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

I think your laptop issue is that

Keyboard backlight is normally goes off after a min depending on your setting
the light sensor is near to the screen , the screen brightness play with the sensor, just disable the ambient sensor

Go to vaio control centre

 

Pepero

The whole thing with the ambient light settings and keyboard lighting is a trade off

Turn off the ambinet light and the screen is very bright, this affects when the keyboard lighting comes on. Turnit off and its all over the shop, often too dark.

Like I said, it's boxed up and on its way back, a shame it was nearly perfect.

 

1. Drivers issues - have been resolved already
2. That's what the sensor is for - changing the brightness! It works great for me. Nevertheless it can be switched off from Vaio Control Center.
3. The keyboard problem should be individual
4. Can be set up from Vaio Control Center - you can either choose the time interval it should stay on when not in use or set it up to be always on!
5. Can be set up easily to be a bit better. If you have expected much better - you should have bought a multimedia laptop and not a business oriented one.

Unless you are buying a drill machine, next time try setting the controlling software up before returning...

 

The Sony VAIO CW is supposed to be a multimedia notebook and has very poor speakers as well. It's a pretty consistent thing among the 2010 VAIO line. It's not just poor speakers from the " business " line as some are saying.

 

Well, then it should be considered an issue by the CW if being advertised as multimedia...
I didn't expect better from the S knowing it is ment to be used for work mainly. I was even pleasently surprized.

I tested the F (which is a real multimedia one) and the speakers were for sure better... so was the screen as well.

One can't have it all... and by far not for 1000 bucks.

A better all-in-one solution is the Z... most of us don't like it's price though, do we...

 

But the new Z's speakers are by far the most disappointing thing people are complaining about and expected better from their two to four thousand dollar notebook.

 

and is the Z a multimedia notebook? I just said it is a better all-in-one solution

Spend 7000 euros if you wish and you will again not have it all... believe me

 

Never said new Z was multimedia notebook, just a " two to four thousand dollar " notebook. But with the powerful graphics card it has, you can certainly do more than work on it. HD video editing, streaming video stutter free, moderate gaming...hmm...sounds like that's not just for work.

 

The S series has so much potential. It just needs a better screen, a more powerful graphics card, and louder speakers. Then it'll be a great " after business hours " notebook.

 

wrong! then it will be called a Z!
It's like saying - "A VW Bora has so much potential... it just needs to be more roomy and more comfortable" - well... they call it Passat

 

Grace is it possible for people to have a dffering opinion to yourself and you just..............accept it?

So far I have not seen it

Must be a woman thing.

Oh and I did install the new sound card drivers

 

I absolutely accept and respect your opinion and wish you good luck with your next one. On the other hand it is a fact that you seem to be the only one with all these issues. I believe it was disinformation about the model and it's purpose that caused your disappointment.
It was just an advice so that you don't return the next one as well for a battery that charges up to 80% only or that doesn't want to boot from CD/DVD...

 

not true I dont have the ambient light sensor software installed and I control my display brightness through windows and my keyboard lights up whenever i type on it

 

you dont need to instll any software to get this to work. and its not a driver issue as the audio cracking is present still and its in relation to multitasking

 

screens fine higher resolution woud be cool . the speakers are loud enough

 

Just got my S!! im soo happy
im satisfied with my vaio.
ive been using Vaio CR 14 inch series like 3 years ago i think
i removed most of the bloatware and it seems fast!
i got the vaio VPCS116FK black

i5 520m
310m nvidia
4gb ddr3ram
13.3 inch

plan on installing ssd later on in the future
and add 4gb more ram

hopefully it will last me another 3-4 years ^^

 

A question to the owners of several VAIO notebooks and users of different notebooks:

Do you find S' fan noisier then normal?

I read so many threads about noisy and damaged CS fans and generally noisy Vaio fans that I think I'm starting to take it into my head...
The problem with CS seems to be a bit different though.

My S starts and stops the fan once every 1-2 minutes depending on usage. Other then that it is more silent then a Fujitsu Siemens and an Acer notebook I have around, but definitely louder then the Lenovo T400 I am using next to my S at the moment and a Samsung Netbook I also use every now and then - you hear absolutely nothing from the lenovo (apart from the HDD).

That burst the S emits is starting to irritate me a bit when working in a quite environment...

