjustment does not work
2) switching between video cards is “buggy”, the screen turns on and off many times (like a strobe, only more slowly), and often something like this happened:



Not fatal. It only remained to wait. After some time, drivers appear under Windows 7 for Z21. Here it is happiness, I thought =) ... And I was mistaken. I watch movies very often on my 32 'Philips TV, which I connect via HDMI. With new firewood under the seven, my sound disappears. Symptom - when connecting a TV via HDMI, if you click on the sound icon in the tray and watch the playback device, then there is HDMI Output and even the “volume” indicator bar “jumps”, supposedly the signal is on.
But actually there is no sound. I meet a lot of people with the same problem on the ixbt.com forum. I naively turn to Sony support, where I get the answer: “Windows 7 is not provided for your laptop model, we can’t help with anything.” I'm starting to experiment with drivers:

Z11 for Vista - there is sound
Z21 for Vista - there is sound
Z21 for Win7 - there is no sound
Z690 (American analogue) for Win7 - there is no sound
Z750 (American analogue) for Win7 - there is no sound
Unoriginal drivers Vista & Windows 7 32 / 64 notebookreview.com - no sound

So I get up to a choice: sound via HDMI or adjusting screen brightness, lower performance (according to Windows) and clumsy switching between graphics modes.
Why am I so attached to this sound via an HDMI cable, you ask? The answer is simple - the built-in speakers are very small and not loud. In short, none. As a result, I bought such a device. I connect it via USB (it takes both an audio signal and power - I do not like a lot of wires).

Sony VAIO Z11MRN Summary, Pros and Cons

+ matte case and screen
+ light and powerful
- it gets very hot
- bad sound
- trouble with drivers
- price (overpayment for Sony brand)

And anyway, I love him!