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    Official 2012 Sony S Series Owners Thread

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony Owners' Lounge Forum' started by Petrov, Jun 9, 2012.

  1. Malmer

    Malmer Notebook Guru

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    I agree with Ranessin and Arès1511. The performance is much too low for those specs. D3 can run on virtually anything with a graphics card from the past couple of years, and in general it runs ok on systems with much lower end GPU's.

    The fact that it doesn't run well on your desktop either, makes me think it could well be your internet connection. Enemy AI and a lot of other stuff is handled server wise, and a low connection will actually make it look like it runs horrible. Did you you actually turn on fps to show? Also, are you perchance on a wireless connection with both your machines?
     
  2. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    I'm getting about 30fps in big fights at 1920x1080, texture quality high, shadows low, physics high, clutter medium and Anti-aliasing turned off (don't really need it at this resolution and pixel density). It's quite playable.

    If I drop down to 1600x900, all else the same, FRAPS is saying I get over 40fps in the same area (Vestibule of Light), but I don't notice that much of an improvement in performance compared to how much better it looks than at 1920x1080.

    If I drop even further to 1366x768, I pick up another 5FPS, hovering around 50. I can tell the difference in smoothness between this and 1080p but it at that resolution there is significant blurring.

    Turning on Low FX nets me another 5-10 FPS at any resolution, depending, and doesn't look that bad.
     
  3. shadowxrider08

    shadowxrider08 Newbie

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    people with 15in
    hows the durability for the 15inch??
    and do you like the number pad on it?
     
  4. Croftpepp

    Croftpepp Newbie

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    Guys i was just wondering, how is the noise going? especially from the 13 inch models. Noise was the reason i did not bought last years model, so im asking if it got any better. How is the noise now in idle, gaming or other performance heavy applications?
     
  5. dp3000

    dp3000 Notebook Evangelist

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    That's just bollocks, not all their panels have "terrible" colour accuracy.
     
  6. Faceless Rebel

    Faceless Rebel Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah okay, the panels they sell for use in HDTVs are probably pretty good considering what they are for. And desktop LCD panels tend to be better than the ones that go into laptops. So I should have qualified that statement, I've never seen a LG panel for a laptop that wasn't total garbage.
     
  7. Ninjazn

    Ninjazn Notebook Consultant

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    Anyone else keep checking their Fedex tracking number compulsively? :p I know that it doesn't update frequently but it doesn't stop me from checking every hour, haha.

    Anyway, my laptop has officially made it across from Shanghai to the "destination sort facility" in my city. Scheduled delivery is now Monday, June 18th. I figured since it is in my city now, I might be able to pick it up from a Fedex location today itself. I called Fedex but they said it is at the airport and has passed customs inspections but cannot be picked up today.

    Since I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow and won't be back till next Saturday I guess I can't play around with my new Vaio S 15 for another week.
     
  8. Awesome_Aleks

    Awesome_Aleks Notebook Enthusiast

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    For anyone playing Diablo III, please tell us your FPS count through the short cut CTRL+R which will bring it up in game. I'm unsure how FRAPS affects a system.

    Anyway, for people with S13 Premium how loud is it? That's the major issue I have with my SB Vaio. And why I'm kinda tempted to buy an S13 Premium at the moment.

    Also, I didn't realise that Docking Station with inbuilt HDD worked with the S15, I thought it was for the S13 & S13 Premium only. Hopefully I'm wrong.

    I really like that idea, put a 256GB or so SSD in the laptop for all programs, games and OS and leave the 500GB of music and videos at home where I'm more likely to play it (I keep all my music with me on my phone and only watch movies at home, 256GB leaves plenty of spare space for some movies in the case that I will watch some)
     
  9. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    BTW, I Forgot to ask : for the S15 owners, is the PC always audible, or is it REALLY silent (impossible to hear in a silent room with absolutely no noise around).
    I don't ask for the noise during a game, but the noise during surfing, typing.
     
  10. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    It's mostly silent when I have the fan control to "balanced". There's a faint whirring of the fan that can be heard if you get within a couple inches that becomes inaudible (to me) at typing distance.

    Switched to "priority to ventilation" and it can be heard running all the time at idle (not super loud).

    When benchmarking it can get very loud, but in actual "real" usage or gaming I have yet to hear the fans spin up that high.
     
