Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

I will in the morning

I'm off to the bar for drinks!

 

Yes I saw that I just wanted to show a pic of it in action.

 

If you have too many, you'll have a long boot time tomorrow. Cheers!

 

Hmm, that really is blazing fast. I tested mine a while back and the stock 5,400 rpm 500gb drive boot time took 88 seconds. :cry: My crystal ball shows an SSD in my future.

 

Mine boots in under 15 seconds as well.

Aftermarket Crucial 128GB SSD.

SSDs are pricey, but world changing.

 

What is the utility you used to measure this so we could use the same measuring stick?

Which programs load on start up?

 

Does anybody know what MBR Error 3 is? Amd what a fix might be?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=459125

I was following this thread. Technically, it's reboot times. I know very little about tweaking and such but I'm learning!

 

There's no girls in the bar? What are doing on line?

 

I admire your creativity in really messing up your computer, now the drive's Boot sector is damaged.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

 

Searching the web is wonderful: Windows 7 - MBR Error 3: "I suspect you have Acronis...".

Explore that avenue before attempting repair as you posted that program in your list here.

How to create a system repair disc to be able to repair the MBR & other stuff. Do it out of the box.

 

Haha! My girl comes back from OCS in 7 days Trying to behave.

And I'm a forum . I browse this thread and 2p2 hrly.

 

Again a case of what may have sort of worked in XP should not just be installed willy-nilly in Win7. Not that this isn't Acronis' fault.

 

Yup, the Microsoft gorilla painted a target on Acronis' back: Windows Backup.

 

Hi Joe, the MBR Error is Acronis...I don't have the Win 7 disc for repairs. I found another solution. Now I have to figure out why I get a "System did not shut down properly" when it comes out of sleep mode.

 

Follow the link I posted (Sony Support), you create the system repair disc with your F.

"I get a "System did not shut down properly" when it comes out of sleep mode" - Check your Event Viewer for error messages: Start>Run>eventvwr.msc

 

761 of them in the last 7 days Joe.

 

As I say, wipe your drive and start over with the VAIO's install discs. Then put nothing in except antivirus (or use the Norton trialware.) This at least will remove the possibility there IS a hardware problem, which I strongly doubt.

 

761 error messages??? Wow, that must be a record! Are you talking about ALL events or only errors? Event Viewer > Action > Filter > Event Level > select only: Errors.

Maybe MelodyMaster is right & you could restore to factory state using the Recovery Discs.

Check this out:
How to use the VAIO Care utility to check for and correct problems with the computer.

Includes:
# Application Failures : The number of applications that were stopped incorrectly, usually due to an error, broken out by the two previous months.
# Windows Failures : The number of times the Windows operating system crashed, failed or restarted due to an error.
# Windows Startup Time : The time it took the computer to bootup the first time, as well as the boot time averaged over a month.
# Total Startup Applications : The number of programs that start automatically when the operating system loads. The greater the number of startup applications, the longer the Windows startup time.
# Registry Cleaner : Scans the Windows system registry for potential problems.

Includes a Newbies button: "If the report shows any problems, click the Fix All button to correct the issues".

How to restore the computer using a system image backup created using the Windows Backup and Restore feature.

How to troubleshoot a computer that is performing or running slowly or has stopped responding.

Good luck!

 

Heh, my Asus netbook has had just two errors, both in application event viewer, in the last month, one a failed Google update and one hang (IE8, probably an IP error.) Those errors are all related to the slowdowns.

 

@Joe Blue. How reliable is the event viewer. I'm following Melody Masters advice (in fact all of you advised me to do this), and I'm doing a new unstall from the recovery discs, and I already show 13 errors. But the sleep mode works right again and so far everything is good...except darn Acronis. The "press f11" acronis prompt is this there even after the wipe and clean install. I know how to fix it though. Listen, everybody, thanks for your help.

 

Acronis is in the boot sector, which isn't affected even during a format. That's part of the image protection, and the reason I'd never install it since there are other ways to protect data.

The Event viewer never lies, unless there's a hard crash to reboot before the event can actually be written. You shouldn't be getting errors during a fresh install (maybe one particular one I see sometimes.) So there's still a problem with the drive. I would Delpart, completely discombobulate the drive including recovery partition, and let the recovery DVDs recreate the partitions. Or use a new drive. Check data on the DVDs first though with Nero discspeed or CDcheck and a compatible burner such as an LG.

