Official Sony Vaio Fit multi-flip PC Owners' Thread

The online tracker and the emails they send out are completely out of sync. My status changed to shipping in progress way before I got the email saying it was being shipped. Then I got the mail with the tracking code and estimated delivery, but the website still said it was going to be shipped Nov 4-11, which of course was all false, no change in status there. If I check now, the only difference is that now I can click a track order button, which redirects me to TNT's platform. But the tracking info on the sony website still has the original shipping date.

 

OK, i expected something in this way.. could you install the original Image without making the recover-Partition?

 

I think we have to push sony a bit more, otherwise they will ignore it like the wifi issue...

Facebook Group, Mass Mailings, anything?

 

No chance - everything was automated (and it took AGES, about 3-4h).

But I removed most of the bloatware afterwards. Regarding the Recovery partition: I'll delete it maybe and either use it as D: or extend C: to use the extra space.
On the other side I have to shrink C: anyway to have enough space for an extra Linux installation so maybe the Linux installation will include the integration of the recovery partition.

 

I am in touch with the email support. 1st level said, they are sorry but there is no solution for this problem.

I absolutely agree - we consumers should apply pressure!

 

I've already running ubuntu on it, created a thread over on ubuntuforums - I'd be glad if anyone would help how on figuring out kernel packages etc for some open issues

 

Well well, guess what. I got a call from a Sony manager from Brussels yesterday. He listened to my story about the delays and similar configurations of others ordered later and delivered earlier and other issues. He clearly stated, that this should not have happened. He promised to look into it and call me back with an answer. I'm waiting for his call. So far so good. At least they take it seriously.

What surprises me even more, this time on the positive side, is that my account information says, my order is being shipped. That would mean I can expect tracking information tomorrow. If I'm very lucky I will receive it before the weekend, more likely I will get it on Monday. That soothes my mood.

 

TBH I don't think Customer Support know what they're saying.

I have been told that "they have not received any complaints about the noisy fan", I'm getting well annoyed, I've now been waiting for 5 weeks + 1 day for my i7; 512SSD; 8GB; Black unit!!!

 

I made a strange observation today when restoring my 13A. During the restoration process the fan was barely noticeable; fan noise was much lower than in windows (idle). I think that shows that there is hope...

 

I'm in touch with them to... see if something is happening...

 

Well i went into the bios and I did not see any setting for the CPU fans, i guess we will have to rely on Sony's goodwill to put out a fix.
btw, the bios is really skimpy on settings as compared to my previous desktop.

TS

 

I would be surprised if they do not react - almost every user complains about the noise..
Anyone want to create a FB group so we can count?
We could post to the official sony site from this group then

 

I would not be too optimistic about Sony to resolve this fan issue. If the problem could be corrected only with the software update, I am sure they would have done that already. I mean, there would be simple and quick solution.
But I reckon the problem is in hardware/design solutions.
Possible causes:
The design of the processor/motherboard/external "fuselage" flaws in the heat generation and especially in the heat dissipation so the aggressive cooling is necessary to avoid damage of other components or extensive localized temperature of the actual laptop;
Flaw/inappropriate in/out temperature sensors;
Cheap fan control boards with lack of the resistors for finer dosage of fan's rpm;
Design of the fan which generates too much/bad quality noise;
Design of the vents on "the fuselage" what can also contribute to the noise.

In either way, I'm sure they will not recall devices to change the part with the issue.

 

Has anybody tried to disassembly the sony vaio flip 13? Is there a way to change the hard drive?
Thank you!!!!!!!!

 

I received my Vaio Flip 13 today. Like a lot of you here, I preordered it as soon as it was possible on 8 Oct with an initial estimated ship date of 22/23 Oct, though of course that date was pushed back multiple times since then. Actually the last estimated ship date I was told was 16-21 Nov, so guess I can consider myself lucky in the end. I've been lurking here pretty much since the Vaio Pro came out and closely followed this and a couple other threads about the Flip, thought I'd register and post some impressions now that I finally have my Flip.

The construction and design is nice. It's not as super stiff as an aluminum unibody MacBook, Zenbook, Series 9 etc. but it gets close. If you for some reason prefer the flexibility of the Vaio Pro you definitely won't get it here. However not being super stiff does mean that I wouldn't feel comfortable holding the notebook with one hand on the very edge of a corner (not practical anyway – just to illustrate the point), plus the keyboard flexes ever so slightly. It's not enough to impact the typing experience though, and nowhere near as bad as some of the early videos suggested.

