Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

MelodyMaster -- may i ask you, i ordered mine Configured to Order from SonyStyle (usa) Wednesday. My SonyStyle account says that it will ship 2/9.

What would you do if you were me at this juncture? Am i at risk?

Thank you for your advice.

 

Good man!

Seem like you don't write too much but surely You can read* and looking at the posts coming that's less common then You'd expect.



*or look at the pictures

 

Let it arrive. Then give it a good tryout. Outside of a definite fault it should be fine.

 

@howaboutnow
It seems to me that Melody has been clear, keep it and be happy.

In the unlikely occasion that yours ad also a problem with the screen You'll surely notice, it'll be just in front of you! ;-)



ops almost together but I was a little late still was a good advice

 

Hi MelodyMaster, sorry for all the questions but regarding what you saw for bleed, did you only notice it on a blank, black screen (like the blank screensaver) or was it pretty obvious even when you had something else up like a Vaio desktop background, etc. Thanks.

 

It's not a question of point of contention. My point is that message boards tend to magnify "issues", often out of proportion with the number of users with satisfactory products.

Could we say, taking in consideration the 2,100 posts in this thread @ the present that:

- a few people had defective LCD's (3)
- none reported dead or stuck pixels so far
- a majority said the Sony default monitor profile is not good w a blue cast
- the screen auto brightness caused a display washed-out look & low brightness to several people
- disabling the auto brightness & calibrating the monitor improves considerably the display aspect with very good end results
- all EU users reported a great display so far

 

I've been eyeing for the F-Series for a while now. I was looking at the UK Sony Style site and couldn't quite decide between the i3-330M and the i5-520M. Could anyone tell me if the i5 truly performs better in any significant way than the i3 to justify the extra £60 ($100)?

 

It was very obvious except on the brightest images. On a plain dark grey screen the "mirror" effect is significant. And the best viewing angle seems to roll up and down the screen as you tilt it.

 

Check this interesting article: Review Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Processors “Arrandale”

"If you consider the criteria price, performance and power consumption, the Intel Core i5 should be exposed as the obvious winner. You can get the considerably stronger Core i5-520M starting at 225 dollars...". One big difference is that the i3 does not have the Turbo Boost technology.

In my case, I need the horsepower of the i7 & don't mind the short battery life & heat and extra fan work trade-offs.

 

Thanks for that description. Mine is not experiencing that issue.

 

I just wanted to say thanks to those who took the time to write up the tutorial on calibrating the screen and providing the color profile...it has made all the difference in the world. Any buyer's remorse I had about this PC is now completely gone! Total night-and-day difference.
I got mine from Newegg, but Best-Buy should do themselves a favor and at the very lest turn off the auto-brightness setting on this laptop for their display models.
YOU GUYS ROCK!!

 

Thanks for the link. I've read the article, and it seems to me that there isn't really that big a difference between the 330M and the 520M, aside from the Turbo Boost, which I probably won't use very often, if at all, simply because of heat, noise and battery life concerns.

I want to make sure whether there's any noticeable and practical difference between the 2 chips in actual day-to-day operations (in my case - web, videos, gaming) to make bumping up to i5 worthwhile. Otherwise I may as well save the cash for something more practical like a larger HDD.

 

I agree with every point. But a forum is a small representation of the actual number of users. A tiny proportion in this forum is still a large number in the Real World. That's how TV ratings bureaux work.

 

Hi Phil, I don't quite remember, but chances are it's the 1600X900 screen. Sony does offer a "premium" version of the screen but only on their website, you can get this at Best Buy. I wish Sony would fully explain the difference between the standard and premium screen options. Calling it "Premium" and and mentioning only the 1920X1080 resolution just says it's a full HD screen but if you order the 1600X900 screen off their website you won't know you're getting a screen with limited vertical viewing angles until you open it up. I don't think that's good business coming from Sony. For a company that pushes Blu-ray I would expect their all their screens to be of high contrast.
But thanks, looks like it's gonna be the Premium screen model we have to go for. It's an extra $150. Whew.

