Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

hey guys

i have 2 issues regarding the build quality of the s13p..

Firstly: I noticed that on the bottom of the touchpad the left edge tend to be more deeper in the laptop' body than the right edge. When I click it i really can feel how it goes more deeper down than the right edge.. im just wondering if you guys spotted the same.. and want to ensure that is a hint of lack of build quality at this point.


Secondly: When i plug in the power plug, it seems to be not very "stable". It looks weird when its plugged in.. really slope if you ask me.. you can really "move" the head of the plug to all sides easily.. i dont really like this.. do you spotted the same?

all in all i like the machine but the two things i mention are very negative PLUS the keystroke of the keyboard is really Crap. You have to stroke the keys too hard imo to type the letters.. - btw can this maybe be fixed by software?


to be honest i'm thinking about returning it.. the keystroke really is so Bad at all...

cheers and reallly thanks in advance!

 

I have only noticed this now that I am looking for it and it doesn't matter to me in the slightest - no effect on operation. It is likely an effect of Sony having fitted the cheaper of the two Synaptics clickpad models - the one with uneven click force.

This is very likely intentional and the next best thing to magsafe - sony have realised there is a genuine issue with the power cord being wiggled to the point of the connector breaking off the board and added a springiness to it. Good engineering imo.

Coming from a mechanical keyboard I've found the keyboard to be pretty good as far as rubber domes go, especially for a laptop keyboard. No issues with keys not registering, but I am used to typing by bottoming out hard.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/8709069-post35.html

 

I see. Guess I was wrong, I didn't realize what a transformation happens when the pure magnesium is diluted into an alloy. I've made a video which discusses the headphone jack, build material, optical drive, and a few other things, I'll be posting a link to that later. I did suspect the S15 may have been built from the same material that is inside of thinkpads, and if I recall from my RAM upgrade on my thinkpad it was the same colour was what is inside of this. Too bad it feels like plastic but if thats how sony is able to craft such a light machine than so be it!

 

Is it just me or does it not feel like plastic at all? It's got that nice cold textured feel that you only get from metal

 

Feels like metal to me.

Laptopmag.com has their review of a basic S13 up: Sony VAIO S Series 13 (SVS13112FXW) Review | Thin-and-Light Laptop Review

 

Well its not bare metal is what I've been meaning to say, its definitely painted and I think that's what's giving me the impression of plastic. Doesn't feel like something you could dent, rather it would crack. Usually that feels like plastic.

 

I want to thank all of those who posted guides and advices. It has really influenced my choices and helped me save some $$.

So I've had my 15" S series for a few days now. Took out the 500 gig hard drive and put in the same SSD samsung most of you have. I am really liking the laptop with the fast boot times. I went with the white which I haven't heard many people doing so. I really am enjoying the white and think it looks slick. The backlite keyboard on the white turns heads. I am curious how hard it will be to keep clean. Only time will tell.

However, I was pretty disappointed to lose some of the software. I know there is steps to recovering some of it but since I am not using the music or video software seriously, I am goinng to live without it. Plus going to a 256 gig hard drive doesn't leave a lot of space for it.

I did purchase the blue ray player though. I know there was something mentioned about a free player. I was just wondering what free blu ray player most of you are using? I do not have the blu ray burner so I do not need those options.

For anyone looking to buy a blu ray player with your purchase, just know it is very noisy when in use. Especially when burning a dvd/cd. This seems pretty typical in every player I have seen though.

 

ok, you guys should seriously stop posting your overclock scores. it's becoming more and more tempting to sell my current SA2 and get a S13A.

 

Lol. Join us.

Basically you'll be buying a Sony Vaio with a GT650M DDR3 downclock version(GT640M LE).

Not seeing any issue whatsoever.
The temp only increased a bit(4 to 6 celcius).

 

The power cord is the same on my SA and my 15" S. As well it was the same on my old Z series. Sony really did good with this as the power is ment to "wiggle" to help with slight jarring, bumps, sitting on your lap, in bed etc.

It does a great job of not damaging the plug or cord.

As for the keyboard, did not notice this on the S13 i has for 1 day, the S15 i do not notice this issue either.
It is better than the ultabooks and about as good as my old MBP.
The keyboard is far better than my Dell that is for sure.

 

All, I've updated the first post of this thread (at the bottom thereof) to reflect the modded bios thread from Amal and the amazing overclocking results available on this GPU.

Petrov.

 

Thank you petrov, it will certainly help a lot of S 2012 owners

Edit : I've just watched this video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRmk6jLL30 about replacing the HDD by a SSD (I've ever do that), but, at 4:10 min, the man take off the HDD bracket, and then, show two ribon cables which are under the HDD bracket. What are they and Why does he manipulate them?
Thank you!

