Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

anyone have any issues with bluescreens? Anytime I try to hibernate by closing the lid, it will bluescreen. When I come back and open the lid I usually find it has rebooted and telling me of a bluescreen error. However, If I manually choose to hibernate using the start menu, it works fine.

 

Just checking in to say that I got my new SR. It's amazing.
I successfully downgraded to XP.
The first time I wanted to check the battery it lasted for over 6 hours (low luminosity, almost no wifi, mostly working in MS Word). Amazing! I have the integrated graphics and 2.26 processor.
Overall, a very nice tool.

 

for those that got the ATI but with a p series cpu, how is the battery life fully charged?

 

That's awesome! By "successfully downgraded" do you mean that you just got XP installed and working? Or that you also got all the integrated Sony stuff working like the Function keys, etc.? I'm still trying to decided whether to fall back to XP.

 

I think I've gotten 4 hours and a bit more. I usually use the battery care function which charges it to a max of 80%, and I get 3.5 hours out of that for just typing notes and surfing the web.

 

I used the XP CD that came with my Vista Professional then installed all the Sony drivers (had to google a bit as they are not automatically installed with this CD) - not sure that I have all the Sony stuff working but the function keys work fine. Is there anything else? I can check it for you.

 

i wonder if the new SR 300 series will have the battery drain problem... hope not..

 

Quick ? - can you ask Sony to provide XP downgrade discs when you place an order?

I head that they may start offering the new SR on Feb 8th. Not sure how accurate that is...

 

Still waiting for new SRs. I hope they will not increase its price.

 

I heard it was Feb 8th too and I second that they do not raise the price...please...but i have a feeling that we should expect a 300 dollar price increase....because currently they have SR's price cut down 300. Who knows...we shall all see soon enough.

 

I hope that wont happen. I cant afford any price increase.

 

So I've been using my SR190 CTO for a couple months now and I love it. The keyboard beats the hell out of my noisy and inaccurate SZ (which I also admit that I loved despite its shortfalls). I've got 4gb of RAM, so I've been thinking about upgrading to Vista 64-bit (i'm using 32-bit Ultimate).

Are there any other reasons than getting that extra gig of ram that I should switch to 64? Any good reasons to stay away?

 

Well the prices have increased in NZ and Australia recently. Sony has posted a huge financial loss recently and I don't think they would maintain the current pricing of Vaios.

Buy one now!

 

Couldnt wait anymore. Just purchased


Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8400
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium

3GB MEMORY RAM, 320GB Hard Drive with ATI graphics

 

The SR390 is available now on sonystyle.com. It looks to me like the only big change are processor choices. And I think you can choose ATI video option with any color this time (color choices appear the same). Anyone notice anything else different?

 

i've pretty much decided to purchase an SR390 once it becomes available here in Canada (unless the HP dv2 really proves impressive). aside from the processor upgrades and HDMI out with the 3470 i don't see anything significantly different in the latest SRs from what was available since the summer of 2008.

 

processor and hard drive options have changed, everything else looks to be the same. price has definitely gone up as well.

 

the 64 bit Vista option sure is neat... it's a pity that when I got my SR13gn, it didn't have that option..

 

Its the same price, so I am returning the item I purchased on Friday as soon as possible.

Also, I must say Sony has the worst customer service ever. I purchased my item on Friday, I just called them now to stop the shipment because I want to purchase the new model instead. They said they could not stop the shipment, I should first receive the product, then return it and then I will be credited the money back.


I would never purchase a Sony laptop if I could not replace the parts myself. On a second thought, if I receive my money back(not a store credit), I will not purchase from Sony at all.

 

All laptop manufacturers do that when the computer gets to a particular point in the building process.

 

Building process?? The item was built and ready in their hand already. I purchased the item on friday afternoon, they claim they shipped it only an hour after my purchase.

I purchased a Dell laptop about 4 years ago, back in college. Had a similar issue, decided to upgrade my processor the day when they already shipped my CTO laptop. They arranged everything and charged me for the upgrade only.


I think Sony laptops are best in quality, they tend to survive much longer then other brands. But Sony customer service is just terrible.

 

what were you going to change if you ordered the 390? Was it an upgraded machine for the same price?

 

Hi, I've been doing a lot of researching and I love everything about SR with Ati 3470 HD and really want to get one in Night black, however night black version is only available on US Vaio site I'm in uk and only versions they have is silver. Do you think they will expand to new colors here in UK Vaio site? Or they are doing it in favour of Vaio Z ? Any ideas how I might be able to get Night Black SR from US, (i've searched all the sites In uk they only have silver) and other sites than sony US have Newegg have Night black but with integrated GPU. So for me only option to get black would be ordering from Sony Vaio US but I don't think I can have it delivered... Is there any company that would forward laptop to me into the UK ? Any ideas? Plz help me out here cause I wanna Night Black not silver !... Thank you in advance.

 

Worst customer service I have ever had to deal with actually.

 

How do you like your titanium gray design ?

 

www.myus.com

 

Cheer's m8!

1. PPL with Night black design, does it attract fingerprints on the lid and palm rests? Does silver hinges bother you ? How do you like the design? Cheers !

