Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Dell seems to have a lot of problems handling heat. XPS 1330, XPS 1340, XPS 16.

 

Nice comprehensive review at notebookcheck.net:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Sony-Vaio-SR41M-S-Notebook.18254.0.html

 

Just received my SR! Happily setting it up right now! =]

 

Congrats, let us know what yea think of it

 

I just got mine today too. I stuck the Windows 7 RC (build 7201 x64) disc in, booted, installed the OS, just finished installing most of the Sony software drivers. Haven't fiddled with the power management applications yet. Fingerprint reader seems to be working well.

I ran the Windows 7 experience index score and here's what it says:

Rating 5.0
Processor: 6.4 (T9800)
RAM: 6.4 (4GB)
Graphics: 5.0
Gaming Graphics: 6.3
Hard Disk: 5.8 (320gb 7200rpm)

All in all it's quite a snappy performer. Very happy with it!

 

Yes I am also very happy with my new SR. It looks greats on my Sony XBR 6 using the HDMI out.

 

Just got my laptop back from Sony but the new HDD is making a clicking noise, should I be worried?

 

Worrying is not going to solve the problem. Installing hdparm does

 

i thought the max rating in the windows experience index was 5.9. i see you got a couple of 6s. Have the ratings changed in windows 7?

also, can you guys test some games out when your free? would be nice to see what framerates the SR can get. thanks and enjoy the new laptop

 

Please completely disregard Windows Experience Index because it's too limited as a benchmark

 

No offense, but grandiose statements like the quote above are slanted and not helpful. I never claimed that the numbers were representative of a full benchmark, but they are useful when glancing at them for comparative purposes and I can clearly see from it that the SR490 is faster than my SR390 based on a faster processor and better graphics when tested in exactly the same environment.

It's certainly not the comprehensive set of tests that are performed on full reviews here at NBR, but I didn't claim it to be

BTW the highest rating on those tests appears to be 7.9. So while my SR490 scored well, there's definitely room for desktops (and faster notebooks) to absolutely kill the SR490's score - and I would assume those faster computers would score similarly better using more conventional benchmarks, too.

 

Still I think you're giving it too much importance. There are so many errors in WEI. But feel free to completely disregard my opinion

As an alternative I can recommend Passmark Performance Test.

 

Thanks Phil - this is exactly what I was looking for...something short and sweet. It's a shame that Futuremark has buried score results deep in online viewers riddled with CPU and GPU upgrade advertisements - it used to be so easy to get an on-screen result. Thanks for this.

 

Welcome man. I agree, Passmark is nice and not too large, it's free for 30 days. CrystalMark is nice too and it's totally free. Passmark is a bit higher quality I believe.

 

Here are my Passmark results:



Couple things: I'm running Windows 7 x64 build 7201, so this will likely impact the results. Also, the application did not know what type of motherboard the SR490 is using. (Neither did Everest, so I uploaded the system profile to them so it can be added/updated)

After the report was finished, I downloaded the closest baseline to compare, which appears to be an SR290 with a P8600 processor. It seems the SR490 is quite a bit faster in most of the tests, but falls flat in the 2D graphics, where the SR290 trounced it. I'm not sure why that is, but it would be cool to get some more SR3s and SR4s tested just for kicks to see if it's a real difference in the graphics cards, or if it's a fluke in the testing.


My system: T9600 (2.8GHz), 4GB, 320GB 7200, ATi 4500 series (as shown in device manager)

 

Notebookjournal has passmark ratings of many notebooks.

Sony SR41 with T6400 got 610,50
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/inspection/review-test-sony-vgn-sr41m-w-932

I'm not sure if W7 influences results.

 

I imagine that SR490 is some sort of custom order (or build) or a USA exclusive to have a T9600 and a Radeon 4500 series?-)

 

Yeah, you can order it up to a T9800, but that was a massive bump in price and didn't seem worth it to me.

 

Someone in the hardware forum is saying that by undervolting the T series, it uses the same power as P series. You may want to look into it. His name was something like 7toby (can't find it).

 

Can I ask for the link, planning to install windows 7 for my sr35.

 

Is there anything comparable to the SR with the same 13" screen and specs (dimensions as well as weight)? I believe the SR may be the only one in its class capable of playing things worth a darn.

 

Toshiba U500 comes with nearly identical specs.

 

Wow and for so much cheaper...

 

It probably uses an inferior screen to the SR. Other than that it's a good laptop.

 

Inferior battery (3700mAH) compared to the SR's 4800. But the SR looks lightyears better than the bland generic Toshiba styling Decisions decisions.

 

Hey.

I just got an SR490 CTO and am wondering about the screen brightness. At full brightness level (8/8 bars), the screen seems good. But anything below say 6 bars seems unusable, and certainly the battery-mode default of 4 bars seems too dark. Perhaps there is something wrong with my screen or I have a bad setting somewhere.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

I'm ordering an sr model in italy with P8800 I suppose, I'm wondering if the cooling system is enough efficient to cool this CPU. What about the temperature?

 

No, that's how it is.

 

It depends on the lighting around you. At night I find anything above 4 bars unbearable to look at, but during the day I need it to be at least 6 bars so I can see the screen.

I'm actually using 4 bars right now cause the sun is just about set, any higher and it hurts my eyes.

Of course there is also personal preference, some people love their screen extremely bright and others not so much.

