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

Wait how did you find out it was a B2 stepping? Are they all B2 stepping? Do you know if Sony's replaced them with B3s yet?

 

CPU Z...............
select motherboard section

 

Who cares if it is B2 ? there are only 2 sata ports connected so you never even use the broken sata ports. Everything about the laptop would be just the same with a B2 or B3. So i wouldn't return it, doesn't make a difference.

 

the problem is not the amount, but which are used. If yun could post which ports are used we can figure it out if it matters.

 

Hmm, seems that port 0 is used in the internal harddrive and port 4 is used for the odd.
Why didnt sony use 1 ? Ill put in my harddrive anyway performance degradation isn't that bad, and i don't really need that much speed on a storage bay.
Still very sloppy of sony, but no reason to return it though.

 

if its B2, than well, I would exchange it. It is very sloppy of them indeed

 

Are you sure port 4 is used? I have the Vaio CA with a B2 and port 0 is hdd and port 1 is odd, so no harm in using B2 for me. I double checked from both Device manager (location) and Intel RST application, and they both report ports 0 and 1. Would you mind posting screenshots?

 

This kind of changes everything ... I was going to buy this and add a HDD instead of the ODD. I guess that's a no go in this situation

 

I knew I should have pushed harder...

 

I ordered one on 11 March and still no word. The order just states it is in processing for almost a month now. Maybe I should try to get a discount due to the lack of the fingerprint reader. After seeing some SB's at the Sony Store, I may cancel altogether. The displays on them were horrible...dull and washed out with terrible viewing angles.

 

Just ordered a CTO SB, cant wait to see it as my ULV 13z is starting to making beeping sounds more often. Quite ok with 720p screen if the vaio display+ is noticably better than the typical trash 720p consumer screens (i.e. vaio display premium >> vaio display plus >> vaio display).

I think c£960 inc express shipping for a portable but powerful machine which is more powerful than most mainstream 15-17" laptops right now is pretty sweet. It's just under base-spec macbook pro for specs between both, only worse part is probably screen. However WiDi 2.0 is a reasonable deal for me and I hope to use this.

Intel® CoreTM i5-2520M 2.50GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
English (QWERTY)
Black
500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
4 GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
DVD disc drive
33.7 cm LCD, 1366x768 + webcam
AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6630M 1GB
No Wireless WAN
No security features
Standard battery

 

Went to the Sony Store again today. The two SB models on display do not have the fingerprint scanner.

 

What did you think of the displays on the two you looked at? I was not very impressed with the two I saw at the local Sony Store but maybe that is just me being used to the panels on the Macbook Pros.

 

Actually, I'm starting to think that display quality is somewhat a matter of opinion. When I went to see the SB, I was amazed at how nice the display looked. It was matte, which I greatly prefer over the typical glossy staring-at-your-reflections displays, and it had great colors IMO. Of course, I wouldn't say that it had a better display than the MBPs, but I think that for most people who aren't hugely picky about whether they have an adobe RGB display or not you're not going to notice anything different other than it being matte.

 

I'm not good at judging displays. All I know is that coming from my 1080 Z screen, I can instantly tell the SB is lower res, but that's obvious and not very helpful.

In terms of the way it looked, I thought it was "fine." But I'm no display expert.

 

I received my VPCSB1AGX/B (which is supposed to have a hybrid drive). I think Seagate momentus XT is the only hybrid drive in the market.
However When I check my HDD specs, it was showing "toshiba MK5061GSY".
I am not sure if this is a hybrid drive. Is that anyway of knowing ?

 

Code ISPtze500
Quick Code 32854

Manufacturer Toshiba
Series Mobile
Model MK5061GSY
Type InfoSATA SerialATA/300

Guarantee 3yr
ROHS YES

Capacity 500GB
Rotation Speed 7200rpm
Platter Size 2.5"
Access Time 12ms
Cache 16MB
RAW Transfer (MAX) 1412mbit/sec
OP. Shock 325g/2ms
Non-OP. Shock 900g/1ms
Idle Noise 2.6db
Seek Noise 2.6db
Low Power Drive N
Enterprise Drive N
AV Drive N
Power 2.3W
Power (start up) 5.5W
Power (Idle) 0.8W
Power (Sleep) 0.13W
Encryption N
Form Factor 9.5mm
Shipping Weight 115g

Not a hybrid. The Toshiba is a low wattage 500GB 7200RPM drive. But it isn't a hybrid drive.

The specs for the Sony say:

Capacity : 500GB + 4GB SLC Hybrid2
Speed : DDR3-1333MHz
Technology : 7200rpm Hybrid
Type : HDD Hybrid

There is no 4GB SLC on that hd.

