Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

That is what mine did and I returned it. It's part of the US Premium screen and there is no fix at the moment.

 

haha "EHHHHHHHHHHHH????"

 

I am very unhappy with my screen my self. I have returned an hpdv8 in orer to buy this laptop and over all I like the F series much better but the screen is pretty bad, I mean even in medium brightness settings, I feel like there are large washed up areas of screen where colors appear faded. I have connected the computer to my $250 720p lcd tv and the colors look even much better on that crappy TV.
I don't want to return this lap top, I bought it off best buy and they have %15 restocking fee, and I am sure they are going to tell me that everything is fine so what are my options? Is sony accepting this as a problem and are they willing to work on it to fix it?

 

There are a couple of Color Profiles floating around that really fix the washed out image. Search "Spyder." The colors will deepen and the contrast will pop.

I returned to Best Buy last night. They asked me if it was defective, I said no, it's not defective in the sense that something is broken or not working, I just can't live with the vertical viewing angles for graphics and video editing, and even watching movies. No other questions asked, but the restock fee was $202.

Still, it was that or live with that screen for 1-2 years. I cut my losses. It was a bit of an impulse buy. I should know to read the forums before pulling the trigger.

I feel compelled to say that I am still a converted fan of Sony for PC laptops though. I would almost certainly get another Sony over Dell or HP.

Every "brand" out there is at risk if they don't keep better tabs on their suppliers. Ask Toyota.

 

Yep, that is what mine does, it is going back for repairs this week, lets see what they say...

 

WHY didn't you say, "Yes, it's defective. The screen is strange if you move your head even an inch it washes out" and then let THEM say, "Oh no, that's not a defect. All Sony screens are impossible to watch."

Man, I never let a store or a manufacturer get away with something like that. I would have escalated to a manager and "settled" for a regular refund or have left the computer for their "geek squad" to examine and get back to me.

But then again, I do a lot of advocacy work, so I'm used to fighting bureaucracies!

Sorry you didn't take my advice several pages back. Try this: Call the store back and ask for a manager (with your receipt in front of you). Tell them you've been on NBR and users are saying that there's a problem with screens and that you mentioned viewing angle issues and you are surprised you were charged a restocking fee. The computer should NOT go back on the shelves (restocked) but should go back to Sony for repair and you should have your $202 credited back.

Worth asking...worst the manager can say is no. On the other hand, s/he is likely aware of issues with the Fs and the person at the register is likely not. Cashiers ask "Anything wrong?" and if you say no, they hit one button; if you say, yes, another. YOU called the shots on the first encounter, so escalate to the manager and save the next person the open box experience of that screen.

Further, Sony gets the message that the American market (the one that this forum says "likes shiny things") likes things that function normally. And it isn't normal to not be able to move your head two inches when you're typing!

Good luck!

P.S. Your Toyota analogy is a good one. Imagine a dealer saying, "Is your gas pedal defective?" when you come into the shop with one of the "affected" models (like the "affected" Sony US screens). Would you answer, "I'm still alive; it hasn't completely stuck yet." Or would you say, "I know that this gas pedal is known for performing in a substandard way; I want it replaced at your cost, not mine."

 

Maybe it's just my eyes, but the screen doesnt bug me that much. I have the lid open to about 100 degrees and it looks fine to me. Then again, the screen on my old Sony z1, which I lived with for 3 years had really horrible viewing angles, and it might be that this screen is just better in comparison to that.

 

Also, I played ME2 in 1080p, all settings dialed up at 16xAF and it ran surprisingly well. 15-20 fps with FRAPS on, 24-34 with FRAPS off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcPBrrY5wu8

 

Same here.

 

The dirty is I still made $200 on the laptop even after losing $200 to restocking. I could have made $400, so, truly it is still a loss of $200, but at some point it all goes into the wash. I could tweak this invoice another $200 if I really wanted.

My other fear was dealing with the $200 Amex gift card I used for the purchase that they tried to give back to me in the form of a BB gift card, at first. Ended up eating the Amex card to the restock.

I'm also not sure that 10 out of 10 people would find it defective. This really is more of a subjective thing, than an outright defect. If I wrote code all day, it would not bother me that much. I thought text looked pretty awesome actually.

I agree though, I might should have fought more, but I was in and out of there in 10 minutes.

