Official Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip PC Owners' Thread

Mark same story with Core Temp.

 

That is too high. I'm no CPU expert, especially Haswell ULVs, but anything above 70C sounds an alarm in my brain.
Give Sony a call.

Edit to add : just saw the load, below 50%. Definitely abnormally high (temps)

 

This computer is basically idling and burning up Mark. Thanks to inefficient and sloppy Sony more than likely I am going to have to bother people to take this back to the US for a refund or exchange. Ridiculous, thanks Sony.

 

can anyone please let me know how to properly do a recovery. I am trying to swap the 500GB drive with a 250GB ssd and im not sure where to do the recovery process (through vaio care or control panel) and when the recover is made on the flash drive how do i actually recover the drive after i press the assist button on the laptop. By this i mean which menus do i need to access.

Thanks

 

Mine just stopped turning on. No power whatsoever. =( Tried pressing the battery off button on the bottom. Nothing.

 

Dear All, thanks for all your shared experiences and advice, tips and troubleshooting. Talking of shooting, I really want to shoot my new Flip 15A. Though I love it, cannot get it to function

My question is, can I ask for a new replacement (within 30days) machine, send it in for repairs or return it altogether?

Here is my story:
1st October - Ordered Sony Vaio Fit (max customisation)

2nd October - Email confirmation and ship date 11th October (Friday before Thanksgiving)

15th October (Tuesday) - (after Canadian Thanksgiving weekend) called Sony for Tracking number, told laptop dispatched on 9th. Subsequent calls during that week had dispatch date change from 10th, 11th and then finally on Friday someone confirmed my laptop is about to go into production. Asked to cancel the order, and told I cannot (by Sony Canada) Also, at no point does the link of the email work to "track your order".

20th October (Sunday) - Spoke on Sony Chat regarding customisation for the Fit (US Customers get 16Gb RAM, Canada only 12Gb). Sony Chat guy was in Singapore, advised me I can cancel the order at any point, called me to discuss my poor customer experience of being lied to and cancelled my ordered upon which I received an email an hour later and he called back to confirm. Excellent guy, very understanding and helpful as he told me about the Vaio flip.

21st October (Monday) - Called Sony Canada Sales, told them about my experience, confirmed cancelled order, and that payment has not been taken as this happens upon the computer leaving the warehouse.

22nd October - Confirmed with Credit Card company not to authorise payment for Vaio Fit order.

23rd October - Called Sony Canada Sales and ordered Vaio Flip and received Notebook Sleeve for my troubles. Estimated Ship date 18th November (Delivery 2-3 days)
20th November - Called Sony for update on delivery, was advised delay in production and order delayed by a week.

28th November - Order delay Notification email, no date of resolution

6th December - Email received, "your computer is being built"

10th December - Shipping Confirmation with Billing address not Delivery Address. Called Sony Canada and confirmed delivery address.

18th December - FINALLY received beautiful Vaio Flip and very happy out of the box.

23rd December - Spent some time getting used to Windows 8, and struggled with crashes whilst updating to Windows 8.1... but much happier with interface. Installed my programs for work and got laptop setup. Suddenly, wifi connection lost and laptop runs slow, crashes and freezes. Windows 8 doesn't seem to like it if there's no internet access. Have to deal with it after Christmas.

28th December - Called Sony Tech Support, they cannot understand the Wifi connectivity fault and advised to Factory Reset my Vaio Flip. And then instructed to run Vaio Update, Windows 8 Updates, upgrade to Windows 8.1, run Vaio Update again, and then finally Windows update. Completed all this and reloaded all my programs.

5th January - Not had a chance to play with my laptop and when I finally do, Wifi connection is lost again and problems pursue. Call Sony Tech Support, told them my Customer Call Reference Number and advised that there my Intel Wifi Driver (N 7260) is newer than what Sony are aware of and I should do another Factory Reset and stick with Windows 8 until further notice.

6th January - found this and many forums complaining about FLIP's fan noise, touch screens, touch pad, poor delivery and customer service and endless other things.

7th January - Running Windows 8 and begin experiencing poor performance, Windows 8 hangs on Vaio loading screen, takes over a minute to boot (considering I have Fresh Start), crashing and slow loading of programs. Laptop generally runs sluggish like a 3 year old machine. Graphics is not sharp either, Chrome just looks fuzzy with the text. Quite concerned, I call Sony Tech Support, advised I have done 2 factory resets since receiving the machine on the 18th of December. Told I need to send it in for repair.... transferred to Sony Customer Service regarding returning or exchange options, told I need to speak to Sales, and transferred to call queue, two rings and line goes dead. Gripes!!! I later went onto Sony Support Chat and told my laptop is not compatible with Windows 8.1 and should do a factory reset to Windows 8. Double Gripes!!!

