Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

lol, that is Bobby Lee! He's a comedian.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0496899/

 

Unfortunately, I don't plan on doing any mmorpgs sorry. It should run the game very well at native resolution though, considering it runs more graphically-intense games fairly well. If anything, you can probably turn down the resolution to 1600x900 or 1680x1050 or something.

If you look for WoW videos that are played on the vaio FW or laptops with the gt 240m, the performance should be similar, as the bottleneck on most laptops is the gpu, and not the cpu.

 

MMO's don't take much to run, have a decent intenet connection is all. I can run Guild Wars on an old ATI Radeon 9250(!) and get around 20 FPS, so dont worry on a new card.

MangoSango- if you look back, you nearly own the entire second page now, due to editing. I only wish my grand well worded statement had made it...

 

I just couldn't resist. My wife is asian and she just sent this to me:

I guess we all need a few laughs in this time of financial turmoil .

I was at my bank today; there was a short line..
Just one lady in front of me, an Asian lady who was trying to exchange yen for dollars.
It was obvious She was a little irritated.. ... ...
She asked the teller, ‘Why it change? Yesterday, I get two hunat dolla fo yen. Today I only get hunat eighty?
Why it change?’
The teller shrugged his shoulders and said,
‘Fluctuations’
The Asian lady says, ‘Fluc you white people too!’

Sometimes this thread gets a little heated... just a little levity.

 

haha yeah we all need to lighten up a bit . Maybe I should post some video of the F11 playing Tie Fighter (the ms dos version) or Oregon Trail. Just for kicks D

 

haha I get mad at an Asian and I can tell them "Jan-Do Duh ee-kwai-ro" or "Fay fay duh pee yen" or my personal favorite, "Ching wah tsao duh liou mahng!"
They mean, respectively:
"Dangly piece of flesh"
"A baboon's asscrack" and
"Frog humping son of a B*tch!"

Note that if they aren't from China or don't know Chinese, then they will not get the insult.
And wow I can't believe you brought up the oregon trail...Tie Fighter probably would not take the Vaio F's GPU to the edge, but you could aways post it. You could probably play both games in window mode on max settings at the same time, easy.

 

The F11 is so primitive..

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7H0K1k54t6A

 

I noticed in the unification post, a comment about sound distortion, and the link it went to didn't have a definite fix. I fixed this somewhat by turning off the "3d" surround and bass boost settings in the sound settings.

Right-click on the speaker icon in the taskbar > playback devices > speaker (right click) > properties > enhancements > check "disable all sound effects".

You can also go to the "dolby" tab and uncheck audio enhancer and surround sound if you wish.

Again, idk if this "fix" has been posted yet, but here it is. I'll put up a vid as well.

 

I'm new to the forum; been reading this long a$$ thing for weeks - trying to decide based on the statistical pros and cons. In any event, I'm new to the forum and appreciate all the really constructive feedback and insight many have provided here. I especially appreciate mangos gaming performance reviews, here and on the Tube. Awesome!

I've been to BB a few times and compared the F series display to all the others they had - except for any Macs that is - and I have to say, I don't understand what all the fuss is about. The F displays look markedly better than anything else in the floor demo selection. Sure off-angle viewing suffers, but that's the case on most laptop based HD screens IMHO.

Anyway, back to reading more of this monster thread.
Ciao

 

hello Everybody,

Can someone please clarify if the screen of the f in sold in the US is different than the one sold in Europe? And if it is, exactly how is it different, and do you think they will sell the same screen in the US?

second question, let's say it is different.... is there any way of purchasing this laptop in Europe by ordering it in the US? Could I order it on sony UK website and have it shipped to the US?
thanks,
Zoltan

 

Welcome

http://blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/files/2009/11/Devo_Q-Are-We-Not-Men_-A-We-Are-Devo.jpg

 

melody is that rolltop laptop even real, if so. WOW

 

Yes, the F has 2 regular USB 2.0 ports + one Power Over eSATA combo Port that you can use as a regular USB, a regular eSATA port for connecting self powered devices with a eSATA cable.

So you can connect a pocket USB external drive like the WD Passport to any of those 3 ports. The USB transfer speed will not change if you use the regular USB or USB/eSATA combo port. In any case, a big desktop size 3.5" external drive will need it's own A/C adapter.



You can take advantage of the Power Over eSATA Port feature & connect an external enclosure containing a 2.5" laptop size drive or a SSD drive & use a single special cable that combines both fast eSATA data transfer speed & USB part to power the device, as long as the power needs does not exceed the normal USB power output capacity: 500mA and and that the enclosure also has a Power Over eSATA combo Port identical to the F.

