Official VAIO E Series Owners Thread

I was thinking that we were dealing with the region affected Sony EB issues, but unfortunately as it seems it is more individual unit base problem.

@kaveh_812005: if got some time try to go over thread of F series, I am sure there are solutions for your problem, but as far as I am aware F series should not have this issue any more.

@Mythdat: Does the noise come from HDD? as I have mentioned in my case I hear only fan. No other noises...

 

Nope, the noise is from the CPU - guess you're just lucky enough to either not have it or have ears not sensitive to it!

 

Hi t all, found some vids of European Vaio EB
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFekNjvoy5w
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex1Jl9m4xHM

 

Hi! I have no noise on my VPCEB1Z1R/B (Core i5 M430/15.5"/1920x1080/4gb/320Gb/Blu-Ray/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Win 7 HP). I have following problems:
1. Notebook periodically dead freezing, then ext. USB-HDD or flashcard is connected to one of the 3 usb-port on the right side (USB hdd 100% working on another computer). One USB-port on the left side working normally. I am obliged to switch off power button.
2. Black frame around picture and falling out sound on ext. monitor ( SONY fhd TV). TV connected via HDMI port.
Maybe anybody can help me how to fix these problems.

 

Costco has one for sell @ 799 w/ i5-430m right now. Black color

 

I went to the sony store to check out the vaio eb series. I was so dissapointed at how cheap it looked and how ugly the screen was.
I have an fw and I'm looking at other smaller alternatives for traveling. The one thing that I love the flush scroll pointer with the computer. The EB is like the NW series in the sense that dips down slightly.. not a fan of that. The new Y series looked very nice as does the magenesium business edition. Too bad they don't make a game packed 15.4 or 15.5 in the same edition.

 

When I take a look at Coconut color, this notebook is very nice. The color looks like silver. Sometimes I think that it looks like a macbook color. I love this color. Wow, the keyboard is so wonderful. I love the keyboard very much.

 

I'm not sure if anybody noticed, but Sony almost silently released new E type - EA.

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It got 14" screen with LED backlight and 1600x900 resolution, i3-330M Processor, ATI HD 5145 Graphic card, 4GB RAM and colorful combination like EB.

Check UK Sonystyle for more info.

 

Nice one, well I wonder why this screen (1600*900 LED) is not available for the 15.5' EB series? Do you think it will be available later on ... or they keep it as it is to differentiate models?

 

I believe they will keep that difference. It seems unlikely that they would add more resolution options just after release. Anyway I think FullHD for 15" is quite ideal, just would be happy if it would be LED (if it isn't).

 

Shame the colour options are not available on the larger 17 inch EC series.

Why do people want to buy small laptops anyway. When it comes to things like screens either laptops, PCs or TVs, bigger is always better.

Surely carrying around a 17 inch is as much hassle as a 13 inch.

The only 17 inch laptop Sony do is the EC series but it is only available in cheap looking matt black or the ugly matt white which is actually a sandwich of silver (top), white (keyboard) and black (bottom).

Might have to go with a 17 inch Macpro at this rate.

 

Really? Do you really think that carrying around everyday a 1.3kg is as much hassle as a 3+kg? I would never go for 17"+ notebook...simply because the screen is so ty, that for big screen quality external monitor is always needed anyway. And it's so damn hard to use anything bigger than 15" in the bed

But I agree they should have offered other color combination with 17" as well, even though most of ppl are asking for matte versions.

 

Hi all, I picked up a E series yesterday from John Lewis, it's the £799 model with i5 and HD screen, to replace a battered Vaio FE31z. So far I'm really pleased with it: the screen res is fantastic (and is the main reason I chose this machine), text is very very crisp and I'm loving the extra space I have, but I had to set Win 7 to 125% to keep everything readable. There's absolutely no noise coming from mine; plugged in or not, it's very quiet even when the fans are spinning. The laptop feels very solid with no loose bits and the battery is nice and tight unlike my old FE series. The keyboard also feels solid, and was comparable to laptops far more expensive when I was looking.

Bad points: the trackpad feels weird at first and I'm still not too keen on the textured feel but I'm getting used to it. Also, once or twice I've lost any control using the trackpad, a problem I also occasionally had on my FE. My other main complaint is the hard drive came formatted as a single 500gb partition! I don't know if this normal these days but my old FE came with 2x100 which made a lot more sense. Finally, the battery life seems poor, although that isn't something I was after so I'm not too bothered by that.

So a question - if I resize the partitions, will I still be able to restore Windows 7 from the hidden partition? Or does it expect the factory default partitions. I need to be able to restore Windows without wiping the whole 500gb drive and all my data.

