Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

Can anybody let me know the size of the box the laptop came with? I can hopefully pick up the laptop from a TNT distribution centre on Monday and as I will go there with my bike I would like to know if it fits

 

I still have my box - I shall let you know the measurements before I go to bed tonight!

L- 385
W- 285
D- 95

( all in MM)

 

No, it won't. Surely mesurable but hardly noticeable. You can expect much more impact on speed in everyday activities by increasing RAM to 8 gigs instead of 4.

 

Here you go:

Definitely SATA3 and the really important benchmark numbers (random 4k and random 4K QD32) are nearly as high as (4k random read / 4k random QD32 write) or even a little better than (4k random write / 4k random QD32 read) the numbers Lisa posted for her PCIe SSD Vaio Pro review.

So while it certainly is a little frustrating that SONY went with SATA3 SSDs for their European PRO models, the SSDs they use still seem very good performers and everyday use (which is dominated by smaller random reads/writes) should actually be pretty much comparable.

 

Thanks. Good to know the day to day usage scenarios won't be affected by having a different drive.

Now just need to know if the drive is a standard 2.5" SATA drive or MSATA. My guess is standard SATA as no 512GB MSATA drives exist yet. Part numbers of the Toshiba drives in European models also indicate a standard 2.5" drive...

 

Updated the drivers, but problems persist! Guess I'll have to swap for another one now.

 

I've still got my Vaio Z (constantly overheating) so can wait til October anyway. I just wish someone else could confirm that it will be changed to PCI in the UK. There's only 1 source of that information on this thread / anywhere else on the Internet as far as I can find.

We had this BS with Sony when the Z came out. US achieved 900Mb while the 2nd gen Samsung SSDs in UK were under 400Mb. Talk about a way to pointlessly insult customers from a particular country / continent.

 

May be already posted - interesting review.

Sony VAIO Pro 13 review | Expert Reviews

 

It seems I'm not alone...
I also have a lot of problems with the glare, it's really unworkable... The light in the back at the office drives me crazy.
Moreover, I also have the Bluetooth problem and the touch pad is terrible...
Spent a lot of money on this one... Got almost all the extras except 512GB, got 256GB instead...
I was really hoping for a state of the art machine but this is way beyond my expectations...

 

Hey Guys,

Any idea on how to solve this and/or any recomendations?

Your help is much appreciated!

 

My guess is it is neither nor. I assume it comes in the M.2 form factor but uses the SATA bus. In this case it might also be upgradable to M.2 SATA Express / PCIe cards.

It would be interesting to see some model numbers and pictures of European models SSDs.


Edit:
dart22s Vaio Pro 11 comes with such a M.2 SATA 3.0 card: Samsung MZNTD128HAGM

 

and while this ssd has a disappointing write speed of around 130 mb/sec it does have an overall score of 774 according to AS SSD benchmark which is a decent score thats actually higher than my desktop 830 samsung SSD drive !

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Also, A quick tip for those who cant live with a 128gb SSD! Get a 128gb SDXC card. I got a 128 PNY SDXC card for around $80 sghipped with a real life write/ read speed of 38/45 mb-sec

 

I'm really taking into consideration yours and everyone's reviews of the Pro 13. Thanks for your post. Would you say the glare on the screen is comparable or worst to a MBA? I have a MBA now and the gloss of the screen doesn't bother me, hence, would you say the Pro 13 is similar to the screen gloss of a MBA or glossier?

I've had almost every Z's lineup in the past and all prior Z models have had what Sony considers semi-gloss screens (which I'd consider more of a matte screen imo). I wouldn't want to experience high reflection where I'd have to continuously re-adjust the screen and re-position the laptop to alleviate reflection.

 

I think that's a perfect question for (pdagal) from MobileTechReview, isn't it ;-) ?

 

Official Site of ViewGuard® Products including Privacy Filters & Screen Protectors for Laptop, Notebook & Desktop Computers; LCD Screens; Mobile Phones; PDAs and More

ViewGuard Anti-Glare Matte Screen Protector Review

 

LOL, OK, OK. You folks probably know we have both the Pro 13 and MBA 13 in for review and I even did a smackdown. They both have glare, but as glare goes, it's not horrid (they're no replacements for the bathroom mirror). I don't find them appreciably different from each other in that regard.

