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

It honestly feels the same except without all of the destruction. Still to early to say though. Maybe the singleplayer will be better. BC2's singleplayer was pretty mediocre.

 

Currently i'm searching for my F1190x: speaker cover replacement part.
Its grille's colour has worn due to cleaned with soft cloth and chemical liquid (forgot the name).
Hahhaha... lets forget my stupid
Has anyone know its part number? And any sources?
Done searching at servicesplus.us.sony.biz, has no result.
Thanks for your attention, mate(s)....

 

How frequency have you put your graphics?

Here I leave with a snapshot of 3DMark06, there are the frequencies used. Indeed the max temperature was 69 º without using any base. Maybe you can climb a little more but I think this close to its limit to 750 is blocking the 3dmark.



I have spent the furmark for 30 min with these frequencies and the pc is stable, does not create problems or crashes in furmark and has a maximum temperature of 74 degrees in 71 gpu and cpu. I used no basis for this test.



Games tested with this configuration:

Assassin Creed 2: +7 fps about (looking at the same places as there is no test on the same terms).
GTA IV: +10 fps (test).
Resident 5: +9 fps (test).

I think it's a performance increase to take into account when a game needs a little extra power, or we like to play with a little more smoothly. Is stable without producing artifacts and around 7x º.

GTA IV without OC + better textures and climate



GTA IV with OC + better textures and climate



Sorry for my English.

 

Hi inno89, i used this profile made by matt800 for the European Mate Screens, he used a Spyder 3 Elite calibration tool. Seams really good for me, but if you have a gloss or semi-gloss US screen you probably should use another one instead.

matt800 Spyder 3 Elite profile from the calibrated UK Vaio F Premium model

Well for now i cant say if A is better than B with proofs of what i am saying, but when i bought mine at FNAC in portugal there where the 4 models in exibition, 2 F11's Z1 and S1 and 2 F12's Z1 and S1. Bouth F12 models where brighter and had better contrast. They really look better, but if the screen is the same or not i cant tell. didnt opened mine yet, nor will i open it in a near future

And maybe they just changed the factory screen color profile and they just look better.

In the box it says its dual led, was the screen from the F11 dual led also?

And another thing, Europe screens are diferent from US ones. So i guess you all have to check them for yourself's.

Thats a good question , since im a noob in these matters, please let me ask you all some basic questions before i try it out.

1 - What software do you use to OC the GT330?

2 - Are there any secure, and bullet proof setings that everyone use already to OC the GT330?

3 - Is it safe to use furmark? I have seen videos of graphic cards damaged by that test.

4 - Is there an easy way to turn on/off the OC on the GT330, so i just turn it on when im playing a game that needs some more juice?

Thanx for your reply's

 

1 - LINK

2 - I do not understand your question xD

3 - Furmark is safe if you do overclock a safe and up moderately frequencies with adequate cooling.

4 - If you go to the nvidia panel and put the desired frequencies and agree. When you give do not want to "Factory shipped frequencies."

Como veo que eres portugues te respondo en español por si lo entiendes mejor XD

1 - LINK

2 - No entiendo bien tu pregunta, pero si te refieres a si hay un valor estandar seguro de hacer OC la gpu no lo hay, solo se consigue probando hasta que este es encontrado.

3 - Furmark es seguro siempre que no hagas un overclock con frecuencias fuera de lo que soporta la grafica y la refrigeracion sea "buena" para que no llegue al limite de temperatura de la grafica (creo que era 110º de temperatura).

4 - Vas al panel de nvidia seleccionas las frecuencias que deseas y aplicas cuando no las quieras le das a usar las de fabrica y aplicas de nuevo y listo.

 

You have to speak English on this forum according to the rules

 

I'm sorry but I answered in two languages not only Spanish but I can not answer in two languages no problem I only answer in English.

 

So I unboxed my F12.

Right out of the box I got the torturous microphone whine/buzz, which I had to disable via the microphone tab in control panel sounds.

The 1080p screen? Well, it's definitely glossy. I'm talking about max Macbook pro here. It's nice, it didn't blow me out of the water and I don't have a point of reference with the F11.

The box made no mention of it being premium.

I did apply the Spider_F monitor profile and it changed the screen dramatically; I'll have to play with it at home and go back and forth to describe observed changes.

QUESTION ON BATTERY CARE: It says that activating it will reduce the usable battery life to 80% of the otherwise full charge... but will keep it healthy longer. Is this standard?

 

I you use notebook on battery a lot keep it on 80% or if you dont care 100% charge , If you use you F12 as a dektop replacement set it at 50% and you battery will live a lot longer.

I also do a full discharge every month if i can remember, it lets me keep an eye on the battery wear which is at 0% currently and calibrates and exercises the battery cells.

