Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

HI everyone im new here.

I just purchased a customised sony vaio VPCEB4C5E
customised laptop

320gb hard drive
core i3
3gb ram
blu ray
ati radeon 5470
1366x768 15" screen

I recieved it yesterday its a lovely laptop. Im not sure how much difference the HD screen would make.

However today i went on the sony configuration website just out of curiousity and i configured again the specs, i noticed theystopped doing the 320gb hard drive and have the 500gb as standard i calculated this and add the hd screen and i was annoyed to find it is now £20 cheaper than i paid for mine without the hd screen and 500gb. I would have had to pay £60 mmore than i paid to get them. Is there nothing i can do im guessing?

thanks in advance

 

Contact Sony Support ASAP. Tell them that you are not satisfied with the laptop and you want a full refund. When they confirm that they will be able to take the laptop back even though you have not recieved a refund, customize and buy the new one . The 1080p HD screen is significantly different and it is easy to tell the difference between a HD and a non HD screen. From a customer point of view, multitasking will be easier as you have much more space on screen. Things will look notably sharper. I got the 320gb initially for my EB but I'm planning to upgrade my HDD again for a 1TB samsung one.

 

Thanks for replying, will they definately allow me to take it back? Will they not need a specific reason for me wanting to change it?

 

so i rung them and the idiots say i cant return it, and they now tell me that the blu ray player wont play in high quality on my screen the whole reason i got the blu ray they told me it would when i was ordering it

 

Call back and tell them that you were misguided; you were told that the bluray would play videos optimally for the screen but now they are denying it. (youre running out options have they told you why they cant take it back?)

 

yh they were really rude, i was argueing with him, they told me that i can only take it back if there is something wrong with it. I did try to tell them i wanted to take it back because of the low sound on it( which is pretty poor compared to a hp i had) but he said all models have the same rubbish realtek soundcard lol.

Looks like ill have to keep it, i do like it but its just the volume and the hd that bug me iv tweeted the volume a bit. Will the blu ray still be good quality? windvd optimizes it doesn't it?

I have to say sony's vaio collection do need refreshing. The S series is nice but expensive but the C series is too bulky it has some gd updated features like the hd camera but they still use the awful sound cards. The E series is the only one which looks sexy the F series is really ugly imo

HP are way ahead in terms of features; with the envy range they have hit the nail on the head just too expensive. Design needs some improvement

 

well in the end i reported them to the trading standards agency i rung sony and told them so they decided to give me a refund and upgrade

 

good fighting! Any just a contradiction, the Realtek chip for the audio is a very decent chip actually. The built in speakers are really poor. The realtek chip supports quite new features including HD audio, and Dolby Surround(for headphones/ speakers- you have to turn it on in the control panel). Also when you play blu-ray, I would advise a player that has GPU decoding capabilites (freeware- Splayer/ Media player Classic) or invest in a software that supports GPU decoding.

 

Oh so its the speakers? so theres no way of improving the speakkers?

Why do oyou suggest using a different player? it has windvd with the vaio though. I notice while playing bbc iplayer in HD mode that my cpu usage is like 60% it drops to 20% when i click on a different tab.

They said they will uograde my memory to 4gb hdd to 500gb and screen to 1080HD

 

The inbuilt speakers cannot be improved. I suggest using a different player because windvd-bd, the version included with the Vaio is not the retail version. It cannot play media files. It only plays commercial dvds and bds. I doubt bbc iplayer has GPU integration and so will use a lot of cpu

 

would you recommend vlc player?

 

VLC has poor implementation of GPU acceleration(its actually not too bad). I would definitely recommend SPlayer. Other alternatives include GOM player and Media Player Classic(EVR must be enabled for GPU playback)

 

so when you say GPU acceleration you mean it uses the video card optimised and doesnt hog so much of the cpu?

 

btw do you have facebook?

 

Yes when I play a 1080p video on a player with no gpu acceleration, the CPU works at about 70%. Plus, the color is washed and the player skips frames too. These do not happen on a GPU acceleration enabled player- CPU is at 10-15% and color looks great.

 

how to configure vlc ,media player classic or wmp to get optimized sound and video with gpu accelration...and suggest some very good player for audio and video

 

Audio Settings:

VLC- Tools--> Preferences--> Audio-->Dolby Surround On, Headphone Surround Effect ON

WMP- Open a video- RT Click--> Enhancements-->SRS WOW, Dolby Surround

MPC- dosent really have any

Video Settings:

For all the players you can adjust hue, brightness, saturation.

VLC can enable GPU decoding from tools-->Preferences-->inputs&codecs-->check GPU acceleration.

