Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

Thanks Petrov... One quick question can you suggest which caddy should I buy it. I see different models in amazon ranging from 10$ to 44$. Not sure which one fits in... if you have any link or suggest specific model I will go for it... thanks

 

Can any S15 owners help me out with the battery performance? Specs wise the laptop is perfect for me, however, the only concern I have is the battery life.. How many hours are users currently getting on medium use? Thanks a ton.

 

Yep. Keep in mind that I have the S13 (non-premium). This is after a fresh install of Windows 7 and disabling a bunch of unneeded start-up processes. I also run it on power saver mode, set cooling fan priority to silence, enabled Nvidia PowerMizer/checked use less power for display, and disabled the optical drive, webcam, and bluetooth in the device manager. I can probably squeeze out a few more minutes by undervolting the CPU.

 

The Retina MacBook Pro lacks an optical drive, dedicating the space saved to battery. It also dispenses with a lot of ports that people might find essential, like the Ethernet port. It also has nothing upgradable, the only notebook in it's price class I know of where NOTHING can be upgraded. The memory, the SSD, the battery are all fixed. Thinness always has a price, it's just the rMBP sacrifices different things than the S15. Let's not pretend Apple products are magic and made of sunshine, rainbows, and Steve Jobs's ego. Because they aren't. Let's also not forget the rMBP costs 2-3 times more than the S15 does.

This is a good point and I wonder if someone will make a 3rd party battery for the S series which has a higher capacity. I would be interested in buying one, since the battery on the S15 is replaceable unlike the one on the rMBP.

 

Consider this baby,....near SSD performance, big volume and friendly priced,..Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750 GB,..

review:

Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 Hybrid 750GB Review - Overclockers Club

 

SSD perfomance hybrid drive is an illusion and nothing more. But i agree that if you get it with good price, its still better than average HDD.

 

thanks...How about a non-hybrid SSD...I saw this one on newegg, has anyone tried this with their S13? If so how is it?

Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Also, any recommendations on a compatible 4GB memory chip to add in?

 

When you click on the battery icon in the Windows 7 taskbar, does it show that the sheet battery is attached? If it doesn't, remove the sheet battery and re-attach it, then try again.

It should automatically charge once the laptop battery has been fully charged (that's what mine does). If it's not charging, you should contact Sony support because the sheet battery might be bad.

If you can afford it, I recommend a 256GB Samsung 830 or 256GB Crucial M4. The 256GB SSDs are rated as slightly more reliable than their 128GB counterparts.

For memory, I recommend the low-voltage (1.35v) Crucial 4GB DDR3. I'm using the low-voltage Crucial 8GB DDR3 in my S13.

 

There's no way that I'm going to get a retina macbook pro, its too expensive and the screen isn't as good as many people say, to mee it looks a tad sharper over the 15'' MBP.
I Suppose I can compare the s13p to the new Dell XPS14 ultrabook where things aren't soldered in apart from ram, yet has good battery life albeit a 630m and a ULV cpu but I have no use for my optical drive, in fact I've only really used it 3 times in 2 years.

Yes I believe that battery life could have been improved by using Lithium polymer batteries, but there's a downside to this, it is expensive to manufacture, however they are only really used in small applications such as my digital camera, my mobile phone and ultrabooks where cylindrical cells would have not been as efficient.
I don't think there will be a 3rd part battery as companies these days simply don't want to due to cost, I mean the original battery costs around £100 anyway.

Some users have reported issues with hybrid drives hence probably why seagate is still the only one manufacturing it, speed is not much of an improvement as you can't directly control what goes on the SSD bit. So it's best to either go full SSD or wait until prices come down even further.

 

Is it normal for the fan to be always on (albeit quietly) on the S13A even in 'prefer silence' fan mode with low/idle cpu usage?

Is there a way of adjusting the fan speed % manually?

 

It's normal for the fan to be on in "Prefer Silence" fan mode. However, I can't hear the fan in "Prefer Silence" unless I bring the S13 close to my face - closer than it would be under normal use.

