Official Sony VAIO P-series Owners thread

Like Quillz, mine is the base unit and while it does get warm after long use, it is never hot to the touch.

 

Did anyone here get the red or green version and could possibly share some pictures and thoughts about the color?

 

I have the black casing, but I've seen all the casing colors in person. The green is a rather dark shade, and could pass for black under certain lighting conditions. The red is also quite dark, although it always had a red flare, regardless of the lighting.

All the casing colors are speckled and glossy, so expect lots of hairline scratches that are only visible under direct light. (Like the iPod models from 2007 and earlier.)

 

How's the hd-video playback performance (.divx, .wmv) on the 1.33 GHz processor?

 

I haven't tried those two media formats yet, although it can't play YouTube videos in full-screen without a lot of lag.

 

YouTube hi-def or regular?

 

Both. I tried both regular and high quality videos in full-screen and they were both very choppy.

But note that was with using Windows 7 Beta, with only the basic Intel GMA 500 driver installed. It's entirely possible that once Windows 7 hits RTM, new Intel drivers will fix the issues.

 

So i gave Sony Style UK a call today. The woman i talked gave me a time frame of the end of next week, the beginning of the week after at the latest.

 

The cynic in me is saying she was just reading from the "mid-Feb" on the website - or did you get the impression she actually had some real information?

(I'm also gagging for mine )

 

I go the impression that she actually looked up my order and then looked at the date next to it. I want to be optimistic here and hopefully get it by the 13th.

 

Does anyone have any loose hinge issue?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri30ZKQz30U

 

Sonystyle Europe expects the first units on February 12th.
People who ordered the P early should get their unit around the middle of the month, right.

 

1. you also need to add 19% VAT to your order(it will be added automatically by the shipping company if you prefer OR it ships to your local customs office where you can pay it)
2. the WWAN moduel for Japan is for FOMA. It could work in Europe but personally, I have no detailled specs, so you should be careful.
3. since I read quite a lot about problems with the first units(loose hinge, speakers not working, etc.), it would be better to order your unit from Sonystyle Germany because if you need to exchange it or if repair is needed...well...not easy.

The only thing which attracts me with the Japanese model is the 1.86GHz instead of the german 1.6GHz CPU. Still...compared to our friends in the US, we're lucky. They're stuck with the slow 1.33GHz CPU in all HDD/SSD/color flavors.

 

Sonystyle France sells the P with 1.6GHz CPU and 128GB SSD for 1499 EUR.

 

I would also go for the 1.6GHz in Europe but I really want a different color than black...argh.

I had a chat with two guys from Sony Netherlands today (one of them a Vaio account manager) and they told me that the Vaio P will only be released in Benelux around May/June 2009. The configuration details are still tbd. So perhaps I should wait and hope that they offer different models in Benelux?!

 

That's true, but all models, regardless of region, are going to be bottlenecked by the Intel GMA 500. Therefore, I don't think there will be a large real world difference between 1.33 GHz and 1.86 GHz. At least, I've certainly never seen a performance increase from a processor that is 0.53 GHz faster.

 

True...somehow. I think that where is a performance increase where the CPU is the bottleneck, in the case of the P series it could be video performance.
Half a GHz is actually pretty much for a mobile device. Just take in consideration that half a GHz runs most common smartphones on the market right now, incl. some top of the line WM, Symbian and Blackberry units.

Of course a 1.86GHz CPU won't be able to play HD videos in the best quality possible compared to the 1.33GHz CPU but I'm pretty sure that it can improve real life performance if for example a video is stuttering slightly with the 1.33GHz CPU.

You're right though when it comes to performance wonders, it won't do the impossible.

 

getting my p in a few hours

 

The Atom 1.6Ghz is fast enough for 1080P if it's supplemented by a GPU, such as the Geforce 9300M in the Asus N10 netbook. I have heard that under optimized settings in specific players such as PowerDVD, smooth 1080P playback is achievable on that particular netbook (which happens to have an HDMI output). If you want the best video in a netbook, the Asus N10J-A1 is the one to get.

That said, I've decided I'm looking forward to getting a Sony Vaio P series, due to its size -- shame I have to go with just 1.33 Ghz. At least resale value of these things should probably still be relatively good a year from now, when Sony releases an updated version of this model.

I am planning on getting the garnet 60GB North American model, and then buying a 128GB SSD 1.8" (micro sata). It's cheaper (~$350) to buy my own 128GB SSD, although I will have to ascertain if it's a 5mm or 8mm thick model, and if the connector is the same. There are several brands of 128GB 1.8" SSD models now, the Super Talent one goes up to 150MB/sec -- might be overkill for an underpowered netbook, but should greatly speed up bootup. The Sony Vaio P series uses the 1.8" form factor, rumored to be a standard micro sata (usata) connector, so should be compatible -- has anyone opened up their Sony Vaio P to confirm? (I will be the guinea pig if nobody else does.)