Edit 2 : I suppose that this is needed just if you want to replacing the ODD by an HDD because it is necessary if you want to fully open the laptop, am I right?

 

Is your utube muted or what? He clearly says that you need to take them off before you remove open the notebook.

 

I have a couple more questions about the s13. Are there any differences between the s13 and the s13p if i chose the same configuration? i5 3210m, 640m, 1600 monitor, 320gb Hdd and 4gb of ram. Is the ram soldered or i can replace it? Can i fit in my ocz agilty 3 (120Gb) and clean install windows7 without losing the software that sony provides with the notebook? (i.e sony vegas)

 

From what I gather the S13P is both carbon fibre and magnesium alloy and thus it's a bit thinner and lighter. Only marginally thinner and lighter though. The ram is soldered but there is 1 free slot easily accessed from underneath the omputer.

 

To all those with the Sony Vaio S 15 and are having the headphone jack problems...

I think I have a solution.

The jack itself works (but it is really tight). For the past 10 minutes or so I've just been plugging in some really old headphones I have and pushing it as hard as it can go and it FINALLY went all the way into the headphone jack.

Removing it is difficult, but once I removed it, I put it back into the headphone jack again. Now I'm just taking it out and putting it back in repeatedly and it seems like the headphone jack is getting a little looser and will work normally soon.

I'll keep you guys updated. Also I just realized how much of a sexual innuendo this post was. Wow...

 

No warranty stickers at all. Hardest part was getting all the cables back in where they were when I took them out! I should have taken pics to help with that. Disassembly was pretty easy if you've seen the youtube video of how to replace the optical drive. There is one tricky part around the hinge area where at least two screws were submerged under a plastic spacer/cable guide. Lemme work on some photos for ya.

 

Be advised that the S15 doesn't come with a RAID enabled BIOS unless you ordered the option for SSD's from Sony! Also you will likely need additional mounting hardware in order to secure those two aftermarket SSD's. To do what you propose you would likely need to order yours with the cheapest available Sony SSD combo....then replace THOSE with the Crucials....provided they will physically fit. That will get you the RAID BIOS and the hardware as well as access to SATA 3 speeds...another thing Sony locked out of the regular BIOS. As for screwdrivers....any set of jewlers/electronic tools will do. All screws are small Phillips heads.

 

Is there any more info on the s15 'orangegate' screen? I have one and the screen is bothering me because I may use the laptop for some light photo-editing. If this is indeed a bad batch(I hope it is), I'm going to return the laptop and just get the exact same thing with the better screen.
By the way, GORGEOUS laptop. The black s15 is indeed all magnesium alloy. It's just hidden under ALOT of paint.

 

Do yourself a favor and buy a decent monitor to hook up with notebook.
I honestly dont get why people want to do photoshoping with any notebook screen. ?

 

dear mother of god


HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? I've never seen such OC for such a slim and light notebook. what in the living buck!! I am floored!

 

Ikr? Now all we need to do is put this chip under LN2. 2GHz.

*fangirlsqueal*

 

stable so far

 

guys im upset. i ordered this laptop vaio s 15.5" for very expensive and the gaming works slow....

specs:

nvidia 640m le (2gb) (if the name is wrong its the best one...)
8gb ram
128gb ssd
3rd gen. intel core 17 3612qm (its 3612 something..


so when i load my game it takes 5 minutes to load and with those 5 minutes the whole laptop just freezes and works after the game is loaded.... then when i play the game i have to wait like 10 seconds for it to load before i can play.... i paid about 2,000$ for this please help


and yes i turned it to the speed switch lol

 

Well, it's not *really* a 90% overclock. It's more like, the GK107 core was designed to run at 950mhz from the beginning, because that's what the GTX 660M Boosts up to when it can. Nvidia must be getting amazing yields on GK107 because even their bottom bin of this GPU which is underclocked to 500mhz easily gets back to 950mhz without any apparent effort.

I would be working on an eGPU mod for this laptop before I tried watercooling or LN2 on it...

 

Priority to ventilation?

 

????????????????????

 

Shlomi, you need to go into Start->Vaio Control Center->POwer Management->Cooling Fan Control->SPeed and set Priority to Ventilation.

AND chose speed option when playing. The system at times will close off the NVIDIA card because it does not want overheating issues. So, override the cooling option.

Good Luck

 

wont that mess up the laptop if it gets too hot? and thanks for explaining it

 

There is no bad batch, the orange shift is on all of them, there is no use trying to swap it. If you're really unhappy, I suggest you return it (if you can) and get something else, it'll save you and Sony hassles in the long run.

And like everyone said, hook it up to an external monitor if you're serious about photo editing, or learn to use RGB codes so you don't have to rely on your eyes.

Me, after owning it for a month, I still I love my S15. I wanted a thin, light, Windows native, user-serviceable, non-ULV, well-built (ie: NOT Asus or Acer) 15" with 1080p, IPS viewing angles, and a decent GPU.

