Official Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip PC Owners' Thread

Sony posted new BIOS update (R0230DD), if somebody havn't noticed yet.
In the end if description it conveniently says " This update also improves thermal management of the computer "
Link for the 14A version: Sony eSupport - SVF14N13CXS - Drivers & Software

 

There is a warning on that page about the BIOS update not being applicable to all countries, so, people, make sure you check from your country's Sony support site. They have specific models listed that are covered by this update.

I'm not criticizing, by the way, just pointing out that some updates are region specific. Thanks to all who have given tips and posted links for updates, etc...

 

Is anyone else still waiting for their laptop to arrive? I ordered my custom 15a (2880 screen, i7, 16g ram, 2gb nvidia, 256gb ssd) from the US on Oct 21. They quoted a ship date of Nov 17. When it didn't ship, I called them up and they gave me a new ship date of Dec 2 and offered to eat 5% of the price. When it didn't ship on Dec 2 either, I called them and they flat out admitted that they don't know when it will ship and can't find out from their warehouse in Japan. Rumor on the internet is that there's a shortage of 2880 screens. I'm not sure what to do next. If there's a comparable computer that can both do something like a tablet mode and has discrete graphics, I'm almost ready to cancel my order and buy something else instead.

Part of the reason I ordered this was that I wanted something that would work a bit like a tablet but that could also handle games. I don't mind graphics being on mid or even low settings, but what people are saying here about the gpu and shift key is worrying. Can anyone else report on their gaming experiences with the 15a with nvidia chip? Thanks!

 

Well, I don't know what you mean by warm. I have such cold hands, anything above 15°C feels warm to the touch to me But definitely, that corner is warmer than the rest, oddly, because that's where my sometimes very active fan is situated... In any case, it's nothing like earlier notebooks that would almost burn my thighs when in my lap. I'd say it's quite comparable to a high end smartphone during extensive use... Hope that helps...

I am.

 

Looking promising! Anyone tried it out yet?

I can't seem to get the screen to rotate when in viewer mode, "automatically rotate display" is ticked in the display settings but still no joy in windows 8.1. anyone got a fix for that our having the same problems?

I have mine but I did order on the 12th October and only took the delivery on Monday 2nd December. All customised versions are made in the factory in China, not Japan. The box has a big made on China text on it and the tracking showed it shipped from pudong shanghai airport.

The high res screen looks lovely, but I'm having a lot of problems with font being too small despite scaling it up in the widows display settings. Websites using flash like tinychat don't scale properly and end up with tiny tiny font. I don't recommend picking the 2880 screen over the 1080 one, the hassle of getting things to display nicely just isn't worth it.

I haven't tried out any gaming yet, still trying to optimise the whole thing. At side point I will try out portal 2 on high settings, still have to get steam installed first. There isn't however, a comparable laptop that converts into a tablet mode with discrete graphics. Sony's 15A is the only one offering a discrete graphics option, everything else including three lenovo yoga and dell xps ranges are integrated graphics.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

That's odd, I've called customer care about half a dozen times, and every time they've made a big deal about how it's coming from their Japan warehouse. I don't really care either way, but they've been pretty insistent on the point every time I call them.

 

This might be a silly question but...
How does the screen on the flip get signal from all of the hardware under the keyboard? Is it some kind of bluetooth-y thing, or are there wires that run up through the flip hinge to the screen? I'm wondering if there are wires if they will be damaged and worn out quickly by flipping back and forth.

 

Today i had a nice idea, maybe someone has a idea how to do this

The VAIO has a nfc-Reader, so it would be nice if i could place a nfc tag (maybe my phone or a key-chain) on it to unlock the pc. But at the Moment i have no idea how i could do this....

 

Well it makes a change from the constant "I don't know" answers I got

UK Sony website shows the BIOS update description as
"What does it fix?
Correct Touch panel and FAN noise issue."

Trying it out now!

edit:
Tried it out, fan is still very much present but not as loud now. Most of the time the other person can't hear it when on a video on skype. Only becomes noticeable to them when watching a video at the same time for example.

 

Has anyone ever gotten their customised vaio flip within 3 weeks

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

Anyone else get the fan noise update?

