Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

lol $100 for a screen protector?

 

the U.S. CTO page says the black version is non-touch. does it mean it's non-touch but still glossy or does it mean it's non-touch and matt?

 

Its probably a privacy screen and not a protector

 

Sony Vaio Pro 13" touchscreen. Advertised as the most performant and light!!
After only 1,5 months of regular use the battery just die. It shows me permanently that is charging 74%, but when I take off the charger it dies.
Besides that the mouse automatically enter in a "select" mode and it marks anything on the screen. I cant push it, it always does the same thing. Sometimes when I turn off the computer it refreshes and works properly. I tried to setup the mouse and unchecked the marking function, but it didn't work.
Has anybody any idea about these problems?

 

I think there is a battery reset button hidden under the little slot cover for the sheet battery

Try re-installing the BT driver

 

Has anyone noticed any quality issues with the Pro series? I am thinking of getting the pro, but I am wondering about its quality. I know my Vaio Z was made in Japan and the Pro is made in China....

 

I don't really subscribe to some of this differentiating based on country of manufacturing when it's done by major companies, however to answer your question no

 

This suggests that lack of properly working WiFi is NOT a quality issue for you?

 

So I tried updating the wifi using intels new driver from 3rd of sept but it seems it won't update, the proset driver won't work, and the stand alone driver also doesn't work, anyone got it working on their device?

 

No I'm saying if there is a quality issue I would not assume or presume it was due to being manufactured in one country opposed to another

The components of our pro's are from several if not more countries and assembled in China under the quality program of a Japanese company. Any possible quality issue including a possible WiFi one could occur anywhere in the chain of design to final assembly, being assembled (loosely speaking) in China IMO is of little concern when controlled by major companies like Sony, Apple etc

 

Yes it should install Ok, however I stayed with the driver released end August and posted on Sony support site. If you are having problems with installation try removing the Pro Set software from Programs menu in the Control panel first.

 

nah it was for the screen protector. the guy linked it on here i think.

i'm just hoping for a good screen protector that covers the entire edge to edge glass. not just the display area

 

I did a clean install and I noticed some options missing from the Vaio Control Center after the clean install. Most notably, the battery life options that only charge the battery up to 80 or 50 percent. I think I got everything, though it's possible that I missed something.\

EDIT: Nevermind, I installed one of the Control Center updates and the options returned.

 

Well said, I spent the night until I got it working, with sound and wireless too. I'll start for other stuff today like graphics card etc ..

 

I've lost the person I was in conversation to on here in regards to the replacement thermal compound so this is more for you if you see this!

I have now replaced the AS Ceramique 2 to AS5 and have noticed even more of a difference.
Had it on for 3 days now and while it's not cured yet (far more longer cure time compared to the other one) it has certainly showed promising signs.

The temp currently is only @ 36celcius and the laptop has been on for about 3 hours running Chrome (5 tabs), Outlook 2013, Excel and the usual background apps like Kaspersky and the likes.
The fan has not kicked it at all so far today and it very lightly kicked it over the weekend but only because it was on a duvet so somewhat blocking the vent.

I'll give it a go with a movie later tonight but first impressions is that... well I should have stuck to my guns the first time and used AS5 instead of the other one despite some reviewers banging on about how good it was. Always used AS-5 ... for a reason!

I'd say, go ahead and apply it
Use the Arctic Silver removal liquids on a cotton bud to remove the Sony stuff and then apply the AS5 in a single line in the middle of both die's..not too thinly but not too thickly either.
Put the heatsink straight on without much movement and bolt it down.

From memory, I think there is something like a 300 cure time on AS5 compared to the 20 something on the other one but I'm already seeing good results.

 

That's great - thanks for the info. Will apply AS5 to mine and post back here with results. Hopefully will have as much success as yo have had!

 

your laptop is running Chrome with 5 tabs? outlook and excel? thats it? What is this 1999? My Phone is running 3x as many tabs as that.

My laptop has 3 browsers with 20+ tabs in each one, 5 word docs, a few excels, a database software and I consider that a light load....

If you use your laptop for that few apps you could probably just get away with a tablet and one of those foldable keyboards.

 

2-3 Chrome windows with 20+ tabs plus One Note, Access and VLC or something to watch a tv show is what I need. How is your Pro handling that? Is the fan running?