  11. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    @ Croak, thank you, of course, my question is when you are at typing distance.^^
    Actually, I've MBP and you can't hear anything, except if you put your ears next to the fans. But when you are typing, you can't heard anything (I've a SSD so i don't hear the HDD).
    But every Sony Laptops that I have ever owned made some faint whirring but audible at a typing distance.
    Actually, for those who have ever used a MBP, is the S15 as silent as it?

    Edit : and if you use the mode "priority to silence", does it change anything?
     
  12. rohandhruva

    rohandhruva Notebook Geek

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    I have the S13A, and no, it's not as silent as the MBP. The former is true for me.
     
  13. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    The "former"? Sorry, I'm french, you know^^, and I don't manage to understand this expression by myself nor with google translate^^
    (BTW, sorry if I, and I know that it's the case^^, made some english mistakes.)
     
  14. rohandhruva

    rohandhruva Notebook Geek

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    You don't have to apologise buddy, my French is worse than your English :)

    I meant to say that yes, even my S13A makes a faint, but audible, whirring at typing distance. It is definitely not as silent as MBP.
     
  15. lucjuh8

    lucjuh8 Notebook Guru

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    (sorry for off-topic) you should take a look at the dv6 7000 series full hd display, it has a contrast of almost 900:1 and a good colour gamut and the screen is from, you might have guessed it already, yes from LG.
     
  16. Croftpepp

    Croftpepp Newbie

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    is it maybe possible to get decent dB scores from the noises, the notebook makes in the different stages? like at idle, surfing, low office work, gaming and so on.
     
  17. daddyxx1

    daddyxx1 Newbie

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    hi guys i'm planning to buy vaio s13A (premium screen display 1600x900) on the italian sony vaio store site. I have only few doubts. Please can you help me?

    - Hard Disk: If i want to replace the original 320 GB hard disk of my configuration with Ssd. Can I buy 7mm or 9.5 mm? I think crucial m4 is good.

    - Ram: I know there is 4 Gb soldered. If i want to upgrade with 8 Gb module. Can i buy a classic 8 gb so-dimm ddr3 1333 mhz module like Corsair, Kingston, G.skill ecc ecc? Or there is a particular module that i buy? I read in the forum like L-ddr3 low voltage.....no dual channel....Can you gently explain me?

    - Chassis: I know that the chassis in the S13A is in carbon aluminium. But i would to know if the down part of the chassis (the part which direct access to ram, hard disk) is in plastic or carbon aluminium.
    Is it simply to open for upgrade ram and hard disk? Like other laptops some screws....

    Thanks in advance :)
     
  18. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    Supposedly this:

     
  19. Shoeslayer

    Shoeslayer Newbie

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    So, I redid my Diablo III test on my S13 Premium and my low FPS was due to running DxTory(Similar to FRAPS) in the background. I used the built in FPS monitor in D3 and was getting ~40 FPS in combat and 60 idle with everything set to max and 1600X900 resolution with AA on.

    Also, I think the speakers sound great. They are not able to get too loud, but the max loudness is still clear unlike many laptop speakers
     
  20. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    Thank you for redid your test! It seems that this results are more accurate.
     
  21. jaysnooginz

    jaysnooginz Notebook Guru

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    Can anyone find out if optimus is working regardless of the stamina speed switch, and can you install the latest version of nvidia drivers or do we have to use the crappy Sony ones.
     
  22. Croftpepp

    Croftpepp Newbie

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    really? wow 19 dB are almost silent, and 43 db at max is not perfect but alright. Sounds promesing
     
  23. zero002021

    zero002021 Notebook Enthusiast

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    HKINGS - Is there any way you can send me either your email address or order number from this purchase? I am trying to get the 10% discount you received, but the rep I spoke to said they can only give me the discount if I can prove another person received it, by giving them the email address or order number.
     
  24. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    Do you reckon somebody makes an ODD to HDD caddy for the S15 yet? It's a slot loader now instead of a tray.
     
  25. jamesman32

    jamesman32 Notebook Consultant

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    After looking my S15 over thoroughly and taking it apart, I'm inclined to believe that you really cannot replace the ODD with an HDD. The slot load mechanism is built into the chassis. It's seamless like a Macbook.
     
  26. leekyuh

    leekyuh Notebook Enthusiast

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    I found that in the UK only education discount is available.
    No PS, no rep discount..
     
  27. dappa

    dappa Notebook Enthusiast

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    Notebook Hard Drive Caddy:
    http://www.newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_39

    Eventually they will have one for the new S
     
  28. jam12

    jam12 Notebook Deity

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    Yep it sucks compared to the US :mad:. The education discount is 7%.
     
