Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge *PART 2*

A couple of observations about my F11:

Very fast
Great screen
Very quiet
Good looking

Let me elaborate, as these are my OPINIONS!

This machine is fast. I had really planned on purchasing an Asus G73, which has a faster graphics card and supposedly better cooling, along with a larger screen. After setting up 4 of these F11s for my church, I decided that I would opt for this known commodity rather than try the Asus, which seems to have quite a few problems. I was hesitant about purchasing my first laptop, but I really like the keyboard, and the speed is very fast, making the switch from a desktop painless.

Although I read many posts about the screen, mine is fantastic...better than my 17" Dell Ultrasharp 1708FP.

Yes, mine has a bit of a whine when the fan speeds up. However...my fan does not speed up very often. I set my "performance" to maximum and turned off both sleep and hibernate. I spent $23 USD on a Cooler Master dual fan laptop cooler. The fans can be moved, so I adjusted them so they blow directly into the intake openings on the bottom of the F11. This cooler runs quietly and supplies enough cool air (in my 72 degree home) to keep the Vaio fans from running at more than an idle. I highly recommend this accessory!

I really like the mundane looks of the F11. To me, it looks classy and businesslike. It does not attract fingerprints. I also love the looks and functionality of the backlit keyboard and the added convenience of the seperate number pad.

I spent a lot of money on this machine...just about $2,300 USD when you consider the cooler, a wireless laser mouse, a 256GB SSD, a 500GB external Power over eSATA drive and a laptop case. This is much more than I have ever spent before and more than I had planned to spend, but it is worth it. I have a premium laptop, and I have not found a similarly equipped laptop from another manufacturer for a price anywhere near this.

Again, just my opinion!

Bill

 

It appears you made the change awhile ago. Did you just recently tweak something? Please expound on your comment. Based on everyone's comments there seems to be a slight performance boost with a few downsides, correct?

 

I'm having an ongoing problem with Vaio Update as whenever I run it, I get the "Cannot acquire configuration settings" error. I have uninstalled the program, reinstalled, let it auto update the first time as it says it needs, then right back to the error. I have tried adding it as an exception in my firewall and turning off the firewall altogether. I can not find anything on the web that helps. Any ideas?

Plus, from the task manager, it shows anywhere from 4000-6000k of usage.

 

The only solution I could find was making an exception for VAIOUpdt.exe, VUAgent.exe, VCsystray.exe and VaioCareUpdate.exe in your firewall and you already did that. Joe's post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...s-owners-lounge-part-2-a-250.html#post6102595

Another solution could be uninstalling the program with Revo Uninstaller: Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download
And reinstall the program.

For me the program works without making any exceptions to a firewall

 

Yes, in the European and Asian markets we know for sure, thanks to Joe Bleau's sleuthing on the Internet, that the Premium Display screen in the Premium black model of the F is for sure an RGB LED. Not just a 100% color reproduction screen or whatever, but an RGB LED. Hats off to JB for that discovery of the ads touting it in, I believe, Singapore (just search his name and RGB LED and F, for example).

The problem is that we haven't got confirmation that the Premium Display in the other models of the F in the same European and Asian markets is also RGB LED. They have been advertized differently and might be dual-lamp CCFLs -- or they might be exactly the same screen. But if they were, then the ads would likely say that since all models of the F sit side by side on the pages of Sony's Websites in Europe, for example. Yet only the Premium black F always said something like "professional grade screen" to describe its Premium Display.

We do have testimony that both are matte -- whereas in the North American market the Premium Display is at best a dual-lamp CCFL and it is not matte. After that, it's all "spec"-ulation.

 

IF you followed exactly the powercfg diagnostic tips & found nothing then you ruled out hardware & hardware settings then your problem is with Windows 7 & it also happens with many brands of laptops. From the Unification Post page 1, post #1: VAIO_F Sleep & Hibernation Wake Up Problems Fix. You could have a scheduled task that wakes up the computer for example.

If you run powercfg, see nothing & then plug external devices or web overnight & it wakes up then you are creating the problem. Run powercfg with your exact setup & devices as when the wake up occurs.

 

So I just got the Starcraft 2 Beta (let me tell you, I am NOT what I used to be at SC 5 years ago).

Anyhow, it runs fine on the F11. 1280x720 with everything on high gave a solid 40-60fps all the time. Haven't had the time to tweak things yet though (got 2 midterm exams and an essay tomorrow and haven't started. This was a bad time to get a beta invite )

 

I personally just updated from 188 to 197.44 yesterday. 197.16 was alright for games, but just about everything else I needed to do was a disaster, and that was after multiple attempts at clean driver installs. Just for the heck of it I did a clean install of 197.44 and NONE of the problems with OpenGL and Direct3D and H264 rendering resurfaced.

