Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

Who cares about the touchpad issue, just use a bluetooth mouse!!!

 

Wow..!
I am certain that many care about a touchpad with issues, and also many will not find that a BT mouse is OK to use in many situations...

Were you really serious when you wrote this post, or were you sarcastic?

 

My frustration with the fan noise is, with VLC player, 720p TV show, the show finishes, I fall asleep and not close VLC, even though the player is not playing anything, full fan all night long, unless I wake up and turn off the unit.

My only frustrating thing about it, really

 

Can anyone help please?

 

The touchpad is great - it's just the default settings for sensitivity etc. that seem a bit off.

Took me five minutes of tweaking the touchpad settings too get some very nice results. Works like a charm now.

 

Hi, there. I am considering to buy the Vaio Pro and but I have a question on whether the Vaio Pro 13 lid can be open with one hand like the MacBook Air?
Thank you.

 

Hello from Greece, I intended to buy the svp13 since the first day i saw it online, but unfortunately i find out that sony greece does not bring to Greece the silver model. I searched amazon.co.uk, amazon.de etc but nothing. Everywhere in Europe it is only available in black colour. Only in the U.S. I can find it in silver but the customs fees are too high to order it from amazon.com (20% up its value).

Can anybody from the E.U help me an point me to a site, that has the pro13 in silver? Thank you in advance guys.

 

My pro can't open with one hand, need to hold it down, if you wish read my post on the previous page with the pros and cons of the 13 vs vaio S.

The pro does not replace the Z.

Sony germany has the silver one but it it CTO, so your best bet is trying either amazon.de, or a german retailer.

 

I've searched at amazon.de, and the bigest german computer stores (cyberport.de) etc but nothing. It is available only in black.
Has anybody from europe bought it in silver?

 

What about italian only stores? if no store has in in silver in europe, then perhaps your only option is to get someone you know in a country with CTO to order a silver model for you. Good luck

 

John Lewis in the UK does silver. They haven't got all of the models on their website yet, but do have the i5, 128gb in silver listed. Ships to Greece & other European countries.

I've seen the silver one in person & didn't really like it. Bit cheap looking. I think the carbon black looks much nicer.

 

hi, im looking for a sony vaio duo with the intel 5000hd and the better cpu... Im having a little of problems, since here in europe they dont sell it, only the model with intel 4400.. So, i was looking for buying one in us.. can you guys tell me how do i do it and where? is it safe?? please, say something... thanks a lot

 

I also just installed 8.1, same problem as you described. Also, the Vaio Care Desktop mode crashes on start. Any help on how to restore W8 without erasing everything? When I click "system refresh" it asks me for a backup disc...

 

For those having installed Windows7:

How is battery life compared to Windows 8?

 

I, on the other hand, think the silver looks expensive.... I'm still deciding whether to get it now or wait for the next refresh for Sony to work out the kinks.

 

After waiting two weeks for my custom Vaio to be shipped out, its now stuck with Fedex in Memphis with a clearance delay. It's been there since Saturday. I hope this laptop is good because my return period is ticking down with every second Fedex holds it up. Anyone else in the US experienced this?

 

Depends on which country you're buying the laptop from.

 

The wifi adapter keeps crashing on the replacement as well despite updating drivers from page 82 link! I'll give it a few more days before deciding.

 

there is no way you got a second faulty unit, I would say reinstall the wifi driver again, and then install the update to the driver. I had a similar issue with my trackpad after vaio care updated, the trackpad was unusable but after reinstalling both drivers, the trackpad is s fine now.

 

hey could you tell me what settings you tweaked, and where they are?

thanks!

 

The Norwegian Sony Online store ( http://www.sony.no) also offers the silver model (called "Sølv" in Norwegian). But be aware of that the machine then comes with a Norwegian keyboard (including the specific Nordic letters: æ, ø og å). But in your situation I had called them and asked for the possibility of ordering a Pro with an International or US English keyboard layout. Their phone number is on their website, and they speak English.