And if you have a faulty battery you will know before your warranty runs out.

This is what apple recommends it`s notebook owners do.

 

Do you use a program to keep track of battery degradation, or a personal test?

Wow I'm surprised Sony would continue to screw up.
And about the screen, did anyone think it was glossier than the F11's? I went to Best Buy, and I could make out every detail of my ruggedly handsome face in the screen when I pressed the "display off" button.

I support that rule. I work in retail and it continues to annoy me how every other foreigner other than spanish speakers learn english. It's disrespectful and if I went to a spanish speaking country and refused to learn the language, I'd get beat up or kicked out. Not catered to. So good for you, notebookreview.com forums, good for you.

 

Most people recommend "battery bar" to keep a eye on your battery runtime and wear level


Or HWmonitor if you want to check your cpu/gpu temperature as well as your battery wear levels.

 

Thanx shurmano for your answer in both English and Spanish.

The second point was exactly that. I wanted to know if there was a standard value we could use with the GT330 that was already tested and widely used

Tinderbox, next time take some time to read the Forum Rules as you well mentioned. And only then make reference to them when necessary.

The rules are very clear on that point, and you are wrong.

"If you are going to post non-English on these forums, please also post an English Translation of your post."

This is a good advice thanx, i am going to set mine at 50% since im using it most of the time plugged in.

 

Well i was half right

 

Definitely, but not at a level where a matte screen will be. Viewing angle improved and CCFL light is distrubuted evenly, not like with F11.

California would be higher then NY, we have 9.75% tax..and increasing..

You need to compare them side by side and do the testing, folding them and see it from different angle, run "hulu" test. You wont see anything difference by seeing the laptop running aero and moving the cursor around.

 

You think you have it bad, in England the tax is 17.5% and it is going to 20% on the 4th of January.

 

Regarding the software to keep an eye on the battery, i found this one.
Its well recomended and has some nice features to help with the battery maintenance.

And it has some temp's monitor too

BatteryCare

 

I'm a little confused: So is the custom monitor profile (Spider_3) meant to be used with the brightness set on max? Won't this drain the battery quicker?

It looks good set to max bright but anything less leaves it very dim. Was there anyway to create this profile and have the usable brightness set somewhere in the middle?

 

According Notebookcheck gpu frequencies are:

575 MHz Core
1265 MHz Shader
1066 MHz Memory

The frequencies in Sony Vaio are:

575 MHz Core
1265 MHz Shader
790 MHz Memory

I think (not sure) that Sony has cut the memory and even give you the best does not become to its limit.

If I remember correctly the program to overclock nvidia would check the frequencies and said if they were valid. Although I tried several frequencies it is impossible that worked and the program gives them as valid. It is best to try small values yourself up slowly and conducting tests or test with values previously someone has worked without problems and see how you are doing to you.

The values I used for the test are very stable in my pc but will the limit of what seems to the graph with these drivers. There are drivers more or less stable to OC. If you put the core to 730 with the shaders to 1540 becomes unstable, so I think that now with the 257.15 drivers the maximum performance / stability are those frequencies.

A greeting.

 

Hello guys.

I was interested in buying the f11m1, Sony VAIO VPC-F11M1E - ProductWiki unbiased product reviews the one with the i5 520 processor that's to say, but now I think of waiting for the equivalent f12.

My question is, what are the differences between the old f11m1 with the new f12? I am asking this because all I see mentioning are the differences between f11z1 and f12z1.

 

You can compare both at the sonystyle.co.uk site

 

Thanks for the quick reply but I can't see any processor specifications (which is the most important feature for me) for f12m0.

 

Well that was of limited use

 

It should be an Intel® Core™ i5-520M
If I compare with the Italian site they have displayed the same Max Turbo Boost Speed (GHz) 2.93 L2/L3 Cache (MB) 6, Number of Cores 4
Compare sonystyle.co.uk with sony.it

Only I thought that the i5 for notebooks wasn't a 4 core but a dual core or are they counting threads? See the processor specifications on the Intel site

 

Matte Display Better than Glossy?

1- A matte anti glare finish is in no way a guaranty of image quality, take the Macbook Pro with both options for example. It would be all over the web if one was superior to the other. If the hardware of the LCD's themselves are totally identical then a glossy finish will be sharper, better contrast ratio and with more saturated colors. The downside is glare that could be annoying in certain lighting conditions. Some people like me can block mentally the reflections, others can't stand it & need a matte finish. Matte diffuses incoming ambient light but also diffuses outgoing light coming from the monitor itself: the image you are looking at.

