Official Sony VAIO F Series Owners lounge

Good to know chiJOHNNY!

 

Actually, the Duraview is what I believe the Sony matte screens have, and this Sony site states it has been the screen on the Z ( http://backstage101.learningcenter.sony.us/tutorials/transcript.jsp?courseId=91114), as do these specs, for example ( http://www.docs.sony.com/release/specs/VGNZ690CTO_mksp.pdf).

The specs for the AW290 (which had the RBG LED screen) do not state that it is a matte screen at all but rather an XBRITE-FullHD (an error?). The European ads for the matte F series screens have stated "scratch resistant," I beleive, which is another sign of the Duraview coating. Again, these are the terms used in the North American market.

As I posted earlier, the F11s currently in the US are CCFL, as can be seen in the EPEAT filings and ratings. My guess is that the premium F in Europe has a Duraview coating and may indeed be LED as the Z and AW were, which notebookcheck claims in its review.

Refreshes for the FW series ran about every three to four months (five models in about 18 months, from June '08 to December '09). My guess is that the first refresh will have the better-functioning regular FullHD available as in the European market, with the possibility of the matte showing up only in a later refresh. I say this because there is going to be overlap right now between the repairs being made for defective first gen screens of the F and the second gen (first refresh) of the F.

Also, if the matte were going to appear in March, likely one of the pre-configs at the Canadian SonyStyle would have it. Of course, there is the confusion caused by calling the ordinary FullHD "premium" in the North American market while the matte Adobe RGB is called "premium" in the European market.

Then again, no one has said Sony has been consistent, right?

 

@zebra3

According to Derrida who is basing it on his following on the FW series timeline. This March is supposed to be the first refresh of this line.
If this does happen as predicted, then the wait is not much longer.

As MelodyMaster put it earlier, he doesn't think it will be a major change, but more of a true fix to the smaller issues that the January lot had. This would include a better supply of screens but probably up to the same as mine.

It will come eventually but right now it seems to be much more a matter of how soon... It would be great to see a brand new screen that trumps this current one and a better GPU perhaps?

Just me really:
It's come to a point where I have to stop worrying about this laptop and really start using it. It's got more great things than bad things. The sooner I stop thinking about it the better this laptop will feel in the end.

And the more work I get done out of this unit, the faster it'll pay for itself plus maybe a good trip out of the city to places which would rival Joe Bleau's views in Cost Rica

 

For those of u with SSD's....

read this...helps with tweaking for sure

http://www.techspot.com/guides/246-ssd-performance-tweak-utility/

 

I don't give a sh*t about the matte, I want to be able to see the screen on angles, I watch TV shows on there a lot! I don't care about sdcratch resistant either, the only thing I want to to be able to see the screen and if they might make it better I will wait a refresh or 2. But I can't wait all year, by then they will come out with a whole new better model to one up me.
My limit is summer. Can't wait no longer than that.

 

@Derrida

I really hope you're right but your disclaimer in the end is so true that it throws everything out of the window.

 

Summer is a long wait. I am definitely sure that even by that time you will get something that will one up this current spec in a number of ways.

 

I want an F though, I love the design, the performance, the whole of the thing, besides the screen.

 

Display maybe, but what else? Ok, Nvida GT400 series with DirectX 11.. the GT330M will always be in short supply - if anything the slow GT310 will predominate. But what else requires upgrading? CPU/GPU cooling works well, it's the latest CPU, best memory.. Even the sound card is better than average. The 400 is several months away, and I doubt there is a supplier for RGB screens that can suddenly fill the North American market.

The (2nd) Refresh will offer i5 CPUs, maybe include Bluray as a minimum, such as the free Bluray upgrade on Sonystyle.com right now, the wireless transfer thingy on Canadian models..maybe "signature" versions with fancy colours. What am I overlooking?

 

Hmmm I may have the same issue as you had since my screen looks like somebody is holding a flash light behind the bottom of the screen right in the middle. Especially with a dark background. When everything is lit up it seems like less of a problem. Did you get yours chnged under warranty or returned and bought another one?


