Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

I don't even know what I will do. I may just say heck with it and get a Lenovo T400 even though its heavier since X301 is way too pricey right now.

My shopping list right now is something like this:

Lenovo T400 or X301 (If prices drop substantially or I can find a good deal on a used X301 somewhere)

Sony VAIO SR290

Toshiba U400 Satellite Pro or A605 Portege.

 

I'm talking about the systray icon when you're connected. The green circle.

Another example is the header on http://forum.boxee.tv/. The green is completely different for me.

 

Hi everyone,
I'm just got my SR29 today. After uninstalling the bloatware seems to work nice. I noticed I don't have Adobe Elements installed. Shouldn't it come pre-installed on SR-s?
Thanks,
J.

 

nope it shouldnt have, the only adobe things are air, flash, shockwave and this one i m not sure adobe reader 9

 

I wish I could make up my mind.

Is Lenovo T400 so much heavier than the SR290?

 

Either way you will be making a good choice laptop-wise Adamj023. I am personally very sensitive to differences in weights. I would not want to lug around more than I have to. The t400 would be a small compromise on weight, but I decided (when I bought my SR) it was a big enough compromise to influence my decision.

On a separate note, can the SR unofficially support more than 4 GB of RAM? I would semi-desperately like it to hold more.

 

The best fit for you is the one with the integrated graphics. It has longer battery life. The difference between P8400 and P8600 is not that big, at least relative to the tasks you've mentioned.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

You can now get the SR with Blue-ray player in the US.
Any guesses when this option will come to the UK?

It would be me perfect laptop if it had Blue-ray!

 

I myself just bought a sony vaio sr26gn about 2 days ago with the following specs:

13.3" VAIO YOUNG BUSINESS PC BLACK VGNSR26GNB

Hardware

* Processor Technology: Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology, Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
* Processor System Bus: 1066MHz
* Cache Memory: 3MB
* Main Memory: 3GB DDR2 SDRAM (Upgradeable up to 4GB*1), 2 SO-DIMM slots. (The pre-installed memory module uses two)
* Hard Drive: 250GB (Serial ATA, 5400rpm)
* Wireless LAN: IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft n
* Optical Drive: Reading Speed: DVD+R: 8x (Single Layer), 6x (Double Layer) / DVD-R: 8x (Single Layer), 6x (Dual Layer) / DVD+RW: 8x / DVD-RW: 8x / DVD-ROM: 8x / DVD-RAM: 5x / CD-ROM: 24x / CD-R: 24x / CD-RW: 24x
* Optical Drive: Writing Speed: DVD+R: 8x (Single Layer), 4x (Double Layer) / DVD-R: 8x (Single Layer), 4x (Dual Layer) / DVD+RW: 8x / DVD-RW: 6x / DVD-RAM: 5x / CD-R: 24x / CD-RW: 16x
* Graphics Accelerator: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
* Dedicated Video Memory: 256MB
* Display: 13.3" wide (WXGA: 1280 x 800) TFT colour display (Clear Bright LCD: White LED)
* Interfaces: USB 2.0 x2, 4-pin i.Link (IEEE 1394) S400 x1, ExpressCard™/34 x1, RJ45 Ethernet x1, RJ11 Modem x1, Headphone Jack x1, Microphone Jack x1, HMDI Output Connector x1, Monitor connector (Analogue RGB, mini D-sub 15 pin) x1, Memory Stick Standard/Duo Slot x1, Docking Station Connector x1, Fingerprint Sensor x1, SD Memory Card Slot (SDHC/MMC compatible) x1
* Bluetooth®: Bluetooth® standard version 2.1+EDR
* Built-In MOTION EYE Camera: Effective Pixels: 1280x1024
* Modem: V.92 and V.90 Compliant
* Ethernet: 10Base-T/100Base-TX
* Audio: Intel® High Definition Audio compatible, 3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support), Built-in stereo speakers, Built-in monaural microphone
* Keyboard/Input Device: Approx. 19 mm key pitch / 2mm key stroke, 82 keys, Intelligent Touchpad
* Battery: Up to 3 hours of use with supplied lithium-ion battery
* Dimensions (WxHxD): 315 x 34 x 233.8mm
* Weight: 1.96kg (including supplied battery)
* Warranty: 12 months standard

Software

* Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Business (English version) with Service Pack 1 (Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese Language Pack)

and i absolutely love it, so light and powerful

 

The Kingston Website says the SR can hold upto 8GB RAM, (2x 4GB sticks )though I havent read that in any official SONY documentation or sites.

4GB sticks are pretty expensive now - so I am sure no one can test it at this point.