 

Just some quick comments on the points you quoted from the review:

• Can't confirm the noise problems. My Pro did get louder while running 3DMark11 - but not nearly as noisy as the Vaio Z, for instance. Moreover, operation is dead silent while typing in Word (which is most important to me) and the fan spins only ocassionally while webbrowsing. Heat at the bottom of the machine is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than on my TZ. "Silence mode" actually does reduce noise in more extreme usage scenaros - but you won't notice the effect right after toggling the switch, as it seems that it is clock speeds / performance which is sacrificed to reduce noise levels (rather than operating temperature). So the fan will still roar on until a certain temperature threshold is reached - but it will run noticeably more silent after that.
• Can't comment on the Turbo Boost issue as I didn't experience any actual performance issues in "silent mode" so far - and hence didn't bother to check the clock speeds.
• I did notice SLIGHT problems with screen uniformity, too (but - at least in my case - it is certainly not as severe as the review makes it sound). In my experience, IPS screens just generally tend to suffer a little more from backlight uniformity issues than TN panels (or PVA panels in the TV market) - but they really make up for it in overall display quality. Any reviewer who doesn't fall in love with the Pro's IPS screen really needs his/her eyes checked, imo.
• Recommending the current Samsung Series 7 over the Vaio Pro seems to come down to personal preference (and personally, I wouldn't agree at all).

 

Hello everyone,

new here, but I stalked these boards since quite a while. I also got my Vaio Pro 13 around 5 days ago and I wanted to give back to the community by providing my opinion.

First the negative stuff:

My display is sometimes flickering (going black for a split second and I also rarely see some artifacts once in a while). It is not permanent, though. Doing random things like powering it down over the night, using a recovery point or re-installing drivers randomly solved the issue until the next powering up. Out of the 5 days I have my Vaio Pro, I had the described issue at two of them. As of yet, I fail to see any patterns or to narrow down the source of it. The issue is worse under load and mild when I am doing nothing. It is flickering like a disco light when I am zoomed in the pre-installed bing-maps app though. But it also randomly occurs while in desktop mode. Does anybody have a similar issue or know how to deal with it? I don't think it's the screen. Seems more like a driver issue, but the Vaio Update software doesn't work and the support page for my model number only shows the pre-installed versions (nothing new like on Sony's US support page). Actaully, I even tried the updated driver version from a US model. The flickering stopped, but after powering it down and up again later on, it was back.

Like other people reported, my Bluetooth is not working either. When I got my Vaio I got the "can't activate" message in the Settings-App. After de-installing the driver and later reinstalling the old ones, the toggle was greyed out and wouldn't even work any more. BT is not damaged though, since I was able to pair my Vaio to my Smartphone via the program in the task bar. Connection didn't work though, but again it seems like some driver issue.

Sony Vaio Update doesn't work. It says there is a new version I have to install first, before being able to update anything, but when I click "yes, install" the program closes and nothing ever happens. Rather annoying.

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

Now to the good stuff:

The device is gorgeous. I really love it. Light and feels sturdy enough. Great keyboard and I also love the often criticized touchpad. It is true that two finger scroll gestures don't work well, but you can configure scrolling on the right side of the touchpad together with some kind of rotation gesture. It works so well and is very fast and accurate.
When surfing or doing office work the fan is completely off most of the time. When under load you can hear it very clearly but it's a pretty standard fan noise. Didn't annoy me - though that's of course something personal.

I have a Model from the German Sony Store: i5, 5 GB RAM and 128 GB SSD (SATAIII) with Touchscreen. My SSD is from Toshiba and it has worse specs in the AS SSD benchmark than any other results I have seen here. They are even worse than the bad ones posted a few posts above. Only my 4K values are better. My acc.time even has read 0.17 and write of 0.089, but the strange thing is that my overall score is higher @ around 970. To be honest though: It is blazing fast and I don't really care about the SATAIII vs PCIe issue. I doubt there will be much of a difference in general usage scenarios.
I also had a higher graphics performance in the windows performance index than Lisa got in her review. It is the same value than the person who got the 8 GB RAM model on some earlier page. Though I of course only have 4 RAM.