Ps: Does anyone else's space button making a squeking noise? Mine squeeks like it needs to be greased or something and its only the space bar key.

 

Yes, it's been discussed many times in this thread. Wait for it to go away or remove the key and fix it.

 

would a kind vaio F owner provide the shipping box dimensions and approximate shipping weight? these info seemed hard to find.
I need this info to calculate international shipping charges.
Thank you.

 

does anyone why is the Hitachi 7200rpm in the VAIO F running in SATA I and not SATA II?

 

@MelodyMaster,

I think you covered everything. Perhaps a larger SSD for a cheaper price later or the 920QM as the extreme option which is available now on the G73 through XoticPC's configurator. Better battery life would be helpful. For me it's really the GPU that I look for in refreshes.
Transferjet technology has been too quiet and i'm not a big fan of some of the weird schemes they come up with the Signature series. If anything, I hope Sony had already overdosed on their color trip on the E series and fired the art director who came up with such a lame idea.

@andyk5
I returned it since it was within my 30day return period.

@ascend
Fedex listed my shipment as 11lbs. boxed. As for the box itself, it's in my office. I'll measure it in the morning.

 

Sims 3 played and recorded @ 1080p:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlDWXBvkn2s

Runs well with the settings dialed up. A bit stuttery, but I've heard that this is a problem for all computers. The game just doesn't want to smooth out frame rates when moving the camera around etc.

 

For those of us who still own the Vaio F series - I have had what feels like a revolution in my use.

I got tired of the poor viewing angle when spending long hours in front of the comp at my home desk - gaming, streaming TV programs (I've been watching netflix instant view - Spartacus: Blood and Sand, some Anime Ghost in the shell and Read or Die, and other movies), hulu, ninjavideo, you get the idea.

I have a 32" Dynex monitor I bought from BB during Christmas for my kids that hasn't been getting much use. It's 720p, and I put it on the very back edge of my desk, and I hooked up my Vaio using an HDMI cable. I'm operating at 1360x768, the Dynex native resolution. It's bright, it's beautiful, it's fast, it looks amazing. I tip the laptop screen way down instead of turning it off, and have found that the light off my screen lights the keys nicely. That way, when the keys "dim" from the backlit keyboard, I can still see them.

Of course, this would work for ANY laptop, but now I have a super fast laptop with great specs, beautiful viewing screen and territory, and portability.

When I'm in class taking notes, or I want to do some short-term on-the-road multimedia, the Vaio is great. I think this will be the compromise I wanted.

As much as I hated users like NizMoz saying how bad the Vaio F screen is, they are right, there are MUCH nicer screens on laptops, but this one is fine for when I'm "mobile". Yesterday was my 14 day return day for Best Buy, and I went to the store, and looked at all the laptops to see if there was something better that I would exchange for. There isn't. The Best Buy version of the XPS 16 stinks (i5, screen not that great, etc). The only other comparable units were the HP Envy ($2000 no thank you), some Toshiba 18" monster, and some Alienware 17 or 18 - which are all too big or way too expensive. The asus at BB hasn't been refreshed yet, and it's still Core 2 tech. I walked out believing that for $1350, the vaio is a great computer for my needs, and with the bigscreen monitor solution, I am extremely happy.

Find what works for you. I am at peace with my purchase - last night I trained microsoft speech recognition, and spoke to my computer, went to netflix, loaded up a movie, and watched it from my office chair on the external monitor. The kids were sleeping, I felt like I was in laptop geek heaven. (I was feeling "lazy" at 2 AM, I didn't want to move from my chair and blanket to type anything or click anything).

I believe the Dynex monitor I'm using may not have the best refresh, but for all streaming internet, and the GPU capabilities of the Vaio F, it's more than adequate. If I had one other wish, it would be that I had a 1080p 32" screen instead of "720p" (really 768). My main TV in home is 1080p though, and the Vaio puts out a beautiful image on it (52" Insignia).

Just some feedback, take it for what it's worth.