 

Mine too, except for this. The base model SR 290 is $895 US. The Blu Ray is an extra $500 or a 56% increase in price. I just can't do it. As much as I want it, I can't do it.

 

At the height of thanks giving / discounts / employee pricing - blu ray was a 200$ option.

 

Wish I had been in the market then. Oh, well. I can wait.

 

I have been desperately trying to find information about this but have had no luck. I really would like to know the max amount of ram the SR can handle. I haven't seen anything from Sony showing more than 4 gb of support, but if it can actually handle eight, that would be awesome.

Also, does anyone know what brand ram Sony uses in the SR?

 

Havent taken apart this one, but my older FS laptop had HYNIX before I replaced that with Kingston.

 

mine came with these:

Code:

Memory type		DDR2
Module format		SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID)	Hyundai Electronics
Size			2048 MBytes
Max bandwidth		PC2-6400 (400 MHz)
Part number		HYMP125S64CP8-S6  
Manufacturing date	Week 45/Year 08

 

hi, how did u get all the specifics?

 

Has anyone tried windows 7 on the SR? I'm going to give it a shot in a separate partition later today. Any tips and/or pointers are welcome..

 

If you're concerned about weight, I'd say go with the SR290. That was one of the reasons I steered my wife to the SR290. I didn't want to have to lug around 2 laptops and she wasn't going to lug around a 6+# computer.

FWIW I have a T500 which is heavier than the SR290, but I'm not so concerned about a pound or so more weight in the messenger bag.

 

How does the T500 compare to the SR290 in performance and usage?

Also do you have the integrated or discrete video?

I think for my usage, integrated video is probably more than enough assuming it is Intel X4500. I don't use games but I do want full motion playback capability and other things.

 

I used CPUZ, then in the 'about' tab, save as txt file.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

No stock coming on on the SR290PDB yet. Have to wait till later this week or next.

Im really deciding between Lenovo and Sony now. Lenovo and Sony are pretty much the front runners.

Sony SR290PDB $1037.01 shipped with ATI 3470 + Vista Business
Lenovo T400 with XP Pro instead of Vista Business and with pretty much similar options would be in the $900s shipped.

Dell E6400 is also decent but they would be refurbished and not new from DEll. The smaller Latitudes 4200 + 4300 get poor reviews.

X61S can be had for $830ish.

Do I need thinnest and lightest Lenovo (X series), do I want inbetween with the Sony VAIO or can I get by with the bulkier Lenovo.

Hard to decide.

 

Where would the best place to get a great deal on the SR?

 

Hey all, just picked up my first SR, its the SR140DB. Picked up an in-store demo at SonyStyle for 1099 CDN. All I've done so far is replace the 1GB stick of ram to a 2GB stick, so it's now running 4GB. Overall I'm really happy with the laptop, battery life is great, but its still running a little slow. Planning to do a semi-clean/clean install of Vista, but I'm gonna do a bit more research to find out how to do it right. Also I have an 8GB Sony USB flash drive that supports Windows Readyboost, is that something that I can benefit from? I use my SR for school mostly, and the odd game of Left 4 Dead. Its basically replacing my desktop. Is Readyboost worth using?

 

Sony VAIO SR290PDB is out of stock still. Has been missing all deadlines of shipment for the product for awhile now.

Now they say it wont be available till End of January. Anyone know what is going on with Sony and the VAIO SR? Are they even producing these anymore?

Ive been waiting since December 30th. There hasn't been any stock except one day when the status of the warranty promo was uncertain but they quickly sold out and now they have not replenished inventory and keep missing all deadlines.

I may have to go with another vendor because Sony can't actually ship and deliver products on schedule unlike other vendors like Dell and Lenovo. Even Toshiba has over 1 thousand units in stock ready for delivery on various models.

Surprising that 7 people who ordered on backordered have yet to be filled and order has been in tow for weeks.

 

Regarding battery drain problem, did anyone actually call sony and ask for a replacement or to see what they can do to help?

 

guys, any idea where i can get drivers for windows vista for the sr26gn?

 

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit on my SR129E. I gotta say it is mighty pretty (coming from XP) and it runs very smoothly (around 30 processes and 19% usage of my 4GB of memory), but the single best improvement in my opinion is the install process, which found all of my drivers automatically. I had assumed this would be a problem, since Sony offers no 64-bit drivers for my model, ATI has no official drivers for the 3470, and Atheros has no convenient drivers for my wireless.

