Official Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip PC Owners' Thread

Hey guys,
I'm not sure about buying the Flip 15 from best buy, but I want to know if an N-trig pen from any other platform (the Acer R7, Lenevo, etc) would work with the flip. Sony discontinued the stylus for the Duo, Fit, and Flip laptops, so I can't find them anymore...

 

Hey guys,
I'm not sure about buying the Flip 15 from best buy, but I want to know if an N-trig pen from any other platform (the Acer R7, Lenevo, etc) would work with the flip. Sony discontinued the stylus for the Duo, Fit, and Flip laptops, so I can't find them anymore...

 

Maybe we have another source for pens now: Microsoft changed from Wacom to N-trig for their new Surface Pro 3!

When I read then specs I already had a hunch (the pen needs batteries and has only 256 levels of pressure sensitivity) but when I saw the advertising video of the Pro 3 with the two buttons on the pen next to each other it confirmed it for me.

The pen has a third button on the other end but it doesn't function as an eraser like with Wacom pens but it starts the Pro 3 and goes right into OneNote (similar to the Samsung Note tablets and phones where when you remove the pen the device fires up and a note window opens). The Microsoft solution isn't bad - you can keep your new pen in the shirt of jacket and simply activate the tablet when you need it (and the tablet is too thin for housing the pen anyway).

Interestingly, many paid reviewers claim that the Pro 3 is better for the included pen but pretty much nobody accuses them for dropping Wacom. It's probably like they also parrot the Microsoft claim that the Pro 3 has a completely silent fan whereas other reviewers claim that they can clearly hear it.

Personally, I don't(!) think the N-trig pen is bad but I'm hardly a capacity to judge it (I take notes and do the occasional simple drawing).
However, software support is still weaker and I've read many (professional) artists complain about the lack of pressure sensitivity levels, no eraser tip, the way the pens are built etc.

By the way: Microsofts sells these pens for $50 - which I find funny as people complained about the $40 Sony demanded...

Here's more information:
Surface Pro 3 announced and it's awesome, but... — Surface Pro Artist (Read the comments!)

A CNET video, doh... (but at least you get so see some nice pictures!)

And another short video

Edit:
The more I think about it the more it becomes plausible to me that the reason N-trig now supports pressure sensitivity in Adobe applications like Photoshop is the deal with Microsoft (and not really a favor for Sony and the Flips). Imagine a Microsoft high-profile product like the Surface not working well with Photoshop!

And it's also definitely possible that us humble Flip owners may profit from this deal as far as drivers are concerned...

 

Hello , I have the 15a with geforge gt735m, my issue is with a couple of games :

1 when I rotate the screen to play the gAmes. With the screen upside down from the other side the screen becomes black
2 plauing world of tanks iI have to put all at minimumto have decent fps of 60 , but after some time it sufdenly drops to 6 fps and its unplayable , its strange couse sometimesI can make even a couple of marches befoure it happens.

Any odeas?

 

Can confirm that the pen from the ASUS Taichi and HTC Scribe work well on the Flip.
The ASUS is Duosense 2 while the HTC is Duosense. Some people have described the Duosense 2 as better, but they seem all the same to me using Clip Studio Paint - only difference I can detect between them is a slightly different pressure curve which I find neither good nor bad. The tip and back of the ASUS pen is also exchangeable with the Sony pen.

 

That's good to know!

 

I can't help you with 1) as it may perhaps depend on the specific games but 2) is clearly a sign that the Flip throttles the CPU and/or GPU.
We had several posts here in this thread (and in Sonys own forum) about throttling so you may look them up.

One "solution" mentioned was reducing the speed of the Geforce GPU and disable the turbo mode of the Intel CPU to limit their maximum temperature.
But this is no perfect solution for it in my eyes because it limits the maximum speed of the components (and I'm sure there is some temperature headroom!).

 

For those who are looking for a Screen Protector, I bought this one on ebay for my 13A.

It has a nice matt finish and fits very well as you can see on the pictures below :



It was not an easy job to perfectly align and apply it without bubbles though.

An other positive effect of this protector is that it considerably decreases the finger prints, thanks to the matt finish probably.

 

How is drawing with the screen protector? I imagine the resistance with a screen protector might be nicer than the bare screen.

 

i am not using the pen a lot but i just did some tests and the experience is good with the screen protector (can t compare the resistance,not enough practice without protection)

 

Thanks for the info. Are there perhaps others that will work on the flip?

