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

Hi, does anyone know why when I changed my processor to a i7 720qm, it doesn't work? The green light turns on but then the vaio shutdown and it does't do anything. Then I replace it again with the original one, a i3-330 and it works.

So I don't know if the processor is not compatible with the socket (what I think it is possible because it needs more power), or if the processor is not working. So I anyone could help before I return the processor, thank you!

 

I hardly bother with forums or chatrooms - but caps is shouting - has been since time immemorial.....never mind eh

I spoke with the dev team at Qualcomm, who are on the ball to be fair Gracy.....their information re OEM policy was right at the time, although they couldnt be sure if the S series was a model that had the hardware disabling implemented...

It'd be useful if you could describe your process, and the exact drivers and utils you used to get this working, or point me at a thread or some such.

Never mind - found it on page 186 off to try it.

 

Exactly - has been discussed and linked to in this thread already just need to search

 

oh grow up for gods sake....why on earth you feel the need to reiterate this I don't know.

 

Do you have your period or something?? Geeeeeaas!

P.s. For the same reason you asked me not post corrections in your thread but send them to you personally - to keep it clean and tidy! The subject has been discussed already - no need to repeat, but you could have just said thanks I brought it up so that you can activate YOUR gps, before you go and call Intel and ask them too.

Obviously help is not appreciated. You are on your own then.

 

LOL - "help" is always appreciated Gracy, you could just as easily have replied and said "glad you found it, good luck making it work".

But hey, no hard feelings - if thats what floats your boat, knock yourself out

I got it "working" last night, it doesn't lock onto a signal though, I might stand outside the office and hold it up to the sky and see if that fixes it....maybe jesus will help me

 

I didn't realize that the i7-720qm doesn't have an integrated graphic card, and my vaio s doesn't have a external graphic card.

 

hi all,

so i've reached the upper limit of my 60gb ocz vertex 2e and am going to replace it with something in the region of 120gb.

i know that the next generation ssds are only 1-3months away from release, but i think most of these will be sata 3.

my question is, does the S12 mobo support sata 3? and if not, will installing a sata3 drive work on this notebook? obviously you wouldnt get all of the performance from it, so are there any advantages from waiting for a next gen sata 3 ssd over buying a current sata 2 ssd?

 

Free upgrade to a semi good processor until Feb 26 on Sony Style website. It is looking just a little better.

 

This is only because of their new S-series being revealed at a press release.

 

SonyStyle have had "special offers" many times before - whether it is a CPU upgrade or RAM upgrade or some other promotions - Vaio S has very often been offered with some promotion.

 

No news from sony on Sandy Bridge for the S yet?

 

Yes, there is in fact: http://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=6522&NewsAreaId=2

 

Very nice, still looking forward to seeing what they come up with to replace the Z though!

 

Nope, not exactly! Pay attention that this is SA and SB - a few threads about those are already available, but it is not sure yet that the original S will be discontinued!

SA and SB look terribly ugly - I never go as far as to see the specs as the design is a no-go for me. Horrible. Looks like an ugly edgy Toshiba. If I wanted one I would just buy the original.

But lets not discuss this here, the relevant Thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/545391-sony-sa-sb-discussion-sonys-next-new-13-3-laptop.html

 

Pfff I hate UPS! Last week they should have picked up my notebook, but they didn't come. Only a UPS van stopped in front of my house, the guy walked away from his van and there goes his van (forgot his handbrake) and it crashed against another car. I think this one should have picked up my notebook .

 

I do agree! Only the specs with the two graphics card sounds awesome! Both Intel and Radeon onboard!

 

First of all I was just trying to answer A.Adict's quiery, and I think I have.

Have you even looked at the link? It's obvisouly a replacement of the current S series. Even SONY say so. Here are a couple of quotes from the press release:

Power in Motion: boost your productivity with new VAIO S Series

The slim, light VAIO S Series features a stylish new ‘full flat’ design

VAIO S Series introduces a smart new battery concept

VAIO S Series is designed with day-to-day productivity

New VAIO S Series is available in a choice of black, white and silver finishes

The new VAIO S Series slim

Whether is an SA, SB, SJ, SZ, SWHATEVER, according the the manufacturer at least, it's still and S series...

 

The information available throughout the net is contradicting - you will find enough links stating it will replace the Z, although I also think it will either replace the S or extend it. And yet this is still a thread about S only, there is another thread about SA/SB, no matter if it is considered an S or not - the classical S is still available and it has nothing to do with SA/SB feature- or design-wise, so we should not mix things up.

Not saying you did anything wrong, just politely asking to move any discussion about SA/SB to the right thread.

 

I heard that Sony Vaio SA/SB will replace the Sony Vaio S-series. So there will be no S14 anymore . That's very poor for me, because Mediamarkt (seller) told me that I have the opportunity to choose a new notebook instead of my current notebook (will be send for a repair for the third time) if Sony says it's the same problem as before.