Windows media player has automatic VC-1 acceleration that uses the GPU

MPClassic -->right click-->options-->output-->for directshow video select EVR

SPlayer is probably the best media player. It uses much more GPU than CPU, and has automatic video optimization for HD video. Unfortunately it does not come with much audio enhancement other than a 10 band equalizer and 17 presets. But video decoding is superior on the Splayer.

 

BD-Combo Drive Firmware BDC-TD02 Update version 1.02
This program will update BD-Combo Drive Firmware BDC-TD02 to version 1.02 and resolve the following symptoms:
- Error when formatting and finalizing a DVD-RW media.
- Readability of the CD-ROM is also improved.
BD-Combo Drive Firmware BDC-TD02 Update version 1.02 : Download : Sony Asia Pacific

hmm....

 

I've got an issue when playing Fallout New Vegas.
First of all, the mouse lags, even in the menu.
Second, no matter what my settings are, my fps stay roughly the same.
Lowest settings: 40-50 fps
Ultra high: 35-40 fps

Portal 2 runs at 90 fps at medium settings, so why can't I play Fallout NV at the same quality?

specs:
i5 430
HD5650 @640/925 with 10.10 drivers

 

Honestly, the reason for this is that games are built on different engines. The programing code for one game will be different to another, assuming that they are from different engines. If you remember GTA4, the game was soo annoying, even on a powerful desktop, the game sucked at running smoothly. On the otherhand, there are newer games of much higher visual complexity like Lost Planet 2 or Unreal Tournament that run great. Depends on the way its coded.

Mouse lag is something that the producers do. On some games the actual gameplay may be 10fps but the game menu is smooth. Sometimes the opposite. So its a choice by the programer as to implement graphics settings even in the menu.

As to fallout and portal, if you think it about it broadly, fallout has very complex environment, terrain, gun and game actions. Portal is well.... hell- its like a flash PUZZLE game! Thats why you get 90fps.

All games are encoded differently.

 

Well, the way it's coded must really suck then, if there's only 10fps difference between low and ultra quality
Too bad, I really wanted to play New Vegas on PC because the loading times are too damn long on PS3. And I'm not installing a SDD

 

I received a eb on Saturday. I was thinking about reformatting and installing a fresh windows 7 ultimate. I had a few concerns.
First, the drivers on sony's site say home premium and profession so will they work with ultimate, if so which should i use?
My second concern is if I reformat, will the "WEB" button still function both in windows and when starting from a turned off computer.

 

you will need to get additional drivers that are already stored on your vaio(i really cant remember where they were) As for the rest of the drivers, the OS shouldnt matter, just remember to get 64bit software whereever possible.


Can someone confirm whether or not single 8GB ram sticks are available?, Adobe Aftereffects and Prepiere Pro are a pain in the even with 8gb Thank You!

 

I have a Sony Vaio VPCEC2S0E. I have a number of questions.

1) Has anyone managed to find / buy a SATA connector ribbon for the 2nd Hdd bay, so I can add a SSD & 1Tb drive without having to remove my bluray unit & buy a bracket?

2)Does the eSATA have port multiplier technology, so I can add a multi bay Hdd external enclosure & use in RAID 1 configuration?

3)When cleaning the screen using a LCD tv cleaner, Denmark Am's one, the screen was worryingly loose near the centre, at the bottom near the Sony logo, i.e. it moved away from the plastic housing by about 0.5 - 0.7 cm, when slight pressure was applied upon cleaning, has anyone else experienced this on the 17" model? On a 14" Acer laptop, this does not happen.

4) The Assist button does not work when the Laptop is on. Vaio care works, but I need to load it via the programmes menu. The button does work when the laptop is switched off. I have searched google for many a hour, but cannot find a solution to this.

5) Using tuneup utilites, I have the number of process's down to 52 on average, after boot, with everything except for the essentials disabled. If I were to do a clean install, with out all the Vaio bloatware, would this number be less & the laptop faster? I will be getting a SSD in near future, & will be doing a completely fresh install when that happens.

6) Is the motherboard SATA I, II, or III?

Thankyou

 

Thanks, I guess I'll go fishing through the 300+ pages to find them :cry:

However if someone does know where to find the drivers it'd be great to have them posted near the end of the thread.

As for your question about the 8gb sticks, i don't believe they are commercially available. But when they are, I might have to go rob a bank so i could buy some $$$ $$$

 

Hi. I haven't been around this site in a while but it was a lot of help when I got my last laptop, an SZ680. I'm still using it, but I am upgrading to an E series that I ordered last week. I was going to wait till it came in to post, but I couldn't. It shipped today though!

