Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

The only time I even hear it is if I am encoding video, it's not excessively loud at all.

 

I love the keyboard and I am coming from a T410. Something about it is really easy to type. But generally keyboards are very subjective.

 

Can I install Win7 Ultimate onto my S13P by using the serial number of another laptop I have?

Also, when downloading the ISO version of Win7, how many DVDs would I require? I looked at some ISOs and they are only 3.1GB, so I assume 1 DVD is enough?

 

Not sure about your 1st question, but for the ISO version of Windows 7, yeah 1 DVD is enough.
I had installed it through that method a few times on my old laptop/desktop.

 

I am planning on buying the Crucial M4, but noticed they are still using the "older" Micron Controllers, are those going to be outdated soon since the M4 is so old?

Also, instead of downloading Win7 ISO, can I create recovery disks, then swap HDD with SSD, and then run PC Decrapifier? That way, I don't have to download all of the drivers...

 

Just back from Microcenter and Frys and had a look at the Sony S15 (again). This time i made a point to take a pair of earphones with me. As everyone says, the headphone jack is tight. Noticed in both the S15 at MC as well as Frys. It took a good degree of pushing to get that 3.5mm jack inside. And as expected taking that out was also a task. I hope sony addresses that and am not sure why it is so tight.
I was comparing this laptop with the samsung NP700Z5C as i am currently confused between the S15 and the NP700Z5C as both seem good at least to me.
This one is lighter than samsung. My wife likes the sony more and especially the silver color. 1080p screen is definitely good but i don't really notice a HUGE difference mainly because i am not really checking things at minute level. For me the 1080p was also good to work with and the 900p of samsung as well.
Lets see. I still have couple of months before i put my money.

 

I got it like 10 times. At first i thought maybe its because installed SSD and additional 4MB of memory. But it happens sometimes , and not regularly, maybe every couple of days. Eventually i came to a conclusion that it happens when the sheet battery is connected. I am without it for a week now and so far no Blue screens.

 

One more time...with clarity (I hope): UEFI= Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. Good article linked here:

Demystifying UEFI, the long-overdue BIOS replacement | ExtremeTech

OK so what does it mean on the Sony S series? First we all know (or should know) that the Sony BIOS Setup program (which you access by holding down F2 while the boot screen is up) is very limited! Sony doesn't like geeks and hobbyists mucking around with the electronic guts of their lappys...it's a Sony thing. But one of the few options you DO have is whether to stay with UEFI booting or return to LEGACY booting on your computer. Remember UEFI is the DEFAULT mode! So if you choose LEGACY boot any Sony restore media you made before the switch WON"T work afterwards. Neither will the restore partition! That means CLEAN INSTALL time!

Also your original hard drive that came installed in your comp will FAIL TO BOOT under LEGACY! So use a different hard drive for the transition or get what you need (like PowerDVD & the activation numbers for Sound Forge, Vegas Movie Studio & Acid Music Studio) off of it FIRST!! Why doesn't it boot you ask? Because under UEFI the disk is formatted differently; GPT (GUID partition table) under UEFI....MBR under LEGACY. I'm not gonna get into the details here....that's it's own (lengthy) discussion...but trust me that's how it is! If you go from UEFI to LEGACY you have to completely repartition and reformat the disk. and you MUST clean install since the Sony recovery media require UEFI. Going from LEGACY to UEFI is much easier since the Sony restore media (if you had the foresight to make them) automate the whole process!

So does using UEFI do anything for us right now besides making it easier to use Sony restore media? Not that I can tell or have heard discussed here. IMHO this move on Sony's part is to get ready for Windows 8 which most likely will make use some of the features of UEFI. Until then...no real difference as far as I can tell. Your experience and opinions may differ.

I am running a clean install under LEGACY for several reasons including (marginally) better boot speed, less bloat, my legacy disk image software continues to work (it doesn't recognize GPT/GUID disks), and the challenge of trying to do something Sony was clearly discouraging. I have (quite legally) recovered access to all the Sony installed software including that NOT on their website! Most def NOT for the faint of heart....but all you need to do it is in this thread and MOST is in PETROV's original post and those he cross references! What a guy!

Hope you find this discussion worth the time it took to research and write it....I have tried to make it as factual & complete as possible without either producing a novel or completely going over the novice user's head!

Since I wrote this post I've done more research on this. UEFI (& our own H2O BIOS) is really it's own mini OS in a can (the flash memory on the mobo) and can do for itself many things only done before under the windows environment. This has given people trying to install alternate OS's like Linux fits. UEFI has a VERY strong preference for Windows as the OS. There are workarounds but if an alternate OS is your desire do research first! It might not be as easy as you think!

