Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

Just got my SSD and wanted to check if anyone knew the differences of installing the "fresh start" recovery disks vs. a clean install of Windows 7? Pros and cons?

 

Thanks for getting back, the help is greatly appreciated. It seems like google is saying the weight of the VGP-AC19V42 is .62 lbs. That seems really light compared to my current dv6000 brick...

Anyone have any input on how well the s15 fits when used on a plane? (I.E. will it sit on the drop down tray without being bent forward at 45 degrees)

 

I just tried to configure an S15 on the UK site and it's allowed me to go all the way to checkout (which I haven't as i love my S13A). Are you sure there's a problem?

 

Can't believe custom builds are gone - had a friend that really wanted an S13 :/

Wouldn't be so bad if one of the prebuilt models was more suitable for aftermarket upgrade (baseline spec), but no..

 

What is this UEFI and Legacy I keep hearing about?

PS: Should I install Win7 from my DVDs or should I download Win7 and place it in an external hard drive?

 

I also have 12gb of memory and a 7200rpm drive, so my computer is just about as power hungry as possible. Last night while in the car i was able to write in MS word for about 3:45 with wifi turned off and the brightness about half. The battery life difference won't come just from the cpu, that alone probably only makes a half hour difference.

 

Shell extensions cause lag when opening the context menu in Windows. Disable any you do not need.

 

I was planning on ordering an S13P from the UK site, but now can't configure one (and they don't even list the prices of the ones they have). So no Sony for me. Any alternatives - I really want a 13" laptop that can handle games.

 

I am so confused. Till yesterday i was almost decided on getting the S15 but then i learned about the Lenovo Y580 which is also available in 1080p screen option. I am now confused as which one will be better ?
I would love to have a 1080p screen.

 

Trambler: consider the lenovo y480 or the asus prime

 

Thank you! Had to install a registry file from intel that removes the graphic options. All lag gone!

 

Unfortunately the Y480 isn't available in the UK.

We are left out when it comes to small fast laptops!

 

I don't own either, but I've seen the screen on the lenovo. It's a great resolution, but the screen is VERY glossy. it was tough to see details due to the bright lighting in the store.

Screen aside, here's what my research has shown about the two:

Lenovo:
Better GFX
Similar Battery (Some say worse, some claim better)
Heavier
Better Keyboard
more sturdy build quality
Average speakers
issues with heat

Sony:
Lighter
Better screen (if Orange gate doesn't bother you)
Optional slice battery for about double battery of the lenovo at a comparable weight
Ability to GFX to ~650 with bios flash
Crappy speakers
Issues with headphone port


For me, the lightness/better screen (the red/orange isn't a dealbreaker for me) makes the Sony the better choice. I balk at buying a new laptop that is over 5lbs.

 

Y580 has a 72Wh battery as opposed to 44Wh in S15. So expect much better battery life.

Sent from my GT-I9100

 

So is the headphone port issue common with ALL S15s ?? Because since the speakers are crappy, i would be using some sort of external speakers and the ones i have use the headphone port for sound (not USB) and USB is only for providing power.

 

Be that as it may, I've heard people say that get between 3.5-5 hours of use with 'balanced settings'.

Here's a reference to one such review:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ideapad-essential/672154-y580-owners-thread-3.html

I think the headphone issue is something related to the amount of force necessary to properly latch the 3.5mm into the jack. Worries are about both the longevity of the jack and the forces applied on the plug.

 

Quick question about the S15. Is the green light next to the power button supposed to stay on whenever the laptop is on. I thought it was meant to show the laptop is charging but I just noticed it is always on.

 

Seems you can still order through the education site for custom builds

 

Hey Darkimmortal, how did you get the speakers to get louder? I remember you posted something a while back but I couldn't find it.

 

Make sure you enable them as full-range speakers in the Windows sound setup wizard. Also, I have found that using Game mode in the Dolby CC makes the sound less tinny.

 

Uninstall the audio drivers, then enable the bass boost in windows sound settings with around 100hz-ish and +15dB-ish

Doesn't magically pull bass out of nowhere (though it becomes 'some' rather than 'none') but it kills the shrillness of the speakers and makes them quite pleasant to listen to at sensible volume

 

Hey, I'm trying to find a place that sells the S13 and S15 to check how they feel before buying one.. does anyone know a retail store that carry them? I live in portland, or and I checked best buy, office depot, staples and nothing.. we had a sony store that closed down a few month ago

 

Since my middle-of-nowhere Best Buy didn't carry them, I decided to buy the S15 and give it a 30-day trial run! It arrived about 2 days after purchase (ship to store) and I'll take it back in a week or two. MUCH better method than trying it for 15 minutes in store.

