Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Hello everyone. I just purchased the sr420j/b at my local sony store and it came with the t6500 cpu wit 2.10GHz and 2MB L2 Cache. Would you guys keep the laptop with the t6500 cpu or return it and opt for the p8700 cpu through CTO? I have 14 days if I want to return it (must be unopened or they charge the 15% re-stocking fee). Thanks in advance!

 

it all depends if the better CPU is worth the increase in price for the CTO. I personally plan on getting the p8700 because it is also more energy efficient than the T series. Its a shame sony doesn't offer the P9 series with the 6mb cache...

 

the price difference would be about 150. CTO does not except college discounts anymore for some reason. I plan to use my SR for light gaming, work, and internet. Would the t6500 be alright?

 

For 3Dmark 06, T6500 with 4570 could get about 4000. With P8700 2.5G, it gets 4120. For gaming, you can hardly notice the difference.

 

BTW, Here is a user review on a Chinese forum.

http://benyouhui.it168.com/viewthread.php?tid=959700&extra=page=1&filter=type&typeid=353

 

So keeping the t6500 would be the best thing to do? With CTO the SR would cost me $134 more for the p8700 but I would have to downgrade the harddrive and the memory (due to my college discount). In other words, I'm beginning to think that paying $134 extra for a better cpu but less harddrive space and less memory isn't worth it.

 

I think T6500 should be fine. 4G memory would be much nicer to run vista or win 7. You won't notice the significant difference between P8700 and T6500 unless you do some heavy duty like video editing.

 

Thanks for all your help. I guess I'll be keeping the model that I have. I'll only be using my laptop for playing games like Sims 3 and maybe Aion when it comes out. Other than that I'll be using it for normal internet usage and work through Word and Powerpoint. No serious video editing (maybe basic video editing for classes that I teach). The t6500 should be okay for those usages right? Sorry for all the questions. I just don't want to drive back to the Sony store and return it, and then wait another week and half for a laptop I have to spend money on. Thanks again!

 

You are very welcome! I would say T6500 is certainly enough for all the applications you mentioned here. Keep those bucks you saved, and use them for some upgrades in the future like a good SSD which will truly boost up your system performance.

 

I just talked to a friend of mine and he told me that a jump from the t6500 to the p8700 would be worth the money especially if I plan to do any type of gaming. He also showed me a stat chart comparison that states that the t6500 is based for basic computing needs. Is this true? I'm starting to get more confused on this whole cpu dilemma...

 

The p8700 would be a good choice just incase there are more cpu demanding applications you might use/be interested in the future

 

But would it be a significant difference? Is it worth the extra $134? From 18189988's previous posts, it seems like it isn't. I just want to get more opinions on this processor.

 

I am not that knowledgeable in this area but 2.53 over 2.10 seems like a big difference in speed?

 

I can guarantee you that for 95% 3D games demand more GPU other than CPU. For gamers, T6500 is powful enough to matchup ATI 4570, which is not a high end graphic card at all. In other words, when you play the demanding 3D game, the bottle neck of the system is not CPU but GPU.

For example, if T6500 with 4570 can got 25 FPS for Far Cry 2( just example), P8700 won't give you another 5 FPS to make the game playing smooth. OK, if you play Far Cry 1, you can probably get 60 fps already by T6500, and maybe you can gain another 10 fps by P8700. However, do you really need that extra 10 fps at that point?

I hope I made my point here.

 

That's one heck of a deal.

 

I've had both the Z and SR, and the SR screen is completely fine. In fact, it's better for me since I don't see the horizontal wavy lines that are present on the Z lineup (and visible to people with sensitivities to it).

 

I have been waiting for the refresh on the SR for a couple of months and now that it is finally here I'm gonna be ordering it soon. One thing is troubling me however. The screen is labeled 1200x800 on the Sony style site, doesn't that mean it is a 4:3 display? Shouldn't it be 1280x800 like the old SR models making them 16:10 displays?
I am hoping that this is just a mistake on Sony's site but can anyone confirm that this is a wide screen laptop?

 

It's a typo; the resolution has not changed. I believe the overall ratio is 16:9 widescreen, compared to 16:10 for the Z series.

 

Yes T6500 is a fine CPU. Most people will never notice the difference between T8700 or T6500.

Not really. What most people don't realize is that a faster CPU only makes the system faster IF the CPU is the bottleneck. Now a T6500 will rarely be the bottleneck in a system during normal use. The hard drive will be the bottleneck much more often.

Moments when the CPU is the bottleneck are for example: unzipping a large file or converting a DVD to DIVX. In those moments the 2.53 will be about 20% faster.

