Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

No they wouldn't. But there is a hidden recovery partition on the HDD...I'm not sure which button it is, but try pressing F7, F8 on boot screen and it should come out...if you need to do recovery.

 

why every where else have the 5650 hd graphic but the US that not fair!!

 

Lol you should know, that most of countries don't have possibility of CTO, many countries got just one lid color (white), many countries got just possibility of low resolution and in most EU countries this setting cost as much as fullhd version in US Don't worry, the 5650 will come to US sooner or later

 

It seems like SonyStyle US is the forgotten Step Child. They get the worst spec on their CTO in comparison to other on CW and EB.

 

Hi ! I'm not from US, I'm from EU. But I have here a dealer that is managing to order me a E Series from SonyStyle US. I don't want this notebook with that 512mb ATI 5470 from the US site. I think the 1gb ATI 5650 is +50£.

 

The 5650 is in the US. Portable One will stock a model featuring it.

 

Check This.

 

OMG nice config ! i7 lol !

 

Hello again MStefan12, I saw the US E-series configuration is cheap than EU preconfiguration. I would like to by from US , but I do not know if I'l pay some taxe in Italy ??
For exampl u are in UK , and buy from US( your dealer) , u pay only for shipping and taxe , or only for shipping ??
Some link if u know about taxe, be glad for helping me

P.S. I know about my bad english, Sorry!

 

Check your local tax office website. They usually have some kind of calculator for that. Also you could ask your friend in US to sand a pair of old socks with that and you could claim it's your belongings which you forgot in US

 

damn, still no screen-pictures here from EB owners? I want to see a photo with the Windows desktop screen to see how good the colors/contrast/brightness is on these laptops.

 

well, today i went to go see the EB Series at my local Sony Centre Galleria, they had just gotten it in. It was the white coloured model and i am sad to say that i was truly disappointed. The palmrest was firm, not too much flex, which is good, but the material just felt like cheap plastic, not the nice type they usually have, i was hoping for something like my dad's FE atleast, and it had a type of glittery design in it. and the touchpad, the touchpad was disappointing, it was like someone had written brail all over it, that + the cheap plastic was just horrific. and then the keyboard, by the looks of it, i was expecting a normal keyboard, something like the CR's atleast, but again, it sucked, it had a weird sticky resistance, kind of like when you have had a laptop for 2-3 years and it has all sorts of treasures under the keys. the screen was nice, and the speakers weren't to shabby either. then i asked the guy working there if i could see the lid (cuz it was locked in place), so he unlocked it and since the palmrest was pretty firm and hard, i was expecting the same for the lid, to my surprise it was a matte lid, and at the first glance and feel it felt nice, like my dad's FE. but then i pushed down a bit the check the flex, and then everything went down the drain, it flexed like hell, as if they took the FE's lid, and cut 2/3 of the thickness off.

build-quality-wise, out of 10 i would rate this laptop a 4

 

The CW feels the same from my experience with it. Would you say the same?

Also, for under $1000 for a laptop capable of gaming isn't a bad deal, and from my experience, it might feel plastic, but it will still last many years.

 

Just saw the EB in Vancouver Metrotown's Sonystyle. It's nicer looking that I thought. It's not available in the one in Richmond centre yet and is not even on sonystyle.ca!

 

so the screen is retro by led or not?

 

I went to a SonyStyle in DC yesterday and they still didn't have one on display.

 

Is the scroll sunken in and textured like the NW or is it normal and flat like the rest of the vaios?

 

how much battery life do you have with I5?

 

The full HD screen is backlit by LED.

 

Interesting. Still not offered on SonyStyle US CTO Site. So damn disappointed in SonyStyle US CTO. Might be because it is located in San Diego? hehe

 

Are you sure about that? I still didn't see nice picture of FullHD version. Yesterday I saw the low res version and the screen was quite bad. Maybe it wasn't completely fair, as just next to it was sitting Z, but the difference was quite disappointing.

Also in Czech republic it's possible to buy just "white" version, which in fact has silver lid (!). I didn't see such option even in Japan. The good thing about it is, that it's matte and the Vaio logo is actually part of the lid, not just printed on the surface.

If you're interested, you can check the pictures here.

 

It is so nice with the silver lid. I'm going today to see this one (white matte). Same story in my country, only matte white available for buying. But, do you know if the black matte one (I think is the Gunmetal Black) has olso silver lid ? Because I don't like the "printed on the surface" style. I think the glossy ones have the logo printed on the surface.

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

When I read your story, I was thinking about the first time I saw the NW series. I got exactly the same feeling you described here: Cheap feeling materials; terribly bad cheap nonsense touchpad...

