Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Here's a review just up today on Notebookcheck (apologies if someone's already posted this)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Sony-Vaio-VPC-F11Z1-E-Notebook.25724.0.html

Very positive review, and especially praises the screen which it seems is not available (inexplicably) in US/canada. Interestingly review seems to imply the Euro-screen is LED:

"The LED backlight on the 16.4 inch display illuminates the display in the middle by up to 265 cd/m². For... "

Now I find even if I wanted the inferior NA screen I can't get it - as soon as you configure the 1080 screen on Sonystyle you get "This product is no longer available for purchase" What gives Sony? Sold out? Or pulling a sub-standard product for the timebeing?

 

Check this post for a comparison of noise emission for four different brands of Core i7 laptops.

Next, using the search box on the very top right of this page (searching through all forums), type: fan noise. You will see complaints for all manufacturers & all kinds of models.

Below is assuming you tried the mic fixes to see if that's the source of you high pitch intermittent noise: STP12's easy fix and Fix #2.

The fan is needed to cool the powerful i7 & the fairly powerful GT 330M. It always runs but the speed varies according to heat evacuation needs. The fan from idle to max rpm goes through all kind of speeds so resonance comes in to play at certain points in the spectrum.

At idle, some hear some noise emission variations because there is always some variations in CPU activity because of programs running in the background, Windows Search indexing files, anti virus, etc.

The English version of notebookcheck's VPC-F11Z1/E review is just out and they wrote in the Noise Emission chapter: "The system noise is the only, but also the biggest weak spot of the Vaio VPC-F11Z1E. With a high performance Core i7 processor, we don't expect a whisperingly quiet system noise. This 16 inch notebook is not only loud though. The cooling fan changes its speed arbitrarily, even in idle mode, and gives a high pitched fine droning sound from itself at medium speed. This mechanical vibrating is not measurable as noise, but nevertheless noticeable and disturbing."

The source of the heat are the CPU & GPU, you could try tweaking those & the fan should react accordingly & may change rev speed just a hair which could be just enough to quiet it down enough for you to be happy. Try this (in Plan Settings > Advanced): you can select plans but also tweak the Minimum Processor state within each plans:



You could also lift the back of the notebook about 1.5cm with a ruler or whatever like I always do & you will see that the fan leaves the idle state a lot less. I don't experience changing idle speeds described by notebookcheck & some owners in this thread with this method.

Lift the notebook, touch the bottom. Lift the back with an object, touch again 30 minutes later, any cooler? But that's maybe too low tech for you.

I tried SpeedFan & other utilities (CPU-Z, PC Wizard 2010, EVEREST, etc) & done some research for a fan control utility that could read & control the fan speed of the Vaio_F, FW, etc to no avail. It's seems it's not controllable which may be a good thing as reducing heat evacuation but NOT the source of heat could be a recipe for a meltdown & hardware failures. SpeedFan 4.40 with a blank tab, not showing the fan & speed on the F vs for a desktop:





F > Device Manager > System Devices > ACPI Thermal Zone >>> and searching the web, it's a complicated subject with some bugs in Linux (some laptops running fan at full speed all the time or overheating) & considering the complex i7 with turbo, cores kicking in & what not, it seems to be a thing to be tweaked only by experts: "windows 7" ACPI Thermal Zone.

Some people won't be happy to read this but the soundscape of my BB F 1080p is perfectly normal considering how much power there is under the hood.

Now it's possible that a small number of you do have a defective fan, that's why there is a warranty but I would try tweaking as suggested above before returning or exchanging the machine and try to check other brands of i7 laptops in person to see if the noise emissions are similar to your F or not.

 

I saw it done on Gizmodo.com. I have seen a few videos of their machine in action and it doesnt look like it does anything other than etch something into the lid. Though I guess that if something ever does happen to the screen, Sony will try to pin the blame on the custom work...damn. I really wanted something unique on my laptop. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Has anyone gotten engraving done through Sony? What did you have put there? Any thoughts on what I should put there? I am a big anime/manga fan so I was thinking something like: 0+@ku4L!fe (Otaku for Life) for the first line of text. Not sure what the second line would be, though im sure that I would use it too.

 

I would get it done through Sony, if I were you, if you absolutely want your laptop to be engraved. After all they do it for free, with the caveat that the machine will no longer be returnable.