 

When a store ships to canada, how is taxes handled? You still have to pay GST/PST, and Duty? One option for me is to ship to the border and go pick it up myself. The down side is if anything's wrong, it'll be difficult to send back to the US.

 

Customs charges the taxes, which you pay at the post office. There's no duty. If it's via Fedex or UPS then the brokerage can be as high as $50 on top of the taxes. There's no warranty in Canada however the US VAIO is obtained. Several prebuilts are coming via Sonystyle.ca, including reportedly a 1920 X 1080 with GT330. However prices are higher than the same config in CTO, which doesn't offer the GT330. With a Canadian F11 you have a warranty and no shipping or brokerage charges.

 

No duty? That's good to know.

I guess there isn't a big chance for me to buy in the states mainly because I have to go back to the states to ship it if there are any defects. Plus, I cannot take advantage of the cheap SSD options they have only in Canada. Otherwise the prices are similar.

 

Incidentally The situation is even worse for the i-core CWs at Sonystyle.ca than for the F-series. There're just a couple of prebuilts, and the CTO option is completely gone, which is too bad because one could put together a really nice powerful i7-620 with decent memory and GT310 and Bluray burner.

Everything I've heard and seen suggests stock for both these lines won't come up until the refresh.

 

Can anybody post a link for some lagom lcd test (see lagom.nl) live shots of a few professional lcd displays? Otherwise it's virtually impossible to make any comparisons without side-by-side tests.

Bought myself a F11 with premium display today after side-by-side comparing with a AW4/Q (with RGB led). I would say that F11 is sharper and had a better white balance by defauld (this is rather useless point as they all have to be calibrated for proper professional use). Color reproduction was similar on both displays, as far as I could judge by viewing a few dozen pics (didn't have internet access from the shop there).

I'll post a few lagom test live shots from my laptop a bit later.

 

for those interested in maintentance of your system...Vaio Care is very mediocre.

I can't recommend tune-up utilities 2010 enough. you can download the trial for free at download.com. if you're not impressed by it, i'll eat my lunch.

I'd never used a maintenance program before tune-up 2009 because of bad experiences with programs that do things like "clean the registry". now I swear by this app.

 

I have a quick question, what is the difference (if any) between the regular "Black" colour and "Premium Black" colour thats availabe on the more expensive model?

Thanks

 

---Why?---

Hum, there is a few people unhappy about tune-up utilities 2010 here, but I guess it's to be expected.

 

If anyone knows of a good comparison review of some new rgb led laptops (like dell, lenovo and etc.), please post a link. I'm a bit disappointed by the vertical viewing angles (try this to see yourself http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/viewing_angle.php). Any info on how do other photo-grade laptops perform in this sense? MBP for instance?

 

Erm.. my whine/morse code is back. I have the latest drivers installed (actually they came preinstalled) and I have tried all of the work arounds I can find. The noise sometimes fades away and the morse code often seems to be related to my typing.

I know there has been some confusion between fan noise and the whine but this really does sound like the descriptions of the whine and I can hear the fan as a seperate noise.

I've emailed Sony as well but so far this forum seems to be much more helpful so any ideas?

 

I hate to state the obvious, but it's not a squeaky key is it?

 

Notebookcheck.com and Notebookjournal.de make very good screen reviews.

The European F Premium screen has better contrast and brightness than the Dell XPS 16 RGB LED. I did not read the full review though.

 

I for one am very interested to see what this fix ends up being. While Mr. Bleau doesn't seem to think it has any purpose, the rest of us who have to deal with this buzzing in other operating systems are standing by.

There seems to be a hardware or assembly defect involved and I respect Sony for offering a repair that isn't limited to a specific Windows 7 software configuration.

Also I noticed in Win7 that when you set a recording device to listen all of the time, an audio related process seems to use a fair amount of CPU, which likely isn't helping our already mediocre battery life.

 

Premium is a little bit darker than the normal one, but the only 'real' difference is in the palm rest that in the premium is in a gummy material (quite confortable) instead of the palstic of the normal one.

That's mine, a F11Z1E (premium black)




I've now removed the sticker

 

Thx a lot for the link! But the only relative thing I found (on the .de site; thx chrome has a translator extension now))) was the following:
"That can not be the one 1500 euro for a sony laptop
paid, supposedly have good displays, and then you get
such a vertical viewing angles. some have the
Starun seen in a film when you watch, the lower beam
gray and black above, depending on the height from which you
I watch. bad for sony. " (translated from german by google translator)

So this confirms my suspicion about poor vertical viewing angle. The only thing I wanna figure out is whether this is the best what notebook displays can show or not? I'm not going to compare that to a desktop display in any sense...

