Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

Hi everyone.

It's time for me to upgrade from my old LG P300.
I need a light yet powerful laptop capable of light gaming, so the S13 Premium looks like a perfect fit!

However, I'm not a fan of black laptops. Are there any owners out there who have the S13 Premium in the Gold colour? If so, could you post a few pictures. I'd greatly appreciate it!

Also, is the i7 in the S13 worth the 200$ upgrade price over the i5 for gaming?
Thanks all!

 

Has anyone tried plugging in their S15 into external speakers? I have a Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 setup, and I tried plugging it in and listening to some music.

Oh my lord, Sony F***ed up their audio drivers. Sony's drivers do some REALLY weird things with EQ which completely disable any bass frequencies. This obviously isn't noticeable when using the notebook speakers because they're too small to produce bass anyway, but as soon as I plugged into a setup with an independent subwoofer, there was no bass response. There was no sound coming from my sub. My two tweeters were crunching along.

Anyone have any idea how to fix this? It's extremely annoying, and I've never had another laptop with such obstructive audio drivers. Neither Dolby nor xLOUD will allow me to change any EQ settings.

 

Have you considered uninstalling Sony's audio drivers and test the sound using the default Windows 7 drivers?

 

That was next in my plan, but I wanted to see if anyone else had actually had issues with the drivers before I uninstalled them completely.

 

My wife's gold S13 Premium has not yet arrived but here are some pics from a site to maybe help you decide.

手勢操作真有趣 SONY VAIO S 烈焰金絕色測試 - Mobile01

Just click on each link to expand the pictures.

 

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

Have you tried to go to the speaker properties and "disable all sound effects"? If your speakers are any good you don't need any EQ anyway which is what xLOUD is so disable that too. Dolby "audio enhancer" is a preconfigured EQ too so that isn't needed however the surround sound emulation can be useful.

 

This could be an absolute deal breaker for me - please post if you manage to find a workaround

Don't want to invest in a USB DAC if I can avoid it..

 

Mine has not arrived yet but I was asking the same questions so I can try to help you.

1) You're not going to get that unless it says MacBook Pro on the side and then you have to deal with Apple. Reasonably, expect 4-6 hours. Get the sheet battery.

2) I've heard good. The left side of the keyboard (over the optical drive) is squishy and the screen has more flex than you're used to.

3) I called Sony and the rep said "well into the school year" which I take to mean September.

 

Would somebody be willing to take a sharp picture (with macro on) of the bottom with the access plate off so I can see where the SSD and extra RAM chip go? I've looked through the earlier pictures and can't seem to find them.

 

I think I figured it out. I uninstalled all audio drivers and patches, reinstalled them, and selected "disable all sound effects" under the enhancements tab. After doing that, it doesn't matter whether or not Dolby or xLOUD are enabled. Disabling sound effects cleared everything up.

 

Awesome, looks like I'll be finally ordering a S13A later today then

 

Does the 13.3" Sony S13 have an mSATA slot? If not, have people been able to remove the optical drive and put an SSD there instead?

 

No. Yes (but that requires some disassembly).

 

At all of the new S owners : Is the new S comes really with optimus? Cause, I've got mine (S13) and to use the 640M, I need to push the speed button.
If I don't, the game use automatically the HD 4000 if I'm in Stamina mod.
Is it normal?

 

I'm thinking of buying a S15, but the Red -> Orange problem makes me insecure... ist there a chance to improve that issue with a calibration device?

if not, is there a notebook with similar specifications and price range with a good ips non glossy display?

 

@wizzardxexe；I have one question, if i replace the odd with a second HDD,i just check the bottom side of my S15, i saw two little "hole" but seems these are covered by Warranty label ?

please ref the Attachment file i uploaded,with blue circle.

Should i need to break these two Warranty label if i want to replace the odd?

 

Two holes you mention above are Ground contact for docking station.

 

@wizzardxexe Thanks for your answer. You're my hero..

 

@ngvuanh: Thank you.

So some one could give a disassembling guideline for s15?

 

If the PS3/Vita deal isn't available, you can get the free xbox from the Microsoft store:
Buy Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSE2MFY/B), 15.5 inch notebook PC with Intel Core i5 processor, HDMI, and WiDi - Microsoft Store Online

The S15 hasn't been updated on their site as yet, I did speak to an agent that informed me that they will be getting shipments early next month.

 

Hi I'm very interested in SSD+HDD(in place of ODD) customization.
I know it's not fully working right now but at least any information from other laptop please.

1.Does the HDD automatically turn off when i don't use it?
Or even any manual switch to turn off the HDD when i don't need it to save power?
2.About heat generating, Does SSD generate considerably less heat than the HDD? Would it be any thermal issue when it both run when i do some gaming?
3.Why every people i've seen put SSD in place of HDD and put HDD in place of ODD? Why not just put SSD in place of ODD?

Thanks a lot!

 

Does anyone know if there are some kind of promotions like the free PS3 in Europe / Italy too?

 

@ Hexsense
1. You can chose in the power options of windows how you want the HDD to be handled. For example you can have windows Turn hard disks off after a certain threshold.
2. There is nothing moving inside an SSD, it's all static. SSDs create way less noise/heat and can make your notebook consume less power(compared to having to use a traditional HDD, a link for some more information).
3. It could be because the SATA port of the real HDD place is SATA3 and the ODD port is only SATA2, but I could be wrong. Don't really know a reason why

Wanted to ask the same question ludalex. A free PS3 would be awesome(don't have a Bluray player/console yet...)