 

I hate to contradict you, Mythdat, 'cos in other cases you may be right. I sent my E Series to Sony for repair, and they identified the problem was indeed the hard drive.

Now what really pissed me off was that this happened last week, yesterday they told me the supplier for the new hard drive was out of stock so the repair had to be delayed for another week!

I'd always been a Dell guy and this is my first Vaio, now I'm starting to miss their wonderful in-home repair service....

 

Tis a different noise to mine then, mine definitely isn't a HDD noise! Thank god it's only one and we're not subjected to the whole cacophony of noises..

 

Just came back from the stores to see if I would be happy with the matt white colour (or silver, white and black sandwich colour) and I have to say that whilst the Sony E series is probably better looking than a lot of other brands at the moment thanks mainly to its keyboard design, it is still so far behind the Apple Macbook pro in terms of looks, quality and feel that it is now becoming a joke.

Where the hell is Sony's equivalent to the Macbook Pro?

The AW series was very plastic and cheap looking and the E and F series are worse than the AW series.

Sony is reknown for expensive products but along with its price tag usually comes modern and cutting edge design. However with respect to laptops, Sony fails miserably.

I also saw the HP Envy which is HP's version of the Macbook Pro with its aluminium casing. The HP envy however, was the biggest joke of the day and no where close to the macbook pro in terms of quality and looks. Had I not read that the casing on the Envy was aluminium I would have thought it was silver painted plastic.

Come on sony, where is the carbon fibre, aluminium or glass 18+ inch AW replacement? Stop making your top end machine in cheap boring and ugly plastic, especially black and grey plastic.

 

inb4 sh*tstorm

 

Sony is famous for making high quality ultraportable machines. It's Japanese brand and in Japan they don't like big notebooks. I don't understand big notebooks anyway, it's hard to carry around and the screen is worse than average monitor...why not buy desktop than and classy ultraportable for everyday carrying?

And no, I don't think that alu macbooks are great. At first aluminum is not good material for the chases, second glass is not good for the screen. What more the screen quality is in case of Macbooks much worse than FW/AW/Z...

 

Perhaps you should buy a Macbook Pro if no-one makes a comparable model?

 

Really? you're comparing Sony Vaio E to Macbook Pro?

Sony Vaio EC with Core i5-430M/4Gb/500Gb/ATI5650/FullHD/Bluray cost about £899
Apple MacBook Pro 17" with Core2Duo 2.8Ghz/4Gb/500Gb/nvidia 9600 cost about £1,889

 

Yeah, you are mostly very right. When I want to buy a Sony, I want and I expect:

-Above average build quality.
-Above average used materials.
-Topclass screen.

And yes, I know the E series is budget serie. But even then..the touchpad is worse than on the most cheap Acer. The screen is just average, in the best case. The build quality is somehow okay and I don't expect magnesium for this price. But not even the F series are built with premium materials. And not even the screen on the cheapest F serie is top class. Come on Sony...we don't want Acer like machines, if we want that, we would buy an Acer, right?

 

anyone know when the 17 in ec's are suppose to come out? they are for pre order on the uk site

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/vn-e-series/vpcec1s1e-bj

Edit: nevermind, I saw it instore today, looks nice, I'm not sure if the screen is as good as the 15'' but keyboard and palm rest is nicer as theres more space to put your hands. (also the outside isn't glossy black)

 

Sony is trying to reach a wide range of users by having so many series, from budget to premium, and premium material comes with a price. Sony Z series with magnesium and carbon fiber body starts at $1,800 (Sonystyle USA). Would people be willing to buy a magnesium F series for, say $2,200?

 

Double post

 

Can anyone tell me if Bluetooth is standard across all EB series (even pre-config)? The Sony site claims that BT is an "available option" with the custom-build, but you get no choice and it's not explicitly included when you view your custom-build specs. Furthermore, when I browse retailers online for pre-config models there's no clarity in the product specs.

I emailed both Sony and the retailers, but got no reply.

 

^
The one they sell over at costco doesn't have BT.
Model is VPCEB13FX/BIC
15.5 screen w/c sells for $799.00 w/ coupon in stores and instant savings at costco.com.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Produc..._Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

 

I love the design of this E series vaio.

But seriously the DEAL BREAKER is the low resolution 1366x768 screen for USA customers. Even there is no option to upgrade the screen to Full HD I wonder when Sony made this (Full HD option) available to other countries why not for USA ?

 

Is the VGP BPS22A an extended battery or just standard? On the Sony sight it says extended but when you look at J&R and other sites, it says standard.