As the E series replace the NW series, I'm sad to say that I was expecting this disappointment.

Lol, also my dad has a FE series and also I was hoping for something like that. Whenever I used the FE I thought: Wow, what a great looking and nice built machine; my next will be a Vaio for sure...

Even the F series don't compare to the FE series.

 

The thing is, I can't believe this is the "white matte" version. As in fact the palmrest is white glossy and sparkling, the speakers area is silver as well as the lid and the down is black. If this is what Sony is calling matte white, than they should visit eye doctor...

And even though it's matte and has the logo soldered down...I hate the silver plastic. It will start do show white corners just after half a year...

 

Hi,

According to Sonystyle Hong Kong it has a led backlight.

http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/vaio/vpceb17fg_e.jsp

In addition I was at Sonystyle today to check up on my Z117 order and I bought the EB17FG in black.

Anyone wants pics?

 

Guys, here is a quick review of an european model of VAIO EB Series.
I wanted to share it with you because many would like to know what are the clocks of ATI 5650 and actual battery time. If you don't speak german use googletranslator.

1. Clocks by GPU-Z - 450/790 Mhz
2. 3D Mark 2006 score - 6829
2. Battery time (WEB mode) - 1:50h (I know, I know...beyond normality... who puts 39Wh battery to a notebook with i5 & discrete graphics ?)

http://www.notebookinfo.de/tests/test-sony-vaio-vpc-eb1s1e-wi-silberner-glitzer-performer/72/

Cheers

 

Thank your for answer I would be happy to see the picture of the screen. What do you think about the screen? Do you own previous Z or some T series? If so, can you please take picture of the screen next to each other?

Also, if I'm right, your version is with FullHD screen, i3-330M 2.13 GHz and ATI HD 5650 right? Could you check 3D Mark 2006 mark please? WEI numbers would be nice as well

 

Sure thing!

Yes, my model has the full HD screen + ATI 5650.

I have my Z51XG to compare it to at the moment. In 9 days I will also have the Z117 to compare to.

I will post the info later.

 

Thank you. Be able to see the screen next to Z51XG would be great I was quote disappointed to see the low res version next to the Z. The screen looked worse than the screen of my 2 years old son's baby notebook's screen

 

Here are the WEI results:

Processor: 6.2
RAM: 5.9
Graphics: 6.7
Gaming Graphics: 6.7
Primary Hard disk: 5.9

First impressions:
- machine is pretty well built
- feels solid with no creaks or flex
- keyboard feels good with no flex...however I need to get used to the keyboard and the touchpad that got shifted to the left because of the number pad
- machine looks nice (I got the black version)
- I didn't like the touchpad...it's rough and not very sensitive (perhaps some setting or a hardware fault)
- the full HD screen is awesome! everything was clear and sharp
- fan is almost silent when running
- tried a blueray movie and it was stunning plus the drive ran quiet too

That's it for now. Will post pics and 3dmark06 results later.

 

I'm coming back from the store. Like I said in a earlier post, I went to see the Sony E series. I'm sorry to say this but I'm so disappointed. In my opinion (no offence to owners) it's a very cheap looking laptop. It's like a plastic box. The palmrest is a glossy cheap plastic one with SPARKLING shadows. Omg ! Is this a laptop ? I thought I'm going to see a matte laptop with a decent business look. I feel sorry for that good configuration. I was looking so forward for this one...

 

I'm sorry to hear your disappointment MStefan12, but the last thing EB series is is business notebook. As I said before, I believe it's multimedia laptop mainly for kids/teenagers and woman No offense to male adult owners of course And for that use sparkling palmrest and shiny bright colorful lid is perfect. I just don't understand why they don't offer all colors for FullHD version as well.

If you're looking for business look go for S/Z/B/T. I was truly surprised how good the new S looks like. I really didn't like cheap looking SR after beautiful SZ, but S looks quite nice again

 

3dmark06 results:

5957

http://service.futuremark.com/home.action;jsessionid=CD8B3A1DBDD19D9D629C231138BBC17E

 

I don't understand why people are still making such a big stink out of the colors: They offer it in matte black! The EB is a mainstream laptop, and Sony is trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible -- order the "man colors" and get over it.

By the way, I have a nice Sony Bravia TV and it's black plastic has a faint glitter to it. Doesn't mean it's cheap, just gives it a little dimension. Could be much worse, at least it's not covered in terrible urban art like the HPs.