 

Just barely, I ordered a Flip 13A on Nov 9 and received it on Nov 29 (in the U.S.).

I installed the BIOS upgrade, and really, I can't tell that it did anything to the fan (I assume it did, but it hasn't been noticeable).

I also haven't had a problem with the fan on my machine. Maybe it was just a bad batch with the loud fans, I don't know -- someone reported on Sony's forums that a dB meter on his or her phone was reading 56 dB from the fan. I tested a little and with the computer turned off, found that my ambient noise was at 43 dB (from the air conditioner and a small refrigerator across the room in a cabinet). So I turned the computer on (not in silent mode), fan spinned up, placed the phone 1 cm away from the fan, and if anything, the dB meter was hanging around 45-46 dB.

The fan does literally spin constantly when it's on, regardless of temperature: a behavior that occurs on a number of especially side-vented machines, supposedly to avoid uneven heat distribution which is thought to cause harm over time.

 

The app on my phone registered about 70 dB, with my phone just in front of me, above the keyboard. To me, this is loud. Loud enough to be heard over skype.When it quiets down its around 30-40 dB which is OK, but still louder than my old laptop.

 

Noob Alert!
How do I change these settings?

 

I got given a 1TB HDD - WDC WD10S12X-55JTET0

Anyone know if this is a hybrid drive? I suspect it isn't...

 

Start typing Smart Connect in your search bar (charms) or on the start screen. Once in the 'program', you have access to the different settings. I set mine to update whatever it wants to update between 8 and 10 in the evening, on charger, and leave my flip alone during the rest of the day. I guess you can turn it off completely, I honestly have no idea what it does.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Western-Dig...US_Solid_State_Drives&hash=item27dbb3cef1

I haven't matched the hdd reference but i found a similar in ebay and seems to be hybrid.

Enviado desde mi iPad con Tapatalk HD

 

Thanks for the link, I think you are right.. The code is only one letter different (J instead of S) and that could be because that drive is 9.5mm and the ones in the multi-flip are 7mm.

I also just looked on disk management and there is a 14.91GB OEM partition, so I guess that could be the flash drive.

 

Hi there novvyafon

Thanks for posting that drive model number ; I've been waiting to see which SSHD drive they used. Like you have found, the drive is still pretty much unknown to Google ; WD are not selling it to the public yet.

I found a parts supplier for Sony that says it will be available soon (Dec. 10) : www.ued.net - Product Detail
(with that price, it is surely a hybrid...)

I also found a thread - in a language I don't understand - where they described a 14A with 1TB hybrid drive, and they used CyrstalDiskInfo to test HDD speeds ; the drive shows up with a match on the model number (scroll 3/4 of the way down ; I used Google translate to read the article) : GoogleTraduction

I just can't find an official spec sheet on those thin WD drives yet. If the parts supplier is right, these drives should hit the streets soon.
===============

I had a weird problem with the 14A last night and will need to test further. I noticed the problem after I upgraded to 8.1. Someone else here complained of a similar situation and I will have to read back through the pages to find it. The problem : touchscreen has a life of its own, opening/closing programs without my input, "touching" all over the place (I see little circles onscreen). The mouse cursor also moves away on its own and at one point I tried to click on things and the cursor kept jumping to the corner really quickly.
It had not done that once, before I upgraded to 8.1. I noticed this just before I apllied the BIOS update, and it was doing it after the update too. It is freaky.

By fiddling around, I found a way to stop the behavior. At first I thought that disabling the touchpad would do it, but nope. What I did next was unlock the screen hinge and flip it up a little bit ; that stopped the mystery screen *touches* and no more cursor jumping around. When I had the problem, I had the screen sitting upright which I hadn't really done before (upright = ~90 degrees from keyboard). Then I tried notebook mode again with the screen locked in place, but I tilted it back as far as it goes (15-20 degrees maybe ?) and the problem did not come back. I later positionned the screen back up to 90 degrees (upright) and one minute later the screen was acting up again. Eeek...
Last night, I was creating Recovery DVDs with my new USB LG external optical drive. I'll test whether having something connected to USB might trigger the screen problem - or not.

