Full Vaio Z2 Review and Useful Guides/Resources

[cherrybombaz]

Sony Vaio Z2 Review

Note: I have the Z2 with the Intel Core i5-2310M CPU @ 2.5ghz, 4GB RAM, 2x128GB Gen2 SSD and 1600x900 screen. I’m running on a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

Build Quality/Design
The Z2 is undeniably thin and light, but since I’ve been spoiled by previous generation Z’s, when I first got it, it didn’t feel that light; but in comparison, it is quite a bit lighter at 2.57lbs versus 3.5lbs.

The build quality compared to the previous Vaio Z is also much better. The chassis feels much more solid and I can hold it with one hand at a corner while moving it up and down without any flex. On previous generation Z’s this was sort of an issue, as the chassis felt kind of plastic instead of the solid feel you get from the carbon fiber. However, the hinge doesn’t feel as sturdy as the rest of the laptop. It creaks a bit when you open and close it and sometimes, it pops disconcertingly if there’s pressure being applied and you try to open it. Also, you get the typical Sony flex in the screen, and yes, I know that it makes the laptop better withstand impacts/abuse, but honestly, it just doesn’t feel right.

Compared to the Macbook Air, it doesn’t feel as solid, partly in due to the weird hinge design and partly because of the flimsy feeling screen. Also, there’s just this general creakiness that I didn’t like very much. Basically, I just got the feeling that I would have to be pretty careful with this laptop, just like with the older Z’s. In contrast, with the MBA, I felt like I could really throw it around and it would be fine – but this is just a feeling.

Looks

Again, I’ve been spoiled by previous generation Z’s, which have always been lauded for their looks. But obviously, this one’s a looker; it’s just a matter of taste. The finish (that nice soft, matte black color) inside the laptop feels especially premium, as one would expect. So I would assume black is probably the best choice of color here, especially for that understated, simple, yet elegantly sexy look you get from the Z.

It doesn’t look as thin as the Macbook Air because of its non-tapered design, but in reality, it actually is thinner (0.6in all the way through compared to 0.68in at the MBA’s thickest point). However, it definitely looks more expensive (rightly so).

Keyboard/trackpad/buttons

The keyboards on the old Z and the MBA are definitely easier to get used to at first (though the keys on the Z2 are better spaced vs the Z1). Why? Because the keys travel so little, so you really have press quite a bit harder on them (see the picture below that shows just how low the keys actually are). But as you get used to typing on this keyboard, you'll probably end up liking it more and more (in the end, I'd have to say the Z2 is more comfortable to type on than the MBA). This is probably because the keys feel really solid, firm, and springy, even with the small amount of key travel. They also make a very nice clicking sound though when pressed and keyboard flex is minimal. And of course the backlighting is nice; it’s just this ugly, mucky yellow color.

The trackpad is fine but I honestly don’t like it as much as the old Z’s. The surface is nicely textured, but there’s no separator between the glass buttons and the actual touchpad (and boy do I hate these buttonless trackpads). It’s very responsive though (more so than the one on the MBA), but it’s a bit small for my taste. 2-finger scrolling is fine, but not as smooth as the MBA. Between the 2 buttons lies a fingerprint sensor, which, unfortunately, isn’t as comfortable to use as the one on the old Z.

The “Assist”, “Web”, and “VAIO” buttons are kinda useful and this time around, they’re capacitive instead of actual buttons and glow white when you tap them. The wireless switch is quite useful, but it’s hard to flip since it’s so small. The power button is stiff, but it still retains that familiar green glow when on and orange glow when the laptop is asleep.

Speakers

Pretty bad. The tinny and quiet speakers are located on the bottom of the laptop. People have mentioned disabling Dolby, but this just made the speakers too soft to actually use for me. But then again, the speakers on the older Z’s were bad too, so I mostly just use headphones anyways. Not comparable to MBA speakers or even my Droid's speaker.

Screen

The screen is nothing short of amazing. It somehow manages to be even brighter than my old VGN-Z and when placed side by side, it was noticeably more vivid. I have the 1600x900 screen, which has high enough pixel density for my purposes. I would recommend it for most people, as for me the 1080p screen makes things a bit too small for me to see things clearly.