I was deciding between the EB and the CB. The green CB was tempting, but I ended up going with the EB to save some cash. I wasn't quite sold on the build quality of the CB. It's really plastic-y, and you can see the rivets around the touch pad, but if you look at the official pics they Photoshop them out! I really liked the 1080p screen on the CB. I hope the EB is the same.

I decided to go with a refurb from the Sony Style Outlet. I hope I don't regret that decision later. This is what I got -

Operating System : Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Graphics Card : ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 GPU (1GB VRAM)
Display : 15.5" Full HD VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080)
Battery : Standard capacity battery
Processor : Intel® Core™ i5-580M processor (2.66GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
Bluetooth : Stereo A2DP Bluetooth® technology
Color : White
Memory : 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
Optical Disc Drive : CD/DVD Player / Burner
Hard Drive : 320GB Hard Disk Drive (7200rpm)
Wireless Local Area Network : WiFi: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11abgn)

It was $839 for the refurb, minus 20% off sale makes it $672, and I got another $200 off with credit card points. I'll post some pics and impressions when it comes in.

 

WiFi: Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6200 (802.11abgn)


And how come some of us are with a crappy Atheros one that dosent really work?

 

I have a feeling that the 6200 won't be installed in the laptop when he recieves it

 

why not? sony might have figured atheros is crap

 

I'll let you know once I get it (hopefully tomorrow). What's the problem with the Atheros?

 

Idk about everyone else, but even sitting 5 feet from the router my download speeds fluctuate like crazy, sometimes stopping entirely

 

mine just disconnects all the time and when I try to reconnect it just says it was unable to connect. I have tried literally everything, but the solution- I restart the laptop everytime I lose connection.

 

Just got my CTO Sony EB last night. It has Atheros AR 9285 inside with driver dated back to 12.29.2009.

 

you can find more later drivers than that, think the most recent is like feb or march 2010

 

Thanks. I was just surprised to see the old, 2009 driver in a May 2011 notebook.

The latest I found is 9.2.0.113 november 2010

 

Despite what the spec sheet says it is indeed the Atheros card, and it refuses to connect or even see N networks

 

sigh...generic protocol...uninstall...reinstall....try stuff like that. I will be investing in a half pci wifi card soon.. probably an intel centrino ultimate N 6300

 

Can anyone help me out with any of these questions please?

 

I think I'd rather get a new card and replace it than send my laptop in or return it. Is this what we need? Half height mini PCI-e? What screws do we take out to get at the port?

 

yep this is the card- Half Mini PCI-E. There are the main screws on the back cover of course, then there are two additional screws on the top corners of the card. If you want to get the best possible card, I suggest the ultimate N, however you will need to wire a third aerial. Damn things are cheaper in the US than in the UK(i'm studying here).

Despite this, I suggest you actually tryout the Atheros. If it gets too annoying, then replace it. Issues the Atheros may have, but feature packed a card it is(why the hell do I sound like Yoda?).

1)I have no Idea how thats possible, I dont think you can even connect a single 1tb drive to a lot of laptops(need clarification) because they have 3 platters and so not the standard 9mm but the 12.5mm

2) A port cant have a "technology" its simply a bit of plastic and metal. Use of RAID will depend on the external enclosure. The external enclosure has to support RAID and be able to connect to ESATA(jesus; are you trying to make a portable server or something?) But yes; if I understand what you mean, an external HDD box configured with RAID will be able to communicate with the vaio's ESATA(or any esata). Make sure you get the right product and software/drivers provided.

3)I cannot say for the 17 model but maybe an entire centimeter or even half is a little exzaj. Some laptops have an empty space behind the screen, some are padded with rubber or foam. If you mean it "moved away" from the plasic housing, its a concern but if it "depressed inwards" then its just the empty space. Open it up to see whats cooking. Check if the LCD panel is secure and does not slide around. If it does, attatch screws if missing, or take it to sony. If it is firm, but hollow space, then get something like foam padding and fill her up.

4)Go to device manager--> and see if any drivers are missing, find them and install them. If these do not solve the issue, run vaio recovery and restore-->reinstall programs and drivers--> reinstall the sony firmware parser (or something like that). reinstall the vaio care, and other relevant stuff and try.

5)A clean install windows is like a shiny new car. Smooth as a whistle. Always. period. Sometimes it amazes me to see how well clean installs run and wonder that he hell is wrong with the marketing departments of organizations to give us new slowened laptops.

