Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

which update is that?

 

It was a vaio update for the bluetooth drivers, I have tested over night for 3 nights and had 100% battery in the morning...after 10-12 hours on hibernate...

 

Cnagra,

I am not disputing your findings but if it was the recent Bluetooth driver upgrades, when I clicked on it for a description it said it was for a Bluetooth mouse which insisted on not functioning.

Typical, now I have returned my Vaio Bluetooth mouse which kept refusing to work.

That's in the UK of course.

Ian

 

It did say it was fixing an issue due to bluetooth mouses, but the next day the battery drainage went away. I installed all the updates available on that day and it seemed to have gone...

The only other thing i did was...

1. Click on Vaio Smart Network
2. Click on settings
3. Unticked the box that said "Switched the LAN/Wireless Lan profile automatically"

Also, anyone interested in a brand new official sony battery for the e-series? Never-used from Sony a few weeks ago...Retail at £149.99

Let me know if you are interested...

 

Is the 1920 display a premium display (U.S. Model)?
or is it simply the same display as 1333, but higher resolution?
Just curious..

 

It's 'premium' - ie the HD display is of higher quality beyond just the resolution.

 

I got a question: Why Sony USA doesn't sell the VPC-E with ATI 5650?

 

Which you guys think it would be better?

CW26 Specification
VPCCW26FG : CW Series : VAIO Notebook : Sony Asia Pacific
Or
EA16 Specification
VPCEA16FG : E Series : VAIO Notebook : Sony Asia Pacific

Which you guys think would be a better buy for this both 14" Vaio?

CW has a better screen resolution compared to EA16
1600x900 vs 1368x768

EA16 have a better gpu compared to CW26
ATI 5650 vs Nvidia 330M

Thickness/Size/Weight : CW > EA16

In terms of design : For you guys to judge is basically the same i think

 

I'd go for the EA. ATI 5650 with native gaming at 1368x768 would be great. I also like the design of the EA more...just looks sleeker and more slim.

 

Hi Guys
I did a clean install of Windows 7 on my Vaio. I now don't have any Sony bloatware installed on laptop...YaY!! I was also able to setup ubuntu and it's working flawlessly currently with no issues

A problem though on windiws, not able to install graphics drivers (intel) and some IPS drivers. It gives errors as system not meeting minimum requirements Plz help!!

 

I just saw the new EA last sunday on one of vaio retailers here, and I would have to agree that the EA looks sleeker and slimmer than the CW.

In fact, I was actually considering to get a CW26 before as it was the only vaio then with decent spec for the price (The only other vaio with 330M VGA for Asia Pacific market then was the top of the line F series which costed twice as much), but was in doubt about the looks until I read about the E series release in Europe and decide to wait till it was introduced here in Asia.

 

Please I want to buy this laptop Vaio E core i3 15.5 inch FULL HD did u experience any problems with the fan ?? any noice or overheat?
Thanks

 

Some ppl have complained about a high pitch sound. Initially I noticed nothing but yesterday late night while working I was able to hear a high pitch sound.... but it has to be very quiet surroundings and you have to place your ear very close to laptop to hear it but once you hear it, it's irritating This happens only on battery though. Otherwise the laptop's pretty quiet and almost noiseless. It doesn't heat up that much. I also have a Dell studio and XPS and both those machines heat up intensely even under normal circumstances. This one doesn't even get that hot under intense gaming.

Used Speedfan to measure core temperatures. I would say it's a good buy for a budget laptop and yeah the full HD premium display is awesome for movie watching.

 

Hey,

After the recent updates mine has 100% charge (2 nights in a raw). As it seems they manged to fix the drain problem

 

I've only been using the laptop for about 2 months now, and no problem with the fan so far, and definitely never overheat. Coming from aluminum powerbook, this laptop is way cooler to the touch.
About the high pitched noise, its coming from the processor when its on low power mode, happens to any other laptops with intel core processors.

 

Hi guys i knw this thread is only for sony vaio e series but somehow i narrowed two choices as per my options here in INDIA , for a good solid performance machine

sony vaio ea16 : VPCEA16FG : E Series : VAIO Laptop & Computer : Sony India

i5 520m 2.40 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz
ATI 5650 1 gb
Final Price : Rs 54000 INR ( through my dealer )

acer aspire 5740G : Acer Aspire 5740G (Ci5) Price and Specification | Features | Spec | in India | MRP with Discount | Cheap and Best Price(Rs) | With Bill & Warranty

i5 430m 2.26 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.53 GHz
ATI 5650 1 gb
Final Price: Rs 45000 INR

My Requirements:
Gaming
Running some virtual s/w's like VBox,VMware
Running intensive applications like visual studio,maya,adobe products
overall i need a pretty good performance machine which is capable of gaming

So what you guys think which is the best one between these two in terms of performance,gaming,build design,durability,price,features and looks (OVERALL)

Looking forward to some useful suggestion from u guys

 

Hi all, new member to the site

I've just ordered a 15.5" Vaio E series and am now looking for a decent, inexpensive case or sleeve for it. Any recommendations?

