Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

I think you'd be suprised - its a great bit of kit and I definitely don't see it making a "noticeable performance impact"

It really depends on your reason for needing 3 screens. If you're after playing games or video across *all 3* screen then its out - the CPU and GPU will keep up no problem but there isn't really the throughput on USB to allow the 3rd screen to keep up without choppyness.

But for most users who have 3+ screens, they're mostly using it for pixel real estate. For example picture editing, developing software, looking at massive spreadsheets etc. For this the dongle is far more than adequate and looking at CPU/GPU stats alone you would be hard pressed to know the screen is being driven via USB.

At the end of the day it cost me £50 - far cheaper than a dock and gives better output quality than you'd get from analogue VGA.

Here's a review of a similar dongle, albeit an old review
Targus USB 3.0 Dual Video Adapter Review - Everything USB

 

It is entirely possible for rendering to occur on the physical GPU and then for the resulting output to be displayed via USB, with appropriate driver wizardry and some sacrificed CPU+GPU cycles

 

Ran memtest86+. Both RAM sticks passed. Will run motherboard test later.

Um.. anyone else notice their battery not charging? When it's plugged in it says, "50% available (plugged in, not charging)". Any ideas?

EDIT: Oops, I had Battery Care function on 50%.

 

Before sending it back I would at least try to revert it back to stock 4 GB and run it for a while to see if you get a BSOD. If it still has a problem I would also go back to the stock HDD and run that for a while. Only if the problem persists when it is completely stock you can be sure it is the actual computer that is the problem. Problem with memtest is you might run it for quite some time.

 

Stranger things.. but this maybe worth a try - I've you changed from the stock Sony video drivers, swap back to them - worth a try before you send back. I know of Z's that have had issues locking up without true Sony drivers.

 

I'm really interested the S15 but I have a couple of questions for you guys, sorry if they've already been asked before.
1.) I've heard that the hinge on the laptop is very flimsy, is this true? Also overall does the S15 give a "premium" feel, as compared to an HP ENvy 15 or a macbook pro.
2.) Is there any chance that the display problems are software based and not hardware. On the other hand would I even be able to notice the issue while watching movies or playing games( especially now that I know it exists)?

 

My S13P shipped out yesterday but it's landing July 3...

After ordering 1 day shipping. -.-

Why they only applied it to the PS Vita I still don't know. Do you guys think a call to a service rep. might result in something beneficial? Refund of $17 or a free backpack? :/

 

Silly question but what is the driver order? I'm planning to install and a ssd and I've not done it before so before I go scrounging for installation guides I would really appreciate what order you did the driver install/ whether I should download windows onto a flashdrive... install the ssd and then try and install windows from the flash drive?

Blargh
Tldr; driver order would be appreciated ty!

 

I meant I heard that you can be left with old drivers for your laptop, since you have to go through Sony to get the drivers (and they have to be verified by Sony). This is what someone told me, I was curious if this is just an exaggeration or not.

 

Just received my S13 today, pretty satisfied adorable pink color by the way is it necessary to make a recovery media?

 

I received my S15 today as well. However, I am pretty disappointed with the screen displaying reds as orange. I'm benchmarking it right now (PCMARK7) and will post results later. I don't care about gaming, I just want to be able to debug some smallish finite element models (and other scientific programming) while traveling.

The color problem could be a deal breaker for me though. If I think it's going to drive me nuts, it's going back. Too bad, seems like a good system otherwise.

 

Anyone know if you replace both the HDD and ODD with SSDs, would it be possible to configure them in RAID?

 

I don't think so. There is no option to RAID them together in the BIOS. The BIOS is extremely limited (complain to sony/wait for someone to patch it). The BIOS doesn't even recognize the caddy+hard drive, it's still referenced as the cd/dvd drive.

 

Check out the first post of this whole thread, you'll find a link to the driver order and perhaps some other interesting tidbits.

Hope this helps.

Petrov.

 

I bought and returned an IB Samsung Series 7 15" after a bit over a week of daily heavy usage. The main disappointment was the dim TN display with poor viewing angles and only 1600x900 resolution. But the overall build quality was also lacking (you can permanently bend the keyboard tray with finger pressure, for instance).

In terms of battery life, the Samsung was a bit better (half hour or so), but it's not any magic optimizations, it's just the fact that it comes with a bigger internal battery than the S15...something easily remedied with the sheet battery option from Sony, which makes it a bit heavier than the Samsung at that point, but having far better battery life, and it's an option...something you can leave at home when you don't expect to need it.

The Samsung quad-core i7/640M combination was a bit faster than my dual-core i7/640M LE out of the box, but in terms of say, actual gaming performance, I have nearly the same experience with the Sony as I had with the Samsung, I'd need a benchmark to tell me that it was slower because it's hard to "feel" that difference, and for anything I do outside of gaming there is no functional difference (I don't do encoding, I don't use Photoshop).

And, once again Sony allows the option of moving up to a quad-core i7 (and larger VRAM GPU) with the Sony, if you think you need more power.

