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

Thanks you both (Mkouk and marsamb) for your replies. So if I understand well, it will be not a good choice to buy the notebook with the intel HD graphic cards? Because the special prizing at the Mediamarkt in The Netherlands is really attractive, but it contains an intel card. Unfortunately it is still impossible to customize your own vaio S in The Netherlands. I hate it, because Spain, France, Germany, Uk etc. all have the option to customize, but we in The Netherlands don't have it :s.

 

sonys going to replace my mouse and palm rest for their crappy paint job.

bbb strikes again

 

so I've done a clean install of the sony S and I must say this is the best way at least for the best buy models here in the US. I was wondering though, what utility controls the backlit keyboard. Mine seems to come on all the time now and I liked the ambient light sensor. I would just like to know what driver to download in order to have that ambient light sensor back.

 

I had the same problem when i did a clean install. Apparently there is a specific sequence that has to be followed when installing the drivers:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...y-s-series-owners-thread-178.html#post6594119

failing that, if you run the recovery disc from within Windows 7 you can restore all drivers using the automated process

 

I'm not understanding. My mouse buttons showed signs of wear after two months. Is that what you're referring too when you say Sony will replace? Perhaps it's only the the Best Buy models. It would be nice to know that I have an option to get the buttons replaced. I believe Sony provides in-home warranty in the US. Is that correct? It is certainly true with the VPC F11 series that I own.

 

I would always choose Nvidia rather than any other brand but this is a personal choice. I live in Sweden and we dont have either the option to customize the laptop, so what I did was to contact a friend in London and the PC was shipped there and I was luck enough that this friend was on his way to visit me here in Sweden, otherwise you could easily use DHL or a similar delivery company. Besides that, the PC was a lootttt cheaper than if I would have bought it here in Sweden.

 

Dedicated graphics cards are always better but consume more power. Although i don't play many games, i went for the NVIDIA card because of the additional benefits especially since many of the new web browsers are moving towards utilizing some of that power to run faster.

 

Well I have bought the one with the intel graphics card, because that is the only available model here in the Netherlands. I also had the possibility to order a customized S in an other country, but than I would have problems with the 2 year guarantee. So if something will brake than I had to send it to Sony of that country, not my style. But I will call Sony Netherlands on Monday and ask them if the customize option will be available in the Netherlands in a short time, if yes I will return my notebook to the supplier.

 

As marsamb said above; the S Series is covered by an EU wide warranty. If you choose Windows 7 Pro you get two years of international warranty which is well worth the upgrade price from Home Premium

 

Yes, but the other problem is the lay-out of the keys. Germany, Spain, France, UK have an other lay-out than the Netherlands. And if I order one in the UK (which have the most similar keys layout) it is expensiver than in Germany, France and Spain, with the same specs.

 

Is it possible to get an S series in the US besides the best buy model? I want discrete graphics + backlit keyboard without paying the price of a Z series...

 

I don't know why this laptop is not available in the US market. In fact, it does not appear in the US Sony Website.

 

i dont mind the keyboard lighting up everytime i type. if i stop typing it turns itself off.

I also like controlling how and when the screen goes lighter or darker.

and well sony is sending a tech out to replace the mouse and palmrest. otherwise unless you have a sony store you have to mail it in.

i just dont think it was fair after a couple months to have these huge white spots on my mouse pad and palmrest. no other laptop I have used ever did this

 

competition with the Z series?

 

I maybe have asked this before, but would anyone know any web page describing the installation steps Sony S + Linux? I did install openSuse 11.3 on my new S but I still cant get some things to work like: brightness, some FN keys, MagicGate card. I really appreciate any help...thanks.

 

the brightness keys works in kubuntu with the workaround described here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kdebase-workspace/+bug/461524

I have an Intel GPU, if you have nvidia it's probably something driver-related

 

Which cas you guys are using for s series ?
Incase or tucano or any other ?

 

This workaround did not work for me ...still cant get brightness to work on my S + openSuse 11.3

 

I was very, very sceptical.... but it does seem to have effect indeed...

