Official Vaio Pro 13 Owners Lounge (SVP13 2013)

I am using it for work so productivity is key. Time is money. I dislike having to maintain dual interfaces. Constantly switching between both screens is really a hassle. Prefer to just use Windows 7. Gotta wait for the drivers to be released though, if Sony is gonna release them that is...

 

24Mbit, PS3 plays Super HD fine.

 

One recommendation: the Startech USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter ($32.99 on Amazon). It works perfectly, and at Gigabit speeds (USB 2.0 doesn't have the bandwidth for Gigabit).

 

I really don't see how a different start menu is enough to have someone switch back to windows 7, I know that was the cool thing to say when Windows 8 first came out but really if you actually use it for a couple weeks I don't see anyone under the age of 50 adjusting...... You do get the hang of it, if you refuse you can still use the alternative Start menu programs out there. For me, the speed improvements in W8 far out weigh being bitter about a purely superficial change. What are you doing in that you would have to "constantly" be switching between desktop and the start menu? You know you can put short cuts on the desktop just like W7

 

I wanna go straight to desktop. Not interested in seeing the Metro screen at all. Of course I can install Classic Shell to bypass it but this feature should have been part of the UI in the first place. Besides, if I am gonna install Classic Shell, I might as well downgrade it to Windows 7 where Metro doesn't exist.

I just do not like Metro. Period.

 

Here are 3 photos I took at the SonyStyle Store. I'm really liking the silver.

 

I installed Start8 on my Lenovo Yoga and my brand new Pro 13. Now when my Pro 13 starts up it goes straight to the desktop and the Windows key opens the Start menu which is just like in Windows 7 or if I hold it for about half a second it goes to the Metro UI. For all intents and purposes it works like Windows 7, plus I have the option of using all the Windows 8 features - kind of the best of both worlds. And it'll only cost you $5.

Link: Start8!

 

I just think it's hilarious that someone people will downgrade (and yes, it really is a downgrade) because they refuse to adapt to something new. Good luck though, your comment of " if I am gonna install Classic Shell, I might as well downgrade it to Windows 7" says enough about your understanding of this will all entail and apparent belief that all Windows 8 is just Windows 7 with a new start menu, so I'll stop wasting my time any further to explain how you will be crippling your computer by doing so as Sony will not be doing you any favors by providing an easy aventue. lol

 

Or you can use Smart switch from gigabyte for free (or wait for 8.1).
Get the Windows 8 Start button back with Smart Switch!

To downgrade, you need to remove Windows 8, install windows 7, and then try to find and install all the drivers (some of which may not exist). Installing a free third-party application sounds much simpler than that.

 

Does someone know if the recovery image that is made from the vaio care contains the hidden partition which is used to the recovery options?, my intention is to make a whole backup of the disk, (one with vaio care and another from clonezilla) then install opensuse, if it doesnt work correctly restore the system

 

I am not sure that the Sony recovery disks include the recovery partition. It hasn't been the case for other brands I have used. However, on this system, I tried to do a Windows "System Image" and it was about to backup 3 partitions, which I assume include the Sony recovery partition. I didn't go further, so i can't confirm it'll do the trick, but...

Laurent

 

When you create recovery discs, it is just simply copying recovery partition over discs and makes it bootable. When you recover from discs, it creates recovery partition and copies all discs to it and then run from there.
However, you have an option to either create recovery partition or not.

Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 2

 

I went and got those but it hasn't made a difference. I have a feeling there's just no software set up to be used that way - at least not yet. I wish there was more mention of it in the manual though.

 

Quick observation now that summer is here:

Those plastic grabber-feet that jut out of the rear bottom chromed edge are murder on your knees if you're wearing shorts.

BJ

 

Laurent:

I am having intermittent wi-fi issues and would like to download the new Intel drivers you reference.

Can you post a link to their exact location?

TIA

BJ

 

Are you kidding me?!? That's without the sheet battery right?

So it looks like the dynamic range of power on the Haswell platform is pretty wide. What you are describing is pretty close to idle, 8 hour estimate would mean with more activity.

 

So 11-12h of battery life in a very light use scenario? Sounds fantastic!

I presume that, on top of Haswell being really power-efficient in generell, you got really lucky with the quality of your specific CPU-silicon. Could you post a CPU-Z screen showing the idle voltage of your CPU? That would be great!

Would be great if we could gather some information on the voltage-spectrum of the Haswell chips in the Vaio Pro.

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3716&DwnldID=22874

 

Thanks! Since updating the wifi driver on this page, have you seen better connectivity?