Battery life is crazy. I get around 8 hours with a mixture of surfing, office work and not doing anything in between.

Overall, if that blinking issue were non-existent I would be really happy with the device. As it stands it is probably going back as long as I am still inside the 30 days return window. It's a really pity and I am not happy at all, because it takes quite a while to configure/clean everything and install your software on a new model.

BTW, thank you for all your great posts and the helpful insights you provide to the community.

 

Same problem with bluetooh here, it works i can connect an external bluetooh keyboard and the phone, i called sony , their solution is restoring the backup image.
Love the laptop

 

As I already announced, just spoken to Sony and they agreed without asking any questions to take my Pro back...
I'm really sorry to see this Vaio Pro (SVP1321C5E) go because it's a fine piece of ultra lightweight technology and blistering fast (i7)
But the fact of not having Bluetooth (I badly need it for presentations, slides and pointer) and very unstable WiFi on top of that made the decision easy...
I'll hold on to my old one Z and will keep on following this thread because I really want a Pro, but a good one...

 

If their solution is to restore the backup image, then their solution does not work

I did both a (little less invasive) "refresh" of the OS+drivers and a complete factory-reset of the entire system from the backup image (even completely WIPING the harddrive in the process) - but the issue concerning the bluetooth software switch remains.

Given that I can (irrespective of the above-described toggle-issue) pair and use any bluetooth devices I tested (a Vaio BMS11 BT mouse, a Logitech wireless speaker adapter, and my Smartphone) I decided not to send in my Pro for repairs or return it for a new one (which are the solutions SONY eventually offered to me). The hassle just doesn't seem worth the time at this point: The repair option will remain "active" for the next three years of guarantee anyway - and swapping the entire laptop might actually just result in me getting a more "imperfect" sample (dead pixels, fan noise problems, etc. - all of which I don't currently have).

As it stands, it really just looks like a software problem related to a specific (European?) driver set of the Pro (which will probably be solved by future driver revisions). Until then, I'm OK with BT just being "always on" - given that I practically always use a BT mouse and power consumption doesn't seem to suffer a lot from the BT adapter being activated in the first place (as posted earlier, I'm seeing power use levels between 2W and 3W when typing on minimum brightness), I probably wouldn't turn it off even if I could.

My weird wireless issues were completely solved by using a different router, btw.

 

Hello to vaio pro 11 / 13 users,
About the fan noise, does it spin up sometimes even if you do nothing??
or is it just silent when you don't use any of the program?
Do any of you unistall some useless programs to make it silent?
Thank you so much if you'd let me know, appreciated.

 

I tried the 7 Ultra. Spec wise it's a decent machine AND you can mod it yourself (bigger mSATA and 16GB of memory). But its keyboard is absolutely AWFUL. I've owned many a laptop in my day and it's the only one that ever made my hands hurt - and I've owned UMPCs like the JVC XP-741, Sony U70, etc. I wouldn't recommend that POS to anyone who values being able to type.

I do notice the glossy glare but my Pro 13's screen protector is showing up from Japan today so I think it will eliminiate it. I'm in a room now with bright lights and I can see myself, but as pdagal pointed out, it's not a mirror.

I don't use BT so I can't comment on that, but the WiFi (knock on wood) has been stable for me. Much better than the Duo 11, which was pretty bad. I have yet to really have any connection issues with my Pro 13.

 

I really appreciate all your in-depth analysis of that promising little machine and btw: I ordered mine (Swiss Sony shop) and am already pretty anxious about which of these (somewhat minor) issues I will or will not get...

Just one question concerning that BT problem: why is everyone so keen to use Bluetooth given that there is apparently a lot of work to be done and not only for Sony but for many other manufacturers, too? Until now, I was always using a no-frills wirelesss mouse and had that tiny USB receiver permanently plugged in one of the USB ports. I can't really imagine what kind of USB devices one would want to plug in and out all the time - a local printer? no way. a camera? ok, maybe, from time to time. A smartphone? well, there is still that extra USB port in the AC adaptor, isnt'it? And then there's still NFC... What am I forgetting?

