Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Thanks, Mango, will try advice from all and report back.

 

A couple of us SSD folks seem to have missed the above post of mine....especially MelodyMaster and Willscary.

The firmware version in the current 256GB SSD in the Sony F-series does not have TRIM.

We need to find out a way to get a hold of the later firmware release that legitreviews above did their review with.

 

As the above post shows, the 256 GB Toshiba SSD does support TRIM. However, we need to get a later firmware release to enable it to do so.....the current firmware version in our Sony laptops does not support TRIM.

Can you run CrystalDiskInfo to confirm the Firmware version that is on your SSD ? It should also indicate if TRIM is available.

 

I don't think you have the issue...based on your gameplay video of bfbc2...but I don't know...do tell if a simple crouch block does not work when you are playing sf3...because that's my problem...

 

Hello everyone,

I ordered my F11 back in January, I made the mistake of getting it CTO (all sales final) and Sony won't acknowledge the bad screen. I was told that my only option was to send it to the repair depot, but it came back two weeks later with "LCD tested ok, backlight is even" written on the work order. Do the pictures I have posted look like what you all have? Good thing I didn't get the Blueray - I can't even watch movies on this "multimedia" laptop.

 

wait, so CTO laptops are not returnable? even with defects?

 

It looks like your screen has backlight bleed... although it may be the pictures. I think my screen is a good one, so I'll take some pics and put them up.

 

It seems that way. I had been under the impression that the 30 day return period would apply, but I missed the fine print about CTO computers. Sony doesn't seem to consider the monitor defective even though I find it barely usable. If they call this their "VAIO Premium Display" I wonder what their standard quality option looks like.

 

Thanks, that sounds great. The backlight bleed effect is quite extreme - even in a bright environment. I took the pictures without flash in a dark room to avoid reflections, and the photos look very close to what the screen actually looks like.

 

Please help.
I have problems with webcam. ArcSoft WecamCompanion device drop down doesn't show anything even after hitting refresh.
Searched in control panel and device manager and no luck.
Device manager shows under USB Unknown device warning. i uninstalled and rescanned and always gets there.

Thank you in advance.

I got this machine with a fresh install.

 

Triton77 are you in the US or overseas?
My screen looked just like yours with
regard to extreme backlight bleed.

That was the main reason I returned
mine.

 

From a Sony Representative

 

You could take a photo straight up, similar as this viewing angle from the F User Manual and more like your third image. It's easy to imply light bleed with a low angle shot.



Use a solid color background (see Themes) to prove your point & send it to Support for comments.

Good luck!

 

Junkmalemann,

I'm in Canada, but It's still made in San Diego so as far as I know the screen is the same as the US. I've been trying to get an exchange / refund but it looks like I could be stuck.


Joe Bleau,

I took those photos with a tripod at exactly the position shown in the ergonomics diagram. The angle of the display was changed very slightly for each picture and the "sweet spot" photo was the one with the least distortion.

 

I don't doubt that you have a problem with your screen, it was just some tips to convince Support. In your photo #1 & 2, the sides of the display are not parallel to the edge of the image like one side in your third image. Both sides should be parallel to the frame. What kind of camera & lens are you using?

 

I shouldn't have moved the tripod, but I think the photos still demonstrate that there is serious backlight bleed and vertical viewing angle problems. Thanks for the tips though, I might take more careful photos for sending to support. I'm using a Canon Powershot.

 

Try to find a focal length as close as possible as the human vision. There should not be any curvature of the top & bottom edge of the display, no barrel or pincushion.

I know it's sounds a bit maniac (or a lot ), the point is to produce a solid proof. I would try to make sure a supervisor or something agrees on the problem before sending the unit back for repair.

 

From reading the various posts I get the impression that a lot of the reported problems (e.g. with whistling sounds/morse-code bleeping, with the cooling fan etc) only occur with the high-end spec F11 laptops. Am I mistaken in this impression?

I've recently received F11 in the UK. It has the i3 CPU, with 4GB RAM, 1GB graphics and a blu-ray player. I'm really pleased with it and have found no problems so far. It's fast, with a great screen and is quiet.

I've never owned a laptop before, so I have no comparison/reference point with other laptops, nor with the i5 and i7 F11 versions. And I guess it depends on what you want to do with a laptop. However, I suspect that for a great many people an F11 like mine will be well capable of meeting their needs, including gaming.

So I'm wondering if some users are unnecessarily seduced into thinking they need/want only the high-end spec F11, when perhaps they'd be better off (or at least just as happy) saving some cash and lessening the risk of potential faults by going for a lower spec F11.

 

Did a little searching around and it looks to me like Toshiba isn't offering any firmware support for this drive. It may because it's not a retail product and only available to manufacturers. Looks like nothing can be done for the time being.

