Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Bundled software is not eligible for manufacturers' upgrades or options. To switch to Ultimate you have to buy a fresh OEM copy and download the laptop drivers from Sony and the hardware sites. Or indeed buy an upgrade license/disc for in-place upgrade, but there are some problems with that approach.

 

I've read the W clean-install thread. All the inormation there is applicable or at least transportable.

Gee, typing is dificult with a broken 'f"-key.

 

By choosing "Fresh Start" and skipping the bloatware, is there something useful that one would miss out on ? Obviously one would not want to cut one's nose to spite one's face, right ?

Also, which Virus software would you recommend ? My work laptop comes with Norton but that is a company-wide option/policy and hence I will have to live with it, but in a personal laptop, I would like to get something better, if available.

 

As far as I know all the trialware, including Norton, and full sotware, such as the obsolete Works which is now just a trial Ofice, are what's missing. Still included are the VAIO software and utilities included with drivers such as Artheros and the webcam. Also any paid-for bundled sotware, such as Adobe, is installed. I found the balance of installed sotware versus that which was let behind to be perect.

I like Avast, which is the first thing I put on any new system, also I've had Kaspersky licences or years.

As noted, the F-key is broken on this Asus laptop. It squeaked for a while and is now barely unctional.

 

I'm also interested in finding out if any of the packaged so called bloatware would be missed, and if fresh start is selected if we can still get any of these programs/apps for free.

If fresh start isn't selected is it possible to completely remove Norton? I know it used to be next to impossible to remove all traces and wondered if this is stilll the the case.

 

I paid $50 extra for Professional and selected resh start just to avoid being hamstrung by Norton.

 

i kinda dont know wat to do i want windows 7 ultimate but i dont wanna buy. i actually already have it downloaded. doushiyo

 

Windows Experience Score for the SSD was 6.9. CPU was 7.1, memory 7.4 and graphics card 6.5. I'm feeling good about the drive--partly from seeing that it's not way out of line with it's specs and partly just from having used it. Working in Lightroom is very fast and responsive, and importing 2 or 4 gig SD cards is very quick as well. On those rare occasions when I'll need to do large data transfers I'll still be getting faster than HD speeds, and because Lightroom takes advantage of multi-threading, I can just start doing other things while the files are copying.

I've really enjoyed having a "clean" computer right out of the box with Fresh Start, and nothing I needed to be up and running was missing. I use ESET NOD 32 Antivirus 4, and I've been very happy with it. I chose it because lots of reviewers on NewEgg rated it highly--for it's combination of small resource footprint, very frequent updates and overall effectiveness. By the way, you sound suspiciously like someone who is thinking about returning his computer and reordering with another configuration

$2250 US using the educational discount (available to any student or teacher or university faculty member)

 

Maybe for newbies w/ a OEM Home Premium, the best approach is simply to un-install the unwanted trial software. Be careful about loosing some specific F features if removing some Sony software.

Have you seen any problems reported by OEM Home Premium owners who applied the Windows Anytime Upgrade: Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional? Note that this is not for a clean install but will add the virtual XP feature.

This user for example had problems installing-it because of his anti-virus but it worked fine after disabling-it.

Some user feedback here.

 

Am I missing something, as the only differences I see between the Home Premium with "bloatware" and the CTO Pro w/ Fresh start is that 2 trial-wares are removed?

Supplied Software w/ Home Premium:

- Anti-Virus Software : Norton Internet Security 2010 30-Day Trial Offer
- Microsoft Works SE 9.0 w/ 60-Day Trial Version of Microsoft Home and Student 2007

vs. No additional Office Software & No additional AntiVirus Software for Pro w/ Fresh Start?

Naturally there are some differences between Home Premium & Pro as summarized in these tables here and here.

I understand the advantage and low extra cost of selecting Pro + Fresh Start if ordering a CTO but if buying off the shelf a model w/ Home Premium because of total price reasons, delivery delays, etc, is the headaches for a newbie worth the benefits of doing a clean install & need to download & install all the necessary drivers & stuff from Sony Support?

