Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

Bumping my question from a few pages back. My issue #2 is particularly bothering me. It makes the trackpad very difficult to use when I'm sitting with the SVP on my lap. I'm wondering whether this is a design quirk, or if something is loose on my particular unit.

 

For those on 8.1, are issues when shutting down and/or closing lid?
In my case, it just stalls for a bit on a blank screen and then finally turns off but in actual fact, it does not seem to be a clean shutdown/sleep as each time, it's a fresh cold boot meaning it's probably a bsod

 

Simply. deleted every partition that was deliviered by Sony (but first did full disk copy with Acronis True Image), then installed windows from pendrive. No cd key needed, it's on motherboard and detected automatically. Then installed all drivers from sony site. Everything worked fine except Hotkeys (brightness).

Yesterday i've installed Windows 8.1 RTM (before that recovered disk copy with Acronis) and even without installing drivers brightness hotkeys worked!!

I've ordered my second one while there was the same promotion, payed for it and now there is an info that the factory is producing ma vaio pro 13. So it worked, as I wrote before on this topic

 

thank you for the info. I'd like to send you private message but I can't find that option ;(
Is it possible to email you? My email is my_nick at gmail

 

Thanks for the input. Forgot to mention I have already experimented a bit with the settings, I set the scroll sensitivity to maximum which helps indeed. However I am still not able to use it very smoothly. It's even worse when the fingers are greasy, which is obviously normal but I think it's way more sensitive about it than other trackpads I used before... Maybe I put too high requirements on it or the device in general....

 

I don't know if you understood me - I didn't mean two fingers scrool, I meant one finger scrool near edges

 

Well yes I also read this But for me it's not really an alternative, because I scrolled with two fingers for years So it's still easier with two fingers even though It's not working well, because I don't need check the position of my fingers so often..

By the way, while writing this and not having lot's of other stuff opened, the fan still kicks in sometimes Well it wouldn't be that annoying if I could get rid of the high pitched noise.

 

Waiting for the new bios is the only way at this moment, no another solution

 

Jess, I have not used the new S7 myself, there is an owners lounge in the Acer sub-forum here where folks keep complaining about the keyboard. The main complain are 1) the layout - no F1 - F12 keys 2) the fact that the keys only register when hit right in the middle... This really matters if you are planning to type a lot...Have a read yourself.

Samsung Ativ 7 is thicker and heavier than Ativ 9; Ativ 9 Plus is the top of the range model with the 4th generation Intel Haswell processor, same as the Vaio Pro.

The Vaio SVZ1311 or Vaio Z series 3 is the same 13 inch as the Pro and looks very similar. However the form factor is slightly different - it is less square shape. The screen while same resolution as a Pro looks wider and less tall. Here is a review with pictures:
Sony Vaio Z Review (2012) - Notebook Reviews by MobileTechReview

 

Hi all, me again
Having a lot of issues under 8.1 - After a bit of help if possible.
Firstly can someone list the order of drive installs + versions

The issue I am having is that I cannot sleep or shutdown the laptop - I've dug in a bit more and found that it is actually going into a BSOD mode with:
BSOD DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE caused by ntoskrnl.exe


I'm sure it's just a driver issue but can't figure out which one

 

I've noticed that when you are scrooling with two fingers when keeping them tight without gap between than scrooling works not good. But when you try scrooling with a gap between each finger (about 1 cm) then it works preety well. Tel me what you think.


Edit:

Question for those of you who have installed Windows 8.1 and can compare it to Windows 8. Did you notice longer battery life on 8.1 ? I'm using it to short to tell it for sure but in my opinion it seems that 8.1 last longer, much longer per charge.

 

Hi !
I got my Vaio three days ago (i7/256/8go/non-touch).

So far, I don't have wifi issues, I can download at the same speed than my desktop and I can connect to the wifi at my college without problems.

The fan noise seems random, yesterday it starts kicking for 1 minute while I had only a word document open (it might be because something got updated) and at other time I don't hear any fan noise while I watch a 1080p video on MPC-HC. I will be back on this issue in one week.

Otherwise, I have a little problem while connecting my Vaio to a TV with an HDMI cable. You can see here : http://i.imgur.com/zrDqlJB.jpg that the picture is "cut" on the edge.
Do you know how can I fix that ?

In addition to that, is there a list of every software pre-installed that I can delete safely ?

Thanks.

Creativity

 

I'm noticing that when I plug in or unplug the power cord, my screen briefly goes black and then comes back. Does anyone know what might be causing this issue? I've changed all settings in power management and Intel Graphics to be the same for plugged-in and battery, running out of ideas here.

