Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Thats amazing. Your laptop is Made in China? Just like mine and it should be cheaper cause the country is just next to it.

I think I might just bail on my SR in a few months.

You know most of the new release on netbook will be 11.6" and its not bad at all at 1366x768.

I have an eye out for the new Samsung N510 coming soon.

Wait, at $800 for a netbook ???

 

$800 for a machine that cant play youtube hd

 

Ugh, I wish the SR extended battery wasn't so expensive. And, I wish the u500 wasn't so ugly. The SR looks so much better, but adding the extended battery into the equation ruins the price.

 

Don't forget you get a free standard battery with the mobility package from Sony.

I just ordered my SR 430J/B from JR.com a few hours ago. Can't wait to get it.

 

How long does it take to receive an email from bing stating the amount of cashback you will receive?

 

Ah ok, that's a shame.
Was hoping otherwise.

 

the regular battery is getting me a good 3 hours on high brightness etc, not bad

 

I believe it took a day or two after it had actually shipped.

 

What is the exact cashback percent?

 

Who install Window 7 RTM here again on the SR and was there any problem?

What was missing and what is not working?

 

No, it's made in USA with foreign parts. (It's bought from SonyStyle USA!)
Well that's not exactly true, bigger companies that import electronic goods usually get their stuff from either Singapore or Hong Kong. And since our market is so small, we do not have those inexpensive prices.

I think Lenovo, Dell is imported directly from China.

 

iLoveVaio, your SR490 is a SR CTO model. That is why it is being assembled in the U.S.A.
chong67 bought a SR430, which is a SR pre-config model. That is why it is assembled in China.

More explanation are being done in the following links:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5144762&postcount=124
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5144824&postcount=126

 

So Does Sony build CTO themselves or by other company?

 

Here are a couple of pictures of it.

 

Oh, i made wrong choice with my Vaio...
I've got plain black one!

 

Just got the cashback showed up in my Bing account. Total 162.00 dollars, which is a 12% cashback.

 

Is it possible to replace the dvd drive with a blu-ray drive?

 

installed windows 7 but cant get get vaio utilities to work

 

why would you want to?

 

good to know, thanks

 

Thank you all for the information, I'm going to grab one soon!

For all those wondering, I tried the SR in person, and the U500 - the SR seems extremely small and well-built in comparison to the other laptops that were at the store. Grab one while you can!

 

12% is pretty good. Any free money back is good

If you own a SR, what color is it? Just wondering what the majority is.

 

majority is black then grey then white

 

to use FN functions and stuff

 

Question on graphics:

Is the ATI graphics upgrade for $50 worth it? I only game on my desktop....does the ATI cause less battery life or more heat when doing normal tasks vs. the on board intel graphics?

basically, are there any disadvantages to it if not gaming, or if I do decide to get some games for the road....what can this thing even play?

 

You better get one now. I think bing will be over before you know it.

 

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64 RTM on my SR290. It's a lot like a clean Vista installation, with the exception of Win 7 installing a driver for my ATI GPU, where Vista just installs a generic driver. Fn keys don't work without installing the Sony Notebook Utilities, but will work after installing it.

Also, the various memory card readers aren't seen by Win 7, but once again, after installing the Sony drivers for them they work. Same for fingerprint reader.

Wireless, ethernet and Bluetooth work out-of-the box with Win 7, unlike Vista. No Sony drivers needed.

Overall, Win 7 is quicker than Vista and I'm very happy with it on my SR290.

 

I just bought the laptop via J&R. I went through the bing store list and got the bing loading popup with my email address listed.

How soon should I get a Bing notification email?

 

You can choose 2 settings for your ATI depends on your need: "optimal battery life" and you will almost get the same for what you get with the Intel chip or "optimal performance" for the best performance. And the SR's ATI doesn't get TOO hot so don't worry about it

For me, $50 is a good investment for it. Furthermore, this card's really good, especially foe sth in a 13' laptop. You can get ~4000 in 3d marks06 and in my experience, I played Assassin Creed maxed out with it-no trouble except that the left side (this's where the ATI's located) get hot since AC's a game that makes your GPU work quite hard but to me the heat's bearable

 

Main reason why I chose this laptop is for the video card

 

On the battery life setting...how hot can it get?

