Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

Cheers for that and all your hardwork mate I wasn't 100% sure what was crapware and what was worth the effort

 

Nice Hopefully more people can confirm that. If 8 GB is not slowing you down I might just get the 8 GB 1.35v stick.

 

No problem, thanks!

 

This is probably some where in the thread, but i can't seem to find it. What is the battery life like on the S13p? Thanks for your help

 

I ran the S13A with an 8 gig 1.5v 1333MHz RAM module for 2 weeks with no problems and no change in memory benchmarks or battery life.

 

Thanks! Did you test having a 4 GB stick in vs having a 8 GB stick in? I am really wondering about the speed difference there, if there is slim to none I will get an 8 GB stick.

 

This thread should help out a bit. You might lose a small amount of performance but its probably worth getting the 12GB if you are going to use it. I think the takeaway message is that generally quantity beats speed when it comes to RAM:

 

Tja! Fran Sverige med men bor i USA

OT: If you get 1.5v RAM the laptop should automatically undervolt it and set the CAS Latency and other timings appropriately. Also, netonnet should sell 1.35v RAM, I bought a Samsung 1.35v stick from them not long ago while in Sweden.

 

Yes, I tested it with the included 2 gig DIMM and a 4 gig DIMM. No appreciable difference on benchmarks.

 

Just purchased

Model Number: US-SVS151190X-LBOM-2

VAIO 15.5" S Series Custom Laptop

$1,134.89


Customization Details

Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M LE (2GB)
15.5" LED backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080)
Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (Click More Info for details.)
Internal lithium polymer battery (4400mAh)
Black
No engraving
Kaspersky® Internet Security (30-day trial)
No Fresh Start
Blu-ray Disc™ player
3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor
6GB (4GB fixed onboard + 2GB removable) DDR3-1333Mhz
640GB (7200rpm) hard drive

Now this laptop doesn't show an IPS display, in the description, does that mean its only an LED?

 

hey bros,

i received my sony 13a/p series laptop just yesterday but encountered some issues with my touchpad..

well it works very well but i just want to tell you my issue and would like to hear if you have spotted the same..


at the bottom of the touchpad.. where you do, your left click and where the left edge of the touchpad is located.. i spotted a gap between my touchpad and the laptop' body, which i dont see on the right corner. its like that i clicked ( in 2 days ) too often this corner so its "deeper" than the right corner of the touchpad related to the laptop body.
when i click it i can really feel how the touchpad goes more down on this side than on the right side - and can really feel the body, when my touchpad goes down by clicking..

well as you see my english is very bad but i just wanted to check out if you have the same issue and its just a hint for a lil lack of quality at this part.. or if im the only one who have to suffer from this..

would love to hear from you guys!



beside this i really love the laptop, even though i have to get accustomed to the keyboard.. sometimes when i type and i strike the keys i seem to strike it to little so that there is no letter on the screen.. but i think i will accustom myself to that.

okay guys thanks in advance and enjoy the summer with our new vaios<< and girls ;-)

 

half swede here

Anyways, I got my slice battery. Sony says it should give you 12 hours, but I am getting more like 9.5-10.5 with it web browsing/netflix etc. On a whim I tried gaming/high performance stuff and it lasted 4-5 hours.

Its not that thick but it does add noticeable weight and thickness to the laptop. It makes the s15 feel like more of a mainstream 15" instead of a sleek, thin, high performance machine.

Still, if you can afford it, I would say it's a worth the money if you have long travels/etc. The battery also comes with an adapter you can plug in if you want to charge it separate from the laptop, which is a nice touch

 

TDP seems to be pretty commonly misunderstood. TDP stands for thermal design power, thermal being the key word. All of the cpu options for the S series are 35W TDP parts, as stated on intel's website. What that means is that under full utilization all these chips will give off 35W of heat. Now the i5 3210M that comes as the base chip is going to consume the least power. The i7 3612Qm wich is a quad core will consume significantly more power, but this chip is designed to be more efficient and thus still only generates the same amount of heat as the base chip. The quad core on stamina really only gets about 3:30 browsing this very forum, but the base chip will likely fare much better just browsing

 

Well I tried the Vaio Smart Network, and it doesn't even open for some reason... Am I being silly and missing something?

