Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Well, I deliberately chose Pro, so that I could choose the "Fresh Start" option, which reduces the bloatware that gets pre-loaded, than having to remove it after the fact.

 

You have chosen.... wisely.

I have one of these, after owning a Patriot TorqX (which was a horribly unreliable drive - fast but it wiped 3 times, then finally didn't come back).

I would recommend the intel to anyone. Also, check the reviews on these G2 SSDs, they are amazing.

 

In case of doubt, it always better to leave the stuff there or make sure you can undo the messing around. Like the person who posted a while ago describing the useful Vaio services he disabled by "accident".

Before I uninstall anything, I like to explore the stuff. For example, the F comes with WebCam Companion 3 which people delete when doing a fresh install, well looking at the product page, this seems interesting to me:

* Live video monitoring using motion and face detection
* Records video automatically when the abnormal movement or face is detected by webcam
* Email alert with captured images or uploading snapshots to FTP site
* Supports listing captured videos and events and saving them by date
* Adjustable sensitivity for motion detection

It could be fun to use it to make some candids of my 8 years old daughter or pets, for example.

As I posted before, if I could have gone the CTO road, I would have chosen Pro & Fresh Start but time constraint forced me to order the BB to be sent to a US friend that will bring it to me in a week.

Point is, I don't intend to trow away the Home Premium OEM license & all the people buying for different reasons the preconfigs should not feel bad or pressured in doing a mythic "clean install". Win 7 is not XP or Vista, and optimizing or uninstalling trial programs is not difficult.

 

You know there is something funny about that option. Sony gets paid by software makers to install the trial-wares & Sony charge you $50 to not install the programs that THEY install in the first place.

They get paid to do nothing!

It's like I would stand at a red light with a bucket of mud & you would have to pay me for not trowing mud at your car.

 

guys i installed again vaio event services. now i have volume and brightness control back, but how do i put the brightness in auto? yesterday i had the auto function on the sensor was working, now its not

any help on this please?

 

I just saw this on the Dell XPS 1645 forum by the Dell rep:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193&page=263

No rudeness perceived. I'm all too aware of DPC latency on Dell laptops. It has been the bane of my existence for 9 months now. I have escalated it on several platforms, including 1640, and have had it fixed on some and not on others due to one reason or another. The good news is, engineering committed to including the use of DPC Latency Checker in the test procedure for all future consumer products. Not sure about Biz Client boxes like Latitude and Precision.

Oh, and it's not always the WLAN card. I've seen ACPI.sys (probably the Microsoft Compliant Battery Manager driver) cause it on some platforms, and video drivers on others. WLAN is always the first suspect. Storage controllers are sometimes in the mix as well.

Has anybody done this test on the F Series? I know a number of people have asked. At least Dell seems to take it seriously.

 

Can someone please help me out with something I have never encountered with any of the many laptops I have owned? For the sake of context, this is my second F11. The first one was buggy in a number of areas but the one thing it did was to slow down after about an hour. I mean pages would load slowly; videos wouldn't load or would load in that stuttered manner. Plus it had the whining, etc.

This one, the replacement, is perfect in all ways except it starts to slow down as described above after a couple of hours and exhibits the same symptoms. As an aside when I put it to "sleep' eventually the green light stops flashing and I have to press the power button to start it.

Well, I this evening I started it, opened Outlook 2003, and the mail so slowly started to arrive. I went to MSNBC to lay a video and the video wouldn't load. So I rebooted it and everything is zipping along right now. But I'm sure in a couple of hours the laptop will slow down again.

I'm thinking it has to be something with my system...2 laptops in a row acting like this and no one else complaining? Could it be the internet?

I don't know. Can anybody help out with this?

Thanks.