ALSO it means that unlocking the BIOS on the these machines isn't easy either. The details are WAY over my head but the info indicates that it will be LATER rather than sooner for someone to give us access to the many setup options Sony has seen fit (with or without good reason) to hide from us! The major EXCEPTION to this is the overclock hack for the 640M LE GPU which works like a champ and makes this a real gaming laptop.

 

Does the modded bios require legacy?

 

Hmmmm doesn't look like they do work weekends. My laptop has been stuck in Frechen all weekend!

Maybe it's waiting for a flight, must be busy with the Olympics on here.

 

Can anyone confirm that this caddy will work?

Designer's 2.5" SATA to SATA HDD / SSD Caddy for 9.5mm Optical Drive - Free Shipping - DealExtreme
Dimensions: 5.04 in x 5.00 in x 0.47 in (12.8 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.2 cm)

 

Orionz, thanks for taking the time to do this. I have linked it in my original post as the topic seems to be coming up more over time. Let me know if there's anything else people feel should be in the first post.

Petrov.

 

Cool, added to OP. Thanks.

Petrov.

 

anyone successful changing the ODD with a caddy on the S13?

 

this is great!

for those who will use this, please be aware that you will loose the "graphic properties" options on the menu when you do the right click...if so happens and you need it...

right click--->screen resolution--->advanced settings---->Intel Graphic and Media Control Panel Tab...

i enabled mine for tray display so that i can modify my settings without going through the process again...

 

Did you get a chance to read the first post in this thread, or do a search?

Petrov.

 

I'm interrested in hearing if anyone has been successful in changing the ODD in the 13 inch model too...

I've searched alot, but it seems alot are talking about the 15 inch model. But I guess it's the same thing, sounds like people are replacing the ODD on the 13 inch model as well..

 

i saw most have been done on the S15... that's why i asked for the S13... but nevermind.

 

It should work in virtually any model, though you may not be able to boot from the caddy drive but only from the normal or m-SATA ones.

 

If Sony finds out you have opened the case and/or modified the lappy by swapping out the ODD they are unlikely to honor the warranty. I suggest carefully storing all removed parts in case you need to replace them. Carefully note the position of all cables, screws, adhesive tape retainers (like over the 2 cables under the hard drive) and replace them exactly the way you found them. That way if you have to reinstall for a warranty issue they'll never know the difference. AND if you need to call about a warranty issue NEVER tell them you've opened the case or modded the lappy!

 

I've opened the case on both the S13 and the S15. It's essentially the same process...but with some details changed. The cases are NOT put together exactly the same way....the S15 comes apart and more importantly goes back together more easily. The ODD's are the same but the space constraints of the S13 case means the caddy you install must fit PERFECTLY! That said....a 9.5mm caddy should work but it's a more finicky install than in the S15. Also as a previous poster suggested....THE BIOS SETUP PROGRAM WILL NOT SEE THE NEW HD. It will report only the original HD as installed. Windows will see it ok as a second HD but you can NOT boot from it...at least I haven't found a way!

 

thanks a bunch for the response! very well delivered!

cheers!

 

Got a S15.5 on it's way with the cheapest HDD option and I intend to switch it out for an SSD, doing this, will it be easy?

(Theres alo 12GB ram in it will i need to remove some because on the side it wasnt possible to have 12GB with an SSD)

Does the sony vaio come with a boot disk that I could boot off to install it to my SSD? Or will I need a seperate Windows 7 license

 

That was one Point that I don´t understand?

The other thing was: You couldn´t order an S13(without p) with Intel HD 4000 Graphics AND 1600x900 Display.

 

I am planning on buying the Crucial M4, but noticed they are still using the "older" Micron Controllers, are those going to be outdated soon since the M4 is so old?

Also, instead of downloading Win7 ISO, can I create recovery disks, then swap HDD with SSD, and then run PC Decrapifier? That way, I don't have to download all of the drivers..

 

An SSD is an SSD and they don't get much more reliable than the M4 - excellent controller.

 

Hi,
I got my new VAIO S 15 (Core i7, RAM 12GB, SSD, Nvidia 2GB), I noticed the graphic is little lagging at the screen after the welcome screen, there is fading but it is happening slow, everything else is fine so far.
It should not happen in Nvidia 2GB.

I'm using Speed mode.
My graphic score is 5.9.
I installed clean Windows 7, same issue persists.

I had old VAIO (VAIO F21), I didn't run into this issue.
Anybody who has VAIO S 15 running into that kind of issue?