Note : I posted some days ago that my Flip's Recovery partition was just over 20 GB in size. I have the "Fresh Start" (less bloatware) option and had expected a smaller partition size because of that. 20 GB is pretty large. Turns out I wasn't seeing the whole picture. In Windows Disk Management, you only see the partition's size and it says there is no free space ; that isn't true. Hidden system partitions show up, but Windows can't calculate occupied/free space on them. The other day I created a Recovery USB stick and used a 32GB key ; the next day I checked the key out of curiosity adn it showed just under 10GB had been used for the Recovery partition and 19.3 GB free space left (29,2 total). Last night I re-did the process but with DVDs this time : 3 regular DVDs needed and the 3rd one had only 1,9GB of data written to it. So no, Fresh Start does not make a difference on the size of the Recovery partition, but it does significantly reduce the amount of data written to it. And the Recovery media creation process was much quicker to USB stick than to DVDs.

 

So my 14A has been taking a world tour according to my tracking information.

Actually, the unit shipped from Shanghai on Wednesday where due to immense fog was grounded for almost 2 days.

Now it's in Tennessee for some reason. BTW, I live in Canada, so seeing my unit shipped to Tennessee has me shaking my head.

I was expected delivery today, but now, I'd be lucky if it arrives Monday.

 

Anyone else having issues with the sony digitizer pen not working? NOTHING happens when I try using the pen on my flip 14a. I tried changing the battery, without any effect whatsoever. Is the pen defect or the laptop itself? My screen is registering touch inputs with my fingers but not with the stylus pen. ...
I tried a working pen from Surface Pro, but it didn't work either..

 

Hi jadzia

You're getting a pink one, right ?

I just looked it up : FedEx headquarters are in Memphis, so your Flip is getting routed to Canada from there. I saw yesterday that the weather in that part of the US was horrible... with freezing rain and snow from Texas all the way up to Ohio. Temperature in Memphis right now is 0C (32F) and freezing rain is falling. Hope the FedEx planes are moving.
Worst case scenario : tuesday or wednesday. Keep your chin up

 

It looks like we are in the same batch of laptops. I custom ordered a 15 on Nov 25, it was estimated for delivery today, and my laptop arrived in Memphis early this morning. It said it departed Memphis at 550 am, so it might arrive in LA soon (I live an hour and a half north of LA). I think I might get it tomorrow.

 

About the keyboard shortcuts with "SHIFT", I may have found something.

Fiddling around (yes, I like doing that), I've got something working :

I like to do elevated command prompts sometimes ("cmd" with administrator rights), because it's sometimes needed to have it elevated (meaning elevated rights for Windows). The quick way to do it is to type cmd in the search box (I'm in Desktop mode and I have a real Start button + Start menu with Classic Shell) ; once you've typed cmd, press and hold CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER keys and voilà. Well, that didn't work with the Flip, not right away. I found that pressing CTRL + SHIFT and waiting 2 seconds and then pressing ENTER did the trick. Now, I know this will be annoying for those power users out there who like to use shortcuts to get things done quickly. I'm not one of those so I can live with the extra 2 seconds on the SHIFT key. Hopefully there will be a fix for this soon though.

========

About the touchscreen activated by gremlins : I've had it on for 30 minutes and it acted up once with the screen upright, and it only lasted a few seconds. I had the optical drive plugged in (USB).
More testing to come.

 

Well i asked over in the Sony Forums but apparently they are probably tired of me lol so I'll ask the fellow users here.

Anyone with a 14a or 15a Flip can you tell me the part number to the power/wall adapter. A friend just ordered one and wants to get a spare adapter but it doesn't show up in the Sony website.

Thanks

TS

 

Hi there twospirits

I have a 14A. There are a bunch of numbers on the adaptor but no indications/description of what those numbers mean.
Looking at the Sony store now and I can see which number is the model # on my unit : it is "VGP19V76". Problem : Google doesn't know this unit and neither does the Sony store... so they must use another number internally. Sorry about that.

These are the ones they seem to have : Sony | VAIO Computers | VAIO Accessories | Batteries & Power Adapters

You may have to call Sony to get the right adaptor.