 

Hello everyone,
Just got my "F" series CTO today. No problems what so ever as far as fan noise,buzzing or dead pixels. Slight flex on keyboard by the enter key, but you have to push way harder than what you would need to depress the key. Made the recovery disks as soon as I could. Out of curiosity I wanted to see if the recovery disks could do it's job. I replaced the hard disk from the new laptop and replaced it with a brand new unformatted harddisk of the same kind and size (Hitachi Deskstar). Well low and behold the recovery disks won't work. I tried all the options that were given. It seems the recovery programs looks for the hidden partion drive letter that was on the original hard disk.
Couldn't even format the new hard disk. Finally had to install a fresh copy of Windows 7 Pro and install the individual drivers from Sony's web page. Windows 7 from a fresh copy is a tad slower at boot up than the one Sony uses.Has anyone else tried replacing the hard disk and using the recovery disc? By the way, Virtual XP Mode works pretty good as long as you don't have programs that want to access hardware directly.

 

You know that's not true at all, it's an upgrade from Win7 Home Premium to Pro that costs the $50, adding Fresh Start is a free option on top of that. Other Notebook manufacturers are charging over $90 for that Premium to Pro upgrade, and a package without bloatware is not even an option in many cases.

 

slrosenfeld did:


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5777742&highlight=dpc+latency#post5777742

Basically, it's all right, as long as you disable wireless to minimize the spikes.

 

So why can't you choose Fresh Start with Home Premium when going the CTO way? Do you think that Sony is giving all of the $50 to Microsoft? How many people including me don't want Pro but are force to pay it if they don't want the trial-ware?

Math goes like this: we make more money with Pro but only 10% of buyers want it. How can we boost the sales of Pro? Solution: offer Home with crap or clean Pro for only $50.

With the CTO route, all OS should be offered with the Fresh Start option. All systems should come with a clean OS on cd's like it was offered not so long ago.

You can customize your system @ will but every time you recover from partition or recovery disk, you go back to factory & trial. Hence the importance of creating a system image after customizing to be able to go back to your chosen system state, not the factory one.

I think we should get a discount when there is trial on the system: Fresh Start, included in price or With trial-ware, Save $20!

Old news but the idea is the same:

http://gizmodo.com/370660/sony-has-...ou-50-to-not-install-bloatware-on-your-new-pc

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9900516-1.html

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/node/5

 

I had someone contact me asking about my comments regarding the Sony F Series back lit keyboard. Here are some pics that illustrate the issue I was talking about.

This is the Sony F keyboard. The light leakage is rather extreme and distracting from the angle you normally use the computer from. The light that comes up from under the keyboard is unfiltered/diffused and brighter than the back light that comes through the key and illuminates the letter. I'm getting used to it, but it strikes me as inattention to detail.

Also the keyboard sensor is annoying. The screen basically shines down on it which won't allow the keyboard to just remain back lit. It fades out regularly. I place some opaque tape over the sensor when I want to keep the keyboard back light on, which is, kinda ghetto. I can only find settings the turn the back light off, or turn it on, but automatically regulated.

SONY F


This is my desktop keyboard. A Logitech back lit. Near perfect execution of the idea.

LOGITECH ILLUMINATED

 

I've downloaded the clean Windows 7 Home Premium over at My Digital Life and used the Vaio F Windows 7 key without a problem:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...links-ultimate-professional-and-home-premium/

 

I also have the Logitech G15 keyboard. One big difference is that the Logitech has regular keys, no spaces between them, the F has Island style keys, with plenty of space for the light to leak. Under the usual keyboard construction, with the lead disc in the middle of the key, I don't see how light bleed could be controlled without putting a very flat light right under the face of the key - which would have to be individually wired. Show me an island-style lighted keyboard WITHOUT light bleed around the edges, and then we'll talk.

 

Tape over the sensor here.

Even in the total dark, the monitor triggers the sensor and off goes the keyboard.

Hope they add a on/off setting in the software at some point.

 

True, but they could download a copy of Home Premium and use the key as someone mentioned a few posts up.

I haven't done any benchmarks to be honest so I am not sure of the performance differences between 'cleaning' a stock install vs. a 'clean' install Willing to take you up on that challenge, although i've installed a lot of applications now including everything on the VAIO site (utilities included).

When I first received the computer it was really really sluggish and I have an issue where the speaker would randomly emit a hiss until i put the mic fix in place. After my clean install, that didn't exist anymore.

Sony made the absurd decision to bundle Norton AND McAfee which surely contributed somewhat to my initial performance issue.