 

@ddmeightball

I definitely would not recommend engraving if you will consider selling this unit in the future. It will mark the it's value down considerably.
If you want to add some kind of unique tatoo to your notebook, I would suggest some type of customised sticker or skin possibly of your own design.
(As long as it can be removed and the unit remains intact)

I've had a few engraved items and while it looked nice in the beginning, the novelty wore off quickly..

EDIT: Something like www.schtickers.com ---(i think there are better sites at customizing, this was the first that came up in google search)

 

Okay new rule, can we please put the country flag on the post if we refer to sonystyle? 'Cause people keep getting their s**t mixed up, what's sold out where...etc.

Do 3 year old laptops sell much? At the rate technology moves it'll be old as hell by the time you want to sell it for a new one.

 

That's interesting,thanks for the link!

For their F review, notebookcheck.net used the same software & colorimeter as I did for my US 1080p! So finally we have a way to compare these displays.

Their screen grab for EU matte vs. mine from this profiles post:





This is as close as I could get to Notebookcheck's Native 6000 K & 197 cd/m2 as with Fn+F5 or F6, I either get 161 or 220 cd/m2 but compare the color space: the black triangle represents the actual LCD's coverage of the color gamut, much wider on the EU. The cd/m2 set to max on mine: 248.4 vs the 265 cd/m2 reported in their review but that's way to bright for daily use anyway.

OK, any EU 1080p owner who wants the US backlit keyboard gadget, I'll trade you my US F, throw in a bottle of premium Costa Rican rum & pay for the shipping!

"and especially praises the screen which it seems is not available ( inexplicably) in US/Canada..." - my take on why it's semi-glossy in North America: it's your own fault!

 

Not being returnable isnt a big deal to me as the only reason I would ever send it back if it was mechanically faulty. It's not absolutely necessary that I get it done, just more for my own pleasure and urge to make it mine. Text engraving is a second option only if engraving by a third party does void the warranty.

I don't plan on selling this laptop to anyone, even if something better comes along a week later (which is usually does.. ). I have had my current laptop for 4 years and a desktop for 3 years before that. Even when I get something better all I plan to do is hand this old laptop down to either my brother or my parents since it still surfs the net fine, dvds etc. I expect to keep the Vaio just as long as I have this one.

The issue I have with stickers is the whole gooey residue left behind when you want to remove them to replace it with another. I do agree though that I will have to be 100% sure that I will be able to stand the design I want engraved on my machine. I will not make the mistake of not being happy with the work I receive due to a fault of my own. It's just like getting a tattoo on my skin, once it's there, it's permanent.

I believe I did post my country (USA ALL THE WAY! ) Either way, generally older laptops don't sell too well. I have found people try to overcharge for an older laptop when they don't realize that for just a bit more I could go out and get something brand new.

If I do anything with my current laptop, it will probably just be given to a family member or cousin who wants it to surf the net and check facebook.

Thanks for all the advice, roweraay and To no End!

 

I guess I wasn't clear enough.

Since the fan started spinning to 100%, even when in the BIOS, I'm assuming it wasn't any tweaks. There aren't any BIOS options which control fan speed on this system, as far as I'm aware.

If you can tell me how an operating system function can alter fan speed when idling at boot in the BIOS, I'm all ears. I wish you'd stop marginalizing those who have legitimate issues with this laptop. There's no place for sycophants in technical discussions.

So, again, why so defensive when it comes to this particular laptop?

 

Does this F series NVIDIA mobile GPU support HD video/audio bitstreaming like the ATI desktop cards? I dont know much about NVIDIA as i always been a ATI fan.

Thanks in advance

 

Read the post above about the fan, there is a link to a Linux ACPI Thermal Zone bug: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5951042&postcount=5303

The point is: if a user tweaks his F and does not mention it when reporting a problem, then it's one less variable available for troubleshooting.

"the fan started spinning to 100%, even when in the BIOS, I'm assuming it wasn't any tweaks" - my fan also runs fast when in BIOS, I would not say @ 100%, when re-booting to Win 7, returns to normal idle speed.

Anybody with a normal F noticed that (hit F2 when starting the laptop)?