I bought this thing without a pen and since apparently they're discontinued a lot of us are going to have to look elsewhere. I would think that any n-trig pen would work fine but is this actually the case?

 

Anyone encountering the touch screen random freeze issue on Windows 8.1 ?
this is well known on other forums; for example the US and UK Sony communities ones; the screen stops displaying and goes to a grey color state (not full black) and this happens too often.
I have tried all the tricks that are given on the web: smartscreen deactivation, USB power management off in the HID devices, and so on... but they do not solve totally.

I have just discovered BTW that the front camera does no more run. It is like the laptop sees it at unplugged from the mother board ? the device is grayed and I get a (code 45). The drivers are Okay but anyway this internal webcam is no more in the system ?

My conclusions so far is that this laptop with Windows 8.1 is not stable and is having many issues.
( I own a Flip 15 core i7 - 8Gb - 256 SSD and use a lot the stylus and touch screen ).

 

Your Flip may not be stable but I have none of the problems you describe above.
I have an i7 with 16GB and used both the 1TB hybrid drive it came with as well as a 1TB Samsung EVO 840 I exchanged it with.

The only problem I have right now is that one of my USB sticks doesn't work. It's USB3 and gets disconnected by Windows automatically when I try to access it. I read that some sticks may not work on some USB3 ports because of energy profiles but everything I tried didn't work.

All in all I'd consider my system very stable, though.

 

to Calibrator I appreciate a LOT you share with me, we're not too far geographically speaking.

You mean that you are on Win 8.1 with the last OS updates and have zero issues ? interesting...

The main difference I see is on the RAM size and disk,
do you use a lot your Flip in Tablet mode, with the stylus ?
your webcam is working properly ?

Talking about USB3, I plug a Plugable UD-3900 station in USB 3 to my Flip15 and I must say that it runs quite Ok (on the UD-3900 are two 24" Dell monitors, two old USB2 external disks, a Logitech mouse/keyboard usb wireless key)...
Never tried so far to insert a USB3 flash drive to the other USB3 port but it is something I preview to do with a Sandisk extreme pro soon...

 

I am also seeing that I am not running with last Intel HD 4400 driver ?
would be nice to know which driver you're using right now ?
my current HD 4400 is 10.18.10.3316

and the Newer Driver Available is : 15.33.18.64.3496 (10.18.10.3496)

should I update it ? I wonder

 

Yes, except for the USB3 issue with one stick. Everything else I plugged into it worked fine (like USB3-HDs/SSDs).
I remember that I initially had some problems installing the big "Patch 1" for Win 8.1 but it was a Windows (update) problem (I already forgot the details, ha ha).

Yes, which I think isn't important (8 GB isn't bad at all and the hard drive should make no difference).
I use BIOS version R1120DD, though.

I used it as a traditional notebook about half the time and the other half in tablet mode with both touch screen and stylus input. Sometimes I only use touch, sometimes I use both. I used both for extended time periods like hours but right now I'd say that I did use touch more often than the stylus.

Yes, but the image quality is as bad as reviewed. It's probably the worst I've seen in the last ten years or so.

But the other stuff I tested/used works well: HDMI output on my LCD TV, gigabit LAN with more than 100 MB/s and the SD card reader with more than 40 MB/s reading speed (I don't have faster cards).

My USB3 stick doesn't work in any port - at least with USB3 speed. I haven't tested it on my old USB2 hub, though, but that would be an unrealistic scenario anyway.
Everything else I've thrown at it - with USB2 - also worked fine.

I also use the Intel HD driver 10.18.10.3316 - which is what came with the Flip.
The Sony support/download page in Germany doesn't have a newer driver version, yet, and I didn't try a direct download from Intel. Is there a changelog available for it?

The only negative thing that I noticed with the stock Intel drivers were a few minor texture and/or transparency errors in Clip Studio Paint (also known as Manga Studio) - which went away when I switched to the Geforce chip.
As I don't know CSP that well and especially not the 3D functions (I just bought it) this is on the back burner right now.

As for the Nvidia driver I use the 327.62 which is the most recent one the Sony page offers here.

 

Same BIOS R1120DD and Nvidia driver than yours; after updates, cause they are the ones that the Fr Luxembourg sony support site suggests we go with.

I do not think either that there is a memory conflict;
I rather assume it is something related to the OS or with an application, maybe the webcam is physically dead, but I doubt...
This is not important, the panel/display random freezing is much more problematic.

Or there is a software that puts me into problems ? ( when you know that the Back button of IE 11 does not work on some simple web pages.....)