 

I finally did hear back from DataColor about this exact question, and they said that none of their products currently offer this capability (to measure and record screen luminance at multiple screen locations)

@virum: My screen (which I'm happy with) does have a bit of this backlight bleed (increased screen brightness on the bottom) that you're showing. However, looking at your laptop photo in your post on my calibrated screen, I don't get the situation you describe, with such a dramatic difference in brightness between the top and bottom. Using your example, when I'm at the "sweet spot" viewing angle for my screen, and I scroll your keyboard image up and down, I'm able to see the detail of the separate keys whether they're at the top or bottom of the screen, and never does it look "as if I boosted the iso settings on my camera and I can see all the grainy noisey detail in the image" Have you tried loading my profile? In addition to improving the color balance, it adjusts the white and black points of the screen in such a way as to mitigate the backlight bleed effect somewhat. You can find it, along with detailed instructions on how to load it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5784440&highlight=spyder#post5784440

I suspect that the issue with the US Vaio F premium screen is a combination of factors. First, it seems that inherent in the design of the screen, there is some backlight bleeding causing increased brightness on the bottom on all of the screens. But there also seems to be a wide range of just how much bleeding there is (ie a quality control issue). Those with the most bleed can easily see there's a problem, and their screen is not acceptible. Those with less bleed have been happy with their screens (particularly after calibration, and with some attention to obtaining the proper screen angle). Those with bleed levels in the middle may be in the most difficult situation. While their problem might not be as blatant as Melody Master's and To No End's, if even after calibration, and with care to find the sweet spot, you're still not seeing reasonably uniform screen brightness, that's going to be annoying, and probably not acceptable. Finally, I think individual personal differences in expectations and perception will play a role in how much some extra brightness at the bottom with bother someone. As Joe Bleau has pointed out numerous times, the current standard for laptop screens is for there to be variations in screen brightness.

My advice to owners (or potential owners) of a US Vaio F screen is to calibrate your display (either by downloading my profile or getting yourself a colorimeter) get used to adjusting the screen angle to find the sweet spot (which really isn't that big of a chore), then go about the business of using it however you are planning to use it. You'll either be happy with the screen or you won't, and you can make your decision accordingly.

 

The angle shown here is a little extreme, but keep in mind that image starts deteriorating almost right away. I can't play this sweet spot game when it's 2010 and screens are pretty good these days on more premium laptops. I already noticed I was getting in the habit of grabbing and pushing and pulling the screen. That's no way to live.

There was backlight bleed, but that does not freak me out too much.

I took the machine to work one day to watch a couple of movies, and the image was usually jacked up when I glanced over at it.

It also did not help that I have two 2008 LED MacBook Pros and both screens were killing the Sony in terms of brightness and neither came close to having these viewing angle issues. As I've mentioned before, I have two Sony HDTVs and have blown a lot of money on CRT Trinitrons in my lifetime. I was not expecting screen issues.

 

That's $20 a minute for Best Buy. Not bad. Hey, maybe the American economy is bouncing back for the corporate sector!

Seriously, I cannot accept that the size or the type of backlighting makes these issues "acceptable." I have never read of this sort of endemic problem in the FW series on that thread. Some small unevenness in the backlighting visible only when the screen is black during the booting up, yes. Visible during use, no. (Although some North American FW5 series screens alone in the FW line, if I recall correctly, did get some serious complaints -- check my earlier postings for that.)

So, with all that in mind, that the Sony FullHD with the higher resolution has been an EXCELLENT screen throughout most of the FW series where it first appeared as a Sony-featured 16.4" screen, this must be a supplier defect issue that is plaguing the F series.

Sony, like any other manufacturer, in the end will do whatever the market will bear. In the past, Americans had the higher level of crankiness and Europeans were more sheep-like in confronting merchants, but with the EU consumer protection legislation, well, it's the North Americans who are now resembling sheep as they accept substandard screens and lesser-outfitted models than their European counterparts.

Too baaaa-d for us, if we don't say, "Network"-like: We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!

 

It's also $20 a minute for me to not have to hassle.

I hear ya, but I had other factors in play. I did use the laptop on a project, and there is a swirl of billing around that that I did fine on. This laptop with the SSD I put in it for the job did a sweet job playing back some large video live to screens.

So, it's not exactly like I had to collect pennies to buy the laptop and now I can't eat. Not to make light of anyone in that situation, lord knows I've been there.

I suppose I can write the $200 off as a loss or something on my taxes if I really wanted to.

 

I will grant you that using the computer for a full month in a state altered from that which you purchased and then turning it in puts you in a "special" game-the-system category for which you were willing (and able) to pay the $202.

The problem is the next person who gets that computer as an "open box" sale. S/he may not have the financial situation which provides for such easy loss of a couple hundred bucks.

 

I did this, the pics I posted were with your profile actually.

I guess I would be happy if Sony would just say they would upgrade my screen when they bring the European screen to the market. I would gladly pay an extra 400 dollars. Hell, at this point I would be willing to attempt an independent upgrade myself if I could find a supplier for the panel.