 

Hi

I'm considering two options to increase the 128GB SSD space which has run out:

1. ExpressCard USB 3.0 & 7200rpm 2.5" drive in USB 3.0 enclosure (roughly £100 GBP)

2. Replace the DVD drive with a 128GB SSD drive. This will mean butchering the chassis somehow. But would be my preferred option if I thought it would definitely work... not convinced yet - anybody tried this yet?? Cost would be higher but speed would be amazing.

All comments welcome! I need to run multiple virtual machines... there is not enough space and USB 2.0 is not fast enough (it's a big bottleneck - I think you can get approx. 3x speed with USB 3.0 in the real world, even via ExpressCard)

Thanks
Gus

 

How about a third option: replace the 128GB SSD with a 256GB SSD.

.

 

Thanks, Too expensive for me just now though... cheapest I can find is around £420 GBP. I may go back to a 7200 RPM drive to see if that is bearable. Doubt it though :-(

I'm going to take my machine apart and see if I can remove the DVD drive - the plastic cover for it clips on/off which means I should be able to put a 128GB SSD in there instead and hide it. Not sure what kind of gum/glue/tape to use but I'll think of something.

If it works I will post a guide - how to build a Frankensony

 

7200 RPM works great for me... SSD is without any doubt much faster but I wouldn't sacrifice the storage space and the big price difference just for the extra speed... at least not with those prices. 7200 is noticably faster then the original 5400 RPM... the price is great and.... 500GB

You don't need to take anything apart to remove the DVD drive - 2 screws is all you need to remove to pull it out. well in order to remove one of them you need to unscrew another 2 so call them 4 1min job.

 

Wow 2.5" drives have come a long way - 500GB Seagate Momentus XT on order!

Seagate's Momentus XT Reviewed, Finally a Good Hybrid HDD - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

If it's not fast enough for the primary drive I'll put it in a USB 3.0 caddy and get a USB 3.0 ExpressCard, hopefully that will work ok.

 

Is anyone else having the "screen flicker" problem when plugging and unplugging the power cord? My screen goes black for a second then comes right back up. If there's no solution I can do on my own, I'm just gonna take my laptop back to Best Buy and see if I can exchange it....

 

dont install the sony power software. clean install like in my sig

 

Thanks, but that seems like way too much work for me, really. I've had this laptop for a couple of weeks now and to have to go through all those driver installs....I'll just go to Best Buy and have them take care of it. I'll let you know later on today how that goes...!

Thanks again!

 

I have the Sony Power Control software and i don't get any screen flicker when plugging / unplugging the power source.

 

This seems to be a USA-model feature ) A few other US users reported this already... no one in Europe has complained yet. I don't have such a problem either and use all Sony power-management drivers and software.

 

well good ole sony sent the wrong keyboard. they sent me one that has a slot for a fingerprint reader. and didnt notice till after it was installed.

and they wont send out a fingerprint reader so I have to wait and see if they send the correct part now

 

I assume you mean touchpad keys and not keyboard.

 

No, I don't.

I don't know what you mean for "European S" but here in Italy there is at least one S11 sold with Home Premium. Moreover is available as option when buying a CTO Vaio. European sold notebooks come with the European Warranty of two years, it has nothing to do with Windows.

That's quite surprising since 1) the GPS receiver is present in every single Gobi 2000 card 2) it must be enabled to work. I've found that on my laptop the Qualcomm drivers were installed disabling the GPS, but reinstalling correctly still it's not enough to have it working, you have to power it on somehow (and the Smart Network software seem not to have the GPS switch). How did you get it working? Are you using SmartWi?

I used to suffer this problem as well with the previous S11, no more flickering with my new S12.

About the sleeve, I wanted something nice but with a pocket for all that stuff that I usually take with me when moving with the laptop (such as mouse earphones usb dongles and so on), so I bought this Case Logic sleeve. It is advertised for MacBook but our Vaio S fits perfectly and I'm really pleased with it. Not really cheap though.