Opening Disk Management, I see two recovery partitions amounting to 37Gb of hard disk being used. I imagine this to be a factor in slow performance but not sure?? Also, the fan is loud at times and caused me concern, but not as much as generally stability of the machine as it freezes with unresponsive screen and long boot times. Have found the screen dimming inconsistently and terrible touch pad very annoying.

Its seems from what I have read that the factors for this service has been a factory fire, high demand of orders, and updating of the Sony Website (which is still poor) and doesn't display correctly on Chrome. In regards to the customer service, they were not terrible but just seem to have limited information by not giving any concrete answers or assurances and didn't really know what the left hand was doing whilst the right is focused on taking your money.

Anyway, this laptop is within the 30 day period of delivery, so I was hoping someone could advise how I could / should deal with this issue... And that being, I still need and want this Vaio Flip, and would ideally want a replacement machine that is not defect and crowded with recovery partitions and happy to run it at Win8 until wifi issue is resolved.

Therefore, my question is, can I ask for a new replacement machine (within 30days), or do I send it in for repairs or return it altogether?

Many Thanks fellow Flip owners,
Dupree

Useful link:-
Intel® Wireless-N 7260, driver version 16.6.0. (mine is 16.1.5.2 on Win8 and sticking with it)
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...loadType= Software Applications

 

After playing my custom Flip 15A 256GB SSD, I've noticed about 38GB of space missing. Anyone know why? Is it possible to gain that space back?

 

Hey there. To cut a long story short, I called Sony on day 30, explaining that my screen had lighter patches on it. They were extremely nice, and very competent. The rep said they would look at my device and decide what I was entitled to, but at the same time he said I was sure to get a refund in a couple of days. He was a bit surprised I wanted a replacement unit, and asked a couple of times if I was sure. They sent me some papers to fill out, and the TNT guy came for the machine the next day. (Would have come right away but I wasn't at home.) I explained on the phone and via a reply email to their customer center that I sorely needed the machine for work and would appreciate quick action. They took the old one away on DEC 15, and the new one was here on DEC 25. I only received it on JAN 3, but that's the Geneva holidays for you. (They tried delivering on DEC 30 but the truck broke down.)

Seriously, this process was as easy as hell, as someone said way back then, I'm going to repeat as any times as I need to to get a satisfying device. And, if you can, I suggest you do the same.

 

Xpred, I noticed the same on mine (see above post last few paragraphs). I thought they were created on mine because I did factory resets. I also read somewhere that this could be Sony Vaio stuff ontop of Win8 i.e. Vaio Care, Utiliy, Update etc.

 

Flowerstar, thank you for your reply.. you are a star. I am hoping for something similar for me as I had the same quality of service with my Playstation 3. A few years back my PS3 was making strange noises in the disc drive a week from the 1yr Warranty running out. I called Sony and a day later, a delivery guy turned up with a new refurbished PS3 to swap over. I was very impressed. This was in London, I am currently in Toronto, so hoping for the same.

However, after the frustrating ordeal of getting my machine, I want a new replacement not a refurbished one. I think this is a reasonable request. But I will call them tomorrow and tell the tale here...

 

not sure if you guys can help me with this decision, but i'm trying to decide if I should wait until (supposedly end of February) for the VAIO Flip refresh.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information on what exactly has changed, other then being pre-loaded with win8.1 and photoshop elements...

 

runee1000, thanks for this piece of information, it could come in handy with my problems. And if you have read some of the pages on this thread, then I would recommend you wait for the new Vaio Flip (refresh) as I imagine they would have addressed all the faults talked about on the forums, i.e. fan noise, wifi failures, touchscreen issues...

If you can wait, then wait

 

I guess we should wait till some hands on reviews appear from CES, to see whether anything significant has changed on the hardware side.

 

This the space for the recovery partition. It should be possible to make a recovery USB flash disk (32gb) and remove the recovery partition from the SSD using the VAIO software.

I succeeded only in creating the recovery disk, so far, not yet in removing the recovery partition...

 

mvanstralen, is that why I have 37Gb in recovery partitions because I did two factory resets (recommended by Sony Tech Support). Also, my machine is slow and not like when it was new 20days ago. Please see my post on page 131 (last few paragraphs)

"Opening Disk Management, I see two recovery partitions amounting to 37Gb of hard disk being used. I imagine this to be a factor in slow performance but not sure?? Also, the fan is loud at times and caused me concern, but not as much as generally stability of the machine as it freezes with unresponsive screen and long boot times. Have found the screen dimming inconsistently and terrible touch pad very annoying."