For the new Intel HD 4400, I still did not install it and had no time to look at what it changes. I find also quite bizarre that Sony support does not propose it.

about Manga Studio (I do not do a lot of graphics work, just trying Sketchbook now), can you explain what you mean by " went away when I switched to the Geforce chip" ? it is a parameter to configure in the software I guess ?
It is something I have not well figured out how both Intel and NVidia graphics work together...

 

This new INTEL driver seems to solve various bugs on Win 8.1, especially on DisplayPort and other bugs with docking station !!!
it might be worth I try it, Release Notes are :
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/23714/eng/ReleaseNotes_GFX_3496_64.pdf

 

Bah, been at Cicso Live all week and haven't had a chance to look at it, but YES. If I do the down arrows and hit enter, it shutsdown. I'll try out the BIOS revert! Now to figure out where to download it from.

 

Exactly the same here.

What exactly do get when you try to use the webcam - for example in "Vaio Clip"?
An error message like "No webcam" (or something similar) or a black picture?
What does the device manager say?
The webcam is a USB device. Any problems related to USB hardware like the internal hub?

This could be another, unrelated problem.

They usually need some time - and they will eventually drop support so getting newer drivers from Intel will become the norm for Flip users (those who actually bother to update the drivers...).

They don't really work together - it's rather a connection of the Geforce to the Intel graphics hardware as the Geforce is an optional part that is docked to the Intel chip. All of the Geforce rendered graphics go through the Intel hardware to get displayed on either the internal LCD or an external display via the HDMI output. This tech is called "Nvidia Optimus".

The problem for the operating system is to know which graphics renderer (Geforce chip or the one in the Intel processor) to use for an application.

Nvidia solves this by including a section in their Geforce drivers where you can enable the Geforce manually but it also supports many modern games and other 3D applications automatically (they use profiles for that which are automatically updated unless you disabled that).
When it doesn't recognize an application (for example Clip Studio Paint, but I assume it won't recognize the majority of desktop apps) you can try to enable the Geforce chip manually.

There is a system tray icon called "Nvidia GPU Activity" or something like that (I use the German version...) that looks like a colored square. If you left-click it or mouse-hover over it you can see if something uses the Nvidia chip and you can also launch the driver settings from here with a double-click to change the behaviour.

The only thing that somewhat applies to the problems you mentioned is this:
"Fixed black screen issue on mobile systems found with older beta driver"

I'd update for this one alone - but I doubt that it will fix the problem with the webcam.

 

You can use the ones found in the UK or JP sony sites. I'm actually on R1130DD right now which also fixes this issue but is currently only available on the Japanese and Chinese sites. You can install these no problem, the language of your BIOS will not be affected.

R1130DD: ¥¢¥Ã¥×¥Ç¡¼¥È¥×¥í¥°¥é¥à | ¥µ¥Ý¡¼¥È | ¸Ä¿Í¸þ¤± | VAIO | ¥½¥Ë¡¼
R1100DD: https://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/content/cnt-dwnl/prd-comp/EP0000319068_9458/SVF15N2N2E

 

Hello everyone,
im thinking about purchasing the flip 15 .. i haven't read all the threads but i noticed the fan noise, heating problems, cpu throttling.
are those problems solved yet ?
do you recommend the flip for me ?
i want to get the i5 processor one since i dont do alot of gaming so i dont need i7 and im not a designer or a programmer, im in med school so ill need it for watching lectures or movies and making notes
i have a 4 year old hp pavilion and the main reason i want a new laptop is because of the unbearable fan noise.
the vaio is overpriced in my country but im willing to get it for the touch screen with the digitizer

if its not recommended can you recommend other options ? cheaper ones maybe
i also save the asus vivobook as a cheap option
thanks in advance

 

It's SUPPOSED to ramp up when you game. People never complained about fan noise while doing heavy task. People talked about light usage situations, such as browsing the web or streaming Youtube videos. Every ultrabook will get loud when you put heavy load on it, but the Flip gets loud even when doing basic task. I've had another ultrabook (Asus Zenbook UX32VD) before and I've been an avid overclocker since the first gen Intel i7 desktop CPUs were released, so I know what kind of temps these Intel CPUs can handle. Sony has no excuse for the Flip's fan to run at such a high RPM when I'm streaming a Youtube video and the temps barely hit the 60s.

 

You don't need the i7 (which only has a small performance advantage over the i5 anyway) so you are also saving money.

