Official Sony SB/SA/SC/SD Series Owners' Thread

Jman and you have the same case. CL must be good. I like that it has an extra compartment for little things and yes, it's reasonable. Same reasoning for me which is why I went for Ambitronic.

Don't get me wrong on the Incase Nylon though. It's a great case with good protection...just overkill for what I need.

 

I see. Must be my software(TMT5) having problems with the ATi drivers then since it won't show video under speed mode. Stamina is fine though.

 

Nice! Getting mine in tomorrow, looking forward to returning to the good ole 5GHz as well!


I think I might have started a trend

 

Just saw the Ambitronic, very nice!

I totally agree on the Incase being overkill for my needs as well.

 

$3.45 for a sleeve, that is one nice deal hehe

 

How can I know if my SB got wireless display? Its an asian model and the WiDi option is not mentioned anywhere. i want to buy a netgear device if there is WiDi but i have no idea how to figure out. its a 2620M processor. can anyone pls help me??

thnx

 

i want to ask.. does anyone have a overheating problem at right palm rest??

its very annoying me.. :confused2:
i owned SB16FG..

 

you have it
as long as you have an I series cpu
newer intel wireless N card
and intel graphics

you should be good to go

 

I called Sony earlier today asking them why I have no tracking number and my order says "Payment processed" still yet my card is charged. The rep was actually trying to stop laughing from the moment she asked how she could help me, apparently joking with an employee lol. Her explanation was that they charge the card when it ships out of Asia. Tracking info is sent once it reaches the US and that is when the order status changes as well. Who knows if this was another bs answer or not.

 

man i hope you're right about it being shipped from china. since i'm on the west coast hopefully i get it quicker

 

Question, has anyone tested out the I5 with the amd 6470 to get temperatures and bench marks for this laptop?

I am really looking into getting the SC at best buy when it comes out.

 

I live in Ohio :/ hopefully the guy I ordered through was right about expedited shipping being standard on CTO's so I will get it Friday if I'm ultra lucky or early next week.

 

yea. i have expedited for free as well. i will be SUPER happy if i got it on friday

 

i would have rebecca black on repeat

 

I don't have any hard numbers yet, but can tell you that my laptop hasn't even become warm to the touch, even when I was doing some heavy proc intensive stuff. Super cool running laptop. I'll post up some temps when I get a chance to test it.

 

No, but that is where your hard drive is, so if it is anything, its that. Not sure which one you got but I upgraded to a 500GB 7200 RPM Hybrid drive that should be warmer than the slower running one I purchased it with, yet the palm rest doesn't get warm.

 

thanks urbanstereo. what i have is an intel Wifi Link 1000 BGN. is that the N card u mention? Intel website says
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200, 6205, 6230, or 1030
Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 or 6150
Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300

So i guess the SB model i hv dont hv it.

 

the SB's have the 1000 card in them.

 

Hi guys,
first post here, glad to join this active community.

I received my SB on thursday, with i5-2410 and HD6630m. I installed my SSD yesterday and I'm having trouble with Sony's softwares.

I followed a list for the installation order :

Code:

1. Windows 7 
2. Intel Chipset (directement depuis site Intel) 
3. Nvidia Graphics (directement depuis Notebookcheck) 
4. Audio (Directement depuis Realtek) 
5. Ethernet (directement depuis site Intel) 
6. MS Card 
7. SD Card 
8. Pointing Device (directement depuis site Synaptic) 
9. Sony Firmware Extension 
10. Bluetooth 
11. Intel ME (directement depuis le site d'Intel) 
12. Intel Wireless (directement depuis site Intel) 
14. TPM (if needed) 
15. Setting Utility Series 
16. Sony Shared Library 
17. VAIO Event Services 
18. VAIO Control Center 
20. VAIO Location Utility 
21. VAIO Power Management 
22. VAIO Smart Network 
23. VAIO Update Inutile 
24. Protector Suite   
25. Profil ICC
26. Divers Registery patchs 

This list was for a Z fresh install, but I guess it's not so different.

For the drivers, I installed from c:\windows\drivers\ (on the original SB hdd) where I found all the Exe's, all went fine.