 

Was just in Best Buy looking at these and they said they are selling very well.

Quite pricey though, can get exactly the same specs for £100 cheaper on the Sony website for the 15.5 model I was looking at.

Does anybody have the matte black version? I have only ever seen the glossy black in real life but would much prefer the matte version.

 

Anyone notice how on the UK Sony Style website the 17 inch is no longer available to customise and buy. Have they decided to discontinue the 17 inch?

Still waiting for my 17 inch to arrive (scheduled for the end of the month).

 

Hey everyone I came across this forum by chance while searching for Vaio info. Either way I bought a Vaio E series: Caribbean Green, 4gb RAM, i5 processor, ATI 5470 GPU, Win7 Pro and of course Blu-ray drive, loving it so far (the color is nuts ).

Though I could use a bit of advice before I start using it though. What kind of Anti-virus and firewall software are you guys/gals using?

I just can't get a good opinion on what to use. All the reviewers and "professionals" say Norton 2010 is the best in terms of CPU useage and overall safety but the actual owners I have spoke with still say Norton is the same old crap its always been (slow to start up, impossible to install, blocks good programs, allows bad ones).

In the past I have chosen an all around package but I have heard good things about Zone Alarm 2010 Firewall and Kaspersky. It just seems impossible to get a straight answer. So what are you all using to keep your Vaio fast and safe?

 

Sony UK has withdrawn the EA series!! (SNUK: they might have done the same with the 17" version.

All the configurations for the EA on the customize your Vaio page are out of stock. So I rang the Sonystyle number and lady told me that they've been told that Sony has discontinued the EA series. They are still taking orders for the EB series and you can still buy the remaing pre-configured EA units.

She didn't know why but she says Sony has a habit of doing this with products.

I can't believe it, I've been trying to decide over the 1600x900 or 1366x768 LCD for ages. I finally go to order it and it's gone before it's released! I'd love to know why.

 

I bought my EB from Pc World in the UK, a week after buying it disappeared of their site. I am very curious why a brand new product is only sold for a week!

 

If I look at the UK site, I can still order 15".

 

Yes the lady I spoke to said that 15" (The EB) is still available for the time being. She didn't know if that was to be discontinued or not.

 

That's really weird. I live in Belgium; the EA is just new here since last week. I hope nothing's really wrong with the machines, as I was looking to buy one myself this weekend.

On the Belgian Sony site, all are available and marked as new.

 

got my VPCEC1S1E/BJ today, it cost me 1000$, it's awesome!!!!

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with the machines. External reviews were very positive about the cost/quality performance of the E series.

I bet the E series are that popular that Sony is literally out of stock of components.
One employee of a Sony Centre once told me their official Sony distributor (a.k.a. importer) always get products delivered in one batch by Sony. And every model usually gets batched only once. For notebooks he says they there's usually 3 months between every batch.

So, it is possible Sony sold more from there E series than they expected and they'll have to release a new batch sooner. To gain time, they probably shut down sales (temporarily) from certain models in certain countries. Like the EA models being still available in Belgium, but not the UK...

I assume the introduction of the customizable products through their (relatively still new) online Sonystyle store has an impact on their logistics. It's a whole other way of doing business...

In conclusion, don't worry too much. They'll come back, only question is when...?

 

So apparently I have been living under a rock and missed that the Ati catalyst 10.4 drivers have been released. Have anyone found any driver installation package that works with the vaio e-series' 5650?

 

you should get these, CATALYST 10.6 alpha, they are said to be faster! I will do a clean install on mine as well, and install these, and try a little OC, sony keep selling us the lowest freqs on their cards.

 

Let me know how it worked out for you. They didn't work very well for me (forced 640x480 resolution etc).

 

All versions of EA (including colors) is available in Hong Kong.

 

ATI Mobility Radeon 10.4 Drivers Direct Links - Guru3D.com Forums
These work perfect.

 

I really want to customize my Vaio E laptop, but through Sony Style's website (USA), it only allows me the ATI 5470 video card.

newegg.com has a similar E series but with a 5650 1GB. If I do not plan on gaming with my E series, will I regret still not going with the 5650?

If I could just swap the video cards, the one off Sony Style would be perfect. More HD space, Blu Ray player, Win7Pro, and customized color... but the hugely better video card from the newegg version really is throwing me for a loop. I don't know which one to get.

 

Hi all,

Just tried ordering a customised Vaio EB from the UK SonyStyle site but encountered an error during the transaction and never managed to reach the order confirmation. I assumed it was just an error and tried the whole price more from scratch, only to fail again. Then I logged on to my SonyStyle account to find THREE open orders pending payment authorization!? I've never ordered a laptop from Sony online before so I'm not entirely sure what 'your payment is pending authorization' means and as hard as I've looked, there seems to be no cancellation option. Anybody have a clue to what's going on? (this wasn't how I envisaged my first Vaio purchase would turn out )

 

Just call them and get it sorted out?

also. Thx for the link Dafour. Running 10.4 without a problem now.