Fan noise is an issue but the reports are varying from "OK!" to "Not OK at all!". It probably depends from where you come (your old system, which I don't know), what you expect (if you know other machines) and what you actually do with them.
That being said the fan can get loud if you watch videos - especially those that are highly compressed (either the CPU oder the Intel graphics unit decompresses them - so the Intel i5/i7 *will* get hot which means fan noise).
For note taking or drawing or light image manipulation tasks I personally haven't had a loud fan even if it sometimes got activated.

You shouldn't bother about the throttling as it won't affect you when you only do what you describe above.
Throttling is something that affects the Geforce GPU when you use 3D apps like games for a longer time and the GPU temperature rises above 60C. There are whole threads about that so I won't repeat it here.
Solution: Simply buy the Flip without the Geforce chip - that way you also save money!

Will those problems get solved? IMHO not.

Reason: Sony *designed* the Flip that way - they won't do much about it and in fact did only change the thermal profile (="when will the fan get activated") a bit. The newer "Spring refresh" version which I bought has Windows 8.1, the newest patches and a bit different software but no changed hardware from what I can see (I compared photos of the innards).
Sony will make sure that they don't get many machines back because of overheating for warranty reasons, let alone that somebody sues them with a class action.
In other words: For Sony the "hyperactive" fan and the throttling are means and not problems.
If there will be solution then it *must* come from the Flip/ultrabook community and I think the options are limited (no BIOS changes for example).

I can only mention here what I researched, but I ultimately bought the Flip, fully aware of the issues at hand because the advantages were more important for me and let's say I have a bit more experience and tolerance than the average user .

Why did I buy the Flip at all? Because it's my secondary machine and I wanted something that I couldn't get out of a regular notebook: A large tablet with pen digitizer. The Flip is really an extension of my home computing capabilities and it's also, obviously, very mobile so that it can function as a regular PC/notebook when I'm travelling.

- The Acer R7: This machines comes probably closest to the 15" Flip. It appears nice at first sight and has very similar specs but it's even heavier, the touchpad is *behind* the keyboard (which killed the machine immediately for me) and I didn't like the display hinge mechanics at all.
In the end you don't get a tablet but something that is similar a drawing board with an angled display that flexes more that I like (the Flip display is also angled but much less). I can't say anything about noise or how the build quality is.

- The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga: The biggest version is the 13.3" Yoga 2 (regular and expensive "Pro" version with a high-res display available). Max 8 GB RAM and no Geforce chip (which *you* don't need) - but it has a Wacom digitizer.
The smaller displays killed it for me ultimately but I was also annoyed by the hinge mechanics that simply turn the keyboard onto the back of the display so that one can feel the keys all the time while holding it. The Sony hinge is far superior in my opinion.
Some people claim that the Yoga has better build quality and others claimed that its display had color issues, at least in the beginning. Go into the machine-specific forums to check for problems like that!

- The Wacom Cintiq Companion is an expensive (about $1800 with the 256GB SSD and $2300 with the 512GB SSD) 13.3" tablet with an external keyboard that is optimized for drawing with additional buttons etc.
This was a major contender for me as it uses the Wacom pen tech but I opted against it because of the smaller display and no dedicated graphics chip. I could live with the 8GB RAM but the limited (and expensive) SSD options weren't so hot either and it's quite heavy for a tablet. It has no dedicated graphics chip and doesn't use the Haswell generation of Intel CPUs but the one before it which I think is somewhat inexcusable for these prices.
Some say the build quality is great (the various videos make it appear that way, too) but others claim that it gets very warm so that your drawing hand feels uncomfortable. I haven't tested it myself, though.

- The Samsung Note Pro 12": I only considered very shortly to buy a regular notebook in conjunction with this Samsung tablet. This would've cost about the same. Problem is: You don't get the same drawing apps for Android (so it wouldn't help with the game I'm designing and programming) and I couldn't use Lightroom on it. Also 12" only...

