Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *Part 3*

In North America, the Transfer Jet feature was only sold in one (maybe 2) preconfigured F11 model/s in the Sony Style Store.

It's quite a costly feature to have since it requires TJ enabled devices plus the use of a specific TJ memory stick.
I just bought the cybershot dsc-hx5v/b point and shoot camera which is TJ ready and the thought of buying proprietary memory cards again is not something i'd like to do.

If your F11 has the TJ logo on the palmrest, then that feature is there.

Frankly speaking, though it's kind of a neat feature tech-wise, you have to place the camera on the palmrest on top of the TJ logo which means that you can't type properly while data is transfering. It just doesn't beat inserting an SD card or memory stick in the laptop.

@Joe Bleau

Yes it's been a while. Hope all is well with everyone! Hello to all the usual and new posters in this thread.
Been out pushing this F11 hard at work. I just designed a school am very happy with it's performance. Since February, this laptop has travelled far and wide, pushed to it's limits in performance, and used non-stop and I am glad to say that the notebook still works like new and looks great with no signs of wear whatsoever on the casing, palmrest, and keys.

 

I'm in a total dilemma. There's this F11 deal on sonystyle uk at GBP 1110:
* Intel® Core(TM) i7 Processor
* Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
* Premium Black
* 500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
* 6 GB 1333MHz DDR3-SDRAM (Free upgrade from the 4GB)
* DVD disc drive
* 41.6 cm LCD, 1920x1080 Vaio Display Premium
*NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M 1GB

It will take 2 to 3 weeks to ship. I don't know if I should wait for the F12 or just buy this right away. Saw on amazon uk the price for the F12S1E is GBP 1250. Anybody know when the F12 will show up on the uk site?

 

In Italy the F12 is now available on sonystyle, but with exact the same configuration the F12 cost €220 more than the F11.
Maybe it is because of the Euro, but it could be smart to take one of the last F11 in stead of waiting for F12

 

Well could you post links & check carefully side-by-side if there is really no specs difference?

From this link I posted a while ago in this thread & found on Sony_Asia PCF127HG/BI vs. VPCF117HG/BI:

1- i7-740QM Processor 1.73 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz vs. i7-720QM Processor 1.60 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.80 GHz

2- 8 GB DDR3 SDRAM (MAX) vs. 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 8 GB)

3- 640 GB (Serial ATA, 5400 rpm) vs. 500 GB (Serial ATA, 5400 rpm)

4- We don't know yet if the motherboard AND the BIOS was revised to fix Morse code, fan stuck @ 100% oddball problem & whatnot (probably)

5- We don't know yet if some components were upgraded or updated like audio chip, wireless card, Optical drive, etc.

6- We don't know yet the options that will be offered for the CTO via SonyStyle (customized to order) like SSD, backlit keyboard in EU, matte screen maybe in North America, etc.

Why not wait a week or less for concrete details of what specifics will be available in your country instead of speculations?

 

Thanks
Oh well, I think I'll wait for the F12. Hopefully the price won't increase by too much.

 

The guy at SonyStyle in Toronto told me he's getting the models today or tomorrow. I'm going to call him tonight and will let you know.

I noticed that sonystyle.ca longer lists the F series at all!!

Cheers

 

Check sonystyle.it and then the link "personalizza il tuo Vaio" to the left. The sonystyle website in Italy is changing continuously now. Sometimes I get the new pages and some times the old ones. They must be working at it.
I have called sonystyle before my posting for organizing the return and replacement for my F11. I'm not making speculations, I know exactly what options SonyStyle offers in Italy.

The F11V and F12V are with glossy screen. And the F11X and F12X are with Matte Premium screen. The difference are:

Processor:
F11V: choice between i3-330, i5-430, i5-520
F12V: choice between i3-350, i5-430, i5-450, i5-520
F11X: i7-720
F12X: choice between i5-430, i7-720, i5-450, i7-740

F12: they give Office starter include in the price, F11 there were no office products included.
On the F12 you can now personalize your notebook with an engraving, F11 no engraving option.

And that's all. There is still no backlit option for the keybord in Italy available for the F12.

I just gave some information with could be helpful for the decision buying an F11 or waiting for an F12 (3-4 weeks delivery time). As the F11 is running out of stock, after waiting a few days it could be no longer available.

 

But you wrote: "...exact the same configuration the_F12 cost €220 more then the_F11" - So I am asking for proof: a_F11 and a_F12 page with the exact same configuration & different prices.

This said, the Euro took a serious beating recently, I would not be surprised if the new model is more expensive for you.

 

I saw the F12 on the italian site too! It's up now. Here's a link

https://www.sonystyle.it/SonyStyle/...E_GROUP&ctype=itemList&isHideActive=true)/.do

 

I went to my local bestbuy store and they have F12 demo already, which means they have it in stock already. They put the F11 on sale now. I checked and confirmed there is no Morse code issue, the screen also appear to be better. No light bleed and have better viewing angle. The F12 is F11 with faster processor and issue fixed, same price.

 

Just something funny to laugh at...the 720qm is $7 more than the 740qm on Dell's website.

