Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

Sorry, I need to be more specific I have a i3-330m with a hd5470 and i mostly use my laptop for Photoshop, Illustrator or some gaming.

How do you handel these things?

 

On with eSony Support for literally the 8th time, including a visit to replace my wireless card and memory chips. Was online with a tech who reinstalled drivers - over an hour yesterday. STILL I get a blue donut over the wireless icon in the system tray - which will go hand-in-hand with slow performance and shutdown hangs. This happens on every boot except the 4th or 5th boot, which for some reason will go OK. Tried everything - including three reformats/rebuilds of the OS with minimal installs and never had these problems with my Lenovos. Full of regrets for leaving the Lenovo fold - it seems my experience proves what a mistake it was to think that VAIO was a quality alternative.

 

UPDATE After much talk with Sony, the next option is shipping the unit to San Diego for bench testing/repair, a down time of at least a week. I asked about just a replacement, since it was puchased new in November and had these problems "out of the box". I argued a replacement would solve two problems - my downtime would be just 1 day (vs 1-2 weeks), and whatever unknown gremlin that is in the system would be gone for good. I felt justified in asking this, but Sony will not accede to that request, even to try to please a new, unhappy VAIO customer.

I WOULD STRONGLY URGE ANYONE CONSIDERING THE E-SERIES VAIO TO STEER CLEAR - look at Lenovo!!

 

actually I had the same wireless problem and its actually because of the drivers. The latest drivers for the card are not easy to get and I had to hunt them down. but the thing is, windows update provided version 2.0.0.0 drivers while vaio provided version 4.0.0.0 drivers when the drivers I found were 9.0.0.0 drivers, so this unseen, unfound version actually fixed some major things and the wifi works perfect. and by the way, I would not have got a lenovo for the same price. and I would rather my laptop say VAIO.

Steps to maintain optimal performance:

1. Make sure you have GPU acceleration enabled on the Adobe software

2. Stop using page file(my computer, right click properties, advanced system settings, performance, advanced, virtual memory should be 0.

3. defragment your hard disk regularly (after cleaning junk- I suggest Tweaknow Powerpack 2011 -freeware and auslogics for defrag)

4. Invest in a 8GB SDHC class 6(or if affordable, class 10), keep it in the card slot with readyboost always enabled

5. I cant say about your games although the 5470 handles almost all games fine, I play call of duty black ops and NFS hot pursuit(2011) and they play great at even above medium settings

 

If you are talking about the Atheros driver, mine is 9.0.0.173 (driver date 3/31/2010). Getting to this driver was an arduous process, and not done without some reluctance, since I understand that good general practice dictates using drivers on the PC manufacturer's site rather than the manufacturer's site of the part in question. In other words, it is better to use an Atheros driver from Sony's VAIO site rather than one from Atheros' site. That said, I STILL used the Atheros driver since the VAIO site driver was no improvement. Problem persists despiute the driver you said helped your system.

 

yeah the driver you are talking about is the one that solved all my problems. however I also thought about it like this: I had ubuntu and gnome installed as dual boot with the windows 7, I noticed that the wifi worked flawless everywhere I went using the linux(even with stock windows Atheros 2.0.0.0 drivers), but it's only windows that had issues. I think it might be a windows-atheros compatibility issue, the 9 driver works fine for me but if in future it dosent for you after your product servicing, I strongly believe that if you replace the actual card with say an Intel card, you should have no issues.

 

Hi! I recently bought an EB model and so far I'm quite satisfied. The only thing that bothers me is that when I press the green button to start it up, after a long period of inactivity, it sometimes takes a few seconds for the hdd to kick in. The interesting thing is that it never happens when it's in hibernation mode, thus I thought it could be something wrong with the hard drive. Can anyone help me with this?

 

to my experience this is an operating system issue where the system keeps searching for the boot files because they are not in their usual place, I've come across this often however I cant assure you that I have the right understanding. Try the following things

1.Go to the advanced system settings in the boot menu and make sure that your hard disk is the first device that is used for booting.

2. If that does not solve it, download a program called MyDefrag and defragment the laptop using the System Disk Monthly option. When defragment has finished(My Defrag should tidy up system files), and then go to my computer to right click on your local disk, properties, tools, error checking, you will need to restart and the hard drive will be checked for errors and doing these should fix the problem.