All other competitors offered 13.3" displays at maximum when I bought the Flip so there wasn't much competition in the end as I couldn't find a better combination than the 15" Flip for me:
- tablet with pen digitizer of good quality and software support (Wacom is still #1 here but N-trig is #2 now which is sufficient for me)
- large 15" display (15.5" even), if possible a resolution higher than 1920x1080
- harddrive replaceable with a large SSD (which I did...)
- notebook with illuminated keyboard (very nice!)
- enough graphics power to at least run games in low detail settings
- at least two USB3 ports for external drives and another USB2/USB3 port for a wireless mouse receiver
- an (fast) SD card slot to get the images from my DSLR when I'm travelling so that I can preview them in the hotel and do basic image manipulation in Lightroom - where I can use the stylus which speeds up the retouching

Personally, I think most of those machines are overpriced regardless where you live for what they deliver (in terms of hardware) so it didn't matter much what I bought. As I wrote I even considered the Wacom...
I just gulped the price down like everybody else - and never really thought about it again because the machine is largely what I wanted, even if it has some issues that really annoy me. Some of those got resolved, others are still open and may never get better. This is something I have to (and can) accept as I *know* that are no perfect machines out there. Anybody telling you otherwise has at best found a machine that has issues that won't affect him - but that may very well affect you.

IMHO you should really think about your need of the digitizer and if it really is more important than a lower price.

If you rather want a lower price then the only sensible solution is to simply get a normal notebook: Take your notes with the keyboard and draw with the mouse! Get a nice i5 machine with 8GB RAM and a 15" display or something like that. Voila!
As I don't use touch input when in notebook mode I even question the necessity of the touch screen, even with Windows 8.1 (the recent patch made it even more mouse-friendly, the only thing which is missing is the start menu, IMHO, which you can retrofit and there will be an official Microsoft patch for it in autumn or winter).
All in all I'd say that Win 8.1 is working just fine right now and it boots very quickly (even quicker with an SSD). The only thing I really missed from Win 7 was an integrated imaging backup solution but there are free alternatives out there.

If you are set on the Flip as an all-in-one-machine I'd recommend the i5, full HD, no Geforce, 4GB, 500GB harddrive version to you. This is probably the cheapest 15" version for your needs and you can still replace RAM and harddrive if you need to - but do make sure you get a stylus!

 

The effect in all applications is that there is no webcam.
In the device manager, it is hidden and colored in light grey. Trying to update the driver does not reactivate it.
The camera issue is not very important.Not as much as the display "disapearing"

Yes I saw this and tried to install it but there is a message telling it will not install because it is not validated by the builder SONY for this model.... arghhhhh

 

You mean "hidden" as in not visible unless you show "all devices" (including those which were present at some time but are now inactive)?

And deleting the device/driver will bring it back into this state?

I believe that but the webcam issue could be connected to it which you'll see in a second.

But first:
Did you already try to roll back to BIOS version R1100DD? Or tried the new R1130DD?
Did you try a different OS like a Linux boot medium to see if it can recognize the webcam?

If you already tried that I don't see that many options for you right now as the "easy fixes" are pretty much exhausted:

1) Everything is fine as far as the hardware is concerned but you have a driver or a setting problem - which is still entirely possible. To test that I'd save all my documents/files/etc. and roll the machine back with the recovery media or partition. A factory reset, if you will. Believe me, I don't advise this easily as you will lose time but your machine has some strong issues and if this doesn't help at all (especially with the webcam) you likely have a broken machine.

2) You may have a problem with the cable connection to the display cover. The display and the webcam both have cables leading though the lower hinge to the mainboard - and you have issues with both the display and the webcam.
It is possible that the cable (or the connector on the mainboard) is defective. Perhaps somebody damaged it while the machine was assembled? There is no easy fix for that, especially if the cable itself is damaged.

3) There is a remote possibility that the soldering isn't perfect on your machine so that a connection doesn't exist or is "opening up" with time (because of temperature changes), which *could* lead to the problems you have. This is very rare and I don't think that it's likely, though. In this case replacement would be the only realistic option.

My conclusion: If a factory reset won't work you may come to terms with sending the machine in for repair/replacement.
Hopefully somebody else has another idea!

Thanks for trying, though. Saves me some time...

 

The primary downside of the Flip series for note taking is it's inability to have the screen at a low angle while having the keyboard exposed. That allows you to switch between typing on the keyboard and using the pen without changing mode. The Flip you either use in laptop mode for typing, or tablet mode for drawing (which both work very well by themselves).

From that perspective the Surface Pro 3 looks like a much better choice in that it can keep the screen at a low angle while still giving you access to the keyboard. Other upsides would be the much better battery life coupled with (if we are to believe them, and I don't see why not) low noise. I'd also argue the smaller screen might be an upside for note taking.

The Yoga style devices should also work pretty well in the note taking scenario as it should be easy to move from laptop mode to drawing by simple pushing the screen down (you don't have to flip it all the way around). The Tap 11 and Duo 13 could also be contenders, but I'm probably just muddying the water by bringing them up.

