Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

I tried out RMClock, but I noticed that the software was missing the highest CPU multiplier so my CPU topped out less than max speed. As a result my wPrime times dropped around 50%. Anyone else notice this?

 

You may have to manually enable the highest multplier in the max performance profile. And select maximum performance.

Did you do this already?

 

Yeah, I tried that. The max multiplier is 8. It should be 8.5. I read in the RightMark forums that others were seeing similar issues on some CPUs. With the max multiplier at 8 I'm seeing a max speed of 2.13 GHz opposed to the true max of 2.26 GHz. I'm loosing about 2 seconds on wPrime.

 

Not nice. Probably because the CPUs are quite new. Should be solved in the next version.

 

What is the least expensive SR series model?

 

SR129EB was available for $1299 at Newegg.

 

I just bought my SR190 CTO after my Lenovo dilemma.

 

Interesting, went to spec out the cheapest SR on canadian sonystyle, got it down to $1439.99

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Night Black
2 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx1)
160 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
13.3" WXGA (XBRITE-ECO™ technology)
Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4700MHD with Intel® Clear Video Technology
DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth&erg; technology
Standard Capacity Lithium-ion Battery

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh Start™
Microsoft® Works
Windows® Live OneCare 90-Day Trial


2 gig of ram is the smallest you can get in canada, huh fresh start is free in canada, while in the US you need vista business to get it interesting, I came out to 10 dollars cheaper as well

 

The SR seems a bit expensive for what you're getting. I guess its the brand name and quality that you are paying for too.

 

Not really. A Dell XPS M1330 with an LED screen, Nvidia graphics, draft-n wireless and bluetoooth in a 4lb case would cost the same.

 

true. i remember looking into those.

 

Its been out of stock for a while.

 

Anyone know how much battery life I should expect out of the extended battery?

 

2-3 hours more?

The standard battery is a 6 cell, the extended battery is a 9 cell.

However, the extended battery is extremely expensive. I think it's better to wait if you don't need it right now.

 

Hm, I have a couple of questions. Heh.

So I want to upgrade my Ram in my Vaio soon... When I get enough money.

The problem is, is that I only want 3 GB of ram... I don't want to buy a 4 GB ram kit (Not really worth it for what I do). Am I going to be stuck with a 4 GB ram kit, or would a 2 GB DDR2 800 and a 1 GB DDR2 800 work in Dual Channel if it was from the same company with the same stats, just how much GB of ram it gives is different? (Not much of a Ram person. Heh.)

I was just curious. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer this for me.

 

just wondering. i'm have ATI graphics and been playing Combat Arms. My SR tends to heat up a lot especially the left palmrest and the left bottom side of the laptop even with a notebook cooler. using HWMOnitor my core temps reach 65 degrees celsius after about 2 hours of gaming.

i guess its normal but does anyone have this same experience?

will playing games constantly on my SR increase the time it takes to start overheating? I know with my previous dell it would overheat. i'd rather prolong the wait b4 it starts to overheat under normal word processing/internet browsing.

 

Does that card work in that way?

Well, I was playing Fiesta with everything turned on and in a crowded-ish map with monsters, and it seemed to do well. The heat was warm, but it wasn't anything like doing the same thing on an old HP with a dedicated Radeon Mobility it had. (9500 I think?)

Though, I used that one for gaming for a while, and it didn't have any differences of when it would really get hot, just if I would set it down on a cushion surface, like a bed for a couple of minutes (The HP's fans were on the underside and the right back side, inconveneient).

I think the SR has adequate cooling ability to help the card to not overheat any more or less over time though.

 

Did anyone actually get the 129E/B from Newegg? I ordered that model back when it was actually available, but the one that arrived is a 129E. Other than that, it doesn't differ from the specs on Newegg's site, but Sony seems to treat the E and the E/B as separate models on their support site. Are there any differences?

 

How many hours have you been able to make this laptop work? 3.5-4 hours with standard battery is achievable? Is possible to switch to the integrated graphics? If the Z doesn't come out soon (next week...), I may be forced to buy this model.

 

Good news, the ATI GPU temps are readable! Thanks to jiffry1017's topic and a helpful answer from notyou (why does that name sound familiar... GameFAQs?), the program "AMD GPU clock tool" can be used to view clocks and temps.