3. If the problem does not go away and is bothering you then a guaranteed solution if to restore your laptop to factory condition(vaio factory recovery) as system files will be re written and arranged in this process.

reminder- I believe this problem is because of the system files being misplaced from their usual position and so the bootloader has to spend a little extra time to find them in order to load the OS. The HDD is not writing or reading anything in the boot stage and therefore seems inactive, actually the boot loader is making the hard disk platters spin and the reading arm just repeatedly checks extreme locations of the HDD for boot files so it seems inactive(I actually opened up an unwanted hard disk with the OS all messed up, showed similar activities).

 

what a great forum for information!

it's been over 10 years since I owned a laptop (which was also a vaio), but I took the plunge yesterday and placed my order for a vaio EB490x with the following:
- i5-480M processor (2.66GHz) free upgrade from the i3-380M
- Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
- 320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
- 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
- 15.5" Full HD VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080)
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 GPU (1GB VRAM)
- Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
- High capacity battery

I figured that given the cost of what sony wants for a better hdd and more ram, I could replace those myself and am considering the following:

Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BC1067

Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive

are these components compatible and do you consider them good upgrades or would you recommend something different?

edit:
I going to assume that the hdd is ok since ravenperch is running the same, but is there anything special that I need to look for when replacing the ram modules?

 

Oke i'll try it out.

Thank you

 

Where do you find the adobe gpu acceleration i can't seem to find it.
I searched on google and found nothing...

And does disabling the page file really work?

 

well they say that Microsoft Windows will still use a page file but if it be observed, on every system that I have disabled page file, RAM usage has been noted to double and sometimes more than double so disabling the page file has had some effect and the system is using more RAM available than it did before. the adobe gpu acceleration is done in the application. I'm actually not sure about all the photoshop applications

e.g. photoshop: find out more by going to Help->photoshop.

apply GPU accel. by going to Edit-->Preferences, you will be interested in the "3D" and the "Performance". GPU settings are available there and if you can afford it, choose maximum RAM allocations

as for the Wireless Drivers, It's actually quite hard to find them so

Atheros WiFi Drivers v 9.0.0.173

 

Thanks for the quick answer. The only thing is that it doesn't always go this way: sometimes it boots normally .

 

Well then it seems like a simple problem, it seems that you dont have to worry about factory reinstall. I believe that either of the two suggestions in part 2 will suffice.

 

Thanks I can see some improvement.

 

My Atheros drivers are way out of date as they are only 2.0.0.75 from 2009, they are the ones windows installed after performing a clean win 7 install back in April when I got the laptop.

Have to admit though in those 10 months have not had a single issue, never had a problem conectiing, never had a drop out etc

 

im curious has anyone fitted an ssd in there e series. Ive got an Ea and i dont really use the DVD on it so was hoping i might be able to put and SSD in its place around 128GB and put windows on it and a few programs i use regularly and use the exisiting hdd as storage.
if anyone has done it do you have a guide or can anyone point me to a guide online.
thanks in advance

 

Still in a quandry about this issue with a blue-doughnut over my wifi tray icon (which means two things - no wireless and a hanging shutdown). I did notice an error in my event viewer that I find interesting - WLAN Extensibility Module has failed to start, pointing to athext.dll in my win\sys32 directory as the culprit. What is interesting is there is NO athext.dll in my sys32 directory - or on the entire system for that matter.

I tried upgrading to the 9.2.0.113 driver and nearly bricked my VAIO - it went into a perpetual "boot to blue screen" circuit that I managed to break by safe-moding (without network) and then invoking a previous state (recovery).

I dread going through 4 or 5 reboots to get my wifi, and Sony is obviously either clueless or just not very motivated to help. I may pressure them to replace the Atheros card with something else of equal (or better) quality/performance. I can only believe, as one poster suggested, that the issue is an Atheros-Windows problem, but I'm still soliciting thoughts or similar experiences...

 

Unfortunately every system is different and is determined by the user- what he/she installs, how they operate it. JonnyCasino apparently has no problems with even the stock windows drivers, mine's fine with the 9 drivers, and

yes I strongly believe that this is an Atheros-Windows issue (the card works perfect with Linux Note- Linux uses its own non atheros drivers).

I can actually confirm this as a friend of mine bought his EB at the same time and we have the exact same laptops, he has the exact same problems; and used Ubuntu for a few months flawlessly, then he decided to perform a full system factory restore and it seemed to fix the problem. Have you tried a system factory restore? This always happens to be the mother of all solutions to PC problems.

Also, the Vaio Quick Web access button actually launches a small Linux OS, does your card fail to work even there? Because if it does, you may want to then pressure for a replacement or replace the card with an Intel one.