Good luck!

 

It will be ordered in UK. Thanks.

 

I'd say it's just as good if not even better, because there are no preinstalled programs eating up the battery. I estimate 8 to 10 hours of idle/light work. Playing Civilization V at 1920x1080 ate over 25% of the battery in an hour, so gaming is better done when plugged in.

 

From what I understand, and please verify this with Sony, your 30 day return policy takes effect on the day you receive it. Print your tracking information. It should include the date your Pro 13 was delivered.

 

My understanding is that the returns period starts from the day you receive the laptop.

 

I mainly adjusted pointing sensitivity and "SmartSense" settings in the (very detailed) Synaptics Clickpad properties.

You can find those settings via the "mouse" category in the control panel (look for the touchpad-tab and click "properties" there) or via the Vaio Control Center (which sadly suffers from the Microsoft-esque disease of hiding any really useful settings behind a "details" button, presumably in an attempt to follow Microsoft's crusade for improving clarity by decreasing usability). There might also be a task-bar symbol you can use as a short cut, but I deactivated most of those, so I'm not sure.

 

I am going to return my Vaio Pro (i7, 8GB, 256GB), my impressions can be found here. I am returning it mainly due to fan noise. To be honest, I thought I might keep it after all, but after using Skype a several times I simply have to. During video calls the temperature goes up to 65°C (aroung 10% of CPU usage) and the fan spins so loud that I cannot understand the person I am talking to.

I have some other quetions, though:

1. Has anybode encountered problems with the sheet battery? Sometimes, when I am using it, my battery programs show me a power drain of 0,0W. The remaing runtime doesn't change, neither do the percentages. I have to remove the sheet battery and reboot before it goes normal. Afterwards I can re-attach the sheet battery and everything works fine.

2. Sometimes I cannot change the brightness. Using FN+F3/F4 or moving bars in the power management, it doesn't matter. Although I can move it up and down, the brightness stays the same and I have to reboot to fix this.

3. Do you guys always put this layer of cloth on your keyboard before you close the lid? I haven't and now I have some pretty ugly marks from the keys on my screen, that is pretty annoying.

 

Any recommendations for a screen protector for Pro 13? What is the exact dimension of the screen? Because I may be able to get one custom made. Thanks.

 

arzinger wrote earlier today about the fan noise: "During video calls the temperature goes up to 65°C (aroung 10% of CPU usage) and the fan spins so loud that I cannot understand the person I am talking to."

This reminds me of a post that BJ wrote 15 July:

"WHAT? CAN YOU REPEAT THE QUESTION? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE FAN LOUDNESS OF MY VAIO Pro 13."

He was trying to make fun of a user who was worried about the Pro 13 fan noise; this was he way of ridiculing. I think your report earlier today of your experience with the DYSFUNCTIONAL NOISY FAN contributes to make it even more probable that there IS in fact an unusual problem with fan noise with the Vaio Pro, even though some machines may not have this problem (?).

What is much more important, constructive and "to the point" than bullying the users who really find this fan noise unbearable or unacceptable for normal use of the machine, is to try and find out what Sony can and indeed SHOULD DO about this problem, both regarding the machines that already are "out there" and also indeed with the machines that have not left the factory yet.

I think it is unwise (also for Sony's reputation and sales) to pretend that fan noise is not a problem, or only a minor problem, regarding the Vaio Pro, at least for many machines/users.

Sony should really address and solve this problem!

 

it, Im so close at buying this machine, it really has the whole package, lovely display, Haswell, extremely light, but those fan noise reports are really turning me off. I often attend a lot of meetings and spend most of my work time in a very quiet studio (Yeah, we're very hard working) so the fan noise would no only annoy me, but every else, which is Unnacceptable.

