Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

Have you check my post with links about mouse, WIFI being able to wake up notebook and waking up the system when you don't want to?

It contains also links to devices preventing the system to go in Sleep Mode.

Could something pushed the power button in your bag?

 

@mangosango

I wonder about my battery as well. I shutdown my computer and pressed the power button with the lid closed because your post made me curious. Sure enough it did not power on. BUT I unplugged and shutdown with a 100% battery charge. Right after powering on battery I get a charge of 94%...

Well.....I am in high performance mode though with wifi and bluetooth enabled. Screen brightness is at one unit to the max allowable. Aero and whatever other win7 doodads that are set on at default.

Will take a look at battery care and posts regarding this concern on this thread more closely now.

 

Thanks for the links Joe. I think it might have been my wireless mouse (I left the receiver plugged in, and the mouse was also on in the bag.) I thought it was the power button, but when the lid is closed, the power button doesn't do anything. I'll try to figure out what the culprit is and get back to you guys.

 

Because I have cats, I changed the behavior when lid is closed to: do nothing as sometimes I'm running a task but away from the machine. I just turn off the display with the convenient "Display Off" button & close the lid.

I suspect that it may be turned on with the lid closed in this setting. Can't check right now as I'm following my own advice & making a fresh System Image with Windows Backup. Thanks to MelodyMaster for reminding me with his mishap.

If you press S1 > Vaio_Control Center you can change the behavior when closing the lid and have different settings depending if plugged or on battery:

 

@JoeBleau

Trying your tips now thanks. SIW has a lot of information. My battery info still shows 0% wear. Will see what happens too.

 

As will I. I still think it has to do with the circuitry inside the battery, but you never know.... I'll leave the computer unplugged overnight (after I get it charged ofc ) and see if the estimate that windows comes up with is accurate or not.

 

After preventing the stuff mentioned before from being able to wake up computer, could you unplug at night, check battery data with SIW & when re-booting the next day, run SIW first thing after re-booting?

I will do that again tonight after tweaking battery related stuff & report.

 

I've been having problems with the mouse disconnecting since the moment I first got the machine. A replacement mouse from Sony arrived today, after turing off the power saving option in bluetooth radio settings and a full restore did not work. The new mouse is behaving so far, but I've only had it for a few hours...

 

For sure -I'll take some screencaps and put them up tomorrow morning for comparison.

 

This was the trailer I watched in store after the disc was messing up or something, the trailer does have the black aspect bars at top and bottom. If you wouldn't mind when you have some time on your hands, take a screenshot of your calibrated screen viewing this in 1080p. I wonder what the difference will be like.

 

Leave me a link or something.

 

OK, here ar emy findings related to model S1E - European version.
First battery drain is there - I shut down the system 7.00 in the morning with 100% battery fired up 21.00 in the evening - 77% left which means this baby consumed around 20% within 14 hrs which by any standards is not acceptable.
I ran some benchies from everest , not sure if somebody already published. On power the system is pretty impressive :



on battery on the other hand it is still powerful but fals behind T2xxx liine of processors:



SO here it is my short review ( sorry no pictures as I've left my camera ta work)

First I’ve chosen this model over top of the line due to the same screen , 2GB less memory, and BD burner – do not need, and no rubberized plastic on palm rest( no biggie). I have also currently Samsung R710 P7350 GF9600GT and my wife’s Toshiba P200 – T2350 GF 7600 Go. Just to give you perspective that I can other manufacturer’s to compare with.