 

Are you opening it via the tray icon?

 

Just placed my order for the Sony S13A. Once I receive it (in like 2 weeks) I'll do a complete unboxing of both the laptop and the sheet battery (which will arrive seperately) and then a review. As well as many, MANY gaming benchmarks.

I will also play BF3. A lot. Sold my desktop and my current laptop has an iGP only.

Got it in Gunmetal. Also got the free PS Vita since I'm going to college in the fall.

 

Wow it screams "ROB ME!'' to me, but hey it's your personal choice. It's ggod to be unique, too many iSheep as of late.

I think it's wither going to be Gun metallic or carbon black for me, it depends what resists scratches and fingerprints/oils better.

 

Hey guys I have the S15 and my 640M LE just recently decided to stop responding. Any time I try use the card it BSOD because it failed to switch display drivers. The only way that I could avoid this problem is to switch the laptop to stamina mode, therefore deactivating the geforce card. I tried reinstalling the sony drivers to no avail. Also, the modded nvidia driver/inf doesn't detect my nvidia graphics card. Is this a driver problem or a hardware problem?

 

Sorry for asking again but just need opinions from you all here. I have no intention of using the S15 for any graphics intensive work nor any games as such. So a stripped down config without Nvidia card is preferable for my use ?
It costs 820 $ on amazon as against the NVIDIA one for 999 $
I can use only amazon.com to buy the laptop, no where else.

Here is a link...

Amazon.com: Sony VAIO S Series SVS151190X 15.5-Inch FHD (1920 x 1080) Laptop (Black) / 3rd gen Intel® CoreTM i5-3210M processor / 4G / 500GB / Windows 7: Computers & Accessories

I am going to buy not now, but in next 2 months.

 

You don't need a GPU if you don't game, so that option would be fine for you.

 

Great! would like to see all of those MANY games benchmark.

Hope by then, I can share with you and everyone on the BIOS MOD for GT640M LE. So, you can compare the game benchmark.

 

Thanks . Although I might not use the full 12 GB, I might go with that just to be safe for the future. Far as I understand it I would get 1/3 less of the around 10% performance boost seen with dual channel by running 4+8 instead of 4+4.

Tja!

Ahh. Are you sure the memory will actually undervolt? I thought they were actually able to run at different volts and would do so. Also the store Netonnet seems to have no RAM at the moment.

Thanks for the info! That kind of answers it for me, then I might as well get the 8 GB stick.

I'll do some gaming benchmarks of the games I have next week when my S13P arrives on monday. Having some summer vaccation means i'll have loads of time to do them, but it also means that my apartment is so hot that I will not be able to provide much benchmark temperatures as they would be meaningless for most other people. Damn this country having no ACs built in.

Anyhow. Throughout the next week I can test BF3, Diablo 3, CS:GO, Startcraft 2, Skyrim (I could test loads of other games like CS:S, L4D2 and such but they are quite old by now so wouldn't really be that interesting I guess). The next weekend I can test Guild Wars 2 on it as theres a beta weekend then.

 

Re the keyboard, me too. You do have to give it a good bash to ensure you register the keystroke.

Petrov.

 

Moldy, this sounds pretty serious. If you've tried everything around the existing install and drivers I guess you could try reinstalling Win 7 from scratch following the guide linked in the first post of this thread.

Petrov.

 

Where does the EQUAL heat come from IF i5 consumes less power than i7q?
Before you answer, keep in mind that those chips are both made on same process and same technology. So heat equally transfers to IHS in a same way.
Energy doesnt just fade away. Its constant and only changes its forms.

Im not claiming that i5 consumes same amount of power as i7q. Intel likely just has more free margin at i5 35w TDP compared to i7q 35w TDP.
However, i have not yet seen any test that i5 indeed consumes less on average in a long run.

 

There is no tray icon, and I've tried uninstalling - restart - reinstalling and still nothing...

