Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *part 4*

Was this a personal coupon or a general use coupon code? b/c the recent $200 promo only applied to the F1190s. If it was this promo you are talking about, how did you manage to get it to work on the F1290s?

 

I d/l ed a hardware monitoring program called HW Monitor the other day and it displayed my F1290's cpu as a i7 820QM instead of an i7 740QM.

My config was a 740 and the next option was a 840 so I doubt they accidentally gave me the wrong chip. My Windows system properties also displays a 740. Is the identical 1.73GHz between the two confusing HW Monitor into thinking I have an 820 when in fact it is a 740?

 

in all honesty all high spec laptops have average battery life, in regards to the fan noise, havent experienced a loud rush of noise, mind you i havent put it to its full paces yet. However most i7 laptops have got loud fans. So far its brilliant, really impressed with the display button lol.

 

I've done a few searches and I'm getting conflicts answers in regards to the AC adapters for the F series (Mine is the F12). Can anyone tell me if they have used or own the VGP-AC19V30 stick charger ( https://www.sonystyle.ca/webapp/wcs...0153&langId=200&productId=8198552921665536736) on the F series? The website shows that its compatible with the FW/FZ series and the F CTO series. A few ebay websites show that it could work with the F12.

The one that comes with F series is just simply giantantic and I'd like to have a spare at work without having to take the one from home.

Thanks in advance.

 

I reside in Canada, but have ship things to a PO Box in the US occasionally. MOst often ordering from the US and sending to the US PO Box is cheaper but this time, it was by far cheaper to order on sonystyle.ca. The $200 coupon applied to F (and I think EC). The code was VAIOSALE 200. I originally ordered the following:
Customization Details

■No Engraving
■Microsoft Windows® 7 Home Premium
■8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
■Adobe Creative Bundle
■Intel® Core™ Quad i7-740QM processor (1.73GHz)
■16.4" VAIO Display (1600x900)
■NVIDIA® GeForce® 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
■Keyboard Backlight
■Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (30 Day Trial)
■500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
■DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
■Standard Capacity Battery
■Microsoft® Office 2010 Starter
■No Fresh Start™
■Gray

This was $1269 CDN but the coupon made it $1069. ANd then the lovely CDN tax (13%) made it $1210.
Somehow the order didn`t get processed so I got the F1390. It priced out at $1450 or so with tax, but because they screwed up the order they agreed to provide the 1390 for the same price as my original order. $1210CDN.
The Coupon code doesn`t work anylonger as the 1290s are out of stock. AT least they are on the CDN site.

 

Sorry one mistake in my config details. I got Windows Professional; not Home Premium.

 

Congratulations on your purchase!

 

Is there a big difference between the NVidia 330M and 425M. Will it change how my laptop will operate Call of Duty 4.
i-7 740
8GB RAM

 

Keyfinder

Just found a very cool little gem. It's a key finder which shows product keys for Windows, Office and Adobe. Keep these written down whenever you may need.

Keyfinder | Magical Jelly Bean

Do you know your product key for Windows in your F?

 

The best way to search this forum is using Google -- type (without the quotes) "site:forum.notebookreview.com" and then your search string, and it will only search NBR forums.

omaroo, I am also surprised you finally bought one -- about time. Nobody here thought you would.

 

Reposting this from 10 pages ago. It was lost in a wave of questions that followed.

For those of you with SSD's, check out this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...l-rst-10-0-0-1043-beta-out-3.html#post6742308

I finally decided to change from the defualt MS AHCI driver and compare boot times with the IRST 10.0.0.1043. I haven't really been impressed with the benchmarks from the IRST drivers, but the boot time improvement is significant. Check my post in the link above for my results.

Link to IRST drivers:
intel drivers pour Raid/Sata/Ata/Ahci

 

I found the search function here to be much easier why selecting the button for "show posts" instead of showing threads. I actually found what I was looking for much faster. I agree though that google seems much more efficient. Can't tell you how many times I've googled something, not intending to find an answer here, and would be directed right to a useful post.

 

So you don't have it yet? I think it's best to save your question of "what to uninstall" until you've received it and can see what programs are actually there. I'd highly recommend you doing some reading on clean installing as well, using OEM recovery discs. Of course, you need to make sure that the Adobe Software is on the recovery discs. I don't have that model, so I cannot confirm it, but it makes sense that it is.

 

Anseio.
You make a valid point. I'll wait until I get the laptop.