  29. HKINGS

    HKINGS Notebook Evangelist

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  30. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    Picked up a Crucial M4 256Gb SSD today, NCIX had them on sale for $185 (which is the lowest they've ever been in Canada).

    Cut to the chase: My S15 now gets a 7.7 disk score in Windows Experience Index. :)

    Brings my base score up to 6.8

    And of course, it's hella fast to boot and load things. Made a snappy machine a beast. I put the 5400rpm 750Gb drive in a cheap plastic USB 3.0 enclosure for now, will buy an ODD caddy for it if/when they're available.

    Sadly (but expected), Intel's software is telling me it's only running SATA II speeds.
     
  31. zero002021

    zero002021 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I went to a local Sony store the other day to look at the new S15 and S13, and in my opinion the red/orange problem on the S15 is VERY prominent. The reds look orange - it's not "slightly" off, it's not "kind of orange", it's 100% orange.

    Color reproduction may not matter to you, but to those of us who rely on a display with accurate colors to do our jobs, it's a major issue. Please don't say the issue is being blown out of proportion. You may not mind, but we do.

    ZeiN7, don't be sorry for asking. Like you, I am a creative professional and I do a lot of work in Photoshop and other Adobe programs. I was going to purchase an HP Envy until I found out about the red/orange problem, and then I ran into the same problem again when I was looking at the Sony Vaio 15.

    I didn't notice any problems with color reproduction on the S13 Premium (1600x900) display that was in-store, and I am now considering that over the S15. I primarily use my desktop when I'm working, but I would still like my laptop to have accurate color reproduction. If you don't mind a smaller (13.3") laptop, it's worth considering the S13.
     
  32. luffytubby

    luffytubby Notebook Deity

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    how are temperatures while gaming?


    whats your score in 3dmark 06 / 11?

    could you post a video for youtube showing how good the viewing angles and such are, and how good the speakers are?


    thanks for this stuff guys.



    also.. anyone with actual large pictures of the gun metal and gold colored models? hard to get an impression on how good they sound!
     
  33. rohandhruva

    rohandhruva Notebook Geek

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    For people who have inspected the innards 13.3" version: has any consensus been reached if we can put 2 hard drives in addition to or by replacing the ODD? I am keen on adding a SSD for the OS, but I don't want to turn my hard drive into e-waste :)
     
  34. darxide_sorcerer

    darxide_sorcerer Notebook Deity

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    ^ there is not enough space in such a small chassis for two hard drives AND an optical drive. you can have HDD+ODD or HDD+HDD if you take the ODD out.
     
  35. honeypot11

    honeypot11 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys, currently this laptop is near the top of my "considerations for buying" list, and, if its not too much to ask, I would love to know what brought you guys into buying this particular laptop. Do you feel it is a good value for the price? Did you compare it to other laptops a lot before buying? I have to admit I have never had a vaio before, so I don't really know much about their customer support/general reliability.
    Thanks!
     
  36. rohandhruva

    rohandhruva Notebook Geek

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    For me, Sony's customer support and experience has been more than stellar. This is only the 2nd vaio I've owned, and Sony's pre- and post-sales customer service has won me over. You can read for yourself in this very thread how people have been getting free accessories and discounts.

    Vaios are built solid, and look extraordinarily amazing. They are pricier than Dells and HPs, but last longer too. Granted that this is very subjective, but vaio has been the only laptop which has worked for more than year [my previous laptops were an Acer and a Dell].

    Sorry if this post comes off as "fanboyish", but vaio really is that good :)
     
  37. daddyxx1

    daddyxx1 Newbie

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    hi guys please can you help me wiht my questions in #317 post? Thanks in advance
     
  38. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    So, if the S15 owners are okay, to close the debate, can someone take a picture of the S15 screen with a picture of orange color and a picture with red color.
    Like this, everyone can estimate if the screen is good enough for him.
    Just this colors on the page and one of each.
    By advance, thank you to the S15 owners for that and to each answers that they give to us.

    Edit : particulary, wizzarexe, can you take a picture of the screen after your re calibration?
     
