Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Very good to hear. I will attempt as well when mine is delivered.

 

I thought SonyStyle doesn't accept PayPal? And with the PayPal Plug-In no longer available, how would you do this? Asking for a PayPal Debit/Credit Card or is there another way I'm not aware of?

I guess it really depends on what you do. For most people, small random writes are more important than big sequential writes. This might not be the case if you are constantly copying/writing several GB files to disk (e.g. high end video editing perhaps).

But on random writes, the Intel X25-M simply blows those disks away.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1022/11/
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/05/15/ocz-vertex-ssd-review/8

 

Yes they do on the US Sony Style, it was confirmed with a rep & you have the option at checkout. It's the only way for a foreigner to use that site if your CC does not have a US billing address.

Go to your Paypal account, add the US shipping address you want then go to US Sony Style & spend some money.

 

Yeahhhh. Keep reading. Random reads/writes are where its at, and Intel beats everything hands down. Who cares if the write speeds are a little slower. Wait until G3 then

 

Good points. So does anyone here know when the next refresh is?

 

A while back someone asked to see photos of the Vaio F Premium (USA) screen before and after calibration with a colorimeter. Here you go: http://www.scottrosenfeldphoto.com/Vaio_F_screen/index.html

Keep in mind that unless the monitor that you're using right now is itself calibrated, the comparison might not be very meaningful. If you do have a calibrated monitor, then these images offer an accurate comparison of the difference between the two screen states. The white balance and exposure for all the photos was set manually and kept the same for all of the shots.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but I can't resist adding a few comments. The differences are not as dramatic as you might expect. This may be disappointing to some who were unhappy with how the monitor looked in Best Buy, and were hoping for a drastic improvement. But actually it's good news--the difference isn't that huge because the uncalibrated images don't look to bad--not nearly as washed out as at Best Buy. I think there are a few reasons for this--better lighting, optimal screen angle and avoidance of reflections when I took the photos meant the default screen was shown to it's best advantage. And another interesting find--at least in this case, the default "auto adjust screen brightness" actually worked. It was a fairly bright room where I took the photos, and the auto setting had brightness cranked up to 100%. That said, I think you certainly see more accurate color with the calibrated shots, and more punch--mostly due to deeper blacks. Depending again on how good your current monitor is, you might not see detail in the shadows in the darker black areas of the calibrated shots--they may be all blocked up. If that's the case, the brighter shadow areas of the uncalibrated shot may look better to you. But you'll have to trust me that the shadow detail on the calibrated shots is there--and it's precisely those rich blacks with good shadow detail that give the calibrated screen more punch, and the lack thereof (among other things) which causes the uncalibrated screen to look washed out. Enough rambling. Hope you enjoy the photos. By the way--they all come from Windows 7 background wallpaper choices found under "personalization"--pretty cool images.

 

Some additional info on the Toshiba SSD:

http://www.toshiba.com/taec/news/press_releases/2009/memy_09_573.jsp

From their main SSD page:
http://ssd.toshiba.com/SSD-product-guide.html

Some tidbits from their SSD FAQ page:

-----------------
What are the differences between Toshiba's families of SSDs, and what capacities are offered?

Answer

SSDs are now available in many capacities, including high-capacity Toshiba drives of 256GB and 512GB for mobile computer users, as well as the highest capacity, 128GB mSATA and Half-Slim modules for mini-mobile and netbook PCs.

Toshiba offers one of the only 512GB SSDs currently shipping, and was one of the first companies as one of the first companies to market with a family of products based on MLC NAND technology. Toshiba offers its high performance HG Series SSDs for high-end notebooks in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB capacities, in 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch form factors, including a slim 7mm thin version of the 2.5-inch drive. Capacities for SSDs are not expected to be a limiting factor as value/performance improves with advances in NAND technology combined with the historical price decline in semiconductor storage. The HG3 Series enable improved system responsiveness with a maximum sequential read speed of 240 to 250MB per second (MBps) and maximum sequential write speed of 180MBps.