-Matt

 

Do you have a frys near somewhere ? They should be having both. At least the frys near my home in Dallas has both.


Sent from my iPad 2 using Tapatalk HD

 

The power button is green when on and blinks orange when asleep. The charge light is on front edge of the laptop. Pretty much the same as every recent Vaio.

 

Funny, I don't get the orange blink...is it because Rapid Wake is turned on?

-Matt

 

I saw some of you guys talking about how the configuration possibility had disappeared in Europe.
I was really interrested in this laptop and saw this too, however it seems that the configuration links are now back.

I'm considering buying this laptop, but I will only be doing so if I can configure it for my own needs. I'm very afraid that the configuration links will disappear again. Do you guys think they will?

 

What is this UEFI and Legacy I keep hearing about?

PS: Should I install Win7 from my DVDs or should I download Win7 and place it in an external hard drive?

 

Could you be more specific? I already tried uninstalling the audio driver but it completely makes the speakers not work. In fact, Windows doesn't even detect the speakers without the Realtek driver. My volume button just has a big red X over it.

 

for those looking for a samsung ssd 256gb in the US to go with their vaios..amazon has them for 194.99 for bare drive and 209 for the laptop kit. until 11:59 PST only today

 

Anyone have a good color profile for the 1600x900 S13 screen? Have had mine for about a week now and I seem to have a general green tint. Not sure if I will keep it or send it back quite yet

 

Hey guys, just finished my gaming performance video of the Vaio S13 Premium with the 640m LE. Thought you guys might enjoy it. I had to speed up the videos by 50% because the video would have been too long otherwise. However, you can see the framerate clearly in the top left hand corner. I tested BF3 at low/med/high, Skyrim at low/med/high/ultra, and Diablo 3 at low/high, all at 1600x900.

And you can listen to one of my favorite bands while watching

Enjoy! Sony Vaio S13 Premium Gaming Test/Benchmark (BF3, Skyrim, and Diablo 3) - YouTube

Would love some feedback! Also, game requests are also gladly accepted. If there is a game you want me to benchmark please let me know.

 

Oh right, I almost forgot. I'm taking my S13A gunmetal to work tomorrow, and my boss bought a few silver S15's yesterday for employee use. If my boss lets me I could take some side by side pictures of the S13A and S15, or maybe even a video comparing the differences!

My company also purchased a few extended batteries for the S15's so I could try and get that on tape as well.

If you'd like a video comparison of the two please let me know so I can make the video tomorrow during my lunch break.

 

guys if i watch a movie do i put the laptop on speed mode? or doesnt matter

 

I use stamina mode for movies and it works fine.

 

Custom builds are back on the UK site (for me anyway!)

Near enough same spec price comparison, only HDD changes I think:
£968 UK -configurable
£764 Korea -stock
£805 India -stock

Gits.

 

Wonder if it's time to kick out my old SR

Anyhow can anyone please kindly answer these two questions of mine?

1. Where can I find the list of colleges/universities that Sony offers discount to?
2. For the Nvidia GPU, is there a significant difference in performance between the 1gb and 2gb?

Thank you all in advance.

 

Their back indeed and in my country (The Netherlands) the options didn't change. The site itself has some minor changes though, guess they were updating their website .

 

Can you please read a bit more carefully... another user has already answered your question (except about UEFI) a couple of messages ago!!!
So click a few pages back for that.

UEFI is just about the next generation BIOS, and the support for GPT-style partitioning. When setting in UEFI, the system tries to boot on a EFI-enabled bootdisk/CD/DVD/USB. If your bootable media is setup using MBR (master boot record - the old style), then you need to set "Legacy" in your BIOS to be able to make the [UEFI]BIOS recognize your media as bootable.
Just one suggestion: if you not knowing what you are doing, then please hold back fiddling around. Your new laptop is now working... play around first on your older PC/laptop. Else we see you back here with another BUNCH of install related issues.

 

Agreed! Runordie -the question you are asking is quite general so i would suggest using google. You'll get a lot more info and probably find guides on how to do an ssd setup as well.
Take your time and read about the subject as much as possible so you minimize the possibility of running into any issues. In addition, if you haven't already noticed, Petrov (OP) has detailed out some installation instructions on the first post of this thread.