Also anyone knows how much tax I will be charged to pay once I order 1400$ VAIO SR to UK ? When using myus

 

Hi,

Are there any performace issues on SR? I have read that there are some constant fan sound issue on it.. Is it true?

I would like to know any other issues on this before i buy this tomorrow...

thanks in advance

 

My 290 cto's fan is fine, no sound at all

 

same here. I've only noticed my fan running when I was in a very quiet room - like a study area, and even then it was very quiet and minimal.

 

quoting my self here.

I just noticed sonys support site has 2 new patches that just came out. I ran the patches and since then no bluescreens. *crosses fingers*!


"No Disk" Error Patch"
This utility resolves an issue where starting Microsoft® Works word processor, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint® may cause a "Windows - No Disk" error if removable media is connected to the computer.

"USB Registry Patch"
This utility installs the USB Registry Patch to resolve an issue where the USB ports, Bluetooth®, or Finger Print devices may not work when resuming from hibernation, standby, or sleep modes.

 

I was planning to get P8600 instead of P8400 and lower the hard disk space from 320gb to 250gb.

 

How does a large battery for SR390 looks like? If it increases battery time...is it worth going for it?

 

there is a pic of the large battery for SR here. (from post #1 of this thread).

 

It looks really Odd!! I will probably go with the standard one for SR...

 

Hey guys is there anyone who has removed the DVD drive and covered the slot to make this notebook lighter?

 

Hi everyone,
I have my 1-month-old SR290 has trouble shutting down. It has 32-bit Vista and the problem appeared out of nowhere. No matter if trying to restarts, put it in a sleep mode or shut down it just logging off for hours and eventually I still have to shut it manually from the button. I've searched the web and ppl suggest clean install as a solution. Has any of you encountered similar problems and perhaps has any other suggestions?
Many thanks, J.

 

I don't think you would need a clean install to just sort the shutdown issue. Instead try using Vaio Restore as a last resort. The clean install can be beneficial if you wanted to get rid of bloatware, but probably the easiest solution would be to remove unwanted programs (especially startup ones) and clean the registry. In most cases, this will speed up the PC. I am running the SR with Sony's installations, except for the ones I will never use, and unistalled these, the computer runs noticably smoother since. Hope this helps, Ash. (Sony Vaio SR29VN)

 

go to the vaio support website and check for updates. Mine had 2 updates for usb/bluetooth registry and one for ms office. the registry update solved my problem of bluescreens on hibernation.

 

i kind of want to get this computer...is it very loud (if it is i dont want it, i like super quiet laptops). any other issues i should know about?

its kind of pricey but seems really nice.

 

well for me i cant hear a thing 98% of the time, i would say this is a super quiet computer. The only thing that make a noise of the the 2% is the harddrive. But that only happens like twice a month for a very short amount of time.

I guess for other issues would be battery drain. Not sure if the new series has it, wait it would i guess, see if people report battery drain in the new series.

 

Anyone use one of Kensington's universal power supplies with their SR? Trying to figure out what "smart tip" to use.

Their compatibility wizard on their website doesn't list the VGN-SR290; only lists a Vaio SR series. I think this may be referring to an older series and not the VGN-SR line. The tip the wizard receommends for this 'Vaio SR series" is N15, which, according to the power supply instrcution manual has output volatge of 15-17V. Another tip, tip N27 has output volatge of 17-20V. The power brick that came with my SR290 indicates a 19.5V output.

Don't want to use a wrong tip and hurt my notebook.

Any help out there?

 

Hello - I am thinking about purchasing the new SR 390. I

won't be doing any CPU intensive tasks and I know you can't have enough processing power but what would be the minimal processor I should consider?

IS T6400 enough or do I get the P8600? Is 2 gig enough to run vista and XP?

I am hoping to keep my price under $1200 if possible and wasn't sure. I am leaning towards $50 upgrade for XP downgrade and fresh .

 

I guess any Sony Power tip should work. I regularly use a three year old adapter from my FS760/W on the SR290 and it works without any issues. Also got the stick adapter recently and no issues there as well.

 

when are the new series coming out?

 

Hello guys!
I just received my SR29vn/s like a week ago......and my questions is if anyone have had problems making(writing) their recovery discs? I just made my first attempt and what happend was after at the point of reaching 26% of finish and "closing up" the first disc, nothing more happend for about 2hours before I cancelled the operation at last. Couldnt call the vaio servicecenter because of the hour at the time were I live.

My first vaio =)........plese let me know if I should be asking this question in some other thread, thanks

 

hmm, so it didnt ask for disc 2 yet?

 

No it didnt =(....It was stuck on 26% and status: "closing media", I actually ejected the disc that was inside and then put in a new before I gave up , thaught maybe the process required a blank disc to proceed but nothing happend.

 

Go for the P8600 to future-proof your laptop. Not only is it faster, it saves battery life. Go for integrated graphics also for better battery life and less inexpensive price.

If you're running vista 32 bit, 3 gig RAm is recommended.

Cheers! Hope this helps.

 

Thank you so much for the reply.

For some reason I thought ATI hdmi was better for battery life??

I am planning to run XP so I am opting for the $50 downgrade as well.