How do you feel about it ?

 

Yea its kinda annoying when it turn on and off every time you start a program. watching youtube HD videos, the fan is kinda loud.

My cpu temp is usually 50 degrees , lowest is 46, highest 68 degrees celcius, while graphic card usually 48-51 degrees celcius.

Core i5 cpu is hot i think , the only think it feel cool is because it usually clock at 1-2ghz range when not at load.

 

The i5 520 is supposed to be (one of) the coolest and most energy efficient from the i5 and i7 family...
Don't know about i3 as I never considered them.

I think mine runs at about 43 degress when idle and the GPU 49-51.
The temp is really ok, but the FAN could be set up to start slowly and more gentle and not to burst! and maybe not to go on and off every couple of minutes....

Hope they used other FANs for the S in comparison with the CS.... if you google about it you will find a lot of threads and movies about the CS' FAN - it breaks every couple of months over and over again.... seems to be a disaster!

 

notebookjournal.de reviewed the S series here.
A rating of 2 for the display seems to be quite an average score for them.
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/laptop-review-sony-vaio-vpc-s11b7e-b-core-i3-nksz-1136

 

For me it's the same behaviour.. the fan goes on and off every minute and while it goes on it's like a burst. Somehow strange and a bit disturbing - anyone knows how to disable this as in the VAIO Control Center there's a setting for temperature control where you can choose silent behaviour but this doesn't change anything.
The ones who installed a fresh Win7 do they also have this fan behaviour?

Dominik

 

Just wanted to provide an update. My previous s series laptop was sent back due to a faulty jack plug. I received a refund and thought I'd look again to make sure the S series was indeed the correct choice. Got to say, for the money it appears to be the best value out there. The plus points are superb keyboard, backlighting to the keyboard, good structure and feel to the laptop, can play most games with exception of the latest first person shooters, good battery life, it's quiet and one major plus point is.. it doesn't run too hot like every other laptop I've used with a graphics card which isn't intergated. Cannot tell you what a plus point this is - my Acer laptop runs seriously hot and it's noisy.

The negatives are the battery wasn't a great fit, screen isn't excellent but good, the internal speakers are not really usable for anything other than the odd occasion, the power cable never really feels secure.

So, I've ordered another. Will be using it during the day for my business and then the odd strategy type game in the evening.

So, after looking again, the S series is the best I could find for the money.

 

The settings from VAIO Control Center don't change anything... or if - it is by far not obvious. I have tried all 3 of them for longer periods of time... I see absolutely no difference!

The FAN behaviour is controlled and set by the BIOS. Only a BIOS update could make a difference, but from what I read about CS and the issues CS owners are having - we can forget about any bios update! :-/

 

Oh yea one thing i hate about this laptop is oily keyboard T.T, the rest is excellent.

 

Than i would suggest that we write a problem report here and everyone is invited to send this report to sony for improving the fan control via bios update... any comments?
how about the ones who installed a fresh windows 7?

Dominik

 

I find the cooling excellent, there are some louder bursts from the fan from time to time but other than that it's pretty much silent.

 

Yours is supposed to be more silent indeed... you have no Graphic Card I assume your FAN doesn't go on as often as ours

If I actually load it a bit more (active multitasking, download and so on) it is better because it rarely goes off and runs quite silently. It is just the burst that comes at startup that bothers me a bit...

It would really be great if it had switchable graphics... a few geeks were trying to make this feature available by releasing a custom BIOS for my Fujitsu Siemens, which had ATI graphics, but they never really succeeded... I think they got tired of trying.

 

thats the same with me... fan running slow is ok but the bursts every 2 minutes is really annoying...

 

after clean install (Ultimate), i dare say that the fan behaves just as before, if not more loony. i've noticed quite a lot more fan activity, but thats probably due to the cpu and gpu temperatures being an average of 2 degrees higher than previously.

this has also noticeably affected my battery life

VAIO control centre settings did not make much difference either

on a side note (but not entirely irrelevant), i'm gonna go order myself the extended battery now cos i'm tired of low brightness and min cpu speed when ploughing through 4 hour lectures

wonder what the performance will be like; i guess i'll find out soon!