Right now I have an old Asus U36JC, it was probably the closest thing you could come to an ultrabook without being one, just before Intel invented the term. Grantet, its a few milimeters thicker, but is still very thin, and sporting a full voltage CPU, it is still to this day very quiet. I just did a few tests, streaming a 1080p video from Youtube doesnt even make the fan move (or atleast its completely quiet) Even doing more demanding work such as 3ds Max doesnt make the fan unbearable, it can be heard but its a very soft sound of air being pushed. Its only when rendering or else pushing the CPU into the 80s and above the fan starts to spin up, but thats acceptable. Now that was an old notebook I aquired for some 900 bucks a couple of years ago, but now Sony wants to pay nearly twice that, and yet give me unbearable fan noises even when opening a word document, or running a few tabs in Chrome?

Now, this might seem like a rant, but Im still open to buy one of these, as I will go to my local Sony store tomorrow and check it out myself. Its just a shame that such a small annoyance can be a deal breaker, especially when it might be hardware related and thus not be fixed unless you wait to buy yours after Sony revision. (Which might and might not happen)

Well, I hope its just people being extremely sensitive as this laptop, for me, else features the whole package.

 

I agree completely with you. I am also in a situation (both at work and otherwise) that demands a very quiet PC. If the noise problem with the obviously dysfunctional fan will be solved, I would love the machine, its form factor, display, and so on. Also the issues with the touchpad and wifi must be solved, but there are indications now that these problems can be dealt with by updates and configuration. But still: These adjustments should have IMO been done by Sony, so that the Vaio Pro can be almost ready to use normally when unpacked.

 

Bolt James didn't belittle the noise problem, he just made a point concerning the discussion of it being blown out of proportion. And he was right.

For the record: The only time I ever saw a CPU temperature above 60°C on my Vaio Pro was when I ran Prime to really push the machine to its limits. Anyone who gets 65°C with 10% CPU usage or complains about the laptop running "too hot" either has a faulty machine or is seriously exaggerating things.

If anything, the problem is that the Pro's fan starts spinning at a way too low base temperature and the general fan management is way too aggressive in keeping temps down. I'd gladly trade a little less fan noise for some more heat.

To support my points, here's the maximum temperature reading I could manage while running Prime95 for a few minutes:


And here's the temperature reading a few minutes after I closed Prime95:


Ambient temperature currently is around 26°C - so it's not like I was running those tests in a refrigerator.

So once more: If there's anybody whose Pro really reaches ~65°C with just 10% of CPU usage - I'm sorry, but it looks like you've got a faulty machine. Just return it.

 

Yes on all 3 counts.

1. Yes. And programs like BatteryBar Pro are quite confused about the state of the sheet battery on occasion.
2. Yes. I set my brightness to 50% and hope for the best (Vaio and Intel auto brightness turned off).
3. No and I have some key marks on my touchscreen.

Add still some wifi issues and the fan noise during HD playback and that's about all I hve that's bothering me

Laurent

 

anmipe wrote earlier today:

"If anything, the problem is that the Pro's fan starts spinning at a way to low base temperature and the general fan management is way to aggressive in keeping temps down. I'd gladly trade a little less fan noise for some more heat."

I agree with you: I would also gladly trade a little less fan noise for some more heat." But I cannot see that there is basis for the "qualifier" that you write initially in the quoted text: "If anything [...]". I rather think that all the posts here and elsewhere reflect the assumption that there probably are many Vaio Pros out there which have this noisy fan issue.

See also Sony Community's website: Vaio Pro loud fan - Sony Community

 

65C it's normal working CPU temperature in other computers, I'm using MacBook Air, with open many Chrome tab's, music, and average cpu usage at 10-12% temperature is at 65-70C but, what is more important, fan speed is 2000RPM.
At MBA cpu temperature can reach 95C.

Please, if you have or had problem with unacceptable fan noise in Vaio Pro please write complaints at this thread:
Adobe Acrobat X Pro * Setting up security policies

I hope if Sony receive more complaints about fan and read how many Pro's where returned problem will be fixed.

