Sony VAIO Z series
Encyclopedia
Sony
has used the Z model moniker for its high-end ultraportable notebook computers since 2000. Unlike other Sony models, the Z has always been manufactured in Japan.
The model numbers for these computers have been PCG-Z (2000) VGN-Z (2008) VPC-Z1 (2010) and VPC-Z2 (2011).
The new Vaio Z is also compatible with Sony's Power Media Dock, which includes a external AMD GPU and a DVD or Blu-ray drive and connects to the laptop through Sony's implementation of the Light Peak
Technology. More specs revealed at TimesOfCommerce.com.
Custom Z series models which are built with a hard disk (i.e. non-SSD) and no optical drive are manufactured with a standard 2.5" hard disk fitted into the empty optical bay. These models can have the hard disk replaced by a standard 2.5" SSD. The adapter in the optical bay expects a 12.7mm high 2.5" drive. At least some 2.5" SSD drives (such as the Intel X-25e) are 9mm models. Proper fitting requires a shim (a piece of cardboard about 4mm thick cut to the shape of the drive will do).
In these cases, the unit can be opened up by unscrewing every screw on the back. The battery must be removed first and there are five screws covered by the battery; a group of three holding down a plastic rail and two which screw into the back part of the chassis. The two screwed into the chassis need to be removed. Opening the unit up appears not to void the warranty (no stickers broken).
Compared with the SZ series, the Z is slightly lighter (200 grams), with a slightly smaller (13.1" vs. 13.3") screen, which was switched from 16:10 to 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. In comparison to the SZ, which was available only in 1280x800 resolution, the Z series come with a choice (model-dependent) of screens, originally 1366x768 and 1600x900; and more recently models 1600x900 and 1920x1080.
As with the SZ, the Z has hybrid graphics, originally NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS as well as Mobile Intel 4 Series Express 4500MHD chipsets; more recently the Nvidia chip is a 330m. The user can switch between the Nvidia (for better graphics performance) and Intel (for longer battery life) via a 3 way switch above the keyboard.
Newer options with the Z series are an integrated Blu-ray Disc
drive, built-in HSDPA support and the use of an SSD
(including RAID configuration, for better performance) instead of a hard drive for storage.
Other features include a 0.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, SD and Memory Stick
reader, fingerprint sensor and Trusted Platform Module
support.
As with the SZ series, the Z is equipped with standard, rather than ultra-low voltage (which are slower, but produce less heat and provide better battery life), processors. The CPUs are generally Core 2 Duo P- (mid voltage) CPUs, but also T- (standard voltage) CPUs.
Intel VT-x support was intentionally disabled in the laptop's BIOS, resulting in the use of hacked BIOSes by some users. Sony claimed VT had been disabled for security reasons, but eventually enabled the feature in November 2009.
The ultra-portable niche was eventually taken over by low cost netbooks. For differentiation, subsequent Z models proceeded to include high-end screens, CPUs, GPUs and on-board DVD/Blu-ray drives etc.
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
has used the Z model moniker for its high-end ultraportable notebook computers since 2000. Unlike other Sony models, the Z has always been manufactured in Japan.
The model numbers for these computers have been PCG-Z (2000) VGN-Z (2008) VPC-Z1 (2010) and VPC-Z2 (2011).
2011 Update - VPC-Z2
Sony has officially announced its new Ultra-Thin 13-inch Z series laptop the Sony VAIO Z in Europe on June 27, 2011. The highest custom configuration available includes a 2.7 GHz second generation Intel Core i7 (Sandy Bridge) processor, 512GB SSD in RAID-0 (Newer SATA III Generation 3 SSD), 8GB 1333MHz Fixed On-board (Irremovable) DDR3 RAM and a 1920*1080 13.1" screen (a 1600*900 screen is also available).The new Vaio Z is also compatible with Sony's Power Media Dock, which includes a external AMD GPU and a DVD or Blu-ray drive and connects to the laptop through Sony's implementation of the Light Peak
Light Peak
Thunderbolt is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus. Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple Inc. It was introduced commercially on Apple's updated MacBook Pro lineup on February 24, 2011, using...
Technology. More specs revealed at TimesOfCommerce.com.
2010 Update - VPC-Z
The Z series was updated in light of the new Core i5/i7 CPUs from Intel. The new range offers an i5 or i7 (although it is not clear if memory is dual port or triple port for the i7; it seems likely to be dual port, since varying the memory portness in the motherboard by CPU is a big change and because the memory choices remain 2/4/8, rather than changing to 3/6/12), a keyboard backlight, revised chassis and a Blu-ray writer. The first SSD models (VPC-Z1xxx) all use non-standard form-factor drives (due to lack of internal space) sourced from Samsung specifically for the VAIO; they cannot be replaced with standard third party 1.8 or 2.5 inch drives. The SSDs in the refreshed models (VPC-Z12xx, VPC-Z13xx & VPC-Z14xx) can be replaced with 1.8" drives from Intel or Crucial, provided the VAIO is a dual RAID model and not a Quad-RAID model. The caveat is that the outer casing of the Intel or Crucial SSD must be stripped off of the SSDs in order for the SSDs to fit in the Z. The second, third and forth refresh models still use proprietary Samsung drives on the Quad-RAID models. In order to replace the SSD drives in a first generation (VPC-Z11xxx) model, or any generation Quad-RAID model, the cable for the SSDs will need to be replaced with Sony part # A-1781-464-A.Custom Z series models which are built with a hard disk (i.e. non-SSD) and no optical drive are manufactured with a standard 2.5" hard disk fitted into the empty optical bay. These models can have the hard disk replaced by a standard 2.5" SSD. The adapter in the optical bay expects a 12.7mm high 2.5" drive. At least some 2.5" SSD drives (such as the Intel X-25e) are 9mm models. Proper fitting requires a shim (a piece of cardboard about 4mm thick cut to the shape of the drive will do).