One tip, especially for SR users complaining of "off" colors, is that Windows 7 has an included calibration tool that's pretty convenient. Also, the new taskbar can be customized if you don't like the new icon-only style. There are also tools to get rid of the "Send Feedback" links and "For testing purposes only" watermark online. Otherwise, many performance-boosters from Vista still apply and Vista software is fully compatible from what I've seen. Good luck!

 

@adamj023

The SR290 has the ATI 3470, the T500 has both integrated & discrete (ATI 3650). The T500 battery waaaayyyy out performs the SR290. I get 4-5 hours without really tweaking the settings. I can't really judge the performance stuff - its literally a his (T500) and hers (SR290) deal. I'll try and play a bit with both and see if I notice anything specific. Plus I'll throw them both on the kitchen scale and see what the 'real' weights are.

 

The SR290 comes with 2 batteries due to the promotion as well as other stuff.

I hear the display on the T series is worse and the build quality is not on par with some of the other models on the new Lenovo T400/T500.

As far as pricing goes, the Sony VAIO SR290PDB with ATI is running $1037.01 and has been backordered for awhile with none in as of yet.

Lenovo Outlet has some models for cheaper than other promotions that are new but finding one with nice specifications that one wants is very hard to come by and I haven't seen stock refreshed too often. Without the Outlet, prices are way too high for a nicely equipped model.

 

Anyone wanna buy my sr190 with 4gb RAM for 1100?

 

Heck no. I can get a brand new sr290 with 4GB RAM and ATI for $1050 with P8400

 

haha that was pretty funny,


anyways did anyone upgrade their wireless card yet? I was thinking about upgrading but i dont know which is good to upgrade to, any suggestions?

 

Wasn't meant to be funny. $1100 for that is overpriced.

Too many notebook pc's to choose from. Literally thousands made but for whatever reason, the VAIO SR in nice configs is very hard to get.

 

Does anybody use a Zeroshock III case?
Do you use the 13 inch case or the 14 inch one?

 

What retailer might sell a SR for that price? SonyUSA removed the ATI card option on the 290SR. Is it just not in stock yet?

 

Sonystyle Germany has no SR models on it's webpage for almost 2 weeks now. Wonder what that means.

 

Guys, any idea as to why the Catalyst Center software related to the ATI card needs to run in the system tray all the time? Can I remove it from the start up?
similarly , what does the SynapticTouchPad Enhancer do? (I can live without the side scrollign feature on the touch pad) - safe to remove?

 

I just asked about the Zeroshock III case over on the Z thread. Just wondering about overall quality.

 

Just got my SR- an SR29VN as its designated here in the UK- and I love it! It's the highest spec version and in Silver with P8600 processor!

 

Does it still have the battery drain issue when shut down?

Cheers

Barney

 

Anyone here upgrade to Windows 7 yet (build 7000)

I did, and now it can't install drivers for the blu-ray burner or some SM bus controller. I have the vaio SR

I had an older build of Win7 (6801) and everything was fine, now that I've upgraded I can't get these drivers to install. It tells me that it's because of digital signing.

 

Wonderful (until my Windows 7 problem, see above post)

(I snagged the ridiculous deal at Abt before it disappeared )

 

I got mine with Blu-ray and I like it a lot. At the same time though you can't utilize the full benefits of Blue-ray on the SR because it doesn't come with a 1080p screen.

I mainly went for the Blu-ray because I know that I will be keeping the SR for a good few years. Blu-ray will eventually be the standard like dvd is and since I do plan on keeping the SR for a while, I figured I should be ahead of the curve right now so I won't be that far behind just a year from now.

 

Does anyone happen to have suggestions for the screen settings using the ATI CC? Maybe like one for the Samsung screens and one for the Toshiba's. I don't know which screen I have and I am curious if I can actually improve the quality (not that it is bad right now). I have a feeling that I might have a Samsung one. So if anyone can give me settings suggestions for that so I can see if I get an improvement, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Does anyone else have a sticker on their SR that says "Full HD 1080p"?

Also how do you find out whether your monitor was made by Toshiba or Samsung?

 

i have the full hd 1080p sticker i think this is beacause i have the ati card with hdmi out..
i would like to know about the toshiba/samsung lcd question as well

 

Does anyone have any idea, when the configure yourself option on Sony's website be avaliable again?

 

I have a sticker that says Full HD also but that refers to the Blu-Ray drive and HDMI output.

You can build a CTO SR on Sony's website right now. However, several color options are gone and the ATI graphics card and Blu-ray drives are no longer being offered. Oh yeah, and the shipping dates are unknown.

I wonder whats going on with Sony and the SR. Maybe they are getting ready to roll out a new SR?