I suspect that F 1080p matte LCD users are happier than the F semi glossy 1080p because it's not the same model & technology, not because of the anti glare finish. North Americans prefer glossy that's why 95% of laptops you can see on display in big box stores are glossy. Manufacturers are selling what the consumer wants. Also the EU laptop consumer is willing to pay more for quality than the US consumer who looks more at the bottom line price, hence the cheaper displays in USA to compete with other brands of notebook in the same class as the F.

2- "...You need to compare them side by side" - And according to science 101, they need to have identical settings, images, lighting conditions, position of the observer, etc. Everything is relative. Looking at a video from Hulu on web browser X is NOT a valid test, no serious laptop review site is using that "test".

That a new test: see how the display looks when it's turned off.

*****

Full Battery Discharge Every Month?

That's bad advice for a Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) battery like the one found in the Vaio F_Series. It shortens the battery's lifetime, has no capacity/performance benefits & it does not need "exercising". One can do a discharge/charge cycle to calibrate the battery monitor once every 3 months or so or less. It depends on if you care more about meter accuracy vs. battery life expectancy. From the Notebook Battery Guide:

*****

Battery Care: 80 or 50%?

Ya, this is what you can read in: S1 > Vaio_Control Center > Power Management > Battery > Enable Battery Care Function > Advance settings:





Sadly, I need all the battery life I can get so no Battery Care for me. BTW you can see the "charging performance" (wear level) of your battery on the screen capture above. Naturally some utilities can give you more details like in the free SIW 2010 for example:



*****

Monitor Profiles for different Displays

The idea of the Vaio_F Series Monitor Calibration and Users Created Profiles Roundup is to regroup profiles created by users in this F owners thread & the older ones in one page including matt800's & several others. Note that there is a choice of LCD type & colorimeter used to create them. If you want to contribute, please post here or PM me.

When x says that he likes z's profile, he is only expressing his subjective opinion, not that said profile is color accurate or not. For that, you need a colorimeter or a physical color charts to put next to your monitor which would have an electronic version of the exact same chart.

 

i7-720QM, 740QM, 820QM vs 840QM Specs Side-by-Side on Intel's site.

 

Could you be more explicit? Was it that the mic level was too high & creating a feedback loop with the speakers?

Did simply muting the mic or lowering the levels fixed the "problem"?

I keep the mic always muted, programs that need it like Skype, webcam, etc will turn it on automatically so there is no point in having it turned on all the time, especially when running on battery.

 

You're a trip, Joe In a good way.

 

What is the Black F model ?

VAIO Signature Collection

Is there any difference? or is it just the premium black of UK model?

 

I just hope the F12 US premium screen isn't a disappointment, reading from the criticism of the US screens. Otherwise, this laptop is going straight back to Sony when I receive it. :-/

 

GEE thats a bit harsh and racist. I'm sure Shurmano wasn't offended even a little bit. My first trip to Europe 40+ years ago, I was amazed how many people were happy to speak English too me. (they were all taught languages in school) Didn't seem to offend them at all, and I was sure glad.
Our schools can't even teach a large number of our own children English.
I didn't have any troubles on my three trips to Mexico either.

 

No apologies do me shurmano. Your input is appreciated by me even if its in braille.

 

Could you please post a link to a new US F12_1080p owner who was disappointed so far?

 

Before you send it back, try applying one of the .icc color profiles linked to in the unification post in my signature. It really makes a difference in the screen's color balance and contrast.

As MelodyMaster has stated many times, the screen's viewing angle isn't that great, but when calibrated, the color reproduction is great. With slrosenfeld's .icc profile applied, the colors on my screen are without a doubt on-par with the macbook pro screens.

 

If you look at the opinion of US and EU F11's screens, ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/poll-4470-a.html), it's disturbing to note the large difference. Unless they made a significant change (which I'm doubting), then the F12 screens will be the same result.

Mango: Yes, I've downloaded all of them and will apply them of course.

 

I guess you skipped some posts...

 

Is there some logic as to why European units would have matte screens and American glossy, or why one gets lighted keys and the other doesn't?

 

I've already read those posts Joe, but nevertheless I'm still skeptical.

 

Probably because of supply. Sony probably has a contract with whoever produces the screens for the F (sharp?) and the keyboard. Anyhow, Sony probably sells many more units in the US in comparison to Europe and (I speculate) that its not profitable or not possible (there just aren't enough screens) to meet the US demand, but there are enough to meet European demand. Not so sure about the backlit keyboard. Probably something similar though.

 

Think about inventory for backlit kb or not in French, Portuguese, German, etc, etc...

The strong selling point of the F is the pricepoint, don't forget.

 

So why not cancel your order & buy brand x instead?

I hope you won't be offended if I am skeptical of your 100% speculations?

Yes.