In my case the preconfig VPCF11JFX/B is $117 cheaper vs. a CTO with the exact same hardware but w/ Pro + Fresh Start. Since I don't need the Pro's extra features, $117 is well paid for the "trouble" of removing 2 trial-wares.

Maybe useful for some people : Download and run the Norton Removal Tool and specific to the F Norton 2010 trial: Download and run the Norton Removal Tool to uninstall your Norton 2010 product

 

So from reading this thread, sony doesn't actually ship any CD/DVD's with the unit. Is that right? Your average user isn't going to make recovery disks. What are these people supposed to do if they need to re-install windows?

 

Can you clarify Melody Master? I actually have a boxed copy of Win7 Ultimate and I was going to just do a clean install. I understand I'd have to download some drivers from Sony and maybe track down a few others. Is there something else I'm missing?

 

A few days ago I got the large capacity battery. Here are some photos. I originally thought I'd usually use the smaller battery and just keep the larger one in reserve for when needed. But I find that I like it better with the bigger battery. Aside from more battery time, I like how it raises the back up a bit, making it more comfortable to type, and improving ventilation. It doesn't seem to add much to the bulk or weight--in fact, it makes it sort of easier to carry. I haven't tested battery life.

I did confirm that the CPU is throttled on this battery just like the smaller one--immediately upon unplugging, all 8 cores go to 9x133=1197 hz even when CPU is under full load.

I ran Cinebench 64 on AC and battery with the following results: AC power: 1 CPU: 3898, multi CPU 10249, Open GL 5522. Battery power: 1 CPU-didn't do, multi CPU 6887, Open GL 3081

 

@ slrosenfeld: thanks for the batteries info & photos. Could you tell me the respective weight or weight difference between the two?

I see 17.3 oz. for the large one here but no data about the small one.

 

BIG mistake!

"What are these people supposed to do if they need to re-install windows?" Post "HELP!!!!!!!!" requests in forums like this one if they deleted the hidden partitions on their HDD or if it fails.

 

If I had an Aussie version of "F" and a US "F" is the power supply from Aussie F alright to use on the US "F"? Both look the same.
Aus: VGP-AC19V16
US: VGP-AC19V15

 

If you already legally downloaded Win7 Ultimate, just buy F with the cheapest OS (Home Premium) and do the clean install.　難しくないよ。頑張ってね。

 

hey guys there is a problem with sonystyle.com it has been hacked or something like that instead of menu there is written "Would you believe the dog ate our webpage?"

 

hey guys there is a problem with sonystyle.com it has been hacked or something like that instead of menu there is written "Would you believe the dog ate our webpage?"

 

Definitely different. Hardware information on my system shows Intel WLAN Controller with driver iwlagn.

Also, there was a difference in hard disks used. I have a Seagate 7200.4 500GB drive but someone else reported to have a Hitache 7K500.

I am in the Netherlands, where are you located?

 

I have the Intel 6000 series chipset for wifi.

 

Thx for thhese instructions ! Very hopefull ! As soon as i receive my F11 i will install it !!

 

It doesn't mean the site was hacked, it's just old Sony's joke when they have some troubles with site or updating the site and so on. I still have the first released manual for Z and the name of the file is dogsfood.pdf

I don't know if this is the same case, but I remember that in case of Z...the first round came with aetheros wifi card and later on (the same 1st gen) was coming with Intel's one. It had to do something with delay in licensing/releasing new processors/chipset/wifi card.

 

In my case dual boot worked straight away. Only problem is that the rescue partition no longer works because of a missing boot sector. But before I started to work on dual boot I saved the original boot sector and made dumps of the first two partitions. So I should be able to restore the system back into its original state later.

After that I also made rescue DVDs just in case. I was able to shrink Windows 7 to about 35 GB without having to do anything special though.

The webcam is also working but still no luck on the microphone. Need to dig into this problem a bit more.

