Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

whites do look slightly orange, but if you increase the blue in the graphics settings it removes the problem.

 

Someone run EnTech Taiwan | Utilities | Monitor Asset Manager
And post a screenshot showing the LG panel monitor for the s15

 

Say someone gets the panel for the 13, too, so we can see if it's been analyzed by notebookcheck before?

 

I can do it once I get back home [around 7.30pm EST]

 

LGD037E is the new and updated one that has the red/orange problem fixed.

LGD0323 is the old screen that exhibits the problem I believe

 

It would be awesome if the Sony got the new panel that the envy refresh did.

 

If i end up selling my ps3 for around 220 my vaio s15 will only have cost 750$ which is amazing.

 

I agree. I noticed that the delivery date estimates to Finland switched from 2-3 weeks to 3-4 weeks yesterday. My dream is that this could actually mean that they are switching the screen to the updated panel, but I know that's a bit far fetched. And I went and ordered the damn thing just a few hours before I heard from the new panel! If they are indeed updating the display, I'll have to call the Sony HQ in Brussels again and make sure that I will also be getting the new screen.

I talked to the sales rep today and asked if my GPU was 640M or 640M LE and she said that it's the 640M, but I'm guessing that its still just a typo on the Finnish Sony website. She didn't seem to know much about the actual computers as much as selling them, though, so I wouldn't actually count on her word on that one.

 

it's very fast. i don't even see that colorful lights coming together to form the Windows logo while booting; it's cutting to the desktop right at the middle of that. i'm running at SATA III speeds though since i'm still using the first revision BIOS for my SA which supports SATA III and i don't plan to update the BIOS.

oh, and i've already done the clone and all the tweaks necessary. in fact, i wrote that guide after i done the cloning. but thanks for the info.

 

@Wizzardexe How do you increase the blue?

 

As far as I know the Envy's are using the same panels as before. You have anything to support that claim?

 

Doesn't Sony block that info? And before someone asks, yes, they can, and have in about every laptop they have ever sold. We didn't get the numbers for the old SA panel until a few people actually disassembled it to that point.

 

The estimate seems to be changing all the time and is maybe also based on the configuration? I just ordered mine (otherwise default S13 but with discrete GPU, 1600x900 panel and 3G) literally 5 minutes ago and the estimate was 2-3 weeks.

 

When did this Bios revision take place that limts the SATA to 3gb? And how could one gain access to revision 1?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-15-32xx-intel-ivy-bridge-amd-7750m-143.html#

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/636482-envy-15-ips-red-vs-orange-tally-39.html#

 

i'm talking about the BIOS for SA, which is the 2011 model. i'm certain you cannot apply that BIOS to the S13 or S15.

 

I appreciate the quick response.

 

I took apart a S13 (non-premium, though it should be the same) and found that the optical drive CAN be replaced with a 9.5mm OBHD harddisk caddy for anyone who plans to add a second harddisk...

might consider the S13 or wait for Dell's L521X

 

I guess I just have to cross my fingers and hope I get the new panel for my S15. Its funny the reason I didn't get the envy is because I heard the "orange" issue was still present.

 

Where are you planning to sell your PS3? I want to sell it too!

 

rohandhruva or anyone else with the new Vaio S:

Can you click the touchpad anywhere or it is hinged so that you need to click it towards the bottom? I'm hoping its a Macbook style touchpad where you can click anywhere.

 

It's easiest on the bottom, and becomes more and more difficult as we go up. About 3/4th way, it stops clicking.

AFAIK, this is exactly how the macbook touchpads work, too.

 

Thanks you for the fast response!

Macbook's have a hingeless design so the clicking resistance is roughly the same no matter where you have your finger on the touchpad.
I'm not sure why but in practice it is much nicer to use. Its the best of both worlds, tapping and having an actual clickable button.

Synaptics has something similar for PCs also:
AnandTech - Synaptics' Hinge-less Clickpad and More at Computex 2012

 

I was going to get the PS3 but I opted for the Vita, I would sell the PS3 on amazon though...