Performance/Benchmarks!

Vaio Z2 boot - http://youtu.be/ae7Vs2v98v8
PCMark 7 w/Intel HD = 3839 PCMarks - Comparably, the MBA gets 3630, the Sony Vaio SB gets 1805, and the M11x gets R3 gets 2050. It's important to note that having an SSD greatly inflates one's PCMark score.
3Dmark06 w/Intel HD (on driver from Intel's website) - 4728; (with the drivers from Sony Europe) - 4759
3Dmark06 w/6650m - 8543
Crystaldiskmark - 478.4MB/s read; 348.7MB/s write


This is the reason people buy the Z. The dual 128GB SSD provides staggering performance. Boot time never ceases to amaze me and is around 8-10 seconds with fast boot enabled. Applications launch instantaneously as you would expect from an SSD. See the crystaldiskmark benchmarks below. You get everything you would expect from a full power i5/i7 (unlike the underpowered ones in the MBA, Samsung Series 9, and those new Ultrabooks). But no quad core option is available.

Unfortunately, the 6550M is subpar, and just simply isn’t enough of an upgrade from the already decent Intel HD, which is adept at handling most tasks, even some gaming. I tried League of Legends on the Intel HD and it runs smoothly with everything set to Very High at 1600x900. In the end, I still wish that Sony could have put a better GPU inside the PMD.

Noise

When idling, or word processing or web browsing, the Z2 is almost dead silent. When doing something that involves the SSD working a bit, there’s a tiny bit of computer noise. The Z2 seems to have a couple of fan modes. The fan isn’t whiny; it’s more of a breathy sound, as if lots of air is being blown out. It’s definitely quieter than the VGN-Z fan at full load.
• At low speeds, it’s very quiet and barely noticeable in a quiet room. It will stay at this speed if you’re web browsing/word processing, even watching 720p Youtube videos fullscreen – about 30dB
• At low-medium speed, it’s a bit more noticeable but still quiet – 32dB
• Medium speed – light gaming/ heavy processor use - happens when installing lots of programs/windows updates at once – 40dB; The fan noise is completely acceptable at this point, but definitely noticeable.
• High speed—happens while gaming – 47dB; Here's where the fan noise gets annoyingly loud. Keep in mind it only happens when you’re doing intensive gaming, or maybe some heavy audio/video processing.

Temperatures

Under heavy load (such as while gaming), temperatures reach about 83C in the CPU. See the picture of max temperatures below. The bottom of the laptop is warm to touch at this point, while the keyboard and surface is very slightly warm. Heat is generally not an issue; the dual fan system seems much more effective at pushing hot air out and keeps the exterior of the notebook comfortable to touch under heavy load. This is in contrast to the VGN-Z, where the bottom of the laptop would get unbearably hot to touch under heavy load (probably because of the internal discrete GPU).

Battery life

Battery life is pretty good; much more than I expected from the smallish 4000mAh battery. At 50% brightness doing some web browsing and word processing, expect at least 6 hours. You could probably squeeze 8 hours out of it if you’re just word processing.

Configuration options

You can configure the laptop up to an i7, 8GB RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. I would recommend the configuration I got, as the i5 is barely slower than the i7 and runs cooler as well as giving better battery life. 4GB is enough for gaming and most tasks, the 512GB upgrade is just too expensive, and the 1600x900 is comfortably sharp (and it's brighter than the 1080p screen).

Conclusions

The Vaio Z is a gem of a laptop, but still, a mixed bag. On one hand, you get a super-thin, super-powerful machine. On the other, you have its price; about $2,500 for my model, and its less than acceptable GPU performance. It doesn’t make sense to me that all Sony put inside the PMD was the measly ATI 6650M. They could have done so much more with the GPU, as the concept of the PMD is excellent, where you have a machine that could be powerful in everyday tasks, and be just as fast as a gaming laptop with the PMD connected – an ultraportable laptop that could do everything one could dream of.

So what I think is this; if you have a previous generation VPC-Z1, upgrading to the Z2 is definitely something to consider carefully. The performance improvements aren’t that great (besides boot times) and there are some things that the Z1 does better. But coming from a VGN-Z, the difference is almost night and day.