Our SG series mSATA and Half-Slim SSD modules using 32m MLC NAND Flash are available in 30, 62 and 128GB capacities. These two module form factors, each smaller than a business card, enable mobile computing devices. The SG Series features a maximum sequential read speed of 180MBps and a maximum sequential write speed of 70MBps. The 128GB modules are only one seventh the volume and one eighth the weight of a 2.5-inch standard form factor SSD, and consume a fraction of the power.

-----------------
What is TRIM Support, and do Toshiba SSDs support it?

Answer

The TRIM Command allows an operating system (OS) that supports it, such as Windows 7, to send information to a solid state drive controller to tell it which data blocks are no longer in use and can be deleted. An OS operation such as delete in the past or with operating systems that don't support the TRIM command means the data blocks involved are flagged as not in use but not actually deleted. TRIM allows the OS to pass this information on down to the SSD controller, so the data is removed before the next time the drive may need to write to those blocks.

The purpose of the instruction is to maintain the speed of the SSD throughout its lifespan, avoiding the slowdown that early models encountered once all of the cells had been written to once.

Toshiba's new 32nm HG3 and SG2 Series support the TRIM Command implemented in Windows 7.
------------------------------

 

@slrosenfeld: thanks a lot for that, great pictures! I disagree on one thing, to me the difference is very dramatic hehe. The default profile is clearly too much on the blue side, it kills many colors.

Look at that turtle:

default
spyder

 

SSD 101: Can Bargain SSDs Give Windows A Quantum Performance Leap?(includes some caveats).

I like his math: "Time is money. What’s your time worth? If you could magically get back 10 minutes of your computing day, five days per week, that’s over 43 hours recaptured annually. Even if you earn minimum wage, just $7.25 per hour, a $300 SSD would pay for itself within the first year alone if it could save you those minutes."

Edited to add: stumbled upon this HDD search engine where you can modify the search parameters & rank by different criteria including GB/$:
http://diskcompare.com/filter/?i=SATA/300&f=2.5"+SSD&s=80&p=

 

Thanks fernandes, glad you liked them. I think the differences are important but I didn't want to overstate the case

 

Thanks again. So it looks like this one doesn't support Trim . If I'm following Toshiba's convoluted product line info, the one in the Vaio F is the 43nm series, not the 32. I wonder if it might become an option down the line by a firmware upgrade?

 

@slrosenfeld: thank you for your effort. As you mentioned, the big caveat is that we are looking at your images via our monitors.

The other one is that we don't know what are the true colors of these images. Some may like more blue, some hotter.

If you would put your Colorchecker beside the screen & load and electronic version of the Colorchecker on the desktop, we could compare a little bit more like on this page:

http://www.scottrosenfeldphoto.com/Vaio_F_screen/content/Set_white_balance_01_large.html

Anyway, I'll take your word for it, it's better calibrated.

 

@slrosenfeld

Thanks for the post. The difference is definitely noticeable. lm viewing your photos through my big screen tv and can see deeper colors. Those blacks look so much better!
lt´s definitely worth shelling out for the software.

 

True, but there are areas of many of the images that are clearly meant to be neutral--clouds, waterfall, neutral greys in several of the cartoons. If you're viewing on a calibrated monitor, you should be able to sense the blue color cast to the uncalibrated images, and see them snap into neutrality with the calibration

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this.

Thanks for your trust. Another reason I posted these, apart from the issue of calibration, was just to show some nice looking images displayed by this screen. For many, seeing is believing and I think these pictures may allay some people's fears about the monitor's quality.

 

"Originally Posted by Joe Bleau:
If you would put your Colorchecker beside the screen & load and electronic version of the Colorchecker on the desktop, we could compare a little bit more like on this page:"

You can see the caveat on this example with an old CRT (quick & dirty P&S on Auto), the overhead lighting is too warm and too weak compared to the brightness of the screen so the white squares bottom left are not equal to start with.

