Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/...gn-sr41m-w-932

So. They claim the battery life of being around 3h 11min with 30% CPU load (if I got that correctly). Wonder which it is, now.

 

That was what I said.

During normal web browsing the CPU load will be much lower, hence the battery life will be longer.

SR19 (P8600, 3470) reached 149 minutes in Battery eater test.
http://www.pcmweb.nl/hardware_review.jsp?productid=3408

 

Ah, you did. Well, I'm still tired and haven't had any morning coffee yet. I'll blame that.

 

FYI I just noticed that the white version of the SR41 costs 1099€ in Sony's webstore. I think that's beginning to be a tolerable price. I would want the silver one but I'm really not in the mood of spending 200€ more on a different coat of colour.

 

Yeah, the price isn't bad. But I want 7200RPM HDD and 2.66 CPU. And unfortunately, thats 5-6 weeks waiting time! Besides, if I could get one from US, I could get it in black... Why isn't black available in Europe? Beats me...

 

Yeah, I'd like a P8x00 CPU on that 41, and also maybe a faster processor. The CPU would cost around 200 euros and the hard drive maybe 100 or so so the whole price for the 41 and those two upgrades would still be around the 49, and you'd have a much faster GPU. But unless there's some kind of really easy "for dummies" type of pictured manual to swap those two, I think I'm not going to risk it.

And as far as the colours, I don't know. I suspect they've just made some type of market surveys that say Europeans like white and bright colours and American's want darker tones too. That or they can generate a sort of "do want" feel for us Europeans (and for Americans if they don't have some of the colours we do) so when they finally release a new Vaio with black covers, it'll sell more because of the "exotic" colour option.

 

LJK: Is custom-built model not available in your country?

 

Nope. At least I can't find any mention on any Finnish Sony site so I seriously doubt it. I'm going to ask from a local Sony Center when I visit it again (hoping to haggle down the price for the 41 or the 49 at the same time) but I highly doubt they can offer those custom builds either.

 

Ok, thanks all Btw, how's your Z=>SR process going, Qeuqeu?

 

I recently bought a SR29 laptop and am really happy with it. There's just one thing that is bothering me. It concerns the WIFI network card. I enabled the
"allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" and the
"allow this device to wake the computer" and the
"only allow management stations to wake the computer"
under the Power Management settings of the WiFi Link 5100 Intel network card.

Now. If the laptop goes to sleep (S3 state) the Wifi light on the front stays on for a minute or two but then goes out. While the light is on, the wake up call with a magic packet works, but after the light is off, the laptop doesn't react anymore to magic packets.

How do I get the light to stay on in S3 or S4 state or be sure the wake on wireless LAN (WoWLAN) functions all the time?

I find it particularly weird that the first of the above three mentioned options conditions the other two. How can the device react if it doesn't get any power?

Thanx for your ideas and thoughts!

 

Well, yesterday I went ahead and ordered the SR490 and got free express shipping after a bit of complaining of wanting a student discount (no student discounts on any Sony products in Canada, don't know if it is the same for the States).

Anyway, now today I looked over my confirmation email and I realized that I told them the wrong city...After calling Sony up they said will try to fix it but they don't know if they can because my information has already been sent to the United States for processing.

I really hope that I don't have to cancel the order just because of a stupid mistake I made and push the laptop back a couple more days because of it...Anyone have any success in changing billing/shipping information mid-order?

 

Hi all SR owners

I'm really in need of your help. Please check the following thread, do the test and tell me your results: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=394907

Thank you all

 

Could you, the owners of new SR4xx, check if the laptop still suffers from the battery drain.

>> The battery looses power when the computer is completely switched off.
>> That's about it.
>> It will differ from person to person and computer to computer, it may be 1% >> over 24 hours for one, or 5% or 10% for another.

Here is the link to the original thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=282258&page=1

THX

 

I don't think mine loses any, but how are you able to tell how much of it is a stable, non-use loss, versus what's lost when the computer posts and boots?

 

That battery leak issue is a tough one and I'd hate to see it in whatever Sony I decide to order. Then again, I'd like to know how many of the people who have the issue have thoroughly charged and depleted the battery completely, multiple times, after turning the computer on for the first times, like you probably should do.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...=282258&page=1

- there is a whole thread dedicated to the battery drain issue; you can find all the answers in this thread.

I guess you already own new SR, could you conduct such experiment; it does not require a lot of effort.

Thanks,

 

Hello, I am wondering if there would be any major difference between a SR390 and a SR490 if both have the same specs.

Thanks to anyone who can answer.

 

Sr390 carries ATI 3470 graphic card, and SR4xx has ATI 4570 card which is much more powerful for gaming. Other specs are very similar....

 

Seems to be the same except for the CPU and some of the software. The 39 has a P8400 and the 49 a P8800 and the only difference between those seems to be a slightly higher clock speed on the latter (2,26GHz vs 2,66GHz).

Note that I specifically looked at the SR39 and SR49 from the Finnish Sony site. Not sure if the extra zero adds anything.

Edit.

Ok, so apparently there might be something with the 0. Here only the SR41 has the faster Radeon, the SR49 has the same HD3470.

 

Sony Euro is sort of weird.

