Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

I'm leaving for Hong Kong in a week. Can you recommend a USB To Ethernet dongle that's reliable for Sony products?

BJ

 

If you give me step-by-step directions, I'll gladly post some screencaps.

BJ

 

Do you know the folder/directory where the images would be stored?

BJ

 

My 12 year old son lives for Paint.NET, always making XBOX covers for fun and does a good job too.

I get home a few minutes ago, he begs me to let me use the Pro. He launches Paint.NET. Wants to select a section of an image to copy. Puts down the mouse. Uses his finger. Traces a perfect select-line around Henrik Lundqvist. Suddenly I realize why the touchscreen I've been ignoring might be useful.

BJ

 

Hello BoltJames,
I know you said chassis doesn't feel cheap, but is it sturdy? Elsewhere on the Internet people are saying it's flimsy, and certainly not anywhere close to being as solid as MacbookAir. I'd like to have this PC, but I don't want to deal with fragility while going for light weighted-ness.

Folks at my work have had Sony Vaio Z, which I believe was predecessor of Vaio Pro. I've seen the lid of Z being so thin and bendy that the LCD has been damaged just by regular daily use. :-(

My local Sony store doesn't have this machine yet. I'd love to try hands on before ordering one.

TC

 

Is there a non-touch version of this available in any market? I don't see it so on the US website. I might be willing to pay a premium to get non-touch version if I've to import it from outside US. I don't see any point of having a touchscreen unless you're doing some artsy stuff... I'm a s/w programmer!

And how's Sony's after-sales service? I plan to purchase 3yr warranty... need to have an assurance that the service provided is worthy of that.

TC

 

"Sturdy" is a challenging question to answer because the nature of the product is a challenge for rigidity, and this isn't built to withstand many hazards.

What I will say is that for a product this thin that is made of some weighty materials, it's a miracle of modern engineering, but this isn't a notebook that's going to be your daily beater. It's for the boardroom and the business class lounge, it's not the notebook you want to place on the ground or drop or throw into a bag with a set of keys.

Think of a Rolex for a moment. It's sturdy, it's not going to fall apart, it's extremely well made. But it's made of white gold and platinum and is prone to scratching and can get dinged if you smack it into a rock. If I wanted to destroy my Vaio Pro, I could twist the screen and bend the keyboard in half. I couldn't do that to my Dell whatever in my office. With the proper care, the Pro 13 will last years and hold up to business-executive scenarios. Will go in/out of a Tumi briefcase without issue. Will ride the x-ray machine at Heathrow without incident. Will last in the seatback of the person in front of you for a spell on your flight. But if you drop this puppy on the ground, forget about it.

BJ

 

I just picked up one. The keyboard is not as bad as reviews have claims to be. It certainly does flex when I tried it at the store. But now that I am home and having the pro on my table it doesn't actually flex much at all.

It certainly is no where near as solid as the macbook air. But I had the Z ages ago, I would say the Pro is similar to the Z.

I don't think that it is fragile.

F

 

Vaio pro 13 review by Lisa Gade from MobileTechreviews

Sony VAIO Pro 13 Review - YouTube

This is defintely my next laptop

 

Hello everyone,

first of all: Thanks for all the great information in this thread - it really helped me a lot!

Personally, I'd be really interested in detailed, high-res pictures of the finish of the "Black Carbon" version (espiecally on the lid). There's been some confusion concerning Sony's "Black" / "Black Carbon" / "Premium Carbon" finishes in the past. I really liked the "Premium Carbon" finish on the Z (it had that slightly brushed, high-quality look).

Judging by the picture I've found so far, it seems like "Black Carbon" equals the older "Premium Carbon" finish? If that's actually the case, I'd go for that version. Otherwise, there's an entry-model "black" version on sale here in Germany which is not only cheaper, but also comes without the touchscreen (and hence without the glossy cover on the screen).

