I am surprised with my Intel integrated graphics

dustin_broke

You seem to be not getting the picture or not reading people's responses.
Bottom line is:
Nothing will happen to your laptop if you use latest drivers from Intel in the long run.
If anything, you will BENEFIT from those drivers because they yield much better performance and bug fixes compared to the OEM drivers.

If you are experiencing freezing and random restarts because of your OEM drivers, then DITCH them and use Intel's latest drivers.

But bottom line is, if your computer is freezing and restarts on it's own, chances are, it's NOT due to Intel's latest drivers.

You won't be experiencing problems.
I hadn't experienced issues using Intel's latest drivers for my older laptop that has an Intel GPU, and none of the newest laptops I worked with suffered problems because of Intels latest drivers (actually they worked BETTER than with OEM drivers).

You have your answer... I suggest you stop worrying and make a decision.
Do you want performance and stability that you get with Intel's latest drivers or freezes, restarts and a generally unstable system due to OEM drivers?

P.S. This website is called 'notebookreview' for a reason. People wouldn't be saying that generic drivers (latest ones) are better if they weren't.

 

Well I will have to think about this and do some more research but just wondering that does this go for sound cards also? Like do you guys think I should use Realtek drivers to update my sound card? My sound card is Realtek HD audio and right now I' am using Sonys latest drivers.



Looks like someone posted right before me while I was typing. lol






I just wondered if this goes with other drivers too like sound cards etc. Meaning you guys think I should use generic drivers for sound cards and others also. Well from what I see is that only the video and sound card has a name like Intel or Realtek others seemed like it was not changeable on the drivers.


Or maybe I should post this on the sound card section of the forums since this question isn't about the video card.

 

For the record, if your computer has a problem it's FAR more likely to be something else than a driver issue, especially if it's a licensed driver (most people who have driver issues either installed the wrong one or it was a beta driver). And as others have said, you can always rollback to a previous or other driver if something goes wrong

And yes, I'd apply the principle to just about every piece of hardware. When you go on your OEM's website, usually they'll have all of the drivers listed like Intel Storage drivers or wifi card drivers or whatever.

 

So I guess you are saying that to use generic drivers for everything. Just wondering but what drivers are good to use OEM then? Since it seems like you guys are saying to use everything generic and not to use OEM. Or I might of missunderstood you guys.

 

Well personally I'm saying use generic and not OEM yes.

I used to build desktops before owning a laptop and there weren't many OEM drivers for custom-built desktops so I'd always use generic drivers for each part I bought so the mentality carried over.

The only reason I would use OEM drivers is if you know for a fact that your machine has specific hardware that only this manufacturer has control over so some special graphics arrangement such as hybrid/switchable graphics or some kind of special RAID storage arrangement.

In any other case, I've found no proof that OEMs use anything special in their other parts that would be any less compatible with the manufacturer drivers.

 

Dustin

Go to each of the component manufacturers (intel, realtek, etc.) and by using the driver manager, find where your part is from, and then use that to get the absolute latest driver from the component manufacturer. Usually SONY / DELL / AW / TOSHIBA drivers are made once,and then left to languish. Do you really want a 2 year old driver? I upgraded my wifi driver from stock to the latest intel one and out of nowhere my wifi speeds went up by about 70% (12Mb / sec to 21Mb / sec). That's a boost that anyone can feel, be it downloading stuff or watching youtubes.

Jason

 

Well the drivers I' am using can't be 2 years old since I got this computer last year few days before thanksgiving. But Sony did say that they will continue to update drivers and post them right away on esupport website. Also I do still get updates from Sony like softwear updates or like Vaio care program updates or Vaio updates program which is a program that updates driver, etc. So apparently Sony is still updating things for my computer. How do I know is since when I use Vaio update program it does show new stuff that needs to be updated.

 

Well look if Sony drivers/softwares are working well for you by all means use them! We're just telling you we prefer the original generic drivers.

 

That reminds me I seen drivers that are beta like for Nvidia cards and I was wondering what are those for? My mom has a older desktop PC and it has a EVGA GeForce 7300 GT 512mb video card and I noticed that they still makes driver for it and they recently made a new driver that is a beta but are they better or is the older version that isn't a beta better?


I went to EVGA drivers download page.
Here is the driver version.



11-28-2011

Beta Driver

290.36

Windows XP 32bit


Here's the older driver version that isn't a beta.




10-24-2011

Driver

285.58

Windows XP 32bit



Basicly I wanted to know if Beta version of drivers are any good at all. just wondering

 

They're beta...which means they're a field test.

 

I think this is the most frustrated thread on this site. lol I never knew that their could ever be a 6 page thread discussing OEM vs reference drivers considering they are one in the same. Sometimes some OEM's will modify reference drivers to fix or improve issues such as the M18x issues, but this is nothing like that even remotely and they are still older than current drivers. The fix will roll over when you upgrade though. Dustin you should use the reference drivers for the reasons that everyone else has said. Stay away from BETA drivers, and only update to WHQL releases(Full Releases).

 

This is something I always did wonder but if I used a driver that is for Intel HD graphics on a newer Sony notebook will it work on my notebook? I would think it would not even run or work right since it's not made for my notebook but since you guys did say that OEM is generic drivers so I kinda question that is it even possible to use the video driver on a newer model that has same Intel HD type graphics on my notebook that has the original Intel HD graphics.