The flip mechanism works great. It takes more pressure than you'd expect to flip the screen around that second hinge, so much that I've decided to keep the release/lock switch on the release position as I don't think I'll ever trigger it accidentally. I've only played around with it at home though, so that may change when I actually take this to class for note-taking with the stylus.

As for the pen, I'm no artist and only require it for note-taking so my observations are going to reflect that. I've recently tried out the Surface Pro and some Galaxy Notes for comparison and would say that N-Trig is not noticeably worse than Wacom. The Notes all seemed to lag just a little bit, plus some of the pens had a lot of friction (which is probably intentional to mimic real world pen and paper but since I just got this ballpoint pen that has almost no friction and is a blast to write with I'd say this is a case of skeuomorphism gone wrong). The Surface Pro pen seemed to perform pretty close, however it had literally zero friction and felt kinda cheap since it's made of glossy plastic. The Sony Pen still has a little friction and is made of aluminum, but with the required AAA battery turns out to be relatively heavy for a pen, digital or not.

Something I've noticed about inking in Windows 8: inking generally lags in all Metro/WinRT apps, whereas there's zero lag on the handwriting input panel of the virtual keyboard and almost no lag in desktop apps like OneNote. Since some of you were anxious about pen lag after that demo video with the Vaio Paper app, this should clear things up.

The display is acceptable. I say acceptable because nowadays, if you're talking about good displays then there are two major differentiators: color reproduction and pixel density. The Flip isn't bad on both counts, but also up there with the best on neither. Compared to my Dell U2312HM 23" IPS display (which along with its 24" variant seems to be the default recommendation on most forums) it falls short on color reproduction. To be honest, I find that almost all (non-AMOLED) notebook, tablet and smartphone displays have less vivid colors than my desktop monitor; it's not as noticeable on a smaller 4-5" screen but go above, say, 7" and the difference becomes striking. Also, at least my unit had a slightly yellow display tint. Thankfully Windows comes with a simple calibration tool so I turned down the red and green levels a bit so it's no longer annoying. As for pixel density, 1920x1080 on 13.3" obviously isn't bad, but it's not retina-level quality either. Text isn't going to look like it's printed on the screen. Really the biggest problem with the screen is the backlight bleed coming from the bottom. With black or darker gray screen content it's quite noticeable.

The touchpad is decent. It's no MacBook touchpad, and apparently it won't be a Precision Touchpad either since that stuff not only requires Windows 8.1 but also new hardware, but gestures generally work reliably without problems. If you're having problems with movement speed I'd recommend turning on cursor acceleration in the mouse control panel since it's disabled here even though it's usually enabled by default with a fresh Windows install (I think). Interesting to note, the Flip uses a touchpad by Elan and not Synaptics. Sadly that means that, unlike on the Vaio Pro for instance, after swiping in from the right to open the charms you can't touch-and-hold and then move up or down and click to immediately activate a charm, all with one gesture. Instead, the swipe will open the charms bar, but you still have to manually move your cursor to one of the five charm icons afterwards so you won't actually save much mouse travel distance.

Sadly, there are some more or less frustrating issues. Both USB ports are placed on the same side and so close together that you won't be able to plug in two regular USB sticks at once. Fatter sticks might even completely block the other port. The power button is quite hard to press. Also, opening the main hinge over 90 degress causes two small plastic feet on the display part to lift the bottom part off the surface, which doesn't do very much ergonomically but makes the notebook too easy to shift around. I mean, there are rubber feet on the bottom for a reason...

Interestingly, the audio output through the headphone jack is very bass-heavy. I'm no audiophile so I can't tell whether there's any quality loss involved (or maybe even the opposite?), but compared to my desktop and an assortment of tablets and smartphones there's definitely a lot more bass here. I haven't found way to tweak it in the control panel or anywhere else so depending on your musical taste that might be a little annoying.

As for other bits and pieces – I can't complain about the keyboard, build quality, or anything like that. If you haven't used a MacBook Air or other ultrabook previously the weight, dimensions and general fit and finish will be very pleasant. The touchscreen is also useful, even in notebook mode, despite what some people might tell you. It's not a handheld tablet but it's not like it's meant to be one.