 

I'm not sure I get your question, but the European premium screen is reviewed here:
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

Those websites have also reviewed the Macbook Pro 17 and the Dell XPS 16 RGB LED, so you can compare it.

 

No, the noise pauses briefly when I hit a key, creating the morse code effect. If I don't touch anything the noise is pretty constant. Scrolling and clicking with the mouse has a similar effect.

 

As I'm interested in the vertical viewing angle, I find the first article a bit more informative. Thx for a direct link - was unable to find it by searching (might be my poor german). My question is simple: is this European premium display the best in terms of vertical viewing angle amongst other 100% adobe rgb displays, let's call'em this way.

 

I guess I live and I learn. I am follwoing the advice that you, roweray, and Joe have given me, (many thanks for that), and it looks like the problem will be the LG W2361 monitor that I hooked up to it. I'll know better today after I get through installing my programs, (except for those that you are so adamantly against). I'll let you know. But it looks like anyone who wants to use an external monitor should be aware that if they experience any problems, that it could be the monitor.

 

I have read several of the comments on this forum while I was decided on the laptop I would get. The main function I needed it for was for HD video editing.

I finally purchased the Sony VPCF117FDB from the Sony store on January 31st. Picked it up from the store February 9th. It is a pre config with i7-720, 500GB 7200RPM HD, Premium 1080 display, GT330 graphics card and Blue Ray Read Only.

Paid $1450CAD for the laptop that I believe retailed for $1599 which I thought made it close to the CTO price. I added the extra 2 year warranty because I just went through losing my Hp laptop within 2 years of purchase because of a manufacturing defect that they knew about before I bought it. This elimainated Hp from my potential laptops. Looked at the Dell XPS 16 and felt it was comparable. I liked the fact I have 20 days to decide on the Sony pre config model if I want to return it.

I don't have a strong technical background with computers so I can't add to much to this forum. All I can say is I don't notice any whinning noise but I do hear the fan from time to time. Not a big deal for me. I tried removing the trial versions and I created recovery disc. I will be installing either Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 or the Coral equivalent within the next week.

Thanks for all your comments. I am hoping I made the right choice and this laptop will last me 3-4 years.

 

The F manual says that your have to turn on the HDMI sound device in order to hear movies on an HDMI connected TV. In the "Playback" tab of the "Manage Audio Devices" screen there is no HDMI device listed. The only choices are:

my external Logitech speakers connected by USB
the internal speakers interestingly listed as "Speaker/HP"
Digital Output/Optical (Realtek High Definition Audio)

Is this third one the HDMI or is the list missing something? HDMI is not optical. I don't have a new enough TV with HDMI but I am visiting my folks next week and they do. I don't want to spend a lot of time fiddling with the setup at my folks. I'd rather spend time with them. Any suggestions?

 

I am thinking of either the Sony Vegas Platinum Pack or the new Corel Video Studio Pro x3. Have you done much research on these? I'm not a big Adobe fan.

Sorry all for the off topic question. If there is a better location for this please let me know.

 

First, a big thank you to all posters, as they helped immensely in my purchase of my VAIO F.

I had actually ordered an Dell Studio XPS 1640 back on January 14, however after reading all the throttling and heat issues, lackluster customer service, and having my order delayed 3 times, I switched over to the VAIO F (my Dell order is actually still being processed, despite calling 3 times this week to cancel it ).

Anyway, back to the VAIO. I ordered it off the sonystyle.com website on February 8th, CTO, with the following specs:

Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor (1.60GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.80GHz
16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
6GB (4GBx1 + 2GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Blu-ray Disc™ player
Keyboard Backlight
320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Fresh Start option selected
Gray color
2-Day Expedited Shipping

At that time, I received an estimated ship date of 2/16/2010. I received an updated email on 2/10/2010 informing me that the build process had begun, and another email on 2/11/2010 saying that the laptop was shipped, and finally received the laptop 2/12/2010. 4 days ahead of schedule!!! YAY SONY!

Initial Impressions:
The laptop itself is a beauty. I know VAIO's have always been very big on looks, and the VAIO F doesn't disappoint. I've never used a chiclet-keyboard as well on all my previous laptops, and was afraid I wouldn't like it. I'm happily proven wrong on that point, and I love it. No dead pixels here.