 

If you're not going to play games, no, you won't miss the 5650.

 

And if I wanted to play games, but didn't mind Low settings, would the 5470 work ok?

Thanks.

 

Less demanding games should work fine with the 5470. Those games which work well with high settings on the 5650 should work fine on low settings on the 5470, but those which work fine on low/med settings on 5650 might not work on the 5470.

There's list of games and their playability rating on particular cards on Notebookcheck: Notebook Test, Laptop Test und News if you wanna check it out

 

Hi all,
I need some help.
I bought VPCEB16FG : E Series : VAIO Laptop & Computer : Sony India today.
I can't figure how to turn on the bluetooth. There is a switch for WiFi but not for bluetooth.
Please help me.
Thanks.

 

The switch for bluetooth is software rather than an actual physical switch on your laptop. It's in the VAIO Smart Network Utility - look for the green icon in your taskbar.

 

On my E series there is a Bluetooth icon on the taskbar.

Also when booting up a box appears to switch on/off Bluetooth and Wireless LAN.

This showed by default from new.

Ian

 

I'd just like to share a piece of info about the ATI Catalyst 10.4 drivers (that aren't released for VAIO) someone might find useful or perhaps come with input about why it's like this.

Anyway.. it's about The Catalyst 10.4 driver package that I asked for and received in this thread a couple of pages ago. I discovered that it in 3D applications such as games, in my case most notably in World of Warcraft, capped my FPS to set numbers. Mostly 64.1 (which I didn't notice thus didn't mind) but occasionally 32.1 and sometimes even lower (this I did mind). It did also affect GPU-accelerated playback of movies, stuttering the frame rate in the beginning of every video.

I experienced the same exact problem with the 10.2 package but it was working on the 10.3 drivers, which made me think they somehow would've solved it forever. Apparently they didn't.

But I got 10.4 to work! After a lot of system restore points, different configurations, and other time-consuming tests I've come to the conclusion that I can't use the ATI catalyst install manager to install the driver. I had to install the driver through Windows Device Manager and just skip installing the Catalyst control center in order to recieve uncapped FPS in games and non stuttering GPU-accelerated video playback.

I'd also like to add that after 10.4, my HD5650 also started to be able to decode H.264 [email protected]. Nice! Though I think it was in the patch notes so maybe it's just me that is pleasantly surprised.

 

These (alpha 10,6) work like a charm on my vaio. I use also MSI afterburner with 3 profiles (1 underclocked for daily browsing stuff 400/700, 1 stock settings 450/790 and 1 OC"ed to 580/800 for gaming and 3d apps and all games I play are more than ok to me with these drivers on 1080).

 

Cool. Though after all the trouble I just went through with 10.4 I think I'm just gonna stick with it until 10.5/6 is officially here.

Interesting though that you have an underclocked setting in MSI afterburner. I don't have to have that. When profile 1 is loaded, with the defaults saved on that profile, my gpu dynamically changes (depending of load of course) its clocks on both memory and core. Ranging from 150 mhz to 450.

 

Yeah, it should do that - on the profile with default clocks you're letting the driver handle the clocks itself, which dynamically underclocks to 150/150 when the GPU isn't in use. When you switch to the overclocked profile or any other profile that sets specific clocks you're overriding it and telling it "use these clocks".

So yep, there should be no need for an underclocked profile. It automatically switches itself down to 150/150 if you let it manage itself.

 

Sonystyle UK have missed their expected shipping date for my order by a few days... I can't get through on their phone line to find out what's going on (no-one picks up) and they don't seem to respond to emails. Getting pretty annoyed as this basically leaves me without a computer.

Are they normally this rubbish? Anyone have any alternate emails to use to kick things into action, maybe one of a specific person? (other than [email protected])

Kinda spoiling the buying experience

 

thanks Wokis and Mythdat for that info. +repped
I didn't know that So all I have to do is keep 2 profiles, 1 with default clocks and 1 OCed. Is that correct? Something like this?
[Startup]
CoreClk=0
MemClk=0
FanSpeed=0
[Profile1]
CoreClk=450000
MemClk=790000
FanSpeed=1
[Profile2]
CoreClk=580000
MemClk=800000
FanSpeed=1

So on pro1 the gpu should automatically underclock itself when not used or mildly used rite?
LE: What are the values set for your OC profile? core and mem? (on MSI AB it seems the highest core clock is 585). Can we go higher? And did you mess with the fan speed? Or did u leave it at 30% all the time?

 

Thanks guys !

 

Yep, that should work.

The 5650 has quite a lot of headroom for overclocking, I've pushed mine up to 650/950 with no issues. I don't run it that high, though - I have two OC profiles, one at 550/800 and one at 620/850, depending on how much power I need.

I'm not sure the fan thingie actually does anything.. I had a quick play with it but didn't notice any increase in fan noise or decrease in temp when setting it higher. But I didn't really test it properly.

 

Good, I tried to OC the core clock higher but it won't pass 580 in MSI Afterburner. Do you use another OC utility? If no, how do u do it? Thanks.