 

Joe,

The buzzing is a fairly well documented problem. I followed the following link, halfway down someone posted instructions. The whine and buzz is also documented on you tube if you want visuals.

New Sony VAIO F Series Encountering Buzzing Or High Pitched Whine Issue? | Sony Insider

Having used it for an evening...

The screen appears very evenly lit. I like the colors and contrast but I'm not satisfied with the viewing angles. I understand this is inherent to TN panels but still.

I popped in a Batman blueray disc and things looked amazing... if you were dead center in the middle of the screen. As soon you you are off angle the washout is a bit more than what I was expecting. This is especially noticeable on the horizontal axis.

I have nothing to compare this screen to so I have no point of reference. I like the laptop, I like the build quality, love the keyboard, screen is0 crisp head on so manybe its a TN v. IPS thing... I just wonder how it would look next to a Macbook.

 

I you are talking about this video on Youtube well I made it Vaio_F Series Whining, High Pitch, Morse Code Fix VPCF115FM As several F11_owners reported, the mic Morse code was present on some of the first run of_F11 but not reported by users of the later batch.

There is no documentation about the_F12 having the fixable Morse code problem of the very first batch of_F11 so that's why I am asking to be more explicit with more details.

 

My F12 had THE EXACT SAME SOUND as the video you linked to.

Now with that solved, perhaps you can tell me why my speaker sounds distorted and buzzy?

 

There are only two other notebooks that carry a FHD screen that I have considered. In terms of design and build quality, I like the Sony but what's the rush Joe? This HP laptop has given me a solid 6+ years of service and I won't stick with something that I bought and don't like; I can wait...

I'm just taking past performance with these screens as an indication. If the F12 screens have had a significant improvement, then great. In the meantime however, you always have to leave room for disappointment and skepticism. You should go on life in the same way.

 

Its a real life test, and i did run same movies, side by side at the same lighthning condition between F11 and F12, so I think its a valid test for me, thats why most of the new F12 owner dont say anything about lightbleed.

The demo unit that I saw at best buy is free of this defect, and I did confirm it by checking if the mic was muted or not. It wasnt mute and no buzzing, very strange. are yours CTO?

PS:Anybody know why the F12 1080P display listed as PREMIUM compared to 900p one?Beside the resolution, is there any other different?they offer 330M with 900p screen now.

 

"...leave room for disappointment and skepticism" - But that's exactly my point above, no F12_1080p US owners reported "disappointment" about their display so far.

In your case, you anticipate "disappointment" based on your speculations & not on actually seeing a F12_display.

Anyway, looking forward to your feedback once the machine is in front of you.

*****

 

My F11 is perfect. It is the fastest Core i7 820QM listed on Performance Test 7.0, the screen is fantastic, the fan is quiet, there is no buzzing. If I had to nitpick, the speakers sound tinny, but hey, they are a bit over 1" in size. They can't exactly equal my Axiom home theater setup and my 12" SVS sub. Another nitpick would be the webcam positioning, but I can deal with that, or I could spend $60 and get a much better high quality webcam. That's it for gripes.

Oh yeah, it's not an ATI 5970 GPU, but then again, I knew that going in, and I am not a gamer.

About the sound...I will say that a good set of headphones does a fine job with sound. They sound very good...especially when EQ'ed in WMP12.

 

I think I will like it and it will be a good machine, but I'm a nitpicker by nature and I shouldn't expect any significant problems paying $1200+ (the sound i'll expect not to be great anyway like most laptops of course, but I always use headphones). After all, I went through the same process with this laptop, and it has served me very well for these many years .

 

hello I just got a sony vaio f series and aside from the somewhat normal problems with the computer I can not seem to run crysis, dragon age nor mass effect on it every time i try to run one of them they fail to start up (eg crysis i get a black screen then windows tells me that it has to be closed and mass effect when i click run the game tries to go to this configure screen then windows tells me to shut it down again) does anyone else have this problem?

if you need these are my specs if you neeed anything else just tell me and ill try to give you the info you need:

i7 q720 1.6 gh
6 gb ram
nvidia gt 330m

thanks

 

Hmmm... does it say anything else in the error box (something like d3d10.dll not found or something?). It also might be a driver error, so you may want to try updating your video card drivers.

First, download the most recent drivers (at this time, its the 257.21 notebook driver).
Then, uninstall your nvidia display drivers via the programs menu in the control panel. Once you have uninstalled the drivers, restart your computer and during boot-up hit F8 and boot to safe mode. Once in safe mode, navigate to the file you downloaded earlier (the 257.21 driver file) and run it to install the new drivers. Once that is done, reboot into windows normally and try playing crysis/mass effect again.

On a side note, is it just with Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Crysis, or does your computer lock up when playing other games as well?

Best of luck!