Everyone is talking about game benchmarks with the "illegal" drivers, no one seems to be trying CAD and OpenGL or non-American games. However such applications ARE being dicussed in Win7 forums, where they seem to think crashes are the fault of Win7 rather than the Nvidia drivers they happen to be using. That is why I didn't think updating from 188.14, which didn't ever crash, would be of any benefit. But I DID regret that I couldn't work on primary multimedia projects because of lack of functionality in CUDA 2.5.

Now with CUDA 3 and improved gaming and good rendering speeds I think I've stumbled upon the Leprechaun's gift.

 

Everything else you say seems to be true, but I don't believe ANY North American F11 display is other than just single-lamp. Once the the new F's start shipping after June 26th we'll find out if the display has in fact been improved for the refresh.

 

This is so simple I'm sure you've tried this, but did you click on the "Important info" tab then back to "Check for updates"? I get the "Cannot acquire...." message every time I start Update5, and that tab-switching is all that's needed to get it going. It seems to be related to the network router and Win 7.

Other programs such as PowerPost and Agent also fail to acquire info or start a download on the first try, and have to be stopped and restarted.

 

An example of "out of luck" situation

Seems to be the 1080 screen is better according to willscary, but when I check it at local bestbuy, it has the same problems with the 1600x900 screen. I'm waiting to see what SONY come up with the refresh as well, btw lenovo just came out with 15" laptop that have similar spec with current F for around $800. SONY better have something A LOT better spec in the refresh...or A LOT better screen at least.

Do you need to modified the inf?

So Asia market have the matte screen as well? (beside europe)

Mine does the same thing after doing fresh win7 install. Its not just F, different series have same issue as well. The firewall restriction wont help, its the program.

 

I agree that we have no evidence that the "premium display" in North America is anything other than a single-lamp -- and that's why I sent a protest email to Sony because Sony's use of the word "premium" in the context of its meaning on the F in most of the rest of the world borders on false advertizing, bait and switch, etc.

 

"Premium" simply means 1920 X 1080 in NA; wrong or not it differentiates from1600 X 900.

The number of and method of lighting doesn't define the visual quality of a display. That's the diffuser, polarizer, and matrix filter that control colour depth and viewing angles in a TFT display. It's interesting, talking about LEDs, that the standard display has LEDs behind the screen, diffused by the, erm, diffuser, whereas the very latest thing in displays, Ultrathins, have the LEDS around the EDGE, thus going back to depending upon the diffuser and polarizer to properly even out the lighting field.

 

Just noticed that. So what did wake up the computer? You had the info right in front of you. Don't forget: you must right click cmd & Run as administrator.

Absolutely not. It's a cockpit error, it's not the plane.

 

I'm happy that you're happy, Bill. It's a good fit for you and should give you years of pleasure and high utility.

 

I think me making a fuss has changed something. It stayed off last night. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your help.

 

That is what appeared when I ran the command as an administrator.

 

You can bring a horse to the river but can't force him to drink.

powercfg -lastwake told you there was an event & the lines under it should tell you what did it. Like this example: waking from suspend for unknown reason - Windows 7 Forums

 

I'am trying to render a video in vegas 9.0 HD, but it is taking ages, i cannot set processor "Set Affinity". I get the error "access denied" some got a clue tot solve this ?

 

That's your first post?

Are you sure you are in the right forum?

"windows 7" i7 64-bit vegas 9.0 HD rendering optimization

 

So anyone grab Portal? Ran GREAT for me! But I just noticed that when in games, from time to time the fan spins down for a few seconds lol. Cool.

 

What is the advantage/use of vaio smart network? Does it do anything different than default windows network? If I uninstall it will I have problems connecting wireless?

 

The main advantage is being able to switch bluetooth or wireless off independent of each other. I have uninstalled it and there are no problems with wireless or bluetooth.

 

I started downloading it from steam, but had to pack up the laptop to go elsewhere so I will continue with the download later and give it a try. Reviews look good and it's hard to complain when it is free anyway.

 

Thanks! Actually, I wrote that because it seems like all I read is negativity on this site. I have yet to find a perfect vehicle, a perfect fishing boat, a perfect camera, or anything else. There are give and take with anything, especially when looking at a moderate price point.

Would I like other features on this machine for the price I paid? YES!!!! For instance, I would have liked a mobile 920 extreme processor. I would have also liked an ATI 5870 mobile GPU. I would have liked a 17.3" screen. Heck, even though there are very few USB 3.0 devices, I would have liked a few USB 3.0 ports. Finally, while we are at it, I would have liked TWO hard drive bays.

