Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

A quick question about the sheet battery, how much does it protrude outwards? Also, noob question here, the sheet battery would be detachable right?

 

It adds around 1cm of thickness. Its detachable at any time and it doubles the battery life. S15 weights around 1900gramms stock and 2500gramms with sheet battery.
Battery is around 610gramms on S15.

 

Well I don't mind the slight purple hue, that's due the nature of paints and lacquer, It's good for me as it is unique yet not too brash, I mean all the laptops I've seen to date are either piano black or satin silver. Plus there are too many iSheep with their silver MBP and MBAs. Although my concern would be, does it scratch easy?

I think what sony has done with the ram is obfuscate them for no reason, this is so programs like cpu-z or even crucials system scanner can't pick it up. Apparently according to users on this forum you can use either 1.35v or 1.5v sodimms.

 

Thank you Also if I get a 20 % discount on the battery if I order it after I purchase the system, I might as well do it later, anyone care to comment on that? Thanks a ton.

 

This question might be better suited to the SSD forum.. But what are your thoughts on SSD size for one of these? 128? 256? Is it worth the extra cost to bump up to the 256 range?

 

Also, do the pre installed SSD's have SATA III speeds? If so are they worth the extra dosh over installing a SSD ourselves which give SATA II speeds?

 

They are configured in RAID 0 so around twice as fast as any consumer SSD, and they operate in SATA III.

However for real world use where raw speed doesn't matter, it's probably not worth the extra over a standard SSD operating at SATA II.

 

Ah okay, cheers

 

I got my S15 with 128GB SSD only because they had it on stock. It was around 165€ more than 750GB HDD version, but the HDD version had 3-4 weeks waiting time. I figured that 165€ is worth it for me.
Im going to install 1TB HDD in to ODD bay aswell.

 

Update on my S15:

Hardware
- Installed a 128GB Samsung 830 SSD
- Replaced the ODD with a 750GB 7200 RPM HDD
No issues with these upgrades. There are a lot of screws to undo before being able to open the case and access the ODD. My ODD-HDD adapter/caddy was a little bit too long. For some reason it had an extra plastic part on one side, so I had to disassemble it and remove that bit. Fit perfectly after that. Thanks to wizzardexe for posting the video guide!

OS
- Installed Windows 8 RP
- Followed NicholFD's installation order for the drivers and Sony software
I was able to install Windows using UEFI boot. Just downloaded the ISO file, copy the contents to a FAT32 usb stick. Very easy.
Drivers and software installed smoothly on Win 8. Laptop boots up in probably less than 15 seconds including the time it takes me to enter my password.

I haven't done a battery test yet, but I feel like 4+ hours should be average day-to-day use. I'm guessing at least 3 hours very easily, and I could probably squeeze out 5 if I'm really frugal. This is in Stamina mode. Not sure how it would do in Speed mode. My plan is to use Speed only when it's plugged in, or only when it's really necessary on battery.

 

possible silly question but:

when i swipe along the bottom of the touchpad, the mouse cursur changes to this (see pic below)


and for the life of me, i cant figure out what it does..anyone know?

edit: actually it happens whenever i swipe along and of the edges of the trackpad

 

Hi

I got my S15 one week ago and I really love it. But there are two little things which I don't like:

1. My display bezel isnt 100% horizontal. If I look at the two round spacers at the bottom corners the left one is a litte litte bit higher then the right one. Does somebody has the same "problem"?

2. The sound... it isnt the bad quality which I dont like but the very low volume. I've activated the Dolby V4 but its always quite low. Hope that there will be a bios update which increases the volume.

Ok so far.. thats it. I just wanna tell you ^^

 

After disassembling the s13a I found out I have a 9,5mm caddy that doesn't have the right adapter. seems its only suited for thinkpads

I'm gonna order another one soon. Atleast now I know where everything goes.

 

Just got back from the Sony store in Palo Alto. I must say, the S13A's display is really not that good. Side by side with the S13 with the 768p display, the 768p display had sharper colors and much brighter colors. The IPS display on the S15 blew them both away though. It was absolutely amazing.