The Samsung does come with a default 32GB hybrid SSD cache (in some configurations) which gives it an edge out of the box in program load times, but that advantage goes away if you opt to install a full SSD in the Sony like I did.

For me the Sony has a better keyboard than the Samsung, which is a big deal since I write a lot. The Samsung KB isn't horrible though.

The other thing I initially found attractive about the Samsung was it was more compact in width and length, but in reality the larger footprint of my S15 is fine, it fits in my old favourite laptop messenger bag, and it fits on an airliner tray table nicely. I also prefer the exterior finish of the Sony, it's going to show wear less than the aluminium Samsung.

Finally, the S15 comes in black, something I greatly prefer over silver aluminium, and does not look at ALL like it's inspired by a MacBook Pro.

 

Each SSD is connected to each channel of 600MB/s, and the striped data from both channels is processed later (by CPU if software RAID), so in theory it should be ~1.2GB/s.

 

just got a shipping notice from sony.

question for my EU bros; it says its going to the sony european logistics center first. anyone know where that is?

thought i read somewhere that it might be in holland (?). would be nice as i am too

 

I'm in the uk and mine went through germany. i got it 1.5 days after it landed in germany though so you should get it pretty quick

 

Too bad. Thats what I thought... Anyway, the Sony S13 comes really close to my perferct notebook since I wan't to be able to do some gaming as well (D3, Elder Scrolls). Is there any chance a similar notebook will have more graphic-power? Or are the devices in this size just limited to "medium" GPU? (Because of heat issues)

 

Hi there,

I specifically registered for this question: I am very interested in buying S13(A), although the fixed RAM for me is a serious weekness (since in almost all competitors you can upgrade to 16GB DDR3-1600 and possibly 32GB in the future, while with the S13 you will always have 4GB less an be limited to DDR3-1333).
One of the greatest advantages the S13 has over competitors could be the GPU (which in my country is advertised as 640m but is obviously a 640m LE). Since the LE can be either a low clocked 28nm Kepler GK107 or a high clocked 40nm Fermi GF108 there coould be a big gap between both variants, the Fermi variant beeing much less an advantage over the 630m found ind most competitors.

So does anyone here already own a S13 with the GeForce and can comfirm it's specs to me, preferably with a GPU-Z Screenshot?

And on a totally different subject, about the previous generation i read the displaybezel severely hampered airflow when open, was that issue removed?

 

so far all gpus reported have been the kepler variant

what do you do that would require more than 12 gb of ram?

@averagejoe: cheers, thanks for the reply

 

Nothing atm but RAM is normally one of the cheapest and easiest ways of upgrading a notebook and while atm have such a huge amount of RAM seems unnecassary, later it might help quite a bit. Additionally you can use the spare RAM as a RAM-Disk.

Oh and I'd still like for someone to post a GPU-Z Screenshot to be sure about the clockrates.

 

Just ran memtest with 12 GB and passed with no errors. Will test with stock 4 GB soon.

Alright I'll give that a try

Thanks guise. Very much appreciated

 

By the time programs would make you want more than 12 GB of RAM you would most likely want to buy a new computer anyway.

For how long did you run memtest? To thoroughly test you need to be doing it for around 12 hours.

 

For normal users yes, there are some workloads where 16GiB isn't enough. Better to run them on a server/desktop workstation though.

2nd:ed. Some memory errors could be undetected even after 12h but it's unlikely but the memory must have time to warm up to the peak work temperature at least. Heat increases leakage in the individual memory cells.

 

Probably only in software RAID, which is pretty much the best way to RAID if you happen to be using linux, and absolutely awful if you're on Windows.

 

I am planning on buying an S15 with a quad i7 and adding 8gb of third party RAM. Can anyone recommend decently priced low voltage ram that would go well with the S15? Thanks!

 

Check out crucial.com and put in your machines model number - best price I've found so far and pretty much guaranteed compatibility.

 

Nice, thanks for that, a 512GB crucial M4 is only 399.99 on the site which is insane.

 

Well, after entire month of thinking which laptop to get to myself, i finally pulled the trigger now.
The choice is SV-S1511V9E/BPR

I had many parameters which i wanted, but had to make a compromise on some. Specially the GPU. I hope 640M LE overclocks to 650M speeds at least.
At least S15 is way better looking and has way better display than my other choices did. Its also lighter and thinner than most fullHD i7 quad notebooks. Im fairly happy with my choice.
Since i also needed 3 monitors, i went with Toshiba Dynadock U3.0.
For cheaper price than Sony dock it has way more options and judging by amazon and other site comments, it also works better.
So now its waiting time. Hopefully doesnt take too long to arrive.

 

Thanks a lot that was awesome! I think I am starting to narrow down my choice thanks to everyone's help. The 1080 part is a consideration, as I always have two documents side by side. The only issue for me with the Sony is that it is going to come out more expensive just due to the sheet battery and buying an SSD to put it in. Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts I really appreciate it.