 

Thanks, I will give them a call and see what they have to say about this. First they removed the fingerprint reader without notifying anyone and now did not provide the hybrid drive.

 

just ordered a new SB via CTO

 

Wow, this link posted here earlier ( ????? ?????SONY VAIO SB18 - Mobile01) does have a lot of useful pictures.
I think I'm convinced to ditch my EE for an SB sometime soon instead of waiting for the Z.

Note that there is a noise recoding, the QUICK WEB button startup video, comparison of the screens with Z and X and the guide on how to change drives/memory. Good stuff indeed.

 

wow, lots of comments about the display

for me, it looks fine, I didn't order a high end laptop therefore I didn't expect the display to be high end

but I'm coming from a netbook with a glossy screen, so the matte finish is...different

 

I don't know why but I think the display panel is different in the SPCSB with 0.3MP camera and the one with HD Exmor camera. Just a subjective opinion: the one that I think has the Exmor camera (a i7 display unit in my country) had [in my opinion] a much more vivid appearance and a little bit more brightness than the other display model (a lower end i5 which I think used the 0.3MP camera). I didn't see them side by side so don't kill me if I'm mistaking

Again, very odd that you cannot CTO with the Exmor camera. Could it be that it comes only with certain displays?

 

The touchpad is serisouly TERRIBLE.
I'm not a picky person about touchpad, I never complain any even lots of ppl complain, like HP envy , Dell's , lenovo's......

But this one is just ************

It's so hard to use it , or u have to focus your finger because it's hard to move it when enhanc pointer precision selected
If it not enable, crap, it's hard to move it to the position u want.

Serisouly, why they use this non brand touchpad instead of the one everyone use

 

Based on online specs, thought I was getting an Exmor camera with this. Apparently not. With that plus the hybrid hdd spec(mine is Hitachi 5400rpm), sounds like false advertising to me. What's up with Sony?

Also on page 23 of the vaio manual, it states not having the battery installed with the computer running could cause a malfunction. I was planning to remove the battery while using the laptop at home to prolong the battery life but after reading this, maybe it's not a good idea. Anyone tried it?

 

Base on the US models specs, even the lowest end prebuilt SB has the HD Exmor camera. I would expect all CTO to have it as well.

 

i will collect my sb on friday, and im really worried about the screen now (after it was delivered to the uk 10 days ago). its the one thing i took a risk with, buying before i saw. my mum has a very old vaio (7 years plus) and the screen is actually quite fine even now, compared with the usual rubbish. my zepto screen is insanely amazing, and i knew the sb wouldnt be as good as that. but i wanted a good screen. at least capable of indesign work on the go. watch a film without complaint. are you guys saying that the screen is not up to any kind of scratch? im going to be so disappointed!

 

Well, it's not the same here in Europe. Here they don't even allow you to CTO with Exmor camera

 

Saw the new SB in sony store on tottenham court road, its very light especialy since they always take the battery out, the footprint is not too bad but the screen edges are quiet large.
On the plus side it seemded pretty quite although bit noisy in the shop but was noticably better than a z13 on which you coudl hear the fan close up even though it was doing nothing.
Once agin for all those good points sony could still pick up some pointers from apple, they provide a pretty poor shopping experience, like most pc stores staffed by a load of guys in suits looking like mobile phone salesmen desperate to sell you anything, i,e the old s model coming with the latest intel processors.

 

Someone can try NFS Shift 2 on SB with 6630?

 

Did any of you that own a VPCSB notice any of these issues?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/566764-sb-series-has-terrible-design-build-quality-issues.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...b-u-cant-use-keyboard-touchpad-same-time.html

 

Second issue is a feature you can turn off so thats not really an issue.
First one is indeed true, if you pick the fingerprint reader the mouse buttons and the fingerprint reader aren't quite flush put together.
The dvd drive also has a gap, but you don't really notice that though.

 

nutral, if you want to return it (as you said on the other thread) I take it you are quite sure that the ODD is connected to some other port than SATA 0 or 1. Right?

Did any of you try to get a official position from SONY regarding the issues (possible SATA performance degradation, fingerprint reader alignment, ODD alignment, ODD noise while reading a disc if the unit is held and not seated on a table, possible cooling unit design problem, etc...)? I would ask for an official position but in my country the reps are... well... trained monkeys and the manager that I mailed doesn't look very interested in more than monosyllabic discussions.

And another thing: Why do I get the feeling that they removed the fingerprint reader from the configs and CTO in the US exactly because of these issues?

