Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

General Information
VAIO SR Information and Statistics on UK .Sony website
VAIO SR USA Sonystyle Page

Some Places to Purchase the SR:

USA
SonyStyle (Custom Build CTO Available)
Laptopsinc (aka PortableOne)(Custom Build CTO Available)

Note: Thinking about buying an extended warranty service plan? See This Link

Canada
Sony Syle (Custom Build CTO)

Europe
SonyStyle


VAIO SR Guides:
RAM Installation Guide
Upgrading/Replacing the Hard Disc Drive Guide
Installing Windows Vista 64 Bit on the VAIO SR 1xx Series Guide
CPU Replacement Guide by go_ahead_ed (If you have any trouble with the Google docs website try the:
SkyDrive Link)

SR User Impressions/Reviews:
VGN-SR129E/B In-Depth Review including (several) Pictures and Videos by silverwolf0
VGN-SR129E/B Impressions/Review including Pictures by ShinyFalcon

Miscellaneous
Picture of the SR Standard Power Adapter
Pictures of SR with Extended 9 Cell Battery

Night Black Sony VAIO SR|P8600 @ 2.4|4 GB OCZ RAM|320 GB HDD 5400 RPM|Intel 4700 GPU|Extended Battery (9 Cell)
Official VAIO SR Owner's Thread

_________________

Are you interested in producing music on your computer? Check out:

FL Studio Demo (PC): http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/download.html

http://www.youtube.com/flstudiodiscount

 

So anyone else order one?

 

Yes I did.

SR-190 CTO
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz)
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
1 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 1GBx1)
250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
Order Total: $1,787.11

 

first of all, do you need all that memory? why not try out an external harddrive solution? plus if the laptop is ever stolen or drops, at least you got the data on your extenral drive

second, it's not too late to cancel and re-order... it says on the site that your card is not charged till the item ships.

 

Can someone tell me if the SR uses the SZ port replicator?

I assume the Z does not...

 

I just ordered. check out the opening post of this topic for a sweet deal that i configured!

 

good thinking, you did the school thing huh

 

yes. I needed the case, but I didnt want to spend 100 bucks more for another useless accessory to me. so i got two cases. never know... could lose one

Also,

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=8198552921644570898&parentCategoryId=16154

Under specifications tab...

Does the SR have a kensington lock hole??? it looks like it does on the side with the headphone jacks/express card slot (left side)

 

It should, most laptops have em now.

edit: Actually in the pics, i dont see one, lol

 

look under the Specificaitons tab. then look at picture on the right which shows the left side of the SR. I think its the hole toward the front of the laptop near the express card slot by the palm rest

 

To the original poster: Your warranty w/accidental is only 2 years. Don't think of extended as extended beyond 1 year.

Logic behind this - and I've worked retail and purchased/sold many protection plans before - is that you want the accidental coverage to start from day one, and not one year after the standard/warranty. So your post saying you're covered for 3 years is incorrect.

I do hope you enjoy this laptop! It looks really sweet, and I may pick it up if it gets good reviews and I can load off my CR to someone!

 

didnt see that before, must of missed it, but yea im pretty sure thats a kensington lock

 

I disagree. If you under the options for the warranty when you CTO, it says "Up to 5 years of total coverage from date of purchase using authorized Sony repair centers and parts." There is no option for 5, only 4 years.

I know it says from date of purchase...though...urgh..who knows..

Anyhow, I still think for 130 bucks 2 years with accident coverage is a steal. Think about how much that is worth.... If you crack your LCD (probably worth hundreds of dollars to replace), then it gets fixed for free with shipping paid for! if it happens again..it gets replaced again... If you get a lemon..you get an entirely new laptop.

hell... even if it was 1 year 130 is definitely worth it.

 

Congrats on your purchase. So what were the final specs you decided upon?

 

There's no debate that $130 is not a great deal for accidental coverage on a notebook computer.

The 5 years listed, if you go to the notebook details site, is only offered on some models and only for express ship. The warranty you got is covered here: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...0551&categoryId=27203&storeId=10151&langId=-1

and says basically what i typed... Express Ship Service Plan plus Accidental Damage from Handling:
2 to 4 year plans available.