 

cenkaetaya : Comments like yours are extremely annoying on a board like this where people go out of their ways to help people even to the extent of warranty void of their machines.
My test was not whether my laptop can handle multiple applications or not but whether the number of applications running at the time before applying the thermal paste had the same impact on heat/fan usage compared to after. If you really want a "mine is bigger than yours contest" you will see a number of pages back, I probably use the Sony far more than yourself and most on here usually with SQL Server 2012, a number of VMs, and various business intelligence suites ... usually at the same time...and that's usually also just for starters not including browsers/tabs/documents. If I wanted a tablet, I would have got a tablet.

So to conclude, if you do not know the true facts, it is probably better just to keep comments like that to yourself.

Buzzman: I will hopefully get a more definitive answer for you once I get some work done today hopefully on my work machine on how with a fair bit of cpu load the fan is running. Either way, prior to the replacement of thermal paste and now, it would not have warranted a return of the machine for fan noise as it is bearable even at full load to me...especially when I think that once upon a time, I used to run a number of rigs in the bedroom all with no less than 8 fans each. I think the term jet engine was mentioned a number of times :- )

 

Thanks aj84.
I'm still not sure if I should get the Vaio. Currently I have the MacBook Retina and I'm looking
a) for a smaller notebook and
b) I need MS Access and One Note (don't like bootcamp that much)

My biggest concerns right now are the noise ( I will not replace the thermal paste ) and the touchpad. I read that windows touchpads in general are not as good as the apple touchpads. And if the Vaio touchpad is even bad for a windows notebook I guess that would be horrible ;-)

 

Coming from a "normal" laptop if not a slight brick (Dell M4500), I too was worried about the touchpad. I actually don't mind it one bit. The touchpad is huge compared to most laptops and is gesture controlled too.
The lack of separate left/right buttons was strange initially but that's it...strange. I got used to it and it really is not an issue.
I do however use a bluetooth mouse at work only for that extra bit of ease of use and speed.

What I do sometimes do is miss the right button click for instance where I click a bit too high but that is more just getting used to it.
Have you got a sony store near you? It might be worth popping in to try it out on a display model...I know most if not all of the sony stores have it in stock here in London.

Only thing left is the noise - in an ambient environment where you have air con like an office, I don't think you will have an issue. In a room where it is already hot, the fan will spin up obviously...even at idle but not as much. More you push the more noise it will be give out.
I think a few pages back someone put up a recording of the fan noise in various places of the laptop so it might be worth listening to it. At full speed, you will get annoyed but low to mid, I think it's fine.

Can't say what one note is like - always had it installed, never used it nor do I know what it is. Access on the other hand is replaced by SQL Server for me and for normal select queries, currently the fan is still yet to spin up to a level where I should hear it (currently spinning @ 2300rpm and even putting the ear near the fan I can't hear it)

 

For those who are devs etc
MSDN has the official Windows 8.1 RTM on there for download along with Windows 2012 R2 (and even Visual studio 2013 RC)

Just came across it when logging onto it and then noticed this article: Microsoft reverses course; releases Windows 8.1 RTM to developers | ZDNet
Seems like it's in the last 6-7 hours this has happened

 

Quick question guys:

Will the european version of Vaio Pro, ever get the PCIE SSD?
Besides that, how much of a difference does it make, can you feel the difference in everyday use?

Thank you

 

I've been trying to use the computer but the wifi issue is a real problem. Where an old cheap laptop is able to get ~35mbps the Vaio Pro is not able to connect most of the time, when it does it just get ~3mbps. And that with the last wifi drivers.

There is no problem when I'm just a metre from the router, but the speeds is low when I'm 5-10 meters from it. I will use the laptop in different places and I can't connect from the room next to the router . In the official forums the only solution they have found is to remove the carbon fiber case, so it looks like there won't be any software solution to the problem.

I have said good things about the laptop here, its amazingly light and the screen is great, but with the wifi problems everything else is usefull. I still don't know which laptop will be its replacement, probably the MBA is the best choice, but I don't want to use OS X, so maybe the Dell XPS 13 will be the choice.

 

I noticed surfing the web that also XPS 13 has the fan noise problem...