Here's a link to the drivers for a notebook that is current and has the Intel HD 3000 video card. It says the driver is a Intel HD graphics family for the newer model. Mine just says Intel HD graphics.

Sony eSupport - VPCEH24FX/W - Support


But it might be crazy to use this newer driver but just wondering if it's possible and it would work. I won't probley do it but just wondering.



All I know is that on Intel's website all Intel HD drivers are the same so I just assumed that even the driver for the Intel HD 3000 would even work on my notebook. So if the OEM driver that is for the newer model of my computer uses generic drivers then it should work on mine also. Since as I said Intel has only one drivers for all Intel HD series.

 

Sony is a unique circumstance I believe, as users typically have issues using the OEM (Intel in this case) drivers. Sony seems to like to release their own driver package.

 

But I' am right that all Sony drivers are from generic right? Since you guys said that all OEM drivers are generic drivers and just been tested by Sony. Since you guys said about that for my computer so I assumed that it's the same for newer ones also.


But if I' am wrong and Sony was actualy making there driver for there computers and customized it let me know but I just remember from this topic you guys kept saying that OEM is generic drivers like from Intel.



I just noticed that for the newer model for Intel HD graphics isn't the same version as the current Intel HD driver from Intel so I thought maybe it was true that Sony does make there own drivers and are different from other companies.


Why would Sony make there own package or drivers if they are just generic drivers? I kinda wonder more that if Sony are actualy customized drivers. But maybe they are generic but just Sony changed the driver number versions I don't know.


I might of missunderstood you guys but it seemed like you were saying that that make there own package drivers so I just assumed that maybe they are customized but maybe you guys were saying that Sony uses the generic drivers and you can use the Intel HD 3000 drivers on my notebook. I thought it would be crazy to do that since then it would mess up the system but since all Intel HD series use same drivers from Intel.com so I thought the drivers for the Intel HD 3000 would work fine.

 

Sony does not make any drivers..... The manufacturer of the component does. Sony will just verify and if there is an issue will make a fix but not likely. Just use the intel reference driver.

 

I stand corrected. Looks like Sony hybrid drivers require Sony's drivers to work...

In any case, Dustin_Broke has been asking about this since December last year (I smell troll):

Intel drivers - General-Laptops-Notebooks - Laptops-Notebooks

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/538986-latest-intel-hd-drivers.html

http://www.computerforum.com/187610-intel-drivers-ok.html

 

Ok what is the point of looking up my posts. As I said I been asking people on many different forums and some are not computer forums. I also ask techs localy too. BTW are you saying I' am that ugly creature since you said you smell a troll so are you trying to be mean to me? I don't appreciate that you are making fun of me now.

 

Nice find!!

 

There are alot more forums that I been asking this type of question. As I said most people over all of the forums and local techs have said to use OEM drivers. Some did say that use generic drivers but I am just running a poll remember?

 

Seriously, \facepalm.

 

What is wrong to get answer from many different people and trying to find out which answer has been answered the most???? It's basicly like researching and finding out peoples ideas. Or maybe I took it wrong that you guys were thinking it was bad to ask many people.



Well eatherway so it looks like the Hybrid ones are the only ones that forsure need OEM drivers. I guess then that means if I wanted to I can use the generic drivers and have no problem. But anyways thank you very much for helping me and I guess it's up to me now and I will think about what should I do and then I will need to decide what I want to install.

I might still ask more people localy or so again but I know it's up to me what I want to use. I just now know that on this forums everyone is saying use generic drivers.

 

No, it's that we've been telling you that Intel drivers work best, and to go with Intel drivers directly, but you've never trusted our decision and numerous benchmarks and trials on these forums.

We've also countlessly told you that there are no problems with keeping your driver up to date with Intel drivers, and if you see a problem, you can simply roll back. A driver functioning fine one day cannot mess up your system, that is more of a hardware issue than a driver issue. It would either work from the start or not work at all.

If you are so intent on using Sony's drivers - because for Sony it is easier for them to persuade others to do the same and they do not want to take care of isolated instances in which a person downloads random drivers that doesn't work - I'd say with all due respect go ahead.

You've noticed performance increases with the newest Intel drivers, and have not noticed any issues as of yet. It doesn't make sense to anyone here why you would roll back to Sony's drivers believing some Sony reps telling you to only use Sony's drivers from Sony support.

We are here on this forum to test the newest drivers, we always benchmark things, find glitches, run beta drivers to get the razor-edge performance out of our hardware and provide those information to help others out in case people are wary of such drivers like you are. If you can't believe what we say and decide to believe what a Geek Squad tells you or a Yahoo Answer random person has mentioned, then I truly do believe you should never ever install anything other than the Sony drivers.

This is both sound for both the sake of ourselves from explaining over and over, and for you to be safe and sound with a peace of mind.

 

Someone close the thread already. :|

 

Well I' am sorry that I made you guys upset if I did. I just wanted to make sure every single person here is saying the same thing since they are over 1000 of people here. But I learned that on this forums that everyone says to use generic drivers so now I know what people will say here. I never meant to be mean or tried to make fun of you guys but I' am just doing research and getting peoples ideas from many different forums and techs localy and seeing which answer has been answered the most.


This topic was not suppose to be a bad topic first place it was suppose to be a good topic and figuring out which answer is answered the most on this forums.

 

We're done here ...

Start a new thread if you didn't get your questions answered.