Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

I've been using this one for years. Best laptop backpack I've ever had.

eBags Macroloader. The sideload laptop compartment is great, and there are plenty of convenient pockets to organize stuff.
http://www.ebags.com/ebags/macroloader_laptop_backpack/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=59045

 

It works for the XPS 1645 which throttles when plugged into AC. Unless something's changed in the past week or so, it doesn't work for laptops which throttle on battery power like our Vaio Fs and the Envy 15.

 

How serious are the F Series issues? This is my first notebook so I don't know how common/serious are notebook problems. I have the "whistling" fan, the morse code noise (which I fixed with the alternative fix) and I just noticed that sometimes my space bar makes a squeaky noise when I push it. I'm leaving the US on March 15th, so should I return it, or maybe send it to Sony to get it fixed? Also, would I be able to get a notebook with similar specs (maybe an i5) and better graphics card?

Thanks,
Andre

 

" sometimes my space bar makes a squeaky noise" - no wonder the US senate is paralyzed.

Could you define "whistling" fan?

 

Yes, the fan whistles a little when it is working at a slow speed, but not at a regular basis. It might be me trying to find something bad in the computer, though.

 

And in fact it was the third option, "refund." I couldn't afford to reorder until my credit card was refunded, which didn't happen until a week later. In fact they belatedly CHARGED my card when I had already returned the system! The day my card was finally again free, a full week later, was the day Sony stopped selling the F-series. I could have put in an order anytime the previous week if not for the holdup. I wasn't supposed to wait, but the techs kept saying "wait a minute, we'll find a screen.." - Didn't happen.

I've decided against the G73: no necessary ports, and about to become too common. I did look at the soon-to-arrive Toshiba F60, F70,and Qosmio 505, but that might be a longer wait than the F-series coming back online.

.. Steve ..

 

If you look right now on Sony US, CTO ships 02/10 (was b/o yesterday)
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...52921666069165&categoryId=8198552921644692000

this preconfig is in stock (did not check others)
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666067742

So I guess it should be back on Sony Can at one point.

I got the BB because my friend was leaving the US, he has it but I will meet him only in 2 weeks. We are not in the land of instant gratification so it does not bother me to wait and I can always change HDD or add memory later.

"I've decided against the G73: no necessary ports" - the missing esata port is annoying but there is a secondary drive for a fast scratch disk, the 4 usb's are plenty to connect data drives. While the form factor is larger than the F, I find the idea of 2 large fans working at low speed an interesting idea vs. one with high rpm's. For me the deal-breaker is the high gloss screen. From the long ASUS G73JH thread:



I looked hard at the Qosmio 505 but the 10lbs, glossy everywhere & toy look stopped me.

 

The unit at BestBuy and Futureshop is very basic, just having the lower res screen and DVD burner - BDrom. And the price is actually more than for the equivalent CTO. And no Adobe or Fresh Start of course. I'll wait.

 

The BB I got is 1080P, 330 M, 6 GB memory so not that basic. Sure I would have prefered the VPCF11JFX/B preconfig w/ faster 7200 drive & BD burner, but could not have it in time.

Unless proven otherwise, there is only 2 trial-wares removed with the Fresh Start option besides the Pro OS, but I don't need virtual XP. Removing a few programs & cleaning up the registry is not a big deal.

I understand that in your case, the pricing of the options you want could be a plus.

 

Well I have to say I'm starting to forget about F. I loved the design of FW, but the design of F doesn't talk to me and I hate that the white version got the silver palmrest. I wanted to buy it just because of its specs, but with EB series out I don't have that much excitement anymore.

Full HD on 15.5" screen and HD5650 1GB graphic card...nice. Now just have to wait for first reviews about the screen quality and cooling system and I'm sold. I have to say I really don't understand Sony's strategy lately. FW used to be a (beautiful) multimedia notebook, why they make more multimedia series now?

 

This is it, the only model available.. http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10138681&catid=

I asked at both BB and FS, and there was no alternative version. If there WERE one with 1920 X 1080 and GT330, well that's a different matter. I can upgrade the memory, OS, BDrom, and hard drive myself, the lack of Premiere would be a shame though.

 

:asd: mine has 5 years and is being replaced 'cause my wife or my 2 years old daughter or maybe a ghost made it fall on the power supply jack... still is out for repair and I'll surely keep it since apart that it's still really ok.

btw there are many complaints with Acer here in the forums but that was the second one for me with the former lasting me 4 years and then in my wifes hands.. lasted about 6 months (and that's almost a record for her! :asd and they both traveled with me the entire globe.

My wife if asked would told me that she definitely hear it...

...and I still haven't the laptop!!

