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

For anyone who ordered a CTO SB and received it, about how long did it take to receive? I placed my order on the 29th and got an email last Saturday saying it was being built. It said I was going to be getting an email in a few days saying my computer had been built, but so far nothing. It has an estimated ship date of 4/12/2011, but I just can't see it taking that long to finish building it. Anyone else experiencing a situation similar to this, I swear this thing should have shipped already.

 

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Yes please! I went ahead and ordered the white one, only saw a few pictures and didn't get to see it in person. But from those pictures it looked VERY nice. I'll try and find those photos and when I get mine I will definitely be post up some pictures. But hopefully someone can post some before then (should have it sometime before the 15th).

 

Sweet thanks for the pics in advance!

 

Yes, I'm actually in pretty much the exact situation your in. I ordered on the 27th and also got the email on Saturday (4/02) saying that it was being built. Mine also has an expected ship date of 4/12 so it looks like ours are being built at the same time.

But, just because it says it is being built doesn't mean it actually is. According to a few of the people that ordered before, their order status changed a few times, back and forth. The only important one is the one that gives you your tracking number which will hopefully come sometime soon! There are no guarantees though that it will as not enough people have ordered and/or received their CTO SB to go by.

 

I ordered a CTO on March 11 (when they still had fingerprint readers) and just the received the "Being built" email a couple of days ago. First it was pushed back to March 29, then April 6...and now April 12. Almost a month now. I figure I may get it in May. If it doesn't show up soon, there is an Acer TimelineX TG 4830 I have my eye on.

 

White is serisouly awesome
LOVE my white.......

Much better than boring MBP

 

my estimated shipdate is 3/31/2011... the same day I ordered it. guh.

 

Is it possible to cto at sony.ca and ship to europe?

 

Ordered on 31/03 (around midnight) and got email this morning that estimated shipping date of 08/04 - 13/04. I picked express shipping as that was free under special offer so hopefully get my hands on this before weekend after this.

On other notes, did SB in the US really only claim basic Vaio Display and not display plus? Considering the UK ones are probably the same, selling them as Display Plus sounds a little like false advertising.

 

In Asia the SB comes with:

13.3 inch wide (WXGA: 1366x768) TFT colour display (VAIO Display Plus, LED backlight)

 

Even in Italy. But the screen seems to be like the one of notebookcheck.de

 

the review on notebookcheck.de says.. 96C in stress test? and fan goes to 47dB ? can anyone confirm this?

 

96C is about right, about the noise i don't know, i dont have a meter, but it is loud in load. if you don't like that then this notebook isn't for you.

 

I guess not than, i was suspecting this, because the vent is being blocked by the hinges..
ah well still better than mbp haha

 

Oooh, a docking station! Nice:

SB SC Series Laptop Dock | VAIO® S Series Docking Station | VGP-PRS20 | Sony USA

I don't like the price (too expensive) but when I had my old Dell D420 I loved having a docking station. Very convenient.

 

Hi guys,
New to this thread. I am thinking of buying this laptop for my mom. It is either this or the MBP 13. Although the MBP has a lot of advantages over this, heat wise i think both are almost the same..

And can you guys suggest me as to which one i should go for?

Also those who have this laptop, can you please tell me whether this one has a inbuilt 3G sim slot with the WWAN card preinstalled or not??

 

depends more on the OS, only things that really differ are the graphics card, looks, ports and screen.

 

Most standard configurations around €1000 don't come with the 3g module. If you want that you'll need to get a CTO, or the more expensive standard configuration.

Personally I would get the Sony.. but perhaps your mom likes OSX and a glossy screen more.. but that's more of a personal decision.

 

Is it different in the US? I wasnt much impressed with the screen initially when compared with CA nd CB series. But then i visited the store later in the night and it was looking much better.

 

So why do the U.S. folks get screwed over by having to spend $250 on the i7 processor, just to open the option for the 6630M? Everyone else is getting $200 off coupons, while STILL having the option of i5+6630m...This is ridiculous.
(Vaio SB custom)

 

Thanks a lot for the input guys.... But what about heat?? I mean the Vaio SB, when the screen is at a proper viewing angle the hinge actually obstructs the airflow rather than allow it to go in front of the screen which does not happen in the MBP.... Because the heat is also a main factor and i heard both the laptops have heat dissipation issues but i would like to know if the i5 and i7 models get too hot in the SONY when using it for an hour or so...

 

What's the difference between this model and the standard SB model? I don't think this one looks as good as the standard one, but it also looks thicker too. Is there a product description page for the CTO?

EDIT: Also, the large-capacity battery an add-on battery component, or does it fully replace the battery (thus making the laptop bulkier)?

EDIT x2: ALSO, is the Intel® Core™ i5-2540M Processor that comes with it a Sandy Bridge? If so, is it an older model or a newer one?

 

What does your mom use it for? If she has no need for a discrete GPU, there are some other options. Since you're looking at the MBP, i'm assuming 13, then it seems the discrete GPU is not important, what about the Toshiba R800 series. Similar specs, but you lose a lb of weight.

 

what model? If you are quoting from that post there is only the SB to see.

The sheet battery is an add on battery, you just snap it at the bottom and you are good to go

i5 2540m, every processor that has the 2 in front of the standard 3 letters (in this case 540) is going to be a 2nd gen i core processor

 

That's confusing then - so the display plus is higher-brightness, but significantly lower contrast than the basic vaio displays (and normal displays).

