Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

Hi guys,

I have a small problem with my vaio pro 13 and I thought that maybe one of you could help me out.

When looking at pictures with windows photo viewer everything is OK (I hate the photo app in metro). However, when I click on the slideshow button, every single picture is displayed incorrectly (only the top right or left corner of the picture is displayed, cuting more than half of the picture). I am using very high quality oictures taken with my canon reflex camera.

Anybody else experiencing something like this when in full screen mode or slide show mode with windows 8 photo viewer? Any thoughts on how to fix this? What picture/photo programs do you guys use? (I have always stuck with windows photo viewer but would be more than happy to try some other ones!!!)

Many thanks in advance for your help!

 

Ok, I decided to send back my Vaio Pro 13 (touch version).
I just can't bare the glare.
It really bothered me at work, because of a window right behind me.
Even with blinds down it was to much for me.

Maybe I'm just to sensitive to reflections.
In addition the bluetooth problems and the unresponsive touchpad pushed me over the edge.


I'm now thinking about buying a Vaio Pro 13 non-touch.
But I am not sure about the build quality of the black version, because the non-touch-version is only available in black (NOT carbon).

Do you guys have some pictures for me? I'm not able to find pictures of the black non-touch version
Any hands-on experience would be appreciated as well.


Thanks in advance,
tec

 

On Vaio pro 11 posts you have non touch photos

 

The laptop is still made of carbon fibre, the black version has been painted over whereas the "carbon" version reveals part of the natural fibres.

 

Hi - yes I have the black matte version. The screen is nice. I have glossy screens, and I didn't want touch - so it seemed like an obvious choice for me.

ive not seen others to compare build quality - but there is some flex to it, that youre probably aware of. but I wouldn't say it seems exactly fragile. as long as you don't throw it across the room, it should be fine.

I can try to take some pictures soon. anything particular you want to see?

anything else you want to know?

I get good battery life. its hard to say exactly because it depends so much on what youre using it for. Ive seen the battery status get up to over 13 hours! but on average, I'd say I get at least the 7 hours advertised by sony.

 

I have a semi solution to the bluetooh problem, i uninstalled the bluetooh drivers, w8 installs bluetooh ms drivers, in the bar at desktop i use a bluetooh icon this enables bluetooh not in the metro screen but it works i connected the phone, and sended some photos, dont know although if it is permanently enable

 

I wish they offered that in the U.S. & Canada : ( - that would be the perfect computer for me. I had to make a pretty rushed purchase because my Z is on the verge of dying, I wanted Haswell (and not an MBA) and I opted to buy while on a 1-week trip to the U.S.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the quick answer.
I would like to see the cover and the area around the touchpad.
And maybe the screen with some sort of light on it.

I will head over to the vaio 11 thread, to look at some pictures. (thanks @ Drizzt3307)
Additional pictures are always welcome.

I'm wondering if the black could be scratched down or be damaged, because immel said "the black version has been painted over whereas the "carbon" version reveals part of the natural fibres".
Do you have and indication how sturdy the black "paint" is?

Thanks and good night,
tec

 

As Lisa pointed out in her review, the Vaio Update feature did not work out of the box. I'm happy to report that my computer prompted me by itself to run the Vaio updater, and it updated drivers and firmware for the wireless, bluetooth, gpu, trackpad, updater and other devces. I haven't been having problems with these features as others have reported, but it should be a first step towards a stable, mature driver & firmware base for this computer. Among the features fixed, the updater now works manually.

The updates entailed the following:

7 automatic updates:
NFC driver (Intel) 6.3.1.0
Bluetooth driver (Intel) Update MouseDisconnection01- 3.0.1306.0342-2
Audio Driver Registry Patch (Sony) _Sus RayB1/E64_Sus-20130426_1
Graphics Driver (Intel) Ray_E64_Sus1-9.18.10.3165
Intel Smart Connect Technology 4.1 - 4.1
pointing Driver (Synaptics) Ray1/E64/Sus - 16.5.3.5
Vaio Control Center 6.2.4 Updater 6.2.4.05270

2 Manual installations:
ME Sustaining V7 - 9.53.3.1520
BIOS Sustaining V7 - R020v7

which prompted another automatic installation:
ME Driver (Intel) Ray1/E64 - 9.5.2.1489

 

Hi guys, i'm french, i'm just buying the vaio pro 13, silver edition.
I love it but i can't use my Western Digital Passport USB 3.0 500Gb. In my old laptop with USB 2.0 it's ok.

I google my problem but i can't fixed it. I try some drivers update, go look into the bios, etc

Help me :/

 

when did this happen?

if the updates are there - why can't the computer find them? and why aren't they on the support page?