BJ

 

I thought the Pro 13 was kidding me too, couldn't believe I had 50% battery left after a 10-5 meeting. Agree on your 'idle' comment as I wasn't doing much except typing a bullet point every 5 minutes, but still, the backlight was on the whole time, wifi was on, Bluetooth, etc. never went to sleep or even dimmed the display. I'm used to any notebook getting run down in similar circumstances, and with SSD you'd think that had I been using it heavily during that span the lack of spinning drives and fans wouldn't have eaten into it too much either.

Tomorrow at 30,000 feet for 16 hours I'll see what she's got.

BJ

 

Tell me how to do this CPU-Z screen and under what conditions and I'll do that for you.

BJ

 

That's really nice of you, thanks a lot!

Simply download the latest release of the CPU-Z tool (e.g. here: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting) and make a screenshot of the main tab while the CPU is idle. [Edit: Make sure you disable the install option for the "Ask-Toolbar" - really annoying they put that into every second installer nowadays]

Found a CPU-Z screen for the i5-4200U here: http://www.jifang360.com/files/Content/4200U-CPU-Z.JPG

It will be very interesting to see whether there are differences in the base voltage across different models. When I got my Vaio TZ (back in the days of the Core2 Duo U7600), there were some batches with 0.85V @ 800MHz (= minimum clock of that CPU) and others with slightly higher 0.875V @ 800 MHz. Given that the CPU didn't consume that much power (especially in relation to the entire system), the difference in total power consumption and battery life was marginal, but it was there (power usage increases with the square of the voltage applied).

Thanks again - love the helpfulness on this forum.

 

By "idle" you mean just sitting still after 15 minutes in my normal configuration or are you saying I need to put in airplane mode and shut every blessed running app? Boot to safe mode? Plugged in or only on battery?

Let me know as I'm off to have with my wife before packing and heading to the airport.

BJ

 

By "idle" I just mean not running any background tasks - in order to get the CPU clock down to its lowest possible multiplier and corresponding voltage (you'll see CPU-Z displaying changes in clock speed and voltage as the CPU dynamically adjusts to the workload - e.g. when opening a complex programme, streaming video, etc.).

Going by what you wrote before, just opening CPU-Z in your normal configuration (without having any other programmes running in the background) and waiting a few seconds for the clock multiplier to settle down should be enough. No need to wait for several minutes or something like that.

Again, I really appreciate your time!

Have a good and safe flight.

 

For reference, my i7 version does not last nearly that long (more in line with 6 hours) and according to CPU-Z bottoms out at 0.706V, which is noticeably higher than the 0.677V of the i5 you linked to (but probably not enough to explain such a large difference in battery life).

Laurent

 

Yes I have. Obviously, YMMV.

Laurent

 

Thanks for your feedback!

CPU voltage certainly is not the only factor to consider and Intel's advanced energy saving states actually go way beyond just adjusting multipliers and voltages - but that base voltage actually gives you a rough idea of where the quality of your CPU silicon sits with respect to the binning range Intel applies for that specific SKU.

Actual impact on battery life is probably rather small - certainly not big enough to explain the difference you mentioned.

I think the main reason for boltjames' fantastic battery life lies with the very light use of the Vaio Pro. I'm very interested in checking out how much battery life I'll get out of mine once it arrives (as my typical use scenario will be very similar to boltjames').

 

With Haswell, the biggest power savings are found in low use scenarios. Under high demand, Haswell will consume as much power as Ivy Bridge.

 

I'd like to see if that's true. Because we see that with Desktop and regular Notebook Haswell, which is a totally different beast from the U and Y series chips.

The U and Y chips go from 17W CPU + 3-4W PCH TDP to 15W combined, while the power states on the non-CPU components become much more advanced.

 

Boltjames or anyone willing to do it. Install Battery Status.
BattStat - Battery Status monitor and power management freeware for Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 x86/x64

This is one of the better programs IMO for tracking real-time system power use and battery life of your system. It even shows you the status of the battery(like the capacity in mWH and the available capacity, and wear status, etc).

My Dell XPS 12 power use:
-Idle 10+ minute with screen off: 5.6W
-Idle 10+ minute with screen-on at minimum brightness: 6.3W
-Local video playback of 360p video at minimum brightness(Balanced or Power Saver mode insignificant): ~8.5W
-Youtube video playback of 1080p video at Balanced with 50% brightness: 11W

The highest I've seen is 20-22W running StarCraft 2 on Balanced mode. Lower demand games like League of Legends last about 30% longer on battery than SC2.

Based on reviews, the power use is roughly on par with most Ivy Bridge 17W based Ultrabooks.

 

Here you go.

The first one is plugged in:




The second one is battery:




BJ

 

So I picked up the Vaio Pro 13 today. Got an open box one at Microcenter for a good price (i7-4500U/8GB/256GB). Couldn't pass it up. Reset it with the recovery partition and just getting it setup. More impressions once I'm all settled in on it ...