 

I don't think that you can feel it lol, while doing casual tasks the SR makes ALMOST NO NOISE, the first and only time I heard it noise except the DVD drive is at midnight when there's absolutely no sound

And don't worry for "optimal performance" too, normal tasks can't make it hot, only hardcore games

 

white or black.....hmm...

just to double checking, if I order frm J&R I qualify for $100 off rebate, bing cashback 10+% and that bundle with the dock/mouse/adapter? anything im missing or have wrong?

 

Hi guys! I'm getting this error in Vista Home Premium SP2:
"\SystemRoot\SysWow64\Drivers\DMICall.SYS has been blocked from loading due to incompatibility with this system. Please contact your software vendor for a compatible version of the driver."

 

Hi! I have sold my SR29VN and bought me a SR41 with T6400, 4GB Elpida Mem and HD 4570 512MB. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate Build 7600 x64 with modded Catalyst 9.7 Drivers.

I have a P9500 ES for install in the SR41 next time. I hope there will be no problem. Is there any way to overclock the HD4570? The 3470 of the SR29 was overclockable with GPU-Tool but it dont work with the HD4570!

 

i get crushed blacks with the ati 9.7 drivers with bluray playback

 

i dont have blueray build in, but a 1080p movie mkv file will looks great ^^

 

YEAH 1080P mkvs look great but the blacks are a little crushed, gotta mess wit the ati settings

 

So you're going to exchange the T6400 with a P9500? Please, report your progress here! I am very interrested in this, since I'm thinking of buying the SR41 myself and upgrade to something like P8600 or P9500 at the same time.

And don't forget to take pictures while doing it! Could be an awesome guide!

 

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Black seems to be the most popular color. There is another thread that has a poll about favorite SR colors. Black is by far the most popular. Having said that, I am happy with my Titanium SR.

 

Though I kinda want a white one now, black was what I reallllly wanted last year.

Here in Canada, the only color available in stores is silver....bleh

 

I picked titanium grey over the black. Went to 3 different stores to compare (since no store has all the colors). Grey also hides the smudges waaaay better than black.

 

I got a white one. I love it. It looks super clean, but of course it'll take work to keep it that way.

 

Is there a guide somewhere for installing windows 7 RC on a vaio? I tried looking through this thread and the windows 7 on a vaio z thread but there are too many posts to find what i'm looking for and the searchbar yields no results.

 

Follow this thread ... http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=408848

 

Does anyone know when you should get a Bing cashback notification from J&R? It's been a day.

And, does anyone have any thoughts on the SR versus the Nox 14?

 

should be 1-2 days after your laptop is shipped.

 

Alright guys and gals.

I'm almost certain of selling my laptop that I've barely had for two weeks. It's a custom build. Not that the machine is bad, but I feel like I overspent needlessly. Buyers remorse I guess, and I can't return it.

It's like new of course.. impeccable condition. Very clean. None of the loose optical drive issues others have spoken of. Excellent build quality this machine is. I even have the original box and the foam sheet that fits between the keyboard and screen, everything in original condition.

The specs should be on my signature. Its the titatanium gray; cost a little over $1,2k new. I'm thinking of selling it between 8-9 hundred. I sent out for the bundle so I can send that with it when I receive it.. not sure yet.

If anyone is interested, let me know. I will get pictures up soon if I have any interest. I may start a new thread regarding it.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5205496 anyone knows how can I fix this problem?

 

dmg3, you can sell it at this price on fleabay.

If are only into surfing and word processing, then a netbook at 11.6" is great for you and at a great price.

In fact, I am thinking of getting the new Samsung N510 with 11.6" screen coming out next month. It got no DVD but got HDMI output and no glossy keyboard.