 

Sorry to here your problem, 1st I would try the pro on a friends network/router and an interim solution is to use a USB WiFi stick until resolved, no one knows what the problem is for some users it could be a number of things the case is the least likely IMO simply as Sony have been using CF for a long time and they have a test program etc, if it was that simple we would all have the same issue.

 

I think that using a USB/Wifi stick is not a solution, at least not for a >1000€ laptop. I tried to connect to another network and it was impossible while my Nexus 4 had no problems at all.

I don't know if the CF is the problem, but It looks like it can be a hardware problem, maybe the antenna location or something like that, I don't know. That is just my impression, I can't say that it is a hardware problem, of course, but several software updates haven't solve the problem, and I don't want to wait for more of them because if they can't solve it I won't be able to return the laptop and ask for a refund .

I haven't been able to find another ultrabook like this one and I would love to see those issues solved, but if I can't
connect to the internet I can't use the laptop. There are other problems I could live with but not with this one. I have talk about them before, the screen wobbles when I touch it (I think it is because the little feet in the lid are not well built in my unit, as it doesn't happens if I hold it with the other hand in the air) and the touchpad is clicked from the bottom part of the lid if it is not in a flat surface.

 

Hey everyone.

Just got my Vaio Pro 13, custom made. Scrapped the touch screen, i5, 4GB RAM, black model. Standard stuff there.

I've been lurking these forums and others for ages because I ordered my Vaio Pro having only read online reviews, an alarming amount of which neglect to mention any real issue with something like wifi or fan noise etc.

Well here's what i've found: the fan is not a problem at all and I haven't even applied any updates for it. It whirred for a while during the initial startup updates but since then it's been cool and silent, if i'm playing videos, browsing online etc. I don't do photo/vid editing etc. just word processing and it's ideal for that. My guess is that the problems people have are not the same for every Vaio Pro, or they're very particular about fan noise. Even if it whirred time to time, it would not bother me.

The wifi, I'm disappointed to say, is still a problem. I've applied the available update, which certainly improved stability, but matter of fact is that other laptops receive better connectivity from much better ranges than the Vaio Pro. I have no idea whether this is a software or hardware issue... if they improved it with the first update then perhaps this issue is correctable. It sucks because seriously, EVERY other feature of this laptop has me in love, its screen is amazing, it's aesthetics and weight are stunning, its battery life is fantastic and just makes me feel like a happier person having it, but the wifi problem is very basic, and very annoying.

Some people have said that this is bleeding edge tech and so problems like this are expected. I agree in a sense, but wifi connectivity for a laptop is like breathing. It would be the first priority to get right in any laptop imo because without it these days it is essentially useless. So it surprises me that this would evade the initial testing. I guess for this reason that not every Vaio Pro is affected, seeing how not all reviewers mentioned it at all, and there is the whole 'silent majority' argument. And I suppose the wifi isn't cripplingly bad either... i'm sitting downstairs and my router is upstairs, so there are several walls and I can type this with 5 bars, but going a little too far just kills it. To anyone considering buying this, I would suggest you wait to see if this problem is remedied through updates. It kills me to say that because I absolutely love it in every other way, I find the keyboard comfortable, speakers are great, and everything I said before is truly fantastic. The trackpad is a bit skittish, but it's not unusuable. It's just not a Mac standard trackpad, but I can work with that for everything else it offers.

Hope this helps for prospective buyers, I know how anxious I was while waiting for mine to arrive, and if people have questions i'm willing to answer if they haven't been already.

 

Yeah, that's sad Sony missed having a huge hit model because they screwed up the WiFi. The laptop being very good despite this issue.

In the official Sony's forum, a tech reports making tests, but without encountering the disconnection issues... while not being precise about the speed issue. He probably doesn't have the right to tell us the truth, and he previously even said that himself...

 

Yeah, to anyone who thinks Sony is unaware or oblivious, that isn't true. They blatantly know, and probably are doing their best to fix it but if they made a public statement then people wouldn't buy it. I know I wouldn't have. It's deceptive but it's either that or professional suicide. I honestly wouldn't care so long as they just focus their efforts on fixing the wifi.

 

I updated my BIOS. The fan is now more active ^^

Does anyone else has problems with the windows 8.1 RTM installation? The laptop just won't boot from my usb stick (SanDisk Cruzer Extreme usb 3.0) in UEFI mode. Is it possible to access the the EFI shell on the vaio pro?

