Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

im playing blur with highest setting (1366x768) right now and im using HWmonitor to monitor the temperature.

1. ACPI - 68Celcius
2. Intel Core i5 520M - 68Celcius
3. ATI HD 5470 - 67Celcius
4. Hitachi HDD - 37Celcius


Are these temperatures ok? or do i need to buy a laptop cooler?

Cheers

 

its my placebo or the 10.4 is the best driver so far for hd5650m !

 

They're completely fine - you only need to worry about temps if they go past 90 degrees, which is never going to happen on the E-Series unless you fill the vents with expanding foam and use it in the desert.

 

Hi All,

I'm experiencing serious problems playing FIFA 10 on my brand new Vaio EA16.
It runs fine for about 3-4 minutes but then the flow starts getting choppier by the second and by around the 5th minute, the frame rate is down to very low numbers like 3-4fps and continues that way. It's like watching a series on images on a powerpoint presentation. Really horrible.
My laptop specs: i5-520M 2.4 with turbo boost up to 2.93
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
4GB RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD5650 1GB DDR3.

I set the Graphic card to 'Optimal Quality' via the Catalyst Control Center on the taskbar. I tried 'Optimal Performance' too but had the same problems.

I tried running FIFA10 in both XP SP3 and Vista compatibility modes but to no avail.

Any idea about how to fix this?

 

Is Fifa the only game this happens with, if other games are fine the problem may just be with fifa, possibly a mem leak which a patch could fix or maybe an incompatibility with your current card drivers fixed in a newer version.

If it happens with all games have you got any temperature monitoring software, I used to get a similar thing on my old HP Pavilion laptop, games would start great then fps would gradually die as the laptop got hotter and the system throttled down more and more.

 

does anyone know if the gunmetal black ea model has glitter on the inside of it?

 

Is it possible to create the VAIO Restore-Disks insted of (1..how know) DVD on a single BD-R/RE? Thanx

 

In UK, EA(14") comes only in Glossy (means with Glitter), EB(15.5") with and without Glossy and EC(17") only Matte (non-Glossy - No Glitter).

Hope this helps.

 

I'm unsure without seeing it but gunmetal black isnt the same as glossy i dont think it will have glitter, not all glossy ones have glitter or at least I can't see any glitter look to my glossy white one, altho it is noticable in my gfs glossy lack one under certain light conditions but for the most even on that one I never notice it.

 

Hi Every one ,

I am new to this forum and found it on google in my research for a laptop. Had i known this earlier, i would have been typing on my new lappy.

Could any one please advise me whether i should go for Sony E or Studio 15( With same specs except the graphics card).
I would mostly use the machine for Labview, Matlab, MS Office, Movies, Music and the only game i play is Thief.

The confusion arises as i would personally go with sony but it doesnt give the option of 1080p with i5 520 and 1gb graphics.

Thanks guys
PS: also studio has backlit keyboard

 

Hmm I take it your not in the UK, I was able to spec a 520m, 1080p screen and 1gb 5650 card np on sonystyle uk just now.

 

Hi Guys,

I just got my new shiny Sony E laptop (15.5 inch screen, 4GB ram, 320 GB HDD, 1GB graphic card) ...however I am a bit dissapointed by the quality of the full HD screen..is it normal for it to be a bit blurry in the beginning....I mean I have a full HD TV and the quality on that beats this hands down...I'm kinda more concerned coz everyone says that the quality on this full HD screen is amazingg...please tell me if I need to configure this somehow...I have been using youtube HD videos (1080p ones) to test it and I'm not that happy at the moment..

 

Any more news on yours yet Raven?

I'm going to give them until Saturday (5 week mark) before I phone up to moan

 

I'm considering an E-series Vaio, but I'm a bit concerned about many reviews mentioning "below-par" battery life. Please share your experience on how much battery life is expected while doing computationally light stuff like surfing and documents?

Configuration I'm thinking of is: WXGA screen, Radeon 5450, 320GB HDD and 6-cell battery.

Thanks,
anapan

 

at least 160 minutes, surfing and documents

 

you takin to me?..if you are, i called them and they gave me a new date: 23rd august, i moaned and they said that just to say sorry, they are gonna refund my delivery charges. you should ask too.