This is why I'm going to order a Crucial C300 and do an image copy off the included HDD with fresh start option (looks like a clean install would be a hassle). Third party SSD is on the expensive side, but it's just money right?
Actually only $140 more than the upgrade cost. Worth it in my opinion for a MUCH better drive. Even when restricted to the SataII controller the thing smokes the competition.

 

The latest version is actually now 3.5.2 and is available from here...

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/CrystalDiskInfo.shtml

I will run it on my 128Gb SSD later and post my firmware version.

matt

 

TopperHarley,

The new Crucials look fantastic, but have been having problems according to reviews I have read. If you want the very fastest, and are willing to pay the money knowing that it may fail, go ahead. However, if you want something that is mainstream fast, consider the Crucial 225 series. I love the ones I have installed. They are very fast and have had no problems so far. The reviews on them have been excellent since a firmware update to include trim support. The newest FW even goes farther and helps when the computer does not recognize it as an SSD or the operating system does not support trim.

Just an opinion.

Bill

 

@triton

I took these 2 shots of a movie still with my iphone camera. This camera picks ups more light at the bottom of the screen on center and at the edges than what I see in real life. The bars are black.

The first one approximates the Sony recommended viewing angle posted by Joe Bleau while the second shot is somewhat viewed higher looking down.

This is my second F11. The screen is much better (US full HD) than my first one which had severe light bleed at more areas than yours.

If you actually see the lightbleed on your screen the same way your photo does, then return it. There is a much more well behaved full HD screen for North America.

@Joe Bleau
Welcome Back

 

If you look hard enough you will notice that every laptop has issues.
What happens is that this thread has become like a repository of complaints and some very advanced users that seems that their time is all invested into troubleshooting something that works great.
The laptop with I7 is great for power users that require a workstation or a gaming machine on the move or because of the size. But if you are casual user using office suite, browsing the internet, watching movies and youtube. Then I5 is a great machine for you.
Same with resolution 1600x900 is great for most users and for every day activities. If you watch blueray movies the difference between 1600x900 and 1920x1080 can not be perceived unless you sit at 10"or less from the screen.

I bet that if you test side by side i5 and i7 running office suites that you won't notice any difference except for the lighter wallet on the i7.

I had a few issues with this machine but it is because I use it for development and running virtual servers for testing. So I really take and play with every feature and I am picky.

 

And here is some data from CrystalDiskInfo 3.5.2...

Toshiba THNS128GG4BBAA 128GB
Firmware: AGSA0203
Serial number: Y9DS101*****
Interface: Serial ATA
Transfer Mode: SATA/300
Standard: ATA8-ACS
Supported Features: SMART, 48bit LBA, APM, AAM*, NCQ*, TRIM*

(* these are greyed out, why???)

I glady answer any queries!

matt

 

Well I've the i5 model which I picked up a week ago. I do a lot of photography (non-pro) and the screen seems ok (it's the glossy model, not the matte) although I do find it difficult to get a proper viewing angle. I do no gaming or 3d rendering so the i5 is plenty fast for me.

My issue is the noise, there is a constant noise, a kind of hum/whoosh, which never stops, is always at the same level and pitch, and which seems to be distinct from the fan itself which I can hear kicking in and speeding up/down separately. I'm still trying to find out what this noise is and whether others have it ?

 

My UK CTO whistler is serial no 9 !

It kind of sounds like an airplane engine whine.

 

I was originally looking at the M225 and it was on sale at NewEgg the other day for $620. Saw that the bugs got fixed with the new firmware in January and nothing but positve reviews since then. But they increased the price up to $680 and the C300 is $760.

I haven't really read any bad reviews about the C300. All in all, I'll take my chances on it failing. If it does, I'll return it. I plan on keeping image backups on an external via the eSata port so I won't lose any data. I'll just throw the HDD that comes with the system in an enclosure and be good to go.

Thanks for you input though. I'm ordering my system today and it'll probably ship at the end of the month. So I have time to keep looking and if I start reading things I don't like about the C300, I'll throw the M225 in there instead.


~Topper

 

@ Joe Bleau, To No End,

Thanks for the info, I'm pretty sure I've got a defective screen now. I'll give Sony support another try.

 

Welcome to my world. That is why I returned my CTO to Sony. They took mine back, but I am in the USA so not sure where you are?

CTOs are returnable as long as you are in the USA.

Try do photo editing with that screen, it was a nightmare.

 

Sadly, a LCD should not do this. And not this BAD. Like I have said in the past, my netbook, Lenovo cheap laptop, other Dell's and now my XPS 16 do not have this problem at any angle. And no back light bleed like my Sony did as well.

 

The unit does not have repair problem. Every Sony F I saw after noticing this on my personal one showed this problem. It's just the way the LCD is.

You can send it in for repair, but they will find nothing wrong as to Sony there is nothing wrong with the unit. They just used a crappy LCD.