Sorry for being a little provocative, but isn't that Bluetooth thing just an annoying but kind of negligible detail after all?

cheers, pat

 

Just got mine 30 minutes ago.
Can't really go too much into it as I'm at work but have done a quick check for contents etc

 

Usually, I don't have ANY fan noise when just typing in Word. Room temperature seems to be an important factor in this regard, though:

I noticed the fan of my Pro starts spinning when the average CPU temperature (I'm using Core Temp) exceeds roughly ~40°C - a threshold I normally don't reach @ light use. That's while working in my regular office (ambient temperature between 23°C and 25°C), though. Ambient temperatures above ~25°C will (naturally) push light use/idle CPU temperatures a little higher - and the fan will start spinning (but just at rather low rpm - barely audible).

Web browing (with some flash content) and doing some photoshop work usually gets the fan of my Pro spinning (even though, again, rather slowly) - but it's really not distracting for me.

Streaming HD videos and other more demanding tasks lead to more audible fan noise - but again: I've seen (i.e. heard) much worse. For instance, the Vaio Z is more noisy across the scale of different use scenarios, as is my older (and pretty quiet) TZ. At the same time, both of the latter seem to run hotter than my Pro - but that's just a subjective impression I have. I didn't measure any temperatures ... just a "lap feeling"

It should be noted that some users in this thread have reported varying CPU base voltages - apparently leading to higher idle temperatures and more fan noise (I'm too lazy to look for those posts, but you should find them skimming through the thread).

All in all, you should be pretty happy with the Pro's noise levels as long as you don't work in a rather hot environment or draw one of the above-mentioned outlier CPUs.

 

OK well I'm slightly frustrated after receiving mine a week ago. On the weekend the battery decided to stop working all together, I pull the plug and it just switches off as if it's not there and won't switch on with it. When plugged back in it just says charging at 67% and won't move from there??

To make this worse I can't even get though to Sony support as it asks for a 15 digit serial number which I don't have on the box or the laptop (where is it hidden?).

The sales team are trying to find my serial number so they can register it for me and pass me through to support.

I do have the option of having it completely replaced but if it's a small fix I can do my end, I'm happy to try. Has anyone else experienced this?

Adam..

Edit - I found the serial number by pressing the assist button while in Windows...

 

Where did you buy the screen protector from? Is it the original OEM Sony one?

 

By the way anyone using 80% charge limit to extend battery lifetime cycles or is useless?

 

I'm guessing it's too early to tell but it should prolong the life.

I've set it to on, however my problem above might be partly caused by this as switching it off and pressing the small reset button in the battery compartment seems to have got the battery working again.

The support guy was unclear but he seems to think I needed to allow it to fully charge a few times, I thought I did so am a little confused?

 

I am using it. My previous laptop batteries tended to last 1yr at best, so with this non-removable battery, I have decided to be a bit more careful and I am using the 80% scheme. Unfortunately, short of doing proper A-B comparison over 2 years of ownership, it will be hard to quantify how useful it is. I am also using the sheet battery, and the setting unfortunately also applies to the sheet battery (it is easily swappable, so I care a lot less about it).

Laurent

 

Sony doesn't have one. This one is by Ray Out. Elecom makes one as well. Got it from an importer.

 

This is highly recommended and is not only an option on this Sony but also a setting you can find on notebooks of other companies. It should decrease battery wear, because the last % of a charge strain the cells due to heat emissions. The Haswell platform is awesome enough to get you through a day even on only 80% charge. If you know that you will need a 100% charge on any given day, just switch the option off, let it charge to 100%, disconnect the APU, and switch the setting back to 80% after usage.

 

The serial number is split into 2 parts on the box. The first part is between P & G, starting with 546.... on mine. The second part is below that, between S01 & / in mine, starting with 000. Join those numbers for the serial number.

Cheers!

 

I have initiated replacement for my Sony Vaio Pro 13. The wifi kept dropping repeatedly! I hope the replacement is better. I can't see any other alternative in the market currently.

 

Hi,

I have the exact same problem with my laptop, did you find any solution? Mine is going RMA anyway because I bent the pins in the USB connector.

