Official Sony S11/S12/S13 (2010) Owners Thread

Got mine today. I replaced the HDD with an Intel X25-V SSD (40GB). I prefer the greater speed and quiteness to capacity. I highly recommend the X25-V if you can live within 37GB (18GB free after install). Generally I'm pleased but there's a couple significant issues. Maybe I can work through them.

Pros:
1. Lightweight (4.4lbs) for a computer with a built-in DVD.
2. Lighted keyboard is really great. Mouse buttons are fine.
3. Fast as expected.
4. Fan noise is noticeable, a bit annoying, but not loud.
5. The automatic keyboard backlighting works great.
6. I hope HDMI can bitstream advanced Blu-Ray audio (via USB Blu-Ray drive or ripped files). I don't have a decoding receiver to verify it. If this works, the computer will do double duty as a high-end HTPC. Fingers crossed.
Update:
7. Battery lasts 5+ hours for surfing. Note that I'm using Core Win2010 power settings and a Intel X25-V SSD so YMMV. Fabulous.
8. Battery depletes at just under 1% per hour when shutdown and not powered. That's fine.
9. Touchpad supports only one and two finger gestures. One finger gestures are scroll, pinch zoom, and rotate. Two finger vertical flick support verified in Firefox as backward, forward. Two finger horizontal flick support verified in OpenOffice as page up, page down. Firefox and IE don't respond to vertical flick. Why is that?
10. Two year warranty.
11. Display is very good but out of the box settings are bad. Change the settings as described below.
12. ExpressCard slot.

Cons (mainly driver issues):
1. Anyone get a periodic display in the middle of the screen showing two icons "Save power" and "Increased performance"? It's really annoying. I haven't found a way to get rid of it. It may be related to my Windows 7 reinstall. It stays there for several minutes and overlays the top window. This is a major problem. Update: issue seems to occur only on "High Performance" power setting. Apparently it thinks there's a discrete graphics chip to switch to.
2. Battery comments moved to Pros section.
3. The automatic display backlighting is too dim. Anyone know if this can be set bumped up? I may need to turn off that feature.
4. I set the power mode to "silent" which is suppose to avoid fan noise. Unfortunately it doesn't work well enough because the fan turns on and off every minute. Again I'm using "high performance" power mode. Another mode may be quieter.
5. I thought I read that "Blue Label 2" would require slot loading DVDs. This computer has a tray. Not a big deal.
6. I thought "Blue Label" required an eSata port. There isn't one. Inconvenient.
7. The Intel Wireless Display feature is a real disappointment. See my next post.
Update:
8. Display has a narrow vertical viewing angle. This is a very common problem with notebooks.
9. Display is preset to pretty bad color fidelity. It's really important to reset the display. Try these values.
Right click on desktop -> Graphics Properties... -> Display -> Color Enhancements
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 52
Gamma: 0.9
Hue: 0
Saturation: 7
10. Warranty appears to be USA or Canada only.

 

I'm disappointed with Intel Wireless Display (IWD) + Netgear Push2TV device. It's inadequate for discerning home theater users. The resolution is limited to around 1280x720. That's not bad but the image looks pixelated and there are frequent artifacts. I'd rate it as cheap DVD player quality. When playing a Blu-Ray, the sound frequently went out of sync. I ran my tests with the notebook about 8 feet from the Push2TV device. IWD feels like the 1.0 product that it is. Perhaps it will improve with time.

I used Media Player Classic and Blu-Ray discs for testing. Unfortunately, using WinDVD 2010 with IWD completely freezes my computer -- my only choice is to hold the power button to reboot.

There may be room for improvement by using other software players or player settings. We need more user reports.

IWD is probably pretty good for business presentation use but it's not the home theater solution that is being touted.

 

Isn't the Z's buildquality on another level?
This would be quite a shame if it is the same buildquality as the S/SR-series....