 

The "supported features" list the entire list of what information CrystalDiskInfo reports on. The greyed out ones basically mean that that feature is not available.

In the earlier review thread posted (from www.legitreviews.com), you can clearly see that TRIM is not greyed out, while in mine and yours, it is.

Bottomline, we need to push Sony to get the latest Firmware from Toshiba, so that these drives that they install on their laptops, will support TRIM.

 

i have to say the European screen look a lot better than the US


i notice minor backlight bleeding on mine

 

Agreed, that a good aftermarket SSD solution is definitely worthwhile. In case of the Sony drives, us Sony users (who bought the SSD drives) just need to push Sony to get the latest firmware from Toshiba, so that we could then get that firmware and flash our drives to the latest FW.

 

No doubt. Wish we could have had that here...and if we did, I would have kept it.

 

Yes, I got the latest version too from Crystaldiskinfo's own site.

 

tried to capture whit the iphone some dark scenes watching top gear show, still i think the EU screen looks better in terms of backligh bleeding check it out, brightness is auto at max





sorry about the pictures are not focused but the point here is the backlight bleed

what do you think?

 

I think it's not bad compared the the above pics. The ones earlier were shockingly bad.

 

Agreed. Though I'm still not content with my second F11, I'm more satisfied than with my first, which had bleed that was simply unacceptable, even after proper calibration. You can't calibrate out backlight bleed.

At least it's possible to compensate for the super-high default contrast, but only to a certain extent.

Without question, Sony went with the cheapest supplier on the US screens. I'd be much, much happier with a European matte screen.

On another note, it seems that NVidia has also pulled the latest beta Linux drivers, as they may suffer from the same fan issue as the Windows drivers.

 

I think your right, I checked out Best Buy and the Sony Store and the screens all look about the same. That EU screen sure looks nice though.

 

Yes they are, and that's a bad screen. Sometmes it's who you talk to, and, I have to say, the customer's attitude.

 

I have exactly the same problem with my screen. Sony say it is OK, but i spoke to the service center, before Sony spoke to them, and they told me it was a defective screen. I spoke to the service center after Sony spoke to them and now they are saying it is OK.

I am beginning to think they are pushing the problem away and hope that i dont complain any more!

 

The bleed on your display is miniscule, better than most TFT/TN panels you'll ever see. It's fine.

 

Ill post some pictures of mine when i get it back from Sony.

 

Please do. I'm considering contacting Sony directly to see if my F11's screen qualifies for a replacement, and if it's worth pursuing that route.

I don't remember owning a laptop in any price range with a screen this poor. Even worse, the quality seems to be varying in batches, making it difficult to receive an acceptable unit.

 

I called up Sony support here in the US and raised this as an issue. The analyst who took the call, stated that he will be sending it onto their internal team who deals with firmware/software updates.

I reiterated to him that this isssue is serious enough for such an expensive component, and that since an updated firmware that takes care of this issue is already available from the supplier (Toshiba), it should be a fairly easy task to provide it to the customers.

I also provided him the Firmware code that they should be looking out for, which is: AGYA0201 (from the legitreviews link), while our FW version is the earlier AGSA0203

I think if all of us (who have the Sony SSD drives) call our local Sony support (US Phone# 1-800-476-6972), it will be treated more seriously than if only one user calls them up about this.

 

Here are some pictures of mine. I have the US 1080p screen (glossy) - I ordered sometime around the mid of January. I don't think I have the backlight bleed problem. Some of the pictures (like the one with MW2 on) look like the blacks are overwhelming the picture. This is a problem with my camera; the screen doesn't look like that in real life. These were taken with a point-and-shoot Casio Exilim.

 

I am not impressed with the US screen either, to be quite frank, even though my screen does not seem to have any of the light bleed etc that is visible in the picture posted earlier. Nor is it defective in any way shape or form. It is just an in-appropriate component in such a product. The fact that they put this glossy screen on the F-series is especially egregious in a laptop that is being touted as a multi-media powerhouse.

 

Nice pics, but you can see you have the poor viewing angle problems. Top side of the picture on the first one everything is darker, while the bottom is bright. The last picture another example top corners are darker. It's hard to get everything evenly bright across the whole screen. Also you need to put it on a black screen to see the leak. But I can see it on one of yours and it's pretty bad. The guy wearing the suite, you can see the light leak all the way into his suit.

 

That screen is good.
(edit) it's a good sign when you have that pretty normal bleed at the bottom, and you can see a little light coming through at the top, and the contrast for the picture is as it should be. In other words the screen is evenly lit. Your display actually looks pretty typical for ANY laptop sscreen that doesn't advertise special features, Adobe RGB, or isn't IPS or some such. I think we're all being a bit hard on the F11 only because we expected a miracle at a very low price point.

BUT anything worse than that IS a bad screen, the technician at Gordon Baker said that there were a lot of subpar LCDs. (read: Defective)