Attached is a pic with PCSX2, which I believe taxes both CPU and GPU, running in the background.

What I noticed is that ATI manages their upclocking/downclocking in a realtime fashion compared to Nvidia. When idle, clocks are 109/405, and when at full load they are 297/405 or 675/792. IMO, ATI does the job much better than Nvidia in pretty much everything. No stuttering present in ATI, compared to Nvidia which causes stutters every time the clock downclocks/upclocks.

 

lol Gamefaqs.
I need a case for my soon to be SR.

 

Users have reported 3.5 hours with HD3470, while 5 hours seems reasonable on IGP (one review actually said 6).

SR does not have a switch.

Z should come out in one week.

 

Thanks for the answer. I am considering alternative options in case I can't have the Z before the 22 of August at my home.

 

how did you get your temps to be so low?? 32? 21? mine idles at 43!

 

At one point I undervolted, which allowed my temps to dip around 30-35C. What you were probably seeing is my temps when my SR came from standby, which is the temps in the 20s. Currently I idle at 40C without undervolting. Sorry about that.

 

hey all im going to order the SR190CTO as soon as i get to canada for university. im going to trade in my hp dv5000 for 460 dollars and get 50 dollars credit for the trade in so thats 512 dollars off! here are the specs im thinking of:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4ghz)
Microsoft Windows Home Premium with SP1
Night Black / Glossy Silver (still havent seen picks of the silver)
2gb Ram
320gb hard drive
13.3" WXGA
Mobile Intel Graphics Media accelerator (want to get most battery life possible)
DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Senso
Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth&erg; technology
Large Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (BPL13) (does anyone have this?)

Im generally gonna use the laptop for schoolwork and so i need the most battery i can get out of it. i dont intend to game much basically im going to listen to music and maybe watch the occassional movie.

 

hey all im going to order the SR190CTO as soon as i get to canada for university. im going to trade in my hp dv5000 for 460 dollars and get 50 dollars credit for the trade in so thats 512 dollars off! here are the specs im thinking of:
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.4ghz)
Microsoft Windows Home Premium with SP1
Night Black / Glossy Silver (still havent seen pics of the silver)
2gb Ram
320gb hard drive
13.3" WXGA
Mobile Intel Graphics Media accelerator (want to get most battery life possible)
DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Senso
Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth&erg; technology
Large Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (BPL13) (does anyone have this?)

The total is 1739.99 CAD and with the trade-in deduction it ends up at 1223 CAD which is a pretty sweet deal i guess?
Im generally gonna use the laptop for schoolwork and so i need the most battery i can get out of it. i dont intend to game much basically im going to listen to music and maybe watch the occassional movie.

A question to current owners: I know the speakers are bad and thats expected from a 13" laptop i guess but is it so bad that you cant listen to music at low volumes or does it crap out only when u turn it up?

EDIT: sorry for double post

 

Question:
When I take unplug the ac adapter, why does the power mode change from optimized to power saver? How do i change this? Thanks

 

I'm planning on getting a Sony Vaio SR... just wondering about one thing:

For those of you that have the ATi Radeon graphics card in your Vaio SR, is there an HDMI port? or is there still only a VGA?

Thanks

 

There's only VGA.

 

Just a general question, I have been wondering about this...

When a notebook has discrete graphics, how exactly do you switch between the integrated and dedicated? Is it just a simple button you press or something, or...you don't actually have to deconstruct the notebook to do it, do you??

 

With the SR, you can't switch the graphics - the discrete graphics are always active. The Z can switch between integrated and discrete, there is a switch above the keyboard.

 

kk, thanks!


Also, the custom Vaio SR offers a 'fresh start' option... what does the 'non-fresh start' version come with? any useful software/applications? or better to go with the 'fresh start'?

 

I don't think it's worth the extra cost ($100 or so?), since you can just uninstall most of it yourself. There are lots of Sony apps though, and I think that they will be present in the fresh start Vaios anywaysl. Plus I would feel better with a fresh install...

 

Anyone in Canada know when other stores will be carrying this laptop?

 

I'd like to know how much bulk the extended battery will add to this laptop? Does anyone have comparison photos of the two batteries?

 

I believe I saw a photo of one in the FW topic. It sticks out at the bottom... it will feel a bit funny if you use it on your lap.