 

For now just one: would you disclose the price you paid and mention any discounts or Sony special deals that applied?

 

So my S13A premium arrived a few days ago. I haven't even turned it on, only took it out to look at it for a few minutes before putting it back into the box.

The two things that stood out to me was the tint of the metal around the keyboard seems a little purple, and that the lid had A LOT of FLEX. Is this normal?? The lid is supposed to carbon fiber, but holy crap it flexes like its rubber.

I'm debating to keep the laptop or not. Since I just saw the Asus UX32VD and it looks really nice compared to this sony. Anyone care to give input?

 

carbon is not necessarily stiff. often it is designed to have flex in it

from what i understand the screen flex in the sony is on purpose. If a thin screen like that were to be stiff, it would snap or break much easier

 

Got the free PS3 just now kinda heavy...

 

That's not so. SSDs finish tasks faster, while using less power to do so. however, since they handle more load in less time they cause more activity for other components in the same time as HDDs. However, over all they save power, while performing far better: For Reference, SSD Versus HDD: Power And Performance : Best SSDs For The Money: February 2012

 

Just ordered mine!

Carbon Fiber Gunmetal
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3320M processor (2.60GHz / 3.30GHz with Turbo Boost)
4GB (4GB fixed onboard + 1 open slot) DDR3-1333Mhz
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M LE (2GB) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
13.3" LED backlit display (1600 x 900)
500GB (7200rpm) hard drive
Windows 7 Home Edition

I got a 3% student discount, plus an additional 3% cash back from FatWallet, and the free PS3. Total came out to US$1,183, 3% FatWallet not included.

 

How does it feel the keyboard. Does it happen that while typing you accidentaly press other buttons?

 

After student discount, tax and free shipping, I paid $1,932.97 for the laptop and accessories.

I also took advantage of the free PS3/Vita/8% offer. I chose the free PS3, which I will be selling to a friend (I already have one).

 

You can turn Dolbly and xLOUD off. I plugged a nice set of headphones into the jack and turned all the software EQ stuff off and it sounds like pretty much any other laptop.

I haven't tried the HDMI output yet but I might do so today while I wait for Sony to get back to me about replacing this buzzing laptop.

 

Ordered mine yesterday:

Vaio 15.5" S Series
i7-3612QM
GT 640M LE (2GB)
Cheapest option on everything else, as I'll be upgrading the RAM and hard drive myself.

It says estimated ship date is 7/24/2012... so I'll be waiting a while Weird thing is, I had placed an order for almost the same thing on the 17th, and that order had an estimated ship date of 7/10. I wanted to cancel my RAM upgrade, but they were unable to just change my order. So I had to cancel that one and create a new order. Seems the 2GB GPU is what's causing the delay. Sucks that Sony makes you upgrade to that before you can get the QC CPU.

At least I was able to save $100 by not upgrading the RAM, and they also gave me the 8% discount even though they had also already sent a free PS3. Good deal overall, and worth the extra wait, IMO

It's been great reading about everyone's experiences with their S13/S15, and glad to hear they don't get too warm. Hopefully the quad core stays as cool.

Saw a question in the previous page asking why people don't just put the SSD in the ODD bay. Is there a downside to that? Why is it better to put the HDD in the ODD bay, and the SDD where the main HDD is?

 

Ha! Just checked again and if I order now, with the exact same specs, it's giving me an estimated ship date of 7/06. I guess I'll be cancelling my order and creating a third one

BTW, this all came out to $1125.36US including tax ($1039.59 without) + free PS3 which I plan to sell.

 

Are these laptops generally comfortable to use on your lap? Do they heat up much externally under light use?

 

ive seen a bunch of you guys posting about receiving your s13's the last couple of days

any chance on some unboxing & user reviews videos soon?

 

Sorry, too busy having fun using them

 

People often get it wrong. It CAN be a good thing.

 

Anyone having run 3dmark 06 / 11? would like to see scores, and estimated battery life on various configs.

will be interesting to see if battery drain is much worse in i7 than i5.

 

Just ordered mine
Standard Option S13 Premium Carbon Fiber Gunmetal with Core i7-3520M.
Of course with FREE PS3 too (will be selling it on eBay).

 

Ordered mine too, with 10% educational discount and 6% Quidco cashback

S13A - carbon black, i7, 1GB GPU, sheet battery (pity they fixed the half price thing :c ), baseline disk (going to replace with Samsung 830 256GB), baseline RAM (got 8GB Corsair DDR3 waiting for it)

Can't wait :3

 

how did you get 10% educational discount? you r not in U.S? @_@

 

They have it on the UK site too

 

ughhh :/ they only have 3% educational discount in U.S. site.

 

^ yeah! it used to be 10% two years ago when i ordered a Z13 for my sister. then it became 5% last year when i order my own SA. and now it's 3%. very classy of SONY.

 

Yes, it looks like white plastic. But attractive white plastic

 

Look on the bright side, they're paying an almost 20% premium in the UK, and then have 20% VAT on top of that. With a 3% discount on US MSRP you're still coming out ahead, even more if you can get it without sales tax.

 

Eagerly awaiting a review of the new S15, by the way.

 

Well, I'm sending the buzzing laptop back to Sony. The good news is this gives me a chance to re-do my order with things I wanted like Win7 Pro and Fresh Start. I still don't know if I want to get the Blu-ray burner or not, it seems like I wouldn't use it that much since I have a Blu-ray burner in my media PC already. What kind of memory should I buy to upgrade this laptop with? Someone was saying DDR3-1333 low-voltage (1.35V) memory. Does CAS latency matter on this laptop?