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

DIY fix:

- Apply happy face sticker to power button.

- Or remove speakers cover & unplug LED:



3- Forgetaboutit

 

Glad it worked, thanks for the feedback.

How about some comments about your machine for those people thinking of buying an F?

 

alright its the least i could do:

pro's:

-very quick and never freezes on me.
-$25 for a backlite keyboard is awsome.
-plays every game i ever tried.
-fairly quite even with a quad core processor
-extra wide screen is very useful with multiple windows open
-everything else not mentioned in cons is a plus.

con's:
-camera isnt the greatest but it does the job.
-blu ray's and games dont look that great on the screen.(factory settings)
-spots where my hands rest on the computer to type are warn out.


great overall laptop for a student/gamer. 8/10

 

Is that your with 1920x1080p? What is your college major?

 

I posted this in the main Sony subforum, but it hasn't gotten a good reply. Someone suggested me to post this:

I have been reading so many reviews about Sony Viao F series. Those reviews sound positive, mostly, but I see negative feedbacks and comments on the end of the articles. I even went to Amazon and Bestbuy to view the feedbacks, and they still post negative feedbacks.

Most of the negative feedbacks are coming from the hardware failure and screen flickering. Here's the link so you can see the kind of comments I talked about: (scroll down to the bottom at the end of the review)
Sony VAIO F Series Review - Software, Warranty, & Verdict

I really like the Sony Vaio F series for many reasons: style, numberic keypad, powerful and unique 16.4." However, I got plagued by the negative feedbacks and I have a bad feeling about Sony Viao F if I buy one. Is that true or too much hate from Mac fanboys?

 

There have definitely been a few hardware related issues, mainly with the HD screen. I got the 1600x900 (budget) screen. The only problem I've encountered was a squeaky space bar, and that has worked itself out.

The complaints are valid, but the machine really is quite nice. It runs much cooler than some of the other i7 machines. And, yes, the keyboard is a fantastic part of it. It's part of the reason I bought mine.

 

What is the reason for you to opt 1600x900 instead of the HD version? Nevermind, if you really mean it's a budget reason. However, the monitor is irreplaceable and one day you will regret it. I may be wrong, because I think 1920 x 1080 will be the standard resolution in the future.

 

Everything is relative:



"...screen flickering" - ? Could you link to post(s) reporting that in the F owners thread 1, 2 or the current #3?

*****

 

I got a $1200 preconfigure VAIO F11 for $999. To go full HD, I would've had to spend $1569. A $569 gap in price is quite significant.

To my knowledge, it may be possible to change to a 1920x1080 screen. I'll consider it after my warranty is up.

 

False again. That 2 in 2 posts.

 

Wow, I'm suprised to see how Sony is more reliability than HP. I need to know what kind of models with the highest percentage.

The thread is too long for me to search, but I'd listen from you. That's one of the sources I was talking about:
(Scroll down to the bottom, you'll see the comments.)

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/sony-vaio-f-series.aspx?page=6

 

ive never heard an issue about the screen flickering..and ive the thousands of posts on here about the f series..the screen quality can be argued but it doesnt flicker..

 

How can you upgrade the monitor if you change your mind? Do you send it back to Sony and opt for the upgrade?

 

Yeah, that's true. Is your warranty the 3 years extended or the 1 year service?

 

Thanks, I believe you. It must be a very rare case or one of the Sony haters. Can someone tell me what's wrong with 1920 x 1080 HD? I thought it should be flawless since Sony made a lot of nice HDTVs.

 

Do you mean within the 30 days returne period grace if bought via Sonystyle? If so yes.

If after 30 days, no need to send to_Sony. It's an easy DIY project. Follow link in my sig below.

 

Try this:



Also follow link in post #1 on page #1 of this thread.

 

I have the 1 year warranty. I can always buy insurance for my Vaio at cheaper than the warranty.

I'll do it myself. it doesn't seem hard to do.

 

Haha, that's pretty awesome. Actually, it looks harder because I am not really an expert to fix a computer like that. I am shocked that you got even a curious cat lurking around your dissambled LED. Cool cat, thought.

Also, I am suprised how much this 1080p LED screen is worth. Sony charges nearly $600 where you can find one for $200 and DIY to install it.

 

The rep I talked with while I was configuring the laptop, she told me that the 3 years warranty is a must for any Sony customer. She talked about the replacement of a new LCD costs $800.

 

I'm sure it does when you factor in labor costs.

 

Phoned Sony about this "little" issue about HDD slowdown, their engineers will look at it. They will answer in a couple of days. :/

 

Thanks! Can't wait to learn what you find out.

 

Which games have you played and how to they play on the F?

 

Got a quick answer: The HDD has only SATA1 and not SATA2, and that is no problems with the F-series. I called them liers because Seagete says it is SATA2, and I got normal speeds with it on my stationary PC.

 

I'm not sure how to take this.....what about the replies that were given to you back in May on this very same question you're posting now?? Did that not help you at the very least?

It seems to me that the fact that you're posting this question again means that no matter how many reviews you read, one bad review is one too many for you and that you can't get over it.

I saw those reviews from the link you included and most of them gave fairly superficial comments on a notebook they've hardly even began to use.

It's understandable that in the beginning those comments from the other site may give you doubt which was why you visited this thread in the first place no? but to ask the same question two months after visiting this forum means you're not willing to do the research and what you really want is someone to tell you that this notebook is perfect and that you should buy it....oh come on now!!!

Granted the F series owners thread is long but that is a wealth of information that is not readily available for a lot of notebooks and to a certain extent, we've already dissected this series.

If you want answers you should do your own research and make your own decision.

 

You are really stuck on that Gen 1 thing.