That means that you cannot connect an external enclosure with a 3.5" HDD & power it via the Power Over eSATA Port. You need in this case a A/C power adapter for the enclosure.







My Power eSATA enclosure ($35 incl. shipping worldwide) is for a 2.5" SATA drive, like the one I replaced in my F. I runs very cool, my only complaint is I wish the 30" (76cm) cable would be 20" (45cm) instead for less bulk when transporting and that length is enough to connect to the Power Over eSATA Port & hide the enclosure behind the laptop. I found a shorter Power Over eSATA combo Cable (20" - 45cm) here. The page says "ships to USA" only but I wrote & he replied for shipping to Costa Rica: "Shipping $3.00 for 1st item and $1.00 for additional item plus the unit cost".

A few other stores are selling it in USA: HE-2521B, geeks.com HE-2521B, Amazon_HE-2521B and on eBay with HE-2521B & Include title and description.

Here is the Taiwanese manufacturer's enclosure product page: Tragant International Co Ltd: "Brand Delock and Navilock", exact same as my unbranded HE-2521B but more expensive.



The idea here is a fast second HDD to be used as a scratch disk for Photoshop, Premiere, Sony_Vegas, etc and upgrade at the same time the OEM 5400 HDD in the BB Vaio_F11 1080p model.

I just updated this post with HD Tune Pro 4.01 benchmarks comparing F OS HDD vs. WD Passport USB 2.0 500GB vs. the Power Over eSATA enclosure I got from Fleabay which can run either:
1- USB 2.0
2- powered by an other USB port but using a regular eSATA cable for data transfer.
3- powered by an external A/C adapter (DC 5v w/ @ least 500mA output) & using a regular eSATA cable for data transfer.
4- (my favorite) one single Power Over eSATA cable for power & data.









As you can see above, eSATA has a faster average transfer rate vs. USB 2.0.

Edit: added benchmark for my LaCie 1TB Neil Poulton external enclosure (model 301315U) while connected to the F via eSATA. I am surprised that it reported a faster Average Read transfer rate than the F's internal Momentus 7200 HDD!

Note that I don't recommend that 301315U enclosure because of the quirky fan thing as shown in this short video.


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I have yet to find a way, and their 1080p version isn't available in the silver I like...

Does that really need asking?

 

haha I was wondering why the thread suddenly got a lot shorter.

I don't think I ever responded to your question about the screen calibration: you dont have to have the calibrator in order to use the profiles, but to make custom profiles for your own screen, you need to purchase the product.

 

deleted; not the correct drivers.

 

When the 14-day return window was closing, I did the same thing - I walked around and checked to see if there was anything that I felt would meet my needs better than the Sony Vaio F115 - and my answer was "No!" If you want a solid laptop, the only better lappy for the money (IMO) is the Euro Vaio with premium matte display. Other than that, the BB Vaio is a pretty sweet deal. If you don't mind waiting 2-3 days, you can order from newegg, and if you aren't in CA, you won't have to pay sales tax.

Good luck!

 

Joe , perhaps I didn't phrase my question well ...

The hdd in the enclosure that sits on your f11 in the picture below- can that enclosure/hdd be directly connected via USB to a western digital media player ?

 

I don't have a Western Digital media player but I just added a benchmark using that enclosure but this time connecting with a regular USB cable which is included in the box, so I guess that if you can connect a USB pocket drive in the WD media player then you can also connect that enclosure.

I added some benchmarks so now you can compare the transfer rates with the same enclosure using USB vs. Power Over eSATA cable or regular eSATA cable + a power source.

It's very flexible as I described, that's why I bought one.

crzytimes (comments here) and fernandes (comments here) bought one after reading my first post about it and we are all satisfied with it.

 

Thank you very much for responding to that, I didn't know if it was going to get answered, and it's great news to anyone who wasn't clear on it, "You can still get a nicely calibrated screen, but someone somewhere has to get theirs calibrated and give you the "profile." Just to finalize here, you are indeed saying that my screen can enjoy THESE (see below) benefits.

http://www.scottrosenfeldphoto.com/Vaio_F_screen/index.html

PS- How to I make it so that you click on the word "these" and it's a link to the page I want to link you to?

 

Hey Joe, are you Outside in this photo? It looks like I see trees and some sort of Spanish-style walkway or wall. At first glance, it appeared to be sand, due to color, but I noticed the trees in the reflection are not typically grown around a sandy area, especially not with that much shrubbery, usually right across from sand one might find houses for the rich and crotchety.

 

Yes, indeed that us correct. And if you want to have one customized for your screen (each screen is just a little bit different, ya know?) you would have to purchase one.

