Sony Vaio Z2: Everything is Peripheral
by Dustin Sklavos on February 13, 2012 12:55 AM ESTBattery Life
The 45Wh battery that comes standard with the Sony VAIO Z2 could probably seem at least a little anemic, but we've seen there's a decent amount of latitude with Sandy Bridge when it comes to ekeing out running time. Sony's own VAIO SB produced a tremendous amount of running time off of its main battery, so much so that the value of the battery slice for that notebook seemed like a genuinely questionable value. So how well does the Z2 handle our battery tests?
It may not be at the top of the charts, but the Z2 also features a 35W processor instead of the usual 17W low voltage chips found in ultrabooks and other ultraportables. With that taken into account, the Z2 suddenly looks a lot rosier. Add the battery slice to the equation and you're suddenly looking at the vaunted "all-day running time." If ten hours of productivity isn't enough for you, consider taking a break.
Noise and Heat
Where things start to fall apart again for the Sony VAIO Z2 is specifically in noise. Internal heat is a little higher than we like to see, but it's the fan noise that becomes troublesome. Sitting at a normal distance from the notebook, it produces about 43.3dB under load, though fan noise ramps up very gradually. That's not the real issue, though; the real issue is just how high pitched the fan noise gets when the system is under full load. During testing there were times when the fan from the Z2 actually hurt my ears. Thankfully, under load the external dock doesn't produce much in the way of fan noise and is easily drowned out by the Z2.
This is, of course, a good part of the reason why the fan noise is so nasty: even running at full tilt, the fan has a hard time keeping the i7-2620M's core temperatures under a blistering 90C. While the surfaces of the Z2 never feel too hot, Sony may well have been overreaching trying to put a 35W processor in this chassis.
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Death666Angel - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
You realize this has launched far before any Ultrabooks? It doesn't try to be an Ultrabook, as the article mentioned as well.Also, I'd take a thicker more useful laptop any day of the week over non-upgradeable, small battery Ultrabooks.
Zoomer - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
I wish sony would ignore the stupid apple air and actually design it without compromises. Make the damn thing thicker (esp at the back as they do/did), quieter, and screen not hitting the table.Anonamouse7 - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
I absolutely love my Vaio Z (last gen). For me, it's great: enough gaming punch to play some light games (runs TF2/HL2 on low or lower settings, which is fine by me), enough CPU to render videos in decent time periods and good portability. And I adore the screen, even if it's 'just' 900p :3I feel almost compelled to say something though. On the second page of your review you state:
"Unfortunately you're at Sony's mercy for driver updates..."
And therein lies my problem. The last GPU driver update from Sony is dated June 2010! For now, I'll just ignore that even getting to that was an uphill struggle, as my Z is a custom one and the Sony website just kept refusing to recognise it, but since then nVIDIA have released quite a few drivers, and, frankly, it's unacceptable that the 'latest' drivers are over 18 months old.
wilkinb - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
if its like the 2011 Z, you can just tell the laptop to do more thermal management in the Sony utils. Then it doesnt make much noise at all....As the owner mac and a Z, I have to say I like the Z more (both are nice).
whalemonster - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
I bought a Z13 December 2010, which I still love in many ways - built-in Blu-Ray writer, discrete graphics, stunning screen, etc. But even when it arrived, the hybrid graphics driver was dated June 2010, i.e. already 6 months out of date, and Sony have not provided an update since. The stock NVIDIA drivers won't work because Sony has built a custom Intel/NVIDIA hybrid package. So customers are at the mercy of Sony for updates.Despite repeated heartfelt appeals to Sony, including the president of the UK operation himself, they have refused to update their graphics driver for this top-of-the-line model, evne during the lifetime of the product. This means that by the time my warranty ended in January 2012, I was using a laptop with a graphics driver 18 months out of date, with no support from Sony whatsoever.
Sony is a company which produces some great hardware, but their abysmal software support does not justify the premium asking price. My lasting impression is one of a company which is all too happy to bank your money quickly then leave you hanging.
MarkColby - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
...and am extremely happy with it. It's interesting how one's usage model affects the impression of the machine. Mine is mainly coding of embedded applications with cross-compilers, coding of desktop applications, FPGA design and simulation, data-analysis, plus all the normal desktop office-type applications with daily travelling and occasional time-pressured work in difficult conditions thrown in. I rarely have time for gaming these days (boo). My requirements for a laptop are primarly maximum screen resolution and quality, followed by good CPU horsepower for compilation and chip simulation. I've typically had Dells and battery life has typically been <3 hours as a result of my higher priority choices.The Z2 appeared to give me the chance to get what I need in a smaller package, plus long battery life (with the slice). I chose it for size/weight, screen resolution, CPU, battery life in that order. I got the dock purely as a convenient way to connect power, external monitor (27" 2560x1440 over HDMI) and BD/DVD. Mine has 8GB ram and 256GB SSD (twin 128GB).
The Z2 has so far been excellent. The keyboard was odd to start with but I've got used to it now (I remapped right ctrl and application buttons to get convenient home and end keys) and am nearly as fast and accurate with it as a good full-size. I had the slice on from day one so I didn't notice the screen hinge issue mentioned in the review at all. Cold boot to Win7 password prompt is 8 seconds; I have a useable desktop in 12. I had a 256GB Vertex 3 in my previous Dell and this is definitely more responsive to date.
Computational performance has been very good with compilations, chip layouts and simulations taking around half the time of my previous-generation i7 Dell. Fan noise is only noticeable during these high-demand tasks (and yes it does get quite loud then); otherwise the laptop is generally quiet.
The slice has a significant (for me) benefit not noted in the review - it re-routes the vents to the back rather than underneath, allowing safe use of the laptop directly on a fabric surface - like a lap :-)
It is definitely more fragile than a latest generation 14" Dell Latitude (for example - these are excellent machines that we use for many field-personnel) and yes it is indeed expensive but the combination of display, cpu power and form factor is so far more than making up for that, and the 10-12 hours battery life is an extremely welcome bonus.
Just my 2p. Hope it's useful to someone.
DoctorG - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
+1. It sounds like my usage model is very similar to yours, and I have enjoyed using the Z2 very much.Zoomer - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Here's Sony's target market! Price doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of corporate budgets.MarkColby - Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - link
Sorry, wrong. It was a carefully considered personally-funded purchase.dustofnations - Monday, February 13, 2012 - link
Planting Amazon affiliate links one someone else's website is bad enough, but riding on their coattails by trying to make money from the hard work of someone else is truly contemptible.