 

I can't get Fresh Start to activate unless I select Vista Business. I have no idea how you are able to do that! Alas, with the configuration I want, my final price is $1718.99. Still contemplating whether I want to plunk down that kind of money or wait it out for a while unless it becomes more mass produced. I've waited about 2 years to get a laptop only to wait some more.

My specs:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Night Black
2 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx1)
200 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
13.3" WXGA (XBRITE-ECO™ technology)
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
Trusted Platform Module / Biometric Fingerprint Sensor
Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth&erg; technology
Large Capacity Lithium-ion Battery (BPL13)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fresh Start™
Microsoft® Works
Windows® Live OneCare 90-Day Trial

I still have yet to hear anybody answer the question if the large capacity batteries really makes a difference.

 

Is there a prebuilt model that:

Has vista business with the XP downgrade
3 gigs of RAM
AND the ATI card?

 

I wonder if Newegg will sell this again? The deal looked pretty good, but it's disappeared now.

 

yea strange because other sites still sell the same model. I think they will again once the other SR models arrive, which should be real soon

 

Cool, I'll hold out for one then.

Which other sites are selling the same model?

 

http://tinyurl.com/5mnc7y

The cheapest are around $1344-$1400 (according to Google and PRicegrabber) from a seemingly reputable website, eWiz.com. Buy.com has one for regular MSRP price, but PortableOne is a better option at MSRP.

Newegg brought the page back up for a day and then deactivated it... but I'm thinking that some people cancelled their orders and that triggered the page to be back up so shortly.

Back on topic, has anyone poked around inside to see if the wireless card can be changed? I may put a 4965 in.

@travisthompson: The model VGNFW139EH has all three options, but Vista Business is +$150.

 

I'd snap one of these in a second over the M1330 if I could only get its price closer to $1500 with warranty. P1/Laptopsinc offers a good price for the SR129, which includes the discrete graphics option and 2GB of ram, but their warranties run for a lot, close to $250 for 3 years on-site or 2 years accidental, and with tax that brings me close to $2000.

Ordering the same exact specs on SonyStyle on the other hand, with its $300 off deal, comes to a grand total of $1715 with tax included, and 2 free neoprene cases. I'm also hesitant due to resellerratings.com's rating coming to a not so stellar 3.33.

I think I'd love a Vaio SR over an XPS M1330, but with a 30% off coupon on the 1330 with a purchase of over $1600, I just feel like I'd get more bang for my buck. Can anyone point me in the direction of a better deal on this wonderful machine?

 

Hahaha, dude you have good timing. I just installed a replacement card in mine. The Atheros card does not operate in the 5 GHz range so I couldn't run my access point at full potential. The 4965 will not fit in the SR. These new models use a half mini-card which is absolutely tiny. The newest, latest, greatist, WiFi card is the Intel WiFi Link 5300. It has the ability to transmit and receive on three antennas for full MiMo. The Atheros and Intel 5100 that comes standard on the SR, FW, and Z are neutered cards that don't allow full MiMo, and only have two antenna connections.

Anyways, I picked up a 5300 online. Be sure to order the half mini-card because a mini-card version is also available. I ordered mine from lagoom. Here is a direct link to the correct card.

http://www.lagoom.com/INTEL_WIFI_LINK_5300_HMC_533AN/533AN_HMWG/partinfo-id-583223.html

I installed the card just an hour ago with no issues. The SR has only two WiFi antennas so I installed another one that I had lying around from an old computer. I installed the antenna underneath the silver tube by the left speaker and routed the cable to the card. Everything seems to be working fine. Best of all I was able to switch my 802.11n router to 5 GHz. Here is a picture of the SR with the keyboard removed. You can see the stock WiFi card in the upper right.

 

I had a couple questions:

The SR doesn't have a switch for integrated / dedicated graphics? How do you switch between them?

You said the cooling is decent, but how much noise does it make? (the fan, mostly)

 

You can't switch between them.

Not much at all. The fan noise is just audible in a quiet room.

 

You can't switch between integrated / dedicated?
So, if you get the ATI 3470, you're stuck with worse battery life?

 

correct. only the z has the switch capability

 

That's a bit sucky...
Guess the SR is out of the picture for me...