 

You sound miserable. Throughout this whole thread you have been nagging! What's up with that? I would think that someone who has so many problems with a seemingly "incompetent" product like the Vaio S series, would have found some other laptop by now to focus their energy on? So if you dislike the machine so much, why keep posting and circling around the negativity?

I am sorry to tell you this, but you bring a really crappy feel to this thread - And I've noticed it since the first pages. You often ask questions, and that's fine - But you keep asking questions that have already been answered, and often when people reply you anyway to be nice, you don't say thank you, or seem to appreciate it, which I think is weird.

It's obvious that this computer is not for you. You should find one that makes you happy! Good luck!

 

Hey guys, I just got my VAIO S15 in the mail today. Mine is in Platinum Silver, I just finished editing my unboxing video, here it is:

Sony VAIO S 15.5 Series Laptop Unboxing Ivy Bridge - YouTube

First impressions with the machine are pretty positive, I think the display looks great, and so does most of my family. My brother did agree that the netflix red is slighty orange, but I just tweaked my gamma to (.8 red, .9 green) and it looks pretty good. I like the keyboard, and I can type pretty quickly on it, but I do notice a fair amount of keyboard flex when I push hard on most keys. That said, it doesn't effect performance. I'll be doing a review tomorrow.

 

Nice unboxing. Not a fan of the silver color though.

If possible a battery life test would be excellent!

 

Well I got to play with the black one in the store and I didn't like the look of the black plastic lid, it was a bland material, much like dell desktop computers from 1999. If I could have I would have chosen the gunmetal premium finish, but I didn't want to shrink down to a 13". Having the laptop in hand I know I made the right choice, it feels like alot of computer for $1000.

I got roughly alittle over 4 hours just playing around installing applications, screen brightness pretty generous etc.. My old computer could only last 20 minutes so this is a huge increase from what I'm used to. Although I agree with what some other members have said, and sony could have easily fit a larger battery inside of this machine, but they chose not to. It does keep the overall weight down, and does provide enough of a charge to survive the time between classes

 

Man, I was really hoping to get 5-6 hours out of this unit .

Also, what day did you order the laptop, what day did it ship, and what day did you receive it?

 

I think I have pretty much done my searching. I'll purchase the S13 premium.

Just one thing before I place an order: What is the difference between black and gunmetal? Does gunmetal have a more brushed metal finish? If it does, I'll take that one.

 

I know that the weight of S15 is like 4.4 pounds but after adding the Sheet battery, how much does the weight increase ?
Also does the sheet battery protrude outside or fit well to be barely noticeable ?

If i were to buy the sheet battery separately then where do we get the cheapest ? I am planning to buy the S15 from amazon (only this option for me) where there is no offer like free sheet battery or free ps3.

 

I have the gunmetal version and it looks bad***! The lid and palm rest + keyboard backplate is brushed, but its subtle. It really shines in the sun, but it does scratch a little too easy for my liking. I would definitely purchase it again when compared to the black.

 

With the sheet battery the S15 comes to around 6lbs.

 

Thanks . If possible could you upload a very quick 10 second Youtube video showing what it looks like, or post pics? I'd appreciate it.

+Rep!

 

The gunmetal finish has a dark gray, brushed metal look. Someone posted pictures earlier in this thread - I know the search doesn't work, but see if you can find them.

FWIW, I also went with the gunmetal finish and it looks great.

 

Would love pics or a very short 10-15 second YT video if you have the time

 

I guess it depends what you mean by "medium" usage. I put an SSD in mine, so I'm assuming I'll get a bit better battery life than with a HDD. I haven't done any formal timings, but I would guess that I could get about 4.5 hrs with light surfing...no videos, etc. Coming from the desktop replacement world, it works for me.

 

Why is the extra 1-1.5 hrs that important? If battery life is that significant to you why not just use the sheet battery. It does add abit of weight and heft to the machine, but you would have more than enough battery.

Order placed on June 26th
Shipped on July 5th
Recieved July 10th in canada

 

I love my S15. I got the silver too.

What's the "proper" way to get rid of the stickers?

 

To all of you who have the s 15.5". Which color do you prefer silver or black. I know it's a personal preference but just wondering what you guys got and why.