What would this have cost??? Exactly! This is why I drive Chevrolets instead of Ferrarris and Bentleys.

Bill

 

An elderly friend told me that the secret to happiness is to want what you have (or at to accept that it is what it is). Nietzsche wrote that the major source of suffering in a person is caused by an inability to accept the life (laptop) a person has.

 

Hello all,

Im looking at getting the i5-520M version of the F in the UK - has anyone had any experiences with this model? Most of the discussion in the thread seems to be surrounding the quad core models, and I have not managed to find much feedback on the i5 models in this massive thread.

Specifically I would like to know about the screen - is the i5 premium screen in the EU the same as the i7 model one? If not, how do they differ?

Id also like to know if the i5 model has the same fan noise issues as the i7 models.

Some general feedback on satisfaction with the i5 machine would be well appreciated as well.

Apologies if some of this stuff has been asked before, Im finding it hard to track down specific comments regarding the i5 model.

Cheers

 

The i5 1080p screen is semigloss as the i7 1080p screen is matte with the 100% Adobe RGB.
The i5 screen is okay, but it gets better when calibrated.
You can see the Unification Post http://forum.notebookreview.com/5992644-post554.html for that.
My model has no fan issues is quiet, fast, types great and I just love my Vaio
The only 2 downsides for me are:
Batterylife of 2 hours and 4 minutes on standard battery (it is possible to buy a high capacity one from Sonystyle).
Not having a matte screen with 100% Adobe RGB.
And in real life only the short batterylife...

 

Here is a picture of my screen...USA "Premium" with basic black Windows 7 background in a totally dark room:

See link below...this was way too big

 

Sorry, I will delete that as it is huge...I am currently upgrading my photo editor and did not have one installed...this is direct from the camera. Here is a link instead:

http://webpages.charter.net/willscarlett/Vaio screen.JPG

 

Thanks for the response, thats exactly the kind of info I am looking for!

The battery issue is not a biggie for me, Ill be using it as a desktop replacement (my new flat is too small for me to have a desk), so it will be plugged into AC power 100% of the time.

Thanks again.

 

Just being curious: what is the photo editor you use?

 

I have always used Adobe Elements 5. I am awaiting pricing on PS4 before deciding whether to get Elements 8.

Bill

 

This may be a better picture than the last one:

http://webpages.charter.net/willscarlett/Vaio Screen 2.JPG

 

Indeed, the computer wasn't drinking, as there were no lines under it!

 

As I sell my F11, I bid this thread adieu. On a related note, my experiences here taught me some things:

-Don't waste another second posting on enthusiast and owner forums. Search for resolutions to issues, and leave it at that;

-Liberally use the 'Ignore' feature when browsing forums (beware the super-fan who has attached a portion of his or her own self-worth to the purchase and the product);

-Always thoroughly review a product in person under normal operating conditions prior to making a purchase.

The F11 is an excellent value for the money. Make more use of your laptops for creation and spend less time engaging in the met@-discussion on forums.

Consumers to the core, all of us.

/out

 

I just installed the new 97.44 video drivers per this thread. Upon completion, my display began blinking the icon that was used last. It also got buggy when trying to select an item from the start menu.

I tested my unit and the Windows experience Index showed no change. Perhaps gaming is better, but it is buggy, at least on my machine.

I rolled back to the newest Sony official release driver.

Problems solved.

Bill

 

(1) Did you UNINSTALL the old driver first? All vestiges must be removed.

(2) Did you properly use Midtown's full package including overwriting nvac.inf in the install directory after extraction but before setup, and copying over PVsonydll.exe?

Not following Midtown's install instructions to the letter results in a buggy setup. The files from Laptopvideo2Go do not work.

 

(1) I did, and also restarted

(2) I did, and also restarted twice after this step

I followed his instructions and it installed exactly as described. It also showed driver 97.44 (actually a long number ending in .9744).

It worked, but with the bugs. My WEI did not change with the new driver. It may be quicker on games, but I don't play games. I was hoping for faster webpage rendering, etc. Instead, I got a few problems.

No big deal, I am back to the latest Sony release and things are running fine again.

Bill

 

One more observatiuon...

While running the WEI with the 9744 driver, the laptop fan went quite high, even with the cooler running below it. With the Sony qualified driver reinstalled, the WEI taxed the machine much less, at least as far as the fan goes. It barely wound up at all. Perhaps the Sony driver slashes power usage, and therefore heat output.

Bill

 

If the fan was running fast blowing hot air, then the driver was postively not installed properly. That's the number one symptom of having the wrong .inf file.