 

It's called overscan, and there should be an option for that in the Intel HD Graphics settings panel.

 

Guys,
I'm interested in buying Vaio Pro as European stores give twice SSD capacity for free, I've read almost 30 pages of this thread but then simply gave up... Can you please confirm that fan noise at medium and high usage has been fixed (via BIOS update?) ? I noticed that pitch noise can be removed by changing some USB settings. What about WiFi connectivity issues and not-so-responsive trackpad?
Vaio Pro is on market for about three-four months, so maybe above issues are now fixed?

Thanks!

 

There is no known hardware revision. The pitch noise seems random. The WiFi issue is not solved, and you will have issues if you encounter a signal strength lower than -65 dBm, which is not exceptional.

 

It's because it's changing from 60hz to 40hz.
Problem is I don't know how to set it to 60hz fixed and not to change when AC is plugged/unplugged.
You can find this setting in the video card settings. Let me know if you find how to set it to 60hz without changing.

 

I can confirm that after BIOS update if you are on SILENT mode the fan is very silent when there's NO LOAD on the CPU. like surfing, office work and such (below 10% CPU, it rarely gets above it anyway). If it gets above it the fan will start whirring kinda.. and also in some rare cases it does even when its below 10%, but it's uncommon.

 

Thanks! How about touchpad? Newest drivers solve anything? I'm not using much gestures actually just two-finger scrolling + two and three finger tap, that's all.

 

I found it, thanks !

 

Found this solution online: Disable Intel's automatic 60hz to 40hz refresh rate change on Batt but it didn't work unfortunately. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

it's not in the video setting. it's in the power and battery tab in the VAIO control center. it's under the powersaving section

 

In case anyone is following my quest on searching the best price for the Vaio Pro (in Los Angeles at least):

I went to Sony store today, all their SKUs are i5 / 4GB or the Full config i7 / 8GB / 256GB SSD
The full config cost a whopping $1799.99 which isn't worth it because for the same configuration, it only cost 1719.99 online. PLUS you can get Fresh Start online for free.

Next, I went to Microsoft Store, Theres really a lack of Microsoft Store in LA honestly. The one I went to only has Surfaces for sale, so that was a bust.

Afterward, I went to Fry's. They have i5 /4GB /128GB SSDand i7 /8GB /128GB SSD
the i7 costing $1499.99. Which is a good deal, but I can still get a better deal with student discount on the Sony Store. I just really hate to wait 2 weeks for the machine to arrive. Why can't they be like Google and mail it in 2-3days -___-


ANYWAYS long story short, I think I will wait for the 256GB SSD promotion since upgrading to Windows 8 Pro isn't really worth saving $50.
Once the 256GB SSD promo kicks in, you can be sure I will be the first one to order.

 

I got my ful config I7 / 8g 512sd in 2 days from sony online it's only as you are asking for a fresh start that is considered custom build will it be 2 weeks. I m not sure but student discount maybe over now

 

My VAIO won't wake up from deep sleep. Everything gets deleted. This laptop is a bunch of crap. You pay way over 1000€/$1000 and get a laptop with the baddest wlan since years and so many other bugs ... this must be a joke

This was my last Sony product. Ever.

 

I also encounter a lot of bugs with 8.1 and since it works on the workstation it has something to do with the laptop itself. And well.. it's those stupid crappy Intel drivers which are coded by monkeys.

Here is my list on how to install the drivers "correctly":
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...ners-lounge-svp13-2013-a-171.html#post9369395

 

Can't believe I missed this, thanks!

 

Pleeeeease, I know I've asked this before but how did people who did a fresh install manage to get the screen brightness / projector F buttons to work? As far as I know I've downloaded all the drivers, but can only turn volume up or down : (

 

you can buy it from MS store online with a student discount too. their warranty services is miles better than sony.

 

Uninstalling Vaio Care worked for me.

 

So I just decided to take what I believe, hopefully I'm wrong, could be a risk and order a Vaio Pro 13 from the Sony online shop. Going into my third year of university I need something light to carry around, but I just don't enjoy using mac os other than when forced to 'to do some iOS development.

I won't be using the Vaio too much other than for word processing and light programming at times using IDE's such as netbeans, so i'm not too worried about performance issues. The setup I ordered was i5-4200U, 8GB ram, 256 GB SATA Flash SSD in Carbon Black with touch.

Using the student offer I have up to 30 days to return the product so i thought its a tiny risk and something that could turn out to be really good. If anyone has time to answer two of my questions I'd be grateful

1) Using the laptop in lecture environments, how bad is the glossy screen on the touch? I've heard mixed reviews.. and I imagine I won't be able to judge this till I see it myself, but sitting head on to the laptop I imagine it'll be fine for what I need, I won't be using it in outdoor environments at all.