BTW, I just got an email from Sony. THe F1390 comes standard with backlit keyboard.

 

Oh, the backlit keyboard is sooooooo sexy.

 

Google Blacklist - Words That Google Instant Doesn't Like

http://www.2600.com/googleblacklist/

 

SOny told me the difference between the 1290 and 1390 is the graphics card and the motherboard, which was updated to be able to deal with the i7 processors better.

 

I have paid alot of money for this, but guys just want to ask, would people buy the F13 even they already got a F11 or F12 or sell them before F13. I personally dont know, because F13 seems a bit faster and has probably updated the fan issues with new motherboard.

 

Hi Omaroo/ Everyone

I am new to the forum and was hoping to get some info. As you have recently received your F12, I was just wondering about the speaker quality. I am looking to purchase either the F12 or F13.

I aim to use mine for general mp3 listening while browsing the net and sometimes in the background. Do the speakers sound reasonable at a high volume or have you noticed any distortion?

Also in terms of the screen, I am assuming you've got the Vaio Display Premium and was wondering if the screen when auto brightness is off is quite bright? I've heard that these screens are not as good as the Led Backlit ones that the Dell Studio range provides?

I would appreciate if anyone could help answer this and apologies if these topics have already been covered.

Thanking you all in advance

 

You don't have a fan issue so I wouldn't fret about it. I don't think the difference between a f11 and f13 is enough of a jump to desire to upgrade, let alone f12 to f13.

You are the prodigal son of this forum. So keep us posted on how you get on with your f12...

 

lol thanks for the compliment tausif, mate i love this laptop and i aint planning on upgrading to any new one for a LONG TIME. I know this laptop will last for a long time if i take care of it. Still one of the best around and will be for years to come.

 

Sound quality out of these speakers is average, however, all laptop speakers are average at best. No distortion at max volume. Use the Realtek sound enhancing features to tweak the sound based on what you are listening to. With small laptop speakers this seems to help. No question they are a bit inferior to the Asus G73 and the Altec Lansing speakers on my HP Pavilion, but again, they all are average. Most will use the laptop as a desktop replacement as well, so I really recommend getting some $100 to $200 laptop speakers and this will greatly improve sound quality. Search the threads for external speakers- I've posted on these before.

The screen is not one that pops out at you with a wow factor, but after a screen calibration and proper brightness it's just fine. Most people have issues with the vertical screen viewing angle, but not the brightness. There is a Dell XPS in my family and its screen is much brighter.

In my opinion sound and screen brightness are non issues.

 

Fishon, the EU screen for F11 and F12 is RGB adbobe isnt it, therefore its brighter and great from what i have read. Whereas as the screen on the USA and canadians models arent the same. Am i correct.

 

Omaroo - I assume you have the UK version of the F12 and wondered if you had any further comments on this in terms of the quality of the screen and your opinions on the speakers?

Many thanks

 

Many thanks for your quick response Fishon. Its much appreciated and has given me a clearer indication on what I needed to know. It seems that you have a number of laptops that I was consdersing in your family and I wanted your advice on any other models that me be suitable for me? The main things I was after was a 1080p screen and a Blu Ray RW that weren't to bulky and could occasionaly be used on my lap.

Thanks

 

as41, im not as knowledgeable as other people on this forum, but i will try to help. I played music at max volume, got to say to was aright, but speakers are still decent, not sure about others but the UK screen is really good, could be even better if I change the settings to truly see the colours on the screen.

I would say get the f series model mate, im happy so far, my brother has got dell xps, but i prefer mine ALOT more, maybe im bias lol. Hope the info has helped.

 

Thanks for your reply mate - much appreciated - I'm most likely to go for the f series because I heard there were a number of issues with the dell studio xps.

Cheers

 

as41 - I've only heard the Vaio F/EA/EB, Asus G73, Macbooks, and HP Envys in person. Microsoft store and Apple Store in one mall isn't a bad place to comparison shop.

IMO, they're all pretty similar unless you get the Envy Beats edition. That is the only laptop where I noticed an actual difference in crispness and separation. I don't think they make a 17 inch Beats edition Envy. The Vaio F is kinda muddled in with everyone else, with the Macbook and EA having the worst sound. Again, I am no audio expert, just a guy who comparison shops something to death before buying it.

 

For truly good sound on a laptop, get a Toshiba. It wasn't worth the awful keyboard though, for me. The F speakers are only ok, so get some good externals. The rest of the VAIO is completely worth it.