 

Thanks for the reply - very informative/educational (esp the part about Quick Web = Linux). The issue was right out of the box - and actually was with my very first boot. I saw the funny doughnut (I remember it well, since I have never worked with 7/Vista before). My second boot was OK. So this was before I installed or deleted any programs. Since then, I have reinstalled the OS via the recovery disks literally three times. The problem has been addressed with Sony techs actually coming to the house and physically replacing the Atheros card AND the RAM chips. Still the problem persists. I had to boot 7 times this morning before I got a boot without the doughnut, and all of these boots result in a hanging shutdown, so these were 7 hard resets in a row. Even had a tech online on my PC reinstalling drivers. I mean I've been just about everywhere with this - replacing drivers, parts, reinstalling the OS, etc. It is the most frustrating problem I've faced in 12 years of owning notebook PCs, and must say I REALLY miss my Lenovo.

I can't help but feel like a fool for buying into VAIO. I moved to VAIO for both quality and style - but had heard so many good things about the line that I thought I'd be fine. Extreme bloatware aside, and ignoring the multitude of event errors that populate with every boot, and looking past the exported tech support team who don't seem to have a clue about anything outside of their carefully-worded scripts, I have from the get-go had a machine that has been nothing but problems.

For anyone considering VAIO, I would enthusiastically steer them to Lenovo or even Dell - having had both with no major issues like this. Lenovo service is far more competent than Sony, as well.

So Sony's next answer is for me to send my PC across the country to San Diego for a "bench study". Mind you, this PC was BRAND NEW in December - purchased directly from Sony - and instead of replacing it as I finally (and reluctantly) suggested, they want to tear it apart and fix it. I can't see myself surviving that kind of down-time (they won't promise a return date but suggested it could take 2-3 weeks) nor my expectation that there is a better than 50% chance the problem will still be there when it ships back to me, based on hours of dealing with the stellar, script-reading whizzes from Sony.

I think the answer for me will be with a wifi card replacement - to something other than the pure crap of Atheros with it's bug-ridden drivers. My issue is I have absolutely no idea what cards Sony has to offer and if they would represent a lateral step vs a step up or down in quality/performance.

 

Update...

Well, success ..... ?????

After another frustrating evening trying to reboot to anything useable, I said what the heck and tried again My exceedingly poor experience with a perpetual boot-to-blue-screen circuit on my last attempt to upgrade the driver I wish I could explain. But this time I installed and went quite smoothly. The installed Atheros driver went from 9.0.0.173 (put there by Sony Tech Support a couple of weeks ago) to 9.2.0.105 (11/5/2010). At this posting, it is the second most recent driver - 9.2.0.113 was the one that blue-screened me, so I avoided that one.

So far many of the numerous event errors are gone and I've had three consecutive boots with full access to the wireless card - and I'm happy (or perhaps sad) to say that's the most success I've had since owning this thing. Interestingly, it now appears the old driver may have been further implicated in issues than I previously thought. Looking at the Event Viewer, I waas used to seeing those old reliable errors such as SideBySide Event 59, DNS Client Event 1014, DHCP Client 1003, WLAN Autoconfig Event 10000 (the one that alerted me athExt.dll in the sys32 directory was missing). All those are gone, leaving me with NO ERRORS and just two warnings - the LMS Event ID 1 warning tyhat I can't figure out and a WLAN-Autoconfig Event 4001 ("Service succesfully stopped") warning.

In the spirit of leaving a useful clue to others looking at this post, here's what - at this point at least - seems to have worked:

- Download the driver from opendrivers.com - search "atheros 928x" - you'll see a list, but skip the SONY drivers (all 7.x.x.x) and go right to the Atheros 9.2.0.105.

- Extract in a directory (on the desktop or whereever), then open the device manager and install from there ("update driver"), and browse to the "driver" subfolder in the extracted directory

It's as simple as that. Anyone following this advice is warned to first to see if I continue my rants later in this thread. If this fails to hold as a solution, I'll definitely post back.

 

VPCEB46FG-can i have a password protection for my quick web access option? or deactivate it ? and my speaker sound seems to a be bit noisy. i would like to know the settings so that the sound is high and the quality too.
is there any way(email or forum) i can write to sony for sony?

thanks for ur help!!!

 

Thanks for the newer driver info(fingers crossed I dont blue screen).

Its unfortunate to see it right out of the box like this since yes from your experience I would have little faith left in Sony myself. But you should remember that some units at the factory come out bad and it was unlucky you got one. I have not heard of problems this bad with the EB. I guess this is useful information for new buyers though.