  39. Low Life

    Low Life Notebook Enthusiast

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    I still don't have mine (placed an order on Friday) so I naturally don't know if I'll be happy with my S13, but at the moment it just felt like the best deal for the money: The combination of a nice 1600x900 IPS display, small size/weight and fairly powerful discrete graphics all for ~1000 euros is what sealed the deal for me. Especially the gaming capabilities, I'm tired of my 4-year-old MSI that can barely play games from 2009.

    Of course, with Sony's upgrade prices the user-upgradability is also a huge plus, and I doubt I would've bought this if I wasn't able to stick in 8 GB more memory and an SSD of my own.

    I've been reading quite a few reviews of various laptops ever since I got my laptop fever on at the release of the new Asus Zenbook Primes (which were definitely on my list of interesting models with their 1080p IPS). There aren't any reviews out of the S13 (or S15 for that matter) yet, but the few people who've been posting here seem to be quite happy with their purchase, so I just went with it.
     
  40. ascariss

    ascariss Notebook Deity

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    9.5mm
    1333mhz low voltage ddr3 8gb will work no problem
    you can upgrade drive and ram easily.
     
  41. Faceless Rebel

    Faceless Rebel Notebook Consultant

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    Value for price is not generally a regarded as a strong suit for Sony. This is actually one of the biggest issues for Sony's brand reputation overall right now, and one reason they are having so much trouble competing with the Koreans in consumer electronics these days. I really didn't consider the Sony laptops at all until they were offering a free PS3, even though I already have a PS3 and would just sell the free one.

    But looking into the Sony Vaio S15, I found it had some things which were really important to me. I had already decided I wanted something bigger than the 14.1" Thinkpad T400 I have now, but I wasn't sure I wanted to move all the way to a 17" monster laptop. Now the 15" range happens to be the most popular selling mainstream laptop size today, so there were a lot of options. Quite frankly, in the 15" range, most of the options were total garbage. And I was looking for an IPS screen, which ruled out all Thinkpads so I couldn't get another laptop from Lenovo. I like the build quality of my T400 but I've hated the terrible screen for all the years I've had it. Anyways, the S15 had some nice things which appealed to me:

    (1) IPS screen. Orange reds or no, finding an IPS screen in a laptop which isn't a $3,000 Dell Precision or HP EliteBook is as rare as a sighting of Godzilla. 1080p FHD IPS at 15.5" only exists in 2 laptops in the $1,000 range: HP Envy 15 and Sony Vaio S15. Otherwise I would have to go down to 13.3" to get IPS in the Asus Zenbook Prime UX32A, and I don't want to squint at microscopic text. Alternatively, I would have to spend $2,200 on a Retina Display MacBook Pro or $3,000+ on a Dell Precision or HP EliteBook.

    (2) Slim and light. The Envy 15 is many things, but slim and light is something it is not. The S15 is more than 1 lb. lighter and much slimmer than the Envy 15.

    (3) Nvidia graphics. The AMD Radeon HD 7750M in the Envy 15 is considerably faster than the Geforce 640M LE in the S15, but I've owned enough AMD/ATI desktop graphics cards to know their drivers are vastly inferior to Nvidia's. Also, Nvidia Optimus has been around awhile and there has been lots of time to work out bugs (and it had many), AMD's competing Enduro is brand new and as is usual for AMD, it has lots of problems being reported already. I don't feel like being an unpaid beta tester for Enduro, so I'll go with Optimus which has been around longer.

    (4) Blu-ray drive as upgrade option. The Envy 15 doesn't offer this, period.

    So I went with the S15. I'm sure if any Envy 15 owners looked at this post, they would disagree with most of the things I talk about here. There's no doubt the Envy 15 is a stronger gaming laptop with it's more powerful GPU. But if gaming is the most important thing for you in a laptop, you should be getting one of those monster Sager/Clevo laptops anyways. For me, with the considerations I had, the S15 seemed like the best fit for me. If I find the GPU is too weak for me, or if the screen is too orange, I'll just send it back. I get 30 days to play around with it and decide if it's right for me.
     
  42. Ranessin

    Ranessin Notebook Enthusiast

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    @Low Life: The 1600x900 screen (Premium Display) on the S13A is great, but it is not a IPS. The Plus Display (default on the S13) is only okay unfortunately.
     