Just as tremorchrist, I don't need the touch feature and would rather prefer the non-glossy screen of the entry-level-model. Unfortunately, the finish on that "Black" version seems kind of cheap. It just doesn't make sense to me to have a nice carbon-fibre chassis - only to have it coated with black (or silver) paint.

That latter argument is only valid if the more expensive, touch-screen "Black Carbon" version actually has that premium finish I'm looking for, though.

So, yeah. I'd be really thankful if one of those members who already own a Vaio Pro could take some pictures or elaborate on the quality of the finish.

Thanks a lot in advance - I truly appreciate your time!

 

Hey thanks for the reply. So far I can't get my computer to be quiet at all. Ideally I would like for it to be quiet with outlook and youtube on. However closing out everything I still have minor fan noise. I have the settings on Silent fan and Power Saver through Vaio Control Center. I literally cannot make it any more quiet. Can you let me know what settings you use or if maybe VAIO control center is the problem here.

To the poster above worrying about rigidity. You can definitely feel the flex if you press down hard sometimes but its not something I notice in normal operation nor is it bad. I dont' feel like it reflects any pros or cons in actual usage.

 

Not sure if this is what youre looking for but I took two quick pictures of the front and the lid. I got the "Carbon black" which is the only choice other than silver here in the states. Lemme know if you want to take another angle and yes there are fingerprints already all over my laptop.

 

Agree. It's weird Sony offers them only in certain markets, And even then non touch is only available in a certain color! Let's hope that'll change in the future. Keep in mind though that the non touch Pro 13 was officially announced in Europe while not mentioned in the US press release.

With an English keyboard I believe currently you only have two options:
Pro 13 CTO from the UK with standard black selected: VAIO® Pro | Choose your VAIO® Pro | Sony
Pro 13 CTO from Japan with non touch black and alphabetic keyboard selected: VAIO Pro 13SVP1321A1

The non touch Pro 11 so far is only available in Japan as far as I know.

 

That's great, thank you. Appears to be the finish I was hoping for (the fact that it attracts fingerprints that quickly basically tells me it's the "real" carbon finish without cheap paint over it. Wouldn't have thought I'd ever consider fingerprint-magnets as something positive

The great video review posted by mith500 really helped, too.

Ordered the "Carbon Black" version now. Looking forward to actually holding it in my hands. Hope the reflections on that glossy screen won't bother me too much. I'll give it a try. If it doesn't fully convince me, I'll probably exchange it for the "Black" modell without that glossy touchscreen. Would save me 110€. But I REALLY want that carbon finish.

I totally agree with oled, btw: Offers should be identical across all markets - and customization should allow you to mix-and-match color finishes and touchscreen-options (yes/no) independently.

I'll report back once my unit arrives. They say it will take a little more than two weeks, though.

 

I'm doing some preliminary scouting for hard cases in case I do end up buying the 13 Pro. I found that Pelican makes a hard case almost fitted for the 13 Pro. It's called the Pelican 1085CC (with laptop liner).

Here are the measurements of the 13 Pro and Pelican 1085CC:
12.68" (W) x 0.68" (H) x 8.50" (D) - 13 Pro
14.29" (W) x 1.97" (H) x 10.37" (D) - Case

It's the closest thing I have found so far for a snug hard case. The only problem with this Pelican case that I have read is that the locking mechanism isn't great and can come undone. I'm wondering if anyone who already owns the 13 Pro has found a solid case to transport their Vaio in. Images of the case:

 

11" & 13"

It looks like both WiFi & SSD are M.2 devices!?
Will that 13" heatpipe cope with Iris?

 

??
yes for 400€ more it's a joke (like the ethernet/vga adaptator which was at 30€ the first day and now at 80€

 

would be a shame to get such a heavy case with such a light laptop, kind of defeats the purpose. This case is more fitting in size and weight, although it would put up the same type of protection.
Mach 3 Composites - 13" Carbon Fiber Laptop Case



I've had one of their cases for my various Zs for nearly 3 years now, always have done a great job protecting.