 

Just to clarify, whilst the current S may remain in production for a short period of time, yes, the SA/SB will replace the VPCS1xxxx as that will be phased out.

 

Looks like it, yes.
Still a different machine IMO, so hopefully this would remain a S11, S12, S13 thread only.

Pity Sony is throwing the nice designs of S and Z all away for those new aesthetic machines but well...

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to replace a non-backlit keyboard with a backlit keyboard? It's so stupid that we don't have any S-series notebook in the Netherlands with this keyboard :s.

 

Kenji, I'm positive that someone did try that some time ago. I can not remember the outcome, but I think he succeeded. Just browse back the thread - it is for sure in this one, I just can't remember any details.

 

well gracy, also in an italian forum is happening the same, people start messing with official thread of the old models just to talk about the news...i'm with you when you say this should remain the thread of the s11-12-13

 

S owners,

I'm creating a small list/table of the main devices in our S and their up-to-date drivers numbers which i plan to update on regular basis! Most of the devices have much newer drivers than those that Sony officially offers.

In order to fill the empty spots I need your help, as I haven't kept a record of the latest original versions of drivers that came with the laptop or were provided by Sony as an update.

So those of you who haven't updated the drivers of the following devices at all or with anything else than drivers from Sony's support web-page, please provide me with the driver version (from Device Manager) so that I can fill in the "Last original (Sony) driver" column:

1. TouchStrip Fingerprint Sensor (WBF advanced mode)
2. Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller
3. Ricoh PCIe SD Bus Host Adapter
4. Atheros AR8131 PCI‐E Ethernet Controller
5. Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced‐N 6200 AGN
6. NVIDIA High Definition Audio

I will upload the list here once it is complete, so that you can revise it an compare your driver versions to mine and know what you can/need to update

Thank you for your support!

 

1. TouchStrip Fingerprint Sensor (WBF advanced mode) - 1.3.0.214 (26/10/2009)
2. Intel(R) 5 Series 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 7.0.0.1013 (04/06/2009)
3. Ricoh PCIe SD Bus Host Adapter - (do not have this, but do have "Ricoh PCIe Memory Stick Host Controller" 6.13.3.2 21/12/2009)
4. Atheros AR8131 PCI‐E Ethernet Controller - 1.0.0.4 (01/04/2009)
5. Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced‐N 6200 AGN - 13.1.1.1 (13/01/2010)
6. NVIDIA High Definition Audio - 1.0.0.59 (21/08/2009)

Hope that helps.

P.s. I asked about a week ago if anyone knew if the S12 series was SATA3 or SATA2. Do you happen to know? Thanks

 

It helps a lot indeed! Thank you!!

95% sure - SATA2 Not sure how one can check though.

 

No problem at all

So following up from my original question; if it is indeed SATA2, is it worth getting a 'next-gen' SATA3 SSD? I mean, of course the speeds will be better, but it will be throttled down to SATA2 speeds. What I'm thinking is are these drives meant to be so much faster that even when throttled they will be faster than current drives, and also are their long-term performance/longevity likely to be far better?

I'm happy to swap out my current 60GB OCZ Vertex 2E with a 120Gb model, but don't know if that'll be a mistake with newer drives round the corner. I'm not really in a rush you see

 

This question is something I'd like to know too. Unfortunately I have no answer to it, as I haven't made any research - I will wait till the new SSD hit the market - the least that will happen is that the prices of today's SSDs will drop. Not in a hurry either

But it is really good to know if the laptop is SATA2 or SATA3 on first place - so please let me know if you do find out with certainty

 

Are you sure about this one!? Something doesn't look right ... could you please check the version number and date again?

 

Yeah, will let you know if and when I find out about the SATA2/3 issue.

As far as the drivers go, I double-checked for you and the driver and date are as originally given. The device on my system however is named "Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20)". Don't know if this is different to yours since I have the S12C5E?

Sorry that I can't be of more help.

P.S. I installed the 8Gb RAM in the end. Doesn't make a huge difference. Seems slightly more responsive, but I wasn't expecting a huge bump since it was so fast to begin with. I am however happy with the knowledge that the life of my SSD should be extended though, so thanks

 

Hm, no problem 6GB RAM made huge difference to me, but it is strongly usage-dependent of course

The name of the Atheros is the same ... what shocks me though is that the driver I have on (separately downloaded as an update) is 1.0.0.36 from 27.09.2010 ))
But it could be an error of the driver name, as the package was named 1.0.0.46 Anyway....

I will upload the list soon so that you can also check and compare the rest.

 

the vaio S does support only SATA 2, as the support comes from the chipset which has SATA 2 built in. as the modern SATA 2 ssds have a theorical bandwith of about 290 MB/s, the sata connection in it's 2gen version would be saturated by them. so my opinion is to stick with a good Sata 2 ssd, and save the money of a SATA 3 version. however i believe sata 3 disks support sata 2 connection, so if in a year or two sata 2 disappears, i think we will still be able to use sata 3 supports.

