Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

THESE are the standard 10.10 drivers for mobile cards and the same ones I just reinstalled after trying the 10.11 ones.

 

Corking, ta for that .

I'm doing my best to get everything together I can before I get my hands on my Vaio to save time when I stick an SSD in.

 

Hey, thanks for your response. Can you please explain why I should "always" get the dedicated graphics card? And by the way, am I foolish to order this 15.5" if I plan to bring it to school of about 2 times per week?

 

15.5 is about as large as you can get while still being able to move it around in my opinion.

Dedicated cards give you MUCH better performance over integrated processors. So basically... if you plan on playing any modern games you'll need a dedicated card.

 

I think the main point in this situation is the fact that the price difference between the Intel chip and the Ati 5470 is only £30, when your already going to be spending £500, £600 or £700 on a laptop the £30 is a very very small amount of that but the gain is massive.

 

Dudes, is it worth paying an extra £30 to upgrade RAM from 3Gb to 4Gb?

Also is it worth paying an extra £20 to upgrade the HDD from 5400rpm to 7200rpm?

I ask cos I'm planning on swapping out the 1GB RAM stick with a 4Gb giving me a total 6Gb - and swapping out the HDD for a SSD .... BUT this will be about a year from now when their prices come down!

So is it worth spending another £30+£20 right now - will I see much difference in performance when playing Counter Strike or watching Movies or doing MS Office stuff as I'll be getting the ATI 5650 with it anyway?

Also, should I go for the 1080p screen - does it make the GPU work harder and kill battery life? Would all the text be too small to read when surfing the web?

Thanks!

 

If you plan on upgrading to a SSD then I would probably just save the £20 and stick with a 5400rpm drive, I used mine for a month before putting a SSD in and it was fine, the gf still uses the 5400rpm drive hers came with and has no issues.

As for the ram, rather than spend £30 on 1gb via sony I would just buy a 4gb stick yourself now and shove it in when the Vaio arrives, Just remember though 6gbs would be a 4 and a 2gb stick due to different sizes these will no longer run in dual channel mode and so loose some performance, not a large amount but its still a loss.

 

They will run in dual channel to an extent. Intel chipsets these days can run in "Flex Mode", meaning on mismatched memory sticks it'll run whatever the two chips have in common in dual channel and the remainder single channel. ie with a 4gb and 2gb stick, 4gb (2gb+2gb) will run in dual channel, and the remaining 2gb in single channel.

 

For what it's worth, I was looking to choose between this and a ThinkPad, considering the latter for its exceptional build quality. Yet on the ThinkPad forums/reviews, I see similar complaints about their keyboard (flex issues, etc). One person even suggested modifying a perfectly new T510 by removing the keyboard and adding support underneath (he posted a YouTube video on this)!

That said, when I finally got my laptop (the Vaio won out over the T510, obviously), the top of my keyboard trim was slightly distorted "out of flush" with the case around it, but when I pressed on it it snapped smartly back into place.

Sorry about your issues. The Vaio is definitely not a ThinkPad or ToughBook, nor has it pretended to be one. While I liked the intelligent and progressive design better than the beefier brands, I knew I would miss the "block house" construction I was so used to. It could even come down to personal style - some may handle the Vaio like a surgeon, while another user might be more rough and brusk.

In your case, I wonder, since it's not covered in warranty, if you can just be adventurous and try to fix it yourself? If you do, I hope you post back.

 

Well, it's not the case here in Canada. For the pre-custom made one, I bought this one without the dedicated graphics for $699CAD. And the cheapest EB series with ATI Radeon graphic card is $999.

 

Ah that sucks, no option to customize one from scratch at all there?

 

there is... but kinda risky coz it's not refundable and it's much more expensive

 

Do you think this is the same with EA 14" variety? I'm trying to decide between EA 14" VAIO or 13.3" ASUS U30JC

 

My brother is planning to buy an EB360 in the very near future. He does play games often, Starcraft 2, Dragon Age, Call of Duty and stuff like that. He plans to go with the i5 580, 4GB RAM and the 5650.

Would this combo (w/o overclocking) handle smoothly full 1920x1080 framerates (does the game even play at such a fine resolution on such a small screen?)if he went with that screen or should he stick with the 1366x768?

 

Last night I placed an order for the CTO EC 17" laptop. I chose the I5-580 chip, Radeon 5650, 1920x1080 screen, 4GB RAM, BR drive and lousy 320GB 5400RPM drive. LOL That will get replaced wish something better later on.

I'm pretty excited. My Compaq just died on me but 5 years of operation, being on 80% of the time, I definitely got what I paid for it.

I hope to get the same life out of my new EC.