 

I have the 1TB Hybrid drive

 

I've been trying to gauge whether the device I have now is one someone had returned. I still can't decide. It came suspiciously fast. But then again, I would have been happy with them repairing my screen (that was the biggest issue I had with that flip) instead of a complete swap, I went for the option simply because it seemed fastest.

Now I'm torn. Once more I get the 3ö days to decide, but I'm really tempted to send this one back as well, get a refund and buy the new edition. I'll see in a couple of weeks if that's a sane plan or not.

But if you're not satisfied with your current device, this is what I'd do if I were you. Get a refund, hang in there for a couple of weeks and get a new edition Flip.

 

Hi everybody,

I am monitoring this thread for months, and wanted to give my little feedback after receiving the 2 flips I ordered (Europe): a 13A (for me) and a 14A (for my GF).

To go straight to the point, I returned my 13A (i5, 8gb, 512gb ssd) after one week because of the very poor build quality of my unit:

- the trackpad was not correctly aligned with the chassis in the bottom right corner ( image)
- the return key did not depress correctly, the bottom left corner was somehow blocked as if something was underneath. That reminds me the problem of an other user with his enter key ( image)
- the screen showed major light leaks at the bottom ( image) which was clearly noticeable during normal laptop use.

I have the feeling that my laptop was a refurbished unit because it was sent from the same address to which I had to send it back for the refund (in Holland).

Regarding the fan noise, I did not use it long time enough to have an objective judgement, but I had the feeling that it was still quite noisy even after BIOS update and in silent mode.

I really love the form factor of this laptop, and thanks to the multiple feedbacks here I am sure that some units may be correctly built while some others are a disaster. That's why I will wait for the production line to hopefully fix the build quality over the time, and order a new unit later on. I also read about this "refreshed" model with Windows 8.1, but I would not be too exited for now because it was nowhere said that the hardware would be modified.

Apart from my bad experience with the 13A, my GF is very happy with her 14A (i5, 8gb, swapped 500gb HDD for 480gb SSD), and I have to say that the build quality looks much better. Her flip does not show any of the flaws that I met (she only has minor light leaks in some corners of the screen which are not noticeable in normal use).
She says the fan sound is noticeable in a quite environment, especially on heavy load, but it's certainly not more than her previous laptop. Note that her 14A does not show the "Silence" mode option in the Vaio Control Center, I still have to investigate why. This unit was shipped directly from Taiwan.

My conclusion is that this product could really be an exceptional device, everybody who saw our flips was amazed by the form factor too, but I would not recommend it until Sony fixes the production line if you don't want to bother with returns or live with minor defects.

Laurent

 

It is not that you have the recovery partitions because you did the factory resets, but without the recovery partitions you wouldn't be able to do the factory resets. Having these recovery partitions (37gb in total) is completely normal. You can remove them using the Sony software after first backing the recovery stuff up onto a usb flash drive.

If you are unhappy about the quality of the product, you should complain and ask for a new one.

 

@Laurent : merci de partager tes expériences avec nous ! > thanks for sharing your experiences with us, really
Sorry to hear about your 13A's problems... Definitely quality assurance problems. I agree that people shouldn't get all revved up about the upcoming 8.1 Flips, until we hear positive feedback about some assembly line changes and hardware changes as well. They need new fan implementations, better Wi-Fi antennas, sturdier keyboard backing, etc...
Hope you get a bug-free 13A, soon.


@Jeremy : I'm in Canada too and had a strange experience with a Toronto Sony sales guy known as "Alex". I got to him after speaking with a guy in the Philippines first (Sony support). This Alex fellow sounded like a real smart alec, telling me stuff that later turned out to be false ; I ended up doing what he suggested which was cancel my original order and start again with him over the phone, all this because there was a *problem* with my order apparently, due to a bug on the Sony.ca store. He said that because he was doing my new order, I wouldn't be able to cancel it like a regular order (what ??). These people are full of themselves - and bull. Another thing I later realized is that once you order over the phone, you don't have your order on the Sony site and you can't track it even with a tracking number ; good thing it arrived on time. All in all, I would rate the Asian call centers above the Canada reps...

About your problems : wow, those are strange. I do think you need to send it back as well. Specced as yours is, it should fly.

@Mezzi : sounds like sending your Flip back will be an adventure. Sorry to hear that and hope you can get it done as painlessly as possible. You do need a new unit though. I would love to know what the cooling problem turns out to be, but I'm dreaming of course. Maybe bad thermal interface material application (thermal paste), because your fan definitely runs at full RPM from your audio sample.
Best of luck with the new unit...

 

The 13" is significantly lighter than the 14" (1.3 vs 1.9 kg)

Obviously, SSD will offer faster performance. But the 128Gb may leave you feeling short of storage.