Anyway let me know what numbers you're looking for and ill try oblige

 

A few people have mentioned the fan whine issue (not to be confused with the high pitched microphone issue) and I definitely hear something when at the desktop or browsing, basically low cpu usage. A small amount of warm air can be felt coming out of the vent so I believe the fan is running at a low speed. It's a constant motorized sound like an electrical hum (my dvr makes almost the same noise) that ebbs and flows a bit, but is mostly steady. When I place my head along the keyboard I can hear the noise along the entire length. Could it be the hard drive?

What are the normal sounds that the F should make when not under heavy load, like browsing for example?

 

You need to install the VAIO Control Center

 

Hi! I have tested DPC latency on the F11 and it worked really well on my machine. No spikes at all. Unfortunately the noise of the fan was driving me crazy so I returned the laptop. I had the i7 version. Now I'm considering getting the i5 version instead. Does anyone know if the i5 version has loud fans ans well?

 

After installing some more programs and customizing I want to create a system image. How do Windows Backup and Acronis compare? I'll most likely use the former, but am curious. How many DVDs would it take to create a system image? Would it be better to use a USB flash drive?

 

Which Wireless Card were you using? I just ran a test on my Vaio F11 UK with the Intel 6200 card.

My initial test was using the standard driver from the Intel Website. On this test, there were frequent spikes into the red zone and the program warned me I could experience audio/video problems due to latency.

I then downloaded the Intel drivers from the SONY site, and although there are still spikes, they don't venture into the red and the program doesn't warn me of potential issues:




Don't understand DPC Latency too much but I suppose this is ok? It does indicate Sony took steps to address it given the performance difference over the original Intel drivers.


UPDATE: I restarted the machine after the new drivers installed and ran the test again. It looks much better now All clear, nowhere near the danger-zone now. Test ran for 6 minutes.

 

Yes, since they "throw mud" at everyone who has not paid up, what one gains by paying up, is the peace and tranquility of not having to go through the pain of "removing the mud".

I believe the software comes pre-installed in the computer (wherever it is put together) and by paying the $50, the CTO process removes the unwanted bloatware - and this extra step to remove the bloatware is what we are paying for.......while getting a superior version of the OS in the mix, which Microsoft charges an additional $100 for.

 

Where is the sensor at? Also, my MAC lite up the same way, so it looks normal to me. I have a Logitech keyboard also, to compare and understand what you are saying, but the Logitech is not that bright.

 

Now you are definitely getting into la-la land with your theories. No manufacturer wants to remove their pet programs unless they are forced to.

Windows Pro is the software that businesses install on their for-business machines, due to its extra ability (over the Windows home premium) to connect more easily over company networks and so on, in addition to the built-in backup and restore options (unavailable with Windows home premium). So if businesses have to purchase this, then it is required to be bloatware-free, which is the reason why Windows Pro gets the ability to remove bloatware, while the others (including Windows Ultimate) do not. At least that is my theory, and I am sticking to it.

 

I personally don't have a clue what is happening with your laptop(s), frankly, since mine has had no such issues. The question is, after you got your laptop, did you load anything (ANYTHING !) into the computer that did not come with it ? If so, then I would strongly look at what got loaded into it after the fact, since this situation has now affected the second such identical unit.

If I were to make a wild guess, there is something that got changed after the computer got to you, which is causing this slowdown.

By the gradual slowdown situation, which gets remedied when you re-boot your computer, I have a feeling that your RAM is getting choked with programs that then refuse to leave the RAM, after their function is done. So over time, the RAM keeps getting filled up - leading to the computer slowing down. Now when you re-boot, the RAM will clear up (due to its very nature), which in turn allows your computer to "breathe" again. Just a wild guess on my part. Maybe others more competent can comment.

 

Yah, and no other notebook manufacturer is offering the Premium to Pro updgrade at such a LOW price, and no other notebook manufacturer has so LITTLE bloatware, being only two trial programs as far as I can tell. Every other program, which are in Fresh Start along with the default install, are connected to necessary system drivers. Jo Bleau is really making something out of a situation which doesn't exist.