If you did a clean install & forgot the Original - Intel Chipset Driver, that could be an other explication for ACPI Thermal Zone malfunctions. Check this ACPI thermal zone that is causing it to shut down problem & solution on social.answers.microsoft.com.

"I guess I wasn't clear enough" - no you were not in your first post reporting your fan running @ 100% all the time.

Edit: I see that you added this line: "So, again, why so defensive when it comes to this particular laptop?" - because it's my baby! BTW read the color space I just posted, I'm willing to trade it on the spot.

Edit 2: hey, you said I'm a "sycophant" & just checked the definition, that's not very nice espece d'ours mal léché!

 

Laptop Video Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

And check the F review link posted by Coruja on the previous page with some game benchmarks: http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Sony-Vaio-VPC-F11Z1-E-Notebook.25724.0.html

 

Just curious, when you guys first started your F11 did it have Google Chrome already installed and set as your default browser?

It was a very nice feature (including the painless inactivation of the Norton trial) so I'm wondering if this is what Sony has been doing for all of their new models (Z, Y, F, W, and E).

 

Thanks for these links Joe Bleau

 

I might have put on the network name of the computer, "Zoe" in this case, (The Doctor's highly intelligent math genius companion, quite appropriate for a new computer) since each computer I have had keeps its name throughout its lifetime. And I've SOLD computers, such as "Leela," and the subsequent owner has actually kept the same name.

And the Bezel can be changed, which is how Sony is able to resell returned defective laptops with inscriptions after repair..

(Courtesy sparepartswarehouse.com)

 

That photo makes me want to write to Sony Parts to get the EU Premium 1080p part # & swap my US screen & ebay-it.

 

Hello t everyone, I have a question to all international buyers especially those who are from Italy. I want to by F model from US because in Italy is expensive. I'm from Europ and dont have a SonyStyle shop , but my friend is in Italy and told to by it from US because is cheaper. But he don't know about taxes which is payed in Italy.
My question is how much will be taxes of buying VAIO F from US and shipping to Italy??

Or where in Italy may I get an discoun( of this model, some help
I read almost all post about this car and is famous,...
Those who are from Italy or Europe please reply to this message
P.S. if u have some info paste a link <>

P.S. sorry for my bad english!!!

 

You know about taxes and custom office in Europe right? Just something to consider some countries 8%+21%= 29% on top of the price and if something will go wrong warranty is US, I believe, so you need to send it to the US and if that's not all you might be hit by customs again when item will be shipped back from the US after reparation is to be done.

 

Hi there,
I just bought myself a VPCF11M1E series laptop. It is a great laptop and i am happy about my choise. However I discovered that high pitch noise everyone is talking about.

Here is what i found.
-it appears only when the CPU is on idle...and the slitest action will make it dissapear, like moving the mouse from the touchpad is enough.
-i olso discovered that loading certain aplication will trigger the noise to appear. I uninstalled almost all of the bloatware that comes installed on the laptop and right after it boots there is no noise. However if I signup to my yahoo messanger the noise appears and is constant until i sign out. The same applies if I start google chrome. Other applications like microsoft office outlook or the IE do not trigger the noise to appear.


This leads me to think its a software issue and thats a great think because that means it can be fixed.
Let me know if anyone has a fix for this.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5951042&postcount=5303

 

I guess this got lost

Could someone tell me a cable using which I can access the data in my old 3.5 inch SATA harddrive using the eSATA port ?

Thank you .

 

To connect a 3.5" SATA hard disk drive to the F, you need a 3.5" SATA to USB & eSATA External Enclosure (read the user reviews) that includes a power supply. You can connect this to either the fast eSATA port on the F or any computer, including the F, with a slower USB 2.0 port.

You could also use a HDD eSATA Docking Station (with power adapter) so you could swap between multiple drives.

 

OK, so no separate sound card. Thanks for this.

I'm assuming that the laptop can output true (not simulated) 5.1 surround sound. So would I use the laptop's headphone socket to connect to a Logitech X-540 5.1 PC-speaker system (this doesn't have a S/PDIF connection)? And if so, is this single connection enough to allow the speakers to provide real (not simulated) 5.1 surrround sound?

I'm sorry if my question display ignorance, but I've never owned a laptop before, nor had a computer without its own sound card, nor been thinking of getting a 5.1 PC speaker system.

