Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

This is primarly a result of issues that stemmed from 1) bad drivers from manufacturers 2) issues in Vista that were addressed in SP1 and 3) loading Vista on machines that are way underpowered for it. Vista SP1 with current hardware that is well supported by current drivers is very stable and I have little to no problems. I run it on my primary work PC as well as my new SR290. I do have Vista running on 5 year old hardware at home....very painful....but that I never should have done that.

Other than being able to address more memory more efficiently, 64 bit computing is NOT inherintly that much faster. The only reason you should look at a 64 bit OS is if you are planning to run 4GB of Ram or more.

As much as I'd like to agree, ALL software has bugs. Microsoft has addressed a lot of the major bugs in Vista at this time though. I personally have a primarily trouble free computing experience with Vista SP1.

 

I think Vista got a lot of bad press due to little fault of its own.

personally, I like the OS, it runs pretty great on my machine. I am careful about all the sw that I load on it , but with the base apps loaded it really flies.

One thing I had a complaint about was that I have an old USB flat bed scanner Canon N650U Canoscan. Vista does not recognise the scanner and the old XP drivers do not work on Vista. Canon has not released any new drivers for vista either. ah well, gotta buy myself a new slim scanner anyway.

The temperatures are something to really write home about. Prior to this, I had a VGN-FS760W (yeah yeah its really a desktop replacement) and that thing runs so hot that I can fry an eg on the bottom side if i flip the notebook over. This one is really really cool..!

 

Alot of bugs that perhaps should have been addressed before RTM were addressed in SP1. And in an attempt to make some major changes in security and graphics performance, MS did make a couple of mistakes which they are addressing in Win 7. Oh, and the whole debacle with lowering hardware standards to appease their partners can totally be blamed on MS. They should not have buckled to the pressure and been more up front about Vista requiring significantly more powerful hardware.

But you can hardly blame MS for manufacturers failing to make drivers for older products like your scanner.

MS made some mistakes, but due to some creative advertising from Apple and some bad press from the media, most of the issues w/ Vista were actually way overblown.

 

agree. and all i need is an excuse to buy new gizmos.

 

i was avoiding vista for the longest time, but since it came with the sr, i decided to try it out and it has worked pretty flawlessly since the first few days of configuring it to make it usable. im pretty happy with vista

 

I forgot to comment on something else that I truly hate about Vista (even though I use it on one of my machines): file permissions.

I continue to have access problems with files that I copy over from different machines. Even as Administrator, I cannot always run/modify/delete files. There are things you can do to change ownership and permissions but it is about as convoluted as anything. For me, I routinely have 3-4 systems that I work on with different users and OSs, and this is a problem that drives me crazy on Vista.

 

The only rebates/free stuff I know about are the Trade Up and Go Pro 4 and the free productivity/mobile bundle.

If you find out how to get a free digital frame, please let us know.

 

so what are the differences between sr1 and sr2?

 

According to the Sony reps I've talked to, there are no H/W differences (except for BluRay availability).

There was some talk about the graphics card getting an update, but it appears to be the same between the two.

 

are you sure? I know there's a talk about different screens and that one is better than another. why would they change the number if there are no changes?

 

I'm only going by what a couple different Sony reps have told me and stated specs.

Everything appears to be the same: CPU supported, chipset, embedded and discrete graphics, LCD, bus speed, etc.

I'm actually working on a SR190 right now (partners laptop) and am getting a SR280 delivered next week, so I can provide more feedback on look and feel at that time.

 

I just happened to get a glimpse at jpvs' Sony SR290 specs.. and it looks like the ATi 3470 now comes with HDMI. So I guess that's one of the new things in the 200-series vs. 100-series? I was pretty baffled by the fact that when the SR first came out, it didn't come with an HDMI port even though the casing already had a pre-cut outline for HDMI (beside the VGA).

 

Hi, Is there a way to turn off the Bluetooth device (other than disabling it through windows Device manager).... I've heard mention of a Smart utility... but I don't have that installed nor could I find it on the sony support site.