 

I would have to agree. Almost all of my posts have been in this thread. And, by the way, I sent my F series back becuase I recieved a comlpete lemon with multiple problems. I'd say based on my observations that there are what? maybe 40-60 people who've posted on this thread and about 10 who post frequently. That's not scientific...just a guess for the sake of perspective.

 

The Turbo Boost feature is automatic, it kicks-in when extra processing power is needed and throttles back down when not needed to save power & reduce heat emission. Maybe you should read more on the subject.

Both i3-330M and i5-520M are rated @ 35W Max Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power) by Intel. If you can find minimum TDP, that would be a useful figure as well as max battery life with two F and different CPU's but they are too new and such reviews are not out yet.

Because they are both dual cores (with Hyperthreading) the max processing speed is more significant when multiplied by 2: i3-330M: 2.13 GHz x 2 = 4.26 vs. i5-520M: 2.93 Ghz x 2 = 5.86.

You can now compare a selection of CPU's on Intel's site, check: i3-330M vs. i5-520M

Did you see notebookcheck's specific pages about each of them? Intel Core i3 330M and Intel Core i5 520M

I really depends on your needs and the applications you will be running on it and I would research more on comparisons between them before ordering.

The F is not cheap & the cost difference between the i3 & i7 is not significant compared to the total price but battery life & amount of time the fan needs to work may be significant for some people in daily use.

Though choice!

 

How is the fan-noise with the Core-i5 Vaios? Is the fan running slowly when browsing the internet? Or is it completly silent? Does it ever kicks in when browsing internet?

 

But 1% of a hundred and 1% of a million is still 1%.

We can speculate at will but we do not have any hard data about the percentage of returns vs. happy users at home quietly using the thing & not posting in this thread.

Personally, the multiple positive comments, absence of major design faults & easy fix solutions for the whining & monitor settings made me order it 2 days ago. I see the glass half full...

If I do get the oddball lemon, I promise I will report back.

 

As posted before, I checked with a supervisor @ Sony Style US and all the 1080p are premium: CTO, preconfigs, and all 1080p offered by all retailors. The extra $ compared to the 900p buys you extra resolution but also a 330m video card w/ 1 GB DDR3 memory vs. the 310M w/ 512 MB DDR3 memory.

 

In every post I've made I have been positive about the F11, I loved the one I had, despite the bad screen, I've praised it, I'm getting another one at the end of February. I have recommended that people buy this computer. The glass is 98% full as far as I am concerned. You seem to be saying that my common-sense remark about the probable number of defective units out there negates everything positive that I have stated here.

 

I can agree on that!

I'm just pointing out to keep things in proportion & to be careful not getting people freaked out.

I appreciated all your posts MelodyMaster.

 

Ok. Thank you. :GEEK:

(I love this site, but I HAVE seen better selections of "optional" icons in some other forums....)

 

I noticed some backlight bleed on my screen-I mentioned it in one of my early posts. But to me it didn't seem severe. Just for my piece of mind, MelodyMaster, was yours much worse that what you see here? The screen shows what should be my evenly exposed grey card. In the first shot, I'm looking down at the screen from a slight angle, and can clearly see a bit of extra brightness along the bottom. In the second shot I'm looking straight on, and the uniformity looks pretty good to me, but still not perfect. There's a bit of vignetting in the top corners. I assumed this was within normal range for a laptop screen, but with you mentioning defective screens, I'd just like you to comment on whether what you experienced was much more dramatic than or similar to this. Thanks.

 

That looks normal, it was never possible to get anything approaching an even field on mine.

 

Has anyone heard about the possibility of an i5 version coming to the sony style US site? What has Sony's explanation been, if any, about only offering the i7 to US customers?

I read in previous posts about an i5 vs i7 comparison, something to the effect that since the i5 is in its first iteration it would not offer better energy performance, in terms of power consumption over the i7, which is in its second iteration.