I have a 13" with i7, 8GB Ram, 512ssd. Great unit. No problems so far.



Sent from my GT-I9295 using Tapatalk

 

In general the 14 is more budget friendly, while the 13 is more aimed at the ultra portable (and comes with a higher price).
Is the 14 with 1 TB the hybrid drive (extra NAND buffer)? If not, an SSD will make it much faster.
To compensate the storage, you could consider buying a 128GB SD card. Still nowhere close to 1 TB, but makes life a bit easier.

And I think we have to wait for the new models to arrive, to know how to distinguish them in the shop.

 

Hey, whats your fan mode? Seems like silent mode makes my estimated battery life better but i havent actually tested yet

 

So there have been a lot of issues mentioned all over the web about this Vaio. I've owned and used mine for little more than a week now, so I thought I would write down my experiences so far, for others that might be hesitating to buy this device.

First of all, I purchased the 15 inch model, with i7, GeForce and 256 GB SSD, and I love it!
The main issue that a lot of people have been complaining about is the fan noise. I'm happy to report that I did not encounter that, did not even need a BIOS update for it. It is not on all the time. It seems to switch on at about 30% CPU usage, but not excessively. The loudest I could get was when rendering a solidworks model. It was noisy, but not beyond expectations. When setting up the laptop for the first time, it got extremely loud though for a moment. And if that is what other people are talking about happening continuously, then I understand the issue.
What I don't understand about this issue though is: why do some laptops need a BIOS update to fix the issue, and some come shipped functioning perfectly normal?? I mean, quality control issues are usually not software related... why would Sony ship some laptops with the BIOS update installed, and some not. (I assume that the BIOS update was installed already on mine, or am I misunderstanding the issue here?)

Next: the keyboard. I personally do not understand what people are complaining about here... I agree that it could have had a bit more travel on the keys, compared to my previous laptop, but nothing that you won't get used to. I would be perfectly fine typing a 50 page report on this thing.
The other issue being talked about is the keyboard being flexible. That to me, sounds like an even bigger non-issue... sure it flexes a little, but does it matter? It is not that bad. It flexes very slightly when typing, and you don't notice unless you're looking at it carefully. (and who looks at its keyboard while typing..?)
The only thing I could complain about is the readability of the keyboard on the silver version. In certain (not unusual) lighting conditions it is hard to distinguish the characters (both with and without backlight on). But nothing I can't live with.

The flipping: Of course this is why I bought this laptop! I love all the positions it can be used in I use it a lot for making art in tablet mode and it's sometimes also usefull to turn it around and put the screen at an angle (when drawing with it on my lap). The only irritation is when I forget to lock the screen... when opening the lid, it flips unintentionally. There's one design out there I like better: the asus taichi (2 screens). However, that only comes in 13 inch and the inside screen is no touch... and I could wish for some better specifications... which is why I ended up with the Flip

N-trig and Photoshop: yes, the pressure sensitivity does not work in Photoshop. That might be an issue for some people. Me personally can live with it, since I found another program for drawing (Clip Studio Paint, aka MangaStudio), which I find to be maybe even better than Photoshop for the purpose of hand drawing. And I have no problem doing the actual drawing tasks in CSP, and the editing tasks in Ps.
And yes, pressure sensitivity works amazing in CSP!

Performance: I want to use Solidworks on this laptop, so performance was an issue for me. i7 was mandatory, and I did the right choice ordering the GeForce dedicated GPU. Solidworks performed buggy at first... and I discovered in the nVidia configuration panel that it was set to use the integrated graphics by default. I set it to use the GeForce, and it is performing absolutely smoothly right now! So for any of you out there wanting to use Solidworks: opt for the GeForce gpu.
I must note though that I'm not usually working with very complex CAD models (over hundreds of parts), so I cannot judge for that kind of use.
Rendering also works fine for single parts. But for 5 parts with different materials it already is tarting to take a while (about 10 mins), so if you will be rendering a lot, I can only imagine that it would be taking for ever with any serious models. But I'm fine with it, since I will not be rendering a lot on this thing.
Further more, Photoshop, Illustrator, inDesign etc. all work absolutely smoothly. I've never started each of these programs so quickly. SSD is amazing

Windows 8.1: there are quite some things annoying me about it... but the worst is: the absence of a taskbar with some applications. It is very annoying... not that I couldn't do without, but it is the inconsistency of it that prevents you from developing a routine in using it. When there is a taskbar you automaticly want to use it. And when you switch to an app that doesn't show the taskbar, you're automatism is still wanting to use it... And you're not getting rid of that automatism, as long as the taskbar is still there in other apps... Microsoft should just have done one or the other... but not both.
The other thing is shutting it down or putting it into sleep... I have to do 5 clicks and a swipe to do so. Although I worked around it by making shortcuts and placing them in a toolbar on the taskbar. Only one click now!
There are some other annoyances in win8, but those just need getting used to I guess. (wouldn't want to use it without a touchscreen though... that would be a pain :S )

Over all I love the machine! There are some slight annoyances, but nothing I can't live with. It simply serves all my needs. It even is replacing my pen and paper now, and it still serves as the pc I need for work! The only thing that could possibly be better is if Asus created a 15 inch taichi with similar or better specs!

