Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

I just placed an order for a S13A with the 1GB Nvidia graphics card. Now I am worried that I should have ordered the 2GB version instead.

Will I need the extra gig of VRAM if I won't be hooking up external monitors and the games I will play are older ones such as TF2, Fallout 3, New Vegas and Skyrim?

Also, is the memory bus width for both versions 128-bit?

Thanks

 

I have a question about booting my old internal drive in a USB enclosure

I have a Sony Vaio S 15 that I swapped an SSD in (Samsung 830, love it) and installed Ubuntu on as it is my primary development machine. I would like to be able to boot my old Windows 8 disk from an external USB enclosure so I can test stuff in windows once in a while.

I'm able to boot to the USB drive by pressing the "Assist" button and choosing to boot from the external media. Trouble is, when I do that it just boots straight into the Vaio's Troubleshoot/Recovery partition. I can't figure out how to make it just boot up to the regular Windows 8 partition.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

I am (close) to buying an S15 (SVS151290S Performance) from Sony's Canadian site.
First of all, I have a bit of sticker shock - as even though most on this thread seem to think 1600.00 is not a lot of money - I actually think that is outrageous.
Whatever.

The only thing standing in my way is the whole issue surrounding the panel's inability to produce RED properly - aka Orange-Gate.
I actually sent Sony an email yesterday asking them that IF I place an order for my CTO S15, are they using (new) panels that do not exhibit the same Orange (reds) or not.
I wanted them to specifically commit to an answer on this - or at a minimum, give me some indication of what action they have (or will) take.
As I expected - no response.

Just as an aside - like most people, I have a few different computers.
A Dell laptop (work), a desktop pc (Samsung LCD screen), and an HP M6 laptop (another lcd screen).
I thought I would see what the REDs looked like on these screens.
I opened the Microsoft Paint program, created a custom color (where all I did was make the value of red 255) on all 3 pcs.
Well, as it turns out, my Dell Latitude e6410 DID look very orange when displaying what was supposed to be Red.
The HP m6 looked much better, but still a bit orange.
The Samsung 24" LCD monitor looked RED - putting the laptops to shame.

I think I have a good reference for what Red should look like now, and it is quite sad that both my laptops produce Reds that look orange-y.
I will say, though that only the Dell looked awful - to the point of it being noticeable.
The HP looked Red-"enough" that it did not bother me.

The funny thing about this is that I've been using that Dell for a few years now, and never really bothered to look at how good (or bad) the color reproduction was. Quite frankly, until now, I never knew there was an issue - and had I not done this little test, I would never have known.

So, I am wondering how many people actually notice the S15's Orange-gate problem without having been told to look for it.

I'm still on the fence about dropping 1600.00 on this laptop - not knowing if the "rumors" of an improved LG panel being now used are true or not.
I'll give Sony a few more days to respond to my email, and keep checking on this forum to see if anyone else can confirm that the orange-issue has been solved or not.

Lastly - the reason I am still on the fence is because on Sony's site, if you buy a CTO laptop - you can NOT return it for a refund - only an exchange. Therefore, if there is a panel issue, and there is no existing/upcoming fix for it, I am then "stuck" with the laptop. This is a deal-breaker for me.

Decisions, decisions.....

 

Hi all,

I just got the SVS1512ACXS the other day and it's a nice machine except for one detail. Opening up a game, like World of Warcraft or Guild Wars 2 with the dGPU turns the laptop into the loudest computer I've ever heard. The fan noise is absolutely awful! Is this normal? It drowns out the game sounds or music or the movie I might be listening to at the same time.

The laptop is dead silent otherwise.

It's a total deal breaker and I'll probably end up returning it if there's no fix for it.

 

I Still have problems. The update version is the same of mine, but if I uninstall everything from Synaptics and leave WIn8 with the default drivers the issue does not happen.
The touchpad responds not so quickly and with the gestures, but it's possible to use. I'm hoping to get a new update and check if there is any changes.

My model is a SVS13A25PBS.