Essentially, my only reasons for wanting an i5 would be if it ran quieter, cooler, and was more energy effectient. Would anyone comment on this?

 

Glad to have have helped--I had fun doing it. Also to others who have expressed appreciation for my posts, thank you and your welcome. I haven't always responded individually because I don't want to bog down this very large thread. But I do see and appreciate your comments.

 

Thanks--I figured as much, but still, good to hear.

 

Hey guys, what made you guys pick the Sony F series over something like that HP Envy?

I'm considering the F series if the Envy doesn't pan out. haha

 

The fact that it is a Vaio and not an HP/Dell/Lenovo ?

 

I picked the Sony F-series because it's NOT an HP. (VAIOs do have some competition in the race for best consumer laptop, but Sony and HP aren't even in the same sport.)

-or a Lenovo or Dell. I might have looked at a Qosmio or Alienware IF they happened to have the right features at the right price, but the F-series was the BEST-priced for what I wanted.. I have an Asus Netbook, and Asus is always pretty good, but the full desktop replacement had to be a VAIO since VAIOs have a certain cachet are nearly always better made than any of the competition.

 

Haha, that's a subjective reason. xD

 

Debating about getting the blu-ray burner? Is it a Sony? I've read some negative reviews about Sonys, something about difficulty reading different media types as well as Sony being very restrictive.

How good of a blu-ray burner is it? Any issues?

I don't care about blu-ray playback, as I have a ps3 and 50" plasma, so my only use would be backing up the hard drive. Would it still be a good buy then?

 

Can you use your colorimeter to measure the brightness in different area of the screen?

I've never seen a notebook review so far where the brightness distribution was perfectly even. Here are for example some screen grabs from these reviews: Dell Studio 1747 and MacBook Pro 17" which has a very high display user ratings but is much more expensive then the F.





So some unevenness is to be expected, within a reasonable range naturally.

 

Maybe it's because of the i7 hype & that US customers tend to like super-sized & shiny stuff (cars, etc) vs. more energy conscious people in EU? Maybe that's also why they got the matte screen first.

It was a race to market between manufacturers to put out i7's notebooks starting @ $1,000, I'm sure they will eventually offer i3 & i5's in their line-up.

 

The Envy 15 was on my short list, along with the Dell XPS 1645. I went with the Sony F for a few reasons. First, I didn't like that there was no internal optical drive on the Envy. When I first started looking, they were offering an external BluRay drive with the Envy, but then they switched it to just an external DVD--I really wanted the BluRay. Also, I was concerned that I'd be bothered by the screen not tilting back very far. Now that I've been using the Sony I think this is certainly the case. I'm using the laptop in lots of different locations and positions, and there are lots of times when I tilt the screen quite far back to get the best viewing angle--I wouldn't have been able to do that with the Envy. The main reason though was price. Check out the configuration I got on the Sony (my signature at the bottom)-- some serious upgrades making for an extremely fast machine--honestly I couldn't believe the price. It would have cost over $1000 more to get the same config for the Envy 15, and I wouldn't have had a BluRay drive, let alone a BluRay burner. Last thing was I read people were having trouble with the Sata controller on the Envy causing poor SSD performance. Having said all that, the Envy 15 is quite an impressive laptop and in my view, one of the few worthy competitors for the Vaio F. Good luck.

 

Fair enough, comparing price for price though, the Sony F is very tempting.

I wouldn't have gotten the Envy if it wasn't for the 350 dollar coupon, and honestly, the tilt thing is an issue in the back of my mind.

Guess I'll have to see once I get it in my hands tomorrow.

Btw, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for your setup?

 

The Bluray Burner is a Matsu-site-friggin'-censored/Panasonic. It is a good unit, with the Taiyo-Yuden backup DVDs I burned having a very low error rate.

 

^^^

MelodyMaster, thanks for the info. Now I can google it.

Who makes quality blank Blu-Rays? What's the cost of a typical bundle? Cost of the discs is another consideration.