For those who are looking to buy a something like the MBA or the Samsung Series 9 or the Thinkpad X1, I would strongly recommend the Z2, as the price is similar between these 4 options (similarly configured - $1600 vs $1650 vs $1700 vs $2000), considering that the Z2 has the PMD included in its $2k starting price. Furthermore, out of the 4, it has the fastest SSDs, the best screen, discrete graphics, a full processor, and it’s considerably lighter (~0.4lbs). Thus, I see very little reason to buy any other ultraportable on the market, even with the arrival of the new Ultrabooks (which have similar, underpowered specs like the other ultraportables of today; e.g. ULV processor, integrated graphics). And of course, there’s that niche of power users like me- who want maximum portability with oodles of power – to which the Z2 caters perfectly.

But the problem is this. For the average consumer who cares about price and wants a portable laptop, there are options like the Toshiba Portege R830 for around $700 that are almost as portable and still have the same i5, 4GB ram, and decent battery life (but no SSD). To complicate matters, there’s always the option of buying 2 laptops - maybe a MBA (for $1k) and a real gaming laptop (for $1k), which would give you both portability and more GPU and CPU power at your desk (minus the SSD)– similar to the concept of the dock.

But for me, out of the countless laptops I’ve used, Sony’s VAIO Z has been the laptop that I’ve been happiest with—the combination of power, portability, and looks is perfect. And the Z2 is no exception.

Full Review with pictures

[cherrybombaz]

Useful Guides/Resources

How to enable fastboot: (If you need the files inside the VAIO Boot Manager folder, I posted them here.)

Got my Z2 today, and figured out how to enable the Fast BIOS option in VAIO Control Center on a clean install!

You will need some files from the original pre-install/recovery. I won't post those files since 1) my unit is a Japan-localized unit and could have possible incompatabilities, and 2) Sony might get upset. But I'll explain below where the files are.

These instructions assume you are installing a 64-bit version of Win 7.

PRE-REQUISITE WARNING: This worked for me, but there could be some other setting on your unit that causes a conflict. Make sure you back up!

First, we need to get the necessary files.

1. Restore your system to the original pre-install using the restore partition, DVD, or USB drive. Remember, doing this will wipe the whole drive, including any additional partitions you may have created. Make sure you backup!
2. The files we need are in: C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Boot Manager\*. Just copy the whole directory and keep it in a safe location, such as a USB key or another computer.

Next, format and install a clean copy of Windows 7 as you normally would, and install all the standard Sony utilities (Shared Library, Notebook Utilities, etc). Or restore a system image.

Finally, let's add the Fast BIOS option back:

1. Drop the files from VAIO Boot Manager back into their original location on the new system (C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Boot Manager\*).
2. Last, we need to let Control Center know to load the files. Add this registry key:
   

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sony Corporation\VAIO Control Center\Plugins]
   "VBFSetting"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Sony\\VAIO Boot Manager\\VBFSetting.dll"

   If in doubt, you should see a string value inside the Plugins key with name VBFSetting and data C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Boot Manager\VBFSetting.dll.
3. Reboot, then open up VAIO Control Center. You should see Fast BIOS.

Sorry for not posting the files. If you didn't create recovery media or can't be bothered to restore, maybe someone else might be willing to post their files.

Frankly, the Z2 is already speedy. I'd say Fast BIOS might shave 1 or 2 seconds off the boot time, but it could just be a placebo.

How to do a Clean Install of Windows 7

This is my first draft of a clean install document for the Z21 series. Any suggestions, comments, etc. are welcome.


Complete Guide to Performing a Clean Install on the Sony VAIO Z21 Series Notebook


Topics Covered

1) What is a clean install and why might you want to perform a clean install?
2) Things you may want to do before starting a clean install
3) How to create a bootable thumb drive from which to install Windows
4) How to legitimately reinstall Windows without needing a new license key or activating Windows
5) Installing drivers and applications
6) How to extract drivers and applications from recovery media that are not available for download
7) How to recover with Fast Boot mode enabled


What is a clean install and why might I want to do this?