 

I doubt the 920XM would appear anytime soon, primarily due to its cost (nearly twice the 820QM's cost - component cost to Sony), in addition to the fact that the chassis has to be larger to dissipate the prodigious amounts of heat it would generate.

It could very well appear in an AW series replacement and the laptop in turn would be priced significantly higher. There were rumors about an upcoming 17.3" model (as a replacement for the AW series), which in turn might have some added componentry over the F-series.

PS: The component costs to Sony, when they buy the processors from Intel are as follows:

i7-720QM (Quad-Core with 6MB L3 Cache): $364
i7-820QM (Quad Core with 8MB L3 Cache): $546
i7-920XM (Quad Core with 8MB L3 Cache): $1054

i7-620M (Dual Core with integrated Graphics and 4MB L3 Cache): $332
i5-540M (Dual Core with integrated Graphics and 3MB L3 Cache): $257

 

Squeaky spacebar? DIY easy fix:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5852864&highlight=spacebar#post5852864

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5851955&highlight=spacebar#post5851955

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5856291&highlight=spacebar#post5856291
----

I'm uploading a video of the F display while adjusting the vertical angle. Should be up in 20 minutes, will post a link.

REFRESH? While you are waiting, I'm playing with my F.

The next best thing is coming next month! Maybe!

I postponed buying a lappy long enough, the F is the best price point/crunching power/features for my needs @ the present. I love it and yes, the screen could be more forgiving at different viewing angles but I don't do group watching.

If I look at a movie, I don't stick my nose to the screen.

If am doing critical photo editing, I sit strait up. If surfing or other stuff, I don't care if there is a gradient or not.

 

Hey, the guy asking questions but never replying to any is back.

 

you think you're funny, but sadly you're not...

 

WOWOWOWOW!!!! Thanks for the fix I must've missed it all those pages back!! I was afraid I would break it, but I got it out no problem. Now I can type in peace .

 

For any questions about the components of the US F_Series VPCF115FM, check my Vaio_F_Series VPCF115FM EVEREST Corporate Edition Report. There is a ton of interesting data (CPU, GPU, memory, temperature sensor readings, etc) in there except the display brand & model number.

Google Translate says: "This page is in Danish".

For example, there is two different brands of memory in my lappy & links to manufacturers:

DIMM1: Samsung M471B5273BH1-CH9 4GB

DIMM3: Hynix HMT125S6BFR8C-H9 2GB

Edit: and with that info, found that in Intel's DDR3 1333 Non-ECC SODIMM Validation Results 1DIMM/ch, both Hynix and Samsung are rated F for the P55 chipset. (thanks MelodyMaster for the edit pointer)

Lavalys EVEREST Ultimate Edition v5.30 free trial to see what's in your F & some components temperature & benchmarks utilities.

 

...I think he's funny and quite a helpful contributor!

 

Great, you are the third user in this thread who fixed his squeaky spacebar himself instead of calling a tech.

Too bad my KB does not squeak at all, I would like to try it on the F myself.

"I must've missed it" - Search this Thread with spacebar. It works for other questions too.

 

Vai*o F Serie*s Display Video: Vertical Viewing Angles US 1080p. So you can see the gradient shift.



From the F User Manual : http://www.docs.sony.com/release/VPCF110_series.pdf



Again: I postponed buying a lappy long enough, the F is the best price point/crunching power/features for my needs @ the present. I love it and yes, the screen could be more forgiving at different viewing angles but I don't do group watching.

If I look at a movie, I don't stick my nose to the screen.

If am doing critical photo editing, I sit strait up. If surfing or other stuff, I don't care if there is a gradient or not.

(* added because of the automatic Coupon link parsing cr@p done by notebookreview breaking the video link )

 

I've got a vaio, I've got a vaio,
I've got a vaio, Hey-hey Hey-hey!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post some feedback.

For sure when at home, the best is to use the F as a box with an external keyboard & monitor:

Max. External Resolution via VGA: 2048x1536
Max. External Display Resolution via HDMI™: 1920x1080

It's a petty that your 720p can't show what the F is capable of. Maybe it's time to offer yourself a gift?