 

Instead of downloading Win7 ISO, can I create recovery disks, then swap HDD with SSD, and then run PC Decrapifier? That way, I don't have to download all of the drivers..

 

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum.
I'm sorry in case I'm repeating questions already asked in this thread, but I tried searching and I didn't find anything.

I was thinking about buying a Vaio S 15 with the GT 640 graphic card, but I'd like to use a dual boot with ubuntu or another linux distro, and I was wondering if this laptop has any major issue with linux.
I also heard that there is a problem of compatiblity with nvidia optimus technology under linux, if there's no way of using this optimization under ubuntu, can I still use the nvidia card without problems?
I'd really like to hear opinions of users who already use linux on this laptop, any other advice is welcome.

 

I've investigated this issue a bit -- esp. with Lenovo -- and it seems that many Linux people are not able to get the NVIDIA card working in Linux. At best, they are able to shut it off (to save power) and use the Intel HD 4000. The few cases I've seen where it works seem to depend on how much the laptop manufacturers modify the stock NVIDIA design for their machine, which may or may not permit the stock NVIDIA drivers to work.

Sorry if that's not news to you... I was just trying to express a generally pessimistic tone.

-Matt

 

After a few days of use I'd like to add my own little review.

I bought the s13 premium.
Everything is basic except for the 50$ i5 upgrade and 50$ GPU upgrade. That's an i5-3320m 2.6GHz and 640m LE 2GB.

My very first impression was it was gorgeous. Absolutely a premium looking laptop and so far the build quality has been top notch. Second thing i noticed was that the gunmetal finish has a purple hue to it. I should add though, this purple hue is only on the bottom part of the laptop. Meaning the lid (when open and looking at the keyboard) is black and the finish around the keys and such are purple(ish). To me that was just fine. The slight purple actually seems pretty cool, but odd that its purple on Part "A" of the laptop and general black on part "B". Don't believe a pic would be able to show exactly what I'm talking about. At least I doubt my iphone camera can catch it. lol

I didn't even bother testing out the basic HDD that came with. I have a Crucial M4 128gb that I installed immediately along with a 4gb stick of corsair vengeance ram.

I did a fresh install the old fashion way with a CD and used the serial code at the bottom of the laptop. Didn't take the code initially, but worked after I connected to the internet and it was able to verify itself.

I followed the install guide which worked flawlessly and I haven't honestly had any issues what so ever (knock on wood).

I play very few games that those games are from Blizzard. Diablo 3 and World of Warcrack.

Diablo runs great on full settings. However, WoW seems to have issues with running on complete ultra, but it's very very playable when you dial down the settings a bit.

I did venture into the bios mod and I love it. I think I have one of the lucky machines that can handle the OC fairly well. I tried the max mod and it worked, but I didn't see a huge difference over the one I currently have. (950 mod)

Screen on the machine is absolutely gorgeous for a TN display. I honestly feel like the GPU would have an even harder time with a full 1080P res. 1600x900 is a nice sweet spot.

I toyed around with the finger print reader too. It's a pretty neat feature that you will never actually use. Something cool to show your friends.

The fan... on stamina mode along with priority to silence.. it's almost as if there is no fan at all. It's unbelievably quiet. When on speed and priority to ventilation.. it can get fairly loud and noticeable if it's the only thing making noise in the room. If you set it to balance then its much much better, but after a minute or so the computer automatically goes to the intel gpu... wish I could find a fix for that so I can use balance mode.

Heat isn't an issue what so ever. with GPU-z I see highest at around 74c and that's with a bit of gaming. No worries in this department.

Battery. On speed I see around 3.5 hours. On stamina I see about 6- 6.5... maybe I got lucky? My battery life is awesome.

Touchpad isn't the best nor the worth. Mediocre. Yes. the speakers sucks. Use a headset. You don't buy a laptop to be your new beat laboratory. Use headphones or do what I do. I use a Jabra bluetooth headset. It works great. Sounds come out great and I can chat with my friends because there's a mic on it. Plus I can hear whats around me because it's only on one ear. Being mono doesn't bother me either.

It's fairly late and I just wanted to get something out there before I headed to bed. Chances are I'll think of something else and post tomorrow.

Any questions I would be more than happy to answer.

 

After a few days of use I'd like to add my own little review.

I bought the s13 premium.
Everything is basic except for the 50$ i5 upgrade and 50$ GPU upgrade. That's an i5-3320m 2.6GHz and 640m LE 2GB.