 

Idle is excellent

Gaming however - basically a jet engine. Unless you have very well isolating closed headphones, its not really bearable

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

Do you have experience with gaming on other laptops as a reference? The heat's gotta go somewhere with a discrete GPU in a such a small package as the SVS series & without room for bigger heatsinks I guessing the fans have to make up for that.

 

I had used an Asus N53SV before this ... it wasn't noisy that I recall. It had a GeForce GT 540M. Not sure if the one in this Sony is just hotter or something, or what...

 

so yeah booting vaio recovery media on a clean ssd was the best option and way better than a clean install (drivers instillation is some time consuming process and if done wrong you wont be happy), i just removed like 4 programs i didn't like, my machine is running excellent!!

 

Ubuntu 12.10 has a bug. If you disable wifi it also disables the ability to turn it back on and it carries over to Windows.

Boot to Ubuntu and use rfkill.

sudo rfkill unblock wifi

should do it.

 

[sorry, it was a double post, removed]

 

You can only connect ONE external monitor, even if you use the docking station.
I guess unless you go for some insanely high resolution, it will be enough for ONE screen.
If you want to use the laptop screen in parallel, that's another story.
If you want a 2nd external screen, you need an USB-to-DVI adapter, around 50USD. I had to go this road, too.

 

Thanks for the reply, I feel better now.
I won't be connecting external monitors and even if I did it would not be for the purpose of gaming.

I guess 1gig should be enough for gaming at 1600 x 900.

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

 

New owner here, purchased a Sony 15" SVS1512DCXB and have been using for about 2 weeks. Initial impressions -

Build Quality - Not as sturdy as I would have thought given the price tag and the reviews I read prior. The magnesium actually feels more like a tough plastic than metal. The exterior of the case is a rough finish plastic, not good not bad, just ok. The keyboard has some flex to it, especially near the QWERTY row and the number pad. The keyboard portion seems to flex in a bit towards the middle under SONY, may be part of the hinge design.

Display - Fantastic. I chose the upgraded option and it's well worth it. The screen colors are accurate, I don't notice any orange/red issues when compared with the external monitor attached to this. Matte screen is perfect balance of anti glare and vibrancy.

Performance - As expected, quick and quiet. The only issues I've had so far I think are software related (Office 2003 not officially compatible with Win8 according to Microsoft.) Fans are quiet, even when turned up to performance levels. Unit doesn't seem to get noticeably hot.

Keyboard - Nice spacing and key travel. Quiet, much quieter than my old Dell desktop keyboard. Backlight is bright and evenly lit. Nice space below keys for palms to rest while typing.

Trackpad - Works well. Scrolling, gestures, zoom, everything works as it should. Clicks register precisely. Pad itself is large which is nice.

Software - I wont get into a Win8 review other than to say, coming from WinXP it's a big change but mostly for the better. Having two sides (desktop / tiles) seems pointless. I come in a click on Outlook or Photoshop in the morning and it kicks me over the desktop side which I don't leave for the rest of the day typically. Bloatware is apparent, lots of Xbox demos and Vaio control stuff. Not sure what to keep and what to ditch yet, figure I'll know as I go.

Things I've noticed after using -

Not having a way to quickly turn off the wireless connections is a bit annoying. Instead of a VAIO ASSIST or WEB button I would rather be able to disable wireless communications.

Can't figure out why the screen and fans shut off, going to sleep mode after random lengths of inactivity? It's like the settings for power management are ignored. Sometimes I'll lean back to take a call and in 2-3 minutes this thing is shutting down. When I move my mouse it fires back up again, screen on fans winding up but still annoying, especially when glancing back at the computer for info when doing something else.

Not sure the SPEED/STAMINA switch is actually changing any settings other than the the fan speed. I can't find anywhere to check if the dedicated graphics are being used or not but I don't notice any performance difference between modes, even when using PS, Illus., or Cad.

I chose the included dock which is great, especially for a desktop user. No install required, just plug it in and go. Very convenient.

Overall I'm satisfied. Pretty good build, excellent screen, nice keyboard, well designed, powerful specs. Not sure I would recommend this notebook at this price to a friend but it had features that were important to me and the free dock tipped the scales at the end. Let me know if anyone has any questions, suggestions, or solutions to anything I've posted above.