Where I live they cost 25% more than in the US & are taxed @ 50% (but only 16% for complete system, why?).

If you don't want to hurt your vision, make sure the big monitor is far enough from you.

Visual Ergonomics in the Office
http://www.office-ergo.com/setting.htm

Viewing Distance at Computer Workstations (Guidelines for monitor placement)
http://www.office-ergo.com/viewing.htm

Monitor ergo:
http://www.dcdoctor.com/pages/rightpages_wellnesscenter/ergomonics/ergo_monitor.html

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5876945#post5876945

I now have the F & Everest & posted a report here.

 

I received my Vaio F11 on friday and so far all is good.

I am looking to upgrade the hard drive as i have the 5400RPM at the moment. Would it be better to go for a 7200RPM or SSD?

Size isn't to important (250GB is fine). Could anyone recommend a model?

Many Thanks

 

HI There
Spent an entire weekend reading every single post on every single page and feel like I need a lie down!
Seriously considering this machine, for the main purpose of video editing.

I haven't yet had a machine capable of editing the AVCHD of my HF 10 Canon camcorder and wondered if anyone can let me know how it does?

I understand AVCHD is one fo those file formats that will really test a machine!

Thanks again for any insight/help

PS - Can't believe sites like Play are supplying machine with a 5400! The Sony site appears to be down so configuration not available for me yet? (I really don't trust myself to install a hard drive post purchase lol)

 

Just a heads up for those still looking to buy an F CTO in the US. On sony style they are offering a free Blu-ray drive upgrade thru Feb. 27 and Blu-ray player/burner for $90 instead of $180. They are currently out of stock of the 4GB DDR3-SDRAM-1333.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921666069165&categoryId=8198552921644692000

 

Definately ssd, I installed the x25m g2 intel. I had tried some others but the intel is the best overall. It also performs well in the 80 gb size which is $260, 160gb si $450. Most small ssd's don't perform well. lf you use it in conjunction with tune up utilities turbo mode(permanent cofiguration) your laptop will boot so fast you don't even need ot use sleep or hybernate any longer. The perfomance of the drive in actual use is incredibly fast. Stuff opens instantly.

 

You're kidding, right?? If any home computer on the planet will handle AVCHD, the F11 is it. I currently edit MP4 on a Q9450, actually a slower system than the F11's 17-720QM, and processing and playback only takes a fraction of the CPU's resources. Furthermore the F11 is BUNDLED with full AVCHD editing software as a CTO choice.

5400RPM drives in the larger capacities are hardly any slower than 7200's due to the high data density of the platters. And 5400RPM drives have the ADVANTAGE of quieter, cooler running and less power consumption. I ordered the WD 5400RPM Scorpio 640 gig as the second drive for my F11 - a conscious decision to get a 5400 rpm rather than 7200.

 

So i-820 has just 0.1 higher score compared to i7-720

 

Hi there
not joking,
I have an asus w5, Sony a297xp, Sony pcg 8k1r
and all three won't even consider the software I got with the hf10

isn't mp4 editing not as heavy duty as avchd?!

I then looked into it and my understanding was that dual and single cores were problematic with avchd!

So been a bit hesitant ever since, wanted to avoid dells for obvious reasons (overheating on quad cores I understand!)

 

Not my spec. they don't. Rang them up - ETA is now 4 weeks from purchase date.

 

Ps
interesting about the drives speeds - I wrongly thought the 5400 would make a massive difference in opening of software ?

 

\

The F11 will positively edit AVCHD, and render it extremely fast. The i7-720 has 8 cores, four being hyper-threaded. The f11 runs cooler than the Dell XPS 16.

 

I also thought that the 7200 rpm's were doing quite a bit better than the 5400 rpm's that are in the Vaio F based on these reviews:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-hdd-notebook,2305-13.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-spinpoint-500gb,2347-7.html

The first one describing the Samsung Spinpoint M7 (500 GB 5400 rpm) and the second one describing Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (500 GB 7200 rpm).