For the Sony softwares, I went on sony's website.
first thing, it is terribly low (download at 7Kb/s ?)
then, the softs I downloaded, such as bios update or vaio care, couldn't run : "[...] is not a valid Windows application[...]" ...

I tried to download from another SB serie (mine is VPCSB1EC5) and could install "Vaio Control center" or "Vaio notebook services", dont remember (I was pissed not to be able to download or install anything)

Once installed, the Vaio Control Center only featured two options for the battery and energy settings.

I also got me a terrible error (rapid translation) : "Your battery is either badly installed or incompatible. Please contact your retailor... . The computer will now hibernate"
only one button : "ok" and then... hibernation !

I uninstalled Vaio Control Center but got the same error (after 3-4 mins).

I dont think my battery is the problem. Did any of you already had this ?

I think i'll have to reinstall from the beggining, if any of you have a "how to", it would be great.

thanks all for reading,

kr
Olivier

 

Is that good enough? or does sony pack in an extra card for its US models for WiDi? Mine never came with a fancy WiDi ready sticker and the sony customer service in this country is reasonably stupid to match the local standards.

 

why did you install NVIDIA? why dont you just get all the drivers of sb from sony?
Sony eSupport - VPCSB1AGX - Software Updates & Drivers
Its better to just reinstall windows then download and install the drivers from the site to have a clean and fresh system.

 

hi, thanks for your reply
it's just a copy-paste from a Vaio Z thread. I did install the catalyst drivers from the hdd.
(i could not install anything from the site as the wifi card wasn't recognized after w7 installation)

thanks for the link i'll do it again tonight.

rgds
oy

 

Just download the driver for the wifi on a different system then transfer.
then just continue the download from there. Its troublesome but a sure shot
at a clean install.

 

Would they ship on Easter?

 

I am still waiting on the shipping information, but my laptop just showed up this morning on the East Coast of the US, at work. I am charging, I can't believe how light the extended sheet battery is. Almost feels as if it is just plastic, no battery

For those who have had their credit card charged keep the faith. About 2 days.

 

Just a followup. According to the packing slip mine shipped on Monday 11/04/18 22:12:21 via FedEx. The shipper is listed as being out of Texas.

 

Would someone that has been keeping up with the thread please make a summary on the front page?

I never seem to get any matches when I try to search the thread, and it is over 100 pages long at this point.

Much thanks to anyone that can do this

 

Thanks a lot

 

Wow now you mention it.. yes I do have the same problem. I think it gets as hot as the bottom right corner (where most of the hardware is located). But of course it's not that hot always.
Mine contains a WDC WD3200BPVT harddrive, which is a Western Digital 320GB HDD. What's yours?

Guess I really have to replace it quickly with an SSD...

 

Just a question: may I see a screenshot of your Vaio Control Center about the HDD shock protection section?

 

make sure you have this

Intel® My WiFi Technology (Intel® MWT) π2 and Intel Wireless Display π1 must be pre-installed and enabled

do you mean good friday? i would hope so.

i hate you. you are gettng my hopes up that it will come quicker

 

Not much to see really..

 

Couple of questions:

1. Does this suffer from cpu whine, either on battery or plugged in.
2. How good is the slab battery that gives it something like 17hrs life? Is it worth it?
3. How good is the screen and what resolution. Are the viewing angles ok?

 

Sony Canada just cancelled my April 8th CTO. Email said credit card could not be authorized, but I paid with Paypal and they took the money out. Sony phone support said it was a error email not to worry and i will get a tracking number on monday and now my Sony account shows status canceled. New phone support person says he will check but likely I will have to start my order again.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that. If this happened to me, I'd be fuming.

 

I would ream sony so hard over that. Totally unacceptable from a company of that size. That said, still upset with how terrible the order tracking is since I was charged yet not showing as shipped.

 

1. Haven't noticed this, or at least, it doesn't produce more sound than the fan+HDD.
2. I don't need it myself, but I can imagine that if you're on the go really often it's really useful. It doesn't add much weight, it stays full flat, but it adds 100% more battery life. Perhaps I'll get it later when my battery starts to die.
3. For me it's fine. I've had the P31F matte screen before, and that one looked worse in terms of colours. The horizontal viewing angles are above average and the vertical viewing angles are unfortunately not better than the standard consumer notebook. People who are whining about the bad screen quality compare it to premium notebooks, such as the Vaio Z. I (only) paid €900 for mine, and compared to other (thin&light) laptops around that price (with sandy bridge) it's not worse, but rather better than some. I'm already happy it's matte.

