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

I ordered mine on July 3rd, but I guess that is why they call it an ESTIMATED ship date. Anything can change depending on part availability.

 

I read this review prior to my purchases. The problem with the published numbers are that they are measuring the outside surface temps of the case. This is important to people who rest their machines on their laps or in cases where the keyboards get quite hot, but I care more about the inside cooling. This would have been a much better report if the authors would have used the same types of programs we are using here to measure and report CPU and GPU temps and internal fan speeds. This is where the real difference should happen.

As I said, the movable fans perform wonders. There are 2 strong intakes on the bottom of my machine, one under the "Vaio" emblem and one under the "M" on the keyboard. I have seen no other coolers where fans were placed in these locations. It is nice to be able to move fans to these areas and force cool air into them.

 

Agreed.

Is there some data on the fans like rpm & Amps, they are 5v right? Have you thought about getting a cheap wall A/C to USB adapter to free the F's USB port & less stress on the power circuit & USB bus?

I noticed in the review that the back is 2.3" thick (6cm), quite more than my 2cm stick. How is the typing angle?

There is a video review here where he puts his laptop inside but I would not do that for fear of scratches. Here is a pink one, different model (includes girl).

 

Joe,

There is nothing that tells me what voltage the fans are or how much they draw. They are single speed and pleasantly quiet on all except for my wife's specimen (and only one of those two went bad).

The USB plug has a pass-through that allows you to plug in an additional USB device, so you really don't lose a USB plug, although it does stick out about 2". Actually, it sticks out exactly the same as the Logitech mouse dongle I am using...one of the older, larger dongles.

I know of no adapter for AC use.

I like the typing angle. It is a bit higher than the last type of coolers we used, but it seems more comfortable. The higher comfort could simply be that this is MY first laptop. The reason I refused to purchase a laptop was due to 2 things...first, I like the speed and power of a desktop and secondly, I hate laptop keyboards. I must say, I love the power of this machine and I REALLY love the keyboard. The KB may not be as good as the best desktop keyboards, but it is MUCH better than any other laptop keyboard I have used, including the Macbook Pro, plus, the lighted keyboard is just plain cool. I type a lot in darker rooms.

 

USB 2.0 is 5v, max 500mA. You can't use the pass-through for a non-powered pocket HDD for example which needs 500mA & more to start to work.

From Start > search: Device Manger > Universal Serial Bus Controllers:



Ac usb adapter search on_Amazon. I use one for a LED USB lamp that I connect in the F sometimes when traveling.

 

Nice video find. I can just slide the laptop inside the cooler when I have the neoprene sleeve protecting it. I will say, though, thatI hardly ever move my F11. I enjoy the ability to do so, but it really is a "desktop replacement!"

I have no idea how big his intakes are, but the F11 has 2 nice size ones in the locations I eluded to in my prior post. I suppose I could eventually do a test on the cooler without the fans, but I really don't feel the need because I always use them.

My F11 is not situated like the guy in the video has his. In order to get the fans under the intakes, they must be low on the cooler (nearer the touchpad) and the fans are thick enough that they interfere with the cooler's ability to sit flat on the rubber feet if they get too close to the "bottom". I put the fans in the correct positions as low as I can. The F11 then sits just above the rubber strip with the "Cooler Master" name on it. This places the fans in the correct positionsand puts the bottom back of the laptop directly on top of the rear rubber pads. This cooler is probably about the perfect size for the F11 (something that I was worried about prior to purchase).

 

By the way...the pink one is useless for cooling, it only protects the user from getting a hot lap. I do like the video though, especially in 1080p widescreen! She looks kind of like my wife!

 

The point was the "hot lap" & the pink as mentioned above in other posts. "especially in 1080p widescreen" - Thanks for the pointer, I did not know that 1080p was available on Youtube, I like the details.

"She looks kind of like my wife" - You forgot to mention your address or phone number.

How about some photos showing the fit with your F? Not necessary but could be useful to some.

 

Here you go!

 

Nice photos, thank you very much. +1 for your rep power . Come on guys, don't be cheap, it's our only salary.

Could you tell me the height indicated by the arrow? I will try with wood blocks to see if I like the steep typing angle. Cheapest Cooler Master U2 I found on Fleabay is $40 including shipping worldwide. A page said 2,000 rpm for the fans.



Since I have some very quiet 12v desktop fans lying around that also can work at lower rpm on 5v, I may rig a DIY cooling pad. BTW I use one to cool my external 1 TB HDD's. When the fan is running on 5v, it's inaudible & brings down the HDD temp by at least 5c. Yet an other test to make.