 

N-trig released Windows 8 DuoSense 2 WinTAB drivers for 32-bit applications. These drivers work with all Windows 8 DuoSense 2 devices, you can install them on the Flip and use 32-bit Photoshop with pressure sensitivity.

 

Oh that's awsome! When did that happen? Will try that next weekend

 

I'm too lazy to look back (maybe within the last 10 pages) where someone posted about the N-Trig vs Photoshop Beta driver. One thing I remember is that Photoshop CS6 is not yet supported (even the 32-bit version). All other PS 32-bit versions are supported. Illustrator is supported in all versions, including 64-bit, with this Beta driver. No mention of Photoshop Elements, but since Sony plans to bundle it with the upcoming 8.1 Flip, I would guess Elements is supported for pen pressure.

The driver we have now supports Clip Studio Paint / Manga Studio, ArtRage 5 (this is a special edition for Sonys I think) and SketchBook Pro (and Express). There could be more, I just don't know about them yet.

 

Nice review, it seems like myself that most of your issues are with windows 8 and not the laptop. The reason I believe the Flip is better than the Asus Taichi is it's one screen and when put in laptop mode and closed correctly then that screen is protected from damage which I think is essential as I can only imagine how much the external Asus screen would cost for a replacement...

 

@~Mark and Flowerstar, thanks foor your replies. I really appreciate it.

I have just got off the phone with Sony Canada sales and explained my problems with my machine. The customer service lady, Lisa, has told me she cannot issue me a refund but can only issue me a "waybill" (returns postage slip) for me to return the laptop to be assessed on whether it can be fixed. In the mean time a Sony Tech Representative will call me back and to discuss the issues with the laptop. She made a few statements that concerned me "this laptop is final sale" and "because it is a custom build cannot be replaced with another machine". At this point I got scared with what to do and ended the call. She said she cannot authorize a refund at this time or say whether I will get another replacement laptop.

I just want some advice / reassurance as to how to handle this.

1) Am I entitled to a full refund within the 30 days
2) Am I entitled to a new replacement machine as mine is a custom build
3) Am I able to make a new order after returning this machine.

Thanks in again for feedback and help
Dupree

P.S. the trackpad is becoming less and less responsive,

 

1) I don't know about Canada, in Europe Sony will refund under 30 days. The information is available on their website after you log in (same place where you can track your order).
2) In Europe, refund or replacement can be asked for a custom build too (as was mine)
3) I am pretty sure that your account won't be blocked for new orders because you returned one, that would not make sense, but even if it was you could easily create an other one

 

Judas Freaking Priest people, almost ten pages since I last was here on the 4th. man you guys talk alot. Oh wait, half of that was arguing. Still, ten pages.

Anyway, bottom line, no device is perfect. if the Flip does not meet your expectation and the issues you have can't be tolerated then return it back. You can either ask for a replacement or throw the dice hoping to get a better one without the same issues you sent it in or cut your losses and ask for your money back and hope there is another device out there that may fit your expectations.
The Flip isn't perfect, nothing is, but to me it comes close and still there are alot of room for improvement both hardware, software and in quality control. No one here is a fanboy or fangirl, far from it, most have expressed a dissatisfaction of some sort. Others may have not (like myself) until the beast is awaken and the issue presents itself. And even then, I have lived with it since its only happens once in a blue moon. But for those that can't tolerate it or any issue then return it. Simple and less stressful. in the meantime i will continue to enjoy my Flip hopefully without its annoyances. But i will continue to express my dissatisfaction with Sony through the proper channels (email, phone, twitter, facebook etc) to try to get them to fix the issue with current owners that have it. Doing so on the forums is only speaking to the choir.

Its funny, someone asked me back then about it and showed more pictures and they too decided not to buy it since due to the nature of the clip holders it does leave the screen part a bit not flushed. So I improvised by adding two tiny round felt footings (the kind you buy at a hardware store to stop things from slipping) in between the screen backside and the inside of the clip and that helped lessen the gap. Still its not a perfect solution. I said it then and say it now, no manufacturer should sell a device that has a digitizer without providing a way to secure the stylus to the device. Bad Sony Bad.
As for that headphone insert idea, I thought of that but was thinking of going the home depot way lol.
You know those plastic things you place in the wall and then insert a screw in, well there are some that fit the headphone size hole, but i couldn't find a way to attach a clip to it that would hold the stylus so I gave up on the idea. Hopefully some bright young kid will do a kickstarter or patent a insert headphone stylus clip holder thing of ma giggy.

