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

the only function keys i care about where the volume (they work though the brightness would have been good but its fine not working

I don't have any utilities and I have full control over my power options

 

in that case you're having more luck than me.

none of my function hotkeys are working; not to mention the "VAIO" and "ASSIST" buttons

i suppose everything you need could be controlled within Windows, but it's just nice to be able to have hotkeys

 

so no volume control? i don't ever use the vaio button i am not sure about the intel display as I never use it but I can enable it with the software

 

I'm considering a S11 and want to know whether the VGA port supports TV out ?

Presently I have a venerable Toshiba that has a RCA TV out port which I connect to an Analogue TV using a RCA input port x 1

Can I do the same functionality on a S11 [or Y11] using a VGA to RGB or VGA to s-video cable ?

 

not sure about the vga but if you're in the us best buy sells the S with the netgear push 2 tv which I think has composite plugs

 

btw i think the reason for the loose battery is for preventing too much heat from direct contact with the main board. this is what i assume. u know sony would not make a loose battery for no reason

 

I really doubt that Any reason for the loose CD front cover in mind? or the loose Power connector?

 

hey peeps!

found this solution to the Fn key problem here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/30711-sony-vaio-ns11j-drivers-fn-key-win7-64bit.html

just follow his instructions on the bottom of the page, and the fn keys will work again!!! MAGIC! hahaa

now all i got to solve is the Metadata Analysing tool program, which doesn't seem to allow me to select folders to watch.

should be an easy (albeit time consuming) fix, but once thats done, i'll have all the "good" Sony bloatware on Win 7 64 bit Ultimate

btw, i noticed the Windows Experience Index go up from 4.9 to 5.0 since installing Ultimate...makes no difference really, but as they say, a score of 90 sounds a lot better than 89

 

errr mine dose not have a lose cd front cover. but for the ac adaptor it might be the problem with the maker... btw if u flip the laptop over it says made in china... so...

 

Mine did that when I uninstalled all the crapware from the original windows Pro and switched it to English (from german).

I don't really care where it is made - I buy and pay for SONY and expect quality for my money... As long as it is provided - let it be made in Kasachstan for all I care...
Of course all these are very small issues Generally still no reason to complain


P.s. Just tried the WWAN module for the first time - working great so far using it right now

 

just too have Fn control thats a bunch of crap you have to install. going to stick with windows controlling my pc

 

I too have the loose [ battery, power adapter and dvd drive cover ] ...

 

Hi,
i could install all the exisiting keys with a new isntallation of win7 64 bit.
(without the assist key, which i think will only work with bloatware)

I tried the install guide of a user in the forum, forget the name, and modified it a bit but it worked for me...

Cheers

 

will this be available through the sony style site soon? i'd sort of like to choose the specs and pick a different color. Thanks

 

Down here in NZ the White S115 comes with backlit keyboard [or so a supplier tells me]

Can someone confirm that the Sony S series bios allows one to boot from USB stick or USB/firewire attached optical drive ?

I had a quick look at a S117 today and the display was somewhat dull until I adjusted the viewing angle

The express card slot wasn't obvious at first and was just a plastic insert...

 

i could boot from a usb drive its external something in teh bios. though once you boot and start installing you need to go into the bios after the first rebbot and stop it from booting first

 

Yes, you must manually adjust the screen. It will make a noticeable improvement. This is Sony's successful experiment in selling as few S11 in stores as possible. Dull screens, dull sales.

Yep, I missed the ExpressCard too until Gracy123 corrected me.

 

Anyone else getting an occasional mouse freeze when coming out of sleep mode? I also get it on non-Sony notebooks. The fix is just to resleep for a second.

 

Ok guys, as so many things weren't quite ok (software compatibility issues) I had to throw all my work out the windows and restore the PC back to 0 and start again.
What I notice is:

! I no longer have rendering quality issues and the "Adjust Video Image settings" menu in NVIDIA Control Panel is active now! I haven't yet installed the updated NVIDIA driver from SONY's website though! I suspect that is was causing that trouble!? Is anyone using it? Do you have the issues I used to have? I am not going to install it for now...

Other then that I counted the applications I uninstalled right after restoration - they were nearly 20! A lot of crapware indeed!