This is exactly the reason for me to hesitate between a pre-config with 8GB RAM but 5400 rpm or a CTO with 4GB RAM and 7200 rpm. The latter option comes out a little cheaper. I am looking for the most snappy Windows/Office etc. performance. No games in any case...

 

Actually any decent notebook ( from 2.0 up Core2Duo CPU) manufactured in past 4 years can deal with AVCHD, in case of Vaio any "non lowest end" FZ,FW,SZ,Z,AR,AW series, obviously the latest like the F even better, I would say top spec F is probably the best for that purpose from what is available on the market now.

 

I believe it is not a static score per se. It changes constantly.

Which means that if the machine is subjected to tasks where the CPU is the constraint (and where every single one of the 4 cores and 8 threads will need to go all out), the extra whallop from the 820 will be useful and the score will go up.

If it is a task where the RAM or some other resource is the constraint (as I have been using the machine till date), then it will not matter whether we use the 720 or the 820 or even the dual-core i5-540M. Here the scores may not be much different. At least that is my take.

 

In PROPER tests, not the irrelevant Windows score thing, the 820 is about 3% faster than the 720, with particular boost being given to apps that use the larger cache of the 820.

 

It used to. A 7200 is still faster, but it's not massive, and I can't really say that in day to day use I've been able to really tell the difference since drives were around the 60GB size.

A 500GB 7200rpm drive is around $90, so you really can't go wrong with that, but it's going to take an SSD for you have one of those "damn, this thing is quick" moments.

I put an SSD in my Sony F and boot times were consistently under 15 seconds. CS4 apps loaded in 2-5 seconds, file transfer speeds on my network were over 100MB/s, up from 60-80MB/s.

 

Corporo-speak for "we ain't got no Gt330s.."
Also indicates that the F-series can't get the Gt400s (Fermi) soon enough..

"NVIDIA's business continued to accelerate in the fourth quarter, with strong demand in our PC and workstation markets," said Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's president and chief executive officer. "While the yield of chips made using the latest 40nm process has improved significantly, demand continues to exceed our constrained supply. Looking ahead this year, we are excited to raise the bar again with our next-generation Fermi GPU architecture; our Tegra mobile processor will enable a new class of amazing mobile devices like tablets; and our 3D Vision glasses and accompanying technology will bring a whole new dimension to personal computing."

http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1266442180974.html

 

The issue is what does Sony _plan_ from the very beginning for each refresh (including its date) and what does Sony integrate into refreshes from ongoing issues and just-apppearing new CPUs, GPUs, etc. How do unforeseen issues affect a refresh date -- these are the variables.

In other words, it is not outside of the realm of possibility that Sony has planned to refresh the US Fs with a matte screan at a later refresh and has projected those stock needs, etc. from the beginning, choosing to use up older stock in the North American market as far as screens are concerned in the first output of the model.

Except for reports of our own experiences, we are all "spec"-ulating here.

 

Despite giving good advice from time to time, the signal-to-noise ratio of your posts is way out of whack. Also, your unnecessary protectionist attitude regarding this particular laptop is silly and necessary, and so I'll be putting you on ignore soon unless you show some maturity.

 

Remember that rpm speed on HD's does not equal a faster HD. There are a few 5400rpm drives that out perform 7200rpms because the Access read/write time is faster and that is what counts not rpms.

 

@ascend

The shipping box dimensions were: 14.5" x 19" x 7"
F11 Laptop box: 17" x 12" x 4.25"

 

I got my F11 last week, has anyone noticed when browsing the net and scrolling, the text goes a shade of purple?

I think it might just be a simple fix when a new nVidia driver comes out, but I just thought I'd ask if anyone was experiencing the same issue?

It's not a deal breaker by any means.

 

I asked the same question a while back.

I notice this effect too when I quickly scroll with the mouse wheel or the keyboard arrows. For me it's more noticeable under certain lighting conditions. I was told that this is normal. Mine appeared more pink, but that was due to the default color profile. Since adopting the two color profiles (haven't decided on one yet) for the US 1920x1080 screen the effect looks more lavender.