Awesome, I might do this finally, just need to find the time.

TS out

 

For that they've invented laptop sleeves. Now there is finally an actual use for it

And yes, the main issue is win 8 to me indeed But I'll be able to live with it though. I've managed vista before win7 came out, so I'll manage 8.1 till win9 is introduced... :thumbsup:

 

I run CC, so that's no problem. And it's just as easy to find and install a crack as any CS versions, and now you can even update to new versions without having to search for a new version. :X (yah... not gonna pay rediculous amounts of money for adobe)

 

Hello Everyone,

So far i have made a recovery drive on a 32GB flash drive and 5 DVDs but both methods gave me an error when i tried to restore the system after i had installed a 250GB SSD. I would shutdown the computer and then boot back up using the "Assist" button and select vaio recovery or something similar to that (i dont recall the exact name because i did it last night). Next thing that would happen is that i would get an error that says "recovery not found" or "No operating System". This is really starting to frustrate me as i need to get this laptop setup for myself before monday which is when college starts for me and i really dont think this laptop is ready. I might have to return it and maybe buy a Yoga 2 Pro.

 

I think we are out of luck my friend for the refund. Even if we have problems with our machine, we can't get a refund for it since is customized as stated on the Sony Canada Website... Exceptions to our Regular Return Process

For all Customized Computers (CTO) sales are considered final. We offer
exchanges or repair on defective CTO models within 30 days only. After 30 days
please contact 1-877-899-7669 for repair assistance. ( Sony CA)

 

damn, i just called them today as well (im in toronto) and they told me the same thing. The guy asked me if i was in toronto and gave me an address that i could personally drop the device off at for their "inspection". From what i think, if I were to send it to them for inspecting, i would get a response saying that everything is within spec.

Here are my list of problems with my customized Flip 15A, that i stated over the phone:

1) Creaking noises when resting palm somewhat near the corners of the palm rest.
2) Stripped screws on the bottom and evidence of metal chips (visible behind the screen when screen if flipped) upon receiving the laptop.
3) It takes 3 seconds (approximately) for the laptop to realize i closed the lid of the laptop.
4) When laptop is closed and track pad is not disabled, the track pad behaves erratically and starts randomly clicking and moving the cursor. (very annoying)
5) when flipping the screen from tablet mode back to laptop mode, the sound of some sort of glue being pulled apart is audible (most likely from the glue used to join the display to the rest of the laptop using the rubber hinge)
6) In tablet mode, the screen can move relative to the rest of the laptop without much force. (i believe they would say this is withing spec...after all, the screen is held by a flexible rubber hinge
7) Track pad sucks tapping to click is not registered on the top of the track pad, it gets harder to click the track pad mechanically as you get closer to the top of the trackpad (only switches are on the bottom of the trackpad) it can't track my fingers well when i want to scroll, using one finger to click and another to track is a pain as the entire track pad is being tracked..

8) A less minor issue which I don't really mind, shallow key travel and inconsistent feel of when a key is pushed down. (pushing a key in the middle of the laptop feels very mushy, the keys on near the left and right edges feel solid.) Keep in mind though, compared to the Vaio Duo, the key travel is a lot better. Vaio Duo keyboard is way too shallow.


Also, a discovery that I just HAVE to say. The flip 15... almost all of its mass is situated in the screen!!! i wondered why, and the moment i brought the back of the stylus near the screen (back of stylus is magnetic), i discovered something surprising. The entire hinge and the reinforcing structure inside the display are made of STEEL, the pen attracts vigorously to the hinge especially as its pretty much steel with a thin coat of paint.
This is the reason why the Flip 15 and 14 are so heavy in comparison to the Flip 13. There appears to be no steel reinforcement in the base of the laptop, which is VERY light (consistent with all flips)

Also, the canadian sony website lies...sort of. They don't offer exchanges on CTO products, they could either A) repair your laptop if its defective, or B) give you a full refund if its not worth repairing. That's what the guy on the phone said >.>

EDIT: also would like to add, my fan is very quiet normally, at around 30% it does start to get a bit load. When playing Battlefield 4 at minimum settings, at 1600x900 (pretty smooth gameplay!), fan stays at the roughly the same loudness as when cpu percentage of 30% is achieved.

problem is, 30% cpu usage is achieved relatively easy on ULV cpus.