A “clean install” refers to installing Windows from scratch without all of the additional software that is often bundled along with a system. You are effectively cleaning this unwanted software from your system in a manner in which no remnants of unwanted software are left behind.

In addition, performing a clean install will eliminate the space used by the recovery partition. This is a fairly good chuck of space that you can gain back (about 14GB).

A clean install will also allow you to upgrade your edition of Windows. For example, if you purchased a system with Windows Home Premium and you now have a need for the features of Windows Ultimate, a clean install is the perfect opportunity to upgrade.


Things you may want to do before starting a clean install

When it was shipped, your system came with a Recovery Partition that will allow you to recover and reinstall individual programs or drivers or even recover the entire system. You should follow the instructions provided by Sony to make a backup of your recovery partition. Should your system get into a state where it cannot boot from internal disk at all, for example if the recovery partition is damaged, you may just wish that you had a backup.

Even if you have a perfect clean install process, you may one day want a copy of the recovery partition in case you want to sell your system so that you can provide it to the owner in exactly the same configuration in which it shipped from Sony.

You will also want to make sure that you backup any data that you have saved to your system before starting the clean install process.
 
How to create a bootable thumb drive from which to install Windows

What you will need:

1) You will need a thumb drive of 4GB or larger capacity. This thumb drive should not has a “U3” partition on it.

2) You will need a Windows ISO image or DVD.

3) If you are using an ISO image you either need software to extract the files (latest version of WinZIP is fine) or software that lets you mount the ISO as if it were a DVD.

4) A Windows Vista or Windows 7 from which to follow the steps below. This will NOT work from Windows XP.

Creating the Thumb drive:

1) Insert the thumb drive.

2) Open a command prompt and run “diskpart”.

3) Run the command “list disk”. A list of all disks will be displayed. You should be able to recognize the thumb drive by its size. Note the disk number associated with the disk. If you are uncertain, STOP! The next steps will wipe the disk you select, so be sure it is the correct one.

4) Run the command “select disk x”. In place of the “x” use the number of the disk you noted above.

5) Run the following series of commands:

“clean”
“create partition primary”
“active”
“format fs=fat32 quick”
“assign”
“exit”

6) Now, copy all the files from your DVD or ISO image to the thumb drive. You can drag and drop all the files, or you can do a “xcopy d:\*.* /s /e e:\” where d: is the ISO image or the DVD drive letter and e:\ is the letter that the thumb drive now has. Whatever method you use, make sure to copy ALL files and folders.

7) Done! This is now a bootable Windows thumb drive.


 
How to legitimately reinstall Windows without needing a new license key or activating Windows

If you plan to install THE SAME edition of Windows that came from the factory, then there is no need to use a new license key, nor will you need to activate your copy of Windows. Again, note that this ONLY works if you are installing the same version that your system shipped with. For example, if your system shipped with Home Premium, and you are planning to install Home Premium again, this procedure will work.

How this works: OEMs such as Dell, HP, Sony, etc. ship massive quantities of computers and they don’t have time to activate thousands of systems. As a result, Microsoft allows this systems to ship “pre activated” by using 3 components that all prove that the system was licensed from the factory with a particular edition of Windows. There is license key, the activation certificate, and a matching signature built into the BIOS. All 3 must match in order for this work. In other words, you cannot take this certificate and license key to another machine and use it there.

Here are steps to accomplish this:

1) BEFORE you delete your original factory installation, download and install the “Activation Backup and Restore” utility from here: ABR (Activation Backup and Restore) | directedge.us. Important: For Windows 7 by sure to go to the section that says “ABR Beta With Windows 7 Support”.

2) Run the utility. It will make a backup of your license key and your activation certificate. Save that information somewhere safe!

3) Before you shutdown your computer, turn off the Fast Boot option if you have it enabled.
NOTE: Even with fast boot enabled, you can boot from external media by simply pressing F11 repeatedly while the system is booting. What I have not to determine, however, is how to re-enable normal boot once fast boot is enabled if you perform a clean install. I suspect it won’t be hard to figure out, I just have not done so yet.

4) Boot from a bootable Windows DVD or thumb drive that has the same edition of Windows that is installed on your system. NOTE: If you have an All-In-One disk or thumb drive that has all Windows 7 versions, that is okay as well. Just make sure to choose the same version that your system shipped with.