Does the Sony Vaio P support SetFSB? You can overclock some netbooks using the SetFSB utility. Then we'd get European or Japanese speeds in an American Sony Vaio P. One of you should download this utility and see if it works on the Sony. And if it fails, to email the author the necessary information to improve SetFSB to allow reclocking a 1.33 Ghz Vaio P into European speed. (We should easily be able to get European speed in an American model this way)

 

mdrejhon these two posts might interest you about the HD and some dissection pictures.
It looks likes the SSD is restricted to PATA/UATA speeds.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4374877&postcount=430

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4374944&postcount=431

 

the 1.33 GHz model can play hd movies if hardware acceleration is used.

i was able to play this file using powerdvd 8 smoothly.
http://e.dl.playstation.net/e/wipeouthd/assets/WipEoutHD_EN_1080p.zip

here's the japanese version playing the same file.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVWID8wrd8

 

Which version of PowerDVD - deluxe, ultra?

 

can anyone make an iso image of the recovery disc 1 for me for some reason it says the one that I made is blank evey though i watched it finished and said successful

 

Excellent, thanks for the info. Wonder if that little PATA 'adaptor' cable would be compatible with all 1.8" SSD's with a usata (micro sata) connector. I'd assume it would be.

Eventually, 256GB SSD's will become available in the 1.8" form factor, and this would be great in the Sony Vaio P. ;-) Not to mention, I'd like the garnet colored model -- there's no North American model with the 128GB SSD anyway, and I can wait a little bit (i.e. skip being the guinea pig) until someone decides to buy a third party 256GB SSD later this year, when they come out...

 

i used the trial version.

 

Just some info from someone who went to the local Sony Style store with the intention of picking up the 1.33GHz/SSD (VGN-P588E/R) model. I live in the US.

I spent 20 minutes playing with the P testing out video, specifically streaming video.

I tried playing video streamed from youtube and vimeo. At standard definition, videos from both sites looked great, even at full screen. However, when I tried HD videos, it was depressing. Even at the default size, the HD videos turned into slideshows with a frame every 1-3 seconds. At full screen, that jumped to 5-10 seconds between frames. The sony salesman admitted disappointment at this performance.

I wanted to love it, I really did. But unfortunately this killed it for me.

An interesting aside.....the salesman told me that the reason why the US isn't getting the 1.6GHz or 1.86GHz models yet is due to licensing issues with Intel. In other words, some other laptop company bought the rights from Intel to be the only provider of the 1.6/1.86 processors for a certain period of time. Think AT&T and Apple with the iPhone. Not sure if I fully believe this theory, but it sounds plausible.

 

Let's please get straight the HD video issue. This is a *software* issue. Yes out of the box with the included software, the P does not play all HD video well. But with PowerDVD it does play HD videos well. And the reason for this is known: only PowerDVD enlists hardware acceleration that is on the P chip.

So, if the inability to play HD video in the store is your only reason not to buy the P, go back to the store and buy it. Then download the trial version of PowerDVD and play HD videos. There is an entry in this thread that shows the P playing HD videos fine, with PowerDVD. I have personally played wmv HD videos 720P) and mp4 AVC videos (1080p). They look astonishingly good and play smoothly, full screen.

I do not work for Sony or PowerDVD, just interested in reducing ignorance. Unfortunately, it seems the SonyStyle rep does not understand this either.

 

Is there any other software, other than PowerDVD, that could also be used to play HD videos (e.g. Windows Media Player)?

 

The question is:

Has anybody already ordered vaio P from Japan with WWAN & GPS?

Also, it is available in the UK, which should have a swappable SIM (amazingly, there is no information on the net), so the unlock software should allow to use different sim cards in this case as well.

If anybody has any information regarding this, please do not hesitate.

 

Windows Media Player comes with the P. And as I said, the P cannot play HD video as is.

Now, there is a way to download the trial version of PowerDVD and download free videoplayer software that uses the decoders in PowerDVD so that one does not have to buy PowerDVD. But I know of no free software that does the trick by itself.

BTW, PowerDVD Deluxe costs $59. If you want to play full-screen HD videos on the P and you can afford the P then just spend the $59 and stop fooling around. In any case you can download the trial and for 30 days play HD videos.

 

can anyone help me on the recovery disc 1?

 

Recovery Disk 1 has the Vista serial number on it so that it cannot be shared. Sorry.

 

You can order a Recovery Disc set from Sony for around $30.

 

The video uses 2mb/s bitrate, that is not high definition!, it's not just about resolution, minimum 6-8mb/s bitrate to be able to be classed as HD.