 

How much is the 3-yr warranty from BB, if you don't mind my asking? Can you get a warranty from Sony after purchasing it from BB if you don't want the BB warranty?

 

The mini socket output is stereo, of course, but the HDMI output carries 7.1 dolby, courtesy of the GT330.

 

My F will be arriving on Tuesday. It will be a second pc for me. My first pc has Norton 2010 on it. I pay $55+ for the annual subscription. I don't want to pay that much for the new computer. How should I handle this so I can get both pc's covered in the cheapest possible manner?

 

Avast. .....

 

I paid $49.99 ('on sale' price) for my copy of 2010 Kaspersky Internet security, but that covers a license for 3 machines.

 

AVG Antivirus

 

Are you the same tech I talked with at Best Buy?

The fan used to run, even while in the BIOS, but not at 100%. Then, one morning at boot, there was a distinct change in fan speed - it ran at 100% and would not slow down. This is not an issue with the operating system or drivers of any kind - it's purely a hardware issue. The fan would even spin to 100% with no hard drive in the system, and no amount of tweaking power settings in Windows or Linux could drop the fan speed at all.

I'm starting to "get" you, Joe, but you're not making it easy.

 

Wow, eye-opening to say the least ! The fellows in the Sony US organization who made this screen decision for the US should be taken to task.

Having said that, I realized something a couple of days back. When the screen automatically adjusts for ambient light, it does not go to full brightness, even if you press "Fn + F6" and try to brighten up the screen. After switching off the "Automatic brightness setting" via: Vaio Control Center > Display > Automatic Brightness settings > Adjust Brightness Automatically (un-check), I find that even my vertical viewing angles are FAR better than before. In fact, it is a night and day difference !

 

I think regardless of how bright we think we are, many a time when the product starts behaving in a certain way suddenly after we do a lot of tweaks into the product, the first thing I would suggest doing is to bring it back to the factory state. Even if logically we feel the hardware is the culprit.

Then see if the symptoms are still present. If they are present, then yes, it could very well be a hardware issue. But jumping to an immediate conclusion that it is a hardware issue, after introducing a significant number of additional variables into the product that was NOT present in the factory product, sometimes misses the mark.

These are all fairly complex products with a lot of inter-connectedness among the componentry (hardware, software and firmware) that causes the product to behave in a certain manner. Making changes to the componentry (software in your case) could very well be changing the overall behavior.

Bottomline, I would follow the advice to take the product back to the factory state and see if the problem is still there. If not, then add your "tweaks/changes" one at a time and see if there are any adverse changes and if not, then add more of the changes until you pinpoint the culprit.

 

No more FDH screens or 330m at SonyStyle.ca

 

Yah, it's 310s and 1600 X 900 until the June refresh. Too many of the screens were defective, and 330 yields were too low.

 

Come on guys, we have to pay 2,178.88 USD for top version of F Series. Not trying to say it is honest approach from Sony but normally you're getting all the goodies even if they are produced in Europe we paying 40% more for the same stuff.

 

June refresh? I thought you told me in an earlier post that rumors of a refresh were just that, rumors. Did some new info come to light that I haven't seen?

 

I've heard from inside sources a major refresh is in June. So far everything I've been told and have posted here has been correct. There is NO refresh before June.

 

Let's see now: Your source would have us believe that Sony is going to forgo sales of this model for four months in the American markets, allowing those who want a FullHD screen (the way it was hyped in its initial marketing, of course) and a better graphics card to spend most of their time on other manufacturers' Websites, eh?

Once they leave you, they might not come back -- everybody knows this marketing maxim.

Remember: it wouldn't be a "major refresh" if Sony got in more regular (i.e., non-matte, non Adobe RGB) FullHD screens from a new supplier (and/or 330s), would it? But the "minor" change of a non-defective screen would be refreshing to a lot of buyers, wouldn't it?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Part of the refresh is to use the Nvidia Fermi 400-series card (if it doesn't remain vaporware.) I don't think anyone has any idea what's going to happen with the screens, they weren't expected to be so bad. Using the RGB matte screen from the EU F11 would be nice, but supplies are limited. I HAVE said here that they may actually source from a supplier for Dell or some such, maybe by using a 16.2" screen instead of 16.4, Sony has done that before.