It's your choice. No matter how long you choose to be covered, each plan offers the same benefits as Express Ship Service and will repair or replace eligible parts in your Sony product when it malfunctions due to unexpected breakdowns that occur from handling the product under normal operating conditions. If a repair is needed, this service plan will also cover your express shipping costs to and from an Authorized Sony Service Center.

Protection against accidents beginning day 1
Repairs done in our service center for a thorough inspection and repair of hidden damage
Easy and convenient repairs, no scheduling or appointments necessary
Coverage begins on date of notebook purchase

Anyways, you'll get a new notebook in 3 - 4 years like most everyone else does! haha.

 

I just realized something for CTO models...

Sony advertises G Shock protection...but I don't know if that also covers the 120 and 160 GB HD in the CTO config?? The defualt drives sony provides in prebuilt is 320 right? so are those the only ones truly with G Shock and they are just adding the lower options for CTO to get rid of stock????

:|

 

yep i also ordered one.

* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz)
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
* Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* 250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
* 13.3" WXGA (XBRITE-ECO™ technology)
* Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
* Night Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
* 2 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx1)

$1885.13 with two year warranty, neoprene carrying case, and wired mouse...oh and a 10% discount that my dad's company offers.

i really hope the screen is bright enough and not too dim or hard to read. it was either this or wait for the T400, but i needed it for college before Aug 22. the sony reps said i would definitely get this b4 Aug 22.

 

awww dude! you let me down I could use 10% off as a struggling college student :\

 

Congrats

I listened to duke and decided not to buy from newegg.

So i reconfiged the SR-180CTO

2.40 GHz
1GB Ram
320HD
Ati graphics
Black Color
1,698$ (excluding tax)=$1,841 w/tax

I can't wait! Duke what were ur final specs?

 

Hey DUKE can you give me the link to the RAM ur going to get for your SR. You think i should go with 1GB then upgrade or get 2GB and upgrade? Also did you get 2.4 or 2.26 ghz or more? thanks

 

hey. I got this:

p8600 2.4 Ghz (only 50 bucks more. COULD be worth it. i was willing to bet 50 bucks on it)

ATI card

1 GB RAM

160 GB HDD

I am upgrading to this ram when i get my laptop. it comes out to 66 dollars after tax, ship and finally rebate. alot better than 150 dollars sony wanted for 4 GB for who knows what brand of ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227251

I think if you're going to upgrade only up to 2 i personally would just pay the 50 bucks on sonystyle. it costs 25 bucks for 1 stick of 1 GB ram on average plus tax and shipping.. might as well pay 50 bucks for sonystyle to put it in for you.

however, if you want 4 GB, i suggest buying it on newegg since you save alot more money. better decide quick. the 25 dollar rebate ends on the 30th i think of july. i did this for future proof. i might use 64 bit vista later or something..and 4 GB will be of use then.

 

Thanks^^im going to order them today. Im going to get 1GB then upgrade to 4.

 

Just thought how I feel about the SR after strolling by the SonyStyle store briefly... not enough time to get a real feel of the SR.

The SR with the HD 3470 ran a bit too warm to my liking. The heat is mostly concentrated near the fan exhaust, and the air was warm enough to feel a bit uncomfortable. I had an XPS M1330 with 8400M GS, and the heat of the air was comparable to it. I was unsure if the SR had stuff running in the background, as that can affect things. The fan noise seemed quiet when put against my ears. It sounded exactly like the FZ's fan, and I assume that's pretty quiet.

The screen was very nice, as well as the SZ's screen. I was expecting it to have some light leakage, because of the ECO screen found on the FZ and other CCFL models, but there was no light leakage to be seen. The screen was vivid, but I haven't looked at the SZ's screen long enough to compare thoroughly. Somehow, the bright red in MSPaint on the SR didn't look as vivid compared to the FZ HiColor's or the SZ's screen. The FW next to the SR had some light leakage, because when I set the background to complete black, I can see the variance in the black levels, slightly whiter at the bottom. The FW seemed less brighter as well.