As a low cost alternative, have you checked if you can get the Surface Pro 1 in your area? They've been on sale from time to time at silly low prices. Hard to beat for value if you could live with it's small screen and middling battery (but no worse than the Flip 15). Doesn't have the flexible kick-stand of the SP3, but you can still have the screen flat while being able use the keyboard.

The primary case for the Flip 15 is it's size, the high-res screen, coupled with the digitizer. That's not an option you can get anywhere else. Having had it for a few months now, I still find it just as amazing to fire up Clip Studio Paint and drawing on it - but that's probably not something you would appreciate on the same level.

 

Hello, i found that taskhost.exe cause a problem and use 15-20% of CPU and with Process Explorer i see that "!RtlUserThreadStart" is the real problem, but it wakes up when my screen if off, I put screen Off after 1 min and when the screen is OFF taskhost.exe wakes up, and the Fan is Wakes up too. I wanted to economize the battery with the screen OFF when i don't use the Vaio but it make taskhost.exe running so the CPU and so the FAN are running too...

Sorry for my english but i hope you understand what i mean.

 

Thanks for the help! I'm all setup and dualbooting Kubuntu now!

 

My fan is always quiet in light situations.

 

No one notice the problem i evoked ?

 

No - and I can't really guess the reason for your problem (I suspect the Vaio Care software, but that's only a hunch).

 

Okay, thanks for the answer

 

Yes it is hidden unless we ask the manager "to show all devices"
I agree something is globally wrong on this machine

we tried the new R1130DD but it did not solve our display freezes and did not re-activate the webcam,
however we seem to have found an increase of the global performance of the machine with new BIOS, so it is worth to know about it.

As we were pretty upset with these two issues, we have put the machine in its initial state with re-formatting and re-installing the
Flip... unfortunately this did not bring any solution either...
So now we are contacting Sony's support !!!
What a pity !! we needed this laptop for a major presentation to new partners this week...

I will be back again on the forum to let know where we are in the following days.

 

I am trying to decide between Vaio Flip 13 (i5, 128GB, 8GB, 13.3") and Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro (i7, 256GB, 8GB, 13.3")

I have a few questions to ask to those who have/had Vaio Flip 13 (model # SVF13N13CXB) that is on sale for $999.99 at BestBuy.

Sony - VAIO 2-in-1 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 128GB Solid State Drive - Black - SVF13N13CXB vaio flip&cp=1&lp=3

How hard is it to upgrade to Windows 8.1? I read through some pages of this thread regarding fan noise and upgrade (HDD)

Sony website only shows simple steps which appears as a general steps instead of model specific.

•Step 1 - Prepare computer for installation/precautions
•Step 2 - Run VAIO Update
•Step 3 - Run Windows Update
•Step 4 - Install Windows 8.1
•Step 5 - Run VAIO Update again

Do above steps really work ok?
I haven't purchased any laptop for a while. Last purchase of laptop was Vaio SZ330P which I just finished installing Win 7 32bit. I do work on PC a lot and assemble my desktops using parts so I don't worry about replacing the M2 SSD. Upgrade to larger SSD will have to wait until more M2 SSDs become available. I plan on using SD card or USB3 Thumb drives for my data.

What is the run time on battery?

Is battery replaceable? If you had the laptop for over 6 months, I would like to know if the battery capacity changed or not.

Any problems with the hinge on the system?

Thank you,

 

oops, forgot to ask.

Has anyone who had experience in opening up the Flip 13 checked the fan?

I hope it is easy to maintain.

 

Hi everybody, I wanted to create a recovery media from the Vaio Care (desktop) software, in order to free some space on my 128gb SSD and it says I need a USB drive of at least 19 gb. Will I be able to free 19 gb? Really? I couldn't go on beacuse I have only 4 or 8 gb usb drives but if I knew I could save up 19 gb I'd definitely buy a 20gb USB drive. Do you guys know something about this? Thank you

 

Most people use a 32GB stick as this is the next size after 16GB, which isn't enough for a standard recovery which includes all Sony software.
Search this thread for suggestions which one to buy (see the option in the page head above?).

 

Could you tell me how you installed CS2 on your Flip and got it to run? I've tried installing it normally and installing it with the destination changed to "C:\program~2\Adobe\" like people have been saying online, but the application won't open.
The reason I took the plunge on the Flip was to use my old CS2 with a stylus so I'll be gutted if I can't get it to work.

