Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Sorry, I said "don't ask" as publishing it would kill my PIN, sorry!

 

can you send it to me via PM?
I'm a student and I'm trying to save money as much possible.
I spent over 400 dollars buying college textbooks already.

 

Well i mean, the F is very very good at what it does. the 330m is not a pushover at all. I mean its not the best (duh), but for what many people do its very well good enough. I have seen video of the 330m playing crysis on high (at a lower resolution but still).

Anyway define what you think a "gamer" is compared to say someone as myself. (i like to play games, but no online for me. Also i don't have to max out games)

 

I have the G73 pre-ordered myself.....I am not a huge gamer minus my PS3 but for the price why not get the best gaming laptop for the same price if I can.

I have been keeping my eye on the Sony F as well as a Tosh 505 and an Acer model off newegg just in case the G73 gets pushed back too far but so far so good.

 

Where did you pre order yours?? and how much? Although im still closely looking at the Sony F, the more I am looking at the G73 the better it looks (even though gaming is not a deciding factor for me)

 

Check the Asus forum I linked to, in the bottom of post # 1 they link to the best dealers.

"Define gamer" - Well a gamer wants the highest settings & FPS as possible when playing which he does a lot and the bigger the screen the better, & does not mind trade-offs like extra weight & the 2 fans working hard to cool off the extra heat generated by the powerful GPU & CPU working at the max. That perticular Asus model is 1.6 lbs heavier compared to the F and measures 16.33"x12.59"x1.8" vs. 15.3" x 1.22-1.62" x 10.4". The battery life is also shorter when comparing batteries with the same number of cells. The screen is glossier vs semi-matte and the F has a wider sRGB color gamut (I think) which is important for photos but no so much for games. There is no free lunch.

 

Just call them and talk to a Sony rep. They can give you 10% off easily, and we have seen as much as 15%.

 

only 5%, called 3 three times, which is the same I can get as a student

 

Then get the cheaper BB model w/o Blue Ray burner & 5400 HD or eat more spaghetti & cut on the meatballs. Life is not fair!

 

man i would be fine at running crysis on high at a lower resolution on the 330m (and i have actually seen it). i'd like more battery and the screen is not that much smaller... for me its the sony F for the win! haha

 

Actually to help the guy that wants the discount if you are buying this as a student why do you need a BR burner or somewhat faster HD? You are better off getting the BB one IMO.

 

Same here so we are not gamers.

Seen on Youtube: Crysis on Sony Vaio F Series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIrZvr9W--s&feature=channel

One of his comments:
"Playing on 1024 x 768, tried 1920? x 1080 but it wasnt playable. after 1 hour of gaming there were no problems of heating nor any throttle that i noticed".

 

Where did you see that he tried it on 1920 X 1080? Also if he was trying that on high of course its not playable. haha. But the 230m can play crysis at med on Full HD. so im guessing the 330m could play it at a mix of med and high with full HD.

 

This is the first time I've ever overclocked so I don't know much about the subject. I downloaded Nvidia tools and the performance options integrated right into the control panel for Nvidia.

I have played for roughly 90 minutes and the high for my gpu was 68 degrees.

 

What are your settings on CoD with it overclocked?

 

I don't understand why you dont wanna share the code that you're not using and at the same time would help others...

 

>View all comments > the username of the guy who posted the video is HangatyrSam.

 

Going back to the keybd/ US/EU thing, these photos definitely show a Premium black version with US keyboard... You can even tell that from the first photo (location of @ symbol). Whatever that says about backlights in EU, it may suggest the premium black may shortly be going to the US...

http://gallery.vaio.eu/product_gallery/index.php?s=f&c=gb&l=en

 

Because I want to buy other stuff and Sony will void my PIN (it's not a coupon code) if I abuse it and hundreds of people show up with it. Otherwise I would share-it as I am a leftist.

 

Sorry i don't see it. I see where he said he would make a video in high resolution, but it would be about 4 days. Thats it..

 

I want to say that I'm a student, and I'm buying only ONE laptop.
I asked if you could send it via PM, b/c I'm not planning on sharing it with someone else and I don't know anybody that wants to buys this laptop.

On a side note, does anybody know when is Sony shipping the pre-configured models here in the US?

 

If your looking for a deal. Buy it at BB. No BR burner and a slightly lower rpm with the HD (5400 instead of 7200) for 1349.99 + tax.

 

check the website out.

 

Add to cart to see the estimated shipping date, it's in flux (feb 9 last night) as the demand is high or call Sony Style when placing the order.

 

OR CHECK OUT THE BESTBUY ONE! hahaha help me out here.

 

When is the last time you went to the eye doctor? Instead of reading everything, use ctrl + F & paste HangatyrSam to spot his comments.

Third comment starting from the bottom of the page: http://www.youtube.com/comment_serv...&fromurl=/watch?v=RIrZvr9W--s&feature=channel

I agree with the BB or Newegg alternative as I mentioned before.

 

its been awhile. trying to get the money for the sony F . But anyway if he was on all high settings and full HD thats not going to play on a lot of laptops. I'd bet if he put some on med and rest on high (a good mix) it would play fine at full HD. But hey what do i know?

 

To be honest until I read your post I didn't even notice it. I have about 1/16" flex around the enter key. It does not really move when typing, but does move if I push on the body between keys. Either way, it is minimal in my opinion.