The keyboard was very nice. I prefer it to the slightly clickier Macbook keys. I only wish that there were dedicated keys for the home, pg up/down, end keys. Despite the heat coming out of the fan, the keyboard and mouse area was pretty cool to the touch. The M1330 w/ 8400M GS was too hot, and the heat from the mousepad and palmrest forced me to return it since it was so uncomfortable. The mousepad was big, but the buttons were noisy. They were as noisy as the FW, FZ, CR, and NR. The SZ and the TZ has the quietest mouse buttons. The SR buttons were big enough so that the fingerprint reader was unobtrusive. The biometric in the center of the SZ bothered me a lot because it made the buttons smaller. I just don't understand why most companies have to put it in the center of the damn buttons. I loved how the keyboard and mouse and biometric was set up on my M1330.

The three modes with 5 configurable shortcuts was very nice. You can config them to applications, and even MEDIA KEYS. I didn't try configuring it, but I saw that it had the fast forward and rewind shortcuts, and I assume there are also keys for volume, pause/play, brightness, volume, etc. When you press the shortcut, the key on the desktop increases in size, and goes back to original size in about two seconds. When switching around the three modes, the background that comes with each mode changes instantly. I really like this feature!

As to battery life, I left it on High Performance mode, and it did something particularly weird. Within the first minute, the 100% counter dropped down 1% at the time until it reached 90%. Estimated time was around 2h 40m at maximum brightness, and I assume wifi was on as well. The 2h 40m was constant until 3 minutes later when it was around 90% 2h 39m. It's not too bad, for high performance.

Well, this is all that I can remember from my 15 minutes at the Sony store. I didn't see the Z model, but I concentrated with the FZ, FW, and SR on one half of the store and not the other. Next time, if you guys want me to be on the lookout for certain details, I'll make sure to check it out! I'll bring some programs with me to check temps and all that. This brief review should be taken with a tablespoon of salt.

 

You lucky....
Here in Sweden we can´t config the SR or any other vaio model. Not even on sonystyle!
It sucks big time!
I got 2 different specs SR to pick from.
One with the ATi card, 4GB ram, P8400 and 200GB 7200rpm HD. Price about 2500$
The other with the Intel x4500MHD, 3GB ram, P8400 and 160GB 5400 rpm HD. Price about 2054$.

The biggest difference is the graphic card.
Right now I´m thinking if need the more powerful graphic card.
I know i won´t play any heavy new games like crysis or cod4.
But do i need the extra power in other applications?
Like HD-video,,,?
All i really do is watch movies, edit photos, surf the internet and play music.

 

X4500 will be absolutely fine for what you do, and it can play 1080p hardware accelerated.

 

I too saw the SR and FW today... and I too saw light leakage in the FW. Frankly I was disappointed in the FW's screen.

BUT... I discovered that the FW had a regular ECO screen, not the better HiColor screen. That might be why it didn't look as good as I had expected. But until I can find an FW with HiColor, it remains to be seen.

 

doesn't the SR have an ECO screen too? i hope the screen will still be bright and still good

 

If somebody could do me a favor next time you see the SR in person..

If you have headphones with you, could you plug them in and tell if there was any static noises or intereference beeping/buzzing, ect...

my FZ was perfectly silent. perfect.

however, my Dell that I returned had issues of static noises...but i think it was b/c its headphone port was too close to the power supply thing... The SR's headphone jack is very in a odd place though....I'm afraid there will be interference...

so if anybody has some ipod headphgones on them when they see it, could you do that quick little favor?

thanks!

 

The SR screen is LED backlit -- and looks fantastic.

 

Despite the SR screen being ECO, I think it looks great. I can't put the SZ7 side by side to compare unfortunately, but I think that all LED lit screens look fantastic.

I'll be sure to bring my Denon C700 with me, but none of my headphones is really isolating. The C700 is sensitive enough to hiss, so hopefully I can pick up the hiss. Ambient noise is high in my Sony store unfortunately.