By far the biggest problem overall with the Vaio Flip, however, is the fan noise. Like others have reported, the fan seems to spin at much faster speeds than required and thus constantly produces very annoying noise. Compared to the Xbox 360 (I know, random, but only thing I have here that's comparable) it's quieter but slightly higher-pitched, and on the whole probably more annoying to listen to. Since the Flip doesn't exactly get very hot – it usually stays under 50° C on regular workloads and 70° C on heavy workloads – a BIOS update could theoretically fix this issue by simply making the fan spin slower. Depending on whether or not this issue will be fixed I can imagine a lot of people might want to look for something else, even if the Flip is currently quite unique thanks to its hinge and pen support. Curiously, occasionally after waking from sleep the fan would stay off for a while, but kick back in after a minute or so.

I haven't yet upgraded to Windows 8.1 or performed a fresh install, which I intend to do since there's some bloatware – McAfee, WildTangent, and some Sony stuff that actually seems useful but I don't need. I think that's it for now – hope my post will be useful to some.

 

Thanks for the information Livven. I have ordered a flip 13 and waiting for it. I was at BestBuy today and the sales person told me that the Flip 13 would not go into portrait mode while opened as a tablet (screen facing out). I tried the demo mode there and sure enough, the screen would flip 180 degrees, but not 90 degrees in tablet mode. A Sony salesman said that may be due to it being in some demo mode. Are you, or anyone else who has a Vaio flip 13 able to see view the screen in portrait mode?

 

Hey Livven,

Thanks for some great considerations and impressions!

I haven't quite found a conclusion on the effect the past-90 degrees screen angle and the rubber feet have on the experience on using the notebook.

Will it create a bad ergonomic angle? does it damage the surface of the table it's placed on? Will it move too much when using the notebook energetically? Will the screen change angle if one places the hands too firmly on the keyboard and palm rest?

 

@spoffice: Mine does flip into portrait mode automatically. Also FYI, even if it didn't do it automatically Windows allows you to do almost everything anyway – in the same control panel where you change the screen resolution you can choose between all four screen orientations. You can use portrait mode or upside-down landscape on any Windows PC even if it doesn't make any sense to do so

 

Very good post Liwen,

ironically your post is the second one that I read that mentions the Flip coming with McAfee. yet on my Flip I have it has Kaspersky (Trial version) even though at the best Buy store they gave me the cd/dvd version to install. Which is odd since the flip does not have a dvd drive.

Regardless, I'm curious as to how many have Kaspersky (or McAfee) on their Flips.

TS

 

I really hope we hear something about fixing the fan in the next 2 weeks, because I want to buy a Flip but it will be largely for classroom use and I don't want to annoy others with a loud fan.

Sony needs to stop pretending there isn't an issue -- it doesn't seem like a hard one to fix.

Here's something I found on a related forum -- please go post at the provided links (I did):

 

@KnielsenDK: The reason Sony does it I presume is to create a more ergonomical angle. In practice the difference is too small to be really noticeable, I think, but it certainly doesn't make the angle any worse. I haven't really thought of damage but it could be possible – the plastic feet are very small. However 99% of the time that probably won't be a problem either, if a surface is that delicate you probably wouldn't want to put your laptop on it anyway. Answer to your last question is no, thankfully, since there isn't nearly enough flex for that to be possible.

So, the only problem the plastic feet create is making the laptop more slippery. On even surfaces it's not much of a problem, I'd say – it might even be desirable to be able to move it easier. However I can imagine it sliding off surfaces that are angled towards yourself where the rubber feet would keep it firmly in place. Note that the Flip has three rubber feet: one long strip at the front and two small ones in the back. The long strip in the front always keeps contact with the surface, even with the hinge open more than 90 degrees, only the two feet at the back lose contact in that case, so it's really not as bad as I probably made it out to be.

I think you shouldn't worry about it. I personally find it kind of annoying, but I probably exaggerated there with my first impressions I'll report back tomorrow when I can actually see how it works on an angled surface.

 

@twospirits: Maybe it's a region thing? You're from the US, I'm from Germany. With MSE and competent anti-virus built into Windows 8 there's no need for third-party solutions anymore though, so it doesn't matter, does it

Also BTW twospirits, your posts and teardown have been very helpful to me and have made the wait a bit easier, so thanks for that!