 

No, they don't ship any hardcopy backups with it. Dell no longer does this either. If your Windows partition bites the big one, then you need to rely on the F10 recover partition to restore the Windows Partition to how it was when you first received it. That works well unless the drive dies of course. I'm a BIG believer in backup images as part of my job at work is dealing with administrators who don't have backups then their drives crash. At home I use Acronis but there are several other good applications out there as well. I bought a nice big 2TB Internal drive and stuck it in an eSata/USB2 external enclosure. That drive stores all of the Windows images from the PC/laptops we have in the house as well as a spare copy of the "documents" folder on the PC we use as a file server (10 years of digital family photos, movies, music, etc....that I keep backed up in 3 places). If we go on vacation for a few days or more, the drive comes with us, just in case.

For the Vaio, I uninstalled all the bloatware I didn't want, installed all the stuff I did, visited Windows Update, then took the image of the entire physical drive. That's my $0.02 of how to do it, developed over times of learning the hard way.

 

If this is the case it is inexcusable for Sony not to include the discs. How much are the saving exactly? You can always order for a charge.

 

If I buy a new F series laptop and replace the HDD with an SSD I can do a clean install by downloading the Windows 7 iso and use the key it comes with, right?

Like explained here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=450641

 

I did a Windows Anytime Upgrade on my Sony F series to get to Windows 7 Pro so I could use XP mode. I had some issues initially, but worked it all out. Initially when doing the anytime upgrade it took 50 minutes and finally said I have successfully upgraded to Pro, but then when I tried installing XP mode and Virtual PC I could not get it to install. Yes, I did enable virtualization in the bios before hand. It wouldn't give an error it just sat at the spinning circle indicating it was busy. I let it sit for hours and nothing I tried it again and it did the same thing. I left it overnight and it still never installed just kept spinning away.

I then decided to restore the system and give it a go. I had installed quite a bit of stuff already so I figured I would try the system restore and then try getting 7 pro installed and XP mode before I installed anything else. So anyway I did a system restore using the hidden restore partition on the drive and it took a while, but it did what it was intended to do. So I had the windows 7 back in original condition and then the only thing I removed was Norton and just put on MS Security Essentials and use the win 7 built in firewall. I then applied all Windows updates. Then I did the windows anytime upgrade to upgrade from home premium to pro. This time the anytime upgrade took only about 10 minutes.

Ok so the moment of truth, now to get virtual pc XP mode working. I installed and this time it worked like a charm and I had XP mode running. Now everything is working as it should and I have Win 7 Pro and XP mode working.

Anyway I learned from this experience, that restoring the system actually worked and that doing an upgrade of win 7 works better on a cleaner install. I have played around with xp mode on my dell desktop computer when I was trying out the RC of win 7 ultimate I knew what to expect out of that. One improvement I came across over at sevenforums.com was a post in the virtualization section showing how to get xp mode to work in 24 bit color rather than the 16 bit default. It required a registry tweak, but really easy. It makes it look much nicer though with 24 bit over the 16 bit.
http://www.sevenforums.com/virtuali...play-24-bit-color-integration.html#post340927

 

where these both the fullhd screens? if that is true the i5 version would have a screen smililar to the us version and the i7 the better screen? Whats up with that? Does anyone have some more info?

Grtz Jan

 

I would do it differently:

- uninstall Norton 2010 trial, run the Norton Removal Tool linked here

- disable MS Security Essentials and use the win 7 built in firewall

- Install Windows Anytime Upgrade: Windows 7 Home Premium to Professional

& finally Windows update & install needed patches for Pro.

 

Thanks, seems like "fresh start" is the way to go. Unfortunately, they don't allow "fresh start" with Windows ultimate, which means we will have to choose Win 7 Pro to get "fresh start"....which is okay by me.