 

I don't know, but i rather have a fingerprint reader like this than none at all.

the odd is connected to port 4, i have no idea why they did that, there are only 2 sata devices, odd and hd so they could have easily avoided the problem.

 

Fingerprint reader is a non-issue now since Sony silently removed the feature. I am also concerned about the hybrid hard drive issue (customers getting a regular hard drive instead of a hybrid) as well as the quality of the laptop as referenced here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/566764-sb-series-has-terrible-design-build-quality-issues.html

My calls to Sony have not been productive as their representatives, even their tech support, does not seem to be familiar with this product. If my CTO unit doesn't show up in the next few days, I am considering cancelling this order and waiting for the Acer Timeline. The SB seems to be an accident waiting to happen and the way Sony is handling it is shocking considering the other Sony laptops I have owned in the past.

 

which acer timeline are you considering which has a similar specs to SB

 

Timeline X 3830TG:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/553306-acer-timelinex-3830-4830-5830-t-g.html

Sony is not alone in this league and 90% sure it's gonna lose my money.

My choices until now were:
1. Vaio VPCSB
2. Lenovo X220
3. Acer Timeline X 3830TG
4. Toshiba R830

Now Sony is at numer 99 instead of 1

 

it seem there is option for for SB series to use SSD RAID0
which mean hdd connector are for both port 0 and 1 and so sony choose to use port 4 for the optical drive

i am in hong kong and just got SB recently and found out it is B2 HM67 !

 

I don't know what others think, but Acer will never be in the same league as Sony or Lenovo Thinkpads in my eyes... It's the name I guess xD

Anyways, good luck with your buy.

 

don't have the fingerprint reader so can't comment on that (my SB buttons are fine)

I have the gap for the DVD player but my question is why is this such a concern? if that gap was closed, the drive wouldn't lay flush against the side of the laptop...this is a little nitpicky

 

does all SB's have widi option? or only in the US/EU models???

thnx

 

oh god serious? so they cut the chassis too short on this one... this is bad

 

I have looked at the i5 version of the SB here in the SonyStyle store in Victoria, BC and thought the screen and laptop in general were very nice. I'm going to have to go back now and check the DVD and the rest fo the laptop a bit more closely.

Is everyone who has seen or received these having the same problems?? Or are there some out there that dont have the DVD gap, etc??

The Canadian ones seem to not have the fingerprint reader anymore so that seems like a non-issue.

 

Yeah, they figured out there was a problem with it so they removed it...
Hopefully they'll figure out a way to fix it instead of just removing it.

 

Figure that this is probably the correct place to post this as some of you have already received yours.

I just got an email from Sony Style and it looks like my CTO White SB just went into the factory today. The status on my order has changed from 'processing' to 'Your VAIO is being built'.

My question is, for those that have already received their laptop, how long does it usually take from it being built to it being shipped? It currently shows a ship date of 4/12.

I am really hoping that this will be like the HP CTO process in that it will ship much quicker than the estimated shipment date. Is this so with the Vaio?

 

I am also pretty suprized at some of the negative comments on the build quality, especially the ODD tray. Every laptop that I have ever seen has has a small gap in it. I see that as a design decision instead of it showing "terrible" build quality. When ever you push in the ODD drive on any laptop it has the extra bit of room to 'give' if you end up pushing it really hard, at least in my experience.

I can't really comment on the fingerprint reader since I haven't seen one with one. And here in the States, they don't even offer one.

Considering it is on the bottom of the laptop, when are you ever going to notice that, except when first looking over everything to find something wrong with it?? Now if the ODD drive door actually stuck out from the laptop, then that would be an issue and would obviously be a design problem.

 

I agree, sticking out the side of the laptop would be a legit issue.

mine was preconfigured so it literally shipped 3 days after I ordered it

 

oh man, SONY gotta love customers like you, being ripped off and given a sub-par quality product, yet you still try to defend them, HILARIOUS!!! people like you are the reason SONY ship these low quality laptops to the market at first place.

 

oh man, NotebookReview gotta love annoying trolls like you. Pick a rediculous thing like a the bottom of an ODD and say its poor quality, HILARIOUS!!! People like you are the reason the INTERNET can be annoying as hell in the first place.

/stupid

In all seriousness, this has to be the dumbest thing to be complaining about, "OH man!! there is a mm gap in your ODD on the BOTTOM of your laptop that has no affect on the laptop what so ever!!!! TERRIBLE QUALITY!! AHH. Get over it.

 

hahaha, another classic post from you!!

 

The fingerprint part might has some merit though, for those of us in the US and Canada obviously don't have to worry about though as were not getting one from what it looks like and I'm sure they are already working on a fix. For early adopters, thats the name of the game.