...*goes off to Head-fi*

@Duke2007: Do you know if the FZ has an ASIO function in Control Panel?

 

did someone try the SR at a sonystyle and my feeling is that if you close the lid and life the notebook from the hinge, you basically bend the screen a little.. .. this could be dangerous for the ultra thin lcd screen... just my thoughts..

 

I didn't try that, since I was focusing more on the FW. But in that Berlin video it looked like the new screens were pretty darn flexible.

 

Officially ordered my Sony vaio SR:

*
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz)
*
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business with Service Pack 1
*
Night Black
*
1 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 1GBx1)
*
250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
*
13.3" WXGA (XBRITE-ECO™ technology)
*
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
*
Fresh Start™
*
None
*
None
*
None
*
None

*
Microsoft® Works
*
DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
*
Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
*
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
*
Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (BPS13A/B)


Got my $100 promotional code which helped out alot. Came out to around 1700. They said that it will most likely ship before the 28th. All i gotta do now is order my RAM and im good to go.

 

progidy congrats. check out OCZ 2 X 2GB ram sticks for pc6400 SO-DIMM. they got a 25 rebate deal ending soon. its a steal and has gotten great reviews.

 

Just ordered those from newegg, thanks for all the help. I cant wait for my SR to come in.

 

^The newegg one looks like a steal http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117791
but since you all own it how is the battery life with the ati

 

we don't own it yet.

 

Duke has yours shipped yet at all? the lady told me they were going to ship a week before the 28th.

 

i've kinda harped on this in other threads, but i agree... when i visisted sonystyle this weekend, the screen flex was one of the first things i noticed.

that being said, it wouldn't deter me from purchasing an sr, and right now i'm actually trying to decide between an sr and a z.

 

no mine hasn't shipped yet. i purchased mine on the 16th though...not sure if that has anything to do with it.

also, what is screen flex? how does this affect anything?

 

well you can see the screen is slightly bendable.. it is flexible a little.. what I noticed with the SR was, that if you close the lid and carry the notebook like a book from the cylinder hinge, it bends a little (I saw just one model in sonystyle) and what I was afraid was, that if every time you bend the screen while holding the notebook, then the screen might show some problems around that region in some time (again I might be over reacting).. as I told earlier, just my thoughts

 

Anyone ordered off PortableOne - looks like they give you both the standard AND the extended capacity battery if you order the extended? Am I reading this correctly? Two batteries? O_O

And the XP option on P1, does that offer full functionality with the webcam/mic/wireless/etc.?

----------------
Now playing: StarCraft 2 Main Theme
via FoxyTunes

 

Yeah, but you're not getting it particularly cheap ($240).

It should, since I assume it's the same as the XP downgrade that Sony offers.

 

I wouldn't exactly say they "give" you both batteries.

 

Well either way, Portable One looks like a ridiculously good deal, because for just twenty bucks more, I get a carrying case, Windows XP, and both batteries!

----------------
Now playing: OST - Unforgotten
via FoxyTunes

 

windows xp is going to look like crap compared to vista when SP2 rolls around. i'd say stick with vista. before xp users *****ed about xp back when it was in SP1 days, but STFU when SP2 rolled around and coudn't say anything better about it when vista came around.

stick with vista. same crap is going to happen. vista sp2 > xp

 

Portable One's a reputable dealer, though, right?

----------------
Now playing: Mario Galaxy Orchestra - Super Mario Galaxy
via FoxyTunes

 

Yes:
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Portable_One_Inc

To summarize (customer satisfaction ratings):
Portable One: 9.64 / 10
Fry's Electronics: 5.88 / 10
Sony Style: 3.11 / 10
Circuit City: 2.65 / 10
Best Buy: 1.99 / 10

 

Does the Z have as much flex on the lid as the SR? I would think the Z would be made of more premium materials in the lid and would be more rigid, but this is just a guess.

 

I wish they would have had the Z series in the sonystyle around me to have a look. .I heard it is in the Manhattan area .. so someone can tell for sure ..