In these cases, the unit can be opened up by unscrewing every screw on the back. The battery must be removed first and there are five screws covered by the battery; a group of three holding down a plastic rail and two which screw into the back part of the chassis. The two screwed into the chassis need to be removed. Opening the unit up appears not to void the warranty (no stickers broken).
2009
Introduced in December 2009 as a part of the Intel Centrino 2 launch. They fall into the ultraportable category, with a 13.1" screen and 1.47 kg weight (3.4 lb) (dependent on configuration). They were configured with Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs.Compared with the SZ series, the Z is slightly lighter (200 grams), with a slightly smaller (13.1" vs. 13.3") screen, which was switched from 16:10 to 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. In comparison to the SZ, which was available only in 1280x800 resolution, the Z series come with a choice (model-dependent) of screens, originally 1366x768 and 1600x900; and more recently models 1600x900 and 1920x1080.
As with the SZ, the Z has hybrid graphics, originally NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS as well as Mobile Intel 4 Series Express 4500MHD chipsets; more recently the Nvidia chip is a 330m. The user can switch between the Nvidia (for better graphics performance) and Intel (for longer battery life) via a 3 way switch above the keyboard.
Newer options with the Z series are an integrated Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
drive, built-in HSDPA support and the use of an SSD
SSD
-Computing:* Solid-state drive, a type of data storage device which uses memory rather than rotating media* Seven-segment display, a display which uses 7 segments to display mostly numbers* System sequence diagram, a type of UML software engineering diagram...
(including RAID configuration, for better performance) instead of a hard drive for storage.
Other features include a 0.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, SD and Memory Stick
Memory Stick
Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...
reader, fingerprint sensor and Trusted Platform Module
Trusted Platform Module
In computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptographic keys that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security...
support.
As with the SZ series, the Z is equipped with standard, rather than ultra-low voltage (which are slower, but produce less heat and provide better battery life), processors. The CPUs are generally Core 2 Duo P- (mid voltage) CPUs, but also T- (standard voltage) CPUs.
Intel VT-x support was intentionally disabled in the laptop's BIOS, resulting in the use of hacked BIOSes by some users. Sony claimed VT had been disabled for security reasons, but eventually enabled the feature in November 2009.
2000 Original PCG-Z
The original Z featured a color 12" TFT screen with 1024x768 resolution, Firewire (i-Link), a USB 1, and a PCMCIA slot and external CD and Floppy Drives, and weighed 1.5 kg. It had a Pentium II processor running at 366 MHz. It ran Win98 and included Sony's DV-Gate software for importing video from DV camcorders.The ultra-portable niche was eventually taken over by low cost netbooks. For differentiation, subsequent Z models proceeded to include high-end screens, CPUs, GPUs and on-board DVD/Blu-ray drives etc.
Problems
Like many models manufactured by Sony at this time, this model suffered from a refusal to boot after 1 or so years. The machines would boot again after a certain indeterminate time - from days to weeks. Sony never acknowledged this problem as a systematic design or manufacturing failure.Models
- Z5xx (US), Z1x (Europe, Asia) - launch models ~ July/August 2008
- Z6xx (US), Z2x (Europe, Asia) - October/November 2008 - minor hardware (CPU, hard disk, RAM) improvements
- no new model (US), Z3x (Europe, Asia) - minor hardware upgrades, as above
- Z7xx (US), Z4x (Europe, Asia) - different colour palm rest, minor hardware improvements
- Z8xx (US), Z5x (Europe, Asia) - new model for Windows 7, minor hardware improvements, enabled VT support in BIOS
- Z11 - 2010 post-CES model. Core i5 and i7 CPU options. SSD-only. Nvidia GT330m GPU.
- Z12 - September 2010, updated iXXX series CPUs, sim card holder added to North American models
- Z13 - October 2010, added i7-640M CPU, TPM options, keyboard updated.
- Z14 - January 2011, added CTO 1TB SSD option
- Z21 - July 2011 - Sandy Bridge (i7 2ndGen), 0.66" thickness, slate battery, external AMD graphics/power dock, thunderbolt, usb 3.0, 1.3mpx webcam, new Flash SSD
External links
- Official Product Description at sonystyle.com
- Independent Review at engadget.com