 

You can use MBA with Windows, works fine.

 

That's exactly my feeling... but the ultrabook is focused in mobility, and if you use your laptop in different places it is not always possible to be near the router.

I have read about it and some people have problems with it, I have read about problems with trackpad and general performance. Not sure if they are reapl problems.

Anyway, one of the best things is its battery life and I think it is not as good when using Windows. I don't know, I will think about it.

 

I haven't had issues with signal strength, though the speed is definitely lacking. I get 4-5 MB/s in one part of the house though get about 7MB/s in the room next to the wifi router. My old Dell Latitude E4300 regularly got 10MB/s.

It sucks on paper, especially since I paid so much for the computer, though I've been streaming 720p video from my home server and copying small files around without any issues.

 

It is fine but not perfect the track pad is not the same under windows, the battery life will be less there are always little problems, boot camp updates take 3 months to come out, you loose disk space unless you know how to do a clean install plus you will have a 2/3 year old screen resolution and a few other parts and a useless thunderbolt port with adapters, but its still a nice laptop with HD5000

 

Take it back and get a replacement if you have the same issues then its not for you

 

WOW! You must be Really Important.

 

I saw the touch screen version today. I was surprised by the grainy look of whites. Also it almost looked as if I could see the lamps behind the screen. The whites were very viewing angle sensitive, at a small vertical angle I noticed changes in white levels.

For comparison I checked Asus UX31, Lenovo Yoga and MBP Retina. None of them had these issues.

Is the non touch version any better in these regards?

Edit: And one more question, are there any pictures posted that compare the black with the carbon black version?

 

For all those who are happy with the low loudness of the fan: have you ever tested the loudness in the meantime you're playing a movie @1080p with performance profile active? (it's the only profile that you can use to obtain a complete frame rate, I think..). In this manner you still have an acceptable noise from the fan? I returned to Sony my vaio pro 13 i7 for the fan issue, but i'm disposed to buy another one if the problem is really resolvable.

 

the review at NotebookCheck.net mentions that there are a lot of throttling going on for the i7 model, and its performance falls behind the competition. is that true for the i5 model as well? anybody has seen (or done) a comparison of the two different processors?

 

2 months since ordering this laptop!
Time flies!

So in summary - I don't seem to have the wifi issues as most of you do here. Both at home (Billion 7800n but with wifi extenders throughout the house so unfair test) and work (Cisco throughout the building so unfair test). As a result of my setup at home and work and I guess and hotel I visit who would potentially have a similar setup, I've tuned out of the wifi issues.

Fan: As mentioned, I have done a clean and reapplication of the cpu thermal paste which has in my own case made a massive difference in the fan performance. I have now successfully tested it with a VM running, SQL Server running and then the everyday apps. The hottest the laptop got at it's peak was 61 degrees C but it was more of a blip rather than a constant. Usually at most, it was hitting around 48 with that type of load and without the load (and with normal everyday apps), 39-40 c.

Currently, with Chrome (9 apps), a hefty download going on, the usual taskbar apps + AV, notepad, Word, Excel x2 (quite hefty sheets) and Outlook, it's sitting at 39 as I type this.

Build: I've had a nice peak inside now as a result of the CPU thermal paste change and personally, I am very happy with the build. I was never expecting an Acer Aspire style build because lets face it, those are horrible ugly things - a lump of plastic! This has style, lack of weight but just enough to use, good materials and so on. If I was going to be very picky, the screen does wobble when using the touchscreen but not enough to stop me using it.

Other than that, it's planted, no flex when I type this.

KB: Took a bit of getting used to because I find it requires a bit more pressure than normal laptops but now that I am, I like it. No real strain on a laptop this size which is nice.
Track: Similar story - love the size but the lack of two physical separate buttons threw me off initially. Used to it now and it's fine...sometimes I miss the right click but usually at night when I'm tired. At work, I tend to use more of the bluetooth mouse

Bluetooth: Once the sleep feature was disabled, the mouse works brilliantly (Microsoft 5000) and stays connected throughout until it idles at which point a simple click on the mouse wakes it up

Screen: Love it...no need to say anything more!