I ordered the silver but had some problems with it so will have to return. I am thinking of just ordering the black one. I went to the store and for some reason the black feels sturdier. It has a matte finish on the top and bottom and when i picked up the silver and black it feels just sturdier. Tell me what you guys think.

thanks

 

Hi

I had no problems to remove the stickers. But my keyboard layout looks a bit different in Germany. My left shift-button is smaller and right aside is a "two-arrow"-key

Thats how it looks click

 

Undervolting guide seems interesting until i found out this program is so out dated. It's only support upto core 2 duo/quad. NOT the i3,i5,i7 so i think it's not possible.(OR someone has any better way to to it? )

 

Mine is black. I didn't want a laptop that looked anything like a Mac so I went with classic black instead of a more Mac-like color. All colors of the S15 use the same materials, so I'm not sure what you mean by one color feels sturdier than another.

 

I do not know if someone posted this review here or not , Sony Vaio SVS1511X9E Notebook im Test Weitblick – 15-Zoller mit IPS-Display und vielen Erweiterungsmöglichkeiten auf notebookjournal.de
Not mentions about Red/Orange gate !!?

It is in German , you have to use Google translate

 

For lots of people its not a big issue. S15 screen is gorgeous beside that unbalanced reds.

 

OrangeGate is there, but a non-issue for me.

 

Don't think this has been posted yet (or I may have missed it) but Sony have confirmed which models will get the reduced price Windows 8 upgrade here. When I ordered mine the sales guy could't definitely confirm although I would have been very surprised if my 13A wasn't capable of it. Good news is it is.

 

Just migrated my HDD to SSD using Paragon (took about 30-45 minutes).

Did a benchmark.

Like everyone else, I also got SATA2 speed. Damn Sony!

 

In real world use like Application load time, boot up time, and map load time for games, there is no difference in speed. Tomshardware did a test of this.

However, disabling SATA 3 for any SSD except their own was a real BS move still.

Sent from my GT-I9100

 

I just receiver my s13a(ordered on 20th) gunmetal with i7 and 320/4GB. so far so good. like the weight. really light. if i add the sheet battery it weighs less than my hp 13,3 notebook. while being a lot faster.

ran into some problems with scaling while using an external hdmi monitor where the overscan was on and i couldn't find it.
The keyboard. is pleasent to type on. I am rarely missing a key which is a great step forward towards other notebooks I have tried.
Track pad is great too.
The screen is okay(1600x900). I can see the pixel while the laptop is standing right in front of me. I will get used to it and I wouldn't recommend a lower resolution. I will let the notebook pass some stress tests before adding more ram and removing the stickers.

I guess it's always best to first check if everything is alright.

Edit: Running prime95 I get 90/87 after roughly 10 minutes load. will punish the cpu some more. fan is really noisy(speed mode, ventilation)

 

Couldn't agree more on both statement.

 

Just got my S13P today! It's got the flickering on the top right corner, but I dont mind it at all. Two questions:

1. Is there a touchpad gesture for ctrl+click? if not, can it be custmoized?

2. I heard some people are running color and contrast calibrations. Which tool did you use?

Thanks a lot!

 

Aight, placing my order for the S13A today, just one final question:

I am building a desktop for gaming (sold my old one) so I don't need the S13A for hardcore gaming, but I'll be using it for some BF3 and Skyrim at college, and maybe some lighter games. I know that the S13A will run BF3 at low/med settings with acceptable FPS but I just want to make sure that the laptop does not overheat.

Do the CPU/GPU temps go near 90C or even above that? I don't want my laptop to shut down after like 30 minutes of gaming. I don't mind the fan being loud while gaming, I obviously won't be gaming in class, I just don't want the laptop to overheat.

 

I've played hours straight of path of exile, which is both CPU and gpu intensive. I get CPU up to 95C, but it never shut down or throttled.

Petrov.

 

I guess in your opinion the screen is average its not 'poor' but its not great either, I am wondering what sort of battery life you're getting on it.
Now I am going to purchase the S13p Gunmetallic (£30 extra ), Gun metallic looks nicer and shows less finger prints. I also get education discount (7%) and a further 6% cashback so it will cost me around £777.15 ~ 1200 US$. Which I believe is very good value for money, so I can let the whole 'poor' screen thing slide.