I do agree with you on Lenovo. A lot of people have told me that they've worked in big organizations where each and every PC is Lenovo. Highly trustworthy brand that business people trust all the time. But I dont think Lenovo models with- for example my Vaio EB specifications will be very affordable.

Damn opendrivers.com is sooooo damn slow!!

You can enable a BIOS password by going to the BIOS advanced settings menu. This password will prevent anyone from getting beyond pressing the power button. If the speaker's are noisy then I suggest that you reinstall the sound drivers via the sony recovery application. You are looking to reinstall drivers /software after pressing the ASSIST button. There is no software that can improve the performance of the speakers built in. But you can enable Dolby Surround for the headphones by going to the control panel-->hardware & sound-->sound-->speakerHP(realtek)-->properties-->dolby tab. You can also use the ATI 8.1 Channel HDMI output. But no you cant really do anything about the built in speakers.(you could find better laptop speakers and manually solder them in but thats gonna void your warranty)

I really dont understand by what you mean by "write to sony for sony" but you can google search "Sony+support+your country" for support contacts for your country.

 

@ravenperch
thanks for reply... wil check it out
sorry about the last line.
its a typo error..

 

when I saw this part of your response, I couldn't help but think "what the heck?!" no company that builds any device of this level should ever let them leave the factory without performing some sort of QA testing before shipping them off.

that would be like FORD building a car or truck and not even turning the key to start it up but simply putting on a trailer and shipping it off to the dealer to be sold.

I would think that all of the laptops go through some sort of bench testing prior to leaving the factory, especially considering that most of them are custom built to specifications specified by the buyer.

 

It is interesting that my two choices came down to the Lenovo T410/510 vs this EB. The prices were essentially similar, actually. The Pros with the Lenovo were my tried-and-true past experience with my '03 T40, excellent Lenovo "infrastructure" software (unlike the crap that VAIO loads), great build quality, switchable graphics. What I liked about the Sony was the HDMI out, VAIO Z reputation that I hoped would filter down into the EB series, styling (OK - that's my shallow side coming out, but - dang - it's sharp looking and that crazy blue color ) and the sense of adventure in owning and exploring a different machine.

I may eventually grow to love this thing after all, but it will only be because of all my efforts withoiut - and with no thanks to - Sony tech support.

PS - if you do blue screen getting the driver in, be sure you have a recent restore point before the install, and boot into safe mode WITHOUT NETWORKING, then restore from there and all should be forgiven.

 

Quality standards are always there to maintain customer satisfaction. However the thing is, sure they will bench test them for a couple of seconds to make sure they operate but can they bench test them in an extensive environment? Think of all the things kidziti has done with his laptop. What he's installed, how he's arranged his stuff...everything. Do you really think they can afford to install a whole bunch of software, completely meddle with the registry and control panel to see if it works fine? Sure they can run some diagnostic tools to see if everything is ok.

They they do pull out random numbers of laptops from the line regularly and test them, even so to a certain extent. This is the problem with software and technology, you can test a car pretty extensively(still, are you 100% positive that the airbags will operate when the car is speeding at 70kmh, running off a bridge at an angle of 60deg with 4 people?), but software has too many variables that interact with it.

When Microsoft release a new OS do you really think they release the final product? They just start making an OS, a far from finished product, the OS interacts with the hardware and then it sends reports back to the supplier. Hence patches, fixes, Service Packs. Think of all the PC's in the world, how's Microsoft supposed to test their software on every system?

All vaio's dont have this problem, kidziti's did. Looks like his was the one that sneaked passed the assembly line or was unfortunate enough to not be pulled out for random testing. Even so,

Software and firmware has too many variables, technically a perfectly manufactured laptop would be one which has been tested with every software in the world; cross checked with every driver firmware; cross checked with several OS's- something that could take years to do.

 

So far all is pointing to a bad WiFi card driver, but I do agree that it is largely impractical to test every machine fopr everything before it leaves the factory. That said, it seems I am not the only one out there with this issue, and that boils down to what is essentially not a defective piece of hardware but a poorly designed driver.

While it is true that defective products will occur, good products and good companies make their reputations on minimizing those issues, and when they do occur they accomodate the customer a little bit better.

I may be an outlier with my issues, but Sony missed a good opportunity to make it right for a new customer and an unporven product.