 

Yes. Am in india. How hard is it to upgrade the graphics card later?

 

Looking at your signature I infer that you have a higher specced machine (higher processor speed and GFX), so I'm hoping I'll get a little more. Thanks for answering my question.

 

That isn't possible as far as I'm aware since the gfx card is soldered into the machine itself, usually the laptop would need to use an MXM slot to allow upgrading, which the vaio's as most laptop manufacturers do not.

So make sure you get the card you want from the start.

 

Event Viewer reports that the athExt.dll module didn't start. Well, that file does not exist anywhere on the computer

any idea?

ps:driver version Atheros 9.0.0173

 

If anyone else is looking forward to Mafia 2, the demo is out on steam and it runs flawlessly on the spec in my sig, all graphic settings turned on and to high (left AA off) was very, very smooth and looked great.

 

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum.

I bought SONY VAIO VPC-EB1S1E/BJ (Europe edition) 2 weeks ago as I was very impressed with its specs and the 800 EUR price! My disappointment came very fast by its battery. First of all, it takes 3 hours for the battery to fully charge! My sister's HP ProBook charges in one hour and a half. And it's not just that, the battery barely lasts 2 hours. I don't know if this is normal for a brand new laptop, just wanted to know if you have any similar issues.

Thanks!

Mary M.

 

Good to know that its running good on the E.

I just played the demo on 360 and it was pretty good but it has a dodgy framerate and screen tearing galore might have to get this one on PC.

 

Hey all, just picked up a Sony Vaio to do some gaming while im on assignment in Indonesia. I've always been a desktop person so this is my first laptop with any power behind it. Me being me the first thing I did is some overclocking so I thought I would share the results

Spec

Vaio EB / Core i3-350m / 5650 / 4GB Ram

Stock (450/790)

3DMark06
Total - 6020 (SM3 2629)

Kombustor
Score - 4394
Min / Max / Avg (FPS)
69 76 73

Max Temp - 58c

GPU OC (585/790)

3DMark06
Total - 6693 (SM3 2988)

Kombustor
Score - 4549
Min / Max / Avg (FPS)
74 78 76

Max Temp - 60c

Memory OC (450/1000)

3DMark06
Total - 6472 (SM3 2882)

Kombustor
Score - 5354
Min / Max / Avg (FPS)
84 92 89

Max Temp - 59c

Max OC (585/1000)

3DMark06
Total - 7332 (SM3 3352)

Kombustor
Score - 5558
Min / Max / Avg (FPS)
87 96 93

Max Temp - 62c

Ok so first of all, the laptop is great. The thermal design is solid from stock to complete OC there was only a 4c delta which is amazing for a stock cooler. I believe this GPU is undervolted but that doesn't really appear to hurt you unless you are pushing extreme overclocks. Infact the undervolt probably helps with that great thermal performance while its overclocked. Unfortunatly I couldn't get any tool other than MSI Afterburner to OC the GPU meaning my OC was capped at 585.

As far as the OC results you can see a difference between 3DMark and Kombustor. 3DMark saw the greater gains with the GPU OC but Kombustor saw far greater gains from the Memory OC and only minor from the GPU.

I would love to OC the CPU and see how the GPU scales so if anyone knows what the PLL to set in SetFSB is i'd be happy to throw up some more numbers

Cheers

 

use AMD GPU Clock Tool . I push my GPU until 630 and its stable with 67º maximum in Starcraft 2. Cheers.

 

As mentioned couldn't get any other tool to work. I tried GPU Clock and rivatuner but neither would work.

 

Look for the "for 5870" version of AMD GPU Clock Tool - that one works.

 

i just downloaded a blueray rip Final Fantasy VII (7gb). the file format is MKV. i can't play the Final Fantasy, but i can play naruto shippuden mkv videos. Is it because it has very large file size? And also, I can play the Final Fantasy in my desktop.

I have Combined Community Codec Pack installed

 

Its nothing to do with the file size its probably just a codec issue. CCP is aimed at anime.