 

1 - Kepler

2 - this CT102464BF1339 - 8GB, 204-pin SODIMM , DDR3 PC3-10600 from Crucial.com or this CT51272BF1339 - 4GB, 204-pin SODIMM , DDR3 PC3-10600 from Crucial.com

 

There are three sets of power-saving settings - one in the Vaio control panel, one in the Windows options (battery icon in the system tray), one in the Intel graphics settings. I turned everything off except the Windows ones and the laptop now worls "normally" without any random dimming.

Pretty much all it does it affect fan speed and disable the dGPU in Stamina mode. PS and Illustrator won't use the GPU so that's why you aren't seeing much of a difference. Try running a game and you'll see the difference though

 

Worth noting:

If your recovery media is a USB 3.0 stick you *cannot* recover by booting to the USB 3.0 ports - recovery doesn't work in USB 3.0. Instead you must boot to the USB 3.0 stick on the USB 2.0 port. Strange, but true.

 

Okay so I've installed Windows 8 and I got most of the stuff to work... Except for the Function-Key shortcuts. The volume/mute functions work, but I can't adjust the brightness, or enable/disable the trackpad, nor switch from stamina to speed mode. Which driver would I install? Or did I install something out of order? Thanks.

 

Personally I am a bit worried about the heat. I was on battery, stamina mode, but full CPU performance, did some minor compiling work and packed some archives on the go.. the rear got too hot for my taste, and it was on a glass table (quite coler than it would be on a wood/plastic table).
The vent being in the back is IMO ridicolous My notebook stand is perfect for left/right vent designs (curved in the middle of the laptop, about 2"/5cm away from it), when all the heat can move out. With the top-back vent design, all the heat would be hitting the stand first, which means slower heat dissipation.

 

So I've had my Windows 8 SVS13A290X for over a week now.

I am very pleased with my purchase so far. The laptop is very light, elegant and curiously powerful. I am able to run games like SWTOR at 40 FPS on medium settings. The highest temp the cpu gets to is 78 under heavy stress. The GPU always stays cool.

:thumbsup:

 

install all drivers on sony website in order starting with the sony shared driver

 

I've got an SVS1512 (Win8 model) with a Samsung 840 Pro, and when I put my laptop to sleep, it comes out of it automatically about 1minute later. I tried restarting, can't seem to figure it out.

It goes to sleep fine, then just suddenly turns back on about 1 minute later. I read some posts a few pages back where people had this problem but it was fixed by a restart. Didn't seem to work for me.

Any ideas?

 

I've ordered the SVS1513 (spring 2013 model, I live in Japan). It's due to arrive on the 19th and I can't wait
That being said, I don't know if or what differences there are to previous models, in a store it looked the same as what I've seen on the net. Does anyone happen to know? ^^

 

i'm from Italy and yesterday has arrived my SVS1513 (3632QM, 640m, 4Gb ram + extra 8Gb ram and Samsung 840SSD) there are only little differences such as refreshed chipset, hybrid storage (HHD+SSD cache) for some solution and lower price with new configuration possibilities in sony online store (in my country). Seems that has solved the orange gate problem, my IPS panel is almost perfect with good color and no backlight bleeding.

PS: still low audio and SATA 2 connection but it isn't a problem for me

 

VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION:

I am buying the same laptop as I had before with the same specs. The only problem is that the new laptop is Windows 8 and my hard drive from the previous laptop is Windows 7.

Will everything function fine if I just swap hard drives? My Windows 7 laptop has all of the correct Drivers and such and since the laptops are the same, shouldn't this method work?

Personally, I do not like Win8 and I want all of my files and programs to be on the new laptop.

 

SATA 2 - I can feel the difference My sister has an F2 model (which I don't want to use for ergonomic reasons ) and I can notice several things being faster in it, than in the SVS15 of mine. She even has a Crucial C300 (older, barely breaching SATA2 speeds) and I am on Crucial m4.

For the installation, I cloned my VAIO F1 SSD onto another, and put that into the new SVS15. I had to install most drivers, but everything works. Now I am thinking whether, maybe I should not have installed the audio...