 

Sony Vaio S 13.3 Review - Notebook Reviews by MobileTechReview

final review of the s13p from mobiletechreview
for all who are still unsure

 

i got S13 yesterday, and somehow i saw a tiny scratch today = = it is like 2mm..... do you guys have some scratches on your laptops?

 

You can of course get higher-end GPU's in the same thin (and thinner) laptops; you'll also enjoy the vibrant sound of a system desperately trying to cool itself.

But speaking of this new generations' mid-range GT 640M LE (which btw only performs about 15% less than the 640M): The Kepler runs so cool, that I can enjoy speeds that compare to 550m/555m of the last generation, but in an thin 13.3" chassis. All without the cooling trying to imitate a Boeing.

But all that's just words. For good measure, here's the 640M LE manhandling Diablo 3 and Skyrim respectively.

 

So what do you guys think of the 13.3" display? I opted for the 15.5" because i just cant imagine a 13.3" display being big enough to use on a daily basis.

 

mine is S13 not the premium one, the display is just OK.... it is acceptable for me cuz i am not doing some photos editing or sth...

 

So, I received my S13 last week and in short, this are my impressions / notable stuff:

I ordered the S13 (not S13P/A) with i5, 8GB, 320GB HDD, 640M LE 1Gig.

- Even though the S13 is not supposed to have finger print reader (I think?), mine does. So that was a pleasant surprise.
- It stays cool and silent, even when playing a game like Diablo III.
- The screen is perfectly usable in bright sunlight when turning up the brightness, much better than my previous SR2 series notebook.
- The screen is very very nice, love that it is matte too. The only downside are the vertical view angles. Just as bad as my old notebook.

My main gripe is the clickpad:

The clickpad is too big for me... I tend to use a notebook's touchpad with my right hand on the right side of the pad (well I did on my previous notebook), but now the pad is too wide to handle it comfortably like that and also not accidentally touch the pad with the palm of my hand. I have tried all settings in the Synaptics menu, but I can't seem to get it perfectly usable yet. I was afraid I might not like the clickpad and, well, I don't. The clicking also isn't perfect all the time, and not at all as user friendly as two separate buttons. Sometimes right clicks are registered as left clicks and sometimes while testing the right click didn't actually function at all...

Perhaps I should be getting used to tapping (two fingers for right click) instead of clicking, but I don't look forward to that at all. Seriously though, why the hell is the pad so incredibly wide? It's so awkward, I'd never ever use like a third of the width. Anyone that DOES like the width? What do you use the extra width for anyway?

Other than that, I'm happy with it, it feels (and is) lighter than my SR2 notebook and seems to perform well with room to grow even faster when I install an SSD after a year or so.

 

My wife has 2011 version of 13". Its a very good display for every day use.
But for me, 13 inch is too small aswell. So i got 15".

 

Anyone know the FPS the S15 gets in battlefield 3? (along with the settings used).

 

Hi,

the touchpad on my new S13A died about 30 mins (it was erratic at first, then just completely lost function. Restart did nothing) after I started the laptop for the first time. Installing the latest bios through VAIO care seemed to restore function for now.

Anyone else experienced this?

 

I'm considering buying ths S15 (between that and the new XPS15). I've never owned a Sony before so I was just curious about the build quality and performance (also how the audio is).

Also, I heard Sony leaves you with outdated drivers (and you can't get drivers from elsewhere since they have to be Sony approved). Is there any truth in that?

Thanks

 

Audio isn't great but it is functional. Build quality in my opinion is quite good, as long as your idea about build quality isn't confused with build materials. It's all magnesium externals and is quite light and durable. But it doesn't have what I'd call a real premium "feel". On the upside, it will wear well (ever seen a year-old MacBook Pro that's actually used outside of a Starbucks, for instance?).

Drivers are not really a problem, as there are quite easy ways to use updated drivers that haven't went through the (slow) Sony approval process.

 

I just ordered my s13 two weeks ago and I was thinking of getting a dock, too. I saw the Toshiba usb 3.0 dock as well but i figured the official sony one on ebay for $130 would be a good option as well. Do people generally have problems with it? And will old docks work with the new one?

 

I'm thinking no but just for a second opinion, worthwhile getting the extended warranty?

Otherwise gonna order the 13.3 tomorrow I think and grab the extended battery.

 

Personally I got the warranty. I usually always say they are a waste but I'm not too happy about memory being soldiered onto the mobo. Memory always goes on me and I don't feel like dealing with the on board memory going after the first year. Just my two cents

 

I normally dont do extended warranties but I ordered mine through the phone rep and got the warranty extended to 2 years for $25. That was worth it to me.

 

If i buy the S15 laptop from amazon (i can only buy from amazon), can i get extended warranty directly from sony ? And the extended warranty will be applicable internationally right ?

 

I just get the squaretrade warranties... much less hassle then going through sony (or so iv heard)

 

does any1 have this hdd? Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD7500BPKT 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

is it reliable? is it fast and is it quiet?

 

But international warranty is more important as I will be buying from US but will be going back to my home country soon.



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