 

Interesting that you mention MSE, I used to only have that on my old desktop and win 7. Before that McAfee and it was a hog. When I moved to the laptop I ended up with BitDefender that covered over 5 pcs/devices and it was less of a hog. But i always felt that MSE was fine enough.

i have yet to upgrade to the full install of kaspersky that they gave me (till running the trial), but I'm curious, you say Win 8 comes with MSE and anti-virus built in, but I can't find it on the machine. Does one download it instead?

TS

 

MSE is build into WIndows 8. I use Kaspersky at the moment and it looks like its fine.
So none of you have a buzzing/chattering sound when the fan spins?
Oh btw, I deactivatet auto brightness but my Display keeps getting brighter or darker (think it depends on the backgrounds) and its not like a smooth process, it adjusts in little (visible) steps.

 

Defender, the built-in tool that was only anti-spyware in Windows 7 includes all the anti-virus capabilities of MSE in Windows 8. It's a bit hidden – it doesn't even have a tray icon – but you can find it in the Start menu. It will activate automatically after uninstalling whatever anti-virus software came preinstalled.

@teiger: Haven't noticed any buzzing sound with the fan.

Setting the machine to silent mode in Vaio Control Center can turn off the fan, performance is still plenty good for inking in OneNote. However I've noticed in that case that sometimes the fan will start spinning for a few seconds, stop spinning for a few seconds, start spinning again and so on. The noise while it's spinning in that way is still quite loud. That seems to imply to me that the fan is unable to go into an intermediary state between "no spinning" and "loud spinning", so a BIOS fix might not be possible. Does anyone else experience this? Hope I'm wrong

BTW how do you go into the BIOS?

 

Fan noise be dammed, I'm in. 15" 256gig ssd, i5, 8gigs of RAM. Ship date supposedly Dec 8.

 

OK, I got my machine - somewhat by surprise - today. Still trying to get used to it & install programs and move files across. First impressions are very good. The fan isn't as bad as I was expecting - but it's not good. My main issue at the moment is when I launch some programs from the traditional desktop I get a message saying that the screen resolution is too low ("set to smaller than 1024x768"). Google Earth does this, but launches after the warning. Another program brings up a similar message & won't even start. But I've gone in to settings and I am on the highest setting. What am I missing - or is it a bug with these programs?

 

I did restore my Flip 13A earlier today. During the process the fan was spinning at a lower speed and the noise was actually quite ok... much quieter than in windows idle.

 

Can you guys do me a favor and press between the W and Q on the palmrest. You can hear your fan after pressing?

 

Thanks Liwen, good to know. I just may uninstall Kaspersky and use Defender.

As for getting into the bios, you shutdown as normal, then just hit the Assist button on the keyboard (no other keys or combo) and it will boot up to Assist and at the right is a option to boot into the bios.

lol

I just tried that and I hear no difference. same level.

 

Also another way to give sony some motivation to fix the fan problem....

VAIO Fit 13A | Flip PC - VAIO Flip 13 Sony Store - Sony US

Still no review but I'm guessing a few 3 or 2 star reviews will quicken the response in finding a fix.

I would say only leave a review if you really own the device and if you think the fan issue really deserves a low score. We're not barbarians.

 

Link got screwed up....
VAIO Fit 13A | Flip PC - VAIO Flip 13 Sony Store - Sony US

 

yes please write reviews - but I'm pretty sure they will delete them

if I press between Q and W then yes, I can hear the fan touching the case or so

 

I hope I will receive my Vaio tomorrow but I'm getting confused by the TNT communication

 

Here is a review from pcpro in the UK:

Sony VAIO Fit 13A multi-flip review | PC Pro

In silent mode the CPU seems to be limited to 800MHz:

It also states, that the performance in power mode is not very good compared to other devices (Surface Pro2, Ativ).

I could live with the fan in silent mode but I won't accept a performance drop comming with it. I might send it back - will keep it a few more days to test.
Ohh no, Sony!! This could be a perfect device!!

 

I've talked to them like ten times. If you get the morning guys (up to 8.30 a.m. or so), they'll be at the end of their shift and the most they'll do for you is check the page you're checking as well. I called them around twice a day these last few days, and sent them at least 3 mails (none of which got answered), and on the whole I think my harassing them has paid off. According to their latest info I'm getting the machine some time today (instead of the official delivery date of tomorrow).