 

2-1/4" from the table top to the highest point on the back rubber pads. Remember that the front of the laptop is probably 3/4" or so off the table if you place the laptop where cooling is best, so while the entire keyboard is a touch higher, the angle is more like 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" raised in the back.

 

Thanks for the details.



Man those 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" measurements are so weird.

Do you think that one day USA will finally follow the example of the rest of the world an join the metric standard? You know that even the English who invented it abandoned-it, right?

I studied thermodynamics in Canada & we had to do the calculations twice in both systems as most of the stuff for cooling, air conditioning & heating imported from USA was in the "wrong" system. Consider: 1cc of water weighs 1gr and takes 1 joule to raise the temperature by 1c. It freezes @ 0c & boils @ 100c. I'll spare you the odd Imperial system equivalent. Let's just say that it's similar to the mile with 5,280 feet instead of the beautiful 1,000 meters in 1 kilometer.

 

Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anyone looked into or purchased an extra charger for the F-series? My F12 came with the massive VGP-AC19V15 charger, and I would like to shop for a slimmer version. I've look at the Sony Stick AC adapter...still too heavy and long for the price. Kensington seems to be one of the candidates. Wall Ultra Compact Notebook Power Adapter - K38066US - Kensington

Any alternatives or opinion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I just got my new F12 the other day and I've really been satisfied with everything in general but I've noticed that my fan NEVER stops running even when sitting completely idle for a significant amount of time. Has anyone else who recently got the F12 noticed this? Also seems to be using more RAM than I would expect on a machine that doesn't have anything new to run in the background other than whats pre-installed.

 

If the fan stops: turn off the laptop immediately & call_Sony for servicing.

Put you hand next to the exhaust vent. Feel the heat? Do you think than the fan is working for nothing, just for fun?

Powerful CPU + GPU need cooling.

 

what Joe actually means is that yes your fan will constantly run, although if it is running at the full ramped up speed constantly then that is not good.

 

I learned the metric system in the '70s in elementary school. I like it. However, it is not our system. If they change it, I will not care. I will have no problems with it.

 

I can't say I agree with you guys concerned about cooling and using your laptop as a desktop. Desktops are more suited for that.

 

Yup. I was a lifelong desktop guy. For the money, the performance, features and ergonomics (keyboard) could not be matched. This machine (F11) however, changed my mind.

At the same time I bought this, I bought my wife a Dell Studio XPS 9000 desktop for her desk at church. Core i7 920 with 12GB of 1066Mhz triple channel memory, same GT 330 video card. For some reason, this machine is faster at everything in normal day to day light computing. The XPS is faster when getting into heavy computing however.

Considering the portability, I would choose this (actually, I DID choose this!) over the XPS 9000.

 

So, I should go ahead and wipe it?

 

Something is really skewed in the Canadian vs US F12 CTO pricing.

Specs for both Canadian and US CTO for identical builds:

Intel® Core™ Quad i7-740QM processor (1.73GHz)
Microsoft Windows® 7 Professional
Black
6GB (4GBx1 + 2GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080) Full HD
NVIDIA® GeForce® 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
Keyboard Backlight
Large Capacity Battery

No Engraving
No Fresh Start™
Microsoft® Office 2010 Home & Student
Adobe Creative Bundle
Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (2 year subscription)


Total cost from Sonystyle.ca = $1547.12 CAD
Total cost from Sonystyle.com = $1869.97 USD = $1963 CAD approx

That's a $416 CAD difference for identical machines.
If you upgrade the Blu-ray to a burner, add $80 to the US price and $26 to the Canadian price.

 

Nothing new, right back to the early days of the F11 Candian pricing has always been lower than American. And there were some REAL bargains in options, such as the 256 Gig SSD for just $225 compared with over $500 for American buyers.

 

Why not?

Maybe you missed this post: VAIO_F12 Clean Install w/ Recovery Discs Creation.

*****

I never even held an iphone in my hand until 30 minutes ago when my teen Tica neighbor just brought me her locked iphone caused probably by an auto-update when she went to the internet cafe to copy some music.

I'm in iphone jailbraking tutorial hell & it's not even my thing. I had to download & install the loathed iTunes. Luckily I did it with Revo Uninstaller Pro.

 

The XPS 9000 probably has an i7 920, there's no way the i7 in our laptop is faster than the i7 920. At best, it's about as fast as an i5 (720?). The desktop GT330 is also a different card (the 330m we have is a die shrunk 240m, which is a die shrunk 9600m, which is a faster 8600m).