  43. daddyxx1

    daddyxx1 Newbie

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    Tnx ascariss...last question. The down part of chassis (the part to access ram and hdd) is made by the same material carbonium aluminium or plastic? Tnx in advance
     
  44. honeypot11

    honeypot11 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks guys for all the detailed answers. +1 :D It's good to know that the service they offer sounds promising, for the premium prices sony gives. If anything, I suppose its true that I could just buy it and return it in 30 days if it doesn't do it for me (provided I don't buy a custom product apparently). Going to have to definitely try it out in the sony store first. I would get this laptop to last me for quite a few years at least, so I do hope its capable :) I also agree on what Faceless mentioned about the IPS screen, and don't worry about sounding fanboyish! ;)
     
  45. HKINGS

    HKINGS Notebook Evangelist

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    Faceless Rebel... I'm in almost the same exact boat you are in, however instead of the Envy, Id also check out the HP DV6T. I have both in my posession as we speak and did a comparitive review on them here:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/671101-review-new-sony-s15-vs-hp-dv6t.html#

    The HP (With 33% off Coupon) was much cheaper and is a more powerful machine specs wise. If you are willing to sacrifice a little weight and thickness, its worth it. It has a BLu-Ray drive upgrade too and has an IPS display (even though its not advertised that way). I think its the same one on the Envy but completely Matte and anti-glare. Check it out...
     
  46. remb

    remb Newbie

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    I am right now seriously concidering the S15. I will go for the SONY VAIO SVS1511V9E, i-7, 640-le 2gb, 750gb hdd (will pop in an ssd later). For what I can see it look like it is the best price/performance laptop out there and propably will be for a few months.
    The only other contender I have conciderd is the Samsung Chronos 7 with the similar spec.
    But the only thing it has is, longer battery life and a slightly faster graphics card but with less memory so I don't really know who wins here, also it has to be mentioned that the Chronos 7 is a centimeter narrower but whatever :D
    Other than that the S15 beats it hands down, its got a better screen and is lighter which is important for me since I travel quite a bit.
    I have concidered waiting for the new Dell XPS 15" which will also have geforce 640 but Dell I feel it is still unknown when that one will be out and if it will be better than the S15.
    What is your opinion? Are there any contenders for the S15?
     
  47. wizzardxexe

    wizzardxexe Notebook Consultant

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    Either tonight or tomorrow morning I'll take a picture comparing my desktop screen, the sony s15, and another laptop, with before and after of my calibration so you guys can see. I think I'll use the Netflix logo. That's a nice deep red.
     
  48. Croak

    Croak Notebook Consultant

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    Remb, I bought an Ivy Bridge/650M Chronos 15". Twice. Bought it, used it for two days, returned it because I was unhappy with the display's poor viewing angles. A few days later I went back to the store and bought my open box unit again, thinking I could learn to live with the display since everything else was good.

    Gave it a full week, and took it back again because I really couldn't live with the narrow viewing angles, and as the week progressed I discovered that the keyboard tray was easily bent (not flexed, BENT) with finger pressure, and a few other minor niggles that by themselves wouldn't have been that bad. Just didn't feel like I had something that justified my $1500 investment.

    Imagine my surprise the following week when I just randomly walked into a Sony Store and found the updated VAIO S lineup on display. Twenty minutes later I walked out with an i7 model of my own.

    My ONLY regret is that I didn't have the time to do a CTO for the quad-core/2MB 640LE and US English keyboard since I'm leaving the country for work end of this week. But I'm still quite happy with the retail i7 model even with the stupid Canadian bi-lingual keyboard.

    TL;DR: From personal experience I can say the S Series 15" is a better device and a better value than the 15" Series 7 Chronos. You trade a small bit of performance (surprisingly small, the 640LE isn't that much worse than the 650M) and a more compact package for a vastly better display and a lighter package, that also has better overall build quality.

    The only thing I might miss with the Samsung is the clickpad, the Elan unit had some nice gestures and seemed to do palm rejection better than my VAIO, but then again, I use a wireless mouse 90% of the time on any laptop.
     
  49. remb

    remb Newbie

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    Thank you Croak for the very informative anwser! I was actually aming for the even lower spec Chronos 7 with the Geforce 640m so I'm happy to hear that I won't be sarificing that much performance. Now I only have to wait for it to get in stock (living in Sweden so it might be a few weeks) :D
     
  50. Arès1511

    Arès1511 Notebook Consultant

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    @ Croak : the GPU of the chronos 15" is a 640M, not a 650, this is the 17" which has the 650. So, yes, performance between the 640 and the LE isn't so impressive.
    I was considering too the chronos, but after a MBP, I don't want a crappy display. I can live with the red/orange issue, but not with dark which seems grey etc....
     
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