 

in the real use the difference doesn't exist, only when you transfer one big file there are some seconds of difference:

SSD: confronto prestazioni tra SATA 3 Gbps e SATA 6 Gbps - Test realistici - Pagina 7 - Tom's Hardware

 

In the next 5 years you will probably never tell the difference, internally, between SATA 2 or 3. One of the few ways you will notice if you have a very large transfer to an external SSDisk using USB 3.0.

I used to own a Vaio F with good SSD. That laptop was probably SATA 2 as well. My new S13P has a raid-0 (128GB SSD x2) and it totally out performs a single SSD.

 

Just disable the ODD - and go into sleep mode and come back - Wham SATA3 when you need it.

 

Can anyone tell me how would I know if my screen is IPS? It is 1920 X 1080p.

 

Tilt the screen up and down. If there is a significant change in color then your screen is TN. If the colors look more or less the same then it's IPS.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Thanks. Also, I have noticed different versions of the Sony VAIO SVS151290X. I believe there is Standard, Enhanced, and Performance. What are the differences?

 

VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION:

I am buying the same laptop as I had before with the same specs. The only problem is that the new laptop is Windows 8 and my hard drive from the previous laptop is Windows 7.

Will everything function fine if I just swap hard drives? My Windows 7 laptop has all of the correct Drivers and such and since the laptops are the same, shouldn't this method work?

Personally, I do not like Win8 and I want all of my files and programs to be on the new laptop.

 

What kind of battery life are you getting with the S 15in? I am only getting maybe 3 hours with some web browsing and youtube. That's on power saver, low brightness and using 30% of the cpu. I am generally at a discharge rate of 18k on batterybar.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

Hey guys, so my headphone port is completely broken (my laptop fell with headphones plugged in). It broke a while ago but I got it to work most of the time by moving the headphone plug around a bit and propping it up at various angles but now it's completely broken
Anyways, I was wondering if there is any way I could buy a new headphone/mic piece anywhere and install it in myself? I already contacted sony and they told me to send it in, but I can't really do that since I need my laptop for college

 

I've had my new Vaio S15 for about a week, now, and I'm really loving it, thus far. Customized her with and i7, the 2G NVIDIA, and Blu-ray. Memory upgrade is on it's way and hope to have a SSD sooner, rather than later.
I opted for the white and although I was a little apprehensive, at first, it looks so slick. Definitely better than it did in the photos/videos. Coming from a MPB 17", I was a little worried that going back to a PC would leave me regretful. Windows has has been the cause of some frustration a couple of times, but it's definitely much better than it used to be. As for the hardware/Sony side of things, I couldn't be happier.

Do these things not come with the Vegas Movie Studio or Sound Forge, anymore? I can't find them anywhere.

*edit*
Found the download.

 

Just taken possession of the svs1513c5e. Not done much with it yet, ssd upgrade to do this weekend. Checked for orange gate and no sign of it.

 

Hi!

I'm new here but this is one of the few places on the internet where some people might already have made experiences with the brandnew Sony Vaio SVS1513C5E.

I got my machine last Monday and I personally think it's a nice and fine machine, but because of Sony's high prices for SSDs I decided to upgrade it myself.

So I had a Samsung 840 pro with 512 GB ready and set it up at once. I migrated the system with the Samsung Wizard which came with the SSD. First impression: wow, is that fast! Second impression: System freezes, BSOD, system files not available, only trouble!
So I purchased an Windows 8 pro upgrade (only way to get a Windows 8 install medium), thinking a clean install would solve my problems.
And what can I tell you? It got even worse! The installation went fine, but then everything (things like creating a new folder, changing settings, rebooting) took forever. Internet Explorer was not stable. Windows Updates did not get installed. I loaded all the system drivers from Sony, but only got so far as installing the bluetooth driver. The crucial driver "Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI / SATA RAID Controller" was installed, but after that, Windows 8 never started again.
I have no clue what went wrong. I ordered a replacement for my SSD, hoping this one was just defective. And in case the system does not like the Samsung SSD, I ordered another one from Plextor (Plextor PX-512M5P).