I have a brand new SR290

 

The 200 series SR's with dedicated graphics have twice the amount of dedicated memory, 256mb on the 200 series vs 128mb on the 100 series.

 

It should come standard with a service running to configure it. In the lower right corner, I have a task running that is a dark green square. It allows you to configure both the 802.11 and Bluetooth.

 

does that mean that it could run latest games easier?

 

Not really; it's an underpowered chip, but it can run games from approx 2+ years ago with moderate to low settings. This isn't a gaming laptop, but good enough for light gaming.

 

hello fellow sr190 users, ive been having a problem with my sr190 since the day i bought it and have been dealing with it for about 2 months now.
i will be very grateful if i receive any type of help.
my problem involves my wireless connection
basically it is almost the same with the description of this person:
by plaintastic from the microsoft vista forum help
"This has been happening for the past three days. I just recently bought a laptop, the Toshiba Satellite
A305-S6898, with Intel® WiFi Link 5100.
I would be just surfing on the internet and then the WiFi link would randomly just stop working. I would go to the available connections window, and the network i'm connected to would say 'Connected with limited connectivity', and then it would disconnect and then it would not be able to detect any networks, even though it previously did before. I know it's not a network problem because the same problem occured on two different networks I have set up in two different places. The device manager does not report anything wrong with it, and I did not randomly turn off the wifi for any reason. I would have to reset my laptop in order to fix the problem."

except my wifi would work one day and after shut down at the end of the day, the next day when i power up my sr190 my wifi would be dead. it not only cannot connect to my router it doesnt pick up any connections at all. i have found a temproary soultion for this by downloading the driver software from intel's site for a "intel 5100 wifi link agn". everyday when i poweron my sr190 i will find my wifi not working(not picking up any signal). then i would reinstall the driver from intel and restart the computer and my wifi would work fine for the rest of the day. until i shut down and turn on the computer the next day. Can someone help me make my wifi JUST work all the time when i turn my laptop on. this has been a really anoying issue ive dealt with everyday restaarting my laptop. i did not expect this type of problem with a sony product

i have tried contacting sony via e-mail and recieved no useful help and i have also tried going to a sonystyle store at sony plaza in manhattan and recieve no help.
please help me with this problem as i am very upset

 

Hmm, I recently disabled the LAN port (in addition to a bunch of other devices), and I left the laptop on standby for 2hrs, and the battery is still at 100%. =/

 

Well ABT.com is trying to screw me over. They charged my CC, shipped the product, and stopped it mid shipment and today sent me a BS email about sending me the wrong item and they need to cancel my order and they don't have that item available and don't plan on getting anymore.

I'm going to assume they realized their price was wrong and trying lie about it to not lose the money on the laptop.

 

did sony disable the customize option on their sonystyle website for the SR? i've accessed it today a couple of times and i cant see it, they are offering some offers on SR's with given specs already.

 

Yeah, it's no longer on their website. I wanted to thank you guys for posting that link previously-- it was the deciding factor between a Dell XPS M1330 and the SR series. I was so close to getting the Dell [despite GPU horror stories] but instead couldn't pass up a 13" with Blu-Ray. A special thanks to whoever was in charge of pricing at Abt that week

This laptop is replacing my vaio FZ, which also has a BD-R drive. I'm liking the LED screen (LED eco is as nice as CCFL hi)

The first thing I did was wipe the hard drive since Sony goes crazy with their bloatware. I can report that on a clean install, hitting up sony esupport and getting all their drivers was not a painful process. All my FN keys work, as well as the MODE/SETTING and 5 special buttons. All I have to do next is get the fingerprint software and I'll be good to go.

 

So you did get the SR with Blu-Ray for that price??

 

Would you guys pick a SR290 or Z540(200 dollar more). Same spec on both of them.

I

 

where's the best place to buy an SR?

 

I'm sorry to hear this. I believe ABT has a pretty stellar reputation as an electronics/appliances store. Sad to see that they're taking this route.

 

Umm depends on if you feel like the extra hour of battery life, and the lighter weigh worth $200

Sonystyle
PortableOne

 

Does anyone know if the SD reader can read SDHC cards (like 8gb or bigger)?