 

Hi David,

Thank you! I am very interrested to see some benches. The games look like a near perfect mix of recent games. Could you please try to monitor GPU/CPU clocks also while benchmarking? Would be quite important to see if we can expect any throttling. Did you go for i7 and the premium display also? THX a lot!

Edit:
Sorry, just re-read the first post and saw that some questions have been already answered.

Edit2:
OMG...how the display flexes!?
At 8:55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts6gQ1fD0-w&feature=relmfu

At 8:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMuA3Lj5ZVM

Edit3:
Very short look at the weakness of vertical angles (7:57):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMAhPZFJflU&feature=related

 

I did not go for the i7 as I doubt it will make any difference for my browsing and occasional gaming. I did go for the premium display though and also went with 2 GB VRAM for the 640 LE (not really useful but it was such a cheap upgrade so I thought why not). I also ordered a Crucial 8 GB stick now that I will put into the computer along with my really old Intel SSD. Might go for a Samsung 830 further on though.

 

I had exactly this same problem with my previous laptop (twice). The GPU would disappear from device manager. Reinstalling the drivers would get it to reappear for a short while before BSOD-ing and disappearing again. Turned out to be a hardware problem which required an RMA.

ended up getting my money back because i had to file 4 RMAs within 5 months of purchase. (but that's another story)

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/673678-vaio-s15-orangegate-again-4.html

 

Decided not to buy the S15 due to its inability to reproduce red (or anything close to red). Look at the pictures posted by Mark838 at the bottom of the page http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/673678-vaio-s15-orangegate-again-4.html

Not just graphic artists and web designers, but everyone who cares about seeing red in movies, in the news, in graphics, etc. Red is such a fundamental, prevalent color.

I've noticed those who already have the S15 tend to downplay the flaw. Probably because they didn’t notice it when they bought the laptop and they can no longer have their screens fixed. They must now live with the flaw. Well, potential buyers should be wary, and Sony would do well to quickly find a solution.

 

Hey guys,

just wanted to check out if you have made some experiences with the gta 4 experience.

i cant really play it.. when i try to play it starts but every 5 seconds it lags for a second etc.

i tried to put everything on med/low and still this problem.. even though the optimized settings are high / high as gta 4 says.

when i do the benchmark test gta 4 says that graphic is a intel hd 4000... but i did start it with nvidia and put the mode on speed mode... can you help me with that?

thanks i adv.

 

Monitor GPU and CPU clock rates. Maybe it throttles. Which model do you have?

 

Oh my... Didn't know it is that bad.

 

Try go to Nvidia Control Panel -> Manage 3d Settings -> Select GTA 4 in the program settings -> Choose High Performance Nvidia Processor on the preferred graphics processor -> On Power Management Mode, select prefer maximum performance.

Not sure whether that will help.

 

I'm currently considering getting either a Sony S13P or the S15.

From the posts in the thread linked to on this page about "Orangegate" I would say that it reproduces red very poorly, it's almost orange.

Anyhow, does this also affect the S13P (1600x900) screen? I've noticed people commenting on the fact that they notice flickering and banding, but is this something that is noticeable in day-to-day usage?

And secondly how do you feel working on a 13" computer? I'm used to a heavy 15,6". As in "working" I mean writing, gaming etc.

Just trying to find out this because the S13P here fully configured to my specs is going to cost me 1788 USD (approx. 10 900 NOK).

A lot of questions in this thread but do you know of any good alternatives to this computer? As far as I can tell HP Envy 15 isn't being sold in Norway or at least the computers in the Envy range sold in Norway all come with 1366x768 resolution.

 

You can notice slight banding generally on the s13. I'm not sure if this will go after a while though (I had a similar problem on a different laptop before) There is no orange problem on the 13", but the up and down viewing angles are average.

I prefer 13" laptops, but having said that, this one doesn't have dedicated home, end, pg up, pg dn buttons, if that bothers you.

 

However, I must say that I find Sony's implementation of those keys better than most laptop keyboards that try to fit them in as separate keys. The placement on arrow keys makes sense and they're easy to find. Usually it takes a lot of "practice" until I learn to use those keys properly, but on the S13 I've been using them since day 1.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, Durd!