I had OpenGL problems with 197.16, but now with 197.44 the system is flawless, everything works, and the fan just idles, puffing out slightly warm air. I don't even care about gaming, I just needed to get CUDA 3 for H264 transcoding.

 

OK, what did I do wrong?

I uninstalled the current nvidia drivers, then restarted. i then removed the nvidia folder from C: (moved to recycle bin and emptied RB).

I then downloaded and installed the driver from the link in the instruction folder. It failed, as described.

I went to C: and followed the instructions to the "International" folder. I replaced the file with the one in the instruction set. I then moved the dll file from the instruction set to the "International" folder as instructed.

After this, I scrolled down the "International" folder contents to the setup application. I ran this application which ran the installation program. When finished, it asked for a restart. I did.

When there was the problem, I restarted again. The problem persisted. I ran WEI and the index #s for both video catagories remained unchanged, but I had a blinking or flashing problem with the icons on my screen.

At that point, I uninstalled 9744 and reinstalled the Sony version of the drivers.

Did I miss something?

Bill

 

Regardless, don't worry so much about the Windows Experience index, it's meaningless. Gaming should be improved though. I only upgraded to get hardware-assisted encoding to work.

It IS the GT330 you have? Also corupted icons have been caused by some builds of Eudora and a certain antivirus, I forget which. Otherwise I can't think what the problem could be.

 

All is well. thanks MM.

I just finished uninstalling and reinstalling the new .9744 drivers. So far, everything looks to be working. Third time is a charm!

Let's just hope it stays stable!

Thanks again Melody.

Bill

 

Erm, the latest thing in displays is the OLED and in an earlier post I linked to Sony's trailer of its ongoing development of a flexible OLED for a notebook -- with no backlighting.

 

You always choose to misinterpret, I'm talking about as regards the method of backlighting a TN screen, such as the very thin TVs from Samsung.

 

Hey guys, just recently purchased a FM/B for work as a desktop replacement, and I have to say it's an amazing piece of hardware for the price. I do have one concern, however. I'm a freak when it comes to my components getting hot, my desktop is covered in fans, heatsinks/pipes. I've noticed while doing what I would consider light work, that the machine gets very hot (65+C). Is this normal for a relatively light load? It seems like the i7 is constantly in turbo mode..

http://www.chadsteele.net/hotcpu.jpg
(Obviously the clock speeds are miscalculated by CoreTemp)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

The F with i7 runs cooler than almost all other laptops out there. My understanding is Intel states the i7 can run up to 100C without degradation. Your fine with your temps so fortunately you will not need to get into your freak mode. Also, I love this cooler: NZXT ACC-NT-CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler 120MM Adjustable Fans (Black)

Amazon.com: NZXT ACC-NT-CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler 120MM Adjustable Fans (Black): Electronics

 

Whats software are you using for CUDA video transcoding? Thanks.

 

I's difficult to compare orange to_apples. I can see in your screen capture some software running like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, FlashDevelop & whatnot that you did not listed. So we don't know what you consider "light work".

Anyway the max operating temperature for the F's GPU & CPU is 100c so 65c is a walk in the park.

Running Passmark's BurnInTest v5.3 Pro that pushes a bunch of stuff, making CPU calculations by the billions (look @ Operations below) and using an utility on the side to record max temperatures, I could not go over 75c even when blocking the air exhaust with a rag for a couple of minutes just to see how high it would go. Same temp range with Furmark, Prime95 64-bit, etc, etc.

Overheating it the one thing not ever reported for the F in this thread contrary to other i7 quad laptops like the _XPS & al.



A desktop has a lot more space inside for natural convection cooling and several fans for the CPU, GPU, power supply & often a case fan. A notebook runs hotter & that's normal.

You can reduce considerably the fan work by propping up the back of the F with any object to help cooling the underside & get at the same time a more comfortable typing angle. Try it: run the same task with the notebook flat on a desk then feel the temperature of the underside vs. w/ the back jacked up after 15 minutes or so.



Photo from How to install a secondary hard drive in the optical drive bay of a VAIO_VPCF Series.

The most powerful CPU offered on the new Macbook_Pro 17" is the 2 core i7-620M. In this Intel i7-620M vs. i7-720QM 4 core comparison page you can see that the max operating temperature is 105c for the 620M vs. 100c for the F's 720QM.

On this page, they ran the free Cinebench 11.5 & CPUID's Hardware Monitor on new Macbook_Pro 17" & obtained surprisingly high temperatures for the CPU & GPU: 104c - 219F max!

Well I ran the same utilities on my Vaio_VPCF115FM for much cooler results:



So run a well known free CPU and/or GPU benchmark utility (like the ones above for example) & compare orange to orange.