Now in the UK our prices include the 20% Vat, but we get 2 years standard warranty instead of just one. However the US does have a bigger stock HDD. However I'm looking to get a bigger HDD and more ram to put in myself. I cannot justify the expense of an SSD as of yet (maybe when it hits around $0.25/GB)[I believe around 5 years time], also there's no official SATAIII support from Sony again this not major problem - just needs a bios hack I think as ivy bridge natively supports SATAIII.

 

I ended up getting some more money back on my purchase so I thought I'd share. Be warned though, this may not be common policy so I wouldn't recommend intentionally trying it. I may have just gotten lucky.

Anyway, I ordered my product over the phone with a Sony sales rep. I was offered $100 off the sheet battery and $100 off the extended warranty, both of which I accepted. When I received my email invoice, I noticed that both discounts showed up on the laptop itself, and not as discounts on the battery and warranty. The total price came out to the same so I didn't worry about it.

A few days later, I noticed that my credit card automatically adds 1 year of warranty to any manufacturer warranty, so the extended warranty I bought from Sony was a waste. I returned it, and they refunded me the full amount of warranty, not the discounted price I had supposedly paid. Being the honest guy that I am, I called them about it and they said not to worry about it.

Then I got my sheet battery in and they had sent me the one for the 15" instead of the 13". I called support and they sent me a return label for the 15" and said they had to charge me separately for a new order on the 13" battery. But since I had already purchased the laptop, I was eligible for a 20% discount coupon on accessories. So I got 20% off the full price of the sheet battery even though I had already received $100 off at the time of purchase.

So in conclusion, if you want to try and game the system, you might buy an extended warranty if offered to you at a discount and then return it later at full price (I don't recommend this but I'm too honest). However, I think it's perfectly reasonable and fair that if Sony offers a 20% accessory coupon for ordering a laptop, you should be able to go ahead and request to use it at the time of purchase on a sheet battery or carrying case or anything else you buy with it.

 

No Sony Europe are tightwads so offer nothing apart from the occasional half price ram/ extended battery offers and the up to 10% Education discount. We have to wait until Christmas or Easter to get any notable offers but that's usually from retailers such as PC World.

Fortunately UK's consumer protection is ace, according to the sales of goods act the s13p is considered a premium item and thus I am covered by this law for 6 years.
Within that 6 years if the product experiences a fault that is Sony's fault then Sony is required by law to fix it or give a discount off any next purchases from them. However I have to prove that it is a manufacturing fault but it is not likely that I'm going to keep this laptop for 6 years anyway.
Credit Card companies in the UK only offer protection for up to 120 days after purchase, but they can help you enforce the Sales of Goods act.
Furthermore it is actually an EU law that manufactures provide 2 years warranty. Check it out here.
Essentially that's a double slap for retailers.

 

Thanks for the input! I'm placing my order today, hopefully I can get $100 off the sheet battery as well. I'll also be getting the free PS Vita since I'm a college student and 3% off.

Also, which credit card did you use to get the extra year of manufacturer warranty, since I have a few credit cards I can use. Hopefully Amex, Mastercard, or Visa

 

I'm going to the Sony store in Palo Alto in a few hours to look at the different colors of the Sony Vaio's (specifically gunmetal vs black) and then decide if I want the S13A or the S15.

Does anyone want any pictures or any questions asked from Sony while I am there? I can arrange it to be done.

 

The American Express Green Card will double any manufacturer's warranty up to one additional year.

 

I have the American Express Costco card (so I can go to Costco and have their delicious pizza), hopefully that works too!!

 

@voyanger the gunmetal is a good choice. I have to get used to it(looks a bit violet) but still very appealing.

My curcial 4GB ram module works. its ddr3 lv. can't really see the module in cpu-z, eventough it shows 8GB. might not be update yet for the notebook?

I will go and follow the great video on how to put the hdd inside the optical bay. will keep u all updated. ssd will be inserted later on(still inside my main computer right now)

 

Theres already a nice video posted earlier


Sony Vaio S15 Disassembly and ODD Replacement Tutorial - YouTube