 

Hi everyone,

Perhaps a bit of a taboo topic, but what do you consider to be the alternatives to an S Series?

Basically, the Vaio that Sony sent me had a bent chassis, around the touchpad area. I waited 2 weeks for that to be delivered...now I have to wait 4 weeks for a new one to be sent. Not all that happy about it, especially as they have a chunk of my money and no compensation has been offered. And I need a laptop at least within 10 days!

Thanks

 

An interesting alternative is the Toshiba Portege R700... It offers very similar configuration and features.... but it is a "Toshiba" and in addition costs a bit more I think. I would always buy the Vaio S instead for many resons, but it is still very close to it and it may be something for you...

 

Yeah, I looked at those. Great battery life. But not really keen on the lack of a discrete graphics card and the keyboard looks terrible (and not backlit, which I love about the S Series.)

If only the Z Series wasn't so outrageously expensive.

Any others? Thanks for the input

 

Mute - Volume up - Volume down - not working !
My S12 is brand new - Why it's not working when i press that keys ?

Ps: Fn key is for what ? ( That also don't work)

 

Did you install a clean Windows copy......?

Keep the original Sony configuration and just uninstall what you don't need... this way it will all work.

What do you mean what the Fn is for....!? Fn + F3 = Volume down, Fn + F4 = Volume up..... etc. First time laptop user??

 

Those are some of the reasons I wouldn't buy the R700, besides the fact that it is a Toshiba You will hardly find anything as close to the S as it though...

 

Hi All

I new to this forum and Sony laptops so I’ll apologies ion advance for asking old question or posting in the wrong bit!
But from reading some of this thread this seems to be where all the S series knowledge is!
Got me a custom VPCS12V5E a couple of weeks ago and took advantage of the i7 free upgrade.
Anyways just a couple of questions:-

1\. Really wanted a blu-ray drive but couldn’t justify spending almost £700.00 more for the VAIO S (X) Series. I called sony and said I want a Blu-ray drive (not writer)
But they said I’d have to order the VAIO S (X) Series. Is it possible to upgrade the optical drive? Can this be done without having to strip down half the laptop and risk voiding the warranty?
I know on some laptop you can remove the optical drive with some screws underneath?

2\. The wireless adaptor keeps dropping the connection – I’m about try updating the driver to Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200: 13.2.1.5 to see if this helps.
Anybody else had this problem?

Any help or answers much appreciated

Cheers

Keef

 

1. Yes. 2 screws holding the drive. To remove 1 of them you need to unscrew another 2. So 4 screws is all you need to remove.

2. I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. There is a setting under Device Manager to allow windows to switch off the device to save power. I turned it off and haven't had the problem ever since. Try it.

 

Thanks Gracy

Just need to find a suitable Blu-ray drive then!

I changed the device manager power setting this morning but still having the same issue. I think the drive update might do the trick!

 

NP Glad I could help.

Just keep in mind that the S has a moderate screen resolution and pretty compact screen... Don't really know what you need Blu-ray for.... One of the most useless stuff if you ask me.

 

Dell M11xR2

 

you're kidding, right? what do both have in common except being laptops with up to date configurations?

 

Terribly ugly!

 

That is just one of the meny major differences between them... but the most obvious one I guess Boo Boo was joking...

 

its cheaper and has a better video card he wanted an alternative.

can get a i5 version for under 800.00 us while the cheapest S in the US is 1050.00

but i do think its a fugly little thing

 

"Cheaper" is not really a comparison factor! Acer is cheaper... Fujitsu Siemens is cheaper, Asus is cheaper.... but you can't really compare them to a Sony! There's a reason for the price difference, besides the configuration....!

Dell is a respected brand... but this model has absolutely nothing to do with the concept of Vaio S

Dell M11xR2 runs with UM CPUs which are not comparable to normal i5 / i7 CPUs !! It's a gaming PC, whereas the S is a business solution! The size is very different... No connectivity options....

Where did you see a connection between Vaio S and M11xR2 I'll never know....

 

Has anyone been able to enable the GPS on the S? Someone willing to write a short but detailed HowTo?