The whole red/orange thing is really not that noticeable. If nobody would have mentioned it I wouldn't have noticed it.

 

It's for scrolling - synaptics seem to have managed to make the icon even worse than the one a few years ago.

You drag your finger down the right hand side or across the bottom then move in circles to continue scrolling in one motion.

Not hugely useful with the ability for two finger scrolling - pretty sure there's an option to disable it if you want in the synaptics settings.

 

i thought it might be something like that. But the thing is nothing happens when i move along the touch-pad once that icon appears. The mouse cursor just locks into place and doesnt move untill i take my finger off the touchpad again. doesnt matter what i do

edit: i just figured it out. Its for scrolling while typing. you can only scroll to move back and forth in typing position. i guess its for quick editing while typing so you don't have to move the mouse cursor and click every time. kind of neat i guess, but not sure how often ill end up using it

 

So much for vaio display 'premium'. That said I hope its a bad batch before I order it, I saw the 1366x768 one 3 weeks back, it looked like an average panel, but I need the extra resolution to do extra stuff. I am not holding my breath on it though.

I guess Sony needs to learn the definition of premium. Now someone was trying to disprove this myth but it seams that it may be plausible that Sony is just using the extra resolution as a reason to slap premium on it. But sony does offer me a very good value/performance ratio. I mean a base s13p for £777.15 is awesome, so on that note I'm willing to overlook the screen only if it beats my current HP's one.

Weight is not an issue for me but I already have issues with my HP's thickness and dimensions, it takes up too much room and doesn't fit in any of my bags properly it is just a little bit too big.

I'm sure you can disable it in synaptic's control panel if it is bothering you. Btw I love how you outlined it in red, like it's the Antichrist.

 

I just got my S13P and I am really happy with the screen actually! my one question is: What does the lightning bolt symbol next to the usb 2 stand for?

EDIT: Also this thing is unbelievably light.

 

It's a powered USB port. You can charge things even when your laptop is off.

 

Well it it comes from your point of view, however I'm used to my plasma TV so I might be either disappointed or pleasantly surprised. I'm going to give Sony the benefit of the doubt for now and assume it is just a bad batch they received from LG or something.

Now some of you may be wondering why I said LG, well HP used an LG panel in my current laptop and it is undoubtedly the worst screen I have ever encountered, there's too much backlight bleed, inconstant colours, inconstant backlighting, poor colours and contrast, blacks were greys and well the pixels were so big I can see them form a normal distance away. Never again. Well viewing angles were good at least.

Now since Sony uses an IPS display from LG in their S15, it's a very strong possibility that they're using LG panels in the S13 line. Now I have also owned LG stuff in the past years and I may be biased towards them but I remeber my LG VHS machine broke before my older Panasonic one, and my LG phone's touch screen went awry. So now I associate them with poor quality.

The lightning bolt indicates that it is a charging port so when the laptop is off you can still charge your phone from that port.

 

Here is a video of a platinum silver S15 in bright sunlight
Sony VAIO S 15.5 Overview - YouTube

 

Powered USB port. You can charge a USB device from that port even when laptop is turned off or sleeping.

 

One question, How does the backlight on the screen dim? Is it a smooth fade to black like the Z series or is it instant off like most others? I am wondering if Sony should have cut costs on that rather than the actual reported panel quality of the s13p.

 

I just bought a new HDD bay for the ODD. This one over ebay. This will fit, right?

 

Maybe a silly question, but I'm curious: I've seen a couple posts complaining about the screen twisting when opening it from one corner. I've always opened laptops from the middle of the screen to reduce stress. Personally, I don't see the benefit of using the corner rather than the middle (both seem to take the same amount of effort). Anyway, the question is why do people insist on opening a laptop using the corner of the screen?

 

It should fit since the notebook optical drives are pretty much the same standard form factor. However you will still have the slot from where the slot loading dvd drive would have been.

 

It's a smooth action, I just tried putting my hand over the light sensor and it my screen dimmed slightly and smoothly. If you use the FN key and the brightness controls the backlight moves in steps between each level.