 

Aw well, blame it on Sony

 

After about 10 boots, it looks like the driver resolved a lot of issues, and so far no blue doughnuts. The connection to my home network takes perhaps an extra 30 seconds than it used to with the occassional "good" boot under the other drivers, but I can certainly live with that. Hope I'm not jinxing things by posting this - but I generally don't believe in the jinx thingy.

Is anyone getting the SidebySide Error event ID 59? Details:

Activation context generation failed for "c:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-m..corruptedfilerepair_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_5cd4e58f34e57306\MsiCofire.dll".Error in manifest or policy file "c:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-m..corruptedfilerepair_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_5cd4e58f34e57306\MsiCofire.dll" on line 2. Invalid Xml syntax.

Seems to have hit me while the laptop was idle twice over the past 12 hours, with just MS Outlook (2010) running in the background. Doesn't seem to be causing any real issues, but I'm still curious.

 

Hey guys,
I recently purchased a Sony Vaio E series and it's a really handsome laptop. I got a question though. How do I add more ram to the laptop? Thanks a lot!

 

Crucial.com - run the crucial system scanner tool

 

I believe the EB uses a DDR3 667Mhz RAM type. You can confirm this by opening up one of the compartments at the base of your laptop(the one in the center).

You have 2 RAM slots to work with.

Microsoft limits its RAM allowance by 2 things: the OS Bit and the OS type.

A 32Bit OS will accommodate upto 4GB of RAM(3.6GB to be precise).

If your OS is 64Bit then your RAM limit will depend on your OS type(I think its Microsoft's tacky marketing trap). Windows 7 Home Premium can use upto 16GB(64Bit OS) of RAM, Professional and above; 192GB of RAM(64Bit OS).

The E series of laptops have two slots so the maximum you will be able to install will be whats available in the market on a single stick x2. Which is 8GB max.

So yes you can upgrade your RAM but because you only have 2 slots to work with you can currently upgrade to a max of 8GB(in future manufacturers may produce higher capacities).

If you would like an inside look at the RAM slots/modules theres a video on youtube here

 

Thanks a lot, kidziti and ravenperch!

 

I assumed that you already knew on how to replace the modules right? you just push small levers away on each side and pull the module out,, insert a new one and push the levers back into place

 

I believe its DDR3 1066.

 

im thinking of replacing the opitcal drive in my EA with a SSD , ive found a caddy and am thinking of getting a C300 SSD 64gb or 128gb (funds permitting)

just wondering about AHCI enabling, theres no option in the bios, but will windows 7 automatically load it when i do a clean install as i only have my existing HDD (sata) and the new SSD replace the ODD which was sata?
hope this makes sense

 

Thats something real weird, it says 1066 on the module but every hardware diagnistic utility I've run- HWinfo, CPU-Z, Speccy, PC Wizard, they all shoot out some weird stuff(werid but they all cross confirm the same description):

Kingston
DDR3-SDRAM PC3-10600 (667 MHz) - [DDR3-1333] (older one 2GB not in use)

Samsung
DDR3-SDRAM PC3-8500 (533 MHz) - [DDR3-1067] (newer ones x2)

Unless the DDR3-XXXX is actually a model number and not a frequency. But I tend to state the actual frequency and not "the model".

 

What is not in order then? DDR 1067 running at 533 MHz is what it should read. 533 multiplied by 2 (DDR, Double Data Rate) equals 1066 so it's correct-ish.

 

I received my EB490X today and am currenting installing windows 7 ultimate (x64) to a seagate momentus XT 500GB hdd. I too added more ram and went with crucial. this is the link to what I ordered and it works perfectly:

Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BC1067


edit:
wow! the keyboard skin that sonystyle.com sells for the EB series is really nice I was kind of worried at first that it might be kind of cheap, but based on a few reviews from customers that I read, it looks like I made the correct decision. at 0.3mm thick, you can barely tell that it's there. it doesn't impede with typing at all and clings nicely in place to all of the keys.

 

Got it, I was wondering what the DDR meant, I mean I knew what it meant but none of the softwares actually state that the total data rate is 1066.

 

I had a weird issue about 2 hours after receiving my brand new PVC-EB490x and installing windows 7 to the new hdd where a dialog displaying that the battery was not inserted properly or not compatible with the laptop and to press "OK" (the only button on the response window) to put the laptop into hybernation mode, remove and re-insert the battery and then reboot.

It happened about a half dozen times (with the dialog appearing about 2-3 minutes after powering up the laptop) before I ended up resorting to phoning sony's help desk, and after 30 mins, resolved the issue by running "msconfig" and unchecking the "IPL utility" from the Boot tab and restarting the laptop (without the battery connnected, but running from the ac adapter alone).