I dunno if you have the 6gb model or a faster 8gb model, but I have a feeling the 4+2gb and the 5400rpm HD in the VPCF115FM rob the machine of performance and make it a lot slower than it should be.

Just saying

Back to where I was now, and why I said what I said: When you start playing games on the F series, the fans kick in and the palm rest gets pretty warm, ironically hottest where your right hand would probably sit. Even though it is one of the coolest laptops I've ever owned, it still manages to make me break a sweat on a hot day if I'm playing games.

A desktop is self-contained and not underneath your keyboard/mouse, so you don't have to worry about that. You can also get an IPS LCD for a desktop with much better color reproduction and viewing angles, so that is a plus too.

And then there's the GPU choices, faster disk drives (and more options in that front).. I dunno..

I've got nothing against the laptop since I own one, and it happens to be the fastest machine I own too (by far), but.. yea.

 

This is an extremely nooby question but...what's the point of making Recovery Discs if i may ask? Is it something we all need or something only some of us need because of what we plan on doing to the comp.

sorry besides that, i didnt get fresh start so i was wondering if there's any bloatware that i should immediately delete or figure out how to turn off unless needed?

 

One question guys...

Do you think we can upgrade the 720qm from the F11 to the 840QM (from the F12) ? No problems with the socket (which is the same) but with the bios ?

Thanks

 

Start > Help & Support > Use My_VAIO:

Sony_VAIO Personal Computer User Guide > Recovery Discs:

I would add:

- You want to return to factory state & securely wipe the HDD of all your personal data before selling the unit or sending it for repair.

- You HDD is dead. Restore factory state on new HDD.

- You want to do a clean install from a generic Win 7 OS & would like the OEM drivers & some or all of the OEM Value added software.

- You want to do a customized for your F clean install as explained in link in my sig below.

- Etc.

It cost only a few $ to make them yourself or $70 to order from_Sony.

 

A new Broadcom Bluetooth Firmware Update is out for my VPCF115FM: 06/28/2010. While the date was changed, it seems it's the same firmware update that came out 1-2 months ago for my F. I ran it anyway.

Check esupport for your model to see if applicable to your machine.

 

Joe,

I spoke too soon ... it was loud on the restart only immediately after the update. I turned it on later and there was no noticable difference.

 

"I spoke too soon" - I tend to do that a lot, that's why there is so many edit in my posts. (besides the typos)

Good news then.

 

Ok so I managed to do, what I think, a semi-clean install using OEMs on an F12. There are some notable differences on the end product compared to Joe Bleu's.

14.5g of my hdd was being used, as opposed 18.6. This could be because I have not updated windows yet?

I used vaio care to get many apps and drivers up(I only inserted the discs once)

My performance has hardly increased. The number programs I had and the process on average have decreased but my memory being used is still the same, it sits at about .9 to 1.2g.

**some small problems that I'm sure I can fix is
-Assist, S1, and vaio, FN buttons do nothing
-trackpad not working


I'll post screens shortly, if not tomorrow asap.

 

Hi all
Great thread and very helpful for someone like me in the UK about to buy a CTO F12 Windows 7 pro 64 bit, 8GB ram, i7-740QM, BR writer.
My dilemma is about whether to go the HDD or SSD route - price difference in the UK between a 640GB HDD and 256GB SSD is nearly $1000. I've seen reference to guides about exchanging the HDD for an SSD and using the HDD via eSATA but cannot find the guide itself - please will someone point me in the right direction. Also does the SSD supplied by Sony have TRIM? The hard disc size is to some extent academic because whatever size it is I'll require external drives - is the better option an HDD or USB drive? Also although USB 3.0 is not available on this model what is the best way of getting the best speed from external drives please?
Finally I was surprised to hear that Sony, at least in the UK, provides no onsite support and everything is return to Ireland with a minimum turnaround of a week. What are peoples experiences of the need for support and of RTB service?
Many thanks
Douglas

 

How about the fans? RPM, noise...?This is the main reason that I'm not 100% sure to buy Sony VAIO F.

 

Hey guys don't know if anyone can help me, i bought my F11JFX/B from sony style (ready To ship model). Ive been using since april and i find it to be really great, there is just one wrong thing that is annoying me, dunno if it can be fixed... if the pc is turned of, and unplugged, the the computer consumes battery:S like if i turn it off at night, unplug it, and then turn it one in the morning, the battery will be at 75%, even though the computer was OFF the whole night.... this is quite annoying cause now i cant leave my battery in my VAIO, i have to remove it every time im not using it:S
oh and another thing, if anyone can direct me to a link to see how to use to optical out feature cause the manual wasn't very helpful....
THX

 

I'm sorry...I MEANT that the XPS 9000 had a Core i7 920 processor. Both machines have identical CRucial SSDs also. I stand by my statement...for normal, light computing and everyday use such as surfing, email, etc, the F11 is faster.

