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 09.2008. So for a whole year my pet wandered through the warehouses and \ or stood in the storefront.



Criteria for choosing a future device:
1) Small (ideally 13 inches) and light
2) Powerful within reason
3) Non-glossy (applies to all parts of the body and the screen)

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In the end, I chose between the IBM (Lenovo) ThinkPad X200, a pair of Acer'ov and Sony Vaio Z series (Z11 and Z21). How did Z'ka “fascinate” me besides the three criteria above?
1) Carbon fiber body (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 laptop specifications:

Processor: Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz
RAM: 4 GB DDR III SDRAM 1066 MHz (2 trims of 2048 MB)
Hard disk: 200 GB Serial ATA 5400 rpm \ min + G-sensor electronic protection of the hard disk against impacts
Drive: DVD + -RW / + - R DL / RAM
Screen: X-black with LED technology 1366x768 13.1 inches
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

That's what Sony writes about the Z11 itself

At the heart of the Vaio Z series is the principle of mobility, not to the detriment of 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, thanks to which the laptop turned out not only light - 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 screen is 13 inches equipped with LED-backlit.

Purchase

At that time, prices on Yandex.ru and Yandex.Market were priced between 58,000 and 65,000 rubles. Therefore, when I saw the Z11MRN in the wonderful Eldorado supermarket chain 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 on the showcase for a very long time because contingent store does not imagine buying a laptop for 50k. Next was the traditional “vparivaniya” extended warranty and unnecessary accessories and now, finally, the cherished box in my hands.

First impressions

After the first power up, I had a very big “Wow effect”. First of all, I hit the display with an excellent matrix. Bright and rich colors, excellent viewing angles. Until now, I have not seen the display better than in my Z'ke. Another addition to the screen is that despite the fact that the technical data says “glossy”, it can be considered as opaque without stretch (this is a merit of the Sony X-black technology, which they advertise so much). The body of excellent quality, no backlash and squeaks. Pre-installed Vista smartly ran. Naturally, there was also a pre-installed giant heap of sonevsky utilities and trial software from other manufacturers. All of this was instantly removed, except for the VAIO Control Center. without it, the combinations of the Fn + buttons do not work and the battery care function is activated.

Free Update to Windows 7

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

Windows 7 vs Hybrid Video Drivers vs HDMI audio

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



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



Not deadly. 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 often watch movies on my 32 'Philips TV, which I connect via HDMI. With the new wood under the seven I lost the sound. Symptom - when connecting TV via HDMI, if you click on the sound label in the tray and watch the playback devices, then HDMI Output is there and even the volume level indicator jumps, as if the signal is coming.
But in reality there is no sound. I meet many people with the same problem on the forum ixbt.com. I naively contact Sony support, where I get the answer: “Windows 7 installation is not provided for your laptop model, we can’t help with anything”. I start experimenting with drivers:

Z11 for Vista - there is sound
Z21 for Vista - there is sound
Z21 for Vin7 - no sound
Z690 (American equivalent) for Vin7 - no sound
Z750 (American equivalent) for Vin7 - no sound
Vista & Windows 7 32/64 non-original drivers / notebookreview.com - no sound

It turns out I get up before the choice: sound via HDMI or adjusting the screen brightness, lower performance (according to Windows) and clumsy switching between the graphics modes.
What I so attached to this sound via HDMI cable, you ask? The answer is simple - the built-in speakers are very small and not loud. In short, no. In the end, I bought such a device. I connect it via USB (it takes both audio and power - I do not like a lot of wires).

Results, pros and cons Sony VAIO Z11MRN

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

And still I love him!