To get the here link, you just need to highlight the text you want to link, and hit the link button in the formatting palette above (the icon looks like a globe with a chain link on it)

 

Apologies - I have already asked something similar earlier on this week but I think everyone was too busy bitc*ing to notice

I'm using the NVidia control panel to adjust colours, and I think I've got a pretty good setup now - I tried Matt's UK profile but it looked awful on mine, really pink.

Anyway, question is, how can I stop the machine defaulting to 'let other application control these settings' every time I wake it from sleep? I've deleted default profiles etc, but still doing it!

 

Hey thanks!
I have to spread some rep around before I give you more, on most forums that means I can't give you any for a year haha.

Testing

 

Vaio_F: 1080p EU vs. US Luminosity & Color Space Data!





That's besides 1080p US semi-glossy vs. EU Premium matte finish difference.

"do you think they will sell the same screen in the US?" - Nope, the US consumer likes shiny stuff & wants the lowest price: my take.


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hmm... try going to the vaio control center and under 'Display' go to Color mode setting and select "do not apply color mode" then hit apply. I think that should work.

 

Not bad Dr. Watson!

Yes it's shot outside, in Costa Rica, on a mountain near a cloud forest reserve (no sandy beach ), it's that brown wall that was repainted some dull yellow:



My F is in that house @ the present, just to stay on topic a little bit.

 

I bet costa rica's nice, except for the fictional dinosaurs.

 

The graphics chip and memory are soldered directly to the mainboard. The Core i7 is socketed however. The PM55 northbridge is surprisingly not connected to a heatsink at all.

Use caution when disassembling the unit. The RJ-45 jack rests loosely in its location, and the cooling module tends to flop around once the base of the unit is removed. Also there are some very specific points to pop the bottom of the case out of its clips. If you don't hit these just right, you'll find yourself bending the mainboard and I/O connector boards more than they should be. Also beware that the bottom of the case needs to be extended over the display jacks or it won't come out.

 

Newegg Return Policy:

Standard Computer Return Policy

* Return for refund within: non-refundable
* Return for replacement within: 30 days
* There must be a minimum of 8 dead pixels to declare an LCD display defective and eligible for return.

This is our Standard 30-Day Return Policy. Items covered by this policy (those products for which Newegg states "This item may be returned for a replacement or refund within 30 days only") must be returned to Newegg within 30 days of the invoice date for this policy to apply. “Return” constitutes receipt of the product by Newegg, and not the mere issuance of an RMA.

The following conditions are not acceptable for return, and will result in the merchandise being returned to you:

* Any desktop PC, notebook or tablet PC that is free from defects in materials or workmanship
* Any desktop PC, notebook or tablet PC that has physical damage due to abuse or improper use
* Any desktop PC, notebook or tablet PC that is missing any accessories or packaging including, but not limited to, AC adapter, battery, pack, manuals, carrying case (if any)
* Any LCD on a notebook or tablet PC that has less than 8 dead pixels

I think your "Good luck!" is appropriate in this case.

 

Tried that I'm afraid... damn thing still wants to have its own way!

 

You don't like kitsch?

From this page:

 

Oh that's too bad, I guess it contributes to economy of build and overall thinness of the unit. It must be awkward though with the uncertainty of Nvidia's yields to have to plan on which GPUs to use right back at the construction of the motherboard rather than being able to shuffle stock in the field. Other laptops I've worked on do indeed have VGA as a module, with the CPU being the chip that's soldered in. I'm glad then that I insisted on getting the GT330, despite the wait, with a planned upgrade rather to the CPU and display.

Is there enough air circulation around the Northbridge to keep it within reasonable temps?

 

I've never purchased a comp from newegg - but I've purchased thousands in electronics and components from them, and built my own comp using their components. I've yet to be "burned". Newegg has always taken care of me.

Bottom line, if someone is committed to a Vaio F11 purchase, especially after handling the product at a "brick and mortar" store, I believe Newegg is a valid option that can save $100 in sales tax for the right purchaser.

And the lappy buyer still has the Sony warranty if there are significant issues.

So, to all people looking to buy a Sony Vaio F11 - I wish you GOOD LUCK (in that you will purchase an "issue" free laptop, the majority of Vaio F11s appear to be issue free) and a HAPPY PURCHASE! (the Vaio F11 is laptop crack cocaine, cheap, effective, and packs a punch like a mule)

Joe, I have the utmost respect for most of your research and posts. My unification post references many of your informative posts. On this Newegg issue, we disagree slightly.