 

ok ill try to take some photos

it doesn't seem like the paint will scratch off - but without taking a rusty nail to it, I can't really tell! hehe

 

My Vaio update just started working last night. It looks like Sony FINALLY got the server infrastructure in place to support the Pro. But you can visit Sony's support site for your country and search for downloads using your model number. If it doesn't find anything, try using the base Vaio Pro 13's model number, which uses the same updates as the other models and seems to be getting a little more love from Sony's web admins.

 

vaio by mr_mitch85 | Photobucket

 

if it's anything like the black one offered on the vaio z. it will scratch easily.

 

Thanks for the pictures mr_mitch85, same model as I've ordered. Can you confirm as to whether the matte version has an IPS panel like the touch screen version? How are the viewing angles etc?

 

just checked, my vaio updater is still not working - and on the support page , all the drivers are dated 20/6/2013 - so I imagine they are the original ones!

May just wait until the updater starts to work!

 

double post

 

Im not really an expert. What's an IPS panel, and how do I know?

the viewing angle seems pretty good, compared to other laptops I have used!

 

I think if the picture does not wash out at an extreme side angle then I think that's the indicator that it is IPS and not TN.

 

No. I can turn it right to the side and the picture does not seem to wash out in any way!

 

Sounds fantastic. Thank you for the information! Looking forward to getting it.

 

Can anyone point me towards the update for wifi?

 

Fantastic - much appreciated. Will be looking to give this a shot once I've had a quick play to verify that everything is well.

It also sounds as though the recovery media has moved on from my current Vaio where it's an all or nothing approach, i.e. either restore the machine back to its shipped/delivered state or nothing at all!

 

The June updates are likely new for your machine. You can click a button on the web page labeled "show updated files only" to see what's new.

 

My updater stopped displaying the error message that was mentioned earlier, so I assume it works now and the Sony website even has all the updates for my SKU now (which are the same as the updates for the other SKUs, they were just missing...).

Laurent

 

I like them too... :thumbsup: They are located in C:/Windows/Web/Wallpapers... if someone would want to upload the folder. Thanks in advance!

 

It happened this morning. I happened to have rebooted the computer 3-4 times over the last couple of days, and it happened soon after a reboot. Yes, it is not easy or convenient to do the updates, especially with the Vaio update feature not working until now. It's so inconvenient that I only installed one update manually when I first got the computer (pasted below) and gave up, hoping that Sony would eventually fix their updater, maybe that had something to do with it. Sorry, I can't explain more how it happened, I feel like the monkey on the typewriter that accidentally wrote a sonnet.

Sony eSupport - SVP13215PXB - Drivers & Software

edit: I'll bet that this will make the Vaio Update work, which should download all the new drivers, etc:
Vaio Control Center 6.2.4 Updater 6.2.4.05270

 

Here you go

http://www.yousendit.com/download/WFJWK2VrQXBvQnQ3czlVag

 

Thank you very much! :thumbsup: I appreciate the gesture!

 

It seems at least with initial impression, there's zero improvement in power use for load scenarios.

That would be true if you are using full capacity of the memory, but its unlikely. Only actively used parts of the RAM should be active, which would depend on how much you are using.

Laurent, the Single chip Haswell platform does not have the USB3 bug.

Intel 8-Series Chipsets: Z87 Is Nice - The Core i7-4770K Review: Haswell Is Faster; Desktop Enthusiasts Yawn

 

Something wrong with the dimension , it's not like the 16:9 ratio , the resulution is 1366x1366 , 1600x1600 or 1920x1920 not like 1366x768 , 1600x900 or 1920x1080 . Can you fix it ?

 

Has anyone been able to get an additional ac adapter for the Pro 13?

Sony UK have no stock or pricing info.....

 

Hi guys, I up my problem, i'm french, i'm just buying the vaio pro 13, silver edition.
I love it but i can't use my Western Digital Passport USB 3.0 500Gb. In my old laptop with USB 2.0 it's ok.

I google my problem but i can't fixed it. I try some drivers update, go look into the bios, etc

Help me :/

EDIT: I just fixed a little my problem, I don't plug the totally of the usb, like on the photo ( link), and it's ok. So strange !