 

nice find, does seem odd that the 13" model has a significant cooling setup upgrade over the 11" despite them having the same CPU options? Maybe Sony is planning further CPU options soon?

 

What is an M2 device? Can that SSD be upgraded? Is that a mSATA ssd?

 

Anyone is planning to use double boot with linux? I was thinking on it. Has the ssd a soft raid?

 

damn it seems almost nothing is user replaceable except for the M.2 devices, but those will be only OEM replaceable I guess from what I have read. I never realized a SD card slot took up so much space on the device, almost scary and I can see why some ultrabooks only feature a microSD.

Btw Lisa from MobileTechreviews reviewed the pro 13, she mentioned the flex below the trackpad, and it seems perhaps the pro 11 might have less flex since there is more stuff under the trackpad.

I feel the pro 13 could easily take the higher end 5000HD gpu with it's heatsink.

 

In Germany you can order the Pro 13 without touch-screen. It´s the basic version. But you can upgrade it like the others.

 

Does anyone here please post the windows 8 new start screen themes and the new desktop themes of the VAIO Pro ?

 

Why don't you go for a Panasonic Toughbook instead?

 

Damn! The UK store doesn't ship to US :-(. And they've a promo for 4yr free warranty! And I see that in UK you get 2yr base warranty, but only 1yr in US... is that right?

There's another video review out there that highlights the flex aspect very well. It also shows the reflection issue caused by the glass cover required for touch to work. I'm now having second thoughts about this model.

And I need a new machine very soon. If it wasn't for the dead pixels in Dell XPS 13 FHD, I'd be sitting pretty with a new ultrabook right now. What's the status of dead pixels on Vaio Pro? As more pixels are getting crammed into smaller screens, manufacturers are apparently changing the definition of what's an acceptable panel... well, except Apple.

 

How about Japan?

I believe in this blog° you see both touch and non touch (of the 11" though)



Or this one, not very sharp though

 

Sony just replaced my Duo11 LCD with 4 dead pixels. So, you are free to worry about it.
Unfortunately, their technicians messed up touchscreen.
VAIO Duo 11 touchscreen issue after LCD replaced by Sony technician (dead pixels) - YouTube

 

I would guess it must be raid0. Otherwise, there is no way to get near 1GB/s transfer rate in review.
Unless there is a SATA4 in use.

 

I understand it doesn't use SATA at all, although NGFF (M.2) has both PCIe and SATA storage support.


From: http://www.pcisig.com/developers/ma...c_id=40b3a6125722725569a266fd6ee3253a18b99ad5

 

Anyone here managed to get a trackpad driver update. The drive that bundled seem buggy. It would miss a tap once every so often, but yet the tap was registered under the moodpad and pressure graph bundled with the driver, weird....

 

No, the ssd is pci-express hence the high transfer rates

 

how would one compare the processor of the i7 in the pro 13 vs the i7 in the sony Z from 2012, the z3? I need a replacment and this computer looks very nice.

 

I just bought this
HDMI to VGA Adapter for $10 + free shipping - 0C19903
even though I don't have a Pro or Duo 13 yet, but I think it's worth for Pro and Duo 13 owners.

 

any way upgrade RAM by myself? no 8G ram version in HK.

 

It's soldered onto the mainboard, so no luck...

 

There is no PCIe standard for storage devices so far, only IDE, SATA, Fiber and SCSI.
PCIe is just an connector form factor which is housing SATA interface, as I understand that it is 2 x SATAIII.
Do you know that, actual PCIe 1x is about 250MB/s transfer rate.
However, look at a picture of Pro11 and 13 in previous post, I don't think the connector is PCIe either since the pin config looks different from PCIe pin config.

