Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

I agree with rowe - and would like to add a little more.

No Win7 DVD. Restore options will let you burn 2 DVD restore disks. There are SO many guides on a "clean" install, please search this thread, and also look for the Sony "semi-clean" install thread that shows you how to use the restore disks in a manner that avoids installation of the bloat, but allows you to get all the yummy drivers off of the install dvds.

Good luck.

BTW roweraay - that's a pretty sweet machine in your sig. Who makes that? Sony? Wow. And it's an "F" model? i7, 8 gig, ssd, 1080p screen, blueray. Holy crap, that thing must cost $2500... you got it for $1500 or so? Amazing.

For everyone who keeps asking about the price:value... yes, the Sony Vaio F is amazing, and currently is probably the price:value "king" for someone who wants a high-performance laptop. Buy it, and then love it. That is my command!

 

Question: I ordered my F Series a few days ago. The est. shipping date was 03/09. How accurate have estimated shipping dates been with Sony? I'm scheduling all sorts of trips that I need the laptop for and would hate to get stuck waiting on Sony.

Has the F series been shipping on the est. shipping date?

 

Good discussion going on with the subject of speakers and I agree with everyone here. On one hand I agree, the speakers are average at best and compared to other laptop speakers a tad bit week. But certainly any time listening to music, everyone should buy a pair of audio headphones or external speakers. The superior sound quality of adding is well worth the investment. $100 to $150 and you get a quantum jump in quality.

 

I discovered a pretty major flaw with my F11 last night. When I put my beer next to the fan exhaust while playing Fallout 3, it will heat the beer right up. I'm not sure whether to stop drinking beer, stop playing Fallout 3, or return the laptop.

 

Better than the F- yes, amazing- no. I am an owner of both.

 

USB drink cooler is your immediate laptop accessory need.

 

That's an awesome reply Joe - thanks so much. Though I wasn't clear about the whole 'dumb' thing in my original post/question. It was my understanding that Sony were offering the F in other markets with a better screen (though wasn't entirely clear what made it better) and it seemed dumb to me to sell it to us North Americans with an inferior one. If it's just a case of glossy vs semi-matt or whatever then it's no so dumb I guess.

Also it's my understanding (thought I haven't done personal comparison) that LED backlit is essentially newer technology and gives a better picture (more even lighting, deeper blacks...) and so that was on my shopping list.

 

But it's great for coffee or tea.

And you don't have to spend $4.62 on a USB Powered Coffee Warmer.

 

You think a pair of bluetooth headphones would be that "quantum leap" you spoke of? It's pretty easy to link bluetooth in my experience, though I have had a couple of impossible situations. Plus my Samsung MP3 player is bluetooth. So much better audio quality that the ipod, even cnet says so.

 

Okay, amazing may have been generous. But still, it was quite a large difference coming from those speakers to that on the Y-series (which I'm assuming is similar to the F-series). It was like somebody was covering my ears.

 

Ah, so it's a feature. Well done, Sony!

 

Agreed, speakers are SOOOOOOOooooo not an issue, IMHO of course.

 

Actually I would say my US F 1080p is semi-glossy with some level of anti glare. When I get the time, will post some photos to illustrate. When turned off, it's like a muted tinted mirror, when turned on, works great.

Some white led display are inferior to some CCFL, LED is not a guaranty of image quality.

I would like to see a F review with side-by-side US semi-glossy vs, EU Premium matte. My guess is the US has deeper blacks, better contrast, more saturated colors, better sharpness but on the flip side: more glare, less viewing angle margins without starting to see a color shift or gradient.

It's not an inferior display, it's just different properties vs. the F EU 1080p.

Check the cd/m2 in the screen grabs Vaio_F Free US 1080p Monitor Profiles!.

 

Yes as the coffee warmer shortens the battery life & takes away a USB port.

Drunk gamers prefer Dell, Del_Boy.

 

I know I splurged a lot on this laptop but it is supposed to hold the fort for the next several years. Performance-wise, the thing is amazing.

I will be doing some highly CPU/RAM intensive stuff this weekend (photo processing batchjobs and video rendering etc), and will see how it pans out. If this came with the EU matte screen, it would have been perfect (for my purposes)....but I am not complaining.

 

"...Performance-wise, the thing is amazing..." - can't agree more!

I'm actually testing & running 3 or 4 programs simultaneously from the Adobe Master Collection CS4 @ the present, just can't believe the performance for a $1,350 laptop! See my sig for link to full spec Everest report.

 

Yep, definitely ram, and it's really bad if it hangs rather than simply showing an error and moving on.

Take out each ram and see if it then runs ok. The one that causes the freeze when in alone is bad. Subtly mark that one, ( a little stripe with a magic marker) say to the Geek that you know it's a bad stick, 100% sure..and see what happens.

I do this for a living....

 

Does Joe Bleau have any posts on this forum other than those in this thread?

His post history and the overall pattern of his posts lead me to believe that he's receiving remuneration of some sort. It's not uncommon for marketing companies to seed popular forums with posts that are similar in tone and trajectory to those of Joe Bleau.

 

Now why would you say that?

Just because he is reaching through my computer screen and taking my wallet doesn't make him a shady guy.

 

I think you have indulged in personally attacking Joe Bleau in your postings (including "calling him out" in a couple of them)....without contributing anything of value from your side.

I think you need to quiet down a bit and cease and desist from these uncalled-for attacks.

 

HAHAHAHAHAH that's was really funny ... while I was reading the older posts ....