5)I honestly have no Idea what chipset your laptop it has but it probably is the HM55. The HM55 supports 3Gb/s which means it is SATA2.0. SATA 3.0 yeah I wish, even though SATA 3.0 was available in 2009, 2.0 is the mass market standard. Besides, its only later this year that OCZ and the other guys- yeah, corsair will implement the new Sandforce chips for ssd's that still may not come close to fully utilizing sata3.0; funny, hard to even see a sata2.0 device that actually matches 3Gb/s!

 

I need to replace it. I updated the driver, I've done a couple fresh installs trying to do a semi-clean install, and it won't connect to my 5GHz N network. One last question about disassembly. After I take out all the screws I keep it upside down and lift the bottom off? Thanks for the help.

 

course it wont connect, the atheros AR9 does not support 5Ghz mode!

Take out all the screws(there's two more under the battery), you'll have to untab the base. MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ALL THE SCREWS(in an older laptop i missed one and when pulling the back off, I broke it in half)!! Keep it upside down, use your fingers/nails to pry apart one corner. Then insert a ruler or something(i used my nail). Stick it into the open slit, and run it down the sides on the laptop, keeping it inside the slit. As you run down; the tabs holding the base will release one after the other. This can get annoying sometimes if the tabs relock again and you will have to repeat the process.

 

It is the HM55. Although it says it supports SATA2, even though I've installed the latest intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers, it used to say SATA Transfer Rate: Generation 1. now it says SATA Transfer Rate: 1.5Gb/s. Which is the same thing.

And as the Sony BIOS has virtually no options, it doesn't seem like there is any way of enabling SATA 2?
Would installing a non-sony bios for the HM55 be an option?

 

I also have a question regarding SSD's. I'm torn between 3 different models.

OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB £150 - I know this will work, another poster here has one working. The only thing putting me off is on google shopping reviews, there are many many complaints of these drives failing completely.

Crucial RealSSD C300 128 GB - £160
This is one I want to get, but I don't know 100% if it will work with a Intel i5 430m Vaio VPC EC2S0E. There was another forum member considering putting one in, but he never confirmed this, & a in search of what seems like the entire internet, I cannot find a single user who has installed this in a Vaio E series.

128GB Crucial M4 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s - £165
This is the successor to the C300, & according to crucial's website it is compatible with my Vaio, it is also backwards compatible with SATA 2, but as mentioned in my previous post, the HM55 chipset is SATA 2, but Intel RST system report says that I'm using SATA 1.

The other alternatives are a Momentus XT, or WD Caviar Black 2Gb, but the SSD's sound so appealing. My current boot time, with 6GB ram, & 50 start-up processes, using Kaspersky Internet Security, is 2.45 - 2.59mins. And firefox takes ages to load, like 10-15 seconds, as I've got so many addons for security & other stuff, such as Ghostery, NoScript, Ad Block Plus, Better Privacy, Etc. Whereas IE9, with no add ons takes less than 2 seconds.

So I'm hoping a SSD will kick firefox's , fix-up my boot time & bend PS CS 5.1 into shape.

Anyone have any experience of the Crucial M4 or C300 in the E series?

 

ive put a c300 in my ea viao had no issues really easy instal. the old hdd i put in the dvd bay on mine. intels rst reports the old hdd as sata 1 in that bay so might be a bug in intels software. the ssd reports as sata 2
boot times for me are around 22 secs with 63 process running. firefox loads in 2 secs but i dont have as many add ons as you do.

 

Thank-you so much! You were the forum member I was refering to.
I'm going to order one now.
Did you clone old drive, or use Vaio Recovery Discs or do a completly fresh install? I was thinking of cloneing the drive, then use recovery partition to do a new install.

 

i did a fresh install i thought it best with it been an ssd and letting windows set it up properly.
the drivers i just re downloaded from the sony site VAIO : Sony Europe

theses are the uk drivers for the ea3s1e but can use the link to find your model

 

That's weird. I thought everything that worked on N would work. My SZ is almost 4 years old and it supports it.

 

by going to the wireless settings, the 5ghz is not selectable. Atheros also states the card to be 2.4Ghz. It can connect to wifi n but cannot communicate on the 5Ghz band. Oh and heres a picture of the wifi card in my eb

I dont understand how this could be possible as there is only enough space to fit a single hard drive(on vpc-eb). As for the esata, I once remember hearing that esata can be configured as a motherboard internal connection via bios. This may facilitate raid implementation. However I an unsure as to how limited the vaio bios is.

 

Hmm I just checked mine and it says "SATA Transfer Rate: 3Gb/s" is it possible the default HDD Sony have supplied isn't even a SATA 2 drive and thats why its only showing as 1 - 1.5Gb/s for you, although I have to admit would seem pretty strange for them not to.

For RavenPerch: He has an EC the 17" Version which has two HDD bays.