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

wireless N only worked for me in the 2.4GHz band
Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 – Overview

I bought the 6200 for ~ $25 and it's functioning supurbly in 5GHz

 

Yes although they cancelled my original order, it seems because my PayPal is in my business name and I ordered in my name, they had me re-order and have appliued the $673 credit to bring the price down to the original price when the website was screwed up. Now I just need them to deliver it....I have a new ship date of May 11th....

 

dsadak what screen are you getting? and why if it's not too much trouble... xD

 

Yes, I was talking about a clean install..

It wouldn't make a difference, the performance is not determined by a clone or no clone, the SSD is still going to install the info how it wants to. Which is why the SSD controller is a very important part of the SSD package.

The discussion is moot anyway as I already did the install using the recovery discs anyway. The clone wouldn't let me take off the recovery partition, which is the only reason I wanted to do it that way so I did it with the discs. Which took FOREVER btw ~3 hours... ugh.

You'll have to upgrade your wifi card for 5GHz. Either go with the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 or 6205. The Ultimate-N 6300 requires 3 antenna which the SB doesn't have, so unless you plan on adding an antenna in there (that would be a real PIA) your not going to gain anything by it and will probably loose performance by having an empty antenna.

 

I did a quick and dirty benchmark for those that like to see numbers and out of curiosity to see what the numbers looked like myself.

I have the Corsair Nova 128GB SSD, running the Indilinx Barefoot controller.
Random Reads: 200
Random Writes: 260

I have a Corsair C300 128GB SSD sitting in the other room, unopened. I'll more than likely be returning that one. No real reason to hold on to it, marginal improvements in speed in a perfect environment, the Corsair is more than fast enough to get me through my web browsing, word docs, and occasional photoshoping.

 

Yes, no. I have around 40GB of music and am running a 128GB with no issues and still have 30GB left. I could have put my videos on it but keep those on an external 2TB USB 3.0 external HDD. If you are a baller and actually need the space for some pron or something the by all means go for it

What put me to ease with the decision is the fact that Apple will be coming out with their music "locker" service soon, which will offload the entire group for me, so I will have plenty of space for whatever I need. Plus, I have 20GB of it on Amazon's servers already.

 

Er ok so I mentioned this before briefly but now it's really bugging me. I hope it doesn't get lost in the depths of the owner's forum, but is the touchpad really irritating for anyone else? Moving the pointer across the screen takes forever, but when you turn the pointer speed up, the mouse becomes wildly inaccurate. Also, there's no advanced options for palm checking (I've already hit my palm on the trackpad several times in a few hours use), and overall the mouse settings seem lacking, especially the lack of two finger scroll and maybe a 2 finger left click (after all the physical buttons don't really have the best feeling in clicking).

I'm really surprised that I haven't seen this mentioned before, or maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

 

Mines smooth as butter. Sounds like a software issue, I'd try and reinstall the driver.

 

hey can someone find the partial clean install guide for me in this thread? i'm going to PM the thread starter to update the first post.

 

useful SB owner crap:




Here's how I got to it: Open the start menu and type in sound.
Click on the Sound icon under control panel. Click on the 'Speaker/HP' icon,
then Properties in the lower right. Go to the Dolby tab and enable 'Audio Enhancer'
and 'Surround Sound'.




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Sony eSupport - VPCSB1AGX - Software Updates & Drivers




For others, you need:
- Sony shared library
- SFEP Driver
- Setting Utility Series
- Vaio Event Service
-radeon registery patch from the support page
-Intel GMA HD drivers from the intel site
-AMD Radeon™ HD 6470M / 6630M and Mobile Intel® HD Graphics

I just have big dl-problems from the sony ftp. Really slow and it stops sometimes. The Vaio Updater doesn´t show me any updates or such..