I read that some of you plan to upgrade their machines with a SSD as well and I would really, really like to hear how it went in your case!

Thanks,
Rajia

 

Some days ago i installed a samsung 840 250Gb SSD following this guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...y-s-series-owners-thread-594.html#post9078469

All works perfect and i don't have any trouble, really recommended upgrade.. now programs start instantly and the pc boot is ready in only 5/10 second!

 

You can buy something like a Fiio E10. It acts as an external sound card so you plug your headphones into that.

Amazon.com: FiiO E10 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier: Electronics


Has anyone found any deals/sales on the slice battery or dock? I am tempted to get the dock, but I'm not willing to shell out $150+ for it.

 

SVS1512 + WD Passport USB 3.0 = Trouble

OK, so I just plugged in my WD Passport into USB 3.0, disk lights up, spins but it doesn't show in Explorer. If I plug it in USB 2.0 everything works fine.

I read online that it has something to do with the voltage settings or something. Does anybody know what's goin on?

 

Wondering if anybody has any experience with the Sony Outlet store, I've seen a few S15s in there at decent prices. Only worry is that they might have really bad cosmetic damage or more specifically, would be very likely to have Orangegate screens (which I understand even affects the late 2012/early 2013 Win8 models).

 

No problems here with that drive. Sounds like you need to reset the usb-port.

EDIT:
Try either this or this.
Sometimes it happens. I used to have it with a dying mouse which caused other devices like usb-sticks to not be recognized anymore. (it's always removable media which goes first)
Threw it away and reset the ports. No problems after that.

 

Thank you very much.
I'm going to try this guide today with a new SSD. However, except the GPT mode for the partition of the HD I did it mostly like this anyway, so I still believe there was a problem with this specific SSD.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Rajia

 

It is real life performance that I am talking about - things that are more HDD (SSD)-hungry are still running faster on her laptop than on mine.

 

I bought my Vaio from outlet store in UK as I really wanted Windows 7 version to avoid issues with replacing ODD with HDD and to overclock GPU. The laptop was brand new and the box was never opened. It was however mentioned in the description on the website that it's new and I also called their helpline quoting this specific product number to double check (I did record my conversation with customer service guy just in case).

I'm quite happy with my choice of the older model as I don't care about orange gate and the graphics performance is epic after overclocking.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Toaster

 

I just got my Vaio S13P to replace my aging (but trusty) Acer 1810TZ (finally) and I have some questions which I couldn't really find in the threads. First of all, I notice some BIOS version listed under the Windows 8 drivers R0143C5, so I wonder if there are any benefits of it to the Windows 7 users?

Furthermore, is there some slipcase (or sleeve?) which fits S13 perfectly - I plan to carry it in some laptop bag, but would like some additional protection from scratches as it's supposedly susceptible to them. So, it should be relatively thin and flexible, but ideally, it should fit an S13P with an external battery attached. I searched on the internet and this forum, but didn't really find much; the different names for such things were not helping.

 

but you compare two different model of ssd, right?

 

Was hoping someone could help me out - I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a Sony Vaio S Series: SVS151290X

The only thing holding me back is the touchpad - I've heard from reviews it's a bit finicky.

And also the reds displaying as oranges issue.

If anyone could comment on either issue, I'd appreciate it

 

Yes, but:
- The VAIO F2 (older laptop with SATA3) is using an OLDER Crucial C300
- The new VAIO S15 (SATA2?) is using a NEW Crucial m4
The VAIO F2 is FASTER in disk-intensive tasks, such as first, non-cached WDK compile.
Unless you are suggesting the C300 is faster than m4


BTW, battery wise I am much happier with SVS15 than with my still-current main VAIO F1 (yes, F1, not the F2 mentioned above), since full-brightness, full-performance it can easily hold 2 hours and that's with some VMWare and compilation work. F1 can barely hold an hour.
I am still pi**ed about the position of the vents, as I don't know what sort of laptop stand I should use for the SVS15. The vents being in the back, below the screen and blowing partially downwards makes it a very bad idea to place that part on a surface, it has to have clear sight.
I am currently using the Actto (Korean) manager notebook stand, without the keyboard cover.