You're not reading this honey? Ouch! noo please! haaaa!

maybe almost a hundred pages ago was stated that it's not.

quite a short month You get there

Please, if you tell me what you get in the above steps with details i.e. files names and directories for every step it could be much easier to help You out, since now You're only telling me it's not working and that's a very small info.

about reinstalling is as easy as it can be, just boot from cd and run a new install, when asked put it in the same partition where is it know and it will reformat this partition and use it for the fresh install if You wisely also had a /home partition You're not loosing any of your data

hope You got me this time

And why you 'want' to find trouble?
Are You satisfied with it, if so don't worry be happy

 

However, the availability of the 5650 in North America is uncertain. And there aren't non-gaudy colour options yet, until mid-February anyway. Canada is always behind, the EB will be an additional choice by the time the F-series reappears.

 

Come to think of it, since you already bought one & just want a replacement, you are sure you tried to talk w/ a supervisor & can't cut the line? If they don't have on sale @ the present, they could go through the trouble of getting one for you from the US, just to keep their customer happy. It's not your fault if the first one was defective.

 

That's what I'm going to ask today.

 

Email from Sonystyle.co.uk today...

"We expect your VAIO order to be shipped out to you on 04.02.2010. Please note that this is an estimated shipping
time. We will send you an update if this estimate changes.

Product ID : VPCF11X5E
Description : Laptop VPC-F11X - Configurable
Order Date : 25.01.2010"

Which is good!

matt

 

I don't have my F11 yet, hopefully at the end of the month...
So i am guessing here.
If it is a Sony thing maybe you can switch it off at the "Vaio Control Centre"

 

Nice I ordered on the 27th and the last e-mail I got was that the lap. production had started on Saturday ... how long after that did you get the dispatch to logistics center e-mail? Or did you skip straight to the shipped out one?

 

Could you please support your claim with a link? I was looking through the web and could not find much, especially on Apple's official site. AFAIK Apple puts IPS panels only in iMacs and iPad, and it is indeed advertised. If Apple really used IPS panels in their MacBook Pro range I'm sure they would make a big thing of it...

8 bit TN panel? If Apple really puts those in MacBook Pro's I would get one for myself straight away.

 

It's hard to get why didn't they put one of the news ATI 5X or a better nvidia on the 'multimedia' one.

Still given the small price gauge less than 100€ on sonystyle EU that can be less in the shops right now (soon we'll see street ptice for both for better compairson) you'll get:

faster hd
better/bigger screen
firewire and express card slot (not sure but I don't see them in the specs and pics)
(and for me also the matte vs glossy look and general look)
I'll stay with the F

BTW can you tell me your thoughts about how to installl/recover/swap hd that I've previously asked, I'll be glad to know your opinion.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5816735&postcount=2435

 

25.01.10 - Placed CTO order
28.01.10 - Order in Production
03.02.10 - Factory Dispatch

Latest email says...

-------------------
What happens next?
-------------------

You will receive an email once your customised VAIO order is shipped from our logistics centre. We will also send you
a final order confirmation email with an invoice in PDF-format.

So, I guess the next email from the Logistics centre is when it arrives in this country from Japan and is being dispatched to my home address?

matt

 

Hi Well as I stated before I don't care what kind of hdd is inside, it's the first thing to swap for me anyway. The screen is the biggest dealbreaker...but there's no single review of the FullHD screen yet. And it's possible to see on the F (1600x900 screen vs 1920x1080 screen), the screen quality could vary with the resolution.

Id doesn't have firewire (don't care) and it has 34 Express card slot. I prefer the matte look as well (that's why I have Z), but it's nb for my wife and I'm sure she'll prefer glossy one

As for the question. I don't understand much, what difference is between those steps. What I would do:

1) Burn recovery discs (they are not images of the HDD)
2) Make image of your drive with Acronis and backup it
3) format the HDD
4) Swap the hdd for SSD
5) Install OS, dual boot
6) Use your super computer and enjoy external harddrive
7) In case something goes wrong and you need to use your warranty, swap back the HDD and put there original Acronis image

 

thats for you and me, I was considering it in general since the average user don't swap disks so lighlty as he could

arigato

that's more or less what I will (would have) do, I only wanted to double check since melody previously suggested me to use the 2 hd for the 2 OS and made me thinkin a little.

Today should be the day so... waitin waitin waitin..

 

I work in IT and came across something I hadn't seen before for the Lenovo laptops we have in-house...

A removable battery in the shape of a CD-drive!

Wouldn't it be good if Sony had one for performance -or- an aftermarket one were available?

matt

 

Well I don't remember what he said, but he might be right. If you would swap just for a good HDD, there's no problem. But if you'll swap for SSD and will do the dual boot, it could be problem, because you'll have to make two partitions right? And that's not good for any SSD. I'm sorry but I can't help you with this one, as I don't have any experiences with dual-boot.