5) When you get to the point in the installation where you are shown the partitions on your drive, choose the advanced option and then delete all partitions. You will end up with one large area of free space. Choose that to install to. NOTE: You can actually partition this any way you want if you know what you are doing. I’m simply presenting the simplest and “cleanest” option.

6) When you are prompted to provide your license key, leave that field blank. On the same screen you will see a check box offing to automatically activate Windows when online. Uncheck this box as well.

7) Complete the installation by responding to any prompts.

8) Once your install is done and you are logged onto Windows, run the ABR utility again and this time restore the license key and the activation certificate. If you prefer not to install that utility on your clean installation, you can follow this manual process:

- A) Copy the Activation Certificate that ABR saved for you and place it in C:\.

- B) Open an Elevated Command Prompt (click on Start, type “CMD”, then press CTRL-Shift-Enter”. If you did it correctly the Window will have “Adimistrator: C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe” in the title.

- C) Install the certificate by running "SLMGR.VBS -ilc c:\BACKUP-CERT.XRM-MS" (or whatever name you saved the certificate as). Note that this operation might take a few seconds, so wait for confirmation.

- D) Install the OEM product key by running "SLMGR.VBS -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" and substitute in your license key that was saved by ABR. Again, this operation might take a few seconds, so wait for confirmation.

- E) Finally, run "SLMGR.VBS -dlv" or right-click "Computer" and chose "Properties" to verify your licensing status. The Licensing Status should show "Licensed".


Installing drivers and applications

This section will deal with installing all of the drivers and applications that are available from the Sony Web Site. Please note that there are some items that you cannot download from the Web Site, most notably the Intel only display driver (in the US), the WWAN drivers (again in the US), and programs such as WinDVD, Roxio Easy Disc Creator, etc. The next section will help you to deal with those.

First, begin by downloading of the available drivers from Sony. In the US you can go to Sony eSupport - Electronics, and enter your model number. For example, the Configure To Order model is the VPCZ2190X.

Now install the drivers in the following order. Any time that you are asked to reboot, you can cancel the request to reboot unless I specify below that you should reboot. Please note that this is by no means the only order in which you can install these drivers. There are definitely some drivers and programs that require other things to be installed first so you don’t want to just install in random order, but my procedure is just one possible combination that works.


1 – Motherboard
- 1 – Intel 6 Series and C200 Series Chipset Family Driver 9.2.0.1021
- 2 – Intel Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller 10.5.0.1026
- 3 – Intel SATA Driver HIPM Disable Registry Patch 110801
- 4 – REBOOT
 
2 – Video

NOTE: It is very important that you understand this note before proceeding. The video drivers for this machine are exceptionally picky about how they are installed. First, please note that the AMD Radeon and Intel Graphics driver that is available from the US Web Site WILL NOT WORK UNLESS YOU CONNECT THE PMD FIRST. In fact, if you install it without the PMD connected, it can be a pain resolve the issues that will occur. If you do not have the PMD connected, and you need just the Intel drivers you need to be aware of some additional things. First, you will note that the Sony US site has no separate download for just the Intel graphics. To get this driver, you can either download it from Sony Europe, or you can install it by opening VAIO Care, choosing Recovery & restore, Recovery, and finally Reinstall Applications and Drivers. You could also extract it from your Recovery Backup as I will detail in the next section so that you will have a permanent copy of the driver.

Very important: If you install the Intel video driver, then BEFORE YOU CONNECT THE PMD, go to device manager and uninstall the Intel display driver, reboot, connect the PMD, then install the combined AMD Radeon HD 6650M and Mobile Intel Graphics Software 8.830.7.0.

- 1 – AMD Radeon HD 6650M and Mobile Intel Graphics Software 8.830.7.0
- or
- 1 – Intel Graphics Driver 8.15.10.2353
- 2 - Reboot

3 – RAID
- 1 - Generic Marvell 61xx RAID Controller for Docking Station 1.2.0.8200

4 – Audio

NOTE: After installing the audio drivers every time that you boot the system a screen related to settings for the Noise Cancelling Headphones will be displayed. To stop this, run MSCONFIG, go to the Startup tab, and locate "Noise Canceling Program". Uncheck the box next to this, and then click on "OK".