 

First off, thanks for listing the pros and cons
Now I must admit, you lost me on point 4. You have the power mode set to silent, while at the same time you're using the high performance power mode? Are those two different power modes?

@SSJ:
Yes, the used materials and construction are indeed another difference. As for the buildquality itself, it depends on the qualities you look for. I've seen customer reviews that point out the weakness of the screen of the Z and say that therefore the SR line, being more sturdy, is actually of higher buildquality.

 

Wait, our S has a Blu-Ray rom? I don't have one so I couldn't test that. If so that's cool, but I don't know why they didn't advertise that at all on the box or anything.

 

Also, there doesn't seem to be any battery drain--guess they fixed that problem. Will test again tonight I suppose.

 

Picked up my s series yesterday and so far am very happy with it.

I needed a laptop with decent battery life with the mild ability to play some games and the i5 chip has really exceeded my expectations

First thing i did once receiving the laptop was go home and do a fresh install of win 7 64 bit pro. Not that there is a noticeable amount of bloatware when u first get the notebook, but its just nice to have a fresh install.

So far:
- Im impressed with the keyboard, (have never used a chicklet style before)
- backlighting feature of the keys is extremely convenient
- the overall quality of the notebook is quite high, with the exception of a loose battery (im not worried of it falling out, but if you shake the notebook a tiny bit u hear it moving a little bit more than i would like)
- Hulu streams perfectly
- i play Aion, which is a pretty graphically demanding game and the i5 runs it much better than i had expected (med-high at 40fps)
- battery life is pretty decent, looking at approx 5-6 hours on balanced
- touchpad and buttons are also pretty nice to use, not too clicky

these are my quick impressions so far, ill write more in a few but i gotta run out to lunch.

if any1 is curious about anything ask, and ill get back to ya later

 

Update:

1. Battery life while surfing is 5+ hours. That's really great.
2. I fully charged the battery then shutdown and removed the power. In the morning I found the battery discharged at just under 1% per hour. Even with that, I got five hours of surfing.

 

There's no built-in Blu-Ray player. To play Blu-Ray, either attach a USB Blu-Ray drive or play a ripped Blu-Ray.

 

So the drain problem is still there, isn't it. Too bad =(

 

Yes, there are two modes. You can specify power usage in one setting (balanced, maximum performance) and power limiting (fan silence) in another. The majority of my use is surfing so I value quietness over power. Nice to have headroom when needed though.

 

There's always drain. It's just a matter of degree. I absolutely love the S11's battery characteristics compared to last year's notebooks. That said, you've peeked my curiosity. I'll check out the battery drain on my other notebooks and get back to you.

 

It comes on automatically.

 

It could be worse, but isn't exactly good either.

And thanks for the explanation about the modes

 

Hey I just bought mine. I spent the last hour trying to figure out my warranty information. Did you get a 2 year manufacturer warranty as specified by Blue Label laptops? Also, did you get your Netgear Push 2 Tv Adaptor yet? They didn't know anything about it so I'll likely come back Sunday.

Edit: One more thing, how do you turn on Turbo Boost? I couldn't find it in the bios.

 

My HP TX2 is still 100% battery after five hours. That's quite a difference from 1% per hour.

 

There should be a Limited Warranty Statement card(s) in your S11 box. The second paragraph states "The term of this Limited Warranty is two years from original date of purchase of the product." You are permitted to transfer the warranty to a subsequent buyer.

YOU MUST SAVE YOUR RECEIPT TO ESTABLISH DATE OF PURCHASE.

 

Listen up. The default display settings are pretty bad. Fortunately, you can really get a beautiful display by changing some settings. I was able to get much improved color fidelity by using these settings.

Right click on desktop -> Graphics Properties... -> Display -> Color Enhancements
Brightness: 0
Contrast: 52
Gamma: 0.9
Hue: 0
Saturation: 7

That's much better, right?

 

I've been summarizing new discoveries in post #51. I'm changing it hourly.