EDIT 2: i have just recently realized my keyboard is actually bulging upward near the Fn, Windows an Left Alt key. :S

 

I ordered a custom built flip 14A with pretty much all the upgrades one in particular is the 2.0 Full HD front camera and 8.0 MP rear camera and microphone. After setting up my laptop I noticed the front camera has a maximum MP of 0.9 using the provided Microsoft camera as well as the Sony ArcSoft Camera. Is anyone here also using a upgraded system with the 2.0 HD front camera? Are you seeing the same 0.9 max resolution? Were you able to fix it to get the full 2.0MP?

I've dealt with Sony for the past two months about this; I have returned and replaced 2 laptops during that time. Each laptop that I have received ends up being the same issue. I really need some sort of solution here since school is right around the corner and Sony is pissing me off with having me order a new system and having to wait 2 weeks before getting a new one only to have the same issue with no guarantee that it will solve the issue.

 

@hqsewell, this sounds like an awful experience!! Please see my ordeal posted on page 131. Anyway, I can't believe you have been through 2 different replacements and still no resolution! I am about to return my machine tomorrow. Your experience concerns me because I am in Toronto and need to be heading back to the UK soon so really want to be able to get my laptop sorted before I get on a plane.

I was really happy with my Flip until I turned it ON! Windows 8 was difficult transition, mainly because I was disappointed at the quality and lack of apps. I have had to do TWO factory resets due wifi failures and now I am told my machine is not compatible with Windows 8.1 so currently using the Win8. Not that good. My system now just feels slow, and not confident that the graphics are working correctly, I paint in photoshop using a graphics tablet and speed and graphics is of prime importance.

Anyway, hope you get lucky if you decide to go for another machine. Did you go for a replacement machine within the first 30 days? Did you not have an option for a refund?

 

@~Mark Photoshop CS6 32bit ran just fine for me with pressure sensitivity. Now we just need Mudbox/Zbrush support and we'll be golden!

 

@Driftingnfsc3, thanks for sharing your situation as I am fearing I will get a same response ("everything is within spec"). My first order with Sony for a laptop was back 1st of October and ordered the Flip on the 23rd. I got my machine on the 18th December and spent the holidays performing two factory resets, and experiencing alot of crashing and freezing of the system.

My list of problems are:
1) White Screen bleeds (I use paint and illustrate in Photoshop so this is very annoying)
2) Cannot update to Windows 8.1
3) Poor booting, shut down, loading times. Around a minute to load to Windows Start Screen
4) Very poor Touch Pad functionality
5) Graphics is not looking very HD!!!
6) Gap in from chassis edge to screen on right hand sid
7) Cannot fix why the screen dims automatically. I have change the power plan and settings on Intel Graphic Properties

My Spec is completely maxed out, i7, 1TB Hybrid drive, 12Gb RAM, 2Gb nVidia Graphics, Win8 Pro with Fresh Start. Having spent so much money on this machine, I feel violated!

 

@dupreejeremy, Long story short yes I returned the previous two laptops within a week of receiving them and ordered a replacement. Also, Yes this has been a terrible experience. My experience doesn't seem too bad as compared to yours. As others have stated with problems with their Wifi failures; I never ran into that issue, but then again I didn't have the system long enough to really see if it will happen. My first experience with the first laptop I received was also somewhat bad though; I first noticed after booting up that the overall system was slow and sluggish. Everything was updated to the fullest with no real resolve. I then later on ran into an issue with the touch screen; the mouse would suddenly jump around the bottom left and click around at the edge of the screen. I heard there was a fix for it with a touch screen calibration tool, but I didn't try it. Seemed like there was just some oil from my finger on the screen and it didn't happen as often after cleaning. After finding out about my camera not being able to show the correct resolution I called Sony tech support which they connected to my system to do some troubleshooting, but were unable to find the solution and referred me to customer care/sales department where I had an RMA done on the laptop and ordered a replacement.

After receiving my second laptop I booted up did the basic start up procedures and what not and first app I loaded up was the camera. Same issue!! only able to have a max resolution of 0.9 MP. Called up Sony again for RMA and replacement. Finally received this last third laptop yesterday and did the same thing to see if issue was still there. Again yes it was!! Sony really needs to get their act together. I will be requesting a RMA again but I will not be repurchasing a new system from them. It may seem like a small ordeal to some people because it is just a basic front camera, but when advertising it is suppose to have it included during the build and for $30 US more. It better have the parts I'm paying for.

I also took a look into the wifi card that is suppose to be in this system and found out there indeed is an issue there like others have said. Again I didn't experience loss of connection like others, but speeds are not as fast as any other wireless N cards should be. Wifi N cards should produce speeds of 300Mbps not 144Mbps. To reiterate I will be returning this laptop; although I like the over all design of it, but not willing to invest anymore time into Sony and waiting for this issue to be resolved with no guarantee of any success.