 

I think he's just fantastic with his offerings, but I myself was wondering what he does for a living to be able to send so much time on this thread. Mr. Bleau a.k.a. international man of mystery, u there to answer?

 

You are right, I should get paid by Son_y, could you send them a note? Instead of money, I would be happy with a EU F CTO fully loaded with all the maxed out options.

Yes, 99% of my posts are in this forum. I defined my needs & budget first, did my research & it boiled down to 3 or 4 models & brands. Zoomed in on the F and started asking questions to real F owners in this thread. See my oldest posts.

Their replies satisfied me so I bought one and now I want to help other owners (and they help me too) and some users thinking about getting one.

If you want to send me some $ via Paypal, you are welcome!

 

Does this mean you'll stop reaching into my pocket?

 

Someone please reply to my earlier question.

How accurate are the estimated shipping dates? For you, has your F series shipped on time?

 

My estimated shipping day was Jan 19th. I received it on Jan 20th.

I am in Canada, CTO ordered from sonystyle.ca (Built and shipped from US).

 

My CTO shipped out approx 5 days prior to stated date. Shipping took one day. I'm in southern California.

 

Right now, instantly, at this exact space/time moment?

No!

 

It wasn't the F-series, but Sony's shipping estimation was exact, shipped me what I wanted only 2 hours after the order.

Also it ships via Fedex so you know they can deliver quickly (three business days for me).

 

Any comments appreciated! My last Win Machine came with Win95.

 

Anyone else notice that the F Series doesn't show up when clicking on the orange "Shop Series" button on sony style US? The other series show up.

 

Which laptop do you believe, based on price and features, is superior to the F?

 

nizmoz,

Joe and Melody Maker brighten my day; always.

Mark

 

i understand its still good for listening to music even without a subwoofer, but when u put the volume to max how is it when viewing a movie, does the sound mess up

 

@Viking Quest

Works on my end..even a refresh is not working?

 

@omaroo

Can't you just go to a store and see for yourself?

EDIT: That's the best way to get your basic questions answered. There you can compare the F11 to other notebooks to your hearts content. Screen wise sound, form factor, noise....etc. etc. etc.

 

Whoa! If anyone here is an "International Man of Mystery" it's me!

 

@zebra3

hahahaha...Holden Magroyn...International man of mystery! Lol how can i forget!

 

I seriously have used the livechat feature on sonystyle many times each with a new nickname which I listed some posts back. My new fav is "Mork Frumork."

 

No still not working even with Ctrl + F5. The others work. Strange.

 

i havent got a sony store where i live, i live in a countryside mate, thats why im asking people who have got the laptop.

 

Maybe you missed it but the tittle of this thread is: "Official Sony_VAIO_F_Series Owners lounge".

As I said many time, the F is @ the present the best mix for me @ that price point. When the next best thing comes out, I'll lush for it, whatever brand it will be.

About your opinion, since you ordered an XPS....

Anything you might say will not help me get the most enjoyment from my F.

I'm typing this post on a old Dell_Dimension 4600 Pentium 4, 3Ghz, the last one left from my office who had 4 of them as well as 4 no-name boxes I custom built. My Acer notebook is sleeping in the cupboard, the F is next to me getting tweaked & a bunch of programs installed.

 

Hello my friends! just received the bill in pdf format; it says shippingdate (verzenddatum) 26/2/2010. That's yesterday!
I went to the dutch sonystyle site, but IT IS OFFLINE!
How do i know now when my lappy arrives?

Anyone have an idea? I work and need to take a day off when it arrives...
Any help is appreciated.

 

So, I'm going to purchase an ADH service plan from Provantage to save some coin. From what I've read throughout the Sony Owners Lounge, Provantage sells the actual Sony warranty and uses the same 3rd party, Service Net Solutions, LLC. Apparently Sony changed the warranty disclaimer on sony style US. Before it stated that ADH had to be purchased at the time of the notebook purchase. Now it states:

"Also, purchasing Extended Service Plans at a later date requires a valid proof of purchase and are only available within 180 days of your product purchase. Extended Service Plans with ADH may only be purchased within 30 days of your product purchase."

 

Before attempting anything (out of the box!):
1- create recovery discs (to preserve factory state, DL not good, 2 or more DVD's depending on factory installed software)
2- create a system repair disc (one CD)
3- - after customizing & adding software, create a system image, which contains a copy of Windows and copies of your programs, system settings, and files with Windows Backup or an other backup utility. I used Acronis before but with 7, Windows Backup is fine.
4- Backup your personal data & files, if any.

I re-installed the factory state on a new HDD using the recovery discs, see link in my sig.

Hope this helps!

 

One of the essentials in deciding on my purchase was a side number pad. My family has a Dell XPS16 and it a great machine, but this is an example of not being able to compare apples to apples. This thread has been very civil compared to some others I have seen. Please everyone lets keep it that way.

 

how is the sound wen movies are played on max volume, i hope the speakers are pretty gd for movies

 

"Provantage sells the actual Sony warranty" - NO! Sony will not service that ADH warranty, you will have to send the machine to Provantage or whatever third party techs they work with.

How can they tell if you bought the accidental warranty (ADH) after dropping the laptop on the floor or not?

Read this post.

From the Sonystyle ordering page, warranty options:

 

Pleazzzz anyone?

 

Sony sure does take a while to credit your account though. One week today, they got it, and still no credit just it's processing. lol.