 

I'm in full agreement about the Macbook speakers being the absolute worst. My prior computer (immediately before getting my F12) was a Macbook and the speakers were horrid sounding - extremely limited frequency range, no spearation, very limited volume and unlistenable distortion at all but the very lowest volume. The speakers in the F12 are only average at best, but significantly better sounding than the Macbook.

 

The webcam situation for F12 is a bit confusing. Some Sony PDF spec files list it as 0.3 while other Sony documents list it as 1.3. I am guessing that in US some models of the F12 released with 1.3 megapixel camera. (?)

For the US F13 I just verify with two different SonyStyle representatives that the new F13 in the USA will come with 1.3 Megapixel camera, same for all new Vaios releasing this fall.

Finger crossed because I do use Viseo Call a lot..

 

The easiest way to figure this out on the F11 and F12 would be to take a highest quality snapshot, open the image in an editing program that allows you to see the resolution. Multiply the width by the height and you get the MP. I would do this, but I didn't reinstall the webcam drivers. I'll never have a use for it.

My cell phone (the fantastic and sexy Nokia 6700 classic) has a 5 megapixel cameral. The photo I took today was 1944x2592 pixels, for a total of 5,038,848 pixels (5MP).

Someone should give this a try and report back.

 

Exactly

Let me add thought, cameras use diferent resolution for pictures and diferent resolution for videos. WebCams are important for VIDEOS as the majority of their use is for Video Calls.

Many webcams for laptops are 1.3 Megapixels for Pictures but they only do 640X480 video, which is 0.3 Megapixels

We are in 2010 even cell-phones can do 720 HD video calls over 1.3 Megapixel front cameras, a descend laptop that respect itself now-days must have at least 1.3 Megapixels camera capable of HD video calls.

 

Good point.

Would it be possible to get video up and running at what would be the native resolution of the camera where the pixels were 1:1 on the display? Then, use the Snip Tool to cut out the image size and check it's resolution area from there? There has to be some way to confirm it, but I'm not willing to install the software just to figure it out.

 

Once i spilt milk on my laptop, i quickly got paper towels etc and dried it up but the next day the keys werent working. we sent it in to some computer repair place who replaced the keyboard part and said they couldnt find any other damage. will what they did have voided the warranty?

 

Dear all,

Thank you for all your comments/advice regarding the sound quality of the F Series Laptop range. My decision is now swaying towards purchasing the F13 model that has just been released but before I make this £1700 sacrafice I just wanted to ask everyone's opinion if there is anything better to buy for that budget. My main criteria is that there is a good quality 1080p Screen, a Blu-Ray writer and something that is not overally bulky.

Any advice would be apprecaited.

Thank you in advance

 

This is an owner's lounge. Most all of us own the F11 or F12 and a few may own the F13. We are biased.

That being said, I would not trade my F11 for another laptop (except for the F13!). My machine has all options EXCEPT Blueray, and also has a 256GB SSD. It is blazing fast. My display is perfect, although some have complained...I guess I got a "good one". The speakers are OK, but I don't plan on doing any critical listening on them...it's a laptop computer...I have better ways to listen to high quality audio. I have had no issues with this machine and the very best feature (besides the incredible power and speed) is the keyboard. This is the very first laptop that I have been comfortable typing on.

I use a Cooler Master U2 cooler (about $20) and have no fan noise other than the very quiet cooler fans unless I am benchmarking or running some intensive apps.

The F13 has an even better graphics processor and USB 3.0, while also keeping the power over eSATA port. If you have the cash, spring for the better processor and the 8GB memory. You won't be sorry! If you have a Blueray disk player at home, save a bit and get the DVD/RW. Mine is quieter than the Blueray drives in our other F11s.

My aftermarket SSD really makes this machine fly. Check your current computer. See how much hard drive space you are using. If you have a ton of music and movies on your HDD, then you may want a large HHD in your F13. If, however, you want speed and don't often use the movies or music, consider an SSD as your internal drive for daily use, and purchase a portable enclosure. You can then install the factory HDD in the enclosure and use it to store your large data files such as music, photos and movies.

Just my opinion.

 

F Series dominates all except for gaming specific laptops.

 

New F series owner's thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...io-f-series-i5-i7-owners-thread-part-5-a.html
This one is getting a bit large and starting to slow down the forum server.