__________________





-Noted down my OEM key and downloaded retail Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit iso from Digital River.
-Downloaded & installed RT Se7en Lite - Beta (build 2.6.0) for windows 7 x64. Then slipstreamed windows 7 SP1 into the retail iso.
-After creating recovery media, I secure erased the SDD in VAIO (VPCSB1S1E/S-Later added 120 GB Intel G2 SSD and 4GB of ram) then installed the OS.
-After further updating the OS. I began installing device drivers:


First installed the following:

AMD Radeon (TM) HD 6470M 6630M and Mobile Intel HD Graphics
Bluetooth Driver

Ethernet Driver

Graphics Driver Registry Patch

Intel Chipset Driver

Intel Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI SATA RAID Controller

Intel SATA Driver Registry Patch

Intel Wireless Display

Intel Wireless LAN Driver

Intel® Management Engine Interface

Realtek High Definition Audio Driver

Realtek PCIE CardReader

Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller

Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device

Touchpad Driver

There are three critical applications that need to be installed in some order for the hotkeys work properly, I've gathered all drivers & applications & information from Sony support page except an application named "VAIO Hardware Diagnostics":

1) Sony Notebook Utilities

-Must install all drivers
-Must install Sony Shared Library

2) VAIO Smart Network

-Install All drivers
-Install Sony Shared Library
-Install Sony Notebook Utilities

3) VAIO Care






these are obviously copy paste's so sorry for the confusing mess.. juice is all there though ^^

 

cool thanks gonna send a PM to him/her now

 

sent it to a Mod instead. the user "ssssss" has not been logged on in a month

 

Exactly, the cables are NOT needed you can just use the recovery CDs.

 

Errr... I didn't contradict myself, don't change my words! I said it was fair but it didn't make much sense, there's a difference!

 

Thanks a lot. The price difference is small (like 10 EUR), but if I don't need the cables why paying for them. I intend to go for clean install and the delivery date of the OEM is sooner, so I'll get it, thanks.

By the way, for those of you who don't know it, you can search this thread using google with "site:http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/563759" as one of the searched substrings. So let's say by googling "install guide site:http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/563759" (without quotation marks).

 

Nice tip, thanks!

By the way, and this is just my opinion of course, if you want to get everything working properly, a clean install is a lot more work than just restoring from the recovery media, and then uninstalling any stuff you feel you won’t be needing. Also, and I’m not sure if this is true of the SB as well because I haven’t received mine yet, but on other VAIOs when you burn the recovery media there is an option to burn recovery discs with just the essential stuff. This would presumably recover your system to a state similar to a “fresh start”.

 

Quick question with the fingerprint and TPM security features option:

1) can you fingerprint protect the laptop at boot level. Ie you need to swipe the fingerprint before you can boot into Windows or linux.

2) if you don't have the fingerprint reader and TPM security features, can you at least password protect at boot level or is the TPM required for that?

(I think I'd like TPM but not fingerprint)

 

Anybody save me from reading the entire thread and link me to some benchmarks from new SB owners. How are these working out for new owners?

Bronsky

 

Just received my SB today - exactly on the promised delivery date. Am in process of creating recovery discs to be installed on the Intel 160GB SSD that will be replacing the included drive.

BTW, I did not notice an option to create a "fresh start" type of recovery disc set. Could be because I already have the "fresh start" option, but I would doubt that.

Very initial impressions:

- solid product
- blue looks more like purple, but no complaints in that regard
- pleasant surprise about the keyboard, was expecting bilingual Canadian version, but got the US-style
- display and touchpad are entirely satisfactory, contrary to some previous posts
- nothing to complain about - so far

Looking forward to installation of SSD which should improve the WEI from 5.8 (existing low subscore of primary hard disk) to 6.7 (next lowest scores for both Graphics and Gaming graphics).

The i7 processor rates 7.1. Memory 7.5.

 

just an update, after installing SSD drive, i've noticed a significant improvement in my battery life. now speed and agility of the PC of course are a huge benefit as well. point being, after performing this upgrade and running my benchmarks all over again, i've decided to keep this laptop. performance is solid, and batter life is exceptional.

best,

DS

 

not gonna get one anytime soon, already put in close to 1800 greens in baby, i think i can live with this monitor for now

why, color accuracy is off, blacks are weak so cant really watch movies on it with the same amount of "excitement", thats all. not a deal breaker for me as i said before SSD is a must for this PC, would get it before anything else

 

its problematic they dont dig benchs that much

 

Do you mind if I ask you when you placed your order and the detailed specs (if you're in Canada)

 

I placed my order on April 8. The original shipdate was April 19, but was revised to April 28 on April 20.