My very first impression was it was gorgeous. Absolutely a premium looking laptop and so far the build quality has been top notch. Second thing i noticed was that the gunmetal finish has a purple hue to it. I should add though, this purple hue is only on the bottom part of the laptop. Meaning the lid (when open and looking at the keyboard) is black and the finish around the keys and such are purple(ish). To me that was just fine. The slight purple actually seems pretty cool, but odd that its purple on Part "A" of the laptop and general black on part "B". Don't believe a pic would be able to show exactly what I'm talking about. At least I doubt my iphone camera can catch it. lol

I didn't even bother testing out the basic HDD that came with. I have a Crucial M4 128gb that I installed immediately along with a 4gb stick of corsair vengeance ram.

I did a fresh install the old fashion way with a CD and used the serial code at the bottom of the laptop. Didn't take the code initially, but worked after I connected to the internet and it was able to verify itself.

I followed the install guide which worked flawlessly and I haven't honestly had any issues what so ever (knock on wood).

I play very few games that those games are from Blizzard. Diablo 3 and World of Warcrack.

Diablo runs great on full settings. However, WoW seems to have issues with running on complete ultra, but it's very very playable when you dial down the settings a bit.

I did venture into the bios mod and I love it. I think I have one of the lucky machines that can handle the OC fairly well. I tried the max mod and it worked, but I didn't see a huge difference over the one I currently have. (950 mod)

Screen on the machine is absolutely gorgeous for a TN display. I honestly feel like the GPU would have an even harder time with a full 1080P res. 1600x900 is a nice sweet spot.

I toyed around with the finger print reader too. It's a pretty neat feature that you will never actually use. Something cool to show your friends.

The fan... on stamina mode along with priority to silence.. it's almost as if there is no fan at all. It's unbelievably quiet. When on speed and priority to ventilation.. it can get fairly loud and noticeable if it's the only thing making noise in the room. If you set it to balance then its much much better, but after a minute or so the computer automatically goes to the intel gpu... wish I could find a fix for that so I can use balance mode.

Heat isn't an issue what so ever. with GPU-z I see highest at around 74c and that's with a bit of gaming. No worries in this department.

Battery. On speed I see around 3.5 hours. On stamina I see about 6- 6.5... maybe I got lucky? My battery life is awesome.

Touchpad isn't the best nor the worth. Mediocre. Yes. the speakers sucks. Use a headset. You don't buy a laptop to be your new beat laboratory. Use headphones or do what I do. I use a Jabra bluetooth headset. It works great. Sounds come out great and I can chat with my friends because there's a mic on it. Plus I can hear whats around me because it's only on one ear. Being mono doesn't bother me either.

It's fairly late and I just wanted to get something out there before I headed to bed. Chances are I'll think of something else and post tomorrow.

Any questions I would be more than happy to answer.

 

Sorry for the double post =(

I wanted to add my WEI scores.

In order from top to bottom

CPU- 7.2
RAM- 7.5
Graphics- 6.9
Gaming Graphics- 6.9
Primary Hard Disk- 7.8 (I imagine it would be 7.9 if Sata 3 was enabled)

 

that's not correct. that "basic" screwing/unscrewing voids the warranty according to every manufacturer, SONY included. you're practically opening the laptop up.

 

the "older" controllers are so much faster than mechanical HDDs that you won't notice any speed difference between that and the "new" controllers (whatever they are that you're referring to). heck, even the speed difference between SATA II and SATA III is not noticeable under normal use. i'm using a Crucial M4 in my SA2, and it's fantastic.

yes, you could run PC Decrapifier, but that won't be a "clean install", if you're obsesses with having one.

 

Hi I was looking at getting the S15 model and I had just a few questions

1) is it possible to up the ram speed at all (target would be 1600mhz)
2) is the free PS3 offer still going on or any deals that I can get? (University student in the US)
3) How thick/heavy is the laptop with and without the sheet battery?
4) Is getting the 3220m vs the 3210m i5 worth it?
5) Is there only one fan in the laptop?
6) what color is the keyboard backlight?
7) Never having bought a sony before, how is the support (I'm coming from Asus which, well the is a reason (more like 50) I am switching)
8) Anything else I should know about the laptop besides the orange issue

Sorry for all of the question but I'm on internship in China right now so no youtube or a lot of websites are broken.

 

You can try Bumblebee Bumblebee - NVIDIA Optimus support for Linux! (or the Fork of this Project Ironhide Ironhide reporting for duty | Martin Juhl's Blog and Ironhide reporting for duty | Martin Juhl's Blog.

I couldn´t try it by now, because there is no Notebook with Optimus here (S13P is ordered ;-)). From what I read. There are a few Problems with standby and hibernate on other Notebooks.