 

It's likely this was already posted but what a huge thread...

Notebookcheck.de and Notebookjournal.de have posted reviews of the European VPC-F11Z1/E.

They measured the screen and it's very good.
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Sony-Vaio-VPC-F11Z1-E-Notebook.25324.0.html
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/notebook-review-sony-vaio-vpc-f11z1e-nkst-1103/4

 

@roweraay. Thanks for the reply. I think Melody Master said that it could be a driver conflict but I'm not savvy enough to load and unload drivers. I ave to think its me though and something I loaded. I'm loath to return the machine because I think it could be, as you said, something I loaded. I've loaded the following:
Outlook 2003 Office
Spybot
Spyblaster
Norton Security Suite 2010
PMB (Sony Movie making stuff)
Ccleaner
Acronis
Auglogis Disc defrag
iTunes
Quicktime

That's about it.

 

guys where in vaio control center do we turn on/off the auto brightness?? in my control center all i have is this
network

 

you are missing a lot of stuff in your Vaio control Center. This is what it should look like.

 

just got my email from sony telling me my serial number, number 13

lets hope they have made a really big mistake and put backlit keyboard in there.

if i have my serial i hope that means its at the logistics centre. i wonder when it will land at my door

 

I believe the "bleed" you are referring to is an implementation feature and not an issue. As i posted in the review of my F115, many pages back, it's cool the first few times you use it, but I don't typically use the computer in the dark.

 

do you have a picture from strait above? And nice pics btw, the logitech is nicer but wired keyboard. Any of you guys find that a wireless keyboard is ever useful with the vaio?

 

Where IS is anyway?

 

I am starting to tread on thin ice here, and thus some others may need to chime in.

But as it stands, I strongly feel that one (or more) of the above programs is/are causing the RAM to fill up and slow the system down. Can You take a snapshot of the "processes" under the "Windows Task manager", both at the time of cold bootup (after the computer has sat shutdown for a while), and also after the system slows down ? I would be curious to see the "Mem Usage" before it slows down and after it slows down. I bet the "after" situation would be significantly worse than the "before" situation and you might be able to pinpoint the culprits.

You might then need to find out which are the programs that are the memory hogs and then try and talk to the respective program vendors and see if their software has any incompatibility with Windows 7 or not.

Bottomline, I don't think Sony has anything to do with this situation, since if it were so, then we would have had a million complaints by now.

 

Just to illustrate what I am trying to say with the above, what may be happening is that when you start working on a specific document (where the software has some incompatibility with Win 7), it loads it into the RAM/Memory.

Let us assume that document consumes say 100KB.

Now everytime you save the document, the saved version of that very same document takes the place of the old version, thus the overall memory consumption from that document is still roughly 100KB. But, if there is, for instance, a driver problem, then what happens is that the 100KB original version is retained in memory, and a NEW 100KB version (the new "saved" version) also takes its place in the RAM, followed by another 100KB version during the next "save" and so on......until your memory starts swiftly filling up with all of these "versions" that should really have exited the memory/RAM.

Now, when the available RAM start decreasing (since it is being consumed by all of these "phantom" un-necessary "versions" of the same document), the system automatically slows down, since it has to manage the processing, with very little RAM to play around in, which means smaller and smaller pages start getting loaded into memory/RAM - leading to a progressive slowdown in your system's performance. Now when you do a cold boot-up, the system has already flushed the RAM out completely, and thus you get a new lease of life and your programs get back all of that "lost" RAM......until it slows down again. At least that is the theory.

So what you could do would be as follows:

a) Un-install all of the programs that you installed.
b) Install the first program (do not load the rest).
c) Check if you system slows down after a couple of hours of usage.
d) If it does not slow down, then load the next program.
e) Validate if the system performance slows down with this 2nd program.
f) If not, then load the 3rd program and so on.....

You should catch the culprit soon enough.....