 

@dupreejeremy, by the way the steps to fix the screen dimming automatically is Step1: click battery icon Step2: click more power options. Step 3: Click Change plan settings. Step 4: click Change advanced power settings Step 5: Scroll through the list for "Display" Step 6: click plus next to "display" you should see the last option is the dimming setting. Step 7: turn setting off for each power plan you do not want it activated.

 

Wow, Canada really sucks. I'm so sorry for you guys! I have no idea why they're having completely different policies over there. So far I kind of understood that quality on the flips varied so much due to their sloppy handling of quality checks in the hope that customers would do their job for you -- in a way many of us have. But if they take away your right to ask for reimbursement or replacement, they're just being a company that puts out bad quality. I can't believe this is legal, there has to be a way to reinforce customer rights. How can creaking and faulty manufacturing be 'in spec'? I can only accept glitches as long as it's up to me to go through customer service or live with them. The moment I'm forced to use a faulty device -- no.

Seriously, can someone back this up? Is this legal? Please tell me there's a way to contest their verdict.

As for updating to Win8.1: Have you updated all the drivers and everything? The Win8.1 upgradte option should then appear in the Store app. BTW, I do recommend updating everything before you upgrade. I didn't do so on the previous flip, causing a number of bugs. Now I was smarter and those bugs are gone.

 

#7 on your list may simply be a matter of turning off adaptive brightness. And yes, do the Sony 8.0 updates. Scan for Windows updates. Then 8.1 will be avail... and you may have cured a lot of your issues.

 

LOL. Yeah, guilty as charged for most of that arguing. Over what we now know is a defective / hyperthermic Flip
Good to see you back :thumbsup:
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Thanks ! Sony has been moving fast on this, just as I expected. They want N-Trig to do well and Photoshop compatibility is a must.
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Hey now wait a minute... it's been like -40 in most of the country for the past two weeks, have had a few blizzards here and there, enough freezing rain to down power lines keeping tens of thousands without electricity for days (during the Holidays). That doesn't suck, does it ?

Canadian consumer protection laws are Ok, but not great I suppose. Guess they're better where you live. One thing I've learned though (and this is universal) : never trust a sales rep.

 

+12-16°C around here, so that sucks too: no skiing But seriously, I feel for everyone in the States, you guys have had such frequent disasters these last couple of years. Europe's been pretty lucky from this respect.

You're so right about sales reps, they're worse than the weather these days. Switzerland is interesting from this respect, they'll tell you all kinds of BS, but, at the end, customers are too precious to lose. I've battled through quite a number of incidents since I'm here, but I won more than not. These days I keep banging the table until I can see there's really no use arguing any further. I guess they give in just to see me go.

 

The easy thing to do is to configure it to go into sleep mode when you close the laptop and configure the power button to shut down the computer when you press it.

I'm thinking about gluing a thin rare earth magnet to one side of the computer just forward of the USB port (the hard drive is on the other side). If I'm feeling adventurous, I might glue it to the inside so that it is not visible.

 

My sleeve has a strap, and I'm clipping the pen on that form time to time. However, I've been toying with the idea of working out a more permanent solution, though I'm always carrying around huge bags, so keeping a pen in one of those fake velvet pencases that come with promo pens and the like is quite convenient for me. I once put it on top of the device in its sleeve (it's just a tad too large, which allows for that) and it scratched the plastic hinge quite badly. (Luckily that was the previous flip. ) I don't know how I would feel if it had the same kind of contraption as the Duo13, or whatever it's called. The flip's design is so sleek...

 

I already set the power button to shut it down But closing the lid to put it in sleep mode is just not convenient at all times. But the shortcuts I created to the taskbar are working perfect so no issue any more. Only thing that would be better is if I could assign the "assist" button to function as a sleep button, but I don't think there is a way to do that.

That magnet idea might be a great solution by the way! If you get one that is strong enough to prevent you from accidentally losing it Just right in front of your right side speaker would be perfect. Harly noticable under the overhanging part of the body

 

So I check Windows Update on a daily basis alongside Vaio Update Center (I'm the sort of person that gets excited about these things...) anyway Windows tells me that I have a driver update for my Wireless driver (which is working fine but hey ho).



Before I install drivers I like to see what has been fixed and so click more information.



Hmmm.. So as you can imagine I'm a bit hesitant at this point, what's the update going to fix or more importantly what is it going to break? So I figure Sony Vaio Update Center will have the update maybe I can find it in there...



Wrong... Finally I check the Sony website and no update mentioned there either (I will save you all the picture).

Anyway I'm going to install it, I just can't resist.

EDIT: Driver seems ok so far.