 

I got a problem that i have already evoked, when my screen if off but my computer still in ON, the CPU start because of Taskhostex.exe, it only run when my screen if OFF.... is the problem ? It makes the CPU turn 20% for nothing and only when my screen just turn OFF, and it still continue after i move the mouse putting the Screen ON, so i cannot let my screen off or my battery sucks, that's stupid.

 

I got a problem that i have already evoked, when my screen if off but my computer still in ON, the CPU start because of Taskhostex.exe, it only run when my screen if OFF.... is the problem ? It makes the CPU turn 20% for nothing and only when my screen just turn OFF, and it still continue after i move the mouse putting the Screen ON, so i cannot let my screen off or my battery sucks, that's stupid.

 

As Calibrator replied, a 32GB stick is the way to go. Buy a cheapo one, and to be safe get a USB 2.0 stick, not a 3.0 because of boot issues with some USB 3 devices (the 2.0 sticks are cheaper anyway).

Another alternative is to burn Recov. media to DVDs. You do need an external DVD burner though, but they can be cheaper to buy than some 32GB USB sticks. The external DVD player can be used for other stuff, depending on your needs/habits. I did both methods, 32GB stick and DVDs, just for kicks. If I recall, burning to the stick was somewhat faster though. If you go the DVD route, make sure the player/burner is a USB 2.0 device, not 3.0, for that same boot issue I mentionned before, if you ever need to boot from it.

Good luck..

 

I resolve my problem with "task scheduler", disable "RAC", now my Vaio Flip rules !!!

Thanks btw

 

In fact i didn't resolve the problem , when i plugged the battery, tashhost.ex.exe reappear, damnnn

 

To those with the GT735M that are experiencing throttling issues. I finally figured out a work around for the GPU throttling. Workaround for CPU throttling is to still use ThrottleStop and unchecking BDPROCHOT.

CAUTION: Proceed at your own risk, I'm not responsible for any damage caused to your system. Always monitor your temperatures and follow safe overclocking procedures.

The trick is to overclock the P8 State using NvidiaInspector. It's a little bit tricky because of the way NvidiaInspector works. Basically, NvidiaInspector is unable to adjust clocks if the discrete GPU isn't active (Nvidia Optimus Switching). In addition, you are unable to set clocks for the P8 state higher than the P5 state. The way around this is to increase the clocks on the P5 state first, before increasing the clocks on the P8 state.

The way to get NvidiaInspector to work properly is to first add the application in Nvidia Control panel and have the application run with the discrete GPU. This enables you to adjust the clocks and make the settings stick.

When throttling occurs, the system locks the GPU at the P8 state. So by overclocking the P8 state, you are now able to bypass throttling and run at your desired clock speeds.

ALSO: Flip 15A Sudden CPU and GPU throttling while gamin... - Page 5 - Sony's Community Site

 

This is *great* news!

Sorry for being daft - but which application do you mean exactly:
- the NvidiaInspector application?
- the application I don't want throttling with?
- or both?

With which BIOS did you test this? Does it matter?

 

Open Nvidia Control Panel -> Manage 3D Settings -> Program Settings Tab
From here, click Add and select nvidiaInspector.exe to add it to the list. Adjust the setting for the Preferred Graphics Processor from Automaticallly Select to NVIDIA GT 735M

I tested this on R1100DD and R1130DD and both worked fine. I am also using the latest NVIDIA drivers from the NVIDIA site (though this should also work for the stock Sony drivers)

 

It is really easy to update to 8.1. I ran the updates and got it off the Windows Store. My roommate which has a Flip 14 however, did not find the update immediately and had to do a registry tweak. However, updating to 8.1 did not result in errors nor additional problems (as far as I can tell).

The Flip 13 do not have removable anything. If you are going to take it apart, you'd have to rip the rubber strips off to access the rest of the screws. This is why I personally got the 256GB SSD, 128GB wasn't going to be enough for me and I didn't feel like tearing apart a new machine while its still under warranty. Battery life, if you watch videos and play some flash games, it'll last 3-4 hours. If you simply browse the web, do light tasks such as Excel/Word/PPT, etc. then it lasts 5-6, sometimes 7 depending on display brightness. I usually get at least 6 hours out of it (53% now, Windows estimates 4hr 11min left, ~60% brightness, just Skype and Chrome open) from light to medium usage.

The hinge doesn't feel particularly strong as its really two hinges on the screen (when you flip the screen out, pressure is applied to both). The mid-way point where the screen flips around in tablet mode is suspended over nothing. I guess if you press hard there the screen will snap in half. However, I have been using the 13A as a quick drawing tablet and applying normal amounts of pressure on it does not seem to deform or break anything (yet). The traditional screen-body hinge seems fairly durable.