 

Well some people are used to especially thinkpad owners, where the screen latch is on the right hand side. Now Sony designed the display to flex so that the user wouldn't snap the screen whilst putting it under some stress, but in doing that it doesn't provide a nice rigid feel to it.

 

Sorry should have been clearer I meant when the screen goes to sleep to save battery. But you don't have to test that. I suppose the smooth actions tries to add to the 'premium' feel to the product, just like interior car lights which fade out slowly rather than instantly.

 

Can't say I've paid much attention but pretty sure it's instant

 

Fair enough the only laptop I've ever seen do that is the Sony Vaio Z here the screen fades off and when you touch something it smoothly fades back on. I mean apple doesn't even do that.

But really I do hope that the S13p 'premium' screen is actually good and people right now just have a bad batch. Its odd to market something as premium which is supposedly worse than the ordinary plus screen of 1366x768. In the UK at least Sony could technically be fined by trading standards for product misrepresentation or for failing to work as advertised, as the way Sony UK advertise their panels could be misleading.
First for calling it premium, second for using this table which is below.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/2037/33642816.jpg

This one has my observations on it.

 

I have an S15, and I think it does fade out when going to sleep, but comes on instantly when I wake it up. Not sure, though, and I'll check when I get home tonight

 

It's not bad once the colours are tweaked a bit - I've seen worse desktop monitors. However for entertainment/general use, both the stock settings and the calibrated ICC profile from notebookcheck look really bad (blue+washed out, and just washed out respectively).

I've spent way too long fiddling with the colours and so far this is the closest I've got to what looks best in my eyes (nice warm and not-too-fake vibrant colour), very subjective though ofc:

Code:

Windows: SRGB stock profile

Intel:	Red:	Brightness: -1
		Contrast: 50
		Gamma: 1.1
			
	Green:	Brightness: -4
		Contrast: 47
		Gamma: 1.0
			
	Blue:	Brightness: -3
		Contrast: 42
		Gamma: 0.9

And triple check the battery power saving in the INTEL GPU PANEL is disabled (see Power > Power Source 'On Battery' > untick Display Power Saving Technology)

Not quite as good as my desktop monitors but it's still gorgeous especially for a laptop

 

I'll take our word on this, however I am a sole believer that a product has to work out of the box as advertised without tweaking. But since I am a tech enthusiast I will calibrate the screen. Btw after your calibration how close is it to the Z series now?

 

I don't have any better laptop to compare it to sadly, also wouldn't exactly call it calibration as it's probably anything but accurate with these settings

The proper calibration from notebookcheck looked really bad to me, but I'm not accustomed to accurate colour. I guess it's like monitor headphones - accurate but nasty

 

ok I am going to order the Crucial m4...should I go with 128 or 256? I will not be storing any movies/pictures on it...are there any reasons to pay the extra for 256?

 

You really cannot get any more personal than this... Just order whatever size you want based on how much you think you will be saving. It's like asking what package of toilet paper should I buy today, the 24 pack or the 48?

Same speed, different size.

 

Fair enough I never expected any laptop display to have perfect colour accuracy, but I do like reasonable colour accuracy but since this thread says some colours look neon when they're not supposed to be, but hey that's sort of more evidence against Sony.

What is the make and model of your Desktop screens? If I look them up and you give a rough percentage on how close the S13p matches those, I know it's subjective but it's better than nothing.

You've pretty much answered your own question there, there isn't really any point wasting money on space that you're simply bot going to use, however some programs such as Office or Adobe take up a vast amount of space, so really get one that will suit your needs but also consider the future.

 

thanks guys...I just don't want to order the 128 and save ~$100 and end up regretting it down the road...I have some time to decide as my S13A is not scheduled for delivery until 7/19.

 

Usually larger ssd = faster

Samsung S23A750D and 2443BW - both TN panels, but still not bad.

As a very subjective overall comparison I'd say the laptop display is around 75% as good (considering colour alone, probably 85-90%), with the main downfall being black level/contrast. I'm used to using very low brightness where on decent LCDs blacks are CRT black, and that's not the case on the S13A.