For people who want to know more about it, see bottom of this page: Evaluation Charts.

I agree, your work is useful for skeptics & shows the blue cast of the Sony stock profile.

It's much easier to just plug the colorometer & sit back.

Tuning a Ferrari is a small cost compared to the price of the vehicle itself.

 

After I calibrated my display, I've alternated to your calibration slrosenfeld, and found a bit of difference in less brightness/gamma I guess. Both of them now are great, just depends on my preferential eye. I've also adjusted the "digital vibrance" setting in the Nvidia control panel. It's really amazing how rich and georgeous the colors become as I've adjusted just a bit of digital vibrance into the calibration. This display is truly a gem.

 

Thanks.

I'm in Australia. This thing costs 3k$ here. and if it were even semi glossy I would buy it in instant.

 

I think Sony should give you guys some gifts or discount for defending their F screens...

 

^^^Maybe I'll have to try my luck with them... lol

 

+1 True, so very True!!

 

How much is an airplane ticket to USA?

 

my f series from best buy ended up costing me $1700aud. Similar machine here cost 3k, as some one said above.

Thought it was going to be cheaper, but the Aus dollar (for USA) dropped from 93c down to 90c in a couple days by the time my mate purchased it for me. Also the 9.75% tax and recycling tax, PLUS bank fees for international credit card use.

any who....

This fan noise people are talking about. Is it a high pitched (kinda digital sounding lol, some sort of buzzing) noise? I dont have any typical loud fan type of noise, just the high pitched... is it actually the fan, or is it the i7 causing that sound?

ive gone through most of this thread, but may have missed it, is there any way sony can fix this remotely, or would the laptops have to be sent in for repair (assuming it can be fixed)

 

Is there a fix for users not reading the posts & not using the "Search this thread" feature and coming back with this recurring whining theme?

You saw the simple buzzing (or whining) fix, right?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5748529#post5748529

No, it's not the i7 core otherwise it would be all over the news as a ton of manufacturers are using it...

Also read this post about other brands with i7 buzzing:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5797047&postcount=1883

 

Fix works for the buzzing high pitch sound. No fix for the whistling fan which some have at certain idling rpm's.

 

Somebody, please post a recording or even better some dB(A) measurement from @ 15cm distance so we could compare with some other brands of Core i7 laptops.

Here are some nice whining sounds.

 

I am a major noob. I recorded the sound with my camera and its an AVI file. It is taking forever to upload onto youtube. Is there a diff file format i should be using and how do i change it???

 

Exactly my point. Especially if you're going to run OS on it, the small random writes are very important.

 

lol yeah i saw that post. i did what it said to, then when that new patch was released, i reset those changes, thinking it would be fixed, but the noise came back. i forgot to 'mute' the mic again though... my bad

 

Not sure if this will work, a quick alternative to youtube which is still loading.... http://www.facebook.com/v/272993455903

Sorry in advance for crap quality video, just wanted to capture the sound. A whistle type sound.

 

Another one, longer and out of focus, but can hear the sound better/louder.

http://www.facebook.com/v/273021020903

 

I bought myself a Spyder 3 Elite yesterday http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/SPYDER3/SPYDER3.HTM and tested it on my T61 just for a demo while I wait for my Vaio F to arrive.

Wow, what a difference. It is like having a new laptop screen! Loads of new colours and text looks crisp too. Loved looking through the test images and enjoying all the vibrant colours...it reminded me of the first time I switched on my new Sony flat-screen TV (when they first came out). If this is with my crappy IBM laptop, then I look forward to some 1920x1080P of premium Sony goodness next week!

I think the point here is that the Spyder 3 (or any other similar device, i1 etc) will significantly improve and optimise any laptop screen to give stunning results.

The reason I quoted your post wbglider, is that one of the things the was mentioned in the Spyder 3 reviews that more luminance could be dug out with other devices...and when you mention "digital vibrance" I wonder if that is the same as luminance? and, where do you find that in the nVidia control panel please?

matt

 

Fist photos of an Italian one model is VPCF11J1E, 'normal' black the screen is matte!