BUILD QUALITY: Not bad but nothing stunning either. In this price range – 1599 Euros for best model and 1299 for this S1E model I would expect at least aluminum on the lid if not in other places. I would consider 1700 Euros laptop quite a spending just to put this into perspective here in the Netherlands this money can buy you 40’’ Phillips 9705 awarded model. I know that you cannot compare those things but anyway my two cents.
I cannot feel any major flex on the chassis and no squeaky noises so far which means build quality is solid ( far better than FW previous line ) but feel of the materials used draws my memory to Chinese cheap radios and other equipment that looked ok when new but after couple of months looks really bad with color wearing off on the material ( blackberry’s frame might be good example if you know what I’m talking about).
I cannot comment on any wearing right now as it sits on my desk and most likely will be returning this thing tomorrow to local Media Markt actually hoping for refund.
Power connector is wobbly with quite a bit of flex back and forth and to the sides. So it is either highly advanced design to provide some protection against accidental force removal of power cord or the thing that will break next.
Cable from power supply to the power outlet ridiculously short which in my case makes a bit hard to use it in bed as my outlets are on the other side of the room. But this is just minor issue and I would not consider this a decisive factor but design flaw that shall be fixed in next revision.
Lid does not have any mechanism to keep itself close. I guess this is just sturdy hinges and I think kind of magnet. To open a lid I need both hands. When closed it is quite secure at least in this new state.
What I really like – no fingerprints on this baby. My Samsung is a fingerprint magnet.
Overall feels like quite a quality build from the general perspective, better materials might elevate this laptop into different level really out of league ( at least as far as build quality)
Port location has to be considered far from being perfect. Samsung has the best port location I’ve ever seen _: DC/ 2xUSB /VGA/LAN/MODEM at the back, one USB left and one right close to the back of the laptop. Is it really that hard to do some research and find optimal port location and design lappy around this idea instead of changing port location every new edition? Thank God they moved audio SPDIF and headphones at the side and not in front (totally ridiculous idea) I can understand that people are using laptops for different needs so also port location is irrelevant as it will remain standalone but in my case I have printer scanner, USB D/A Converter, Headphones amp on switch and Audioengine A2 speakers, 3 HDD. There is no way that multimedia laptop can utilize that kind of port location arrangement. What’s more company should design a solution for the people and not like we want ports in this way, we do not care , it’s easier for us. It’s been always my impression with new equipment. Companies are trying to invent ideology suitable for the solution that they already have. Not happy about it.

KEYBOARD and TOUCHPAD: Just love it. It was kind of clumsy at the beginning but after couple of hours it is by far the best keyboard I’ve typed on. As somebody mentioned SONY’s keyboard has a kind of firm bottom of the travel range, there is no firm click at the bottom but overall feeling is great and kind of soft. If typing experience is you priority you definitely must consider this one. To sum up – great keyboard, very little flex if any can be observed. Love it.
Touchpad is ok sometimes I need to press a bit harder ( kind of the same impression as using iPhone screen and other touch screens - they are almost there but you need to use more force and they are not always responsive enough.

SCREEN:Monitor
[ Digital Flat Panel (1920x1080 60Hz) ]
Monitor Eigenschappen: Digital Flat Panel (1920x1080 60Hz)
Monitor ID MS_0025
Model Nvidia Defaul
Fabricagedatum Week 45 / 2002
Serienummer Geen
Maximaal zichtbaar schermformaat 36 cm x 20 cm (16.2")
Schermverhouding 16:9
Gamma 1.00
DPMS Mode ondersteuning Standby, Suspend, Active-Off

Stunning. Mind that this is European Premium screen version. Not suer about technology behind this part. Some point that due to date of build this screen is nothing but old X-Brite dual lamp with special matte coating/film. Not sure about it . I mean picture quality is brilliant and I can some a bit of pinkish color cast on white f.e ( not sure if anyone experienced this phenomena, and my wife says it is more yellowish) Anyways if my perception is OK pinkish cast is a characteristic of ISP-S screen. Not sure about details. This screen is a bit of mystery. I do not think it is LED and definitely not RGB LED. The drawback of the old technology is power consumption and deterioration of CFL technology over time. In my Samsung after year and a half of really heavy use/ travel I can see some part of the screen that is darker.
1920x1080 is a lot and I would suggest trying to find this lappy in a local store and check if it suits you. You can boost DFI but it does not work for all programs. Me personally like small letters, more work space without sacrificing portability,
Colors and saturation are great especially after calibration but even out of the box it looks great. The only one that I could compare to was Macbook Pro screen that looked a tad better at the beginning but after a bit of customization I’ve liked SONY’s display more.
Also screen angles are surprisingly good as for the laptop panel.

SPEED: I don’t think this part needs any explanation. This lappy is a beast at least in benchmarks. This overall great picture might be spoiled a bit by bloatware. I’m still running factory setup as I do not have enough time to deal with all the programs separately.