I almost ordered a MacBook Air 11 with the 8GB/512GB SSD and the i7. Believe it or not, that came in at $1749. But 1366x768 and lack of touchscreen did it in for me. I was going to put Windows 8 on it not in BootCamp more - as the only OS.

While the 13 is crazy light (no, really ... this is stupid light for a 13.3"; owning the Duo 11, you really can feel the difference), if I had the choice everything being equal, I'd get the 11.6" assuming same spec ... but no 8GB option on the 11.6".

 

They had open boxes at MicroCenter already? I'm planning on getting mine there too, but they only have black at this time, not silver. Do you know how the Pro 13 ultranotebooks i7 compare to the SVZ i5 or even i7? I'm not too familiar with ulltrabooks and I'm looking for something that can handle photoshop, illustrator, word and streaming simultaneously.Thanks.

 

Total fluke. Saw it online. Went in, and the guy was surprised someone had returned it already. They hadn't even taken the sticker off the trackpad, so it was like new. Easy way to save some money

I kinda wanted the silver if I got a Pro, but beggars can't be choosers. I can live with the black.

I never owned an SVZ. I did/do own the Panasonic CF-J10 which has the i7-2620M. Well, I can tell you from owning the Duo 11 which had the older i7 (1st Duo), I comfortably ran Office (Word, PPT, and Outlook open at the same time), Lightroom, Camtasia, and VMware Workstation (with VMs) on it. Will it be as snappy as a full processor SVZ? Maybe not, but good enough IMO The Duo was snappier than the J10 largely due to better I/O paths (J10 was SATA II only). Based on that, what I've run and what you listed, I think you should be fine as long as you get the Core i7 version with 8GB.

 

Thanks for the reply. I was surprised at how quickly someone returned it. The Santa Ana MicroCenter has 3 of the Pro 13 in stock in black, but when I went to South Coast SonyStyle Store, I saw it in Silver with Silver keys (I posted photos) and it looked so good. I don't think Sony ever made one with that color combination. I only stumbled on the Pro 13 because of this forum and drove immediately to SonyStyle to see for myself. I really want to get one, but I'll wait when MicroCenter gets it in Silver. That 5% rewards helps alot.

This Pro 13 reminds me of a hybrid X505 and SVZ - very cool. I appreciate your post. I need to figure out how to rep +1 you. It's been a while since I've been here posting at the Sony forum.

Edit: Found the sunburst like icon to add rep power.

 

You wrote that you saw it in Silver with Silver keys (and posted photos) and it looked so good, and that you don't think Sony ever made one with that color combination. As I am about to buy a Pro 11 (terrible low activity on that forum, BTW!) and am considering both colors, I have tried to find the photos that you mentioned in your post, but I were not able to find them. Could you please either post the web-site address or send me a PM?

Perhaps Sony have made one model with similar colors before, namely the VAIO TX in 2006? As I think I can remember, it was a silver machine with silver keys.

I really would prefer a white machine, but the silver one can be an option. However, I have read a review about the keyboard of the silver model, that its readability was not optimal, as I remember because of too little contrast between the characters and the keys, also with the backlit on. Do you (or somebody else) have some points of view about this?

I may therefore go for the carbon black model, just to insure that the keys are "visually clear" enough.

I have another question for you who have first hand experience with the Pro 13, and hope this experience (slightly modified) can be applied also to the Pro 11: With low activity (Word, some browsing at the same time) will the fan kick in? And if it does, how much noise does it bring into an otherwise quiet room? I am familiar with the old VAIO TZ from 2007 (VGN-TZ91S), with an SSD, and that sound noise does not bother me.

One more thing about sound/noise that I hope that you can say something about: What about the clicking of the keys on the keyboard and the touchpad? Will this activity be disturbing for oneself (or others) in a quiet library, for instance?

 

For the keys, I think it depends how you type. If you're a light typist then you probably won't notice much. Me, I type much harder so you can definitely hear it That said, the keyboard does feel pretty good (I believe it's 19mm travel on the 13). If you want dead slient, this isn't your keyboard. The click of the trackpad is pretty normal but I'm going to switch to a mouse as I'm not much of a trackpad person. I've never used a totally silent keyboard, and this one IMO is no louder or softer than others I've used. I would prefer a t tactile response as this has over silent.

Right now I've got IE and Outlook open. I just configured Outlook so it's sync'ing my e-mail and indexing - the fan is louder than I would say usual. As noted, you can change the fan settings in Vaio Control Center. Mine has been on Standard. So I can hear a little fan (if not actively indexing or doing any processor related stuff), but IMO the 13 is pretty quiet.