 

@Joe

I assume for the power settings I am reducing the numbers...to like 2%? Do I need to restart the computer for the change to take effect? Or would it work after I click on "Apply"? Do I only change the Minimum Processor State? Or do I need to adjust the Maximum too?

Sorry for the elementary questions...I have no clue.

 

EDIT: This reply by ManuelG (NVIDIA Technical Support) is most interesting:

/edit.

It seems that these F owners report having problems with that video driver suggestion:

The Nvidia Verde Notebook Driver Program will not scan the Vaio_F11 for video driver updates.

Maybe this could be the explanation: Nvidia driver page:

The most recent 310M / 330M Video Driver on Sony_Support @ the present is still the OEM installed, at least for my US 1080p F model.

 

Hello again. It's me (for the 100000th time today lol).
Supreme Commander 2 is up. It's not done processing yet, but when it is you can watch it in glorious 1080p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4BYEGCRLQU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzuoJ46Tp3o

It runs fantastically at full 1080p with 4xAA. Yes, 4xAA at native res. Not bad for a game that was released just yesterday

I have some more good news. I decided to go ahead and change the clocks on the graphics card to those that hax0rJimDuggan used: 650/800/1625 (core/mem/shader) using the directions outlined in this post.

The stock speeds for this card are 575/790/1265

The results are pretty nice, to say the least. My gpu temperature peaks at about 69F (with the fan whirring away) and Mass Effect 2 is completely playable with all settings (except film grain) on at 1920x1080 (or 1280x720 with 4xMSAA), staying at or above 30 fps, except for moments where there is just a ridiculous amount of HDR (like on Haestrom), where the FPS drops to anywhere between 28fps to 18 (on Haestrom in that cutscene with Kal'Reegar). Levels that have less HDR (like the mission on Horizon) run at a consistently smooth n silky 34 fps.

Personally, I'll be playing at 1080p with no AA, because the dpi on this sony screen is just so ridiculous that AA at native resolution is just overkill.

 

The CPU tweak suggestion is just a nudge to see if the fan idling speed will be changed & the resonance will be eliminated or attenuated.

I would try minimum processor state: Plugged in: 4, re-start. If that does not work after a short while: 6 & re-start. No need to change the max.

What is your active Power Options setting? Balanced? You could try Power Saver.

Note that all these tweaks are easily reversible.

Have you tried lifting the back of the laptop about 1.5cm with any object to help natural cooling? It should take about 15 minutes for the temp of the bottom to cool down.

 

I hear the sound when on battery and plugged in. All settings are currently on default settings. So Balanced and 5% and 5% like your pic above. I will adjust and restart a few times and see if I can get the sound to change at different percentages.

Will keep ya posted, thanks.

 

That's great info, could you post some photos of the inner workings of the F?

How difficult is it to change the fan/cooling unit? Any brand and part # on that unit? Is it possible to replace only the fan?

Thanks.
---

 

No. You can just install the profiles created by the $90 spyder thing...

 

Not really, I have great respect for Newegg & especially their geeky user reviews which I check often when I want to buy a product elsewhere as they don't ship to Costa Rica.

I was just pointing out that @ Newegg, make sure you want what you order because if it's not defective, it's yours.

Also a user in this thread exchanged his F with Sonystyle USA because of 1 stuck red pixel, Newegg would not have accepted this exchange.

It's a little bad, but understandable from an individual's point of view, to take advantage of the brick & mortar to see and handle the product, ask the staff some questions & then order online. They get stuck with rent, salaries, etc & the online stores get the profit from the sale.

No wonder so many go under & many complain about an uneven playing field as they have to charge taxes by law while their online competitors are exempted in the USA, a political choice made at the beginning to kick start the nascent online commerce.

 

So I was using an F11 at best buy today, they have a pretty good deal on those right now (especially with bing cashback!).. oh man.

However, I'm still kinda stuck. Honestly? Worried. How are you guys dealing with the 933mhz lockdown when on battery? How does it compare to other processors? Is it slower than a 2.53 Core 2 would be on battery?

Am I utterly insane to be cross-shopping this with a 15" macbook pro? lol.

How does it feel on your lap? I spend a lot of time at home using my laptops as laptops and don't really want a "portable desktop".. The screen and processor have me sold, and the fact that even when streaming 1080p off youtube and running benchmarks at the same time, the machine doesn't actually get warm! INSANE.

How are the rubber feet on the bottom when on your lap? I noticed those dang things are quite large. Woo! Need to be poked to death by em eh?

How's the build quality holding up? ALSO.. Very very very important:

Trackpad 2 finger scrolling!!! I noticed on the one at best buy you can use the top right/bottom right corners to scroll, but what about 2 fingers? Does it even work at all?