But don't give in to the info on their tracking site, I think it's automatically set to show BS developments in order to appease customers. I got confused as well, and when i asked why it took my package two days to move through Zurich (in a very weird way), they told me that as soon as ot left the airport in China, the system automatically started displaying destination address as the current location. And when it got to Basel it started moving from place to place, I was sure that the updates were BS, since you don't go through customs twice.

So do call them, more than once if necessary, that place is a circus as far as I'm concerned.

 

Now it's ’Out for Delivery’. I can feel it getting closer by the minute.
In the meantime, some verymice unboxing and first impressions vids. Respect to the uploader, if he’s a member, thumbs up as well.

 

A very meagre review this. As Lisa's review on Moblietechreview showed, there was nothing of the sort of CPU temeratures running too high. The fan is by now a well known problem, that really should be addressed. It doesn't seem at all related to the temperatures at all. The lower battery life as compared to for example the Duo 13 is a direct result of the smaller battery. Since this results in a lover weight, I am not against this choice. Mind you, the battery capacity is with 3100 mAh the same as that of a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. I think a battery life of close to 6 hours in that respect is not bad at all. That also means that can easily been charged with an external battery pack on longer trips. I would expect at least two full charges from the battery pack I'm using now.

 

Thanks for the Info flowerstar. It does seem like BS because it seems to take as long to go from Japan to Belgium as from Brussels to my Hometown wich is located not 50km from Brussels

 

Finally it's right here in front of me. It's gorgeous, incredibly solid and amazingly sleek. And it's so tiny! *.*

Unfortunately I am leaving for a workshop in 30 minutes, so I'm not even going to turn it on now. (Otherwise I'm bound to be late!)

But I'll post in the evening about the fan noise, etc. and I'll sign all the petitions.

Jeeeze, it's one beautiful piece of HW. I'm smitten.

 

I used my Flip 13A in a meeting today. Was running off battery in silent mode. It never made a sound. Very happy with that. Didn't notice any performance issues - but was not going to be stretching it during a meeting!
Have now got it plugged in again and the fan is still off.

So at the moment my only issue is the resolution. All the settings are telling me that I have the highest resolution, but some apps/programs are saying otherwise and don't look crystal clear when I run them, or they won't even start at all until I change the settings. Where are they getting the false information from and what can I do to change it?

 

A question for you guys that had format your vaio, how much extra free space did you managed to get after the format and installing the drivers/updates?

 

I think it was 202 Gig or so on my 256 Gig SSD when I had a "plain" Windows. But I recovered the original System again.

 

Hi Byrne - thats a good info, thank you for this one.

Did anyone of the forum users run a performance check already?

 

Did you have 202 GB of free space after installing Windows again? For me right now, the harddrive is 201 GB, and i have a free space of 155 GB.

 

Further update from Sony;

"I acknowledge that the model number of the VAIO is SVF13N1C5E.
You can check for all the updates for this VAIO from here:
Sony : SVF13N1C5E updates | Download updates for SVF13N1C5E
However, in regards to the fan issue, I can confirm that this VAIO does not have any known issue. But if any issue comes up, it will be resolved as soon as possible."

 

Only that the link doesn't work.

 

Thanks twospirits, didn't think the assist-button would turn on the device as well. I had tried tapping it after the device was already booting

What is your dpi setting? The 13" Flip should come with 125% out of the box, at least mine did, but yours may be set to 150% which means you get (1920x1080) / 1.5 = 1280x720 which is a lower vertical resolution than 1024x768 and would explain the issues you're having. Right-click on the desktop, choose screen resolution, and follow the link that says "make text and other items larger or smaller". Try to see if you're comfortable with 100%, it would give you the same screen estate as a 24" monitor but if you find it too small, try 125%. There's also an official support page that describes this.

Awesome, good to hear (literally haha), here's hoping for a BIOS fix then. I'll make sure to email Sony and complain a bit when I get to it.

 

How long does it take for Flip to do the reset? On my stationary computer, it took like 5 hours and if it would take that much time for Vaio, i would simply ignore formating...

 

Change the DPI. Set it to 100%, now everything should be clear.