 

I've already linked you elsewhere, but it might as well be in this thread too:
There are 1080p models in the U.S.; at the very least there is the preconfigured VPCEB17FX model being sold by a number of retailers.
Also, seriously, what's up with the way you say "deal breaker" in ALL CAPS all the time?

 

I was planning on buying the CW vaio however recently discovered the battery drain problem most of the CW`s users are experiencing, so perhaps owners of E series could confirm that does this model exhibits similar behavior or not?

 

A new version of E series Sony VAIO EA 14''
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaGH...5-Zap5IlL5DEIHmnIBhd6mP2UCux3HW-KG2CoOvQiM9tW

http://translate.google.com/transla...deo-neue-sony-e-modelle-vorgestellt-nkst-1729

 

So they're basically just CWs with Radeon cards?

 

Hi all, not posted in along time!

Bought an E series this weekend, didnt look into it too much TBH since I wasnt shopping for a VAIO at all lol due to my FE41E failing after only 3 years!!!!

Anyway after much hunting around the shops I decided that the Vaio E series was the only laptop that fitted my spec and budget so without too much more thought I bought a VPCEB1SOE.

Intel i3-330
4GB Ram
500GB HD
non HD screen
ATI Raedeon HD 5470

Now after reading this thread it has made me aware of the 2 screen options, my base screen and the super HD screen, I do wish I had done some research before I bought but I couldnt really go any longer without a laptop so I didnt, TBH this 1366x768 screen isnt bad but its not the best, the colours are not very vibrant and it all seems alittle washed out I have adjusted and calibrated the screen which has improved the look but the screen on my FE41E looked better!!

Has anyone found out whats going on with the memory availability yet?? my system shows 3.86GB useable!? no biggie really but it has 4GB so why is it all not useable????!!!!

The mouse pad isnt great, the pointer on screen often jumps around for no reason!! I have read through this thread and it appears Im not alone. To solve this I have been using an external mouse when I can!

The instant internet button is a useful addition!!!

I do not however have this noise issue that I see some people have here which is nice I suppose lol!! EDIT: maybe it is there alittle bit if I listen carefully!

Anyway overall Im happy with it overall for now but I have only had it 1 day so far so I will see how it goes!





Paul.

 

Just CW with possibility of 14"/14"/17" with stronger graphic card, i7 processor, FullHD screen and numpad

 

I was specifically discussing the 14", which I doubt will have i7s or FHD; possibly not the HD 5650 or numpad either.

 

sounds great! any picture of the 14" ?

I guess the EC/EA model is only with i3 and i5 processor or I should have overlooked it.

 

Well that's something we'll know when these two models will show up on Japanese Sonystyle.

 

When does SonyStyle USA typically update their website (assuming it's scheduled)? I'm impatiently waiting for the FullHD screen option, and I'm sure I'm not alone...

 

Well not sure they'll update it anytime soon. I would guess it could be with the next refresh, that means in about three months [?]

 

FullHD screen in which form factor?

 

For now just for 15.5" - EB

 

The jumpy mouse issue (when using the pad) is getting alittle annoying! Is this likely to be sorted with a driver update or is it a hardware issue??

Just raised the issue with Vaio support, see what they have to say on the matter!

 

Bought a VPCEB1Z0E yesterday. I am really liking it apart from one thing. Is the fan supposed to be on all the time? It never turns off on mine and is quite annoying when the room is quiet and I am surfing.

Even when idle the fan still goes. Should I return it?

 

If you're at a warm place, it's probably normal.

 

Nope. Not in a warm place. I'm in the uk

 

I bought the i5 model but with the 1366 display, would it be possible to change the display for the new hd one?
Is Sony offering this upgrade?
If not ,I will buy the display separately but, will it fit? Will it work?

Thank you.

 

I like you only found out about this option after I bought, The sales staff could of made me/you aware of this option couldnt they!! but I guess they kept quiet or simply didnt know with you too.

If you wish to have a warranty I wouldnt recommend fitting a new screen yourself!

 

Does the fan speed up/down normally? Mine is never totally off, but when it's on low speed it's barely audible from a few feet away.

 

Hello

It does get louder when its processing. Surely the fan shouldnt be audible at all near you. It is a notebook/laptop after all. Mine isnt that noisy from a few feet away but I use it about 6 inches away and it is very annoying. Why is it on all the time when it doesnt need it?

I am going to look in the power saving settings tonight. You can set the performance of the processor using maximum and minimum percentages. At the moment the default for plugged in is minimum 100% maximum 100%. So I guess thats why the fan is always on? Because if the minimum is set to 100% wont the processor never slow down when necessary?

 

Did you try to change the profile in Vaio Control Centre to Silent? It's quite a big difference in case of my Vaios.