 

The Vaio "black burst" wallpaper can be found here:

http://www.wallsave.com/wallpapers/1920x1080/vaio-full-hd/37946/vaio-full-hd-sony-37946.jpg

BJ

 

Traveling in Hong Kong and China - 10 Day Review

Got my Pro 13 a few days before leaving the US and heading to Asia for ten days, some thoughts on how the notebook is as a travel companion:

• The lightweight design is a marvel. It's so light you don't even know its in your backpack or briefcase. It's insane how light this is.
• The battery life is the killer feature. There is no question that, as a road-warrior, you don't want to take your power adapter with you all day, have to find outlets to plug into all day, don't want to stress and use your notebook conservatively out of battery life fear. The Pro 13 solves all of that. Charge it up fully the night before, leave that power adapter behind, and work all day without worrying about battery life. In a typical day of Word, Excel, and Web and by merely closing the lid to put it to sleep, I was averaging 10 hours a day and at no point was I in danger of running out. In fact, I'd get back to the hotel at 8PM and start doing some web surfing and some email checking and still not have to remember to plug it in until it was time to go to bed.
• Connectivity was rock solid. Since updating my Bluetooth and Wi-Fi drivers, I have had no issue connecting at all, no drop outs, no worries. In my hotel I preferred to use ethernet, and the $10 USB-to-eternet adapter I bought from Monoprice did great, plug-and-play, always worked reliably and effectively. The Bluetooth mouse lets me work without a dongle, another plus.
• Screen glare, not an issue, even in a brightly lit meeting room. The backlight is really strong if you push it, pops through even in a bright room.
• The fan came on only once and that's because the maid left my AC off one day and I got back to a hot room and was watching some video. Aside from that hot incident, no fan came on for 10 days.
• At the airport, the notebook connected to all wi-fi and ethernet it needed to in the lounges, should be pointed out that you can sneak it through security in your backpack like an iPad if you've got the right agent at the checkpoint.
• I used Skype every day (who wouldn't) to avoid costly phone calls home and the voice quality was terrific. My wife said I sounded better when using the notebook without a headset; the Pro 13 makes a great speakerphone. The camera must be nice too as my family liked the video chat and thought the quality of what I was broadcasting back home was spectacular, held the notebook up out the window to show my view of the harbor.
• Lastly, the durability of the case and housing is top notch. It went in/out of my backpack dozens of times, rubbing against the zipper, being put in/out of an airline seat back pocket, rubbing against magazines, in/out of airport security trays, and on and on and it doesn't have a scratch on it, not on the lid, on the edge, nothing.

Couldn't be happier. Great machine.

BJ

 

Is this for all models?

Im reluctant to install it, because my sku (svp1321c5e) is NOT listed!

 

Hello guys,

I'm sorry if this has already been answered, but here's my question:

Is it possible to install Windows 7 on the VAIO Pro 13?

Thanks a lot!

 

Thanks for the pictures.

I just ordered a Vaio Pro 13 non-touch with i7, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

An update will follow, as soon as I get it (should take about 1 - 2 weeks).

 

99.% that it will be fine but to be sure I would make a backup of your installation.

Yes it is possible to install Windows 7, however you might have some issues with drivers if they do an OS check.

My advise is to stay with Windows 8 and see if you really cant get used to it. A lot of people say that after using Windows 8 for a bit they dont necessary want to go back to Windows 7. If you really cant get used to Windows 8 you can install programs like Start8 that will remove Metro and give you back the start menu, this way you don't risk issues with drivers and you have a Windows 7 like experience.

 

when I connect to my router via 2.4 ghz, all is fine................ but when I connect to the 5thz network, the signal keeps flicking between full, and one bar........... that's sitting just a few metres from the router........ with line of sight.

Is this typical of other peoples problems?

Inssider does not show any fluctuation in the signal level, so I'm a bit confused about what is going on here!

 

Shame you did not buy a non glare screen protector to put it on.

 

Is your version i5 or i7?

 

Thanks I'll buy it to use with Ubuntu too. About battery will I get 5-6 hours with i7? thanks

 

ps, anyone elses speakers keep making an annoying clicking sound, randomly?

can be heard if you open the volume control and click on the slider repeatedly - can someone test it for me.

(does it through headphones too - so can't be a faulty speaker)

 

Is it possible to drive 2 external monitors with some sort of hdmi splitter? I'd really like to use this as my workstation but I need two external monitors.

 

You can use a dual-monitor USB3 dock.

Laurent

 

Sheet battery finally arrived: 290g. Same capacity as laptop battery. Now you're talking insane battery life. Total weight of my SKU with sheet battery: 1340g (i.e. less than 3lbs!)

Laurent

 

I've got the i5.

BJ

 

Hey guys, thanks for the awsome information in this thread so far. I'm looking for the lightest notebook around and that originally got me interested in the Vaio Pro 11. But now i see that the Vaio Pro 13 without touchscreen weighs only 70 gramm more than the 11 inch version. Could someone please confirm that, that seems to be too awesome to be true.

Also i got a couple of questions to current Vaio Pro 13 owners:

1) How much does the charger (including the cord) weight?

2) Where is the air intake located for the cooling?

3) How reliable is the trackpad? Is it textured or smooth? I heard that it has a somewhat rough surface, i alread dislike this on my current ThinkPad.