HEAT and EMISSION: And here we go. When laptop is on battery CPU is down clocked to 933MHz and in this state is totally acceptable noise and temperatures wise. Also whining is not very present ( just slight buzz).
When on power, well this is another issue. This is my biggest complaint concerning this laptop . Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Samsung laptop that is almost inaudible.
Fan is loud and has famous high pitch noise(whining). It’s not bothersome as far as sound volume but sound characteristic is really annoying at least for me. Whining is a bad in the quiet room. Just a hint of advice. In store you might not be able to discover any problems.. But as soon as you fire up this lappy in your house you will know what I’m talking about, Fans are going up and down on rpms, I have to admit that temperatures are looking quite OK as for this of the machine but this variety of sounds coming from cooling system is a bit too much for my taste.
Morse code is there so this is another flaw to be fixed. Temporary can be fixed via software . For me it is hard to stand those two sounds combined. I have good hear and this sound “from the other side of the street.

BATTERY : I used my paretially discharged battery and 77% loaded lasts me 1:55 so I would assume , fully charged one 2.20. This is another extra feature that I do not like. Basically it means battery will be gone after 4 days.
No visible signs of uneven temperature
SPEAKERS: For change I like the quality. Obviously this if not AUDIOFHILE soun quality but it’s not bad a t all.

Overall it is a mixed bag. On one hand this laptop is great and fixing couple minor issues might result in the best laptop in its class but on he other hand some issues are still there after couple of technicians trying to fix it. I think this is gonna be the first and the last SONY laptop in my life.

 

I didn't, stooopidly, think of System restore (restore to what? Mouse disconnects don't set a restore point) BUT I simply disabled the Foxconn Bluetooth radio in device Manager and all the problems went away, reenabled it and they came back. (with no discoverable device in range) My bet is that since each time the mouse reconnected it had to reinstall the driver, the registry became corrupted. Now to try to clean it up.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughtful feedback!

About EVEREST, not sure this benchmark utility takes advantage of multi threading & 64-bit as we saw a couple of days ago in this thread the differences w/ Geekbench 32 vs 64-bit benchmark results. Thanks for posting the benchmarks, I will also give it a go.

Also EVEREST can't read the real monitor brand and fabrication date @ the present, same as several system info utilities I tried to no avail. MS_0025 is a generic Microsoft thing & I don't think they were making 1080p 16.4" screens in 2002.

Try the free EVEREST like SIW 2010 and PC Wizard 2010 by CPUID (makers of CPUZ). Both 64-bit compatible & tons of info about your system in seconds. Both portable so no install needed.

There is a link in my sig to an EVEREST report about my F out of the box.

 

I thought I did, I was in a rush to go eat so I must have forgotten to paste it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkwbwk-ACc

 

I use MS Bluetooth 5000 mouse...no problems at all...
A very simply mouse, though. On the bluetooth device windown...even the icon is model specfic....

 

Gald you fixed it!

Did you disabled your System Restore which takes periodic snapshots of your system? Not to be confused with a system image that you keep apart from the laptop on an external media and which can be used with a new drive if the one in the F fails.

Start > search: Create Restore Point.

 

Well I used Vaio care to reinstall the Bluetooth driver and software, and all the problems went away. That's what I like about prebuilt systems, they DO have support software that can help with troubleshooting. I say that as a long time self-builder.

 

Nope... it's all "bloatware" to be blindly deleted.

 

Hi guys, I have just recieved my F11 back from the Sony repair center. I sent it in because of 3 issues i was having with the machine.

1. The morse code noise from under the palm rest - FIXED (they applied some shielding pads to the main board)
2. Whining fan noise from the left side of the keyboard - FAN DOESN'T MAKE ANY ABNORMAL NOISE (um...yes it does)
3. Excessive backlight bleeding from the lower half of the display - LCD SCREEN WORKS FINE (Let me know what you think. Tech told me that the screen was defective, so he spoke to Sony, next time i spoke to him apparently it is fine)

Unfortunately, this might be nit picking, the back of the screen came back with light scratches (cannot feels them but can see them, cannot seem to clean it off, great!) it was in brand new condition when i left me which i made sure of (kinda guessed this might happen). Minor thing, it now has a squeeky space bar which was not there before (i can deal with it).

Ok enough of my ranting, let me know what you guys think of the screen.

Thanks

 

I have to say, in the discussion of "Fresh Start" versus "Clean Install," that I have gone through every driver and program that is included in the default install, and I could not find one thing that was unnecessary, particularly in the sense of taking up CPU cycles and memory space. The footprint outside Windows itself is actually about 100 megs SMALLER than that of the resident software in my Asus Netbook. After installing Office and Adobe products etc., in other words the working stuff for which the computer has been purchased, THOSE all have a larger resident footprint than the VAIO stuff. "Power manager" is the VAIO biggie, and that probably replaces some items offered by Windows.