 

Just tried inserting a 1GB SD from camera in the SD card slot. My F11J does not recognize it. Put it back in my camera and accessed it without a problem. Also inserted into my Dell (with PCBus adapter) also without a problem.

Has anyone else tried an SD card in the front card slot and what results did you have?

 

They'll also be paying $1000 for what is otherwise a pretty whoop butt machine.

I only had the laptop 13 days, btw... and it was no scam, I bought it fully expecting to keep it.

 

Did you reinstall the OS or anything? There are 2-3 downloads at Sony.com service and support > drivers that are for the card readers, maybe try reinstalling those?

 

Eventhough I have received a much better screen with a much more uniform brightness, there is no escaping the fact that the vertical viewing angle isn't wide. I agree with Slrosenfeld that this is not a defect but by design though Sony must have cut corners to achieve a competitive unit in the notebook market.

But the sweetspot is really good! The brightness is uniform, the colors are vivid, and the bleeding in NOT noticeable.

The sweetspot of my display really depends on my sitting position and the screen lid is usually at a range from 90 degrees to the keyboard and a notch or two tilted back. Anymore than that then picture quality does degrade immediately just as Count Schemula reported.
If I feel tired and end up slouching a good portion of the time then the lid at 90 degrees seems appropriate and forgiving on darker colors. If i'm feeling fine and can sit properly then I can tilt the screen back a little.
For me, it's really just these two factors that make me tilt the screen.

Personally, I would have rather Sony given North American customers a choice for the EU matte for an additional price. In Tcklim's youtube review, the viewing angle seems to be wider but more importantly, it is a matte screen. (isn't the downside of a matte screen the loss of sharpness??)

I can live with this. I hit the sweetspot all the time anyway and I just see a good screen. It requires some compromise but I can't find another computer with these kinds of specs for a total of US$1743 (before taxes)

i7-820QM, 8GB 1333Ram, 1920x1080 W/ GT330m, Blu ray burner, Win7 Pro,
Standard capacity battery.320GB 7200Rpm drive.

But ultimately, it is up to the end user. If you just can't use the screen, then it's best to get another notebook or wait until Sony changes the screen in one of their refreshes.

 

No - I have not re-installed the OS. It is the stock OEM system builder's version installed from a server on 02/04/10 at the San Diego Sony facility.

 

I agree with this, and I think that is part of what made it so frustrating. It wasn't like a business class screen which looked kinda crappy and dim and washed out all the time. In the spot, it's pretty impressive.

Maybe the best text on a laptop screen I've ever seen.

And the price was the other thing... for $1350 (Best Buy retail model) I thought it was a dynamite buy. Looks like they should have priced it at $1450 though and got the screen right.

On the plus, it looks like Sony revises often. Apple does not do this. When they release something inferior, you're stuck with it as the only option for 18 months.

 

Try Vaio Care & diagnose your lappy. Check also updates.

 

Been there, done that. The esupport site only has the "Original" drivers. My original post asked if anyone else has attempted to use their SD card slot and if there was a problem.

 

Vaio Care?

How to use the VAIO Care™ utility to check for and correct problems with the computer.
http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=C1009283&sliceId=1&mdl=VPCF115FMB "Device Manager : Checks Device Manager for any errors that may show a problem with a hardware device".

Try uninstall card reader & reinstall.

If both Vaio Care & that does not solve the problem, it may be hardware.

 

Did you get your screen replaced or are you talking about the origina lscreen that came with it?

 

Yes Joe, I tried Vaio Care. Have you tried an SD card in the card slot?

 

I've tried 2 cards - an older 256mb card and a newer 4gb card, both made by Sandisk. Works fine for me...

 

@Derrida
@Count Schemula

I wonder if Sony will really change their screens for this unit out of consumer dissatisfaction. However, a lot of people made noise about the morse code issue earlier on with a lot of owners returning the unit. It seems like the same issue happening again but now with the screens. But the screens are more expensive to change no?

Derrida, you mentioned the refresh happening in March. Is March (early or late?) the norm for Vaio refreshes? Would it have been pushed further back due to the shielding issue? or do you know something more?

Our European counterparts are getting the better spec hardware (F and E series). It makes me wonder if Sony thinks we've just gone too dirt poor on a national market scale to warrant better specs.

 

Thanks for the response. Looks like I will add this to the defect list.

 

@Andyk5

This is my second F11. the first one came with a defective screen with very very bad bleeding. It was noticeable on light and dark backgrounds. Like I said before it had this flashlight effect and was also washing everything out. In one of my very early posts, I commented on how it looked like a separate layer of light .

