Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

X2^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I had the same problem.

It's a new sound card and the latest ALSA drivers release should get it working:

1. Download the drivers here
2. Follow the instructions to install here

Hope that helps!

 

i dont know if this has been discussed before, but why have sony stopped selling this laptop on their website. Is it just a region restriction cause i'm in australia? I'm on the sony style website USA but it says available soon and notify me when available. Whats going on?!?!?!?

 

It's been discussed. People have received replies from Sony that Sony has stopped selling the F because a) Website issues, b) stock issues (supply/demand), and c) because Sony is trying to fix the whining/buzzing noise that so many people have complained about.

Take your pick of which to believe

 

sure thing, just send me your bank details, credit card number, address and date of birth

 

You don't need those with Paypal.

 

Cant really trust the internet these days, what with all these people hacking into computers, getting your details and stealing money!

 

As has been previously discussed on this forum, the display is basically inadequate at the factory default settings; you have to disable the automatic brightness, and then calibrate the brightness/contrast/gamma/vibrance to taste in the Nvida control panel. However, once recalibrated, I find the screen performance to be be acceptable from a natural viewing angle (the viewing angles could be alot better). That having been said, I'm looking forward to connecting mine to my Dell U2410 display.

 

I haven't seen an Full-HD FW5* screen, but I have seen the FW5* Eco 1600X900 at Best Buy today and I think it is a lot brighter than the Vaio F on display. I worked with all the settings on the Vaio F and it just isn't as bright. There was even a Vaio NW that seemed brighter. It could be me or that I'm used to the MacBook Pro LED screens.

I hope Sony decides to do something with the screens since it sounds like some people are having problems with the screen.

 

Still trying to figure out if I should cancel my order as I probably only have through tomorrow to do it if I should get this laptop or not. All these issues scare me a bit.

 

One thing everyone seems to be having problem with is the brightness of the F's screen. I have NO understanding of why that is. If one turns off VAIO screen management in Control Panel the screen is blindingly brilliant, I mean you can't look at it without seeing spots in your eyes. When controlled with the light sensor on or even disabled but still under VAIO control it's only one-quarter or so as bright.. There is NO issue wth the brilliance of the screen!

What IS different from the FW, as far as I could judge while having a defective screen, is that the colour and depth or "Density" of the image is not as good on the F-series as on the FW. I was sold on this laptop's display by seeing an FW playing high-def video in BestBuy. The FW was approaching the best Macbooks. The F-series screen seemed to just "paint in" the picture.

 

Ditto, I'm on the fence about it..

 

I think its a great computer, for what its worth, I've been using it for almost two weeks, as one of the early adopters. I have the i720, 6GB, Full HD, Blu Ray RW. Every system is going to have its own set of issues. The buzzing is a MINOR annoyance, AND a permanent fix has already been posted on this forum. The screen probably won't win any awards, but once you disable the automatic brightness control, it performs as advertised and is extremely bright. The quality of the build, together with the components and features, at the price point, make it a great value. You're really not going to do better in this marketplace without spending much, much more, and even doing so you could potentially end up with a system with big-time issues (see throttling issues on XPS 1645, for example).

 

"All these issues?" What issues? There is a whining on many sets which may or may not yield to a firmware fix, three people in this forum(including myself) have had bad screens, and in a few case some keys squeak

There's no overheating, crashing, software problems, excessive fan noise, problems with drives, power supply, or power management. And the system outperforms similarly-equipped laptops from other vendors, is one of the few to offer Bluray burning and worthwhile bundled software (such as Adobe's.) It has the best keyboard I've ever encountered on a portable. And it's solidly-made and pretty. AND it does all this at a lower pricepoint than ANY other comparable current unit.

 

@nizmoz I don't think you'll find any laptop which doesn't have a forum full of people complaining about problems they've been having. Considering this one is mostly full of Sony speculation, people having immature arguments and a few squeaky keys, it's probably not that bad...