No, it's 1280*800 meaning it's 16:10.

I would take 16:10 over 16:9 any day because it means less scrolling on webpages.

 

Thank you both for your help. I'm pretty much set on keeping it. Again, thanks to 18189988. You have really helped me and am very grateful. I'll be opening it now (finally haha) and will begin the long clean install process!

 

Hello all.

Looking at my "local" sonystyle web shop, there is a brebuilt SR configuration with ATI 4570 gpu, but to get also the 2.66Ghz CPU and the 7200 rpm hard drive it's necessary to order a custom model, that comes only with a ATI 4550 gpu.

Both with 512 Mb video memory. I don't understand the reason of this difference, but wish to know if the 4550 is still a good choice compared to the 4570 and if it has the same "power saving" features.

Thanks in advance...

 

Hi,

I'm in the need for a laptop and have been thinking about the Vaio SR series. I've also been reading this forum quite a bit, so thought I might as well register.

The model I'm mostly interested in is the SR49VN. It seems the models differ a bit depending on the country (the main difference being that you can't customize your order here in Finland) but that SR49 has an Intel P8800 and a Radeon HD3470. And a rather steep price in the Sony webstore (~1500 €; used to be around 1300 € a couple of weeks ago). The other model I've looked at, which is also cheaper, would be the SR41. The differences are with the processor and the video card: a T6400 and a HD4570.

Clearly the 41's Radeon is more powerful but the processor is somewhat slower. And yeah, I realize I will not be noticing a huge difference between the T6400 and the P8800. In horse power, that is. Now the main big thing with whatever laptop I choose would be the battery life. The 41's is not mentioned really anywhere but I would wager it would be quite a bit less than the 49's (which could explain the price difference, too); both the processor and the video card in the 41 will need more power, even if the processor is a tad slower. At least, that's the impression I've got from comparing the T and P series Intels and the Radeons (the video cards really seem to mainly differ in clock speeds), so please correct me if I'm wrong.

So, does anyone know any new reviews about the 49 or the 41 where that battery life issue would be resolved?

 

Oh yes indeed! 4550 would be a splendid choice, especially that it's a desktop GPU. There is no 4550 in a laptop. It's just Sony BS - they've got no idea what they're selling.

I shall order one, and when I get mine with 4570, I shall ask for refund or discount on account that they've said that it's going to have 4550 ;-)

LJK: T6400 has Max TDP 35W versus 25W in faster processors. So it might eat up to 40% more power ;-) I'd venture a guess that P8800 would be faster. If you want to play games, take the one with 4570. If you don't care about games, take the other one. Best: try to get custom built with good GPU and good CPU and 7200 rpm HDD.

Also, someone said in this topic that games don't require much CPU. That's wrong. AI, pathfinding, certain geometry calculations (like when you select units in modern RTS games which have 3D models) rely on CPU. Most visible for RTS games. For big RTS games it is really important to have fast CPU, often more important than your GPU. That's less true for FPS/RPG/other games, but also plays a role. (for example damage model in GRID or something like that)

 

Ahah! So you say that if I order that custom one it will come with 4570 and i'll be happy? Great news indeed.

 

Yeah, 40 % sounds... like a lot. I'm not really planning on playing the newest games that much (well, not nearly at the best graphics and for that the slower Radeon will do) and battery life is pretty much the key. That and overall "snappiness" in Windows use where the faster processor comes in.

Exactly. Processors do matter. And as far as I know, quite a lot even in modern FPSs with fancy physics calculations. I know these can be done quite extensively on new graphics cards but the desktop cards are whole different animals compared to laptop ones.

 

My great pleasure! Yeah, that's a great idea to have a clean install. Have a good one!

 

I agree that RTS game requires more cpu power. Some visual effects in NBA 2k9 also need more CPU horse power. However, I would doubt that P8700 with ATI3470 can run some current 3D RTS games like Red Alert 3 faster than T6500 with ATI 4570. The bottleneck is still the GPU. What I know is even 9600GT can't keep 30 FPS all the time at the high setting no matter what cpu it uses. For any 3D rendering, GPU always comes first, even for the google earth. Kind of funny.

 

TDP is not an accurate measurement for power consumption of the CPU. TDP represents the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate.

In reality the difference in power consumption between P8700 and T6500 will be a lot smaller than 40%.

I agree.

 

18189988: I agree. However, P8700 with 4570 will run RTS games much faster than T6400 with 4570 ;-) So if there is an option to go for it (CTO laptops) then its worth waiting few more weeks to get it...

Good example is Empire: Total War. While you can scale down the graphics, you can't lower the CPU requirements and most likely CPU will be a bottleneck for this one. There's just too many units to handle.