Photos made with cell phone

 

Nice! Thanks for the pics! It's hard to tell, how do you find the brightness / contrast / colour gamut as compared to other screens?? That model is meant to have the 100% RGB screen.

It looks like there is a glass/semi-gloss coating on the screen as well ... is it completely matte or the former?

Thanks again!

 

I take it the keyboard is not backlit then..?

 

Doesn't look like the premium black, more like a standard black. And looks semigloss to me rather than matt, but difficult to tell really.

 

@ ilfuca

thks for the pics...GREAT LEGO HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

 

That is definitely not the 'Premium Black' model.

 

It's a pre-built Italian version of the UK F11S1E, so regardless of the colour, it's still meant to have the Premium 100% RGB display - which it seems to given the not so glossy nature of the pics.

We'll have to wait to find out about the "Premium Black" backlit keys though

 

It makes sense that my profile may be a bit dark--I created the profile in a dark room--that's how I'm most likely to be using it for more color critical work. I meant to tell people that when I posted the profile. I might make a second profile in a brightly lit room to see if it helps for viewing in a brighter setting. It's pretty easy to change profiles in Color Management, so you could have a few different ones, and switch them according to your environment. When you change the "digital vibrance" setting in Nvidia control panel, have you confirmed that the setting is sticky with re-boots? And is it applied in all applications? It sounds from your description that it's changing color saturation. I'll do some checking to see what exactly digital vibrance is, and whether something similar can be incorporated into the Spyder Calibration.

Now I see what you mean. I thought about doing that but it would have been difficult to properly expose both the color checker and the screen.

I thought about that. If they're following this forum, maybe Sony will take the hint and ship the screen with a more accurate profile. Also, I think we're drumming up a bit of business for DataColor. Hopefully they'll view it that way, rather than being mad that I shared a profile from their device.

 

Not for long, I will receive my VAIO F Premium Black today, I will keep you all posted with first impressions, pics and video tonight

 

Please pics nowwwww

 

Can't wait!

My main concern is the screen at the moment (glossy vs. semi-glossy vs. true matte, colour, brightness). Never had backlit keys before so I wouldn't miss it, though i'm sure if it's included I would probably learn not to live without it afterwards.

Would also be interesting to hear if any of the EU models are exhibiting the noise/fan issues of the B.B. models. It doesn't seem to so far.

 

Right you are. I must say, with overexposed snaps one can't be too dogmatic about how black the grey really is. I think there is too much reflection of the flash in the display for it to be truly matte. But i could live with an antireflective coating on a gloss screen if thats an accurate representation

 

That's exactly what I've done

I have a question on that, since I'm planning a dual boot on the x25 I've read that the less space is still available the worse it works. Is it so? And if this is the case than it would be a bad idea to partition it in order to do the dual boot

sadly not mine (both the lego house an the note)

as I've previously mentioned that was the 'normal black' not the premium


as I've said it's not mine but people in the italian forum are telling that it's matt, I'll ask again to double check

 

The first two italian users haven't found the whine and fan they state it's normal (but they're still doing the recovery dvds)

 

Unboxing photos, net cable seem kind of short, the adapter is ok.

 

Of course, I did mention way back that there is an FW thread where a few forum members noted that their FW's whine, when it occurred, seemed to be related to the screen and its brightness settings.

Let's see now: European models, different screens....

 

The digital vibrance settings are "sticky" on reboots even after the spyder profile loads! At the bottom of this window see the slider 0% to 100%:

 

Based on the SSD's model# in the screenshot you posted earlier, and comparing that with the model#s in the Toshiba site thread I posted, I believe the SSDs in the Sony models does support TRIM. Unless I completely missed the mark on this.

 

Still waiting for my delivery but just got email through saying they've registered my laptop automatically, which has serial number (xxxxxxxxx)-000000001!

lol