2) The dreaded wifi question.. In my university some times you are situated in a lecture or laboratory (studying Computing) which doesn't have a wireless router within and you are hopping on the next rooms connection, will this be doable with all updates such as drivers and bios?

I'm not too worried about the fan sound, as I can't imagine it being that loud in a large lecture theater (will only be doing word processing in this environment.. or playing tetris!) or a lab where there will always be 15-30 computers turned on.

Hopefully this turns out to be a wise investment! As I said, I've done a lot of research into this and the only real issue I'm partially worried about is how bad the reflective screen will be, having never owned a glossy laptop before.

Full configuration and price:

Intel® CoreTM i5-4200U 1.6 GHz
Windows 8
Carbon Black
Battery life up to 7 hours
256 GB SATA Flash SSD
8 GB 1600 MT/s DDR3L-SDRAM
33.7 cm LED, 1920x1080
No Ethernet Wi-Fi & VGA dongle
Office 365 Home Premium Trial
No protection
No Adobe Creation
No Adobe® Lightroom 4
£ 910.46 inc. VAT (UK)

 

From my perspective what you should really be worried is the WiFi and use the 30 days to ensure that the unit works Ok in all environments you require. Are you prepared to buy and use an extra USB WiFi dongle? The poorly implemented WiFi is the major single issue with the machine.

I am sure you should be able to make your own judgement on the usability of the screen relatively quickly; I do not anticipate you will have any problems with it indoors.

 

Wow! That must've cost like 2k++
If I was going to spend 2k on Vaio Pro, I would get the RED edition!! SEXAY! hahah
But thanks, I'll try with no Fresh Start.

How did you get it for so cheap... I'm so jelly!!

Nickolai, Why didn't you return your laptop for a new unit if you have so much trouble with the WiFi? (sorry, you might've explained it before but I'm too lazy to read 180+ pages to find one post heh.)

 

Nick

As you are so fond of pointing out the problems you encountered which I have previously sympathised the simple matter of approximately 200 unique posting on the US sony support site ie less than 4 users per state (guess) is hardly evidence of a epidemic failure by Sony

I would guess any manufacture who received 4 returns per state would be slapping themselves on their backs

Some suggest that we that have no problems are too thick to realise or have a wifi signal that is strong enough not to show the supposed widespread problem

I would say the opposite to this and that those unfortunates should either like you return their Pro or wait for the fix that is hinted at by sony

As always you will get a totally biased feedback from forums and this needs to be taken in to consideration

Given that most buy on 30 days return there is minimal risk IMO again my sympathies to those that have problems

 

I have indeed returned the unit for a refund. Getting a replacement unit was pointless, because I am absolutely convinced that there is a design flow with WiFi. Someone on Sony community has returned theirs three times and WiFi did not work properly on the three replacements in a row.

 

Steve, you seem like a nice guy. I have nothing against Sony as a company, but on this occasion I am totally convinced this product is flowed. I looked into the matter long and hard before concluding this; it was a difficult decision, but I returned it within the 30 days window. If you look at the latest developments on the Sony Community forum you will see that Sony USA is offering a "workaround" for the USA customers obtainable via private message to the employee, who was looking into the issue. How does this sound to you?

 

Thanks mate
I actually figured it out yesterday finally after rebuilding again on 8.1
I did follow your steps though I have my own (very similar) anyway just to double check however same issue

In the end, I decided to shutdown after EVERY driver install - VERY tedious
It turned out to be none of the drivers but in actual fact Virtualbox! I'm assuming it is either the USB driver and/or the network driver it installs but the minute I uninstalled, it was fine.
So I rebuilt once more without virtual box but without testing after each driver and it;s running like a dream. Fan's a bit nuts at the moment but it is indexing just over 109,000 files

 

Returning mine. Wifi is unacceptable. Even my phone works in areas that this doesn't.

 

have anybody made a step by step downgrade DIY for vaio pro 13 from Win8 to Win 7 ? Any issue after downgrade . Please share if possible . My pro will be delivered in few weeks and I really want to use 7 as in actual Vaio Z.

My pro order : black, i7 , 8GB RAM, 13" non-touch , 256SSD , 3g dongle , external battery , 4 year European warranty . No fresh start possible in UK

 

Strangely enough, when i first bought my Pro 13 (this was one of the first editions in JUNE 2013), i had wifi dropping like crazy... But after the driver update, its been ROCK solid at 300MEG near the router..