Note that noise cancellation will still work and that the tool for configuring it will still run in the task bar. This simply stops the annoying screen that comes up every time you boot.

- 1 - Realtek High Definition Audio Driver 6.0.1.6353
- 2 - Realtek Audio Driver Registry Patch 110519
- 3 - Realtek ATI HDMI Audio Driver 6.0.1.6251

5 – Device Driver
- 1 - Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller 2.1.16.0
 
6 – Wireless LAN

NOTE: On the Sony US Web Site you will find 2 drivers for the Wireless LAN. There is the original driver and an updated driver. There is no need to install the original driver. You can skip right to the updated driver

- 1 - Update - Intel Centrino Advanced N 6230 Driver Update 14.1.1.3

7 – Bluetooth Wireless

NOTE: There are 3 Bluetooth Drivers on the Sony Web Site. The original and 2 updates. You can skip the original driver but you will need to install BOTH updates in the order shown below.

- 1 - Update - Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed Adapter 1.0.81.20579
- 2 - Update 2 - Version 14.1.1.3

8 – Wireless
- 1 - Intel Wireless Display Software 2.0.31.0

9 – WWAN

NOTE: In the US, the WWAN drivers are not available on the Sony Web Site. Us the procedure that I provide in the next section to obtain these.

- 1 – Gobi 3000 Firmware
- 2 – Gobi 3000 Driver
- 3 – AT&T Connection Manager (Optional, install if you plan to use AT&T)

10 – Camera
- 1 - WebCam Companion 4 Software 4.0.21.392

11 – Memory Card Reader Writer
- 1 - Realtek PCIE Card Reader Driver 6.1.7600.80
- 2 – REBOOT

12 – System Components
- 1 - Sony Shared Library 5.9.0.03310
- 2 - Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device Driver 8.0.1.2
- 3 - Intel Management Engine Interface 7.0.0.1144
- 4 – REBOOT

13 – Notebook Control and Utilities
- 1 - Sony Notebook Utilities 1.0
- 2 – REBOOT
 
14 – Sony Applications

NOTE: The Sony Web Site lists the VAIO Care Software and an update for this software. They are actually both the same version. Install either one.

- 1 - VAIO Location Utility 1.1.00.06060
- 2 – REBOOT
- 3 - VAIO Hardware Diagnostics Software 4.2.0.1428000
- 4 - VAIO CPU Fan Diagnostics Software 1.0.0.14140
- 5 – REBOOT
- 6 - VAIO Care Software 6.4.1.05290
- 7 - VAIO Care Software Update 6.4.1.05290
- 8 - Update - VAIO Gate Software Update 2.4.0.06210

15 – Network
- 1 - Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller 7.40.126.2011
- 2 - VAIO Smart Network Software 3.6.0.05180
- 3 - Update - VAIO Smart Network Software 3.6.1.07200

16 – Remote Software
- 1 - Remote Keyboard Software 1.0.1.03020

17 – Touchpad
- 1 - Synaptics PS2 Port TouchPad 15.3.2.2

18 – VAIO Update
- 1 - VAIO Update Software 5.4.0.15300

19 – Security
- 1 - AuthenTec AES1660 Fingerprint Sensor 3.1.0.62
- 2 – REBOOT
- 3 - AuthenTec TrueSuite Software 4.0.100.26
- 4 - Infineon TPM Professional Package 3.70.2281.0

20 – System Software
- 1 - Splashtop OS - Quick Web Access Software 1.4.6.2
- 2 – REBOOT

21 – Extras

This category includes any additional software that you may want to install such as WinDVD, Sony Picture Motion Browser, etc. Extract these programs using the method I describe in the next section.


 
How to extract drivers and applications from recovery media that are not available for download

Create a batch file called CAPTURE.BAT and put it in C:\. Place the following text in the file:

@echo off
:start
robocopy c:\windows\temp\sony\extracted c:\captured /e /w:1 /ndl /ns /nc /np /njh /njs > nul
goto start

What it does: When you run VAIO Care and then chose Recovery & restore, Recovery, Reinstall Applications and Drivers, the driver or application will be extracted to a directory under c:\windows\temp\sony\extracted. Once all the files are extracted, it is installed from here and then deleted after the installation is done. If you run this batch file while installing applications and drivers then the extracted files and directories will be copied to c:\captured before they are deleted.