I recommend VLC Player, it can play anything

 

Thinking about getting the EB but concerned about the battery. Is the Large Capacity battery (offered as a configuring option at sonystyle) add to the weight or dimensions of the laptop in any way? Meaning, is there any difference in appearance/weight in getting the bigger capacity battery?
Thanks

 

Nope, there is no difference between the stock battery and the higher capacity battery. The difference is only in their capacity..

 

Thanks for the quick reply! Another question I had is if I intend to use the laptop for surfing, watching blu rays, streaming HD video (and possibly using Intel wireless display), and light video editing (flip camera-type stuff of my son, nothing serious) do I need a graphics card better than the default one (intel graphics media accelerator), and if I get the Radeon card, will it drain the battery faster?

What's the argument for getting it if I'm sure I'm never going to game.

Also, what's the best warranty to get (I'll be living in Puerto Rico if that matters)?

Thanks!

 

Thanks.

Does the Sony E series have any heating issues as in the Studio?

 

or Media Player Classic HomeCinema x64 (Complete package)

without installer

Media Player Classic HomeCinema (x86/x64), svn 1896 - XvidVideo.RU

 

cool.. the VLC worked.. thanks a lot mate..

 

If you want to want to watch things in full hd I think its worthwhile bumping up to the radeon 5470 at least, I don't think the intel gfx can cope with outputting 1080p, this is going by other peoples comments and reviews I went with a 5650 so no personal experience, but considering intel wont allow you to configure a 1080p screen with an intel card I'm guessing it cant manage

But I believe the price jump from intel to the 5470 is minimal anyway, and ye it prob would use more battery than the intel but prob not much especially with ati powerplay keeping the ati card underclocked at basic speeds when not gaming.

 

I was running 4x Folding@Home CPU clients and 1x GPU client on mine with the Core i3 & R5650 combination for a few hours, didn't overheat at all. It is winter here though so with heating my room is only 22 degrees celcius or so.

 

Woo, spoke to sony - apparently my Vaio EB will be going into production on the 14th August, and I should then have it by the 24th

For anyone who ordered around the 8th July, hopefully yours will be made soon now!! Very excited - and I have just upgraded to the iphone4 with my contract, which is due to be delivered on the 24th too, I'll definitely be a happy bunny if i get both on the same day won't know what to play with first hehe!

 

If anyone is interested I'm selling a new VGP-BPS22 E series battery here on the NBR Marketplace

 

I ordered mine on the 10th so hopefully mine goes into production at some point this week too (thats if your UK based), this 5+ week wait has been a bit ridiculous, any longer and I might aswell tell 'em to stick wrapping paper on it so I can give myself for xmas.

 

Been reading the last 30 pages and have a few questions:

I'm thinking of getting the VPC-EB2X5E:

- Intel® CoreTM i5-520M, 2.40GHz
- 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
- 6 GB 1066MHz DDR3-SDRAM
- 39.4 cm LCD, 1366x768 + webcam
- ATI MobilityRadeon HD5650 1GB

My uses are:
- Gaming: Starcraft II
- Programming
- General

Question:
1. Which is better for my uses 1366x768 or the 1920x1080? I have heard that the 1366x768 is better for gaming. But then I've also heard that you can just get the higher spec display and turn down the res for gaming.

2. I've also heard that the HD5650 is underclocked. What does this mean for my Starcraft II gaming experience? I've seen the notebookcheck.net benchmarks for the 5650 but I'm not sure if that's taken into account the underclock.

Conclusion:
Is it worth me getting this laptop for my uses? The cost will be around GBP 760-800. I can't find anything with a 5650 graphics card for the same price.

Cheers.

 

I think the screen is more personal choice, you will need to either lower your res or lower your in game quality setttings with the 1080p screen, it is lovely for movies, general surfing etc just a bit too much of a power draw for gaming at ful res.

Starcraft 2 runs just fine with "high" settings, ultra was a bit laggy but high still looks great.

 

@JonnyCasino: Thanks for the info. I'm wondering if I have to change the res on the display prior to starting the game or is it changed in game? I had thought that SC1 modified the res to 800x600 or was it 640x480 when you start it up. Does it do the same thing?

In otherwords is it a matter of setting the game resolution usage or the actual display resolution prior to gaming?