 

Could you post the exact_F12 model #? When you say "...F11_on sale now", could you tell the price?

 

Just go to the Italian sonystyle page and play around with different options.
The €220 difference in price was for my configuration, but with others the difference for the Vaio with i7 is between €130 and €370

My configuration:
Processor i7 (720)
HD 500 GB (7200rpm)
RAM 8 GB 1333MHz
Blu-Ray
Vaio Premium display
Windows Professional
VPCF11X5E €1529
VPCF12X5E €1749
Difference €220

Basic:
Processor i7 (720)
HD 320 GB (5400rpm)
RAM 4 GB 1333MHz
DVD
Vaio Premium display
Windows 7 Home
VPCF11X5E €1159
VPCF12X5E €1299
Difference €130

Top:
Processor i7 (720)
256 SSD
RAM 8 GB 1333MHz
Blu-Ray
Vaio Premium display
Windows 7 Ultimate
VPCF11X5E €2349
VPCF12X5E €1979
Difference €370

 

OK, if I Paypal you $7, could you exchange my CPU on my F?

According to new_vaio_F above, the screen is different & better but desire may skew his evaluation.

 

Sorry, my Italian is too rusty. Besides as you said CTO is in flux so it means nothing @ the present. The easiest is like the comparison I posted above with 2 specific preconfig models side-by-side.

Anyway: we will know more in a couple of days and I will mention it again: the mobo & BIOS are surely revised & that by itself may be worth the wait.

 

Quick question: Say I order a F11 or F12 with a standard HDD then replace it with an SSD as per the guides on this thread. If I then want to use the original HDD (via an eSATA enclosure or ODD caddy), would I have to format that HDD first? If so, what would be the proceedure?

Thanks!

 

Start > search: format.

This said I am using @ the present an HDD with the full OS in a eSATA enclosure as storage w/o having formatted it.

 

Thanks Joe for this as well as the great info on your own site concerning clean install, and ODD caddy.

Cheers!

 

Received my RMA shipping label......F12 HERE I COME!

And then in 30 days I'm gonna return it for the F13. Haha, just kidding.

 

Thanks for the info. What video card did the F12 demo have?

 

Has anyone ever tried to install the Avid Media Composer on VAIO F11/12?
I am worried that after buying a computer, I could not install the software on which I work.
Yours

 

The same configuration was listed at around 1350 at best buy 1-2 months ago, now its 1150 I believe. F12 cost 1350 with GT330,640GB,6GB,I7 740.

Could be because something else that is different from the US version. There is no price difference here in US.

GT330

I still considering getting F12 or the new Envy 17, seems to me the Envy have better hardware, like the screen for one thing. Easy to access hardware inside, aluminum body,ATI eyefinity,etc for almost the same price. So to be honest, I'm not quite impress with the F12, doing the same "Hulu" test on F12 as I did with F12, the screen on F12 definitely better.

 

Thanks for the reply but I would like to know the exact full model number. Their_F11 was the VPCF115FM, for example. If you did not write it down, could you tell the store location, maybe I could call them?

 

I didn't pay attention on the full model# after the VPCF12, the demo dont even have the spec listed because its so new, its handwritten. I have to go to the properties. WEI score is 5.9 thanks to slow HDD, but that can be improved by upgrading to SSD. Any California bestbuy will have it, you might want to come instead of calling them, since its really2 fresh from the oven.

 

I find it disappointing that they are using the same GT 330 video card on the new F12's. I consider the GT 330 to be the obvious weak spot on the F11 and now the F12 too.

 

Is it possible to upgrade the base screen to the 1080p screen? I have already tried to do this, but feel I am missing some information....I have the vpcf115 1080p screen, and have installed it, connected the lvds cable, it turns on, however, there is no data being shown on the screen. I can confirm that the LVDS cable from the 1600x900 model and 1080p model are the same. I think there must be a dip switch or something on the internals that determines some other setting. Any ideas? Can this be upgraded easily?

 

Ill get back to you im dealing with sony tier 2 right now who is investigating the problem wit the transferjet lol maybe the device isnt even installed lol.

 

good info my model from sonystyle said it came with the feature maybe they fogot to put the little chip in there hehehe.

 

I found a couple of new updates for the F11 on the Sony site. One is for DVD and one is VaioCare. Just for your information.

Bill

 

Thank you for the pointer.

Of note: VAIO® DVD Menu Data Update:

 

Ok, the F12 is now up on the Sony Style UK website ( F Series : VAIO and Computing : Sony). The exact same CTO option as above is now £250 more expensive. If you want the i7-740QM, that's an extra £40. Can't see any other hardware options added. Engraving is now a new option, and it's free.

 

Here is direct comparison of F11S and F12S on Sony Poland site.