Detailed specs are in my signature line.

 

right, i guess with conventional HDDs running aver 70% usage would drastically slow down performance, just wanted to see if its the case with SSDs. i am not planning to store any music or movies on it for same reasons as you: HTPC with 2T running raid 3 and several online storage locations. not to quote song from "avenue q" but internet is for pron no need to store it on your laptop

 

More details:

Product: CA-VPCSB190S-LBOM
Component: 13.3" VAIO Display with LED backlight (1366 x 768)
Component: Standard capacity battery
Component: 500 GB Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
Component: Fresh Start
Component: No Anti-Virus
Component: Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter (32-bit)
Component: AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M (1GB VRAM) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
Component: Intel® Core™ i7-2620M processor (2.70GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
Component: Adobe Bundle(Free - $448 value)
Component: Iridescent Blue
Component: Microsoft Windows® 7 Professional
Component: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Per Unit Price: $1,699.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $1,699.99
Description: VPC-SB190S Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Express Delivery
Estimated Ship Date: 04/14/2011


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Product: VGPAC19V31
Per Unit Price: $87.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $87.99
Description: VAIO® Additional AC Adapter
Ship Method: Standard Delivery
Estimated Ship Date: 04/26/2011


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Subtotal: $1,790.73
Environmental Fee: $2.75



HST: $232.80
Promotional Discount: -$22.00


I mis-stated the original shipdate. It was April 14 - not 19. And the new date was given on April 15.

 

gsainc:, so I take it you applied all updates on the original disk prior to making the restore Dvd's? and that the updates were applied to the restore copy and subsequently your ssd?

I'm from toronto also and ordered CTO on the 18th. Since I tried to cancel my order on Monday it's already shipped and fedex says delivery on the 4th.
Order status is completed!(we'll deal with you pesky complainers). I ordered the blue/purple also and ordered the intel 160ssd and 4g ram from newegg.

So, hopefully I can live with the screen and other issues as we canuks aren't allowed returns.....

cheers

 

No. I simply created my user name and computer name and at the first opportunity created the recovery media set (4 DVD-R volumes).

I'm still in the process of recovering onto my Intel160GB SSD. (It's taking quite a long time - the process seems to entail the installation of a whole bunch of patches. I'm guessing these patches were on the original system.)

As soon as the recovery process completes, I'll perform a Windows update.

 

+100, just like I mentioned it is WAY more difficult to pull off a clean install on the VAIO with all drivers and everything working!

Just do a normal install from the backup DVD's.

 

Yes, there is an option in BIOS to password protect the boot, I was looking at it last night.

 

I didn't choose the fresh start option; so when I created my recovery USB and disc set, I didn't get an option to create a "fresh start" recovery disc set.

Yes the CTO VAIO's in Canada, have the US layout and not the bilingual layout (thank goodness, I'm just use to using the US layout and have trouble adapting to the bilingual one).

Did your SB come with a fingerprint reader?
(I'm curious, because mine had one, but there was no mention of it on the Canadian Sony site, and was wondering if it was suppose have had one or if it is a manufacturing hiccup).

 

Some more numbers for those that like to see them:

WEI score when I first got the SB (look at my sig. for config.):
7.1
5.9
5.3
6.4
5.7
^ This was with the stock 4GB RAM and 320GB HDD.

1st Upgraded WEI:
7.1
7.4
5.3
6.4
5.9
^ This was with the addition of 4GB RAM (Total 8GB) and 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid HDD

2nd Update (Current):
7.1
7.5
5.3
6.4
7.4
^ This was with the addition of the Corsair SSD, interesting that the 2nd number (RAM) actually went up.

 

I only used my SB for a day with the hdd and it just seemed fine and dandy, but the ssd makes it boot so fast the windows logo doesn't even build and i also was getting around 13-14 hours battery with the sheet battery and light web browsing/note taking tasks. I didn't use it enough on the hdd to measure battery, but I put the ssd in my macbook pro after cloning the image to an iso to see what it did to my 3 year old laptop. I honestly think I gained an hour battery life on my macbook pro over the 500gb 7200rpm i pulled from it. I also pulled out the CD drive on it too, so that might help as well. 4 hours of battery life on a 3 year old computer is silly.