No, not really. It does freeze for less then a second sometimes on wake up but that's it.

I was able to pretty much fix the DVD drive cover - not perfect but not as loose as it was.
Still thinking of a solution to the loose battery...


About Screen calibration:
Can anyone suggest a good software to try to calibrate the screen as far as possible without having a colorimeter?
I used the windows 7 tool, but it isn't really that handy.

I was really keen on calibrating it but 150 euros for something I probably gonna use once (Colorimeter + Software) only is not something I'd wanna spend.

 

I think Gracy someone posetd some settings about 30/40 pages back that you can configure using the nVidia display....tell us how they work

 

That's true but as far as I remember they were just general settings like brightness, contrast, etc... I am looking for a more accurate calibration such as separate RGB channel calibration...

If anyone has used a colorimeter and would be so kind to share his experience... I and many others I'm sure would be very thankful...

Or if anyone knows a better tool then the one in Win 7...?

 

Here in Germany the sonystyle CTO web site offers a configuration with a 640 GB Serial ATA (5400 u/Min) hard drive for a Vaio S notebook.

Selecting this 640 GB option, another option for an inclusive Windows XP Professional Downgrade DVD gets deactivated, though. I asked a sales person via phone for the reason of not shipping an XP DVD when selecting the 640 GB option. The sales person answered, the reason would be that the 640 GB option actually consists of 2x320 GB hard drives built into the system. Those 2 hard drives would be connected via some ‘chip‘ that would not be supported by XP. Thus shipping an XP DVD would not be supported when selecting this 640 GB option.

By all means, that explanation does sound all Greek to me. I can’t believe a 13,3 inch notebook comprises 2 hard drives, when you find 640 GB hard drives sitting in the shelves. Stashing 2 hard drives into a small Vaio S notebook would have detrimental effects on power consumption, battery stamina and thermal aspects.

I’d be grateful if someone owning such a 640 GB version could verify whether there is a single physical hard drive built in or whether there are indeed two 320 GB hard drives inside.

Thanks

 

Hi All,

Received my Sony VAIO VPCS11V9E/B today. Looks good so far.

However, the battery isn't totally secure - it kind of moves a little? Is this standard for Sony laptops? A quick Google search suggests quite a few are like this..

Don't want to send it back.. Any thoughts appreciated.

Rob.

PS - the battery is locked.

 

Congrats first
If you had read or would read this thread or even just the last page you wouldn't be asking this question! I am sure you are going to ask a few more that have already been discussed numerous times here, so I'd recommend you to read at least quickly the thread before asking...
Other then that - welcome to the team

 

Yeah, sorry about that... Should have done some reading first

I'm glad it's not just my laptop which has the battery issue but having come from a MacBook, it's a little shocking to find it actually moves. Appears to be the same for all of them then?

I was considering putting some blu-tack in between the battery and the laptop..

 

hahas u can try.... then can tell us the results! =)
btw welcome to the team!!! =)

 

Firstly I would like to thank all the contributors of this thread, having ordered a S11V9E I then decided to do my reasearch, stupid I know.

I've had the machine a few days and to be honest I don't have any complaints.

The battery is not loose, the CD tray is a little, the screen seems fine, I did notice an improvement when I enabled the virtualization software.

Oh Grace, you remind me of my mother in law...lol (just kidding)

Pete

 

what virtualization software? what does it have to do with screen or did I understand you wrong?

I am also very happy so far Nevertheless we all have the right to complain about small stuff too... otherwise we could just have bought an Acer or Fujitsu for half the price...

 

virtualization just allows you to run virtual machines. nothing at all to do with video

 

Exactly It only allows you to run a virtual Windows XP while using Windows 7
Has absolutely nothing to do with the screen But this is how the placebo effect works, isn't it

 

Okay, would it be horribly gauche of me to ask for a quick recap? I'm trying to decide whether to buy this (Best Buy model) and I've read a LOT of this thread, but not all 100 pages. From what I can tell, the following problems have come up repeatedly:

* Loose battery
* High-pitched noise -- this was resolved by a driver update patch, right?
* Screen flashing when plugged or unplugged

Is that everything? It seems like a lot of issues right at launch, and makes me worry a bit how the thing will hold up over three years or whatever. But anyway. Are there any other red flags I should know about/have any of these issues been resolved? Are you guys happy with your purchases or what? Also, how hot does it get?