Was very disappointed when I read that low contrast, thought they'd put at least 300:1 contrast in and not a worse than netbook <150:1 screen in. Hopefully I don't feel the same when my laptop arrives.

 

Hi again

Just wanted to show you this and tell you how happy and stunned I am about the speed of the SB.


Yes it is a bit noisy when it is working hard, but wow its fast. And the ssd drive is def. worth the upgrade in my opionion.

- Nutral: did you make your stamina/speed switch work again. I have tried many drivers, but none seems to have an effect on the function of the switch. Guess I will be waiting until Sony comes with an update? I have a problem installing the US version of Sony Control Center as the program wont accept my Chinese SD version of the laptop VPCSD in China. And I would like to avoid installing the Chinese version as I don't understand any of it.
Any suggestions are highly appreciated.

 

I've always wanted an SSD but there's only room for one in here and my music collection alone takes up about 1/2 of that :S

Add in my programs, Steam folder, etc. and I'm way over capacity. I think I might just grab the standard 500GB drive and install an SSD when the prices go down.

 

check out newmodeus.com

they make aftermarket hard drive caddys where you swap out and replace the optical drive. no word on when they'll release one for the vaio SB, but they've had one for the vaio Z for years now. someone on this thread said he's got a caddy for the SB in the mail, not sure who makes it though.

 

See my SB compared to my old DV2200

 

Thanks for the pics.
Your white SB looks simply stunning!

 

The white looks nice. Congrats!

Personally I prefer a black keyboard, I'm kinda sorry that's not an option.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the pics, they has definitely confirmed that I made the right decision going with the White SB!

 

+1

i have to type this to satisfy 10 char minimum

 

Use this



I'm not sure how it would actually look on the system though. There's no display for this at the Sony Store.

 

Sweet! Thank you! I'm not sure if your model is the US model. On the US site the white model's inside looks to be all silver inside with silver keys. Yours looks to be white inside with silver keys which looks really good!!

 

i dont think it's a US model as the keyboard looks international (short length left shift key, L shaped return key)

 

Canadian model?

 

cool website! never heard of it before...def interested in getting a caddy for the optical drive (espcially since it won't really be used)

 

i recall seeing a standard US layout when i visited the sony store in vancouver bc. his could be a european model.

 

+1, agree with you totally. who uses optical nowadays? on another thread, users report swapping out the ODD on the SB to be fairly straightforward. remove the bottom cover, and a couple of regular screws and the drive slides out easily. can anyone confirm this?

 

if you go to the Sony support website, there's actual instructions on how to remove the HDD and ODD.

I wonder if the ODD caddy for the Z works on the SB.

 

i thought about that too but i have concerns with the caddy fitting flush and the colour matching. both laptops have all sorts of bevels and angles. personally i wouldnt risk it until they come out with something tailored to the SB.

can you post a link for the instructions? i'm at the support site now but all they teach you is how to do basic things, like set up internet explorer and disable touchpad tapping lol

 

Do you know how long they'll take for newmodeus to release a ODD caddy? I still haven't ordered my SB yet, i'm waiting to see what the 3830TG is like before I finally decide.

Here you go, HDD replacement guide
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/989202617_VPCSB_series_HDD_CRU.pdf

and

ODD replacement instruction
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/989202618_VPCSB_series_ODD_CRU.pdf

 

Regarding the battery:

I've heard in some places that the combined battery life of the sheet battery and normal battery is 22 hours, but when I asked at the Sony Store they said combined time of 14 hours (7 for each battery).

Does anyone know more about this, or have experience with their own laptop? Also, is it possible to order both batteries off the CTO website?

Thanks

 

fantastic links! thanks

i just sent an email to newmodeus asking about it. i'll report back when they reply.

as for the 3830TG, if that has a glossy screen, then sony wins hands down, imo i am adverse to anything glossy (screens, lids, mouse buttons, bezels, etc)

 

I read/saw everywhere it is 14hrs max with the extended battery (probably a bit less in real life). Usually when ordering a CTO laptop, you can select accessories, such as a second batterie or the extended sheet battery (more expensive). In some countries you get a discount when ordering the extended one with it (it would've been €120 instead of €150 if I would've ordered one).

US = international, usually it's called US International lay-out. This is a crappy European one yea, I seriously can't think how anyone would want that small shift and horizontally small enter . Fortunately I had the option to pick the international one here in the Netherlands when I configured my CTO SB .

 

sorry for the semantics error. i meant to say "bilingual layout" instead of international. i absolutely cannot stand bilingual layouts. i've returned many laptops in the past because of that.

for those interested, i called into sony canada and they told me that all CTO models come only with the US layout.

 

I am pretty sure you just remove the two screws under the drive (bottom of the notebook). I don't think you have to remove the cover. Pretty easy and straight forward process from what it looks like.

 

yeah the pdf docs lay it out quite nicely. it's so refreshing to be going back to PC. i remember doing a DIY hard drive upgrade on my 15" mbp and it seemed like performing brain surgery my first time through. of course it got easier subsequently, but i sure appreciate the dead easy instructions provided by sony.

 

Yea, it is definitely refreshing knowing this laptop was made with user upgradeability in mind unlike Apple's computers where you are not supposed to even open the bottom of the laptop, I'm looking at you MB Air, with your horrendous pentalobe security screws! Even the internal battery is user replaceable on the SB, and is very easy to accomplish!