The Fresh Start option still did come with the ArcSoft Webcam Companion, as well as Corel's WinDVD and Roxio Easy Media creator. Other than that, a nice clean system.

Regarding the posts on keyboard flex, under normal typing conditions for myself, there is none noticeable. However, if I press down HARD in the area of the 'Enter' and right 'Shift' key, there is some noticeable flex, but I don't see any normal person doing that.

Also for those wondering about whether the network card is Intel or Atheros, it is Atheros.
The backlight leakage is not bothersome for myself either. I actually think the glowy-aura around the keys is pretty nice. To each their own I guess.

No heat issues at all. The left side of the laptop did get a little warm when I was playing WoW on high settings, but that was it.

Unfortunately, I DO hear the high-pitched noise, although I ordered mine even after Sony had stopped production to remedy that issue. I personally don't find it annoying though (for now). Additionally, I am in a VERY quiet location, am 28 years old with great hearing, and don't find this to be an issue at all.

I am not a big gamer, and the only game I will really play on this laptop is World of Warcraft. On max settings, I was only getting about 20-25 FPS. Lowering everything to 'medium' settings, my FPS is at 40-50.

The ONLY issue I might have a problem with, and it was surprising because no other posts have mentioned it, is the optical drive. I actually have 2 issues with it... First, the placement of it I find to be very awkward, being so close to the USB ports. If you have anything plugged in with wires to the USB, it tends to get in the way of the optical drive when in use. Also, the eject button on the optical drive tends to be a little unresponsive, and I have to press down on it somewhat hard to get it to open. However, these are really just minor pet peeves. Overall, I am incredibly happy with my purchase.

Unfortunately, I was so excited about getting the laptop up and running that I did not take a screenshot of the applications/processes of the Fresh Start. My apologies, and I hope these impressions are helpful.

 

I haven't done a lot of research but the comparison reviews I have read put the Coral software ahead of both Adobe and Sony. Why? I am not sure.

 

Oh, one more item I forgot to mention:

@Glashub, I put the laptop to sleep yesterday night, and when I awoke this morning and turned on my laptop, I also got the message that windows did not shut down properly. I will play around today some more and see if it happens consistently.

 

I've used previous versions of Corel's VideoStudio - for editing HD footage. I love it. Works just fine ( but very slow) on a P4 PC, but the X3 version should fly using all the CPU cores (?) on the Sony.
I intend to get the new X3 version for my yet-to-be-purchased F11 soon, along with their X3 version photo s/w.

 

I can't find a real datasheet or manual for the x3 product online. I was wondering how many video and how many audio tracks the product supports.

 

OK, today I had a second visit to the store to check on F11Z/Bl after day use in store.
I had a bit more time today so here are my findings:
- build quality looks good but:
-Plastic really thin in the DVD bay area and frame that is attached from this side moves a bit( mind this is in store display model )
- slight keyboard flex in enter area but only if you press really hard - not gonna happen while typing
- power connector somehow wobbly ( could not disconnect to check what is the problem as this would trigger the alarm
-rubber-like palmrest really nice
-screen - great as far as colors but is it only me or you can see kind of slight violet/purple cast on the screen running on default profile I guess
-power/speed - well sucks really - with all the bloatware this one opens windows media player slower than my Samsung with dual core 7350 CPU. I guess this means nothing and it might be real beast while running freshly installed system. But factory as it is - really bad experience and some guy that was considering this one bought actually Asus with slower CPU. This Sony was running 1,9 GB memory taken and 83 processes.
-GPU - I do not know if anyone noticed but my 9600GT has more bandwidth and memory speed than 330 . Really strange.I'm not gamer so really don't care about it.
-Heat/Noise - really hard to access in Media Markt store but air coming out pretty hot I must admit . Sometimes when idling fan is really silent but once you have something Playing like clip or movie it gets louder and also theer is more hot air coming out. This is major factor for me as I need power and silence. I know it is hard to get both in such a nice package as this SOny is , I must admit.
-connectors - rubbish really - both USB close to BR tray, another on the left -if you connect something most likely interfere with airflow.
Can somebody comment if this lappy is getting more quiet while elevated as I could not move it due to security devices in store.
I'm almost decided on this one but heat/noise will not work for me as I'm using lappy during nights/evenings. Asus G73 looks like more quiet and strangely I begin to consider Asus as a better choice. Please correct me if I'm wrong.