 

PS serious question to any UK buyers - anyone received theirs yet? Mine was due to ship from the logistics centre on the 22nd but haven't heard anything from Sony since their e-mail a good few days before that. Humph.

 

I appreciate your thoughts!

I did make a note of the mic whining fix so that shouldn't be much of an issue there. I heard that it resets itself after shutdown so I'd probably have to apply the fix at each start-up?

Yeah, I haven't been able to find a comparable system to the F without going out of my budget so I agree, it's a great deal for what were getting. The mic and fan noise are the only two things that have me bothered.

 

Thanks guys. Especially Melody. I think you convinced me to keep my order.

 

Lol!! I am one of those who had the squeaky keys
( + other issues)

I am waiting for it to come back on sale. I want another one!!!!
There is no other other i7 laptop like it yet on the market.
I never heard any whining though with the frequency of complaints i'm sure it's just my hearing going to the dogs

It's definitely a keeper! I basically stopped looking once I tried the F.

I just hope that in take two I don't get another dud of a screen.

 

Another picture from the oh-so-brief period of time I had one of these beauties in my possession. Keeping up our enthusiasm...

:wink:

 

Cool cat! Never seen a bronze coat before

 

Kitteh!!!!!

 

hah looks like my cat but skinnier. His whiskers need trimming!

 

And using the "search this forum" box. top right on this page there are 117,325 views & 1,469 posts so far, so these "issues" have to be kept in proportion.

All mass produce things have a proportion of duds, that's why there is a return policy & warranty. Even the top rated brands in the Consumer Reports car reliability ratings, for example, also have failures, but they have a much lower rate than the middle or the bottom of the pack.

That's why they are top rated.

I find it incredible that some people want to cancel their orderts even before seeing the laptop or others who have a perfectly good one thinking of returning them, just in case.

Chill-out!

 

I just picked up the Vaio F from best buy...... 1080p 6gb ram geforce 330 .....bluray...

My question is does any one have any version if this and also have a dual band wireless router? This should be b/g/n and i have a dual band router with one segment 2.4Ghz and g only and one segment 5Ghz and N only... the sony doesnt see the N segment.. other laptops such as my macbook pro sees it no problem... does the sony only do 2.4 ghz N? anyone have any advice?

 

TBH, the buzzing issue really is bad. I'm not anal about my computers at all, but to be sitting in a quiet library listening to a high-pitched whine the whole time...

 

The colour is sorrel agouti, unique to Abyssinian and Somali cats - and certain breeds of horses..

 

Buz Fix with screen shots:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5748529&postcount=546

 

Hi folks. I've calibrated my screen with my Spyder3 Elite and I think this is a beautiful display. First, regarding brightness, let me reiterate what MelodyMaster and several others have said. Once you disable the well intentioned but poorly implemented "adjust brightness automatically" feature by unchecking the box in Vaio Control Center/Display/Automatic Brightness Settings, the screen can become blindingly bright. But just increasing the brightness is not enough. Before calibrating my screen, I tried doing some web surfing, watched a Blu Ray movie and viewed some photos, and I was not happy. Even after attempting to manually adjust the screen brightness to an appropriate level, I saw the washed out look that people were talking about, especially watching the Blu Ray movie, as well as some backlight bleed which seemed to cause uneven illumination with the bottom of the screen being brighter. I must admit I was a bit worried. But the good news is that calibrating made all the difference. The calibrated screen is more evenly lit, has more punch, is bright without being blinding, and equally importantly, shows detail in the shadows while maintaining a rich black. Watching Blu Ray movies on the calibrated screen is amazing. There's rich, wonderful detail and depth of both color and tonality. Text on the calibrated screen appears sharper and easier to read, and photos are bright, vividly colorful and have a 3D quality that I haven't seen on any screen before, even my 21 inch CRT. I will agree that the vertical viewing angle is pretty narrow and I do miss the extra vertical pixels from my previous laptops 1600x1200 screen. I haven't found the glare to be a problem as long as I don't have a bright light behind me. Bottom line, I'm very happy with screen once it's calibrated. As I pointed out previously, colorimeters like the Spyder3 can be quite inexpensive ($80) when paired with basic software, and for this purpose, basic is all you need (see my previous post #1002 for more details).

