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

I went to a local BB today out of curiousity.

I will admit, it feels noticeably light and is a very attractive (cosmetically) machine. But I found the screen to be really shiny and pretty much on par with that of every other laptop out there in terms of quality. I think Sony is no longer giving every single one of its laptops (regardless of price point) an awesome display like it did a couple years ago. I also found it to be quite slow compared with an Asus they had on display.

 

I just checked mine. Yes, it did have an Expresscard slot!

 

Cool , did you order through the website? Do a mini review when you received it XD.The price is little too expensive, i am going to wait for a while

 

I ended up putting a deposit down at a Sony Centre. Apparently both the i3 and i5 versions will be officially released Feb 1 throughout Australia.

 

I might head down to melbourne sony centre, will the price for online differ from sony retails?

 

Stupid me. Yes, there is a slot that I had checked out but didn't grok. I'm sure it's an ExpressCard slot per the specs. Good you were paying attention.

 

Can a i3 cpu be replace with core i5 cpu, do they both got the same socket?

 

It's the same price as on the Sony website.

 

Anybody know if BB will offer the black S11 for sale and when? Also when will the S11 be available to custom order in the U.S.? What colors may be available?

 

None of that seems likely in the foreseeable future. BB has an exclusive deal for this model to be part of their Blue Label 2.0 line...who knows when or if that expires, but I doubt it'll be any time soon.

 

Even the X series doesnt have WWAN in HK.

I think HK versions and Aussie versions are the same. Can anyone confirm if the Aussie S11 has WWAN? The website doesnt mention it.

 

http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/vpcx118lg_e.jsp

Scroll down to wireless wan.

 

When I called SonyStyle on 1/18/10, they said they had recieved a memo that the S was coming, but no idea when. They didn't know any of the features either. They said the S will be replacing the SR line too.

 

Same story in the Netherlands (about a week ago). Currently there is only one model available with the i3. The CTO option was expected soon, but it didn't actually appear with the announcement through the mail. It's still F or W only.

 

Here are the S models available in Hong Kong:

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

 

Did you called with Sony NL? I was wondering if the CTO option would come at the Netherlands, but at the moment there is only one model available, like you also said. In February I will go to Spain (for 7 months), and I saw that they already have the CTO option for the S. So if Netherland doesn't come quick with this option, maybe I will buy my notebook when I'm in Spain.
Does anyone know if there will be negative things if you will buy your notebook in an other country then your own?

 

I mailed them. Local support luckily appears to be better than what you get in the US.

Watch out with the warranty, and the keyboard layout too, if you buy in Spain, or pretty much any other EU country for that matter.

 

Apologies. I was confusing this with the Z. You are correct of course.

So I guess the only option for the HK'ers is to buy the WWAN version from the US or UK?

 

Doesn't seem like many people have this laptop - or maybe there's another, bigger forum, that offers more help?

Couple of questions for owners:

(1) Have you been able to set-up turbo boost?

(2) Have you been able to set-up VAIO Media Gallery by pressing the "VAIO" key on the upper left section of the keyboard? Mine responds with "cannot configure settings, an unknown error has occurred"

 

I have had mine for a couple of days know

(1) As I understand it I dont think we have a option to set-up turbo boost, it does it automatically.

(2) pressing the "VAIO" does launch my VAIO media gallery.

Biggest complaints I have with mine is the heat and I wish the battery was a little better then the 4-5 hours I am getting, I really cant complain about the 4-5 hours since that is what it claims.

Does anyone know if this is going to handle a external blu-ray?

Thanks
Bud

 

Couple more questions:

(1) Is the HDD Protection built in the hard drive or the laptop? If I were to upgrade to a Intel X25 SSD, would I still have HDD Protection?

(2) Is it possible to boot via an Express Card SSD? If I could find a Express Card SSD that fits flush with the laptop, I would like to boot from there and use the 500GB as cheap storage space.

 

Have no idea on these questions.

 

Im going to try buy at hong kong or ebay for the S series, it is just way too expensive to buy in Australia

Edit: Nvm

 

Is there a clean install guide for this laptop?

 

What about noise? I would rather have a warm laptop than a noisy laptop

 

I think the issue is that other countries have CTO options and those PCs while ordered have not been made and shipped to their buyers yet.

So the only people who have the S are people who bought it at Best Buy and many Best Buys did not put them out until on or after the 17th. I know I checked my Best Buy on the 17th and it was not out for sale yet. I asked on the 15th and they said they just got them in and weren't sure when they would be out for display.

So until this PC is out in mainstream more, you are only going to get a handful of people who own it.

 

Not really bad. I dont know if its my imagination but it sounds like the fan comes on alot more when it is plugged in, so its alot less noise on battery. When the fan does come you get a hot blast of air from the vent.

 

Hi.
I have some question for owners, but also for who know:

-Here in Italy it is possible to choose, for the new Sony Vaio S, a discrete graphic card (nvidia 310M) or the intel graphic card included into core i5. If i choose the nvidia card, can i switch from one card to the other? Can i use the nvidia card in the profile 'top performance' and the intel card in the profile 'battery saving'? I don't find news about this.

- Do you know the model of wifi card of this new notebook?

- What about the battery life (with and without the nvidia card)?

- What about the heat? The laptop is too hot in moderate workload?

Thank you so much.

 

I went to the bestbuy by my place and I noticed there is a sorta big gap inbetween the keyboard and screen. is it supposed to be like that? it almost looks as if the notebook doesn't close all the way. also if i just place a finger on the middle of the notebook screen when closed, it goes in quite alot...

 

It has pads on the side to assist the close.. Lol weird question to answer.