 

My next 'project':

Getting rid of the recovery partition to recover the "lost" disc space (~20GB if I remember correctly)

I am using this method instead of the 'clean install' as it is first and foremost way easier. I will also have all the drivers properly installed and will keep most of the included software (that I actually use) such as Photoshop and VAIO Update. I have already deleted the cr@pware, Norton etc. I use Microsoft Security Essentials (free!).

The method to do this will be Parted Magic, basically just remove the Recovery partition then combine it with the C: drive partition to get the space usable.

 

You should leave a super tiny small partition of space so that if you ever want to later resize partitions you can do it without wiping. Having a single partition has to be wiped when you want to break it into two, having 2 partitions allows dynamic resizing in most programs without data wiping.

 

what i plan to do is a clean install + drivers. then install MS office, antivirus, windows update, google chrome, etc. then do a DISK IMAGE, and archive this onto a dual layer DVD. if i ever want to clean out my harddrive again, i'll just pop in the disk image. i'll be good to go in no time, subsequently

 

Wow that 5.3 Desktop/Aero figure is really low. The 3D graphics is way low as well for an HD 6630. Has Sony nerfed the GPU again like they did in the Z?



My Acer 3820TG with an HD 5650 GPU gets a Desktop/Aero score of 6.7 and a 3D graphics score of 6.7 with factory clocks. I can OC it by 30% so I can probably get even higher scores with an OC'd GPU. We need some benchmarks (3DM06?).

Granted, the WEI is not a great measure of capability, but these are really off the mark. I would guess that the Bios is preventing the GPU from performing up to its capability like Sony did with the Z, to prevent overheating.

Bronsky

 

That's a 6470M

Also for US CTO's how long did the "We are building your vaio" stage last?

 

Hehe, yea the WEI is about as useful as... well... it's really not useful at all. It's just for comparing numbers and doesn't mean squat. I just posted those as I know people like to see what the numbers are. I can pretty much guarentee that the WEI doesn't properly fully leverage the discrete GPU, seeing as this is a dual GPU solution. Plus the 6470 isn't supposed to be a gaming powerhouse, if you want to game you go with the 6630. Personally, I'm not a gamer.

 

10mb in a 286...

 

For those that are looking for an SSD, were talking about the Crucial M4 a few pages back. The M4 just arrived to Newegg, ~$230:

Crucial M4 128GB SSD

 

That would explain it. Anybody have a WEI from a HD 6630?

 

Off topic, but how do you like your HP Slate?

 

Ha, thanks for mentioning my "cr@p". I noticed kind of an annoying thing with this though.

The Dolby Enhancer doesn't seem to want to stay enabled and I have to manually enable it each time... annoying. It's 100% worth the extra effort though.

I'm trying to find a fix for this but not sure if there will be one.

Also, here's an easier way to do it:

Right click the sound icon in the windows bar in the bottom right. Click on 'playback devices' then highlight 'Speaker/HP'. Click on properties and then the Dolby tab and enable the audio enhancer.

You will now have much better sound from the internal speakers.

 

Yes. It has it.

As someone mentioned earlier - a nice surprise.

It wasn't a surprise to me anymore - but I'll certainly take it.

 

[opens off-topic door] Love it ... it is not without its flaws. Would like a matt display, 4:3 aspect ratio, more power and Wacom rather than NTrig pen. But it is perfect size and weight. Here is my 16 week review. HP Slate - 16 Week Review [closes off-topic door]

Sorry for the interruption Sony owners. Move along ... nothing to see here.

Bronsky

 

So how does one get rid of the 16GB Recovery Partition (which Disk Manager shows as the first partition) and 2nd System Reserved partition of 100MB and expand the active C: drive partion to fill the entire disk?

Any additional software required so that it can be done without a re-install?

 

Just discussed this, take a look a page or two back.


Use Parted Magic or Partition Wizard. Here's a link: Partition Wizard HE Download - CNET

 

mods, any way of updating the first page with information? There's a lot of valueable information lost in this thread because you can't search for anything!

 

Another nice surprise w. the Windows 7 Professional.

It comes with Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode already installed.

I wonder if that's a feature of more recent Windows 7 or an added nice touch by Sony?