 

I wouldn't worry about it, most likely just a one-off defect with his machine. I've had mine since Feb and it's rock solid, not a single crack or squeak. I haven't seen any other complaints of build quality issues in this thread either. It is true that Sony support is trash, though.

 

It'll run them, probably at framerates around 20-25. That's smooth for me, it might not be for him. If he's buying it purely for gaming, he'd probably prefer the lo-res screen (or a gaming laptop with better GPU). But the Full HD screen is beautiful and much better for everything else.

 

I have Vaio E series with 15.5¨ 1920x1080 display. i think it is LED backlight display what sony call Vaio Display plus, with configuration of lower resulation can only LCD without led backlit.

 

That should be PLENTY for those games. I dono what the guy with the monk avatar is talkin gabout lol (forgot your name >_>)

I have the specs in my sig and I play Dragon Age, COD at full FPS at 900p resolution, max settings. Starcraft is the only one that'll slow down and there's really no helping that, but you should be able to play at mid-high settings just fine.

The fact is you CAN overclock very safely and get a huge boost. I can say just today I was emulating a gamecube game and overclocking got me at least 5fps (I went from 25-30, and the game caps at 30 so for all I know I really got 31+)

Get the 1080p in my opinion.

 

Does anyone have some thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

 

900p to 1080p is a big difference.

 

My suggestion would just start with a clean install and only install the stuff you want, rather than trying to clear out all the trash. Of the stuff you listed, most of it really depends on personal preference as to what you're actually going to use.

 

Has anyone had any problems with their AC adaptor on this laptop?
I'm sending mine back in because it makes a static sound through my headset, tried out another AC adaptor (same wattage and sony) and the sound wasn't there.

they are sending me a new AC adaptor in about a weeks time, the laptop is only a day old.. but as I said I tried another charger and it didn't make noise so I figure its down to a bad AC adaptor.

 

It's only 120p's!!!!! =p

And 720p is gross looking =p

 

I ordered the one with display resolution of 1366 x 768. Is that good?

 

Well, I was trying to avoid that but I suppose it is inevitable. Is there a definitive post somewhere that details the process? I am interested in maintaining all functionality, including the hard buttons and the Vaio-specific software, and eliminate only the true bloat. I didn't see a sticky on that and just how specific I can be about that on a re-install, so forgive me for not finding it in the morass of posts.

Lee

 

Here you go, the easy way to do it

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/146033-how-optimize-any-sony-vaio-semi-clean-install.html

 

Excellent! I ended up going to the end of the thread since it started in '07, and see that you successfully tested it on an E-series, so I feel comfortable with that.

Thanks!

 

I have a EB series and I HATE it.

Is there any way to slow down or quiet this fan? It sounds like a helicopter even when I am idle

I am a student and can not use this computer to study with in the library cause it is too loud

I downloaded speed fan and it says 49c

 

really??? I thought this laptop is quiet..

 

No it is the loudest computer I have ever heard I had a 4 year old HP that was quiet, it was hot but quiet. Are you a student?

 

yes i am, i tried my sister's CW series and it's really quiet... thats why I ordered the EB.. i'm still waiting for the shipment now

 

Oh brother I will be shocked if it quiet, you must let me know if it is when will you receive it?

 

i should get it by monday

 

My EB is very quiet - just got it last week. Much quieter than my old T40 ThinkPad.

 

Go into the bios, (push F2 during VAIO boot up logo) and find the option "C3/C6 state support", make sure its enabled, if its disabled I believe that can cause the loud fan issues some people had.

As the others have said my laptop is pretty much silent during browsing, office use etc, only when gaming does the fan kick in a bit and then I generally have the sound up or earphones in to enjoy the audio so don't hear it then either.

 

Go to powersave when you want it quiet. It should cut back on fan speed... and make sure you aren't doing anything that would heat it up.

 

I personally love the E series of the Vaio

they look nice, and the build quality is lovely considering they're on the lower spectrum of the Vaio line.

the only issue I have is I was given an AC adaptor with bad earthing/grounding and it made the laptop make static sounds through the headphones, I tried out my other 19.5v AC adaptor and the laptop was silent suggesting the laptop itself is fine, I also tried the new AC adaptor on my old vaio and it made the same noises through the headphones..

my E series laptop has the AMD processor, runs pretty warm (idles around 50oc but that isn't to bad) and runs like a hot knife through butter.
boots up and is ready to go as soon as it hits the desktop.

I think the "assist" button is a really cool feature as well.

I gave Sony a ring when I realised the problem and the guy talking to me agreed with me and said he was sorry my new vaio came with a bad adaptor, they would be happy to send me one free of charge, give us a week and it will be at yours, sorry, sorry, sorry..