 

roweraay; I agree. First off, I really appreicate your help. Next let me ask you something...I have (had) an external monitor connected to the laptop. When connected the laptop exhibits the behavior I've described. When I disconnect it the seems to run as advertised. I'm using online videos as the benchmark. When the monitor is attached the videos stutter. When the monitor is diconnected. They don't. I did an A/B test on 5 videos. This held true. I'm almost embarrased to mention the monitor as a potential problem because I don't want to seem stupid. And becuase it doesn't make sense to me. Could that be a problem? Thanks so much.

 

- "No manufacturer wants to remove their pet programs unless they are forced to" - they get paid by software manufacturers to install trial-ware.

- "in addition to the built-in backup and restore options (unavailable with Windows home premium)" - an other victim of the shady Microsoft marketing. From this Microsoft Which one is right for you? page: "In addition to full-system Backup and Restore found in all editions, you can back up to a home or business network".

I don't backup to a network as I prefer DVD's & much faster eSATA external HHD connected via the USB/eSata port, I'm not connected to a business network, I don't "Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode" so I don't need Pro.

The core OS is exactly the same, with Upgrade Anytime, you just unlock some features already in the Home OS. The proof is: when you Upgrade Anytime from Home to Pro, the only thing you get is a unlocker key, no cd or DVD or download of any kind except some stuff for the virtual XP thing.

Yes if buying via CTO, Pro is the only way not to get the trial-ware but I still think that all OS should have the same option.

And if you buy a preconfig out of the shelf, don't panic, it's easy to remove the trial-ware & you can Upgrade Anytime to an other version. There is a shortcut in the Start Menu.

 

The monitor could very well be the culprit. It may be loading some kind of garbage into memory/RAM, which in turn progressively fills it up, till you disconnect it. When you disconnect it, the system might be flushing the memory of all of that built-in garbage, allowing your laptop to function again. Check the memory usage and you can probably tell for certain.

a) Take the RAM usage snapshot before connecting the monitor.
b) Connect the monitor and periodically keep on monitoring the RAM usage and note the changes.
c) Take the snapshot again, after a couple of hours.
d) Now disconnect the monitor and take the before and after snapshots.
e) Voila......contact the monitor vendor and get an updated driver for Windows 7.

 

Is it just me or is the sonystyle site down? I wanted to check out the F series but there was an "Application error"

 

For which country?

@ count_schemula, if this is your viewing angle when typing, it means that you are hitting the spacebar with your chin or sitting on a children size chair.

 

The UK one

EDIT: Nevermind, it seems to be up again now.

 

What kind of a benchmark is that?

Use a utility to measure the speed of your internet connection.

Are you using Internet Explorer? If so, check this: Streaming Video Slow.

Have you tried w/ the much better Firefox?

Win 7 Support: See details about your computer's performance using Task Manager.

I had a computer slowing down over time, the culprit was a Logitech Quickcam Pro software with a memory leak, after a couple of hours, it would eat ALL the available memory. Rebooting the computer would solve the problem temporarily.

Make sure that ALL the software you installed are up to date. If the problem is still there, search the web with 'name of your software' + memory leak, do-it for all of them.

 

I was wondering if inclusion of the backlit keyboard has any effect on the keyboard flex issue? You know, does the extra hardware from the backlit keyboard option stiffen it up any? Thanks.

 

Thanks for that. I will have to go it see it in person before I decide if I actually want it, as that looks like it could be a bit of a dust hog.

 

I FINALLY got my F11 CTO last night and I ordered it with fresh start option. Just so that you know, it did still come with Arcsoft WebCam Companion 3. I played with some of those features that you mention last night.

 

There is no "keyboard flex issue" on the F except a slight one near the Enter key as mentioned by many users. It is to be expected because of the extra keypad IMHO.

Search This Tread with: keyboard flex.

Yes, I was talking about people removing it when doing a "clean install" (or fresh install, not Fresh Start option with Pro), installing a stand-alone OS vs. the OEM.

"I FINALLY got my F11 CTO last night" - any feedback, positive or negative? Any "issues"?

 

Thanks alot!

 

Does anybody tested battery drain when turned off or hibenated?

 

lol. I know nothing when it comes to computers. Video works? I'm good to go.

Thanks for the input. I'll try that. Do you have any idea why the laptop now displays "System did not shut down properly...when it comes out of sleep mode? Thanks.