If you look at the processors, under light loads, the 820QM SHOULD be faster than the 920. My F11 with 820QM has turbo boost up to 3.06GHz in a single core and 2.8GHz with two cores running. Turbo boost with 3 and 4 cores running is the same...2.0GHz. The 920 has little turbo boost and unless overclocked, it is slower with a single core in use (2.93GHz) and with 2 cores in use (2.66GHz).

In heavy benchmarking, the desktop wins hands down due to 4 cores at 2.66GHz compared to 4 cores at between 1.73-2GHz for the F11. Cache is the same size, SSDs are the same speed and the F11 has 8GB of dual channel 1333 memory while the XPS has 12GB of tri-channel 1066 memory. I do not dispute the desktop's superiority when photo editing batches of multiple RAW files. But I have seen side by side that the F11 is faster at lesser computing jobs such as manipulation of a single Office document.

Perhaps the F11s motherboard is more efficient thatn the mobo in the Dell. I don't know. But I do know what I have observed from hands on experience with both.

Also, if you look back to prior posts, you will find that my F11 has benchmarked 2067 points in Performance Test 7.0. This number ranks my machine #1 for all 820 QM machines (or at least it still was a few days ago) and ranks it above many 920 QM extreme laptops. If I go to their database and look at processing averages for each processor, my machine performs just below the desktop 920 in overall processor speed. The F11 can be superb. I can only imagine how the new Core i7 840 QM can improve on my numbers.

All of the machines I work with are stock speeds with no overclocking.

 

Sony_will usually repair on the UK mainland. Delivery and collection by courier tends to be reliable, but you could lose your laptop for up to a couple of weeks if there's a serious fault. Always ring Sony. Email support is diabolical.

 

The VPCF1290S (Canadian model) doesn't have a chipset driver on Sony's website. The VPCF1290X (US model) does. Do I go on without it after reformatting?

 

If you want an SSD, then I'd get the cheapest HDD that comes with F12 and buy an SSD elsewhere online, one you know supports TRIM and I will bet be much cheaper.

 

Thank's a lot Joe, that's what i thought but i was not sure if it's something that people have to do nowadays for some reason XD But one more question all the bloatware you mention/feel like in your guide i can still just uninstall all that through the software removal tool in control panel right? Dont have to do a recovery?

Douglas - as Cyber said it's more efficient to stick with the standard HDD that comes with the laptop, and find your SSD somewhere else - websites/stores have better deals on them.

To those who were mentioning F12 ship dates - i ordered mine on the 30th suppose to ship the 13th

 

I'd agree - and that is what I've done. I've gone for a 256GB Crucial C300 which I found cheaper than the earlier M225 model. Reviews are very positive so far. Cheapest retailer I found in the UK was Micro Direct.

Just waiting for my F12 to arrive now.

 

See here for a benchmark comparison of the new 257 Nvidia driver which can be installed without any need for a hack: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...-197-16-gt-330m-10de-0a29-17.html#post6435498

 

Just got my VCPF126FM from best buy. Machine runs beautiful, and it can handle gaming pretty well too. Hell of a loud fan though. Anyone know some good compatible CPU fans that are bit quieter?

 

Maybe this is not very related, but dont you guys loses your cursor sometimes?

With this huge 1920x1080 resolution, I do.
And when I'm hooked in a 40' TV my old eyes dont know where to look.

Windows should have a more suitable choice of colors, so I found this schemes of colors and sizes.



They were design for Vista but works wonderfully in my W7 64bit.
Download link: [cursors] Windows Aero (Vista RTM) - Neowin Forums

 

How much do you pay for it?I was wondering why wouldn't BB sell the 1080P model, the only one I can see is the one that you bought which is 900P model and the core i3 model.

 

The fans aren't even that bad, I know by reading these forums they may seem bad but they're really not. You can hear them, you can feel them but unless you're stressing that cpu or gpu you wont hear them scream.

 

Depending on what you're doing with the comp you either hear the fan or you don't true for every computer

 

1- First, you instantly void the warranty if you replace the fan and break the thermal paste seal.