I found it odd given that the laptop was running without any issues for about 1.5 hrs before it appeared. (I had installed windows 7 to the new hdd, as well as most of the sony updates before it starting appearing)

has anyone else run into this issue and if so, do you know what the root cause was? I was thinking that it may have had something to do with swapping out the ram and hdd without going into the bios for the laptop to re-evaluate the new hardware configuration, but I'm not sure.

 

I just bought a Sony Vaio EB VPC-EB4X0E/BQ and I can't wait till I get it tomorrow: I'm going to be a Vaio owner for the first time!

The specs are:
CPU: Intel Core I5 480M
Memory: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Screen: 15.5" Full HD with 1920x1080 res
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray Player (read only)

I was trying to get a one with the same kind of specs but with a ATI Radeon HD 5650 instead of the HD 5470 but no chance of finding one - in Ireland for some strange reason is not possible to order a customized Vaio directly from Sony. Well, to be honest it was possible to get a F series but that was starting to be above my budget so in the end I gave up and settled for the the model as I needed a laptop quickly and gaming performance was not my main priority anyway.
Still, I'm just wondering how well the HD 5470 performs with such a high resolution while playing some of the latest games. I guess with medium and low settings it should still be OK with the most demanding games.
Anybody on this forum with Vaio that has a Core i5 + 1920x1080 res + Ati HD 5470 has experience with gaming?

Thanks in advance,

L

 

labrador72:
that's odd that sony configures the same laptop differently based on region. the video upgrade for my EB series laptop was the ATI radeon HD 5650, and not the 5470, which was required in order to get the 1080p display (I reside in the states).

ps
welcome to the club. I'm sure you'll find that the system is very nice (I can't believe how fantastic the display looks

edit:
looking at the images from your link, there does appear some other differences. the EB series here in the states has 3 buttons above the regular keyboard for vaio, web and assist and vs. just the vaio assist button that yours has.

from us website:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644699999

 

Thanks J.M.! : )

It seems Sony is creating different pre-configured models for each European country: I could only find 2 EB pre-configured models with the i5 in both the UK and Ireland. I noticed there were at least 4 different Core i5 models on the Sony Italian website. I believe they do that for some purpose, probably marketing.

Maybe they might not sell a EB model with the Ati Radeon 5650 yet; maybe because they want to push people to buy the F Series - and it would have worked with me if only the cheapest F model with the 1080p display didn't cost nearly €1.5 K...

I read somewhere that the laptop had 3 buttons above the keyboard but maybe I am mixing it up with another US model. As soon as I get it I'll post some info - might be useful too for people considering buying the same laptop or another Vaio with the same specs.

Thanks again!

 

ok, I have another question for the group. after installing windows 7 ultimate to the new hdd as well as all of the required sony software drivers, I can't seem to get the blu-ray discs to play.

is there something in addition to the windvd blu-ray update in the drivers section on sony's site that I need to install to get my movies up and running?

 

Does somebody here know how to dismantle the optical drive on the eb series?

Because i want to put it on new msi gt663

 

Hi,

does anybody know something about an update of the e-series laptops? I'm thinking of Sandy Bridge processors, usb 3.0 etc.

 

There doesn't seem to be an update in the pipeline anytime soon or if there is one they haven't started spreading the news yet.

Looks like the E series will be focusing on the Core I5 processors with some models offering the Core i7 - like some of the EC models.
At least that's the news I found on the web before buying my laptop. No mention of USB3 for the E Series anywhere.

I think before updating the E series Sony will update first other series higher up in the range - e.g.: the F series. Or else they'll have an overlap between the mid-range series like the E and the top ranges like the F.

Just my 2 euro-cents worth : )

 

Hi everyone - have just found this forum (and specifically this thread) as I'm looking at getting a Vaio E Series!

I apologise if this has been covered before (too many pages to read through!), but I'm looking at the 15.5" version (upgrading a few things - graphics cards and 1920x1080 res screen, i5 processor), but it's slightly larger than I was originally planning to get - how does everyone find it, carrying it around...is it quite heavy and big, or is it OK? I'll be taking it to the occasional work meeting, and also when I go away for the weekend, and so it would be nice if it's not too cumbersome!

Also, if anyone has the plain white/silver version (not the glossy one), does it look good?? I'm hoping to find one in a shop, but failing that, I'm having to rely on pictures - I'm mainly looking at functionality, but it's always nice if it also looks good!

Thanks for your help!