 

I believe someone posted regarding this a few pages ago, but I'm not sure if they are talking about the same thing, so I'd rather ask myself


Let's say I want to reformat because of a virus or something. I created recovery discs when I received the computer, but can I use these to completely reinstall windows and reformat? I'm confused as to how I would go about re-installing windows after a reformat, as the computer did not come with a "Windows 7 Home Premium Disc." I think I also read that Sony CD keys are separate from other windows cd keys? So if I were to borrow a friends disc and use my cd key on the bottom of my computer, this wouldn't work?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Shouldn't be long now! Do let us know when you receive it, am very hopeful about the the screen quality on the Premium UK models.

 

Thanks much for the good news of your properly calibrated display.! My Spyder3 Express ($70.00) is on the way, and am looking forward to similar results. After evaluating this versus the pro, it's clear that 95% of users only need this product. Photographers, graphic artist's, etc., would want the pro or elite version.

 

Great! Let us know how it works out.

 

The 256 GB SSD that came in my Vaio F is a Toshiba THNS256GG8BBAA. I looked it up on Tom's Hardware--it's read/write speeds are 120/70. Not too shabby, but quite a bit slower than the Samsung I was hoping it would ship with, which has 200/160 read/write. But the Toshiba is apparently less expensive, which might explain why they dropped the price of the upgrade as much as they did.

 

Does anyone know if the Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter which we have in this machine is capable of brodcasting of the 5GHZ band? I thought that this was a dual band adapter? I don't see any updated drivers that would enable this.

 

Same case of you (i'm french)... im still waiting and no news from sony , so i asked to a sony agent on friday & he told me that there isn't any problem just a delay ... so, wait & see ...

 

Mine is making a high-pitch sound...for others that have it, is it intermittent for you or steady/constant? Mine comes and goes (pulsates), which i find annoying, even with the temporary "fix" i still seem to hear it.

This is my first laptop, so not sure what "normal" sounds are.

Also I find that there is a lower buzzing sound - occurs when i use the touchpad, this goes away when i keep the recording tab open at all times.

(Other than the sound, I love it! It's fast and gorgeous)

 

CTO are back and available for order in Europe, delivery 2-3 weeks, prices and configuration has also remained as before with the addition of the i3 that was made last week

 

If it's a fast i7, it should sound like this (note turbo boost) :
http://car-sounds-ferrari-550-maran...Lou-mp3-download.kohit.net/_/153214&id=153214

 

Some people think it's ok to use return policies for whatever reason, while others believe it's not. What ever you believe please don't use this topic for a moral debate. It's off topic.

 

Which European site is offering customisables please? which country are you in?
I'm ready to order!

As an aside, I found this interesting article on monitor colour calibibration...

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM

I'm sure if you're a studio user it won't be anything new, but for an average joe like me it was very interesting!

matt

 

Sonystyle.nl and Sonystyle.co.uk are offering F series like normal again.

So much for all speculations.

 

Dammit..!! Still no backlit keyboard in the UK...

 

I've checked .it and .de and guessed (and as Phil checked some others I was assuming correctly) that is all over Europe.

Maybe not in the countries where Sony does not offer customisation, I really don't know that.

 

Sorry if I'm one that started that, was really more moaning than moralizing but still.

 

Um, no!...the Sonystyle.co.uk website is not showing the F series in the 'Customisable Notebooks' section! (I've tried CTRL+F5 refresh too.)

I'm using... http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/vaio

matt

 

Try the link you quoted. Or here: https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/VAIO-Laptop-PCs/F-Series-16-4?config=x&csint=14003185

 

Ahhhh, your link works...but going from the hub does not (for me)!

Someone should tell Sony!

matt

 

yes, the words "sewing circle" and "worse than" spring to mind

 

Not in the UK, they're not.

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That'll teach me for not refreshing before I post!