Some additional specs on mine : Output of 2.3A @19.5V

Good luck...

 

The delivery date for my flip 13 is 12th December and I ordered it on the 5th of December. Hopefully it would be true

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

I ordered my 13a on the 26th November and my delivery date is also 12th december. Since Thusday the Status is sent, but the Notebook is still in China... because i have no tracking number. I'm very angry, because i could have the flip in my hands now if they had sent it on thusday...

 

Try to chat with their online support in the sony store to get a tracking number. I was not seeing my tracking number, and they eventually e-mailed it to me after talking to support.

 

They said mine was beign shipped from Japan

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I ordered my customized 15A online (USA) on Oct 28,2013 and with promised a ship date of Dec 16, 2013

I got it today Dec 6, 2013 from China via FEDEX

Turned it on and after 3h playing around no issues with touchscreen or better no other issues at all. The fan spins once and a while but still less noisy than my DELL INSPIRON 1525.

Very nice screen Q and very happy so far.

This is my configuration;

12GB 4GB 8GB DDR3L-1600MHz
256GB 256GB x1 solid state drive
Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
15.5" over Full HD IPS TRILUMINOS Display for mobile 2880 x 1620

 

Hey guys,

Ordered my 15A on November 29th here in Canada and the estimated ship date is December 16th. My status changed to being built today.

How long did it take your orders to ship after getting this update? The email from Sony also mentioned that I should expect an email with tracking information in the next couple days.

 

My tracking number was emailed approx 2 business days after they told me they started building my unit.

Right now my unit is taking a tour unfortunately.

My item was shipped from Shanghai on Tuesday, then stuck for 2 days because of the fog. Finally left Shanghai arriving in Tennessee this morning, and now stranded in Winnipeg. I live in Alberta so this thing is so close. I was expecting delivery today, now Fedex has a big NA for delivery.

We are going through massive deep freeze so weather may be a factor.

Hating mother nature right about now.

 

'Couple of days' means about 10 days. Really.
That was what happened to mine. You will get it before Christmas.

Chris

 

Yeah, I'm disappointed to hear these are shipping out of China. The rep I spoke to said they were built and shipped out of Japan. They also told me they would expedite shipping to express which should have mine delivered in about 4-5 days after it's actually sent.

 

Whatever they say, these Vaio laptops are made in China.
According to Japanese media, Sony Japan postponed sale of Vaio Fit Flip series due to inferior problematic parts
Sony Japan has sent their engineers to China (Foxconn?) to fix problems.
Obviously, early batch of this series has some kind of problem.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nikkei.com%2Farticle%2FDGXNASDD210GL_R21C13A1TJ2000%2F&act=url

 

Whoa really? So Sony sent out inferior laptops to supporters who bought their products early? Is Sony going to recall these "inferior" machines?

 

Interesting, that would explain a great many things. And very good question even though my gut tells me that they won't do anything for first time buyers that have gotten messed up fans.

TS

 

My custom flip 13A didn't pass through the being built stage ...It went from processing to sent to the warehouse. Is that weird

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

Interesting. Couldn't tell if it was only for the pink version though. That seems to be the one that they've postponed. Might be worth ringing up in the new few weeks to see about repairs for the fan then?
Currently its not so loud but really gets going when I use skype. Can't video call without the fan spinning up loudly.

 

Just a heads up for new and future Flip owners who haven't upgraded to Windows 8.1 yet :

Last night I was fiddling (yeah...) to try and figure out that touchscreen issue I have - intermittently - so I went back to the Sony support site and had a closer look at available drivers/downloads for my 14A. All you need to do is go to the support page for your country and type in your model number in the little box.

Now some may wonder why go to the support page when the Flip has its own VIAO Update utility that checks for updates : well, I noticed that the update utility doesn't offer all necessary updates. On top of that, it needs updating immediately (the Update utility itself) so that it can offer the correct updates, like the BIOS update for instance. Complicated ? Not really, just bizarre that their own utility can't offer all necessary updates and one has to get them manually.
Important note : The "VAIO Update2" utility needs to be updated before you upgrade to Windoes 8.1 ; it says so next to the update. It is marked as " CRITICAL".