 

Is the keyboard on the S15 basically the same as the one on the S13.3 with the addition of the 10 number pad? i.e are the feel and quality of the keys similar? I ask because I've been able to use the S13 but not the S15 which is the one I wish to purchase. Cheers

 

Hello Vaio S15 owners!
How does this version with i7-3612QM and GT 640M LE 2GB perform in games? I'm thinking about some less demanding ones, such as WoW, Diablo 3, TES V:Skyrim. I like its display, but I know it won't run just as fine as S13A when playing on native resolution. Some fps/graphic settings comparison would help me a LOT with my decision. Thank you

 

Im also wondering between 13 and 15inch, although not necessarily from sony (unless there's a new ps3 action). Other possibilities: 13in: asus prime
15in: lenovo y580

I'm trying to decide between battery and gaming performance. During the schoolyear I hardly gane at all, bit when I do, I like to do it decently and usually one of the latest games.

 

Sorry but here is a layman’s doubt about uninstalling bloatware: I just ordered a S15 and am planning to uninstall item by item instead of making a clean install. Why do you guys prefer a clean install? Would there be significantly more space gain? Is it safer? This forum has so many people mentioning complications with their clean install.

 

Hey everyone, I'm new here and I could use a little advice before I commit to buying my Sony Vaio S!

So I'm customizing my laptop as in England we only have the 13" with dedicated graphics, the build I've come up with is...

Intel®Core(TM)i5-3210M, 2.5GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.10 Ghz with 3 MB L3 CacheNumber of Cores: 2
320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
12GB RAM (4GB to 12GB is only +£30, is this ok? sony are having a sale)
1920x1080 Res HD Screen (15.5")
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M LE 2 GB

My questions are; should I buy the 7200RPM 500GB drive for an extra £50, I doubt I will be replacing it for my own SSD so this would be somewhat permanent, is 7200RPM very significant to the 5400RPM?

Should I get 12GB ram from 4GB for only £30 (sony are doing a deal)

Also, you know the GT 640M LE 2GB is extra than the GT 640M 1GB but I've read that it's not as powerful? This confused me a little.

Oh and do you think this culd play Guild Wars 2 at a solid 40FPS~ on medium?

Thank you very much for any help yu can give me, I hope to join the S alliance!

 

yep for me as well. the )% finance and 12Gb memory offer are still there

 

A couple questions:

Does the RAM upgrade take battery life away? The onboard RAM is DDR3L, operating at 1.35V. If you put more RAM, especially at 1.5V the battery life should go down, right? If someone did an upgrade already it'd be very nice if you could test it.

Are there any images of the laptop's insides? I'd love to see the quality of the interior, especially the cooling part.

Edit2: Found it: y outube link

Also, between the i5-3210M (2x2.5GHz) version and last gen's one (SE1 version) i7-2640M (2x2.8GHz), what are the main differences? They're both +- same price for me, and besides the CPU \ GPU differences (those I know already) is there any noticeable one? Like battery life (important), panel quality (I think they use the same panels), build quality (I suppose the case is about the same).

How does the laptop behaves with native linux? Any problems with the NVidia GPU, or the physical stamina\speed switch can turn it off for real so it just uses the integrated one?

Also, I've been eyeing the Samsung S7 (same CPU, little but more powerful GPU, but most importantly better battery life), but as it costs 100€ more I'm not sure it compensates the FHD panel + less 350g of weight, as the charger probably doesn't weigh more than that. Any opinions on that?

Edit: My main use for the laptop will be programming (hence the large resolution importance, it sucks to code \ test stuff with 760 vertical pixels <.<), browsing and playing light games. Maybe D3 \ Torchlight2 \ GW2 \ Rift \ WoW and similar ones, but I'm not expecting to max any settings with a light laptop anyway .
Also, I'm from Portugal and usually get my laptops from Germany since I find them cheaper there. Wish I had more options like people from other countries do.

Thanks a lot

 

But (at least in Germany) the S13P can now not be ordered without a WWAN module. (It can be selected but then the notebook is not available)

 

Hey, I was considering this laptop and wanted to know if anyone can vouch for the build quality of the laptop (i.e. flimsiness, flex, solidity, etc.)

 

extremely well constructed, solid, good screen flex for durability but solid. quality is a definite 10 / 10