Anyway Sony has other lines, the new E-series, refreshed CWs, new options for the Z-series - being short of one particular model isn't guaranteed to send everyone off to another brand, when in fact another VAIO model may still be closer to what the customer wants than offerings from Dell, Toshiba, Samsung etc.

We may be F-obsessive in this thread, but they're not all that Sony has...

 

Comparison pictures?

So the Fermi 400 is better?

 

Well Fermi is Nvidia's next generation of video card with DirectX 11. Maybe they'll have more luck with their 40nm yields with these than with the 300s.. Better? I don't think any Nvdia card approaches ATI cards.

 

So if I want true (not simulated) 5.1 sound from a set of 5.1 PC speakers, then I need speakers that have an HDMI connector?

Is that the only way of achieving it, or will 5.1 PC speakers with S/PDIF connection also do it?

 

why not? What makes the difference

 

Les us not get into an Nvidia versus ATI discussion here, I think it's best to remain friends.

 

Avast and AVG Antivirus are both inferior to Microsoft Security Essentials

 

I think there should be some clarification about these high pitched noise reports. I don't think all these reports are the same problem, but the noise is being described as high pitched. High pitched is too vague and/or subjective. It's confusing. To me, when I think high pitched I'm thinking of a shrill ringing in the ears. Some of the reports which describe a possible fan issue are also using the term high pitch. To me that sound is more of an electrical hum/whine, not high pitched.

 

I don't know how much BB's warranty is, but you can purchase a warranty from Sony after purchasing it from BB, albeit at an increased price.

For example, if you purchased the notebook at sony style you can get the 3 Year Express Ship Service Plan for $179.99 at the time of purchase OR within 180 days after. If the notebook is purchased elsewhere, BB for example, the same 3 Year Express Ship Service Plan is $299.99.

 

Exactly, the "whine" or "buzz" noise I hear from my Y-series is electrical like it is the CPU. Not the fan.

I couldn't hear that sound through whoever posted that Zip file, their typing and the fan noise was too loud. They should have STOPPED TYPING when they were recording.

 

By how much? After looking at AV-Comparatives I narrowed it down to Avast Free and MSE. What does MSE have that Avast doesn't?

 

After reading the Intel Specification Documents for the Core I7 720, 820 QM and 920 XM processors as well as the PM55 Chip, I have concluded that doing a recovery & restore operation from the recovery disks will (most likely) not affect the fan problem.

The recovery & restore only affects the recovery and the operating system partitions; it will not restore the BIOS. Over the last few days I have been experimenting with the Recovery and Restore feature using DVD-R and DVD-DL discs on a spare Hitachi drive. At no time did the BIOS get reset back to factory defaults.

Incidentally, I was pleased to find that I could repartition the disc during the restore operation into multiple partitions to isolate all of my personal data to the D:/ drive.

The cooling fan in the F11 is regulated by data coming from the PECI bus (Platform Environmental Control Interface) out of the processor to the PM55 PCH chip and then to an external fan control circuit. The PM55 does incorporate the Intel Quiet System Technology for controling and monitoring of up to four fans - ONLY for a desktop. Notebooks must use external thermal fan control circuitry. These functions are controlled by BIOS subroutines.

The BIOS in the F11 is made by American Megatrends. It is the more standards compliant Aptio Bios as compared to the older AMIBIOS. It is highly configurable as to content as well as user interface by the computer manufacturer which is why us end users cannot do anything other than change a few settings such as virtualization, passwords and boot order. I requested, received and read the white paper from the American Megatrends website last week regarding the Aptio product. I did find a reference to alternate function keys to gain access to other parts of the BIOS setup. I wonder what Sony engineers have set this to!

When I boot my F11 into BIOS, my fan will power up to a high rev also. This could be caused by either the BIOS configuration routines using a single core at 100% looping in code as it waits for user input thus causing the thermal temperature of the core to rise, the BIOS configuration routine signaling the fan control circuit to runup the fan speed, or, the PM55 signaling that it is in a reset or hung state which will cause the fan to run at 100%. This is a Thermal Design safety feature (according to the Intel Specs) to prevent thermal damage if the system locks up.

Unfortunately, the currently shipped BIOS IS NOT available on the esupport.sony.com website for this model therefore we cannot reload the BIOS from an external source to see if that corrects the problem.

I would call Sony support tomorrow any report the problem.