 

The simple answer is that a Bluetooth mouse requires no USB receiver protruding from the edge. For consumers consumed with the sleekest and slimmest notebook, that matters. And, on occasion, you do need both USB ports open. Just last week in my hotel, I needed USB1 for the Ethernet adapter and USB2 to charge my iPhone.

I use the Microsoft Notebook Mouse 5000 and its worked flawlessly since I turned off the setting "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" in Device Manager. Never fails to work.

BJ

 

BT mice are usless on a plane since you can't use them. So I don't bother with 'em. I'm having a heck of a time finding a decent small USB mouse since I hate the trackpad on the Pro 13. I wish Sony had put the optical nub from the Duo 11 on here as well.

 

The signal from a wireless USB mouse is just as dangerous and prohibited on an aircraft as a Bluetooth mouse. So if you're referring to a corded mouse for air travel, get one situationally, just for that purpose, and then use the Bluetooth mouse the other 99.9% of the time that you're on terra firma.

BJ

 

Just got my Pro 13 in today. It has been more of a pain than anything so far.

First off, wifi was bad upon first boot. Kept disconnecting and whatnot. Updated it via intel website and it is doing better now. However, when the laptop goes to sleep, upon boot it doesn't reconnect to wifi.

Secondly, this laptop stays pretty warm. So far it has been very uncomfortable on the lap. Which is how I use it a lot. And the trackpad is terrible.

Also, is there gestures for the touchpad? On my last sony 13 premium laptop I could use 3 finger swipes to go back a page.
EDIT: Figured it out. Right click Synaptcis Pointing Device in taskbar, then go to properties, then device settings, then settings.

 

Sony does have one - it's an option on the Japanese model.

How does the screen protector you have look and feel like?

 

I think I will reach this point soon.
I have been travelling for 3 weeks with this laptop now and the WiFi drops everywhere. Sometimes every 5 min, sometimes every few hours. Completely random. I completely wiped the computer and reinstalled everything. No change. I have the 16.0.5 drivers, which made things better at first, but now it seems to be getting worse again. I cannot tolerate this for a $2,000 laptop, as much as I like the rest of the machine.

 

They must be using the one from the Duo 13; there isn't one specifically for the Pro 13.
ソニーストア 液晶保護シート/プライバシーフィルターの商品一覧 | パーソナルコンピュータ関連商品

The VGP-FL16 may work as well, but that's a different thing.

I can tell you it's fairly thin and doesn't impede touchscreen use. It has reduced quite a bit of the glossy thing and given it a fairly matte look. Compared to the one on the Duo 11 which is the original SOny one, it feels a bit more premium than what Sony is offering.

 

Wired was always implied; I thought that was pretty clear. I don't like wireless mice in general to be honest, and I prefer trackballs. All the small travel mice are total crap. The only travel trackball worth a damn is wireless (Kensington), so it's not an option. I am waiting for something like Leap Motion which is wired USB which will be much more useful.

 

My laptop arrived today, it is a non-touch, i7, 256GB, 8GB RAM version. Unfortunately I haven't checked it out, yet, as I am still at work.

Now I wanted to ask what kind of sleeves did you buy for the laptop? I had a Dicota Softskin for my old laptop (LG P310) and really loved it, but the Sony Vaio Pro 13 being lighter and somewhat smaller, I'd like something that fits. What would you recommend? Thanks, Michael.

 

I ordered the sleeve for my Pro with ukwrappers. Verry happy with their service and product quality. They basically tailored the sleeve exactly to my wishes - using the dimensions I found in the Pro's early technical specification. Fits perfectly.

Very fast and friendly contact. Hassle-free payment via paypal. Delivery time was about two weeks (to Germany) in my case - which is perfectly okay given they custom-made the sleeve for me.

Recommended.

 

If it wasn't for that stupid Samsung logo, this would be the most stylish and purest pouch for the Vaio Pro.

 

So, which sleeve did you choose? because I see only Sony Vaio Z and TT/TZ laptop sleeves. Which ones are the good fit for the Pro?

Thanks!

 

looks awesome...
im from germany too. just can´t wait to finally get my pro ( status switched to "versand" yesterday) but until now no tracking possible.
how much did you pay for the sleeve?

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...d=1084901&p_id=8820&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

I bought this $10 sleeve for 13" notebooks from Monoprice, works great.

BJ