 

With regards to 2 (laptop brightness gets stuck) - I have this problem on my Sony Vaio S (2010). I read somewhere that it is triggered by closing the lid during a laptop sleep initiation. Closing and reopening the lid whilst the laptop is on fixes this for me (although this requires you to set 'lid close action' to 'do nothing' else it just sleeps again )

 

What does Adobe acrobat have to do with this?

 

That must be a copy/paste error

 

I am using battery bar and it gets totally confused with the sheet battery.

 

Sorry for wrong link, correct:
Vaio Pro loud fan - Sony Community

 

Is there a way to change the Bios settings to increase the 'minimum fan speed' (#RPM's)? This might help to keep the laptop relatively cool compaed to whatever the factory setting is. Hopefully this would reduce the % of time the fan speed has to run at max fan speed. I believe software exists to do this BUT is it possible simply by adjusting a Bios setting?

thanks for all the great discussion everyone!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...wners-lounge-svp13-2013-a-18.html#post9297708

 

If i'm tracking on what you are trying to direct me to:

"he only way to change it would be a BIOS-fix by Sony. There's nothing you can do on a software-level. Don't even bother downloading any fan-control software. Won't work. It's all done on BIOS-level (for very good reasons) and can't be manually configured by the user. "

The response seems to be directed to the "temperature" at which the fan starts to run. I understand that the "low temp" at which the fan starts to run can't be changed. My question is, Is it equally impossible to change (ideally a setting in the Bios) the RPM at which the fan runs (when kicks in a the min temp)??

Sorry if the question is redundant

 

To save on a long post, I'll say this - Yes there is fan noise, yes it can get loud at times, yes it sometimes annoys me, and yes sometimes it is dead quite.

So should you buy this device? No one can tell you yes or no, everyone is different when it comes to their perception of fan noise, only way is to use a machine at home or a friend's place in order to determine.

I would suggest people complain/inform Sony of the fan noise, either using videos or other means if this issue is to be solved. (ie BIOS updates)

In the end this is a thin device and with a smaller fan that most laptops so this translates to a higher pitched noise which is more noticeable. No idea how other ultrabooks are with regards to fan noise so can't really compare. This is a great ultrabook, I really like it, I can live with the fan noise, especially with the awesome screen. My biggest complain is the sub par apps on windows 8, I don't get why publishers don't make some awesome apps, I will gladly pay for good apps but clearly there is no incentive yet.

 

Does the Sony Vaio Pro 13 have the two finger tap right click on the touchpad?

 

Okay, now we need to work on the noise issue, please come and help in the noise issue thread right now!

Vaio Pro 13: The quest for silence thread!

 

yes it does, all the functions on the trackpad that were on the vaio S 2013, are also on the pro 13

 

From what I can tell from the Sony return policy, they say that the return period starts "following date of shipment by Sony", which I interpreted as when Sony hands off the package to the shipper (which for me was 7/17), not when the shipper gets to you. You guys may be right though, and I'll call them to make sure if I have an issue. Luckily, however, I just saw today that my laptop has finally passed customs, which means I should get it tomorrow.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.

All the retail stores either have the i7/256 SSD/8 Ram or the base model i5/128 SSD/4 Ram all in black. Sony Store has the configuration I want i5/256SSD/4Ram in Silver. The Sony Store charges a 15% restocking fee and a 14-day return policy, unlike Sony online which is a 30 day return policy and no restocking fee, which doesn't make sense. Does Sony online pay for the return shipping if you return it?

I'm still contemplating and may wait for a refresh, but was curious to ask in case I do purchase this Pro 13 online (and return it). If I was confident these issues would eventually be resolved via a refresh, I'd get it at the Sony Store which is fairly close by.

 

Geeee,

The US Sony stores now have a 30 day return policy with no restocking fee. One of my editors recently had to return something after 3 weeks and she wasn't charged a restocking fee either.

On another note, they now track returns and require a driver's license for returns.