I guess I should have went with them from the beginning, I used to post a ton of threads on here about the weakness of the barrels which the FW/AW models sported but aside from that, 14 months on my FW runs quiet, cool and like new.

 

Hows the screen quality on the EA? Decent viewing angles? Not washed out looking?

What about the 1080p screen on the EB? Obviously a nice resolution, but how are the viewing angles and stuff?

 

I'm having a problem with my Sony EB Series computer. When the machine is running on AC, it is just fine- there's just the noise of the fan. However, as soon as I switch to battery, there is a loud high-frequency electronic buzzing noise. It's really hard to ignore and is enough to give anyone a headache in no time. The minute I plug it back to power, the sound disappears.

Is anyone else having similar issues? Any suggestions for a solution?

Thanks in advance.

This is an i3 machine, with the other usual specs (500GB HDD, Windows 7 64 bit).

 

Before I got the E series Vaio I had 3 other i3 based machines, two types of Asus and a Fujitsu and all of them made an annoying high pitch sound.
I think its down to the processor, thats partly why I went with AMD to escape the sounds the i3 CPU makes.

Saying that, you could have a bad AC adaptor. (bad earthing)
I am in actual fact waiting for Sony to send me a new AC adaptor, I did checks and it did in fact turn out to be the AC adaptor causing my laptop to make noises through the headset.

 

The viewing angles are generally ok on the e series however the vertical angle could be better - when sitting dead straight you do have to have the screen tilted back a little more then other laptops in order to get a true picture otherwise it does look a little washed out.

1080p screen is a must and the quality is excellent! I would defo recommend.

 

Does the 1080p screen make it worth getting the 15" even though I kinda preferred a 14" laptop?

 

Check the archives of this board. This noise is made by CPU's power saving mode. The only way to disable it is to get the latest BIOS update and disable it in there.

 

Is there a way to limit the top speed of the optical drive to reduce the noise it generates when ripping audio CDs?

 

I just so surprised at how it is so hard to buy a VAIO EB laptop spec'ed the way you like. When I was buying mine, it was so hard to find higher end models with ATI graphics. In the end, I had to settle for an i3 model with Radeon HD5470 simply because, going with i5 and/or HD5650 was pretty much impossible. The funny thing is that the model I bought from newegg.com sold out after at most two weeks later and never was in stock again. The availability of ATI/i5 models remains very sporadic, and if you insist on HD screen or BD drive, you might have even more trouble. Last time I checked, you can finally build a fancy shamancy EB on Sony's web site, but you're going to pay dearly for it (A laptop exactly like mine is about $200 more expensive than what I paid to newegg.com 6 months ago). Next, Best Buy NEVER carries any Radeon graphics EB models. I have been checking on their floors many times. They have all sorts of EB models, with i5 and AMD processors, but always with crappy graphics. All of this suggests that Sony simply doesn't know how to sell laptops. Compare this experience to Dell. You can configure their laptops the way you like and get a very competitive price straight from their web site. This is in addition to tons of other options for buying Dells. All in all I am glad that I bought my VAIO EB when I bought it. It's my all around laptop. I was worried that games may not shine as well on 5470 graphics, but for the stuff I play it turns out that this Radeon chip is enough to run in full HD, or at 1280x720. Single player games may run even better. However, 5650 should still be preferable. 5470 is just one level above Intel HD graphics. 5650 is definitely two levels above it, where the "level" is equal to around 15-20 FPS on modern games.

 

I would definitely second that. The review of the EB on this site benmoaned the lower res screen but made little mention of the HD. I got the high res screen for that reason, and it is absolutely dazzling - very bright, sharp and colors are vibrant. As far as viewing angles, as41 is right on - tilting the screen to a mild recline seems to work best. Left-right viewing angles vary by about 20° each side of center before noticeable drop-off occurs. For a TV, that would not be acceptable, but for a laptop I'm perfectly fine with it since I'm usually sitting directly in front of it when I'm looking at it. That said, extreme side-view angles result in a general wash-out of the image but it's still very readable.

 

Thanks so much zakoh!!! The noise is gone! Hope the noise doesn't return. Thanks so much!

 

Hey thanks! Yeah I agree with you about the fact that the i3 processor might be the culprit. Zakoh suggested a BIOS update and disabling the power saving mode of the CPU there. I disabled it, and the noise is gone (disabled a feature called C3/C6 support). Now it's perfectly quiet. I hope it stays that way.

After this, I am more convinced than ever that the processor was causing the problem.

Thanks again.

 

why is this laptop so heavy for a 15.4", this is probably one of the heaviest 15" laptop available right now =="