 

I know what virtualization is, the point I made was I could see an improvement in the screen once the software was enabled.

Jack, my machine is new, the only issues I can see are the cd tray is slightly loose and there is no keyboard light under the spacebar. I hear no squeaks, so no flashing screen and the battery fits fine.

The machine runs fast enough without spending a small fotune on SSD, it's a great size for a laptop and is solidly built. The keyboard is excellent, something other machines fail to produce. For me it's great.

 

Here straight answers:

1. Yes, the slightly loose battery seems to be an universal problem. Isn't that bad though and I am sure it can be fixed... just haven't figured out what the best way is yet (I have it for less then a week now)

2. I haven't heard any pitched noises... if there used to be such a problem, it got fixed already I guess

3. Neither does my screen flash... to be honest with you I don't even remember reading about this. But I certainly don't have it (yet at least)

Overall for the short time I had it - I must say that I am generally happy with it! No one would deny that some things could have been a bit better, but my research that lasted nearly 3 months showed there isn't anything better in this class for similar amount of money.

It is really way to early to be able to rate it, but I don't regret buying it and I really hope I will be able to say the same in 3 or 4 years from now!

I am thinking of writing kind of a short "review" about it from my point of view here with "likes" and "dislikes", so if you are interested let me know... maybe it would be helpful to others too...

P.s. About how hot it gets - it is the coolest notebook I've ever used!!! It does not get hot at all - it is only slightly warm on the left side but that's all. I have been using it on my lap a few times now and I felt absolutely no heat!

 

Thanks! I for one would definitely be interested.

 

OK then... I will try to make it short and specific - just a few points from my own point of view about my VPCS11V9E

I've been using it for nearly a week now and here are my first impressions (I am not mentioning configuration pros and cons - everyone needs to decide what CPU and so on depending on his needs):

Likes:

* The amazing backlit keyboard - it is a pleasure to type on it - silent and convinient! The backlight really makes it a state of the art product! Love it!
* How cool it runs - it hardly gets warm and not even as nearly as hot as what I've used in the past
* Nice design
* Light weight
* Optimal size (and I am using it as a prime PC)
* Some wouldn't agree I guess, but I do think the auto brightness (dimming) function is doing a decent job.
* Quite stiff construction from what I can tell. I have 3 literally broken laptops behind my back and this was the reason to look for a robust business oriented one. I must admit that the base and the hinges leave a very stable impression, the LID cover is metal too (which unfortunately has some disadvantages as well as mentioned below)


Dislikes:

* The loose battery (shouldn't be too hard to fix with some sticker to put in between, but still haven't figured it out)
* The loose Optical Drive cover (managed to fix it already)
* The loose charger connector (no way to fix this, but of course not a deal breaker either)
* The LID cover can very very easily be pushed down to the back of the screen when pushed in the middle!!! It is metal, yes... but metal material is also more flexible then plastic and it really takes almost no force to curve it - just put something on top of it and it is already down to the screen... So IMO the screen is hardly protected from the back side! I take extra care what I put in my bag next to the laptop... - I consider this the biggest disadvantage of the notebook.
* The relatively large charging adapter - this is the biggest one I've had... don't really know what made them go with such a big thing for a relatively small notebook.



That's it I think, at least so far. Anything I haven't mentioned in any of the sections is somewhere in between. I on purpose did not put the screen quality anywhere, as IMO it is not as bad as some describe it! Maybe if you downgrade from a more superior one it makes a difference, but it is definitely an upgrade for me and for many others, I am sure. The viewing angle is OK with me, the brightness is better then I expected, the colors... well still haven't had a chance to calibrate it somehow.

A few words about noise - the S is quite silent... The fan can hardly be heard when running... what I don't like that much though is that it goes on and off quite often... say every 2-3-4 min and emits a slightly more noisy "burst" when starting... In a completely silent environment it is more or less noticeable, otherwise hardly. So for noise I'd give 8 out of 10 with 10 being the highest. If the fan could go on somehow without that "burst" I'd have given a 9,5.