2- The system monitors the CPU, GPU & motherboard temperatures & the highest temperature determines the cooling needs and consequently the fan speed and volume of air that needs to be evacuated. I cropped this photo by jacksjw (more internals photos in the #1 post on page 1 of this thread under > Unification Post > (10) Pictures of internals and read jacksjw's fan comments.). He took photos of the fan internals that was replaced by a Sony_technician. That fan replacement changed nothing on is unit BTW.

.

The fan is part of the heat sink unit (copper tubing seen on the photo) and even if and this is a big IF you would find something that fits in the F with the exact same specs & CFM capacity (Cubic Feet per Minute of air or Cubic meters/second), the cooling needs of the system will not change & the replacement fan will have to run @ similar speeds thus making similar noise as the diameter is limited by the size of the squirrel cage. This is not a desktop, there is no spare space in this relatively compact machine considering the 16.4" LCD & the power & features of the components inside the case.

If you want a quieter system with less fan work, exchange the laptop for a less powerful one, or prop the back of the laptop like I do or get a cooling pad like Willscary recommended a few pages back (includes photos + benchmarks). Powerful CPU & GPU are producing heat when they work, just like a muscle car consumes more gasoline and produces more heat compared to a sub-compact. They both get there but one can get there much faster if not impeded by traffic or police.

The F fan is not noisy considering the cooling work it is doing. I can barely hear the fan @ idle & when I run the CPU + GPU full bore, I'm glad it's working and can feel with my hand the tremendous amount of heat coming out of the exhaust grid while utilities show that my CPU & GPU stay cool as illustrated by all the screen captures several of us posted in the previous pages. The palm rest stays cool also contrary to Envy_17 Owners, for example, who reported here up to 45°C/113.4°F for their palmrest and 105°C/220°F for their GPU for the same stress tests I ran on my F. I don't mind the normal fan noise at full bore because I want the power and a cool system!

 

I just opened the box for my new VPC-F12YFX/B and I am also having the Vaio Update 5 issue where I continually get the following error message: "A new version of VAIO Update is available. VAIO Update cannot be used unless it is updated. Update now?"

Clicking "Yes" briefly brings up the extractor and setup wizard, but no installation of a new version actually occurs. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Update 5 a number of times and gone through two separate support agents who could not help me. I even recovered the system to the factory condition (removing avast that I had installed) and continue to get this.

This seems different from the problem most people seem to be getting (the configuration issue), but I've seen it in a few places. Has anyone figured this one out? I know the general consensus is to forget about Vaio Update and rely on manual updates, but I can still return this machine and I'm finding it extremely hard to convince myself its a good product when this is going on.

It does seem to work in safe mode, so I've got hope that something can be done

 

Try downloading version 6 on directly from sony's driver page?

 

To return your F or do a full factory restore because of a quirky VAIO_Update 5 utility is pretty extreme to say the least IMO. It's just a utility for convenience and it has nothing to do with core functions or features on your machine.

First, maybe you messed up something? Check on esupport: An Oops! message appears when attempting to check for updates using the VAIO_Update utility.

So maybe the update for VAIO_Update 5 itself is buggy at the present but who cares? They will fix-it eventually. Just relax a little bit.

Meanwhile as you said, just check for updates manually by hitting the ASSIST key > VAIO_Care > VAIO_Support > eSupport to go directly to your model's support page and while you have the VAIO_Care window opened, do these important tasks:



Personally, I think that Vaio_Update 5 is bloatware as it misses some stuff anyway (Broadcom Firmware Update for example on my_F11) besides always running in the background, connecting to the web & using resources by adding services. I prefer to update manually by going to eSupport for my F model about once a month & read this thread where fellow helpful owners post pointers to useful stuff.

If you want the updated VAIO_Update 5 running in the background anyway:

1- Create manually a restore point to be on the safe side. Start > search: create restore point.

2- Uninstall your current VAIO_Update 5 version.

3- Reboot for good measure.

4- Go to your esupport & download current version.

5- Install & reboot.

6- Try it & click on Settings or Important info or Successful updates, etc, that fixed a quirk for some of us_F11 owners. Please report here.

7- Return your F, buy an other brand & have fun with a different set of "issues". Just check the other brands owners threads using the navigation bar on the very top of this page.

Edit: I see on your VPCF12YFX eSupport page that the only VAIO_Update 5 utility available @ the present is Version 5.1.0.13220: "This utility installs the originally shipped version of the VAIO Update 5 software". Maybe you could try the previous version from the_F11: Version: 5.0.0.10300 here? Again: Settings or Important info or Successful updates if it does not connect properly to_Sony's server.



It would be cool to post other comments about your new_F12 for the benefit of would be buyers & the rest of us besides the VAIO_Update 5 "issue".