 

if you dont use the sony software you can set active or passive cooling in the power options

 

not true you can do active or passive cooling through the power options if you dont install any sony software

 

can you give us a hint how to do it because this would be great! if i understand it right with passive cooling it should be silent except the harddisk as the fan should be of?

Dominik

 

That doesn't change much - it is the corresponding Win setting to the one in Vaio Control Center The real FAN behaviour such as start voltage, end voltage, start temperature, levels and so on is set up on BIOS level!

P.s. One post with this info would have been enough


I have another idea (besides waiting for a bios update that will never happen) - underclocking/undervolting the NVIDIA! I looked for an application to do that with yesterday but didn't go too far. There used to be one from NVIDIA in the past, but it only works on NFORCE.
I tried another one that is mainly used for overclocking, but it didn't help.

Not by far Boo Boo just doesn't really know what we are talking about
And what you understand is absolutely impossible unless you want your notebook on fire Look at the temperatures - without a fan your laptop will burn I'd say in less then 15 minutes
It is not about stopping the fan - it is there for a reason! It is about somehow making it's behaviour less annoying... for example making it not go on and off so often or making it start more gentle.

 

Does anyone know if there is any driver updates for the Nvidia 310m??

 

yep, Nvidia has released the newest driver [197.16], however, it currently does not support Sony VAIO (yet)

best wait for sony support to release it on their site, then you can get it there or off Vaio update

there is - if i've read the last 10~20 posts correctly - another method to bypass the bios restriction and install it using modified files

i'm too lazy to do that, so i'll just wait for sony to release it

****************

known issues with the current driver [188.67] is that it sometimes stops working, mostly when under load.

according to Nvidia and other sources, the newest driver should increase the performance of a few games...can't wait!

 

Regarding the new NVIDIA driver - I did install the new one using the already posted method. It really does work (I didn't manage it the first time).
What I noticed is that there are some additional options now in the NVIDIA control panel. I don't play games (or say twice an year) so can't tell if there is anything different there

 

Please do remember the forum rules when posting.

Some posts have had to be edited and deleted in this thread. Rude or inflammatory posts are unnecessary.

 

I strongly suggest you not to buy from Sony Style. Here my unhappy experience with this shop (owned by Sony Europe, part of Sony Corporation) and Sony.
I ordered my Vaio S on the 25th of February (I had to call the customer service 3 times asking whether it was a domestic or an European money transfert; I later discovered they told me the wrong answer for 3 times... good start), on 04/03 my order is inserted in production. On the 10th March I receive the email saying that the product has been sent (probably the day before) from their facility/plant (in Nagano or probably Azumino City) to their logistic centre in Tilburg (Sony Supply Chain Solutions (Europe) B.V.‎ Dongenseweg 200, 5047 SH Tilburg, Netherlands), and that will be shipped to me on 11/03. Everything went this way and I received the notebook the following day. So quite good, only 4 days from Japan to me. But as I open the box, the evening, I immediately realize that Sony sent me an AC adapter different from the one I've seen everywhere (VGP-AC19V34 instead of VGP-AC19V36): it misses a lot of details like the angled cable, smooth edges, better plastic, vaio imprint, cable noose and so on; it looks a lot cheaper. So, on Monday I call Sony Style asking for explanations, I wanted to know whether it was an error or not, because I can't believe that Sony is shipping different adapters with different quality among the same notebook customers (maybe some of them deserve better equipment for the same money?). The customer care started to say that if a mistake occurred it will be solved, but they are unable to tell me whether I received the wrong adapter or not (wow, I'm asking to Sony Style, aka Sony Europe aka Sony Corporation, is that difficult to ask some colleagues in Japan about it? Should I ask it to Acer? Can't believe it...). The phone operator suggests me to to buy the adapter V32 from Sony Style, but suddenly admits that is not even compatible with the S (which is a lie, because it is, as I've found by myself looking at my regional sony website)!!! At the end he invites me to send them by mail a few pics of the adapter received by me and other Sony Style (vaio S) customers (owning the V36). Sony Style replied stating that they don't know anything about the V36, that it is not even present on the website www.sony.it (which is false!!! look at http://www.sony.it/product/vnp-s-series/vpcs11v9e-b specs), that they see a V38 (so why I got a V34?). In other words they are saying I'm lying when I say that other people received this adaptor!! Madness! Moreover they cannot change it but they told me I can return the whole laptop and place another order to see whether I will receive the same adaptor (waiting another 3 weeks). Cool.
Since then I gave up and started using the laptop, but I soon realized that the notebook came with a lot of marks and scratches, two on the palmrest (shame on Sony for the poor care in assembling the notebook). That made me even more angry, so asked for a replacement documenting with photos those scratches. They agreed and on 23/03 I received the return number and a second order, which states 2GB instead of 4, so I had to write again to the customer care to correct this error (and here I think: why is up to me to check that everything in the order is fine? What if I missed the email? I would have received a second notebook to be returned. Some other weeks before using the notebook. Is it a joke? Why that stupid operator didn't check the new order a second time? Unbelievable...). Moreover I have to call again because I have later seen that shipping was "Standard DPD" (BTW, DPD is a crap) while I paid for "Express UPS". Have to wait another day before receiving the return shipping label. Ok, they receive the laptop on Monday (29/03), approve my new order to enter in production the day after. I receive the email stating that my order will be shipped some day between 06/04 and 11/04. The day 03/04 I receive the mail that notify the shipping from the Japan:

"L'ordine del suo VAIO personalizzato è stato inviato al nostro centro logistico.

Il suo ordine VAIO verrà probabilmente spedito in data 07.04.2010. La preghiamo di ricordare che si tratta solo di
una nostra previsione. Sarà nostra cura avvisarla in caso di variazioni rispetto alla data prevista per la consegna."

More or less it says: the order has been sent to our logistic centre. (Tilburg, the Nederlands). Your Vaio will be probably shipped the day 07/04, but please consider that it is just a prediction. We will take care to inform you in case of variations in respect of our esteemed day for shipping
I thought "good! I will receive it before leaving" (I'll be away from home for 10 days, starting from 13/04, and I really need the notebook. Moreover I'm not sure that someone will be present at home during that period). But the notebooks has not been sent yet. I start to be really pissed off, so yesterday I called again that *ucking customer care of my balls to ask why they didn't ship yet and why I received NO other mails about the delivery day change (I can't stay every day at home hoping that UPS knocks at my door). I want you to notice that the first order took 3-4 working days to get here and everything went as predicted, while now after a week the notebook is not even in the Netherlands, even though the estimated shipping time was similar if not identical to the first order. The reply from the customer care operator (always the same idiot) was: "we don't know where is your notebook, we cannot even track goods travelling from Japan to the Netherlands. Just wait.". I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'm astonished, no assistance at all. How long should I wait before thinking that my notebook went lost? How can I even know whether my notebook is lost, if no tracking is possible and customer care do not CARE at all? How long should I wait before asking for a third order taking another 2-3 weeks? It's a shame, I've never seen so much incompetence! At the customer care they know nothing, nothing about the payment, nothing about the adapter, nothing about shipment, no further communication, errors during the second order. It is clear now, Sony is no longer a reliable company. Shame on you. Payed 6 weeks ago, not owning the notebook yet. For sure I will never buy from Sony Style and I advise you not to do it: if the order goes fine no problems, otherwise you are alone. And you have to wait, wait, wait until your laptop will be outdated while they already have your money.

BTW: about the Adapter, I think I've found (as always by myself) that Sony is shipping the V36 adapter along with the nVidia GPU, while the less powerfull V34/V38 for the Intel. However V34/v38 looks crappy compared to V36, and there is no reason why people choosing the Intel GPU should receive a bad looking Adapter. It's a shame.

EDIT: today not shipped.

 

Thank you for sharing your negative experience with us! I am truly sorry about that...
If you get the "worse looking" adapter again - I can offer you mine if this is really bothering you that much - I don't really care about how it looks unless there is a noticeable size difference.

P.s. regarding adapters - I was investigating the compatibility of the Lenovo slim adapter (it is the size of a 2,5" HDD) - it most likely will do - my original one delivers 19,65V and the Lenovo one is 20V. It is also 90W so the max current is just a bit lower then the original. Unfortunately I couldn't test it as the only connectior I had with the lenovo one was for T400 which is slightly bigger. Other connectors are offered too though so once the right size is available, I am 99% sure it will work with the S...
I also successfully charged my S twice already with my universal Car Notebook charger set to 20V (it also delivers accurate 20V output).