Porównanie produktów : VAIO i akcesoria komputerowe : Opis : Sony


You need to click "Dane techniczne" tab to open the full listing. The main differences are:

- higher clocked processor
- 7200 rpm hard disk
- Microsoft Office Starter 2010

 

i have a sony vaio VPCF11FM/B laptop bought from bestbuy.
i lost the recovery partition and recovery discs after some unfortunate events. after chatting with a sony rep, they mentioned that i should buy them and they will cost me 160 $ and as i am now located in egypt so its very costly.

what i need from any one who has my model is to create iso files of their recovery discs and send them to me through 4shared or rapidshare or whatever.

thanks in advance, and if you have any other way to help me please send me.

my msn live email is [email protected] i am always available on chat and i will check this thread as much as i can.

thanks again

 

Hope the mobo change will do the trick with your issues. Will you be using this feature? I've read here and there that this type of transfer is quite slow though. Anyway, the more I think about Transfer Jet, the more I appreciate it in terms of Sony always trying to raise the bar in lifestyle innovation. (though this technology is not that new....swipe card features at turnstiles, vending machines, gas stations, etc.)

 

New Nvidia driver v257.21 installed fine on my F11, see signature and brightness control still works

 

I note that after configuring the CTO version, the price is £1600, compared to my previous provisional configuration for the F11, of £1400. It seems strange that the CTO version now shows "No VAIO software". I am rapidly going off this laptop after lusting after it for months and reading virtually every thread on this forum. Sony have even had the audacity to increase the 256 GB SSD option from £480 to £650.

Cheers, Dave

 

Did anyone else get an error pop up about program may not be installed correctly with option to click if it was or not?

 

Back on page 47/48 I asked about clean installs - thanks for all the info and the Joe Bleau semi-clean install with the original recovery disks.

I have a version on W7 working now on my machine again (activation requests have stopped at any rate!).

I messed up and have lost the will to try it again.

Basically I tried the semi-clean install but couldn't find the option to do a clean install - it looked like I didn't have the Vaio recovery centre. So I hit F10 at startup and pitched into the recovery area to do a clean recover. I made the mistake of not putting the recovery disks in and thinking that at some point it would ask me for them - it doesn't, it just ran the recovery from the version I am assuming is on the hard disk. At any rate I never got the opportunity to interupt it.

No worries - I am going with the bloated version - I have started to uninstall programs from the Control Panel and also grabbing other programs that I want from the web (iTunes/Sketchup/Eclipse/Java SDK etc)

Once I have everything that I want on there this will be the base starting point. Is there a way of making an image to restore to this point? Or is there a better way.

Def a basic question but have been using W2000 for far too long and the W7 is quite a change.

Really happy with the F11 but have just read that there is an F12 coming out soon ! Oh well am happy with the F11 i5 version and I don't think that the F12 comes in the cheaper versions....

Thanks,
Ed

 

I don't know what that demo-model had.
But here I saw one with the Nvidia GT330M and al Sony websites display the GT330M.
So nothing changed...

 

I dunno how you can say "almost the same price" because configured "almost" like my VPCF115FM ($1,350) on shopping.hp.com, it's $2,049.99:

Pros:
- 500GB 7200RPM vs. 500GB 5400RPM
- 17.3" LCD vs. 16.4", both 1080p.
- Says LED backlit LCD but does not specify if it's the cheaper white LED or the RGBLED.
- ATI HD 5850 vs. NVIDIA GT 330M, both with 1GB memory.
- Better webcam.

Cons:
- $700 more.
- Bigger & heavier.
- It's an_HP. They have the worst reliability rate according to Square Trade which sells service plans & made stats recently from the repair claims they get from their customers:



The GT 330M is perfectly fine & powerful enough for the photo editing (Photoshop CS5, Adobe Lightroom 3.0, etc.) and HD video editing (Sony_Vegas 3, Premiere cs5, etc) & occasional gaming I do and $700 can buy me a really nice & big monitor for my home office.

 

F12's in Danish config. now available: F Serien : Computer : Models : Sony

 

Hi everyone!

This is my first post here, in fact, I just got my Vaio F11M1E (bad bad timing considering the F12) which has load of bloatware on it.

Could you please tell me what are the software's I have to keep my all means?

Thanks in advance!

 

---------- deleted, sorry!

 

Hey guys,

Anyone know if the new Vaio F12 will be offered in Premium Black in the US and Canada?

Thanks

 

Taken in Vancouver Metrotown today. That store seems to always have things before sonystyle.ca for some reason.
vpcf127fxb (1080p):


vpcf120fdb:

 

Nice photos & info, thanks!

 

Just now I heard an odd sporadic fizzing or crackling noise coming from my F11's power brick. It was quiet, comparable in volume to the fan noise during light use.

I unplugged and replugged the wall plug and the plug where the wall cord meets the brick once or twice each, and the noise seems to have gone away for now.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it a sign of some impending failure? (a fire hazard? )

Between this, the squeaky space bar, the otherworldly aeolian harp sound of the case fan, and that occasional inexplicable metallic 'ping' from the right side where the Blu-ray player sits, the F11 is certainly a cheerfully noisy little beast

 

It was not plugged in correctly. Power bricks will do that if the AC cord has worked itself loose.

 

Sony Style USA is not allowing you to "shop" for F series as of a few minutes ago. Perhaps the website is being updated for the F12???

Bill

 

How ironic is it that we've waited months and debated about the F12, and it's nothing different at all. Same screen same GPU same everything.