 

I'm a photographer and am VERY meticulous about monitor calibration. Bumping up the contrast leads to "white cush," or lighter shades of white appearing pure white. I haven't yet tried to calibrate this monitor, but after trying your settings, and playing with it a little, the only change I would make from the naked eye would be to change the saturation at '5.'

 

I'm very interested to see your settings. I won't catch up with my Spyder (hardware calibrator) for weeks. I created the settings by comparing to my Dell WLED. The WLED has gorgeous colors which the Sony and all my other notebooks can't match.

Won't this display fall short for a professional photographer? Best Buy has a Dell Blue Label which, IIRC, has a WLED screen although it's a larger computer.

 

I wouldn't say professional, I'm moreover a amateur, or a student of the game, thus you can take my opinion with a grain a salt.

At home I'll be connecting it to an external display, and besides, the Dell was a little big (and ugly) , and you can't beat the luxury of a Sony!

Once I get Photoshop and Lightroom on this computer, I'll calibrate it and post my settings.

 

Has anyone else have the issue of the screen going dim on them? It was working then all of a sudden the screen went blank. In the right light I could see a faint image of what is on the screen. I'm going to be exchanging it. I'll update when I exchange it.

 

Does anyone know if the S series will be available soon at Sonystyle.com so I can customize it (need Win 7 Pro and would prefer a fresh start). Trying to decide if I should wait or get the one at Best Buy.

Thank you.

 

Saw the unit in person at Las Vegas Bestbuy, just look pretty neat with core i5, 3 USB, HDMI, and the price is nice too around $1200w/ tax. Look much better than my CR only I concern is the heat since my CR is really hot even with an SSD :-(

 

I'm really konfuzed.

How is this any better than the customizable SR Series available thru Sony's website? Those start at $899 for something virtually identical.

Either way, it's about on par with a 13" MacBook Pro, no? I don't see how this BestBuy laptop is anything remarkable or all that great a deal.

 

The caveat for me is the two year manufacturer warranty, WiDi (Wireless Display) technology, and of course 18 months 0% interest

Also, it's SONY. The Toshiba @ Best Buy had the exact same specs for $899, but I'm willing to shell out the extra money for a brand that's more luxurious, and has better service and reliability.

I'm a bit disappointed that the Netgear Push2Tv is AC powered, but still useful nonetheless.

I still haven't figured out how to enable Turbo Boost on this laptop yet... any owners figure it out yet?

 

I'm sure that eventually a customizable Sony S series will be very nice but for now, I feel that Best Buy version of the S is so underwhelming compared to the SR that you can get pretty much any way you like from Sony Style. I still have a chance to return my 3 week old customized SR but quite honestly, the SR is fantastic and is priced really great for what you get.

 

Me too! Stopped off @ Rainbow & I-215 store on the way home, despite the sloppy rain!. Forgot to check if there was an ExpressCard slot, did you happen to notice? I thought the keyboard was expecially nice and the hinge seemed nicely designed. I would have purchased it if Blu-Ray was on board
(HDMI out present)

 

mhm according to the sony jp website, you can customize this with ssd's, 8gb of ram, and 512 nvidia graphics! man can't wait til this option arrives stateside

 

You probably didn't notice it instore, but the keyboard that you like so much is also led backlit triggered by ambient light sensor

 

This laptop has an ambient light sensor. You might want to see if you can turn it of in the vaio control centre. It should be under display and automatic brightness setting.

Well the SR will be discounted quite heavily now as it is an old model. The S series is selling at full retail price. The BestBuy model is clearly better than the version of the SR with integrated graphics, no question. If you own a last gen SR with integrated graphics it might not be worth you upgrading but that is up to you to determine. For those that are not gamers, want a model with the latest i5 processor and Intel graphics with decent battery life, backlit keyboard, decent screen, good build and a HDMI port and good connectivity options this will more than meet their needs. If not there are other laptops out there to choose from.

It waits to be seen how the S series with dedicated graphics really performs.