 

Excellent, thanks for that. My gut feeling is to get one of the next-gen drives for that very reason - at least I can take it with me to a newer computer if need-be.

Cheers

 

So the S will be going away soon? Luckly I have not pull the trigger. I will wait a few more months.

 

Here's the small S-drivers database.

Please revise it and let me know (better with a private message to keep the thread clean) about any corrections or additions I should take into account!

I haven't updated the last entry myself yet, this is why now newer driver version is listed (yet).
I have excluded all devices with drivers from Microsoft, as those should be automatically updated with Windows Updates. If I have missed something though - let me know!

If you help me with corrections and additional information (for example about IntelHD graphics for those of you who don't have NVIDIA) or newer drivers i don't know about - I will be keeping the list up to date and uploading it here whenever there is something new. However, please only consider drivers that you have tested yourself and are proven to work fine on Vaio S!

Use private messages for everything concerning this matter so that we don't create unnecessary posts here.
I'd appreciate it.

 

Holy crap! The S13S9E is out of stock in The Netherlands, so if I can choose a new laptop, I think I have to go for those SA/SB-series because the current S isn't available anymore in The Netherlands!

 

So many thanks for taking the time to compile that list! One question though: where can we get these new drivers from?

 

No problems at all I will also continue to keep it up to date and extend it, especially if you guys assist me

The sources are very different, I'm afraid I might not even know all of them anymore, but the best thing would be to ask specifically (either here or via PM) and I will try to recall where I got it from

All of those are installed and running perfectly fine on my system, so no issues are to be expected.

I also noticed I missed the WWAN! I will include it in the next version

 

Willy,

I currently run a SATA 3 normal drive in my machine, it runs at SATA 2 speeds, the SSD's will do exactly the same.

If they have improved the algorithms used in the controller chip, then it may be faster than the current version when it's throttled.

It's the same theory as new CPU's running the same task as the old ones, i.e. it doesnt matter what RAM or HDD you've got (as long as the task fits into itand you're not paging) chip improvments will yield better performance....The reviews are saying that the new Sandforce controller is just nuts fast.

Long term performance with the new Sandforce controller is predicted to be very good from the reviews I've read (the anandtech one is good) (the lifespan is actually supposed to me longer than a normal mechanical disk), I'm not sure about the Intel one. I'm going to get a Vertex 3 when they come out *I think* - which one are you thinking of getting?

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I saw the (p)reviews on Anandtech. I'm very happy with the performance from my Vertex 2E, so I am also thinking of just upgrading to Vertex 3. I'm hoping that the Vertex 3 will be able to squeeze that little bit more performance out of the SATA2 connection than the 2E can

 

Have you got any real world stats you can share with us from your Vertex 2E mate? Like what your boot time is (and your OS), and your app launching experience, stability, degradation over time - that sort of thing?

 

So boot up in Windows 7 to the point where everything is loaded and the circle stops spinning is 31s. Shut down is 8s.

Software like word, excel, ppt, prism, pdf-viewer, winrar, chrome and VLC etc take less than 3s to load, and about 5s to load when opened simultaneously.

I haven't noticed much degradation over time. Although I think Word used to open in closer to 2s rather than 3s. And the system is completely stable. I've only had problems running 1 or 2 specific pieces of software. Although sometimes when I leave the notebook on, it goes into an unresponsive state where its not in sleep/hibernate, the green power light is on, but it wont wake up.

Cheers

 

nice one - thanks for that. I'm looking forward to not having to wait ages for things to happen.

 

It's definitely a great place to be

 

You're not making the waiting any easier...... I keep watching "SSD boot time" videos on youtube and salivating...sad isn't it.

 

Hmm,

I haven't looked much into SSDs yet, as I have my reasons to think that a purchase now is still unreasonable, but to be honest I am not really impressed by the numbers you mention...!?

Comparing to my times - Windows 7 boots together with my 4 gadgets and all startup programs for about 65-70 seconds (taking into account that I reboot once a week on average, the 30-40 extra seconds per week are of 0 significance to me...).

I am more interested in timings while working... - it depends on the version as well I guess, but I just started Word for the first time since last restart and measured the time - 1,5 seconds! Acrobat Reader X Pro usually takes less than a second to run as well. The only program that takes a few seconds to load is Photoshop CS5 (takes 5 seconds to load the program itself, without any jpg/raw). Everything else takes definitely less than 2-3 seconds!

So, as I said I don't know if those timings you mentioned are good, normal or bad for an SSD, as I haven't spent any time researching, but to be honest I expected much more for the enormous difference in price, degradation risk, etc....

 

Does anyone know if the S-series has standard the hinge problem? Because they asked me about it.

 

If it has it by default like the Z? No definitely not. I think you are the only one to report about that in this forum.