 

- Do you know the model of wifi card of this new notebook?
Advanced-N 6200 AGN

- What about the battery life (with and without the nvidia card)?
I did about 4 hours with moderate-heavy workload.

- What about the heat? The laptop is too hot in moderate workload?
Laptop does get a bit hot from what I noticed.

 

Like I posted before the heat is probably my number one dislike about the laptop, actually only when the fan comes on because that is when it shoots out the really hot air.

The second dislike is the battery life, like 10JQKA said its closer to 4 with a good work load but I have tried two different ULV laptops that I ended up taking back because of the weak performance out of them. So I rather have a better perfomance out of my laptop and give up some battery hours.

Has anyone seen any reviews out on it yet?

 

Hi there,

I'm seriously considering getting the new S11 from BB. But a couple of concerns holding me up.

First and most, how's the overall quality of the screen? How does it compare to current Z series? On a scale of 10, what would you rate it?

Second is for the used material / build quality. Does S11 "feel" more like the plastic CW or toward the Z? Can't seem to know the answer from those pictures in the 1st page.

Third is for the Intel integrated graphic. If only Sonystyle could offer CTO S11, then guess I'll pull the trigger now!

Thanks in advance!

 

Closer to the CW than the Z, even though the S-series is reputed to have a magnesium-alloy chassis. The Z has a totally different feel, but then you are also paying through the nose for it.

 

Hmm...I thought that the build of the SR and the Z were pretty close in the last generation.

 

I bought the Best Buy S.

Overall, I like it - It is light and fast. The screen is good enough for me and the backlit keyboard is a treat. As someone before said, the Wireless Display is not ready for home theater enthusiasts because there is some pixelation and it is not 100% smooth. However, it is great for Hulu, YouTube, and I suppose Netflix (this last one I don't have). What I would like it to do is to stream only the video you are watching (full screen on the TV) while being able to continue to use the laptop. This is not possible today.

What annoys me about the S is that the light weight comes at the expense of a plasticky build. It seems very fragile, especially the screen (I mean the entire lid). The other annoyance is the battery, which is very loose. Finally, if you plug the laptop on AC when the laptop is on, the screen will blink for a second or two. The same happens when unplugging it. Anyone has this same issue? I just wanna be sure it is not a defect.

Thanks,
Emerson

 

Thank you so much for all your valuable inputs, guys!

Since I'm used to a 1st gen Z for quite a while, owning a S11 won't make me "feel" like a "upgrade" or even "on a par with" from the perspective of "touch & feel" and overall quality. Certainly, I know there will be some performance advantage on S11.

Guess the quest will be continued...

 

I've ordered a CTO S-Series on 07/01/10 but still haven't heard from it.
Called Sony UK and they said they are custom built in Japan and I might have to wait a few more weeks before getting my hands on it.
Am I the only one on that boat ?

I'm an owner of a Z11VN which will be sold as soon as the S comes, am fed with the poor build quality of the Z and the fact I've got to be extra careful whenever I have to transport it.

 

The problem with the Z is that from anywhere you lift it it the body creaks.
I'm sure they've done better with the second generation looking at the picture, the whole frame should be stuffer.

 

The loose battery does make it feel cheap.

Mine also does the screen blink when you unplugging or plugging the AC. It almost like its trying to switch to another video setting.

 

It has to do with change the power profile and, yeah, it looks like it is trying to switch to another video setting, because it is -- even if you use the exact same setting for AC and battery, it would still refresh once to the new setting.

 

Could the screen blink be due to some display setting change in power management?

 

Ok Thanks

This is my first Vaio but the Dell and HP that I have and work with doesnt do that, it seems kind of over kill that the screen has to turn off for a couple of seconds just to dim or brighten the screen when you unplug or plug the AC.

Like I said this is my first Vaio.

 

I could be wrong but the only thing I can see it does in the power management is dim or brighten the screen when you plug or unplug.

 

My Dell does the same thing. It could be worse, my Dell sometimes doesn't turn back on. Have to push the power button to power off and reboot. Like others have said, it is something to do with power management and isn't a Sony only thing. I think it just depends on the model of PC you get.

 

It could be the video setting and I understand others might have seen this before in other laptops. However, I have used several laptops in the past (2 Lenovo models, Dell, Vaio, Toshiba, and even Averatec) - non had this issue. I would bet the majority of laptops don't have it. So, for a +$1000 laptop, I would expect it to be more refined - both the build and small little things like screen blinking because of power management.

 

I have been working on a VAIO S-series that was purchased from Best Buy. I have 2 concerns.

1. Smaller concern: I saw that people who purchased the S-series from Best Buy were also getting an adapter for Intel's Wireless Display and 1 year's worth of free Anti-Virus...do you think Best Buy would be able to give me the adapter and Anti-Virus since it was never given to me?

2. BIGGER concern: There is a high-pitched sound that comes from the speakers whenever a sound is played on the computer. When the computer is restarted or turned on, everything is fine and you hear what you usually hear. After awhile, this beep/noise comes up again. (Example: When you click on the volume marker to raise/lower the sound, it makes the noise. When you go back or forth through folders, the noise comes on. When music or sound is played consistently, the the high-pitched noise is heard the whole time. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but I have been unable to find any information on this anywhere.

3. An even BIGGER concern...........just kidding

Any and all help is appreciated...thanks!

 

1. Take the receipt with you and ask them.

2. Uh oh.

3. UH OH ! Read up in the F Series Owners Thread. Sounds like the same
issues others are having.

 

1. I didnt get the free Anti-Virus with mine so I plan on going back with my receipt and try to get it even though I wont use it because of Microsoft security essentials, maybe friend or family would want it.

2. No high-pitched sound from mine or at least from what I can hear.

 

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.

Can someone help me?