Again: how do you explain that the HDD is faster in Safe Mode in your case?

The only thing that Safe Mode is doing is taking out the cr@p of the OS & your customization out of the equation.

 

I know, but I want to upgrade to an SSD and if the Gen 1 is still there then I will lose 50% of the performance of that SSD.

I could accept that it was Gen 1 if the HDD only support Gen 1, but the HDD support Gen 2 and Sony is lying about it.

And as I sad before, I have the exact same clean installation on my Vaio and stationary. In normal mode the stationary is faster and Vaio is slower by 30%.

In Safe Mode, the HDD is equally fast on both computers. How is that explained?

 

My english are weak and i don't understand man! What's your problem?

 

The "Monitor" (display) is highly replaceable, as has been discussed. If if saves money to get 1600 X 900 now, then it can indeed be upgraded when the purchaser has a few bucks, to something even better than offered with the F.

 

The screen flickering, (erratic flashing and changes in brightness) and severe left to right shading resulted from using an unapproved Nvidia driver, such as from Laptopvideo2go. I had quite a problem with that myself and discussed it here. It shouldn't ever be an issue now that Nvidia directly supports the F. There was a whole thread in part 2 about trying to get an updated driver installed WITHOUT encountering the flickering, that's why a hack was written.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/472664-vaio-f-nvidia-drivers-update-197-16-gt-330m-10de-0a29.html#post6092381 (This is basically obsolete info now.)

 

Download Sony Reader Library Software

This looks interesting. I am going to download and give it a try.

Download Reader Library Software :: Reader Store

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/693850-REG/Sony_VGPKBV3_B_Keyboard_Skin_f_Sony.html

will this fit a f11?

 

Unfortunately no (by just a bit)....

slicing the part between the keyboard and numpad might help

 

The HDD that came in my F11 is SATA II.

The motherboard in my F11 supports SATA II.

My SSD is not the newest and fastest, but I still reach read speeds of over 230MB/second.

Others report similar, and even faster speeds, which would not be attainable without SATA II.

SATA II has been the de facto norm for all new laptops and computers for a couple of years now.

What is the problem???

Perhaps you have a setting changed somwhere that is only allowing SATA I speeds. Only you know if you changed something or failed to install something during your "clean install".

 

Damn is there any available anywhere for my laptop?

 

What he's referring to is that the HDD in both his and my Vaio F's (his the F12 and mine the F11), is behaving as if it were SATA 1. For example, when I check out the drive stats using differnt programs, I get different answers. Intel Matrix Storage Technology shows that the HDD is Generation 1 (SATA I), while Everest shows that it's SATA II. SIW 2010 also shows that it's SATA I. When researching the function of the HDD itself, we find that it is supposed to be SATA II, but may have a jumper in place to drop it down to SATA I. Upon removed the HDD to confirm, the jumper is not there.

Check out my clean install experience post, in my sig, where I ran HD Tune under 4 environments. Safe Mode, being the only one where HDD speeds did not get choked off at the top end. It's not something that has to do with a clean install, as I had the problem before I did a clean install. Safe Mode has been the only place it worked. Also, we're only getting SATA I speeds. The benchmarking on the ST9500420AS has read/write speeds of about 2x what we're getting.

It'd be nice if it were just a bit of obvious software missing. It's closer, I think, to software that's been added in. I've done my clean install and am now working on making a DVD image of my system, since I don't have an external HDD yet. Will then do a bit more troubleshooting to isolate the process that's in the way.

 

ebay stores were advertisong a skin for the F series but when I asked them questions and asked for photos I did not get a reply...

 

Maybe, but with a clean Install with the OEM-discs and a bought Win7 disk from the local store. "EXACTLY" the same install on laptop and stationary, but different result. :S

My Vaio came with the drivers preinstalled, the same drivers that Joe has.

Tested several drivers and also enable AHCI with a Registry hack, no change. :/

I could live with this, but the thing that bothers me is that Sony lied to me.

I appreciate your help and try to relax me. I have never stopped trying when something is fishy. Ever since I was 13 years (as a computer system responsible at the Stockholm University, which means it was my job to investigate this kind of stuff), I have continued to investigate all problems until I have an answer.

 

ah I see.. well i guess i will buy it anyway and just cut it.. really hate getting a hair or something stuck under my keys its such a pain.

Just wondering have you bought a screen protector from any website? because i want one that i know wont be a knock off one or something

 

I just have one question, if I buy an F11 or F12, will I regret it?

 

Yes, if either one of those is defective. No, otherwise.

 

Definitely no! There are great laptops and very fast!

 

Have you tried the old, and very simple, uninstall device, reboot?

The option is here, in Device Manager :



Apologies in advance if this has been tried / suggested before, but it fixed the HDD on my desktop when it refused to go into "UltraDMA-5" mode.

 

Is that something we can do if the HDD is the only drive we're using?

wouldn't that mean that we should then be having the same problem in safe mode? I can't try any of this yet. Still burning my windows image. It failed last night after several hours, on disc 5. I'm on disc 4 now after 2 hours today. soooo slow.

 

Yes, we could.

 

Yes, as it removes the driver on reboot ... and then reinstalls from the cache.

One reason it might be OK in safemode is a different driver loaded ... hence the suggestion.

 

Another day. Another new thing learned. Will give it a try if I ever get this system image burn finished.

 

Just to chip in, here is my HDTune performance curve:



To put this score in perspective, the HDD is fully encrypted using 256bit AES

 

Ok, you've got the same curve as I do.

Now, run HD Tune in safe mode and notice that your curve will peak at just over 100. It doesn't have ceiling effect on the first 2/3 of your curve.