 

Thanks a lot for the informative answer. Could you also please tell me/us about how you view (a pun?) the characters on the keyboard - do they have a good visability? And do you have a black or silver keyboard/machine? And also, finally: How satisfied are you with the backlight function?

BTW, I also prefer a keyboard with keys that give a tactile feedback (and not a dead silent one), and I think that the Pro's keyboard is "silent enough" for my use also.

 

I haven't used it in a dark room yet but the backlight seems fine. It's different than the Duo keyboard. I have the black carbon. The Pro 13 is black keys with white lettering and the backlight is under the keys. The Duo is basically a grey on grey with the keys lit under and the letters "translucent" so they light up as well. That said, the white and black is very contrast-y.

I've honestly never really needed backlighting on my keyboards; I have muscle memory. Not a feature that sells me on a laptop.

As a follow up, now that indexing is done, the Pro is nearly silent. So I would say whether or not you hear the fan depends on what is going on.

 

It's a pity Microsoft still didn't default-disable indexing on SSDs with Windows 8. Doesn't hurt as much as it did with older SSDs, but the returns still seem questionable.

 

Here are those photos again:

View attachment 97913
View attachment 97914
View attachment 97915

In my opinion, when I was typing on the silver with silver keys, I never had any issue on readability. I never felt like I struggled typing. And I'm the type that can't type without looking at the keys themselves. Hope the photos help in your decision. I also like the silver because it's not a fingerprint magnet. I had the Z2 in silver/black keys and the maintenance was very low. Plus, I never had any issue with the paint chipping on that mode like some had in black.

 

I was going to go silver out of respect for my beloved Z1, but then I realized that the keys were silver, not black, and that was a dealbreaker for me.

The black keys and the black screen bezel is what made the Z1 look so good, I think the silver keys make the Pro look stylistically disjointed.

BJ

 

Decisions, decisions... With these wonderful photos of the silver model, and also the beautiful photos of the black model in mind, I think I will have a difficult decision to make. Usually, I think the black is not so appealing, and I would prefer a white machine and a white keyboard. But the silver keyboard was very fine, IMO. Also, the (possible) better contrast between the letters and the keys on the black keyboard may be a factor in the decision process.

On the other hand, as Geeee writes: "In my opinion, when I was typing on the silver with silver keys, I never had any issue on readability. I never felt like I struggled typing. And I'm the type that can't type without looking at the keys themselves."

There is also the factor of how easily will the paint wear off on the silver vs. the black model. I think I remember that one reviewer pointed out that the silver model was more prone to wear off paint than the black model, but I am not certain about this. Even one more factor is how prone to get fingerprints are the two models? Here the silver model seems to be a better choice.

But what do you think the chances are for more color options from Sony early in the fall?

Thanks so much for the very valuable information and evaluations from the users that have handled the machines in real person. Such feedback is very important in my situation where a decision shall be made.

 

There's already the Red edition which is out in Japan and I believe Europe as well, but IMO, not worth the premium since they changed none of the guts.
VAIO red edition | gVAIOh | ƒ\ƒj[

Until Sony comes out with the fall lineup, we won't know. But if past history dictates, a gold/champagne color may eventually get introduced.

Buy for when you need your laptop, don't pin your hopes on a white being introduced.

 

Can some of you go to C:\Windows\Web and upload all image for me to download it ? I really love the new VAIO Pro themes , thanks .

 

Just an update to the backlighting on the black carbon. The letters themselves do glow a bit - I was wrong there. I saw it in light so it didn't stand out. Unlike, say, the Samsung Series 7 Ultra, you can't control how bright the backlighting is.

The one thing I don't like is the trackpad. I don't like tracpads in general, but this trend towards no physical buttons makes them even worse for me so I need to find a good USB mouse that's portable so I can also use it on the plane (since you can't have a BT device).

 

Just ordered mine. Got the 256gb ssd, and 8gb ram upgrade. Hope I don't regret it.

 

Sony canada had a sale on the older S series until the 22nd and I hoped that after this day the pro would arrive as a CTO and indeed this is what happened this morning. Will head out to the sony store to check it out in person before I make any final decisions. If anything total will be around 1800 with the extra battery if I decide to take it.

 

Arrrrrghh, they even have the option of the non-ridiculous keyboard!!

Should have just waited. I suppose that they still don't have a non-touch screen option. If they put this up soon, I'm going to freak!

(I ordered from Japan for the matte screen and the American English keyboard)

 

The Z1 was my very first Vaio laptop, if you hadn't notice my signature. Very cool laptop. I believe that was when they had Intel Centrino processor.