 

Guys plz can the owners of Sony Vaio S 15 provide us with the quickest reviews especially concerning the Red/Orange thing because if they still use the old panels unlike HP we can raise the matter online to create noise like in The Verge so they can change in shorter time. We do not have to wait for months till they release another Sony Vaio S15 with better Panel

I want to buy Sony Vaio S 15 , it is lighter than HP Envy 15 and I like its Full HD panel and I need good panel with reds are reds

 

I don't mean to sound insensitive or grumpy, but I'm getting tired of hearing this noise from people who don't actually own the S15.

The panel is NOT bad. In fact, it's gorgeous. It's a full HD, LED backlit, IPS display. It doesn't really get better than that. Reds and oranges both look damn fine. If one single color being slightly off is going to persuade you not to buy the Vaio, you should probably quit looking for a laptop. It doesn't get any better than this.

/rant

 

Indeed. The red is off, but which is noticable in screenshots and so on, but actually using the thing it only really matters if you do professional Photoshop work - and then you are better off with something like a calibrated wide-gamut-screen like the one of the Thinkpad W530 anyway.

The new Macbook Pro Retina has a slightly yellow-tinged panel. You don't hear people declaring the screen bad because of it.

 

That's great news. Is it hard? Can we have a guide if you have time?

 

Well I am sorry for asking but considering that the forum made a big deal from it in HP Envy 15 then Vaio S15 to the level that the Verge discussed than I think it is a big deal for many

In my work I use photoshop ,this is why I am asking

Unfortunately in my country "Egypt" the price of Sony Vaio S15 is not that cheap nor do we have a return policy , this is why I am asking while I do not own it

 

It certainly seems hinged to me, as rohandruva said, you can click it anywhere, but the lower portion is where the pad itself seperates from the palmrest area more. To give one some idea, when you press down on the uppermost area it still can hear the clicking noise, but the actual pad does not seperate from the palmrest. Maybe the minimal movement at the upper area is an effect of the trackpad being connected? As you move from upper to lower areas of the trackpad the seperation of the pad from the palmrest increases as if it were on some sort of hinge. I may be misunderstanding the concept as I am not familiar with the macs.

 

It was mentioned on the verge because people from here told them about it, hence why the source was this site.

 

Right-click desktop>graphics properties>"advanced mode">color enhancement
pick the blue channel and change the brightness +20ish.
Makes whites look a lot better, at least to me.

On my vaio s15, the entire trackpad clicks, however it is easier to press the bottom.

 

This.

I just picked up an i7 Ivy Bridge S15 yesterday, knowing about the orange "issue" and found it more than livable.

The issue with the LG display is so minor to me that I'm going to spend more time composing this post than I will actually being bothered by it over the next year or so I plan on keeping (and enjoying) this laptop.

 

For some reason all the european Sony websites seem to offer the 640M as the gpu when customising, instead of the 640M LE. (At least in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland and the UK) Could it be that the european models actually don't have the underclocked version? This could maybe explain some of the difference in the pricing. For example the model with 3612QM, 500GB HDD and the 2GB GPU costs 1250€(1580 USD) in germany while the same specs cost only 895€ (1130 USD) at the US store.

On the other hand, the cost to add the better CPU+GPU is 220€ (280$) in the US and 330€ (420$) in Germany, so the price difference there is only 110€ (140$).

Has anyone in europe gotten their hands on a customised S15 or S13 so they could confirm which one the GPU is?

 

Could it be that it's a mistake?

In denmark it shows the SA model (the high premium one) as a vaio display plus.


Could it be that the people who translate to different stores don't reall know what's going on?


its also sad to see so many countries getting shafted in terms of pricing and offers. getting a ps3 for free... in the US. Omg.

 

I just got my S15 Custom build today from Sony. I'm comparing it to the new HP DV6T i7 that I got a week or so ago and will let you know my detailed thoughts on both machines...

 

I just called Sony sales line and they told there is no such a discount of 10% with FREE stuffs.
Can you let me know which number you called or some kind of receipt showing 10% discount and free PS3.

Thank you,

 

For those of you wondering about how Diablo III plays. I got my S13 Premium in today and played it a bit.