Overall its a great machine, with a great screen and pretty decent speakers. The flip mode is super convenient, but unfortunately, many applications (traditional ones) work terribly without a mouse/keyboard.

My only complaint about the machine is that performance is pretty average. Due to throttling and lower temperature thresholds, the Flip does not utilize higher turbo frequencies. The fan is also very weak, even on full blast it produces only a tiny amount of airflow (and its very loud). The keyboard is also a bit shallower than my older Vaio, and MBA, however, I enjoy laptop keyboards and can still type 110WPM+ on it, so YMMV. Like others have mentioned, Wifi is flaky, but acceptable in use. I do suggest a SD card for large files you want to store because a USB drive will likely block the other port, or be subject to being "bent" if you aren't using the laptop on a table/flat surface sincce the Flip is thin. I personally use a network drive for things like movies & music, Google Drive for random files I need to share, and Microsoft's OneDrive (Office 365) for documents/PPTs.

After about 4 months of usage, HWMonitor reports 0% wear. However, I haven't used it daily, and it has probably less than 50 discharge cycles. I do believe Sony's batteries are generally quite good. My old Vaio after 4 years exhibits only 12% wear, and that one should have accumulated hundreds of cycles. I do however, try to minimize time that the battery spends depleted as that really kills its life.

 

Hi mrkazoo
Thx for the tip,
I just downloaded nvidia inspector. But can you provided a well documented link on the best way to change the clocks settings.
It seems to me I cannot change memory clock only if push GPU clock higher...
Also what the best clock setting in our opinion ?



Envoyé de mon Nexus 4 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

I prefer to do things using command line arguments with NvidiaInspector, you can see a list of available command line arguments and their definitions by purposefully misspelling a command line argument.

The rule is to always adjust the clocks on the P5 state first before adjusting the P8 state. For example, if you want to set the P8 state to GPU - 941MHz and Memory - 856MHz. You will need to first set the P5 state to GPU - 941MHz and Memory - 856MHz, and THEN set the P8 state to match. If you are running command line arguments, the easiest is to create a batch file to accomplish this task for you.

Here's a sample batch operation to accomplish above:
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,1,941 -setMemoryClock:0,1,856
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,0,941 -setMemoryClock:0,0,856

As far as clock speeds go that's really up to you and how high you want your average temperatures to be. I'm currently still testing various clock settings.

Here are a couple of settings that I've liked so far:
This one behaves similar to the old clocks but the P8 state is now using the default P5 clocks and the P5 clocks are boosted. I also use -setpstatelimit:0,5 command line argument to prevent the GPU from using P0 State (GPU Boost) if I so desire.
P8: GPU = 405MHz; Memory = 784MHz
P5: GPU = 540MHz; Memory = 856MHz
P0: Unchanged/Disabled
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,1,540 -setMemoryClock:0,1,856
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,0,405 -setMemoryClock:0,0,784

Similar to above, but with consistent performance. *MY CURRENT PREFERRED CLOCKS*
P8: GPU = 540MHz; Memory = 856MHz
P5: GPU = 540MHz; Memory = 856MHz
P0: Unchanged/Disabled
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,1,540 -setMemoryClock:0,1,856
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,0,540 -setMemoryClock:0,0,856

Similar to above, but with lower clock speeds meaning lower average temperature.
P8: GPU = 405MHz; Memory = 784MHz
P5: GPU = 405MHz; Memory = 784MHz
P0: Unchanged/Disabled
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,0,405 -setMemoryClock:0,0,784

Full Boost. Temperatures can get pretty high for this setting. May cause system instability since the P8-State Voltage is set to 0.8120V. If anyone can figure out how to raise this to 1.0120V then this will also provide stable performance.
P8: GPU = 941MHz; Memory = 856MHz
P5: GPU = 941MHz; Memory = 856MHz
P0: Unchanged
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,1,941 -setMemoryClock:0,1,856
C:\nvidiaInspector\nvidiaInspector.exe -setGpuClock:0,0,941 -setMemoryClock:0,0,856

EDIT: It's unfortunate that I've been unable to modify the voltage of the P8 state. I found that the highest stable clock setting you can set without the voltage rising above 0.8120V is GPU-540MHz; Memory-856MHz. You can still push the GPU clock higher, but you run the risk of the display driver crashing.