 

Just got off the phone with Sony they say I will have to start all over and likely they will not honor the price I had before ( because it was $400 cheaper) think that explains why they cancelled it

 

This happened to me, too....after waiting for a month. Their billing must be screwed up. I finally just bought one at the Sony Store.

 

look back a page or 2. green had the same thing happen, but his showed up today.

 

I read it, but I'm losing faith because 2 days means it shows up TODAY for me. Fedex usually hits my door between 1-3PM and they haven't stopped by and it is 5PM. And if they ship UPS, well UPS just came about 15mins ago dropping off my newegg package that had my SSD and 4GB RAM chip and not a VAIO.

 

just talk to sony since i was bored at work. they said its been shipped out from asia, but would take 24-48 hours to get the tracking info. but UPS usually comes around 4-6pm my time. and its only 2:20pm.

 

Has anyone here got the new 2011 Sony Vaio S Series VPCSB190X?

If anyone has could you post a picture/inform me of how easy it is to replace the hard drive...

Im thinking of getting one but the SSD upgrade on the Sony website is way overpriced so i plan to buy the lowest hard drive option then pop a OCZ Vertex 3 SSD in it, but i need to know how easy it is to access the hard drive compartment.

Any help would be great.

Thanks
Sam

 

i just got a shipping email.
it did ship out today and will be arriving monday

Apr 21, 2011 7:30 AMIn transitSHANGHAI CN
Apr 19, 2011 11:10 PMShipment information sent to FedEx
Apr 19, 2011 11:02 PMPicked upYANTAI CN


and its Via FEDEX for me

 

easy as pie. just take off the back cover and its right there.

 

I don't have a shipping email, but I never got order confirmation lmao. Just checked my order status at Sonystyle and it says "Order Completed" now with fedex tracking. (Estimated delivery Apr 25, 2011 by 10:30 AM). Looks like we will be getting ours on the same day haha.

 

Sorry to sound like a jerk but you should really read the thread, it has been covered countless times.

The hard drive transfer takes a few screws, as easy as it could possibly be.

EDIT: I have pictures posted up of the switch as well.

 

1. No, that was a problem associated with the Core 2010 processors, not the new 2011 ones.
2. Pretty sure people are getting 15hrs of pretty good use with wifi on, if you need it then get it.
3. Mine is very good. Vertical viewing angles are decent and horizontal is very good.

 

So I just got my Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 Mini-PCIe Wifi Card in today and got it installed. I did run into a few problems as when I installed it the computer was in hibernate and was not fully shut down (I obviously didn't realize this) Ugh!

Anyway, I got everything switched out and started it up, it was then I realized it had been in hibernate mode... uh oh. So it seemed as if it actually installed the drivers automatically and I went ahead and restarted it. "You wireless switch it turned off", , no its not?! Cr@p, looks like I'm going to have to get the drivers and download them from the Intel website. So I hooked up the Ethernet cable and got the drivers and installed them, still a no go, d@mn! After a few more restarts and driver installs I opened up the VAIO Control Center, lo and behold it gave me a toggle to turn on the wireless switch! Success!

I also turned it to 5GHz only and am currently on the only 5GHz band around, speedy bliss!

When you switch them out make sure you switch over the plastic peg from the old wireless card to the new one! Also, if anyone decides to do it and runs into any problems, just go into the VAIO Control Center and manually enable it and also change it to 5GHz only if you so choose. I also took some pictures of the switch and install if anyone wants to take a look at them, just let me know and I'll post them up.

 

Also got in my Fantom Drive 2TB USB 3.0 External HDD today! Only took one day to get here with regular shipping, not bad!!

Currently running a backup of Windows onto it, which runs way faster than the USB 2.0 one did! I definitely recommend it, this thing looks sweet and is super fast!

And at $99, pretty amazing price for 2TB of storage!

Fantom Drive 2TB USB 3.0 External HDD