 

Slowmonkey:

I'm still waiting for my laptop so it's hard to give much of an insight, but from what I have been reading you should be able to play Starcraft on either size screen with the 5650, however...it is unlikely that Starcraft will play at a high FPS with max'd out settings and native res on the higher res screen, whereas on the 1366x768 you will be able to play at high settings with native res and get a decent framerate.

Now you can obviously lower the res for the game like mentioned, however it doesn't look as good in my opinion. But it really is a case of what fps you are happy playing at and if you don't mind lowering the quality. For me I have ordered the lower res, as I won't be watching blu-rays often and I'd prefer to have max'd settings, native res and a high fps in games.

As for the underclocked 5650 - I don't think it will make much difference in playing Starcraft, it is still a powerful card. However there is the option to overclock it if needed. But there shouldn't be any problems tbh.

Also I would advise going into a Sony shop to view the different res screens, as some people moan about the 1366x768 screen. For me it is still a great crisp screen however maybe not as bright as I would like, although after playing around with the display settings it can be made to look great in my opinion. So definitely do that if you get a chance

 

cassiem1012:

Thanks. I did go to the shop to look at the unit but they only had the EB1 series in stock. I will go into the shop again to see the res differences regardless just to get an idea.

I think from what I've been reading and what you've said I will go with the 1366x768 as it's high enough for my gaming needs and programming needs. I usually like a very high res so I can fit more onto the screen. But 1366 is an improvement on what I've got already so it shouldn't matter.

Seeing that I'll be using a med detail setting for sc2 it will be more than ample for my online gaming needs. Also, from what everyone's been saying the 5650 should be a good mid level card for other games as well.

 

Question:
1. Which is better for my uses 1366x768 or the 1920x1080? I have heard that the 1366x768 is better for gaming. But then I've also heard that you can just get the higher spec display and turn down the res for gaming.




Under normal circumstances, 1366x768 should be better IMHO. First, 1920x1080 is just too big for a 15 inch screen. Things look tiny on the desktop. Text looks tiny everywhere. You can change the Windows 7 settings to make everything look larger but this introduces compatibility issue with many games (fixable, right click icon, look for disable scaling in compatibility tab). However, even with this scaling, text often looks very small in the web browsers. One cool Firefox feature is the ability to set the minimum font size (to like 22pts) and then override the web site settings (separate checkbox). But then, this often breaks many web sites because many wrongly assume that you use something like 15pt font, so text often gets chopped. Second issue is that many FPS games will have to be played at a non-native resolution since 1920x1080 is could be too much even for 5650. So, under normal conditions I would go for 1366x768 screen with most other manufacturers.

However, the general view is that the VAIO E series 1366x768 screens are substandard. I myself noticed that all or most VAIO notebooks at Best Buy store seem to have less bright screens and strange color distortions that you can see comparing them to pretty much any other notebook there (they only had 1366x768 screens). Presumably, the VAIO 1080p screens are better overall (not just resolution). That's the only reason I got one. So basically, you have to decide between the headaches associated with the higher resolution screen vs screen quality.

 

Hey guys, I noticed several people posting a 14" E series with a 5650 radeon, I haven't seen that option in the UK, anyone else manage to find this model in the UK?

It would be perfect as the screen can be 1600x900 (which is idea size for me) and has the graphic card I want.

I ordered the 15" only because I want the 5650 graphics and 1080p screen is great but I think it might be overkill on a 15"... I guess I could turn the res down but still 14" would have been more portable.

 

I just got the same laptop but with the i3-350m CPU for SC2. With a mild overclock I can run CS2 at 40-50fps @ Medium @ 1920x1080.

I was originally looking for a laptop with the 1366x768 screen and a 5650 because i wanted the lower res for gaming. I try to avoid non-native res however after getting the EB with the 1920x1200 screen I love it. Im glad I got this laptop and I love the screen.

So my advise, buy it

 

the 14" does not allow you to select the 5650 in the uk, the default is the Intel GMA and when you choose the highest possible resolution for the 14", you get a 5470.

 

So i'm guessing it exists in parts of Asia as most who have mentioned it were somewhere from Asia... ah oh well can't have it all.