 

is the Sony S series on Sony UK website similar to Bestbuy laptop?

 

Well things are a bit different in the UK and some parts of the EU. Now there are 2 models listed on the UK website and you have an option for Nvidia graphics or an integrated card. The EU models also come with built in wwan which is what as far as i am aware the BestBuy model does not offer. The black models should come with a backlit keyboard.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-s-series/tab/models

 

Oh i see, the option for Nvidia graphic card only applies to Sony UK website and USA website later on when they are released but the best buy model only got integrated graphic, i guess we have to wait for it XD

 

Well no-one knows if the S model with Nvida graphics will ever be sold in the US. I guess you just have to wait and hope that it is.

 

The S will be out next week in Hong Kong.

http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/index_2_e.jsp

 

Anyone got any 3DMark06 results on their 310M-powered S-series yet..??

 

Wow this is a suprise, Sony Australia got the new S series with nvidia graphic, never thought of that XD,

http://www.sony.com.au/product/vpcs117gg

 

no WWAN in HK?

 

The Toshiba E205 doesn't have gigabit Ethernet.

If you can forgo the backlit keyboard, which I really like, consider the VPCCW27FX/B at Best Buy for $949. Specs are very fine.

No ExpressCard slot on S11.

 

Sony specs state that they do. The expresscard slot is covered over. I would have expected it to have this.
You seem quite certain though.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vnp-s-series/vpcs11x9e-b

 

ooh, I'm hoping that all these international releases means that it will be in the US soon, My old Vaio is so sluggish, I cant' wait much longer for a customized new S model (mainly want it for the small weight, longer battery) and I'm hoping they'll have cool color choices too.

Please Sony, realease the S to US soon???

 

Even the spec on the bestbuy web site says it has an expresscard/34 slot. But I cannot find any on my VPCS111FM...

 

If you go here and look at the 3rd picture what is that thing that is covered up that looks like you out?
http://content.vaio.eu/showcase/b5/index_gb.html#/sseries

 

It may not come out for another 6 months. It all depends on that exclusive deal they signed with Best Buy. I am not sure all the details, but I am hoping Sony was smart enough to allow themselves to sell a CTO version before 6 months.

 

Oh cool. It does look like a slot. I do see that in one of the pictures in the BestBuy web site too. I will check it out when I get home. Hope mine has that too.

 

Nope.

I think only the X series has WWAN in Hong Kong.

 

I doubt between a S-serie and the Y-serie.

S-serie
Things I like about the S-serie:
- it will has WIDI (later)
- it has a backlit-keyboard (only not available on a silver version)
- it has WWAN, it has a good CPU (i5)
- it has a good GPU (Nvidia (Europe))
- it has 4 gig of RAM

Things I don't like about the S-serie:
- at the moment it's only available in black
- I'm not sure if I will like the design because it's looks to me like a cube design
- I'm not sure if I will like all the slots and buttons at the front (almost the same as design)

Y-Serie
Things I like:
- the nice design (not like a cube)
- it's available in silver
- it has WWAN
- long battery life

Things I don't like:
- The "slow" CPU (I'm "scared" if it will be too slow in the future for things I would like to do)
- No optical drive (I don't like to have an optical USB drive)


It's a difficult choice for me, because I would like to have a silver notebook (which is the Y). At the moment I will use it for internet (skype, facebook, google etc.) and documentary (typing etc.). I don't play games, but maybe I will get regret if I will choose the Y-serie, because sometimes I will play a game (but that's for 2-4 weeks).

Now I do have an FZ11S with a intel core 2 DUO @ 1.8 GHz, 2 gig of RAM, Nvidia Geforce 8400M GT.
I suppose that the Y will be slower then my current notebook. The S will be definitely be faster then my current notebook.

 

Thanks alot for posting this!

I ordered mine this morning. I'm glad the Aussie version has the Core i5-520M Processor and the NVIDIA 310M GPU. Also, it comes in black.