Other then all mentioned I have no idea what the initial idea behind the 2 Hot keys (VAIO and Assist) has been, but they are definitely useless and as far as I know not programmable... the VAIO key mutes the sound (although you can do it with Fn and F2 as well) and ASSIST starts a Sony application that I haven't used yet and don't think I will ever use.

The notebook comes with a lot of crapware, but this isn't worth mentioning, as it is easily removable

If I think of something else I'll add it here
Generally talking - I don't regret the purchase! Hope to be able to say that in years as well!

P.s. I had some video playback quality issues (you can read about them in the previous pages, but they are driver related ones and I already found a solution, hopefully another one will also come with newer NVIDIA drivers)

 

Hey all, firstly would just like to say that I'm glad that you are happy with your purchase Gracy and I just can't wait to get mine

One question I have though concerns the HDD number of revolutions per minute. Is it true that having a 7,200rpm hard disk means that it makes the laptop louder, reduces the battery life and increases the heat produced?

Thanks

 

I think I can give you a quite adequate answer, as I upgraded my last notebook with a 7200 RPM HDD (replacing the 5400 one it came with).

1. The 7200 RPM one is in fact a bit louder. Nevertheless I was able to notice that now, when I use both the 5400 and 7200 as externals! I never felt a difference while it was in my PC!! So theoretically - yes, it is louder but when built in - you most likely will not feel a difference.

2. Battery life - Yes it does - it reduced mine with about 5-10 minutes (out of 2 hours) ) It is up to you to decide whether that is much or less It never bothered me.

3. Heat - Yes and no! It might produce a bit more heat when put under load for a longer period of time. Other then that - under normal conditions rather not. I never noticed any temp difference between the two.

You haven't asked but I should say that I didn't notice much speed increasment either Benchmarks did show better results but in reality... not sure it is worth it replacing a 5400 with a 7200, but if you are willing to buy one with more storage space anyway - let it be 7200 if SSD is not an option.

This was quite offtopic so sorry to the rest

 

Nice one Gracy that is as you say quite an adequate answer to say the least ....I'm glad I decided to stay with the 5,400rpm after that

 

All

I have an order in with the local Sony Store for my white S115FG, that said I haven't paid for it [although they did have a black one], I will be getting a 2 year warrenty thrown in and a Sony carry bag, should arrive in the 10 days

I have decided the S115 over a less expensive HP DM3 because [in no order of preference]

a] it looks good and is white
b] has a backlit keyboard
c] better processor
d] Integrated optical drive [although I would not have minded it came seperate as does the DM3]
e] has an express card slot and firewire 400 port
f] 64 bit Windows 7 [it appears HP tend to install a 32bit version]

I did briefly consider a Y11 but in NZ it only came with 2MB of RAM installed and I'd have to buy an external optical drive and it didn't have a dedicated and half decent GPU [the HP DM3 is way better than a Y11]

Queston, on the NZ specs it says nothing about WiDi or WWLAN, how can I check it has these ?

 

thats why I did my custom install. i dont get any flickering. that only happens when you install the sony apps, my battery doesnt seem loose. even with uptodate driver you still get the high tone when watching videos (at least only time I have heard it) but seems to happen when multi-tasking

 

the spring back on the lcd is made to help protect it.

 

Great review!
All of your thoughts are spot on with mine, your pros and cons are exactly what I would have said.

Just going to mention:
-regarding the Hot keys [ you said (VAIO and Assist)]
My American/Canadian best buy version has the VAIO key and an unlabeled key (well, no text but an icon.) These should open Vaio media gallery and intel wireless display respectively.
I presume your VAIO key has changed to the muting function since you've removed media gallery?

-I've never had a high-pitched noise nor any video playback issues
-my screen does flash when plugged in or unplugged
-I don't feel the power adapter is that large (mine is 12 * 5 * 3 cm)

 

I think a loose power plug is good (in my opinion). It doesn't fall out by itself unless you give it a tug, so I don't find it a problem. I have seen times when people tripped over my power cable and that the plug just flew out, which I feel is good. Its not magnetic connector likes Macs, but well, being loose is better than snapping off.