Totally different question:

Where's the best place to get Vaio SR in USA? My friend is just there so I thought he can pick one for me -> way cheaper than in stinking Europe (I'm from Europe, but I hate it ). Any good deals? Jr.com seems to be really good, with 100usd mail-in rebate (would rather like to see instant rebate though...).

 

I thought as much. But I'm just basically confirming my assumption that the SR41's battery life will be (significantly) shorter than that of an SR49's.

Yeah, they are expensive here. I was thinking of ordering from Germany (like notebooknet.de) or something. Unless I can haggle the ~1500 € price tag from Sony's net store to around 1350 € from a local Sony Center (yeah, like that's likely).

 

can anyone comment on the SR docking station? does it let you use 2 external monitors?

thanks

 

I am not sure. I'd like to see the TDP of the HD3470 and 4570. ATI's development is not standing still.

The only accurate measurement I have is a battery life measurement of Notebookjournal, they got 3:11 hours for SR41 with constant 40% CPU load.

People here only got 3:30 with SR P8600 and HD3470 with much lower CPU load.

So the difference may be smaller than you think. Unless you call 10 minutes significant.

 

Depends how far your power outlet is

 

You're right about there not being a really substantial difference between 3:30 and 3:11, though, I've read somewhere that you should be able to push around 4 hours with an SR39/SR49 with a dimm-ish screen and hooked on a wireless connection. Still just makes one wonder why there's a ~300€ price difference between the 41 and the 49. The hardware is pretty much on par, except the slightly (well, guessing again) faster GPU on the cheaper model.

So the big guestion now is really: what's wrong with the SR41?

 

SR41's 3:11 was with constant 40% CPU load. SR19's 3:30 was with less than 10% CPU load. Meaning there may not be ANY difference in battery life.

I would just get the SR41 and upgrade the CPU later.

 

So that's with an SR19 and not a 49? I mean, the hardware might be similar but it's still a newer machine I'm looking at, meaning possible improvements in battery life, no?

 

Theoretically it might be possible. But I would not assume it.

 

Notebookcheck just published their Review of the SR41.

"Im praxisnahen WLAN Test, das heißt beim Surfen im Internet via Wireless-LAN mit guter Helligkeit (Stufe 5 von 8) und Energiesparprofil kann man 253 Minuten unterbrechungsfrei auf Akku arbeiten, also vier Stunden 13 Minuten."

in English: 4 hours and 13 minutes while surfing the net with Wlan on 5/8 brightness. That's with T6400 and ATI 4570.

Source: http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Sony-Vaio-SR41M-S-Notebook.17625.0.html

 

Thank you very much for the info (and translation). 4h and 13min, yeah, that's something I could definitely live with. Especially since the thing costs 100-200 € less than the SR49. Excellent news.

So, is the processor difficult to change?-) (There's probably threads about it already, haven't taken a proper look yet.)

 

Not sure. I do know that it technically voids warranty.

 

Yep, my mistake on that. Thanks for catching it!

 

I didn't know that's possible.

 

What's do you mean "much faster"? under what circumstances? If T6500 with 4570 can just run red alart 3 at 20fps with the high setting, P8700 won't give another 10 fps boost. For some older games, if T6500 can already run 40 or 50 fps(some RTS games knock the fps at 30), I don't think we need to spend 120 bucks for another 10 or 15 fps under that condition. CPU do matters for any games, but we are talking about two cpus in the same class, not Atom 1.6 and Core 2. At Cinebench R10 test, P8700 got about 4400, T6500 got about 4100. Atom 1.6 is about 700 points. This proves that it won't give you much boost in any 3D related game.

Jr is a great choice. They just don't have the SR420 so far. Sr430 seems not too pricy there. Techonweb is also a good one. I got my sony S 5 years ago. They offer very competitive price, but be aware that their return policy stinks.

 

Does the new SR CTO have no 3G modem option? Or is it just missing from the product specs. May have to wait for the Holiday refresh for my new laptop.

 

Thanks for clearing up the display resolution.

Edit: Phil has answered my question on what type of memory the video card has below with a link, ATi 4570 comes with DDR3 in this laptop. Thanks Phil

 

- ATI Mobility Radeon 4570, 512 MB DDR3 VRAM
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/review-sony-vgn-sr41m-w-932

 

I wish it would be GDDR3

 

It is GDDR3

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4570 with dedicated GDDR3 Video Memory of 512MB

http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowPro...s&category=VN+SR+Series&assetid=1218032875600

 

It is GDDR3

 

Ahhh, darnit phil. Almost post at the same time. =D