 

I speculate, this is related to other internal microphone problems, eg. see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/141445

 

Hi, does anyone have any idea wich brand sony are using for HDDs on the F series (500gb 7200RPM)? I read somewhere that they are using seagate, that kinda freaks me out!:S
Thx

 

I have a seagate 7200.4 500GB drive (Netherlands). Another forum member reported having a Hitachi 7k500.

Hard disk benchmarks can be interpreted in two ways. Either the conclusion is that some drives are faster than others, or the conclusion is that there is very little difference in performance (benchmark results are very close together) and it doesn't really make a difference which one you get.

 

Great info, thanks. The score for the 500GB 7200 drive is 5.9 or so, which means the SSD is a big step up from it. Yes, I would say all of the RAW-editing tools like DXO, Capture One, Lightroom etc have multi-threading built-in.

I will check it out.

The F had already gone back, within 2 days of receipt (came in on Friday and went back on the following Monday), and planning to switch to the SSD (from the 500GB 7200 HDD), switch Win7 ultimate with Win 7 pro and add the Sony Vegas Pro 9.0 software, while leaving the rest of the configuration (820QM, 8GB RAM, Bluray burner, 1920x1080 screen etc.), as-is.

Or go with the new Z-series, pretty much maxed out, except for leaving the SSD at its base 128GB capacity, even though the Z-series does not get the Quad-core i7s (720QM or 820QM) and only the dual-core i7-620M.

 

Can you check what the Windows experience score is, for your seagate 7200 HDD ? I believe my Hitachi's score was around 5.9 or so.

 

so it should be one of these 2

http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/adapters/6200-6300/index.htm

it's a good new since they support dual channel, hope to also have it

if I can, how much does it costs? and what you get is only xp VT? can't it be done with virtualbox or other similar apps?

 

On my kitchen food scale, standard battery 11oz, high capacity battery 16.2 oz

 

Mine's a 7200rpm 500GB and it's a Hitachi - ordered from US Sonystyle

 

I had some problems getting system restore to run on my F11 with Norton NIS 2010 running. I read something about needing to turn off the "tamper" controls before running the restore. Ne1 else have this experience?

 

If you really want to know about your drive's performance, you have to run HD Tune
http://www.hdtune.com/

The windows experience score doesn't really mean anything

 

Mine is a Seagate, model ST9500420AS (7200 rpm). Laptop is a F116FX (not CTO, prebuilt by Sony), ordered in USA.

 

To those of you who have your laptop already, would you recommend investing in a sound card??? I don't know crap about them nor do I know the quality of the one that the Vaio has.

 

Thanks. From the CTO's battery options info, it should last 50% more vs the standard. +$90 for that option is not bad but $250 as an accessory, not cheap!

 

Hi,

I have just bought my F11Z1E from Derby Sony Centre, UK. I have been scanning through and it seems people are still waiting for theirs on delivery. I am typing on mine now and loving it.

I have also seen that people are complaining about a noise..... mine has no noise

Also wondering whether it has a backlit keyboard.... mine doesn't, sorry.

I bought the pre configured one listed on the sony site costing me £1399.99 however i asked for a free case and i got it (worth £40).

Has anyone got anymore questions?

I'm off out now but will try and reply later

 

Your thoughts on screen colour, brightness and contrast please And whether the speaker quality is as horrible as implied.

Also, the palmrest seems a lot lighter in colour than the promo shots on their website. How do you find the aesthetics?

 

I've used Norton Internet Security 2009 and now 2010. It is very light, no drag on performance, and nothing seems to get by it. It is also rated very high.

 

From Canada but from what I can tell I might have got shipped the US version or something as my screen is glossy when it stated it should have an anti-glare coating and I got one 128 GB SSD hard drive when I was meant to get two 64GB SSDs in RAID-0. I've been on the phone with sony canada and sonystore.ca for the past week about this and so far I have gotten no where, each time they phone back they ask me for my order number was and then say someone will phone back within 24 hours and when they do its to ask my my order number again, this has happened 3 times so far...

 

Does anyone know if the "buzz" sound has been fixed?

 

Could you please tell me how long your battery lasts?