I have the i5-3320 Processor and 1GB Video Card

I tried 1600X900 and it was pretty much unplayable no matter which settings graphic settings you tried. ~10+ FPS all around

Switched to 1200X800 with High(ish) settings and was able to get ~30 FPS idle and down to ~20+ when in combat. No AA

I wouldn't take these tests very seriously as Diablo III is very much not optimized (we are practically beta testing for blizzard it seems).
My Desktop is still having trouble playing Diablo III and it blows this laptop's specs out of the water.

Also, my Vaio has 2 little qwerks that are annoying.
-You have to hit the .(period) button dead on for it to register. (After typing this, it is actually really annoying.)
-The right side of my clickpad doesn't click as well as the left side.

Plus, I don't mind myself, but the keyboard has noticeable flex.

I did install 4 more GB of RAM for a total of 8GB and a Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD and it is amazingly fast now. Despite all the warnings, I just did a system recovery instead of fresh install due to laziness. Even with massive bloatware, system is very fast and hard boot is ~10 sec. With this SSD, my Sleep time(time to go into sleep) is also <10 sec and rapid wake is ~2 sec as advertised.

 

they'll both work.

 

I attached screen captures of my online account. You can see that my total before the 10% off is $1402.88 as that includes almost 4% off for Student University discount.

Final price after discount is $1362.13, and that's with the docking station. The rep I spoke to had to talk to her manager and he approved the additional 10% off if I bought the PC with the docking station.

I also told them Im close to buying the Sony, but also debating getting the new HP which was cheaper, so maybe that helped.

The PS3 image I attached shows the free PS3 I already received. That was a phone call I made a few days after the fact.

They also upgraded me to Free Express 2-Day shipping on everything without even asking. I was very nice with everyone so maybe that helped as well.

 

hows the hd ips display on the 15inch S series?

 

Might be a little hard to do a second 'surgery' with the unit i had access to (i work at a computer retail store and i opened up the demo unit)..

anyway, it's jut removing all the screws on the bottom, two ribbon cables under the HDD and you can take off the top panel (remove the panel with the keyboard+touchpad) by releasing clips on left n right sides

 

If any of you guys are following the Orangegate saga in the HP Envy forum here, apparently the new revision of the screen fixes reds but makes other colors wrong. So they shifted the gamut of the panel but still couldn't fit it inside of sRGB. Considering this is LG, I'm not terribly surprised. The color accuracy of LG's LCD panels has always been terrible. At this point I'm not holding out hope that there will ever be a fixed panel on these laptops.

 

Are you sure D3 used the graphics card and not HD4000? These numbers are awfully low, considering there are videos out of of a Vaio Z (granted with the Quad-Core) doing 20 fps at 1080p and 45+ at 1366x768 just using HD4000. The 640LE should actually be able to more than double this numbers. 1600x900 should be playable, very comfortably so if the GPU is used.

I have only seen the predecessor of the S15, which uses the same panel: Aside of the orange-red issue discussed the last few pages it is a really great panel. Sharp, wide viewing angles, bright, good contrast. One of the best laptop screens available today (although overall that's not saying much as 90 % of the screens used on laptops are horrible).

 

Thank you very much, hkings.
You got 10% off because you also bought docking station, I guess.

 

@Wizzardexe : Thank you very much!

@ Shoeslayer : I'm Ok with Ranessin, according to notebook check, your D3 performance seems to be with the HD 4000. Notebookcheck indicates that at 1366x768 with medium settings, the game is pretty playable...
So with the LE I think that it can handle it at 1600x900.
Can you check the GPU use?

 

Can I have a link to a source? Would be awesome

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/8615889-post1454.html

 

Someone else can do a test of D3 on his S15 to compare?
Thank you very much!

 

My S13 Premium just shipped, so should be with me during the course of this coming week. Ordered on 8 June through Sony UK phone rep, IIRC, so pretty quick turnaround actually. I'll post benchies when it comes in.

By the way - forget D3, Path of Exile is where it's at for you real old time D2 lovers.

Petrov.