 

mmhh, I suspected that mmmhh

It would be in this case not really comfortable to switch between the OS..

If this should be the option then better stay with the original for win and ubuntu in the new?

Erik or anyone knows issues or pros with SSD and Linux? If it's better do the oppsite W7 in ssd and ubuntu in the original.


Too much waitin... too much thinkin...

 

Does Ubuntu support automatic TRIM?

 

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Kernel-Log-Coming-in-2-6-33-Part-2-Storage-914669.html

 

Thanks for the info

 

The 9th?! Why yooooouuuu!

I paid 1158, but didn't get many of the more expensive upgrades since I don't need the raw processing power. I was unsure if Sony only gave the 15% discount to more maxed out systems, but I'm glad they did it for me.
_________________
VPCF1190X CTO | Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor | Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit | Black | 320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm) | 4GB DDR3-SDRAM-1333 | CD/DVD burner | Keyboard Backlight | 16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM) | Sony US

 

Macbooks use a standard TN Panel. Macbook Pros use a IPS panel. Research yourself helps sometimes.

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3246&p=7

 

As joe told is coming in the kernel and for ubuntu this will be added in the next stable release 10.4


a box si in front of me!! still don't know what's inside


coming back soon

 

Do you refer to this paragraph?
"The same isn’t true on the MacBook Pro, indicating that Apple is most likely using a TN panel on the standard MacBook and an IPS on the Pro. "

I'm sorry, but "most likely" is not good enough for me;D

 

I owned a MacBook Pro and that was the best screen I have ever seen on any machine, laptop, desktop period. If it wasn't IPS, then it was just a great TN panel but you could view it from all directions which most TN panels you can't.

 

Thanks for the tip off. I have canceled the F11 I had ordered for my wife and ordered the new EB , as she wanted ... in white. So she will be an unwitting guinea pig , erm I mean early adopter, for once. I still have a i7 F11 on order for myself.

 

You're welcome I hope your wife is a bit geek kind, so she would write a short review of her new machine from woman point of view here on NBR I'll be more than happy to welcome her in the Official VAIO EB Series Owners Thread :smile:

 

Well, it is your opinion, everybody has one and that's absolutely fine, but you were trying sell it as a FACT, and I'm sure you'll agree that there is a difference between a FACT and an OPINION.

 

I just called sonystyle, and my F-series order is apparently shipping one week earlier than estimated, which is next tuesday(9th) instead of the 16th. And then 7-10 days of delivery wait...

 

Hey guys, quick question.. Just got my F11Z, great machine! Was just replacing my HDD with a SSD, but it turns out the Windows 7 iso I downloaded from Digital River wasn't working properly. Now I have to download the 3GB iso again and it's taking about 4 hours. There isn't a quicker way to get a clean install on the SSD, is there?

 

I finally have it, I'm doing some pix of the unboxing and then turn it up and do the work. Later this evening If I can I'll post some pics


happy as a kid

 

I never said FACT. But then again, you were also with nothing backing your statements. The site I linked too was a review on a computer site that is very popular. So in reality, you do not know yourself.

 

I think the point made earlier was that Apple specifically advertises the fact that they use IPS panels on some of their models. However, there is a defeaning silence from Apple, when it comes to the usage of an IPS panel in the Macbook Pro.

I believe if they used an IPS panel in such a notebook, they would be blaring that fact from their rooftops and the information would be available in bold letters, right within their website.

 

Oh my, this is getting a bit ridiculous really. I did not post any link simply because I could not find any positive statement that would definitely say that Apple uses such panel in their MacBook Pro's, and that's exactly why I did post in the first place. Just because the site is popular and publishes ekhm "reviews" (and at the same let their reviewers with claims such as 'most likely') does not really mean much to me - they can say anything they want, I'm interested only when they have valid arguments which they can somehow prove.

And yes, it is very true that "in reality, I do not know myself" - my girlfriend says that to me almost every day

Good news is I finally made my mind and ordered a F11Z1E

 

Congratulations and looking forward to the pics!

 

Lets hope the US never gets this screwed up!

 

Can you read properly? here is the line from your link:
"The same isn’t true on the MacBook Pro, indicating that Apple is most likely using a TN panel on the standard MacBook and an IPS on the Pro."
Research? Fact? he says "MOST LIKELY" not to mention though my homeboy Anand Lal Simti is no god of IT.
I dont care but myself as Mac user get annoyed by silly evangelism of some iManiacs. Buy i7 Macbook Pro instead of Vaio F, I will appreciate link to where I can buy on for myself

 

Hi everyone


Ok just reserved my one - Should be able to pick it up later


Has anyone opened there usa model?

REALLY want to know what the backlit keyboard part number is, has I have a person that can order this for me and ship to the uk

 

The link doesn't work for me, but I hope you understand I'm talking about BestBuy CANADA?