 

Just want to ask a question that has started to bother me, the last few days.

Ordered a SR from SonyStyle in USA, but now i wonder if the BluRay will playback films formatted for Europe ?

Anyone have a clue ?

 

You can set your region, but you can do it only for a limited number of times (forgot for what, might have been cyberdvd[?].. last time I used any optical media was.... can't recall). At least this is just software (uninstall/reinstall/flash if limit reached) and not a NTSC/PAL thing.

 

to add: in the Ati catalyst control center it's usually possible to change brightness too. I'm not sure how much it helps though.

 

One fast question to the owners of the SR-49: Is it possible to work on outside ? Which screen is more reflective, the Sony one or the Macbook/Macbook Pro one ?

Thanks

 

The edge-to-edge glass makes the Macbook more reflective. The SR is not as reflective.

 

Do the new SR4x models come standard with any kind of protective sleeves?

 

Nope, you have to buy your own.

 

Kinda sucks. I don't want to spend over 5 euros (well, guessing around 20, this being Sony and all) on some cheap notebook cover that could just have been included in the package. ;P

 

Hello,

I am considering buying SR49VN/H. I am in Europe and here it comes with P8800 and ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470 graphics. I have two questions. First is if this model is quiet. The second is more specific. I will install Linux on it and I was wondering if anyone has experience with that? In particular, how is the graphics card working in Linux and is it supported at all. Are there other Laptops that come with this graphic card so that I can google and see if it works in Linux?

Any input is very welcomed.

 

Similar question. Does it run hot as well? Do you need a cooling pad for the SR4? (Looking at one with a 2.53ghz processor and the ATI 4570 or whatever.)

 

Someone in this thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=398414) mentioned a discount on the SR through bing.com. Does anyone here know anything about this? I'm real close to pulling the trigger on a SR420J/B at my local brick and mortar store, but if there is an additional discount on top of the 5% off for students, I'd like to take advantage of it.

Thanks!

 

Hi. I would say the SR is quiet, in fact most of the time i never even hear the fan running unless I'm doing something with high cpu load and even then its not bad.

For the last month I was running linux ubuntu 9.04. I'm new to linux so this was something new to learn and mess around with. Ubuntu worked fine on the SR. Wireless and bluetooth mouse worked right after install. even Fn + volume keys work. the Fn Brightness keys don't work, but you can just use the the standard panel applet to control brightness. The Ati video card works with default drivers, but when I installed the Ati hardware drivers they worked, but I experienced frequent system lag and lockups so I ended up having to remove it.
I'm not sure hibernation worked correctly, but I didn't use that much. On shutdown or restart they system would hang at the very end, but a ctrl-alt-del would kill the last process. I'm sure if I knew linux better that could probably be fixed in some config.

Today I wiped my linux partitions and installed Mint. At first the live cd would just hang and not run. It seemed to be a problem with 'X' not loading. From what I read this is an Ati hardware issue. I was able to get the live cd to boot by tapping ESC until i got to a command menu, then i had to enter the full path to the kernel and used xforcevesa command for video compatibility. Mint was running but only in 800x600. I went ahead and installed it from the live cd, installed all the updates, and then installed the Ati driver. So far everything is working, although I haven't turned on advanced menu graphics yet. Bluetooth did not work until I installed Blueman package.
So far its running fine, but today is only day one.

 

here, I'll trade ya:
http://www.bing.com/cashback?FORM=R5FD
You can use it at any of the stores they have listed and buy the SR4 and get cash back.
Now where exactly are you getting a %5 discount for students?

 

Ah, so it's kinda like fatwallet.

Not sure we can combine these offers but I was talking about http://www.sonystyle.com/campus.
They honor it in stores too with proof of student/faculty id. I was handed a flyer detailing it today. If anyone gives you trouble about it I can scan it. It says "Instore use code: (E16)(E17)(E18)" if that helps.

10% on RT & Accessories
7% on AW, Z & TT
5% on CS, SR and FW

 

Yea figured it was the sonystyle store. I think it's a slightly less expensive to just buy one pre-configured from amazon/JR but idk.
Also I dont think I see the sonystyle store on the list of bing cash back stores.

 

How does the bing cashback thingy work? 5% off J&R's price would be pretty nifty.

 

How hot does the SR4 run? Do you need a cooling pad for it? (Looking at one with a 2.53ghz processor and the ATI 4570 or whatever. and wondering if the cooling system is big enough for a processor that size)

 

Mine barely gets warm and I have the T9600 (2.8, 35W). Everest says the temp hovers around 102F and the bottom case is not warm to the touch.

 

thinking about getting the sr4 with the P8700 2.53 GHz, 4gb ram, and the ATI 4570 512mb video card. Just wondering if anyone is running any games on it. COD4, company of heroes? world in conflict, WoW, Teamfortress 2? And if so, what settings?
Most reviews say that card can handle those on low-med. and i was wondering what every1 else was getting.
Also, Jr.com says the computer maxes out at 4gb of ram, is that true? i thought it was 8.

 

it is 8gb of ram max

 

What about the (european) SR's with Radeon 3570? Do they work with 8GB of ram? The specs on sony's website says 4GB for SR19/29/31/39/49, but as far as I can see, it's the same chipset as SR41 with Radeon 4570. Is it a BIOS (EFI) limitation?