My new F11 screen is still stock hardware.

 

My statements on refeshes have been based on the precursor FW series' track record. As with the FW, the Canadian Sony Style site is announcing a refresh about three months after the F model's first appearance, for March, so it is likely that the U.S. will also have a refresh. The Canadian site is often updated a bit more quickly than the US SonyStyle, again from my experiences on the FW NBR thread.

It is indeed likely that people are "hesitating" to force Sony to confront the screen issues, unlike the way they more openly complained about the morse-code-like issue. From what we hear, it sounds as though the latter's fix will cost Sony less than a screen would -- but onsite visits for the latter won't be "cheap" either, of course.

As for the spec'ing of the model, it does appear that the European market is always ahead of the North American market in most Sony laptop lines. I tracked the FW series through its incarnations and Europe always had the new GPUs and CPUs before the US did. Likely a supplier issue, since Europe's CTOs come from Japan, in the US they come from San Diego -- with the spec'ing and marketing linked first to the home base Japanese market.

Of course, if you need a computer now, you should purchase what suits you the best for your money now. But if you can wait, it often makes sense to wait for the refresh to get such bugs as these out. That said, I do not recall any firestorms with the arrival of the FW; the succeeding refreshes seemed to simply add features (and take away the much-prized HiColor 1600x900) with no major defects to correct.

P.S. Count Schemula, I meant no slight against you -- I apparently misread your statement of your use of that F11 before you returned it.

 

None taken or I missed it?

It is a game though, I admit that I could spend a lot of time shopping or using mail order to avoid taxes, and so on, but part of the reason I'd still shop brick and mortar is to return things quickly with on the spot resolution. That's a lot different than an RMA and shipping.

A lot of people do buy things, use them and return them, hell, look at Macy's and all the returns they have to deal with from people who wear an outfit out and leave the labels on or all the Super Bowl freaks who buy 60" TVs and return them.

No shame to my game I meant to keep the laptop, but I had 2-3 days left to return it and it was do that, or live with the compromise for 2 years.

If the return rate is high, Sony will get the message. I guess I did not feel like a battle over it, I got to get on with things myself.

I bought my 15" MBP for this same job two years ago. I always buy some equipment specifically for various jobs. My clients expect to see good technology in use and I usually keep the stuff I buy.

I think every PC laptop I've ever bought I check off the video card box and the screen upgrade. I'm always willing to pay the extra money to get a great screen, it's so important to the use of the computer. I think that's why I've owned so many Dells, they do an ok job with video card and screen options for the most part.

 

I noticed on the Japanese site, that you can now configure it with a i7 620M

http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...refox-a&hs=ZCe&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official

 

Then we should expect to see an F11 BIOS update on the esupport site relatively soon. On February 2, 2010, American Megatrends announced a release of AMIBIOS and Aptio (the more advanced configurable BIOS in our F11's) to support the latest additions to the I3, I5 and I7 processor family. I am sure Sony engineering has had their hands on RC versions before February. If I were back in engineering, I would keep the release of the products relatively local (Japan in this case) to get the bugs worked out before I made it more widely available. I am not sure of the release date of the 620M but I also expect Intel is ramping up production thus supplies of the processor may be limited. I am hoping that the BIOS update will fix the ACPI_PSD Object error detected for all eight processors when you run "powercfg /energy" from the command line.

 

It's not really since now but since then, I've posted in January (18th) that F11 was sold in japan with:

"i3 330
i5 430
i5 540
i7 620
i7 720
i7 820

and also 512 gb SSD and digital tv receiver as options."

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5751133&postcount=642

and also that there was also the white option

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5751185&postcount=648

 

It could be that you two actually don't have the bad screens. Remember that one fellow on here got a replacement laptop and he said the display on the replacement was much better.

My comment on returning a Canadian CTO is based on the fact that my first one was reurned ONLY because of a bad display. If the replacement has the SAME problem then I can indeed return that, and say "forget it."

 

Don't overlook user error, I had to try a couple of times to get the SD card read in mine. I just hadn't quite pushed it in all the way until I used my fingernail.

 

Thanks for the heads up but unfortunately when I push the card farther in it releases the latch to eject. When I do insert any of my SD cards, I see a yellow LED briefly and then nothing.

 

Oh, ok. Other than being disabled in bios I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work. You made sure there's no yellow exclamation mark in device manager?