 

Yes it can
I use it with my Class 6 8GB SD card all the time

 

Cool, thanks. Are you using it as ReadyBoost or as an alternative location for the pagefile, or something else? I wanted to use it for one of the former two options, or both if that's possible. I'm not sure which one would be more advantageous, though.

 

No, I use it for my camera.

ReadyBoost is useless if you have more than 2GB of ram..
The read speed of the card reader is only about 10-20mbps
Wayyyy slow than RAM..
I used readyboost for awhile, it did nothing but keeping my hard drive busy all the time, no performance gain or anything (at least not noticeable)
not sure about pagefile though, but it probably better to just put them on the hdd than on a sd card

 

I don't think "trying" is quite accurate - they did screw you over. Oh yeah, the got me as well.

I called Friday morning and was told they were verifying my CC (even though I ordered on Wednesday and I see the charge on my card), then later that day they sent e-mail saying "oops" - it is OOS and they will not be getting anymore.

 

What date and time did you order this?

I put my order in Wed night and it was canceled on Friday.

 

so can someone comment on the battery life with the ATI card? is it possible to undervolt the ATI, or how much battery life do you guys get in general with RMclock and an SR with the ATI?

 

Yep, here is the email they sent me.

Thanks for placing your order with Abt.com. We are emailing to inform you we incorrectly shipped the wrong laptop. We had oversold on the item and did not have inventory to fulfill the order. The order was recalled back to our location, your credit card is being credited and you will get a credit receipt from Abt within 1 business day.

Unfortunately, we are unable to fulfill the order. The item was discontinued and Sony has informed us we will no longer receive any future shipments on this model. If there are any other laptops you are interested in, please let me know and I will provide you the best possible price I can. I have provided the link below:

 

what can you do man? it sucks but some people got there before you, they probably are even offering you a discount on another model. And they were honest enough in their reply. it happens.

 

anyone have the incase nylon backpack? I just got one today and im just wondering if they will fit the sr290. =P

 

is that the one from best buy?

i got one from best buy that was for the 13 inch macbook and it fit really well.

 

Is the 256 ati graphic card alot better than the 128mb 9300? or is it just slightly better.

 

Does the SR have any type of software that autodim the display if not in use for a few seconds, but doesn't turn it off completely, and goes back to normal brightness when you use it again; kind of like what OSX does.

 

They don't have many SRs in stock though, and the prices they do have are not that good (and I doubt they'll be willing to drop it too much for us).

 

Slightly..

That feature depends on the OS
and Vista doesn't have it..

 

It's gone here too. It was there yesterday, tho'! I was strongly considering ordering a custom SR too. Nuisance.

So I am back to looking a pre-configs - does anyone have specific thoughts about the SR220 model? I'd really like to hear them. Thanks.

 

so can someone comment on the battery life with the ATI card? is it possible to undervolt the ATI, or how much battery life do you guys get in general with RMclock and an SR with the ATI

 

i have the ati card and i use rmclock
im constantly getting about 3 hours and 30 minutes of battery life
as far as i know, you can't undervolt the ati card

 

Finally, my SR arrived last Friday. Here are the specs:

Product: VGNSR290-CTO
Component: Microsoft® Works
Component: DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
Component: No Fresh Start™
Component: 250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Component: Standard Battery
Component: Video Standard
Component: Engraving
Component: MOTION EYE® Camera
Component: QuickBooks Simple Start
Component: Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Component: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470 with HDMI™ Output
Component: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz)
Component: Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Component: 13.3" WXGA (XBRITE-ECO™ technology)
Component: Windows® Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
Component: Night Black
Component: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
Component: 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Per Unit Price: $1,196.00
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $1,196.00

One thing I notice thought is that every time I start firefox, it hangs about 5-10 seconds. Are any of you experienced this scenario?

 

did you use the student discount? I got the same config well nearly cept for that 4gb ram, i got two. Anyways, i got it for 1185 total

 

No I did not but I believe I got another $200 discount for using Sony Financial Services.

 

Darn; even Ubuntu has it. =|

 

This is random--> Can I get Winamp and Itunes for ubuntu 8.10?