I got all that and more. With the modded BIOS the GPU is turning out to be a lot better than it was (and it started pretty good!). The orange shift is something I don't let bother me, since I don't require absolute red accuracy, and simply can't stand using a TN panel in any case.

There are no viable alternatives on the market for me, the only thing that comes close at the moment is the MBP Retina, and that's ruled out because it's not Windows-native, it's not user-serviceable, the display resolution is no better in Windows 7 than the S15, and it's hella expensive.

The next closest would be the Samsung Series 7 15", a decent enough unit that only weighs 5 pounds and is nice and compact, but it's saddled with a poor viewing angle 1600x900 TN display (owned one for over a week, took it back...it has accurate reds, but only from a very narrow viewing angle, after that all colors go to ).

Beyond that, there's not much out there for 2012. Sony didn't get the S15 perfect, but it's the best on the market in its class at the moment.

 

I concur with everything that Croak said. There's not another laptop out there right now that I think I would take over my S15. And now with the BIOS mod, this machine is rocking even more.

 

same thing just a louder fan

 

Completely freezing sounds like a driver issue or something.. is this a fresh install or just stock?

 

the game loads in 5 minutes, after 4 minutes 30 seconds (around) the laptop just freezes for 30 seconds, after the game is loading every unfreezes.

 

Oh, ok. I was just wondering because as you said, this laptop is a BEAST for it's size(15in screen, and less than an inch thick), especially with the modded bios. I don't know. Sony just could of done better. The screen just seems a little bad for a 2000-dollar-plus machine. I would have gone for the z, but 13.1in, is too small for me. I was just wondering because I think someone mentioned that Sony sourced the screens from LG, same as the HP envy 15, which also has the same problem. and apparently LG fixed the issue.

Just wanted to make sure that I couldn't get anything better.

 

What game is that?

 

http://sfront.ijji.com/


downloaded to test out my laptop i used to play it.

 

U may need to add the game to the nvidia control panel to force playability. On another note,,the game is written by a non big game studio so there is no guarantee that it will work with a laptop gpu.

Best of luck

 

it works dont get me wrong its just that why do i have to wait 5 minutes for it to load, the game works perfectly other than that, only one other time i had a problem

 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to BIOS modding so could you clear up some questions I have:

1) Does the BIOS mod void your warranty?
2) Does it cause the laptop to overheat at all, or make the fans louder?
3) Can you revert back to the normal, stock Sony BIOS?
4) Does it make that much of a difference when playing games? Do you get a better frame rate or does it allow you to bump up the settings/resolution?

Thanks!

 

1. Only if you ship it back with the modded BIOS.

2. No, it runs a couple degrees hotter than without, still well within the safe thermal range for a 28nm part.

3. Yes, information in the first post of this thread

4. Yes, it's a noticeable improvement. It's 95% faster, so you can expect almost double the performance in some cases.

 

Where are you getting $2k for this machine from? I hope you're not thinking about buying Sony's SSDs.

 

I ordered the 3 year accidental express ship warranty. That adds $399. The actual machine costs $1,799. And no, no raid0 ssd for me. There's not enough space. For me at least, when it's speed vs space, space always wins.

And just making sure the whole screen orange thing is a problem with the entire s15 series right? Not just a bad batch of screens? I don't know. I love the machine, but the screen just lets it down.

 

you can config the I5, 640m LE for sub 1k with student discounts... thats a far cry from 2k


also just as an aside i wonder if all the other kepler 640m are this overclockable.

 

Weird...I ordered 4 gig of ram and the cheapest hard drive. That was $1250. I ordered another 8 gig stick and the Samsung 830 SSD off of a Newegg. That came out to $250. I sold the free PS3 they threw in for $200, so my system with 12 gig of ram and the 256 Samsung SSD came out to $1300.

Are you in the US?

 

Can someone help me prove I'm not going mad?

Put this image completely fullscreen on a S13A and tell me if it changes over a period of about 5-10 seconds:
- background becomes darker
- text becomes fainter
- green of logo becomes brighter/washed out

Then change back to your desktop/browser and everything slowly becomes brighter again.

I've turned off/reset all the Intel gpu stuff and I'm still getting this incredibly annoying effect. If I'm not mistaken the 'adaptive contrast enhancement' feature is stuck on, and applying to everything not just video.

 

VAIO Control Center -> Display -> Color Mode Setting -> Do not apply color mode

 

I've noticed something like that too on my S15 when switching windows and on battery. For whatever reason, the screen will get brighter, dim, get brighter depending on what application I'm on.

I'm wondering if it has something to do with the Nvidia Control Center and application specific settings. But that's just a wild guess. It hasn't bothered me enough yet for me to investigate.

 

It does exactly as you say.