Why doesn't anybody do a proper video test, send me your vaio P's and I'll do a proper test..

720P H264 @ 8mb/s
1080P H264 @ 10mb/s
1080i Mpeg 2 @ 20Mb/S

As for WMV only the VC1 form is hardware accelerated, any other type of WMV form does not work with hardware acceleration, at least according to Nvidia Purvideo, not tried intel clear video, too many non technical noobs here who think they know about HD, as for youtube HD, total BS, I doubt they even use 1.5mb/s bitrate, in the UK they would not get away with calling it HD as it is false advetising, clearly they are lying..

Nowwhat is the sound like on the P series, for the guy who has a Mini note 1000, as good as it?, half as good as it, the mini note has the best sound out of all the netbooks, even puts most laptops to shame..

 

If you look closer at that video annotations, and maybe read the description you can see that the video is in fact 20mbps and that the paper label was wrong.

Besides it was downloaded from the Playstation Store where all the 1080p content is bluray quality bitrates.

 

No not 20 mb/s that is BS!, my Asus N10J which has 1.6GHZ Atom and with Nvidia 9300M just about decodes blu ray h264 scenes at 20mb/s, for 30mb/s scenes I have to overclock to 2GHZ, doubt the Hard Acceleration of the P is better than that of the Nvidia...

Suprising he doesn't have the Power DVD Info window open which shows the bitrate, as well as CPU Meter, total Noob... using content that nobody else would use.., use a 1080P Apple trailer!...

LIkeI said giveme your P's and I will do the job for you

 

link me to a file that is 1080p and 720p ill shoot it on my DSCT-500 and post it on youtube for you guys. Also my Sony cybershot DSCt-500 shots in 720p but in MP4 format and plays just fine on my sony vaio p.

Also on my recovery disc information I just got off the phone with Sony explained my situation and they will send me my recovery disc free of charge in 3 days. I had some horrible customer service in the past from all my Vaios and these is the best experience so far. Lets hope this is the case from now on

 

@meansizzler
no need to get angry at people you call "noobs."

could you send me the standard specifying what hd is and states that a minimum bitrate is required to be classified as hd? from my (not from a standard) point of view, the required bitrate for achieving a certain picture quality should be determined from the original video content. for example, slow moving videos would require lower bitrates as compared to fast moving videos at the same picture quality.

using gspot gave the following information on the video:
video compression: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
bitrate: 19763 kbps
resolution: 1920 x 1080

the bitrate is about twice your stated minimum requirement.

i also played the 1080p apple trailers of gi joe and transformers which also played smoothly. i downloaded them using the well known trick.
transformers:
video compression: H.264
bitrate: 10315 kbps
resolution: 1920 x 800

gi joe:
video compression: H.264
bitrate: 10129 kbps
resolution: 1920 x 800

funny how you recommended to play videos that are of lower resolution and bitrate.

 

Mine is apparently "out for delivery" now, so fingers crossed I'll get it tomorrow.

 

No news for me owell enjoy

 

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...9797-b3c98199085e/Alexander_Trailer_1080p.exe

 

Called them today, mine got sent out for delivery yesterday Got a tracking number too! Im excited...

 

I decided to get mine from the German Sony Style webshop anyways, even though I previously played with the idea of importing the top spec'ed model from Japan. I don't care too much for the 1,86GHz processor and GPS what really annoys me that I can only get the black version...but you can't have everything, I guess...

 

I looked at the manual online from the vaio link website today, and apparently th eEU models do have GPS, however its weird in that it integrated with IE rather than Streets & Maps which might not be included. I guess ill know more when my UK base model arrives tomorrow.

 

These things are just too cute. I love the way it's shaped, especially how it looks when it's closed. Has anyone gotten used to the mouse stick? I had a little trouble using it since I've never used one before, though I only used it for 5 minutes and didn't adjust the sensitivity.

 

What is the make and model of the HSDPA card, for anyone who wants to know the HSDPA card provides the GPS, as it uses AGPS, uses same chipset as the one in mobile phones, probably a qualcom, wonder if it is voice enabled

 

I'm still not too keen on the "press-to-select" functionality. I have it enabled, but on the lowest setting (which means I really have to press down on it), and yet I still find that more often than not I'm pressing down when I don't intend to.

Overall, the pointing stick and its behavior will take some getting used to unless you've been using ThinkPads all your life. For anyone used to a touchpad, it's quite a culture shock, but it can be just as efficient, once you're used to it.

 

My UK model does have GPS. No software installed to use it as far as I can see though, and I can't think of anything to use it for either

 

There is an update to the pointing stick driver that explictly addresses the press-down to click issues on the Sony web site (US and Japan confirmed).

 

With the update, it feels like the pointer is less sensitive now. I don't inadvertently activate it any more.