 

I have a 6yr-old Apple PowerBook Al15" G4 1.25Ghz and it is screaming for replacement. (hardware is still going strong, but can't keep up with the latest software performance-wise).
First place I look is of course another apple, the macbook pro, and i was dissapointed, big time. The only thing thats good from their machine now is the superb aluminum unibody construction and design. The inside? well, i think even apple fanatics agree that it is long overdue for an update.
Luckily i'm not apple fanatics and been using both Mac and Windows.. (don't tell them that, last thing I want is torch-wielding apple villagers showing up at my house )
I had my eyes on the Sony FW55 with P8700 and ATI 4650 ($1350) then moved to the CW for the Core i5 and nVidia 330M spec with the cheaper pricing ($1199) but wasn't sure on the looks. I was also considering Sony F with i5 for $1299 but sadly only available with nVidia 310M.
I am now considering for the E-series, the top offering available for Indonesian market is the EB17FG and only available in glossy black with the Core i3-330M/4Gb/500Gb/ATI Radeon 5650 1Gb with Full HD 1920x1080 screen for $1199.
I think now I am set on this model. I'm wondering if the Core i3 chips is upgradeable in the future with the Core i5 or dual core i7.. and hopefully the ATI 5650 is not underclocked as in Sony FW case.
Coming from Apple, I have a few HDD with firewire interface, I guess i have to buy expresscard -> firewire adaptor

 

EB CTO finally on Canadian site... no 1080 screen, no choice of video cards but has the i7

Intel® Core™ i3-330M processor (2.13GHz)
Intel® Core™ i5-430M processor (2.26GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.53GHz [add $40.00]
Intel® Core™ i5-520M processor (2.40GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz [add $81.00]
Intel® Core™ i5-540M processor (2.53GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz [add $122.00]
Intel® Core™ i7-620M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz [add $162.00]

Colors:
Powder White [add $0.00]
Coconut White [add $0.00]
Gunmetal Black
Lava Black [add $0.00]
Hibiscus Pink [add $0.00]
Iridescent Blue [add $0.00]
Caribbean Green [add $0.00]

 

Pic of the EB17FG vs Z51XG screen:
(Both running the purple VAIO theme and pic taken with TX7)

 

Thank you for your information and picture ota-con I'm re-posting it on one Czech nb board as well ,) The 3dmark06 result is relatively low compared to results of 2core F. But it's probably that i3 processor which is putting it down.

Also the screen looks much better than the low res one. It's true that the color depth and rendition is not so great, but it looks sharp and bright. Did you try any calibration tool on it, like Spyder3?

 

The full HD EB screen is definitely better than the lower resolution EB one...from what I saw in shops.

I don't have any calibration tools so the screens are as they are from the box.

 

Great to know Will try what S3 will do with the screen when I'll get EB

 

Hi all

I'm a prospective buyer trying to decide between the vaio EB, a dell or the Vaio F series, EB being the most attractive so far because of the deadly combo
i5 + 5650 + 15 incher + price

there's history of Sony underclocking the vidcards on laptops, and specific reports of this happening with the 5650 on the EB. Can any user (ota-con) confirm this ? Tnx a lot!

Also, the EB screen is glossy, right? what about the hinges and general build quality? there seems to be conflicting reports about that in older posts.

Thanks all (excuse my weird english)

 

This is a good question actually. The 5650 is clocked at 450/800 Mhz on the E. This is why we get ~6000 3dmark06, while other laptops with similar specs are over 7000. No luck at overclock yet with 10.3 beta. Max supported clocks for the 5650 is 650/800... way to go Sony.

 

wow... that's almost a no-go for me. What's the point on having a flashy 5650, if it's badly handicapped? That may make me go for a F series instead (that and the nice non-glare screen).

Thanks a lot for the info m4xg

 

Thanks for the info.
How is batery life? can you switch to intel IGP ? (does bios have the option to use intel IGP instead of ati)
And is the processor soldered to MB ?

gt 330m in f isn't worse than 5650? (no dx11...)

 

I might be wrong, but i doubt there's intel graphics here (or at least i'm quite sure you cannot switch to use them), just the discrete vidcard

 

The screen is glossy but I find it not as glossy as the FW140D that I used to have...roughly like the AW I used to have.

The build quality of my EB17 is great including the hinges. It feels solid with no creaks or flexes including the keyboard.

 

I may have missed this previously in the thread, but when exactly will this laptop be out in the US? Best Buy doesn't seem to know and the Sony Style site still lists it for "Pre-Order" with no definite date it will be available. I need a new laptop and I'm getting impatient and may just go with the CW instead if the EB wont be out any time soon.

 

Thanks a lot ota-con. Will have to wait until physical stores bring the EB here in Barcelona to check it out anyway.

But it's really sad what they did with the vidcard

 

It's entirely possible that the 5650 could be clocked higher on the EB but I have no idea which driver version would allow that.