 

Photo displaying the various colours:
http://www.sony-asia.com/product/resources/en_AP/images/hubpages/vaio/images/pro1113/ds1_pic_04.jpg

Granted its not real-life photos...but should give you a rough idea.
Photo was taken from the design tab on this page: (Some good photos and description of various features)
VAIO® Pro 11/13 : VAIO™ Notebook : Sony Asia Pacific

 

Well whatever they are, they are this

Samsung makes first PCIe-based SSD for Ultrabooks, we see one likely customer

from Sony's VAIO Pro Ultrabooks weigh as little as 1.92 pounds, ship June 9th from $1,150

from Sony 13.3" Performance Laptop | VAIO Pro 13 Touch Ultrabook | SVP13213CXS | Sony USA

 

vaio pro vs z comparison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFeDH7cF-Zw

 

Wow, thanks.

Looking at the pictures, I'm really happy I went with the Carbon Black finish. Exactly what I wanted. Silver/Black versions look somewhat dull and cheap in comparison. It's a pity they don't offer the non-touch model with Carbon Black finish, though. That would have been perfect.

 

I was wondering... Did Sony include the wifi-router that plugs into the AC adapter's USB?

 

I read about this in the reviews. I got no such thing in the US

 

I thought the document I attached regarding NGFF made it clear.

The document tells you that both PCIe as well as SATA are bus systems. The connector form you are talking about is Mini Card which mSATA form factor is compatible with (SATA x1).

The connector appears to be NGFF (M.2), which supports all sorts of buses including PCIe and SATA in multi lane.

And that's what seemed to have changed with NGFF

The bottle neck...

Mike's screenshot of the device manager revealed it's an ADATA AXNS380E-128GM-B SSD. This Certificate issuer lists it as an NGFF SSD. With the benchmarks we've seen it either uses SATA Express over PCIe or PCIe directly.
Unfortunately there is not much information about that particular SSD.

 

I have had my Pro 13 (US) for a few days and noticed a lot of issues with wifi connectivity on the Intel N7260 across multiple access points. Connectivity seems poor (worse than my Galaxy SIII...), a lot of disconnections and general unreliability.

I just upgraded the wifi drivers to the version that just showed up on Intel's web site (v16.0.5 dated 12jun2013), and while the connectivity (bars / or dB as seen by inSSIDer) are much better and more stable, the actual network connectivity and throughput are still extremely inconsistent. I have a couple of router in particular where it shows a solid connection but the actual network is coming in and out.

Is anyone having issues too? A coworker bought the same model and is having the same issues.

Laurent

 

Laurent, I've streamed 7 hours of Netflix and Amazon Prime HD video without a hiccup over the past 5 days. A few hours of that with the router one floor down and through a few walls. This is on the 5GHz band with Airport Extreme 802.11n access points. Speedtest.net results have been stable. Stock driver. What band and network types are you connecting to?

 

Wow tech review royalty! Just watched your review Lisa and I think I'm going to plump for a 13 Pro without a touch screen as I've seen it has a matte finish without the touchscreen glass. Seems to be offered in the flat black colour in the UK.

Have you seen any variants without the touchscreen yourself? There are a couple of pictures on this thread of the 11 Pro w/o the glass a few pages back and I wondered if the chassis colour of the Pro 11 without touchscreen corresponds to Sony's "black" rather than carbon black.

Also just wondering about the Sony slice - is it a full base slice like the S13 or does it just clip under the thinner palm rest?

Great seeing you on here - your reviews are always my first port of call.

 

For colors, see the post quoted above.

 

Still looking over as many APs/routers as I can. The worst offender is a D-Link DAP-2690 at work (a pro PoE AP in WPA2/Enterprise mode) which keeps the wifi signal and bars steady, but the actual connection to the LAN/WAN goes up and down regularly (over the course of 10s of seconds / minutes). On other routers, the connection is somewhat reliable at very short range, but speedtest.net tests are inconsistent and becomes very bad at medium range.

With the stock driver, inSSIDer was showing bouncy signal quality numbers (a perfect see-saw) while with the new Intel driver, they are better, nice and flat...

Not sure how to debug the issue.

Laurent