Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread

Sorry, currently I'm not home. When I get home I'll reply.

As far as I remember it's:
Vaio Control center --> Power Management --> Advanced? --> Hibernate: 5min (Change this)

 

Okay, thank you. I see the setting. But, I don't get why if I'm on AC, sleep, then I unplug, it does not enter Hibernate. But only if I am on battery if I enter sleep, then it will enter hibernate. I guess the laptop does not recognize it is on battery after being unplugged...

 

Exactly!

 

Hey guys! Can one of you enlighten me with the materials used in the SR? I have read a lot of reviews and posts, and they all seem to contradict each other in regards to the materials being used on both the palmrest and the area around the keys on the keyboard. Some people say that the area around the keys are made from aluminum, and some say it's all plastic. So confusing

 

I recently swapped out my Z590 for an SR490. I have to say that while my Z590 is a beautiful machine with a screen that is simply unsurpassed, for my money the SR490 is really a dream machine. Cramming an ATI Radeon HD 4570 into a 13.3" is a slam dunk for me: I am by no means a hardcore gamer, but I like my occasional Fallout 3 and don't want a separate rig to do it. To my knowledge, the only other 13.3" notebook with such a powerful GPU is the all-but-unavailable LG P310. The icing on the cake is that the SR490 retains the chiclet keyboard I love about the Z590 (wish it were backlit, though). And I got a faster processor for far less money.

There were a few downsides to the switch. The body around the SR490's keyboard isn't quite as nice -- it's some sort of carbon composite rather than the aluminum of the Z590 -- but still feels solid. The SR490 uses DDR2 memory versus the Z590's DDR3, but again I felt this was minor. The SR490 puts both USB ports on one side, which is a little infuriating. No dual-video cards on the SR490, either, so while I haven't tested battery life out yet, I'm guessing it will suffer when compared to the Z590's stamina mode. Finally, the Z590's screen really is brilliant, and it spoiled me: I admit I was more than a little let down by the SR490's at first. But of course, in the grand scheme of laptops it's quite good.

At the end of the day, it was a question of value to me. I bought my Z590 at a price that was almost $1,000 more than a better-spec'd SR490. For that, I got an extra .2" off the screen and a little less than 1lb off the weight. Oh, and an objectively brilliant screen. Not worth it to me. I'm happier with the SR490.

 

Has anyone figured out how to fix the random shutdowns that happen as soon as the computer hibernates? sometimes when my sr490 hibernates or sleeps, it automatically restarts for no reason and says it had an unexplained shutdown.

After my unexpected shutdown, my computer got really hot. Even several hours later after several restarts, my computer still has the fan on max or close to max even though its running at around 35 degrees C.

Also how long does it take sony to tell you that they got your mail in windows 7 upgrade order? i haven't heard from them and am wondering if they got my order (I sent it 6 weeks ago).

 

I've got same problem. When i wakes up it shows Blue Screen Error "Multiple_IRP_Complete_Requests" , once i had "BAD_POOL_CALLER" and restarts.

I used program called "BlueScreenView" link and i found out it has been caused of many things sometimes "keyboard", someimes "Zone alarm driver"

 

How do you fix that though?

 

its magnesium aloy + plastic

 

I havent fixed it yet. Have you tried something. Thinking about sending it to Sony - to fix it

 

Anybody have a problem with their left touchpad mouse button? Mines randomly becomes loose, i think, and you can hear a clicking noise when lightly touching it (not fully pressing it).

 

Has anyone heard from sony regarding the windows 7 upgrade? I haven't gotten any reply after 8 weeks or so.

 

I was worrying too. Just wait, it'll come

 

I just received my confirmation of approval about a week ago and I purchased my Vaio almost 3 months ago lol.

 

Hello all! Happy to have found this forum and joining here as a new owner.

I got my first Sony laptop yesterday, a VGN-SR420 D/H (duo core T6500/ 4GB) and so far I am very happy with it. Looks like I have about 341 messages I need to catch up with this weekend I will be happy to hear anything anyone has to say about this particular model, specially tips on how to increase its performance or can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

 

excellent! thanks for the info

 

Just out of curiosity, can you do SSD RAID on the SR? On the USA SonyStyle website for the SR, if you go to config it says something along the lines of "if SSD RAID is selected, xp downgrade disk will not be available." Does that mean that the current SSD offerings for the SR are RAID? If you can install it yourself, is there a do-it-yourself guide somewhere? lol

 

I've been persuaded to buy an SR now that they've come out with a bunch of new models in the UK (thinking of the SR59VG/H).

I have one question. Is it easy/possible to upgrade the hard drive on the SR series to an SSD(if the price drops on them in the future). Can you do it yourself (given that I know very little about computers) or would I have to pay a shop to do it?

Thanks

 

It's very easy to replace the HD with a SSD. All you need is a screwdriver. Anyways, what I want to know is how one can put two SSD and do RAID on the SR without any outside help.

 

Sony uses customized Samsung "dual-layer" RAID SSDs that has the same thickness as a regular notebook HDD. Therefore, without using these "special" SSDs, I don't think you can just put 2 "regular" SSDs into that single HDD slot in the notebook.

 

Darn it, I knew Sony did something to keep you from saving money Their SSDs sure are costly.

 

battery I got 3hr20mins which is pretty good (bightness 3/8 installed software, firefox browsing, played a game and watched a video), may get the extended battery later on, battery draining does occur but I have to leave it for a whole day to notice.