 

Looking at the matte and glossy 1080p screens being offered, is the primary advantage of the matte no glare? Is it also more energy effectient?

Assuming one is in a light controlled room, so no lights in front of screen to produce glare and reflection would the glossy screen produce a superior image?

 

Just got my Vaio F from Vanns.com

http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/details/561495277/sony-vaio-f-series-notebook-pc

1080p
6gb ddr3 ram
500gb 7200rpm hdd
Price: $1,429.98 (with tax)

Thankfully my item doesn't have any of the problems mentioned in this forum (high-pitched sound, fan noise, screen bleed, etc.)

love my new notebook.

 

I have no affiliation, as they say, but here is the exact drive used in my laptop, available for dealer purchase.. One will have to find the rails and tab for mounting in the VAIO however. You can expect to pay some 46% more for end-user purchase.

http://www.sunvalleytek.com/original-panasonic-uj240-bluray-dvd-rewriter-burner-sata-interface-p-1242.html

 

Thanks for the info about your model. Some can be found for $250 here.

 

Beats the $1000 quoted by Sony for an after-sale upgrade eh?

 

Took the words right out of my mouth, err hands.

So do you think using a blu-ray burner to back up the hard drive is good as the primary solution or is an external drive recommended/preferred?

I also wonder if waiting to buy a blu-ray burner would be prudent, as they are sure to mature and drop in price. The fact that the same drive can be had for $70 more than the ones installed in the F seies does bode well, I think.

 

That's a great price.

 

Got my new F yesterday. I am definitely going to keep this. The fan noise is not noticeable at all. In fact, the sound of the water flowing through the central heating system of my home is louder. Also, I didn't notice any high pitched squealing noises, both in linux and windows.

I have now a working dual boot setup with linux and windows. As more or less expected with new hardware, linux was giving a few problems. The first was the wireless LAN which would not work in opensuse 11.2. Finally, I found out that I had to install the microcode from Intel and upgrade build a new kernel from the latest sources. And building a kernel with a quad core does go faster because everything can be built in parallel.

After that came the display, but with the help of RyanFG's post in this thread, that was relatively quickly solved.

Now my only remaining problem is that I have no sound, does anyone running linux in this forum have sound running on linux? If so, could you please post your modprobe configuration files here? I am going to try the Ubuntu live cd now to see if that one does have working sound and if so copy the settings from there.

O, and the display, I think it is excellent. It doesn't look washed out to me at all so I am going to make tweaking that one a low prio issue.

 

Anything is better than a hard drive for backup. The hard drive has two modes of failure, the storage medium, and the electronics. Loss of the latter means a total loss of data, the former a severe partial loss. On the other hand a DVD or Bluray doesn't have the electronic component to worry about, and degraded media can still be forensically read. But neither means are perfect.

This guy needs a VAIO.....

 

It seems to be the cost of memory above 4 gigs that increases the price so much for a CTO, but where it often gets included for store-bought.

 

Basically that's $80 more than BB to get a 7200 HDD vs. 5400, all other specs the same. Newegg is in between with 7200 HDD but only 4 GB memory (all other specs the same) for the same price as BB w/ 6 GB but 5400.

 

I'm one following and posting quite a lot here and I second that You've always been positive and helpful (thumb up)

yes, I've just missed one up there

What I've got from what has been posted before, I also remember a link it was that it was faster but not energy saver vs a core 2 duos the test i think it was 'against' a p8700

You remember it differently?

If so I'll search back

for all that srosenfeld stated and 'cause...


...it's not imported in italy

Erik, I'm really interested in your experience, i've a couple or questions for You.

I don't remember if yours was cto or which model?
Any detail about the screen/keyboard You got?
Mostly I'm interested in Your linux and even more ubuntu experience, once I have it Myself can I MP You for details/help or so?


Finally since it seems that You're also not getting the whine, so far I haven't find a 'noisy' one in europe.

That's good!!