All in all, yes Sony have missed something in it's wifi issue whether that is the card used itself, of the antenna placement or the body materials but it's not something that has been an issue to everyone. And yes the fan kicking in at such a low temp is something of a pain...something that should technically be a 2 second fix and release so here is hoping!
But with all that, I made the right decision!

What I would have liked was maybe a half/pop-out ethernet port (now resolved with a usb gigabit ethernet cable + I bought the clip on ethernet2wifi adaptor from Sony)
1-2 more USB ports - Having a usb pendrive plugged in means usually the other one is unusable due to the closeness of both ports. Another one other opposite side would have been nice

The end!

 

No luck with power cfg settings, driver updates and roll backs, complete recovery. Sending it for repair.

Not impressed with Sony, wish I could just return it

 

Depending on where you're from, I know the UK is covered by SOGA so potentially that would cover the return having said that, despite my long thread about everything being almost perfect, I do recall having this issue twice in the two months I've had it. It has vanished touch-wood but I can't remember if it just vanished or it was due to updates/bios update etc.

It could easily be software related in which case I would maybe advise restoring it back to factory just to eliminate it?

 

I had the experience of black screen with power light remained on and turned out to be the Bluetooth driver was the culprit. Event viewer showed it crashed windows and windows had to disable the bluetooth driver to prevent recurrence. After updating the driver 3.1.1306.0354 dated 19Aug13 from Sony eSupport, it resolved the issue. Hopefully this will work for you.

 

Since someone mentioned it above... for those discussing the fan, I got my hands on the Aspire S7 laptop which is actually thinner than the Vaio. For what its worth, with that fan design the same cpu stayed cool and even when I stress tested it for 10 minutes, the fan was only audible with my ear next to it. Was so good, I felt I must be doing something wrong. They allow the temp to reach a higher level before they kick in at all. The look and weight of the laptop are up for debate but not the place. Oh and I've had plenty of 5GHz wifi issues on that and none on the pro so its not an exclusive problem but they haven't released a patch since release yet I believe.

 

Since the latest BIOS update and with CPU & FAN under Power & Battery set to SILENCE mode, even when the Fan kicks in it's barely audible unless I put my ear near the vent.

I ran test with it running youtube video continuously for 2 hours and again, the Fan is barely audible.

 

In any case, you should never encounter any issue with WiFi if your signal is always above -60 dBm. Could you tell us what's your signal strength, using for instance inSSIDer?

The range between -60 to -75 dBm is the one that cause massive issues.

 

Any idea how to recover from USB? All options gave me the message "recovery partition is missing" , any work around?

 

Refer following from Vaio Pro User Guide:
Recovering from Recovery Media
If the recovery area data has been corrupted or erased, you can use Recovery Media to recover your VAIO computer.

However, recovering the computer using the Recovery Media will take longer than using the recovery area.

If you use Recovery Media (optical discs) on the model without a built-in optical disc drive, connect an external optical disc drive (not supplied) to the computer. See Connecting an External Drive for more information on how to connect the external optical disc drive.

If an AC adapter or a power cable is supplied, plug it into a power source.

1.Insert Recovery Media (optical discs) into the optical disc drive or connect a USB flash drive to the USB port on your VAIO computer while the computer is in Normal mode.
2.Turn off your VAIO computer.
3.Press the ASSIST button to display the VAIO Care (Rescue Mode) screen and select Start from media (USB device/optical disc).
Follow the on-screen instructions until the Choose an option screen appears.

4.Select Troubleshoot and VAIO recovery solutions.
Follow the on-screen instructions until the VAIO Care (Rescue Mode): VAIO recovery solutions screen appears.

5.Select Start recovery wizard.
6.Follow the on-screen instructions.


Hint
•
If the display language selection window appears, select your desired language, then OK.

•
To perform custom recovery, select Tools and Start advanced recovery wizard.

•
If you cannot recover your VAIO computer using the USB flash drive, connect the drive to another USB port on the computer, and then try recovering the computer again.

 

For those looking for a matt screen protector: this one works perfectly for me. Covers the full touchscreen, fits well and has a hole for the webcam. Not sure about availability outside Germany though.

Should fit all touchscreen models, I have a SVP1321C5E.

atFoliX Displayschutzfolie Sony VAIO SVP1321X9E: Amazon.de: Computer & Zubehör