Hi.
My 2 cents, to give another perspective than Alexei's:
I own a Z11MN from the first series. I run only Linux as OS, using
Raphael's Janitor script for the cold start switching between graphics
cards. When running only the Intel card with powered down Bluetooth,
activated WLAN and just surfing the internet, the laptop runs about
4.5 hours, which is acceptable considering that the battery has
degraded in the last 2 years. And the nvidia card does neither show up
on the PCI bus here, nor does it drain power.
With nvidia card on, power consumption is of course higher, but I use
this mostly on AC. Fan volume is o.k., regarding the size of the
laptop. I still have to see a device that is as small as the z-series,
has the same computational power and is quieter.
Everything else works nicely thanks to the many hints from this list.
And with VirtualBox running Win7 with 3d support, I have everything I
need.
I absolutely like the quality of the keyboard, the phenomenal screen
and the chassis. I completely dislike Sony's customer service, the
policy of disabling hardware features (VT support) and their closed
source bios hacking, because this makes life for linux users awfully
hard.
So, I'm quite happy at the moment, but would also refrain from buying
a Sony laptop again.
Cheers,
Philipp
2010/3/18 Patrick Valdellon <valworx@xxxxxxxxx>
The first Z was actually released 2008. Another aproach would
be
"VGNZ" and "VPCZ", although they might keep the VPC structure
for
coming generations.
br,
Patrick
On 18 March 2010 21:00, Albert Vilella <avilella@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> Just to clarify about the z-series naming, I would call
"z-series09":
> the first generation z-series, and "z-series10" to the
second
> generation.
>
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 6:54 PM, Alexei Pashkovsky
<alexei@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi Jason,
>>
>> the cold-boot gfx switching procedure works for switching
between
>> Nvidia-only and "both enabled" mode.
>> So far I did not find a way to boot into Linux with Intel
card only, and
>> Nvidia disabled.
>> You can use Intel card, but Nvidia is still in lspci list
and it still
>> drains the battery, even not in use.
>> One of the really fun-killing problems is the fan noise,
you can't stop
>> the fan completely, it always works, and I prefer silent
laptops like
>> all the new CULV series ..
>> The only way I see Z-series being fixed is Sony to release
EFI-based
>> opensource bios for it so someone smarter than sony monkeys
will hack it
>> to work.
>> The current implementation of dual gfx cards in Z is very
"custom made"
>> and has nothing to do with other solutions like ATI+Intel
that is well
>> supported by linux..
>> Alexei.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 2010-03-18 at 14:43 -0400, ravenskrag@xxxxxxxxx
wrote:
>>> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Alexei Pashkovsky
<alexei@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> > So far I did not see a single operating system that
would run on this
>>> > laptop 100%, every OS has its "issues" :
>>> > Linux can't switch gfx cards and Nvidia card drains the
battery.
>>> > WinXP won't switch gfx neither, and also brightness
controls are not
>>> > working.
>>> > WinVista - not going to even start the list of problems.
>>> > Win7 - gfx switch, battery issues, random crashes and
reboots.
>>> > In addition, the built-in webcam is a really bad one,
with shady colors
>>> > and no focus at all.
>>> >
>>> > Alexei.
>>> Hey there,
>>>
>>> Little bit of nit picking here, but you can switch
graphics cards on
>>> Linux, but you need to shut down, there is no hot
switching support.
>>> I believe the same case is true for XP. I also believe
that there is
>>> something to get the brightness to work on XP. Correct me
if I am
>>> wrong. Also, the NVidia card takes more power as it is a
dedicated
>>> card, and thus, of course, will drain the battery more
than the
>>> integrated card.
>>>
>>> I agree though that the 185 NVidia linux drivers sap more
power than
>>> is sometimes necessary, as there is no power saving mode,
only a
>>> performance mode. The newer drivers seem to solve this
problem, but
>>> the janitor does not install the 32-bit libs on a 64-bit
system, which
>>> is only a problem if you use WINE. I assume that other 32
programs
>>> may also be affected. If that is not a problem for you
(and if you
>>> don't know what I'm talking about then you are most likely
in that
>>> category) then go ahead and use the janitor and pick the
FTP download
>>> - that's what I would do if I could let go of my desire to
play
>>> commercial games without windows.
>>>
>>> Vista just has problems in general. That's what you get
when you
>>> sacrifice backwards compatibility. That's my view on it
anyway. I
>>> don't want to go there, and yes, I do use vista myself.
>>>
>>> Another note, as of yet I believe you still can not use W7
and Linux
>>> on the same computer.
>>>
>>> Jason
>>
>>
>>
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>
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