Simply save the resulting directory, rename to indicate what the driver or application is and now you can easily install the driver or app without needing the Recovery Media.


How to recover with Fast Boot mode enabled

If you have Fast Boot enabled you can still boot from external media by pressing F11 repeatedly at startup.

[cherrybombaz]

Useful Discussions:

New Z2 GPU driver released!
Overclocking the ATI in the Z2 PMD?
ViDock 4G for Light Peak (Z21) - POSSIBLE.
Vaio Z2 PMD driver testing and investigation
Vaio Z2 SSD Performance - Post your results!
[VAIO Z2] Shielding the Z2 - How-To
Vaio Z21 cracking and scratching hinges...
How to take off a key on the Z2
Sony Z2 - Photos and Teardown
Sony VAIO Z2 - SATA II vs SATA III
Z1 vs. Z2 - Sticking with the Z2
Z1 + ViDock + GTX 570 > FTW (the Z2/PMD killer)

[yannzoo2]

Sony Vaio Z2 Review

The build quality compared to the previous Vaio Z is also much better. The chassis feels much more solid and I can hold it with one hand at a corner without any flex. On previous generation Z’s this was sort of an issue, as the chassis felt kind of plastic instead of the solid feel you get from the carbon fiber. However, the hinge doesn’t feel as sturdy as the rest of the laptop. It creaks a bit when you open and close it and sometimes, it pops disconcertingly if there’s pressure being applied and you try to open it. Also, you get the typical Sony flex in the screen, and yes, I know that it makes the laptop better withstand impacts/abuse, but honestly, it just doesn’t feel right.

Full Review with pictures

Interesting recap, and moreover your review mentions the creaking hinges problem I noticed on mine.

I inspected another unit, and noticed the same problem, so I am expected it to become a widespread (if not major) issue of the Z2...

Vaio Z21 cracking and scratching hinges...

[cherrybombaz]

Interesting recap, and moreover your review mentions the creaking hinges problem I noticed on mine.

I inspected another unit, and noticed the same problem, so I am expected it to become a widespread (if not major) issue of the Z2...

Vaio Z21 cracking and scratching hinges...

On my old Z, the hinge didn't feel that sturdy either and it would pop sometimes too (mainly because of a loosened screw), but it never broke or anything, so I'm kind of used to the fragile feel of the hinge. I guess Sony isn't that great at making hinges.

[SPEEDwithJJ]

Useful Guides/Resources

How to enable fastboot: (If you need the files inside the VAIO Boot Manager folder, I posted them here.)



How to do a Clean Install of Windows 7

Very good post. I've added a link to it in the first post of the VAIO VPC-Z2 Owners' thread.

[dariusnaz]

Bravo - great review, thanks for sharing.

[johne2606]

Have you opened your Z2? I'm getting mine with 128GB (64GB x2) RAID 0 but i have 512 (256GB x 2) on my vpcz1290x. Hopefully i can switch them out.

[Rachel]

Excellent thread, it's been linked in the helpful threads in the sticky thread at the top of this forum.

There is also the Z2 owners' thread.
Official Sony VPC-Z2 (VAIO Z 2011) Series Owners' Thread

[ZoinksS2k]

Nice thread, didn't read the review tho

Prolly want to put this thread in here too. It has the only disassembly photos. I also took some comparison shots with the Z1 and a Macbook Air 11"

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony...visection.html

In hindsight, I should have picked a different title.

Rachel, if you have the time, can you rename this thread to Sony Z2 - Photos and Teardown

Have you opened your Z2? I'm getting mine with 128GB (64GB x2) RAID 0 but i have 512 (256GB x 2) on my vpcz1290x. Hopefully i can switch them out.

You should be able to do this, but the new SSD's are SATA III and much faster than the older models.

Might want to add this thread as well: Sony VAIO Z2 - SATA II vs SATA III

Golly, I'm helpful