Whats the issue with the flickering screen?

Gracy, how big is your charger? The one I have is pretty small compared to other laptops'.

Also just a notice to a few people who wish to casually play on the S series (obviously with the G310M version), the latest 197.15/25 drivers work well on it with the modified INF at laptopvideo2go. L4D2 (medium/high), Bad Company 2 (medium, shadows low, HBAO off), TF2 (high), Starcraft 2 Beta all run well. Pretty cool for a non-gaming laptop. I'm still surprised at what the G310M can do, sometimes it runs better than my friend's ASUS G70S which constantly has SLI issues (8700M GT x2) like stuttering or choppy framerates in many games.

I also suggest people installing SRS Audio Sandbox, it helps your audio sound much better (with the proper settings). It doesn't compensate for a poor audio card (I'm looking for a decent expresscard one), but at least you can tweak it so it sounds slightly clearer/better.

The only issue I'm having now is that the laptop really likes to wake up from sleep/hibernate by itself for some odd reason..... I'm thinking its the wake-up function on the LAN port (similar issue with desktop before), but didn't have time to disable it yet.

 

the flickering screen is something in the software apps sony provides, as not installing them there is no issue

 

I also agree with Grace, my machine is 4 days old, apart from the battery, which fits fine on my machine, the issues are the same.

Like her I have a pile of laptops in my desk, one day I will put them up for sale on Ebay.

As snip says I think the power lead connection is purpose built. Sitting in the broken pile of machines is an old Sony Vaio, not sure of the model number, certainly a £500 machine. The power lead on this was very sturdy and clicked into place. The trouble was after tripping over the lead the thing was never the same since. It ended up on my sons desk with a large clump of blu tac holding it in place, 6 months later it went pop and hit the hardware graveyard.

After reading this thread I was concerned about only having the 5400rpm HD, I shouldn't have been, it's fine. The thing with all PC's is where do you draw the line, especially when you consider in 2-3 years time these will be outdated.

If anyone is considering buying an S series Vaio, they may be put off by reading this thread, I know it worried me slightly, the truth is the machine is first class and as Gracie says for the money it must be the best machine out there.

 

12,5 x 5 x 3,5 cm (the size DTree mentioned).
The adapter of my 4 old (now broken) Fujitsu-Siemens is
10,5 x 5 x 3,5... so 2 cm shorter and on a Samsung Netbook I've been using for a while:
9 x 3 x 3,5


Have you seen Lenovo adapter? It is the size of a 2,5" inch HDD!

LOL we're like one mind!!! This is what happaned to me this night - I put it to sleep before I went to bed, woke up through the night and what to see - green light!!
I think I found the reason 15 minutes ago though!! Windows updates were set to update every night at 3 AM. ! When I opened the lid of my pc it informed me it had installed new updates! I disabled the auto updating feature now and hope to have solved the problem! Try it!

I have the sony applications but don't have any screen flickering!

Not only... I was ready to spend even some more... but I found absolutely no motivation to do so! Depends on what one is looking for though... we had 2-3 users here in the thread who were really concerned about WebCam quality and it's low resolution... No comment....

What spring? There is no spring! To be honest the only thing the back cover is protecting the actual screen from is scratching! If you press the back cover while using it now you will see the effect...

 

I guess if your 'cammin' up regularly it could be an issue, me I like to keep my clothes on whilst sufin ;-)

 

How did you manage to install it? It acts just like the one from NVIDIA's website, but they write there that it is not yet compatible with VAIO notebooks...

 

I've just found out my headphone jack is faulty. I first thought it was skype call quality but then tested it with iTunes and it did the same - intermitent crackling. The headphone set works fine on my other PC's so it's the Sony for sure.

So, going to have to take it back just for a faulty jack..

By the way, very pleased with the machine even with the dodgy battery fit. The fact is runs quiet and cool is a real benefit since I'm often working late in bed and the wife and I watch on demand TV as well.. My MacBook used to run real hot although it was just as quiet.

 

Try your audio settings! I got stressed this way as well - I touched a few settings and the built in audio quality became better... nevertheless when I attached my speaker the quality was awful - I found that the reason were those settings...