Those scuffs are incredibly easy to produce, my system already has a dozen. The lid can actually be buffed to a glossy finish, those not-scratches are the start of that process.

 

Did they do a full recovery that wiped all hour data?

In my case with the webcam issue that was the NeXT step Sony care wanted to do. BTW they mentioned that the full recovery to factory could be done remotely. The machine comes with a hidden partition with the initial image.

 

I can't the see the scratches on the lid anyway when enjoying my F.

Just be happy waitwaitwait, enjoy the thing & put your microscope back in the cupboard.

 

Lads please stay on topic, thank you.

Johnny T
NBR Moderation Team

 

How would you do that? BTW what did you think of the pictures of my display?

 

@Waitwaitwait,
It’s been two months since I ordered my laptop and I’ve been going through the same thing. My screen looks exactly like yours and I sent it in for repair only to have it returned with “LCD tested ok, backlight is even”. I should have had them fix the morse code. It didn’t come back scratched, but I’m sure that all of the extra transport and handling has taken its toll on the internals. I sent my pics to Sony support, but only got a reply that they prefer to be contacted by phone. I called them yesterday and they say that my complaint has been put on file and I will be contacted by customer relations in the next few days (I hope). This has turned into a real hassle - I need a laptop for work. I’m not going to give up on this, I bought this computer because of their reputation for quality. I feel like I’ve been had.

 

It's broken!

Kidding aside, are the photos faithful to what you see in real life?

I tested this observation below by To no End with my Canon SD800 & it does skew the representation totally compared to how I see the monitor.

One of his photos: http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=46658&d=1268311743

 

I don't think the pictures are "skewed" much if any. The pictures that I took with my Canon SD880 were quite accurate with regards to what the screen actually looks like. Waitwaitwait's photos show the same unacceptable light bleed and color inversion that I'm experiencing.

 

I would say the camera has skewed the brightness say about 25% too much, but the gradient from top to bottom is still present. Maybe mine is not that bad after all...

 

@Irudyk

Omaroo hasn't done anything inappropriate, you're not the moderator as far as I know. As far as his/her question, it all plastic.

 

Did anyone find out how he did this?

I am going to do the same as you and file the problem with Sony and the see what their CS people say. If you get anywhere with them, let us know. Appreciated.

 

Thanks for the tip sparton, I have been trying that for a day now & getting use to it after years of having it in the bottom. Just grab the taskbar & drag. On the right side, some menu won't expand properly like Shutdown, for example.

I'm surprised that nobody commented about your usability tip so far.

It does help to gain some significant vertical headroom which is cramped on a 16:9 aspect ratio LCD. When I want full size for Lightroom for example, I use Taskbar auto-hide which I find annoying in daily use.

I did not yet find a way to relocate the Windows button to the bottom of the column. Anybody with a how-to?

Here is a screen grab of the desktop with a photo shot from a lookout 10km by dirt road from my house. I plan on bringing the F there with a D300s tethered to it for some time lapse photos & 720p videos:


---

 

I think it's going to take a lot of time and effort, but I'm not going to give up until I get either a fix or refund. I'll keep you posted.

 

I never doubted your word about your screen or how faithful your photos were, I even suggested some perspective tips , remember?

I was just asking waitwaitwait for his observations.

So if your photos are not representative of what you see in real life, how can we comment about them? Is the gradient also skewed?

Try using the manual mode in your camera & try to shoot more faithful photos if you can.

Check jacksjw's interesting post here. Everything is relative.

I've never seen a notebook review so far where the brightness distribution was perfectly even. Here are for example some screen grabs from reviews by notebookcheck with pro grade luminance measurement tools: Vaio_F EU vs. Dell Studio 1747 and the pricey MacBook Pro 17":







So some unevenness is to be expected, within a reasonable range naturally. And it should be brighter in the bottom, that's where the CCFL is located on the Vaio_F_Series.

 

OK fair comment, will try again in manual mode.