My suggestion : before you update to 8.1, go to the support page and check all the "Drivers & Software" listed for your model (you must first choose the operating system in the little box = Windows 8) and install those marked as "UPDATE". Look carefully, you'll notice those not marked as "UPDATE" are the original drivers/utilities already installed, so no need to install them again. Take your time, no rush...

I had updated the Update Utility while under 8.1 so I'm stuck with a possibly buggy application now. No biggie, I prefer to check updates manually myself.

I had no touchscreen issues for about an hour last night before I shut her down, following the updates which included a touchscreen calibration update. Keeping my eye on it.

 

Update: It arrived late last night. Pretty good job Fedex!

First impressions: Computer looks great. Love the big screen. The weight is suppose to be around 5.5 lbs and it seems fine having it in my lap or carrying it around. Very few 15" ultrabooks get below that weight and they don't have the convertible tech.

I updated to windows 8.1 and downloaded the latest bios. I don't hear the fan much anymore (before the bios I believe it would constantly run at a low speed, now I do not hear it).

The "serrated" edges are a bit weird. They're not going to cut you but it feels a little weird to hold them when picking up the laptop. Not a big deal at all. The keyboard works fine and mine does not flex during normal typing. I am coming from an HP desktop replacement laptop that had an awful keyboard, so your mileage may vary.

Everything runs smooth, apps are quick to load (256gb ssd). Battery doesn't seem great so far, but its livable -- most of my use will be at home or somewhere where a plug is close by.

My two main issues so far:

1) I have never had used a stylus supported touch screen, and I notice a lot of resistance to my fingers when I try to scroll with them or pinch and zoom, that sort of thing. Its an annoying feeling. I compare this to a Dell XPS 12 touch screen that I bought a month ago (and am returning because the screen was too small for me), which is gorilla glass and no stylus, and scrolling or pinch and zooming was super smooth.

This higher "resistance" is a trait of stylus supported screens?

2) When flipped into tablet mode, the windows button on the screen does not return me to Metro. It does take me to Metro in laptop mode. Anyone had this issue?

 

Hi guys,
I have been playing around with my 14A (8GB, 500GB HDD).
I have done all critical updates first, then upgraded to 8.1, then went to the Sony support, entered my model number, did the important updates there (didn't do any optional). I heard some fan initially when I first turned the computer on, but since then the fan is quiet. I never hear it, love it.

I love the flip, and more and more happy I didn't buy surface or yoga, which I considered before.

My Samsung 840 SSD 500GB drive has arrived. There is a problem though. I can't create recovery media. External DVD drive doesn't work, DVD's a shown as incorrect or something like that. My SanDisk 32GB flash drive is mounted as non-removable HDD, doesn't show up when trying to create recovery media. I have read that this is a problem of SanDisk flash drives related to new standards of windows 8. Now I am waiting for a Kingston 32GB USB 2.0 (apparently Sony's requirement - no USB 3.0 drives). Has anybody had similar problems - Mark?

 

Now I'm a little pissed.

I guess living in Canada has its disadvantages.

My laptop is sitting in limbo in Winnipeg and my delivery status is unknown.

I am not really impressed with Fedex. I don't see why it needs to hit a million destinations before arriving at mine.

I will be calling them to complain.

 

Did you ever get this problem sorted out? I have the exact same issue (15, w/ 1080 screen). Keyboard & window key does not work in tablet mode.

 

I had no trouble using my USB DVD drive. However part of the BIOS update has to do with fixing a problem with the computer recognizing when things are plugged into the USB. Have you updated the BIOS? If you haven't try un-plugging and re-plugging your DVD drive a few times which worked for me before I did the BIOS update.
I made an image backup with no trouble. I don't know if you can copy an image, then use it on your SSD though.

 

My DVD drive is recognized, and can be used for a normal usage scenario. However, Vaio care utility doesn't allow me to create a 5-disk recovery set, so I can boot from it and then install windows 8 (restore the initial factory installed windows 8) onto my SSD drive. I think external USB-DVD drives might not be bootable?

 

As an update to this problem (note: touchscreen keyboard doesn't work either).