 

What LED has Sony ever released with a matte LED in the US? The AW. The Z and the SR had the LED but not the matte. They were of the same semi-glossy as the F11. I'm sorry I don't see a matte LED coming to the F11. That is being reserved, I'll bet, for the 17" or the 18.4 inch....both of which are speculation right now....as far as I know. Although one guy did post that a Sony CS he talked to heard that there might be an 18.4". Of course that has as much validity as the speculation about an LED matte in the states. The fact of the matter is that as an owner of the AW I find the f11 screen lacking but I don't consider it broke or defective. It's disappointing that it's the same screen on my wifes 2 year old NR (stretched wide) but thats the economics of hitting a price point with razor slim margins in a tough economy I guess. Maybe the new Z will new perfect.

 

Yup, Device Manager is clean and about the only user changeable attribute in BIOS is Virtualization On/Off besides date and boot sequence.

As I posted earlier, this is another problem that I have added to my list. I will hit the Sony Style Store technician tomorrow.

 

After using the laptop for a couple of days now, I feel overall the product ROCKS ! Since I was doing some things around the place, I could not give her a full workout, with a couple of photo processing batchjobs and/or Video encoding.

PS: The only disappointment is the screen, to be quite honest. The vertical viewing angles are sub-par. The EU matte screen would have made this product perfect.

PS2:

My Windows experience scores are as follows:
Processor: 7.1
Memory: 7.4
Graphics: 6.5
Gaming Graphics: 6.5
Hard Disk (256GB SSD): 6.9

Overall: 6.5 (based on lowest sub-score)

 

Have you played with the Vegas 9 yet? Impressions? Is it true you can not use Vegas 9 for burning to DVDs?

 

PS: We have the exact same setup (when mine arrives Wed) except I have the 500GB 7200rpm. Just didn't have the $$$ left over for the SSD

 

Yeah but whats the chance of that. Glad to hear you can live with it, I hope I can... When do you predict the next refresh after march will be?

Yeah it's a lot more expensive to fix the screens, I doubt it will happen but who knows. Man, I wish they do.

 

Unfortunately, I have not done any serious work on the laptop yet (including working with Vegas Pro 9.0), other than websurfing and other minor stuff. And I will be on a business trip for the next few days.

Yes, cursorily, I do see the "burn disc" option, including an option for "Blu ray disc" but I don't see anything specific for DVDs.

Doing a quick check, it states (within the help index) that:
=======================
If you have DVD Architect software, you can create menu-based DVDs, music compilations, picture slide shows, or a single-movie DVD that will play back automatically in your DVD player.

DVD Architect software includes support for many file types and can convert your media to the formats required for DVD as needed. However, for best performance (decreased disc preparation time and recompression), render your files in the appropriate format using Vegas software.

MPEG-2 video files rendered with the DVD NTSC or DVD PAL templates will not need to be recompressed. Audio will not need to be recompressed if rendered as stereo or surround AC-3 files with a bit rate of less than 448 kbps or as stereo, 48-kHz, 16-bit, WAV (PCM) files.
=======================

The Vegas Pro 9.0 software that they put on the machine, does not come with DVD Architect Pro 5.0, even though they do include it as a promotion, in the boxed version.

However, the DVD Architect Studio (available for around $40) could be used to author/burn DVDs:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SDVDAS4500M-DVD-Architect-Studio/dp/B000RLQNP8

 

To my surprise my playstation 3 recognized my F11 as a media server!

I just got through watching my digital copy of BBC's 2007 version of Oliver Twist. I don't currently have an HDMI cable running from my machine to the TV but I do have my audio connected to surround sound. This is nice and convenient as I can stream digital videos to my HD Bravia if I choose so. For that matter, documents, music, and pictures were recognized on the ps3 as well (though pictures and videos are probably the only media files I will do this for). This digital copy turned out a pixely picture as it's in standard definition but, still, it was nice to not have windows media player running, no video cable, and to have the ability to check up on this thread without switching over TV/video outputs while the movie was playing. Awesome!

In order for the ps3 to access these files they have to be placed in your user "Libraries" folder to the corresponding media type...piece of cake. I just copied the movie from its usual folder location and pasted it in the Libraries->videos folder. After the movie was finished I just deleted it, done.

Oh yeah, one more thing, if you happen to have your ps3 turned on before you moved/copied the file into the "Libraries" folder then you will need to scroll up on your ps3 menu and refresh by going to "Search for Media Servers". Only then will your ps3 recognize the new files. Cheers!

 

To be quite honest, SSD prices are coming down by the day and you should be able to swap out your HDD with maybe a 512GB SSD for a fraction of current day prices, in around 6-10 months. Overall that should work out cheaper, while providing a higher capacity than the 256GB that the Sony/Toshiba SSD comes with.

 

Thanks for the great info and link, roweraay. If I could dish you another rep I would!