So far I think the only decent alternative to this machine is the Asus UX32VD.
Pros: (to that over Sonys) Full-HD IPS, reportedly great screen, lower price
Cons: Worse than the Sony at heat management (GPU is based on Fermi instead of Kepler), low voltage CPU.

Though the price for the UX32VD is at ~1476 USD, and I will upgrade to 10gb ram for about 50 USD and will consider throwing in a SSD drive. What do you guys think? Are there areas where the Sony will trump the UX32VD?

 

Any sort of gaming or anything that requires recources from the GPU.

 

I have a S15 and shoot me for "downplaying it" but I tried to get pictures like those to show the diff - I have a mid range SLR (and know how to use it) and could not reproduce a difference as marked as shown.

There is an issue? Yes.
It is big? No
Should it stop you from buying an otherwise excellent machine? Way no.
If colour accuracy is important to me should I use external monitors? Always

 

actually, the gt620m is a kepler GPU. The tek syndicate did a review and it scores as well as a hd4870 from AMD.

proof:
Asus Zenbook UX32VD Teardown, SSD Upgrade, Ram Upgrade, Gaming Benchmark, and Review | Tek Syndicate


and it does manage heat very well...


but it does not have a full 35watt cpu though...

 

Hey whoever the fella is with the modded bios, does it unlock SATA3? i know the goal was unlocking the gpu to be a 640m instead of LE....

pardon me if it was a gpu flash instead of bios.

 

I have to completely agree with you here - I'm a programmer and use these keys religiously, and Sony's placement of the keys on the arrowkeys is by far the best I've seen on a laptop. I'm able to find/use them much faster than on my old Dell Inspiron 1545 which had seperate keys but in typical awkward positions. The only thing better than Sony's implementation is a full keyboard.

I've found the keyboard to be overall a joy to use, however I'm used to hitting keys extremely hard (mechanical keyboard with mx black switches on my desktop) so may not be the best example.

My only problem typing-wise is the strange lag when the cpu is having to process something while typing. I've noticed this in my IDE and to a lesser extent when typing in the Chrome address bar. Hoping it's a software/throttling issue and not some poorly written driver or a hardware issue...

Edit: Ok, it's throttling - perfectly smooth in Speed mode. Now for some autohotkey wizardry to speed up the cpu when typing in my IDE...

 

Thanks for the reply, Jano.

During a review of the UX32VD at laptopmag they commented on temperature in certain settings. As I can upgrade this UX32VD to 10gb ram and 256gb SSD for the price of the Sony the way I want it, I'll go for the UX32VD. The GPU is a lot worse but that'll do.


ASUS Zenbook Prime UX32VD-DB71 Review | Ultrabook Reviews (Under "Heat" here)

 

Hey all, got myself an s15. A seriously a good machine. There are low supplies of this in India (the vaio store from where i bought had to get it from the company.)

About the orangegate issue, there are issues but it is not that great.

the keyboard is really good and this machine is damn quiet (When not playing games Even while playing games it doesn't make that much of disturbance.)
Overall, a really good purchase.

 

Can you please upload the picture you took with your slr? would really like to see it. wouldn't make much of a difference to me as i've already ordered my s 15 but it might help others

 

I don't think mine is near that bad. I'll check when I get home tonight.

 

anyone else having trouble with their touchpads?

i left my laptop running while i went to have lunch, and when i came back the touch pad wouldn't work anymore.

enabling and disabling with FN+F2 and multiple restarts wouldn't do anything so finally i decided to unintsall the drive via device manage and then reinstall it.

oddly enough after uninstalling and restarting the trackpad works again (no multi touch or synaptics though) but then the laptop detects the new hardware and reinstalls the driver and prompts for a restart....after which it stops working again.

is it possibily some new update which is giving me trouble?

any tips?

EDIT: Bios update through Vaio care seems to have fixed it

 

I had this problem with some other games, after posting on the forum was told to go to VAio control center->POwer Managemnet->Cooling Fan Control->Set Speed to ->Priority to Ventilation.

This fixed my issues.