I am using two routers, an ASUS RT-N65U and an ASUS RT-66U.. Never had any drops or any issues for the last two months.

My pro 13 is heavily used almost 10-12 hours a day. Currently i use it in the office on LAN (USB3.0), and driving 2 1080P monitor (HDMI out + USB DVI out) plus the internal screen for 3 screens wide.

The only issues i have right now:
1. When i pick up my laptop from the left or right side fo the track pad, there is a like a slight cracking noise.. makes me feel like its breaking!! oh well..
2. Trackpad - on certain uneven surfaces, because its too thin at the bottom, the trackpad will just get stuck and you cant push it anymore. Yesterday it was right clicking itselffor the whole day!! Annoying.

 

While I have not done it, I would think its simple enough as creating your w7 usb stick and installing
The W7 drivers have been posted on the Sony site for my model and I'm sure others so it's ready to go

 

Post in wrong forum, forget it...(this is what happens when you have too many tabs open in your browser)
Sorry mods..

 

Nick

I had seen the same comment and the one where they said a fix would be available shortly

You could read this two ways but I would assume there is some sort of fix but they are shy on releasing it world wise but will release to private individuals why this is in the USA only I don't know

As for the guy that bought and returned 3 who knows if it really is the Pro as there is so many variables

Sony themselves stated that many tests had been carried out on the pro including a robot running around testing the WiFi etc so we can ask why some users IRL are getting problems is the big question

I have been running my Pro for the last week on a friends router and have had no drops and I would say better than my own one

 

Amazing how a successful downgrade can improve a laptop! I successfully downgraded Windows 8 to Windows 7 on my Sony Vaio Pro11 (SVP112190X) custom build. It was not an easy task, but the end result was completely worth it as I was considering returning/selling/discarding the machine until I finally saw its usefulness once on the downgraded OS. I created the USB recovery, then managed to get the start-up options to allow a Windows 7 installation from USB (that took a bit of fiddling) after which I removed all of the partitions and started from scratch. I installed Windows 8 drivers (only some were successful, others gave errors) but now I see the Windows 7 drivers are available on Sony's site as well. I have all the function buttons working with the new (Windows 7) drivers and have customized the track pad to be suitable as well - which required disabling many features, then selected volume up/down shortcuts for the left top/bottom corners and mute action for the top right. Disabled touchscreen for now as it kept sensing pressure where there was none - and would end up somewhere random whenever I closed the lid. I also took a rotary sander to the EXTREMELY sharp front and back corners to make it further usable and now I love it! So - good luck doing the same! :]

 

I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed before, but how does bitlocker affect battery life on the Pro 13 running Windows 8 Pro? After all, the built in SSD is crazy fast and the Haswell CPU can only enter the low power state at 2% CPU utilization or something, or you cut your battery life in half.

I know that Haswell has hardware acceleration for AES - I presume Bitlocker would take advantage of that, but I have read that most SSD's have hardware encryption always enabled by default because of the nature of the flash memory chips, and Windows 8 has this new ability to use that with Bitlocker without any user intervention, so it can instantly encrypt the SSD and with no performance hit. Does the Vaio Pro have that?

Also, I'm not sure if I have TPM installed. I assume every computer with Windows 8 Pro has it, but idk. Bitlocker works with my SD card, but I'm not sure if that means I have TPM.

 

I'm running bitlocker on the machine, got a 256 SATA SSD in mine. I have not benchmarked it but the responsetime seems higher now than prior. I can say that bitlocker does not seem to affect cpu at all though

 

Has anyone run into this issue... when my Vaio Pro 13 resumes from sleep all brightness controls are disabled. The FN+F6 and the Windows 8 brightness control do not work at all. I have turned off all the automatic brightness features and manually raise or lower the brightness but none of that works after waking from sleep mode. I'm forced to reboot to get those controls back.

 

Refer to page 175
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...ners-lounge-svp13-2013-a-175.html#post9373056

 

Response time in synthetic benchmarks or in web browsing, opening apps, etc?

Can you run CrystalDiskMark while monitoring the cpu usage?

Anyway, if the response time seems higher (and isn't just the placebo effect) then I guess bitlocker doesn't take advantage of the SSD's built in hardware encryption.

 

There is nothing strange about this behavior, considering you are using the Pro NEAR the router.

Original drivers were patchy and then Intel fixed them. The WiFi problem in the Pro occurs at distance from router in the signal areas below -65 dBm. In these conditions properly constructed WiFi devices would maintain full network rates, while the Pro will have trouble (slow rates and disconnects) especially on the 2.4 Ghz band connections.

Sony USA is now offering a free WiFi dongle to the customers who are experiencing the issue.