Games:

Crysis: Medium 1280x800 = 20FPS
GRID: Medium 1280x800 = 25-35fps
L4D: Medium/high 1280x800 = 50fps (zombie hoards bring fps to 15 :S)
SF4: low (high backgrounds, cannot set lower :S) 1280x800 = 29fps
F.e.a.r. med/high 1280x800 = 50fps
Bionic commando rearmed: 1280x800 = did not get fraps working but very smooth
Defense grid: high 1280x800 = 35fps


its not a bad laptop for gaming need to test a UE3 game next like UT3 or bioshock... and maybe gta4 but its unlikely I will see very good framerates


how do i opt for sony windows 7 program btw? my model is not on the website :s

 

Sorry but I am very new to this HD stuff, is the screen on the vaio sr able to display 1080p?

 

The screen will not display 1080p (check its resolution). But it (the laptop) will output over HDMI at 1080p.

 

Hey guys, quick question, ive got a SR 46 GD:

System

Manufacturer Sony Corporation
Model VGN-SR46GD_B
Total amount of system memory 4.00 GB RAM
System type 64-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2

Storage

Total size of hard disk(s) 298 GB
Disk partition (C 74 GB Free (100 GB Total)
Disk partition (D 167 GB Free (198 GB Total)

Graphics

Display adapter type ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series


Question is, I have DDR2 memory, can the SR support DDR3? if so, any recommendations as to which speed? Oh, and what is the maximum amount of RAM on this machine? (64bit Win 7)

also, any recommendations for SSDs?

 

Cannot support DDR3 ram and the max supported is 8gb with 2x 4gb chips

 

Cool, thanks for that!

does anyone know which ram speed is best for this machine? any recommendations?

 

I wish i could have ddr3, i have the machine with a T6500 2.10 GHZ i get about a 35 second boot up running windows 7. I wish i could change the processor. I have tried GTA IV pretty good frame rates 1024x600 resolution with everything down it is decent enough. What i do like about the machine is it that it has intel 5100 abgn. I would like to get the z series but it is just way to expensive, i want a backlight keyboard! That is why i might go back to dell an dell xps 1340. But i do like the weight of this machine very light.

 

Everest said that the sr can support ddr3 800MHZ

 

wow, freedom, how did u get a 35s startup?

im running a clean install of 64b W7 Prof. and ive got a 1 min startup!

ive just got the synaptics driver, logitech set point and the ATI CCC on startup! nothing else!

 

its not like u can pick, pins for ddr3 and ddr2 are different, vaio sr comes with pins for ddr2 and can therefore only use ddr2.

 

ahh okay thanks! should have known...

Can anyone comment on the picture quality when output through hdmi?

 

HDMI output depends on two things, the HDMI cable and the quality of your TV. If you have a good TV, the picture quality will be good etc

 

anyone experience very LOW volume on their SR?

I can barely hear some of the audio I play. Is there another way to increase the volume (eg a driver upgrade?). ...

 

I have output over HDMI on a desktop to 720p resolution on a 1080p television, so I'll just say that it looks great, almost like working on a huge monitor, and I'm satisfied with the picture quality. It works, and it doesn't look bad (at least to my eyes).

 

I use tune xp, auslogics registry defrag, perfect disk defrag, have the least programs starting up, finally you must have windows restart a few times. 64 bit computing with windows 7 is amazing!

 

guys, something happened to my touchpad driver....it wont scroll on the right side and its hyper sensitive to any accidental touching

how to i fix this? i redownloaded the driver and it had no effect....

 

If you continue to have problems with the driver then right click the icon or installer exe and look for compatibility run in windows xp either service pack 2 or 3. I use a usb and bluetooth mouse that's all . I am going to get me a gaming mouse logitech of course. If it becomes to much of hasle then just get a mouse, a good one of course but it be your touchpad itself. Worse comes to worse call sony lol

 

update your fingerprint reader here:

http://www.upek.com/support/downloads/psql_winqual/psql_upgrade.asp

this will work for saving and loggin into firefox stuff

http://files.upek.com/GetPackage.asp?Key=NO1UU21117VWWO5VF5DW6266O42INR1Y

Hope this helps, rep me if you want!

 

I have to say the speakers on the SR are actually very quiet. My only dissatisfaction with the model.

 

Yup! It's quite low on volume.

 

yeah the speakers aren't that great, everything else is top notch though so that makes me happy

 

the screen kind of sucks, too. I used to own a studio xps 13, and both the speakers and screen were light years better than the SR. Hey, have you guys figured out a way to make the battery..not wobble? The wobbling makes me think that the laptop will break any second.

 

So i went on sonystyle.com website because needed purchase date for win7 upgrade. Price went down for vaio sr, but says "No longer available for purchase at Sony Style." Guess for those who purchased after price drop, decent deal if didnt want the extra rebate stuff which is now expired.

 

Yeah the screen does suck really bad, xbrite led lcd my a** their led isn't true led any way it is horrible. But pretty good for watching films after you tweak a few things.

 

the guy who posted on top is an idiot, this is one of the nicest screens in a laptop.

 

Outstnding screen compared to many laptops on the market. So bright, that I have to turn down the brighness.

Compared to my HP, Dell and Thinkpad notebooks, this one rocks.

 

Sir i am not, have you ever compared a lg LED screen to this it looks horrible! Even my dell xps m1530 CCFL LG screen has better contrast and brighter mostly.

 

I think you just need to get used to it. I like my old screen on a Dell 600m and have had no problems with it; switching to SR290 screen was a big change, but in the end each has their advantages.

 

I changed color saturation settings a bit and it has become more usable and enjoyable