Oh and a General Problem with Linux: Battery consumption is a little higher.

I´m going to install Ubuntu (or Mint) on my Vaio too (when it arrives) and put Win7 in a Virtual Machine.

BTW is it possible to switch the Nvidia Card completely off? I mean in the BIOS not in Windows ;-).

Paddie

 

No. Turning 640M off from bios is not possible.

 

Dang, not impressed by the efficiency of DPD Online Couriers. My laptop hasn't moved from Frechen since 7.15pm on Friday!

I've burnt a copy of Windows 8, downloaded all the latest drivers, bought some RAM and an SSD, downlaoded a load of Steam games i can copy over as soon as it arrives, but now i have nothing left to do but wait!

 

Any laptop you open needs screwing \ unscrewing, even if just to take the bottom cover off. Other basic needs may include, but aren't limited to, HDD replacement, WiFi card replacement, ODD replacement, keyboard replacement and so on...

Also, before sending laptops for service I'm often asked whether I want to take the HDD before sending it back in order to keep my personal data preserved.

And don't get me started on the laptops that get torn apart and reassembled and go to warranty service thereafter without problems.

You don't void the warranty by opening the laptop (save for the ones with warranty seals - except MSI if you don't damage HW parts) as long as you don't damage the insides.

So in a nutshell, you can mount the caddy all you want just as long as you don't damage the laptop in the process.

 

Thanks a lot. I am also planning to buy a S13 premium and would like to have your opinion: I know this is quite subjective but would you say it has an acceptable size if two clients are sitting beside you, following an Excel presntation? The S15 would possibly be a better choice sizewise, but is the s13 acceptable in your judgment?

Opinions, comments, would help me decide. Again, many thanks.

 

go S15.... unless your clients got 20/20 vision... you can still use the S13 though if you adjust zoom of the spreadsheet...

 

I transferred several partitions (including the system and EFI) from HDD to SSD (running SSD in external USB enclosure), then pulled out HDD, plugged-in SSD, rebooted, and then uninstalled whatever I considered junk. I am happy with the result. Mind you, I have 512MB Crucial M4 so I was not limited in disk space during the above process. I did resize main partition to my liking as I used Paragon Hard Disk Manager to perform the migration.

 

What are the benefits of an "fresh start" when I could create recovery disks, then swap HDD with SSD, and then run PC Decrapifier? That way, I don't have to download all of the drivers amd save hours of time...

 

Good questions! A few of my own answers:

2) Nope, not at the moment. I'm hoping mid-August will bring back the PS3/Vita!

3) Not sure about thickness, but weight = 4.4lbs vs. 5.7lbs

4) IMHO, no

5) IMHO, I think so

6) for black finish, white backlit keyboard

8) see next comment

For anyone who's interested in comparing the Sony S15 with the Samsung NP700Z5C, I'm working on a comparison thread (second post is in progress) here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/wha...30-impressions-sony-s15-samsung-np700z5c.html

Everyone is invited to take a look and offer feedback, corrections, anecdotes/experiences, etc.

-Matt

 

Question for you guys. I searched the thread but haven't found an answer yet...

I want to get the S 15 but I'm not sure which version to get. I'm trying to spec out the lowest cost machine but still be able to slam a 256mb SSD and an 8GB stick of RAM in there. There is standard, enhanced, and premium. It seems like no matter what you need to upgrade to the 2GB 640M LE to have SSD capabilities on the mobo? Can anyone help me figure out the difference? Thank you!

 

If you're going to install your own drive/RAM, why not buy the prebuilt (currently $999) with the 1GB 640m LE and 640GB HDD? ATM it includes a free sheet battery, and the last week it was $100 off ($900) on the .edu site (that deal just ended apparently).

Or wait: I just reread your message. If you're asking which one will take an SSD, I just installed one in the prebuilt model the other day and it worked fine! The thing with the GPU upgrade is about $$$ as far as I can tell.

-Matt

 

Ah okay. That's good to know. I only asked about the 2GB upgrade because when you're customizing one it won't let you pick an SSD unless you go for the 2GB Nvidia card, so in my mind that meant it was a different mobo or something. If you went with the $999 pre-built with 1GB Nvidia and got an SSD in there, then it seems like the upgrade is superfluous! Thanks for the input man!

 

Just wondering for my i7 WEI, why am I only getting 7.1 for Processor Score?

Also, for the 1600x900 resolution, how come I can still see the pixels? On my SA2, I don't notice any pixels and the screen can go much brighter...

 

Most def only one fan in this lappy....I've had my case open!