 

With the recent discussion about the SSD and whether i's worth it or not I figured I'd bump this post from a few days ago. I think this particular SSD is a bit of a Jeckyl and Hyde--extremely fast for short bursts of read/write with noticeably faster that HDD performance, but pretty slow larger read/writes--maybe even slower than harddrives. I'd appreciate input/insight from anyone who knows more about this than I do. I love the laptop--but if it turns out this SSD is a dud, I may return it and re-purchchase without SSD, or I saw a vendor on EBay who is selling the Vaio Fs with the Samsung PBJ 256 SSD -gen 2 with trim, for about the same as I paid on Sony Style.

 

Then you're catching someone on an off-day. Seriously! Ask if you can at least get the $100 off Boxing day discount, under which all the early F-series orders were still eligible. Attitude is everything, if you go in with an air of huffy entitlement then the agent won't want to be particulalry obliging. But remember, he/she WANTS to make the sale!

Does mywin7vaio still work for Canadian orders?

 

OTOH with the upcoming Asus, you could probably play at native 1080p resolution (sharper vs. scaling) with everything on high, hence the gamers' excitement...

 

im fine with a lower resolution. haha

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-graphics-card,1916-6.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246611-29-guide-nvidia-bios-modification

Does look complicated...

 

Warning: speculations advisory: While I agree with you about attitude, they may have changed their discretionary policy because of high demand and maybe because of all the people haggling after reading these posts.

Also their retailers would not be very happy if Sony Style undercuts their retail prices.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that Boxing day was the day after xmas? How long does-it last?

 

weird. and i wrote lcd... meant led. the one on the sony site says it has an led on it...

 

I don't know what's going on there. My process was super simple -- nvidia tools and they have some sliders to adjust the three clock settings. I know nothing about the subject but was able to OC in minutes and gain another 5+ fps in call of duty while maintaining cool temps.

 

It's the same screen, no LED. If we are talking about the 1080p US, I asked Sony Style & insisted that the rep check with a supervisor & the CTO "Premium" LCD or the preconfig where they say only "Technology : Full HD" w/o mentioning "Premium" and the BB screen are all the same.

There is only 2 displays available in the US @ the present: the 900p & the 1080p. He told me both "are not really glossy".

BTW you cannot use an international credit card w shipping to a US address on the Sony Style US site but you can use Paypal as a workaround. On BB you can use international CC and either ship to a US address or do a store pickup if you travel there. Note that BB says it's not possible to get a tax refund if leaving the country with their goods.

 

Thanks for bumping the thread, since I had missed your original response. The thing about larger read/writes is interesting and you might find clues in the Anandtech article that goes into a huge amount of detail (in a very easy to understand fashion) on all of the SSD characteristics as below:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531

The above is a multi-page article and is well worth the time spent in reading it from end-to-end.

 

The $100 off coupon until Jan 20th anyway.

 

for US as well? was is a coupon code?

 

Samsung ssd doesn't compare to an Intel

 

A couple of pages on random read/write and sequential read/write of HDD vs SSD:

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=25
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=24

 

Hi MidtownHD. The Sony Rep I spoke to suggested the CW series for a college-bound student. It might save you a few hundred dollars over the F series while still providing you with what a college student would need. Just a suggestion of something to look at. You may need the F series for whatever reason so take this with a grain of salt.

 

That's a good point, w 6.9 lbs + heavy a/c brick & short battery life, the F would not be my first choice as a student. Kids I know go w a 13" like the Macbook & plug in a larger monitor in their dorm for the best of both worlds.

 

Post #1930.

 

Incidentally I compared the CW extensively with the F-series, building various packages on Sonystyle.ca, and always the F-series came in cheaper with better performance.

 

I concur. I would go with either the SR-series or the CW-series as a student laptop and stay away from a desktop replacement model like the F-series.

 

Thanks both for the info. I'm pretty certain I'll go with the pre-configured premium VPCF11Z1E and replace the HDD with an Intel X25M.

The pre-configured model is about 100 euro cheaper than a customized one and it'll probably arrive sooner..

 

Okay -- this is something to seriously consider if you're a student out there and money is a consideration.

The FW series in its later incarnations has a graphics card (ATI HD4650) as good or better than the NVIDIA in the new F series and the Centrino 2 Core2Duo is no slouch -- and the fan in the FW was never an issue.

So, given that Sony gives students 10% off of Outlet prices in the States -- and given that every once in a while Sony even runs an Outlet sale and takes 10% off which would combine with the 10% student discount to be 20% -- if I were a student, I'd be roaming the Outlet every day -- NOT the refurbished computers list but the "clearance" (choose "Type of Deal" - clearance) and checking out all of those brand new FW590 CTOs that were returned or canceled because the F series came out.

Because, to be frank, the F series isn't going to be "in perfect shape" until at least the next refresh. So, if you're a student and you don't want to spend your time waiting for Sony to figure out how to kill the whine, stop the keyboard flex, deal with the heat and the fans, etc., then the FW might just be a super deal for you....

Just my "two cents"....

 

Check out this review in Reg Hardware: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/03/17/review_storage_ssd_samsung_mmd0e56g5/page2.html

The Samsung PB22-J256GB SSD gave the Intel a run for it's money, actually beating it soundly in write speeds. I'd love to have that Samsung in my laptop. Quoting from Reg Hardware's review: "In write speeds, the Intel is quite disappointing (77.6MB/s) and is easily beaten by the OCZ (136.0MB/s). But the Samsung sets a new benchmark: 176.2MB/s." Interesting that if the SA SSD benchmark I did on the Toshiba in my Vaio F is correct, it shares top spot with this Samsung for fastest sequential write.

@roweraa: Thanks for those anandtech links. The charts you referenced make me feel a bit better about the random 4K read/write speeds of the Toshiba--not the best for an SSD but not the worst either, and definitely faster than Hard Drive.