I found this thread on Sony's community forum: How to disable the Flip 15 keyboard in tablet mode... - Sony's Community Site

He believes in tablet mode, the alt key is pressed down, not allowing certain functions to happen such as touchscreen keyboard/ windows key. He remapped the alt key, but that's not an option for me - I use it all the time for keyboard shortcuts in Office/Adobe products.

I'm getting a bad feeling about this -- seems like a hardware issue and I would need to send this computer in. Does anyone have experience with this as well? Anyone with a 15 inch not have this problem?

 

Hey Guys, i think a clean installation would solve my bitlocker problem but of which more later
At first both of you try it and wipe the hole ssd, convert to mbr, etc. right? I'm worry about the "way back".
Is the assist-button still working?
Is it still possible to restore the system to the delivery condition with the sony restore usb-stick created with vaio care (including the recoverypartition etc.)?
Does anything work as usual?

The bitlocker problem:
I tried to protect my system with a bitlocker-key but during the encrypt-configuaration I can't choose between usb-stick and key. usb-stick is the the only available possibility.
It would be nice if anyone with the clean Installation and windows 8 pro could tell my if you can choose between the both possibilities. (tutorial: AboKevin.com » How to: Enable BitLocker in Windows 8 without a TPM)

thanks guys !

 

Hi Guys. I finally got my 13" flip. A nice piece of hardware.

I was following this thread almost from the beginning and with every page this thread was growing my thrill of anticipation was growing as well I got it, made every kind of update I could make, uninstalled the bloatware and deactivated most of the unneeded stuff which automatically starts when windows boots. What I got now is a Windows 8.1, Defender as Antivir, all the Intel stuff and the Vaio-care stuff and the latest BIOS update - I think its 20a or something, can't check it right now.



Problems

Now, as almost every fellow reader knows there are some issues which I shortly want to discuss, but then there seems to be my unit which has some very specific problems (Keyboard Return Key and Graphics Card).


First the fan problem: The fan is moving along with the energy-settings from windows. If you customize them and set the minimum CPU usage to 100%, then the fan is on. It doesn't seem to follow the actual temperature, but I could be wrong. I had no time to really test it. I have customized my energysettings. When I am on battery, the fan is off because my energysettings tell that the CPU should ran with max 50% and minimum 2%. As nothing is really running in the background and the computer is 99% in idle, the CPU is most of the time in the lowest performance step. If I am *not* running on battery, then the settings are much higher and if I start doing something (even if its just browsing) the fan is running constantly. But my fan is pretty quiet, even if its running at full power

Second, the keyboard: Yes, I can write on the keyboard, but to be honest, its not the best keyboard I ever had. The stoke is pretty minimum and - I guess its just a personal thing - but I did not expect that. Maybe I get used to that...

I had not a single issue with the touchscreen or the mouse. Also the pen is just a great thing. So far I am happy with that.

Now, my unit seems to have two very specific problems where I would normally send it back. But I went for a month on a private trip to the other end of the world and now I am quite far away from the next sony-center

First the keyboard, specifically the return key. It seems that it only works on the left, inner side. I opened it (took it off careful) and had a look underneath. There seems to be the one screw from the mainboard to deep screwed inside (from the other side) and now prevents the return key from working correctly. Anyone else has the same problem maybe? If someone opened it already to put another SSD inside or something - can you tell me if you see a screw there from the other side which maybe could cause such a problem under the return-key? Maybe I can open the bottom panel and unscrew it a little bit or find another way without sending it back?

Second: I have installed the game Asphalt from the windows store. I can play that game perfectly, with a great framerate (runs smoothly), for about 1-2 minutes. Then it seems that the notebook switches to a energysaving mode - the smoothness is gone and there are 1-2 frames/sec. I have tried to play around with the energysaving-settings and set the CPU minimum-speed to 100%, turned off any kind of energysaving, its running on the external charger (not on battery). I have put the HD4400 settings to performance. But still. It doesn't matter. Any ideas? Anyone a similar problem?

All in all I can really recommend that little guy. It's a good one. I had the chance to try the Yoga2 as well, and I think I made the right decision to get the Sony.