 

My 13P came today. Straight black. I'm trying to adjust to the screen. Love everything else.
Question for the rest of you.
What brightness level you running?
I'm running about 1/2 (around 7) and it still seems to burn my eyes. How about you all?

 

4 blocks under most lighting conditions - anything lower isn't enough contrast and anything higher destroys my eyes

 

courtesy of intel, you can't undervolt Core i CPUs.

 

Nice a 3D screen, well looking a reviews on several websites I'd say that it is similar to the display I work with a lot of the time, it is the iiyama prolite T2250MTS, although it is a TN panel it is quite nice, considering the specs are quite similar to your Samsung 2443BW apart from yours being bigger and having higher resolution. I am now much happier and more comfortable to purchase the S13p. Thanks for your comparison.

But our displays don't have pin-point colour accuracy thus not really suitable for graphics people, but I'm not a graphics person, I generally don't need the accuracy as I only use it for CAD, so it would probably be OK.

 

this has been answered many times here already. i'll say it one more time though, in detail.

i have the 2011 model VAIO SA with a 2.5GHz Core i5-2520m and a Radeon HD 6630m which i have overclocked from 485MHz core/800MHz memory to 735MHz core/933MHz memory. i am playing Battlefield 3 at 1440x900 resolution on MEDIUM settings, MSAA off, FXAA on, 8x AF, MotionBlur off, and AO off. i'm getting 40fps on average on big maps (like Caspian); in short, it is very playable. to keep the temperatures in bay, i have turned off Intel TurboBoost and am using a NotePal U2 cooler underneath the laptop. my maximum GPU temperatures are 85C.

now, the 2012 model has a faster and cooler-running CPU and a faster and cooler-running GPU plus a revised and better cooling solution inside the laptop. i'm sure you will have absolutely no problem playing Battlefield 3 on this laptop.

 

I think Intel already designed ivy bridge with efficiency in mind. I mean it is much more efficient than my Arrandale i3 HP and my Lynnfield Core i5 Desktop.
If you have a custom PC it is much easier to undervolt or overvolt your CPU however those are desktop CPUs. I have the option to do it, courtesy of gigabyte.

For mobile CPUs I think manufactures tend to lock you out from those settings, as undervolting could affect stability and overvolting can kill your CPU. I can only think of one reason for Intel to lock everyone out of voltage settings, that is Intel wants manufactures to adopt their ULV CPUs as I believe it is cheaper for Intel to manufacture them as the die doesn't have to be pushed as hard.

Well Ivy bridge is much more efficient and Kepler is too, both use relatively low amounts of energy and output a relatively low amount of heat. I think all Sony did to improve cooling is changed the hinge so it doesn't block the vent as much, hence why the new models don't have that silly warning "It is recommended that you do not use your computer with the LCD screen lid fully open for an extended period of time. If you do so, the temperature of the bottom of the unit may rise." (Well I couldn't find it in the online manuals). Users on this forum have reported that their machines remain cool, So I wouldn't worry until about a year later when you should check for dust bunnies.

 

^ the air intake grills on the 2012 model are under the right-side ports, whereas for the 2011 model, they were located underneath the laptop itself. also, in the 2012 model, there are more exhaust openings under the hinge for the hot air to be pushed out by the fan. i don't know anything more on other potential (internal) design changes to the fan/heatsink from the 2011 model to the 2012 model though.

 

In case anyone is as annoyed by the BEEP whenever you press a hotkey (like Fn+F2 to mute) as I am this is how you get rid of it:

navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\VAIO Control Center

Look for the wave sound named Pi and rename it to something else...I used "UsedtobePi"

No more BEEP

Old trick from my VGN-AW series laptop. It still works!

Hope this helps...

 

double post

 

According to Tom's Hardware, the 256 is faster than the 128 in some cases, slower in others.

Tom’s Hardware Storage Bench v1.0: Real-World Analysis : Crucial's m4 SSD Tested At 64, 128, 256, And 512 GB