 

I found one with cpu up to 2.53GHz (not customizable) and same specs (includes 4570 graphics card, main reason as to why I am looking to buy this laptop) as an SR I can afford to buy, so just to confirm no other differences? There is a ~100usd price difference.

EDIT: Never mind I misread the specs , I was planning on buying refurbished, thanks for the help. I am mainly interested in a balance between graphics and battery life in a 13 inch notebook. This one fits my needs.

 

When I left for work this morning, the battery was at 100%. I turned it off (complete shut down) and closed the lid. When I got home tonight and turned it on, as soon as the desktop was visible the battery meter said 96%. So now tomorrow I'll do the same thing. I would think 4% is a totally acceptable loss from performing a cold boot.

 

Yeah, tell me about it. You'd think that the SR49 would sort of be the flag ship model with the fastest processor and the fastest GPU but no. If gaming is something that one'll want to do (no, not everything at maximum but anyway) it might be better to just get the SR41 with the faster GPU, especially since it's 100-300 € cheaper than the SR49. Sure, the CPU is a tad slower but I don't think it'll make nearly as much of an impact in performance as the much faster GPU will. And with that price difference you can get the P8800 later on and switch it (though, still not quite sure how easy that is).

 

I was wondering, does the keyboard on the SR scroll?

 

I agree. For changing cpu of sony's laptop, my experience told me it won't be so easy. For many models, the cpu is sticked to the heat sink. YOu have to be very careful to do that. Well, I think the bucks you saved could go for a SSD which will really boost up some applications.

 

That SSD upgrade would be a viable option, and an easier one at that. I'm just kind of out of the loop about current technology lately. Can you estimate how much of an improvement could be seen by swapping the normal 5400RPM hard drive for an SSD?

 

What do you mean by scroll?

 

For me, SSD is still too pricy right now. Wait half year! I guess the price will become affordable. The review below can give you some hints how fast a SSD drive could be.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-memoright,1926.html


Check out this one, it is pretty cheap for 64GB, and some users claim that there is no stuttering issues for this product.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139006

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at that article. And I think the SSDs are a tad too pricy for now, too. I think I'm not going to start even thinking about that upgrade until something like winter or early 2010. I should really get that laptop first. ;P

 

The same here. I won't get one until the 128GB SSD is going below $150. And the SSD still had some technique issues that should be solved.

 

Is it common for Sony to take away the whole laptop when replacing a HDD?

I thought it would have been easier to just ship the hard drive :|

Also does anyone have a problem with the space bar? Sometimes I press it and nothing happens so I have to use it on one side

 

Thanks a lot for taking your time! 4% is perfectly fine loss during the boot. So, you left your notebook off for about 8 hours? Can you try to leave it off for, let's say, 16 or 24 hours, if that will not not interfere with your work. This way we'll know for sure if there is any drain. Thank you!

 

Has anyone gotten the large capacity battery? does it stick out? and does battery life improve substantially?

thanks!

 

There are some pics of it in the first post of this thread. link

 

I have the large cap battery. It's big. It's heavy. It makes the SR rest in an angled configuration (ie not flat on the table). But it gives me 4.5 hours and I can watch a couple of BluRays, which is huge. I only use it when I travel.

 

Here's my two cents... I recently just turned on my SR after 11 days of complete power-off. My battery life dropped from 100% to 72%. Not sure if this is normal though... ?

 

My SR is coming this friday. Can't wait!

 

Nice! Mine is currently on it's way and should be here by no later than Wednesday! =]

 

nice. don't forget to burn your recovery disc's as soon as possible.

 

Some small reviews would be greatly appreciated.

 

Reposting, I've been running Windows 7 for awhile, and I'm curious if any of you know, or have found a way to make use of the convenience buttons or the various function keys (volume, brightness). Thanks.

 

Yesterday I seen an advertisement on SonyStyle site about a free Windows 7 upgrade for vaios purchased after 26/06/2009.

Grrrr.... I purchased mine 23/06, SonyStyle order tracking states that it was purchased on 25/06 and it's still on the road... You mean that FOR ONLY 1 day I miss the free Windows 7 upgrade?!?!?

And still I didn't receive it...
It's a custom one so I must wait... but the missed Windows 7 upgrade for only 1 day is really... really... annoying.

 

I agree

 

Errr...I just got an email today from Sony saying that my laptop has just entered production and is expected to be completed in 5-7 days. Does Sony delay with sending these emails out? My friend who ordered the same laptop 2 days after me received the same email today and it makes no sense to me that someone who ordered it 2 days after would start being made at the same time :S

 

skierboy - thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I do not think 28% loss in 11 days is normal. I see from your sig that you have an older SR190 model; it is a common problem on older models. I am trying to find out if the battery drain problem is fixed in new SR4XX models.

 

I installed the Vista x64 versions of the related drivers from Sony's website. Specifically, the Firmware Extension Parser (might not be really necessary), the Sony Shared Libraries and finally the Notebook Utilities.

All the Fn buttons work now on my SR290 running Windows 7 x64 RC, as well as the Mode switching buttons.

 

My order SR420 have been delayed for three days, too.

 

How does the SR490 compare to the Studio XPS 13

 

Studio XPS 13 is a little heavier, and the graphic is a little weaker. But other specs look really impressive.

 

Studio XPS 13 have many BSOD problems due to cases of overheating; check it out on the dell forums.