 

Glad to be of help Joe. Been using this setup for more thans 2 weeks now and I can say I'm still adjusting. The reason why I prefer the left side is I use external monitor most of the time. I usually prefer searching rather than asking, but I find myself stuck in this issue: When I go to Vaio Care > Troubleshooting then click on Hardware under Diagnostics, it says "VAIO Hardware Diagnostics is missing. Use VAIO Recovery Center to re-install VAIO Hardware Diagnostics." Now what's the best way to install Hardware Diagnostics without uninstalling anything?

 

I think he used some kind of gentle car polisher and wax after that.I've done that with my wooden headphones.




Takes lots of time and aptience you you too quick you ruin it

 

MelodyMaster fixed his aching Bluetooth here using Vaio_Care.

Try this on Sony_Asia: How to use VAIO Recovery Center > How to reinstall bundled applications or original drivers using the VAIO Recovery Center.

It won't uninstall anything if used properly.

What I just did: Vaio_Care > Recovery & Restore > insert your recovery disc #1 or 2 > et voilà!

I suspect a clean install, if so check Sony_Support Clean Install Instructions for Windows 7 (step 3).

 

Just a short one those of you who had laptops repaired/fan changed. Is there definitive fix for noisy/whining fan or not? I mean I'm considering to bring this back but if there's no fix for this fan then I might reconsider to keep it as nothing similar can be found right now on the market. I'm really trying to like this laptop but this pitch/whining noise drives me crazy especially at night.

 

I've considered getting an XPS 16. My mom thought I'd finally gone bananas.

Maybe I should just sit back and be happy with what I got lol

 

Just a note to all here, folks who are considering a specific model will tend to visit an OL thread and ask questions. This is nothing new and it is to be expected as it happens quite often.

If you feel you cannot respond to their questions without inflammatory remarks, then don't.

To those of you who take the time to answer these potential owner questions - I say thanks for helping out. This is what makes NBR the best notebook forum on the planet

On a side note, if a post is obvious trolling, then report it and let a moderator deal with it.

Thanks.

 

So when you guys put your head up by the middle of the keyboard do you hear a ticking sound? >>

 

I rang up SonyStyle UK yesterday to inquire about stock levels for the i7 and asked about the difference in the screens seeing as my I5 with the glossy screen had been so bad.
The guy I was talking to couldn't actually tell me whether or not the I7 was matte, but did say that it was distinguished by the 'Premium' and should be a vast improvement as it had an anti-reflective coating on it, whatever that means.
He was also saying it had active motion and things which the I5 didn't but I'm nearly certain it did, but didn't pursue it because they're not important to me.

 

Kidding aside, it could be simply the HDD working. Turn off in Power Management to see if the sound stops.

"Premium... whatever that means" - it means a lot, search this thread, there are dozens of positive user reviews about that 1080p matte display.

 

Someone needs to rip open one of those F11ZEs and find out the part # of the LCD for us so we can order it.

 

The UK i7 machine does indeed have a matte screen, not merely antireflective, futhermore it is said to be adobe rgb, but I am not sure exactly what that means .

I have the UK i7 machine, I really like the display and other owners are gushing about it. I don't think anyone has had a bad thing to say about it.

 

I think with major shortage of this premium screen might be hard to order one. I've asked local MediaMarkt whether there will be next shipment soon ( they did not have top of the line model - only last one from display) and the answer was we will get more of the i5 model with much worse screen and no i7 on the horizon. Also no intention to introduce Premium Screen into i5 model line.
Do you think is it worth to try to get replacement - I have this whining issue and morse code ( fixed by settings) or it is not worth the risk to send to SOny for repair and just got it back with some scratches and same whining sound from the fan. At least this seems to be the aftermath of the latest fixes done by Sony.

 

I sent my whining UK i7 for repair and am still waiting for it back, only 3 days so far. TBH, I am not v hopeful for a fix as noone has had a fix.

 

I take it you mean the fan whistle/whine we've been talking about? Please do post when you've got it back - mine is due to be collected for a replacement fan in a couple of weeks as it coincides with a holiday. If you get yours back and it is still whistling (i.e. they haven't replaced it with a new design fan) then I might cancel the repair...

 

I certainly will post. I suspect I am the first UK owner they have encountered with a complaint of f11 whining and the first f11 they have had to physically try to deal with. Even if there is no positive result or even that they fail to understand/acknowledge the whining/whistling sound, I think they musn't be allowed to assume it's a one off, I won't let it end there and I would ask that other owners with the same problem should also try to make them deal with it , or a resolution may not progress soon enough.