Battery life too.

Thanks tons guys ^^ I'm seriously stressing out on this xD

 

Why not try mine? They are made with a $190 X-Rite i1Display 2 thing.

There is two .rar files: Vaio_F Free US 1080p Monitor Profiles!

 

I have tried 1, 3, 5, 7, 9% and restarted each time and waited 10 minutes or so. I can still hear the whistling. What if I choose "High Performance" under power plans? What does that do?

Also, it won't let me choose "Power Saver" mode. When I select it, the setting does not stick

 

Tons of replies here: UNIFICATION POST_SONY_VAIO_F11 SERIES – ISSUES, FIXES, TWEAKS, REVIEWS.

 

Why not? I just made this screen grab after re-booting, plugged:



"I can still hear the whistling" - you don't hear any variations in pitch?

As I wrote before, if it's a deal-breaker for you, then consider exchanging for a different model or brand.



BTW, why do you have a post subject title like "VAIO_F Newegg Return Policy vs Brick & Mortar" when we are talking about Power Management & CPU tweaking? When posting: Go Advanced > use relevant keywords in your message subject line.

Just a tip to make your posts easier to search and to spot when skimming the thread.

 

Sorry, as I said before I am a major noob and I can only really follow step by step instructions. Please try to be patient with me! I found the power saving option under "Show additional plans" it was hidden before...hehe...

*hangs head in shame, crawls into dark cave to hide...*

I know about the Title too! Ugh, just totally did not pay attention I hit "Quick Reply" without thinking.

What do you mean by variations in pitch? It goes off and on, quiet and loud, it fluctuates. It sounds like the same "pitch" level.

I know I can return it, but as I've said before, I really like this machine and would like to keep it. Therefore I would really love to try and remedy this noise I am hearing. I have sent it in twice now for repair and I feel awful for doing so, but did not feel I had any other options. I will very sadly return it if I can't make this sound go away on my own now, as Sony does not seem to be able to help me with this.

I need to be absolutely sure that it is not fixable before I send it back.

Thanks for trying to help me.

 

Today got my F11. What a beauty!

I have to confess that I was somewhat nervous from all these reports about problems with screens, noises, keyboards and on.

So far I can report that this is a great machine far superior to anything I had in the past. This doesn't mean much based on the fact that I always bought them at costco for around $1000.

I search and search on this forum about 1600X900 screen but found very little feedback. I can tell you is fantastic! Yes is dark if the automatic brightness is on. But just uncheck it and enjoy.


Product: US-VPCF1190X-LBOM
Component: No Additional Video Editing Software
Component: Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor (1.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHz
Component: 16.4" VAIO Display (1600x900) with NVIDIA® GeForce® 310M GPU (512MB VRAM)
Component: Fresh Start
Component: No additional Office Software
Component: No additional Photo Editing Software
Component: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ player (reg.price $90.00)
Component: No additional AntiVirus Software
Component: Keyboard Backlight
Component: Standard Capacity Battery
Component: Black
Component: No Engraving
Component: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Component: 500GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
Quantity: 1
Description: VPCF1190X Configure-to-Order

 

Poohkie, Joe is running you around in circles chasing your tail. The problem that your are experiencing is a defect in the fan unit itself. This has been widely discussed by others as a real problem. My F11J suffers from it also. I would call Sony tech support and open an incident - keep complaining until they fix it. There are F11s that have been shipped that are not experiencing the issue. Get Sony to make it whole.

Changing the percentage will not have an effect on the heat generation or fan speed when the system is at idle or doing minimal loads. Intel's Speed Step, Turbo Boost and Thermal Management solutions implemented on the I7 will keep your CPU operating at the lowest frequency possible (.933 GHz) and at the lowest core voltage (0.65v). When needed, the various cores will increase their operating frequency up to 2.8 GHz (for an I7 720QM). I have tested the chip and at a full 100% load all four cores (8 Hyperthreads) operate at a sustained 1.733 GHz.

With four CPU cores, 2 PCI Express Bus interfaces to the GPU, 3 levels of cache and the Memory Management Unit with a total of 774 million transistor gates on the chip, there will be heat generated that must be removed by the copper heat disapation system. This heat is then removed by the fan. The fan will run all the time but at its lowest speed when the system is at idle.

Incidently, I found that the Recommended Balanced Power Plan yields the best results. Switch to Power Saver if you really want to stretch out the battery.

You also do not have to reboot after making any changes to the Power Plans. That is another waste of time.

Stop giving people wrong advice Joe. The solution is to get Sony to fix the problem.