I would recommend to always measure voltage of any non-sony charger you are about to use. Keep in mind that the nominal voltage is 19,5V and the one that my original charger delivers is 19,65V. I read somewhere that chargers have tolerance of about 5%, so anything within 4-5% would most likely work, but nevertheless keep as close to 19,5 as possible! I personally wouldn't consider anything out of the 19...20V range.

 

Thank you but I will not accept
I don't care too much about the Vaio imprint and many other things (well, I do care about the angled cable because it can be important when constantly transporting the adapter with you, it can save space and prevent the cable to flex too much and break - yes, it can happen -), what bothers me is that there are class A users and class B users that deserve a cheaper adapter just because 75W can suffice. This is really disappointing from brand like Sony, especially when you see the same details on every recent Vaio model (for example the Vaio Y, a 600€ laptop, is equipped with a tiny, good looking, V36 like adapter).
Moreover I agree with you when you say that the adapter is not small.
Have a look at a couple of shots:
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/952/dsc07714.jpg
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/9496/dsc07715.jpg
Yes, even those marks were present when I received the notebook! I don't care, but I can't understand how it is possible for a brand new product!
Here instead the adapter coming from a 5 years old entry level and cheap Acer notebook:
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2681/dsc07920n.jpg
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7681/dsc07921f.jpg
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/434/dsc07923g.jpg
Anyway, the adapter is a minor issue, at the moment I'm pissed off because I need the laptop, because they make me know nothing, because just a few days are needed for shipping (so what I'm waiting for?), because after 6 weeks I'd like to use the notebook I paid for.

 

Let me submit an even better size comparison... those are the chargers I have around apart from the Lenovo one:



Left to right:

1. Samsung N150 (10,1")
2. Fujitsu Siemens Amilo M (14,1")
3. Acer Aspire (14,1")
4. .... guess .... (13,3")

The only nice thing about the S' one is the LED - the Fujitsu Siemens doesn't have one and I've kicked it so many times in the dark....

 

Hello,

As a prospective owner I have found this thread very useful, many thanks to the primary posters for excellent discussion.

I seek some advice though: if I order a CTO without WWAN, would it be possible to fit it at a later date (don't need it now but might in the future) ?

For those of you with the black version, please can you tell me whether it picks up fingerprints easily or shows dust badly. My old Z1XSP is silver and almost always looks nice and clean.

[Currently a 5-6 week order delay on SonyStyle UK ]

Thank you, Richard.

 

To rjdevo

When a desk lamp shown on the the black laptop , you can see the dust and fingerprint(and oil) on the keyboard, a bit of dead skin on the touchpad and the button as well.

In day light situation , you can see your hand imprint very well on the laptop lid, also it scratch quite easily , i scratched mine a bit.

 

Dust is more visible on black background, that is true.
Other then that I don't think it picks up fingerprints that easily (well oily fingers are unwanted on any technic and color).
All of S' surfaces are more or less rough (the LID cover as well) so in comparison with lots of other notebooks out there - fingerprints are not an issue at all.
I used to have a silver notebook, but to be honest - I like the black better.

Regarding the WWAN - as far as I know it is not possible to add it later or at least not easily.

 

For games out there
I installed Starcraft 2 Beta and Heroes of Newerth on my Vaio S
They are both playable with no lag or stutter on medium settings
On medium settings, it is smooth and still looks nice on the 310m.

Happy gaming

 

Is the S available in the U.S. yet with discrete graphics?

About to pull the trigger on an Asus U30JC.

 

no, most likely it'll appear in the fall when the bestbuy exclusivity runs out

 

i got my keyboard replaced and just talked my friend into getting one of the S blue labels also.

that was a good 3.5 hours doing it like mine.

 

Found a strange issue. Sent my first Sony back as the sound through the headphone jack using my Apple ear phones was distorted. Yet, the ear phones work fine with my other laptop and iPhone. So, setup my new laptop the other night and tested the earphones this morning - same problem exists. Distorted sound quality.

Here's the other odd thing. Playing a game (Plants vs Zombies) there is no distortion at all.. Yet, playing video through explorer and using iTunes the distortion is there?

All very odd.. Any thoughts?

 

...Luv that game! (i know i'm no help at all making this comment)