Official Vaio Y 13.3 Series Owners Lounge

is the Intel HD of an i5 UM less performant than the integrated graphics of a standart i5?

 

A cylindrical bump protrudes from the bottom about 5/8" or 15mm. I can take a picture if it would help.

3DMark06 score around 1250-1300 for the i5-430UM versus 1900-1950 for the i5-430M based on other reviews.

For comparison, visiom88 got a score of 3438 for his Y with i3-330UM and ATI. i5-430UM and ATI would be higher still. If you want to game, ULV + dedicated graphics is a much better option than standard processor with integrated graphics.

 

Just clean installed Win 7 Ultimate x64. Most of components are working, except I have one problem:

Vaio Care doesn't launch. As I click on its icon, I can see it's being loaded and is visible on task manager, but it doesn't pop up any screen. I also tried running it as an administrator, but no luck. I'd really like to have this function so that I can haul some Adobe softwares from the hidden partition.

If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it.

EDIT: It also seems like the multi-touch function on the touchpad is not working either.

EDIT: I figured them out myself.

 

Hey, I'd be happy with 5 hours.


The i5 version probably isn't that much different, if you aren't doing anything really processor intensive.

 

That's with the standard battery right?

 

How did you do this? Is there any chance you can help me with the following questions I asked a few pages back? Here they are:

1 - I think that you can install windows 7 in a different language and use the same product key no problems, but can anyone confirm this?
2 - Not including the stuff listed above, can someone direct me to a place where there is a list of the Vaio software that comes preinstalled, with details of what everything does and how useful it all is, so we can decide what stuff to reinstall, if any. 3 - Can the clean install process be done from a USB pendrive or HDD? I don't have a USB DVD drive and don't want to fork out money just so I can do the clean install. An easy step by step guide would be sweet!

Also, a colleague of mine says I need to find out which exact version of windows I need to install. Do you know how I can find this out? And where can I download the right windows version? The laptop has Windows 7 home premium in Spanish and I need to install it in English, more specifically the UK version if it is not the same as the US version.

Regarding your problem with the touchpad, have you tried updating the drivers? I’m not sure if the touch pad on the Z is the same as on the Y, but people on the Z i5/i7 forum have been trying out different drivers with good results in some cases, if you search that forum you may get some useful info.

In worst case scenario, you can install again and reinstall everything in the order that holzmann suggests, apparently everything worked OK except for the “assist” button. Here is the info:

Originally Posted by holzmann
Well, after two attempts, I was able to conduct a clean install. I got the order of operations wrong on the first attempt, resulting on all sorts of weird problems.

Here is what I did...

Bios: Change boot order to boot from USB first
Connect external DVD USB drive ($45 from Newegg)
Booted from Windows 7 Pro 64 Disk
Deleted shipping C: partition and made two new C: (100 GB) and D: (185 GB) partitions (formatted capacity is about 295 GB out of the 320 GB
Installed Windows on the C: partition

After first boot...
-Installed Vaio Care
-Vaio Care accesses the "hidden" recovery partition, which I kept.

I installed in this order...
-Realtek Audio (reboot)
-Broadcom Bluetooth
-Marvell Atheros Lan (wired)
-Ricoh memroy card drivers x 3
-Intel Chipset drivers (Chipset, SATA, Management Engine, etc.)
-Synaptics Trackpad (reboot)
-Marvell Atheros WiFi driver

-Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device (important)
-Sony Shared Library
-Sony Notebook utilities
-ATI Driver (needed to download/install the file from the Sony site)
-ATI HDMI Driver
-Webcam driver/software

-Windows Updates
-Microsoft Security Essentials
-Office 2010 Professional Plus
-Office 2010 Updates
-Flash, Java, etc.
-Everything else (Including installing/updating Adobe Elements 8, etc. from the recovery partition.)

After it's all said and done, my laptop does seem to run smoother. No annoying Norton AV pop-ups, etc.

I saved $50 by not doing Fresh Start but then again I am an MS TechNet member, so I have easy access to the entire MS software library to include Win7 64 Pro, Office 2010, etc.

All functions work on the laptop as they should with the exception of the "Assist" button which now acts as a mute button. The "Vaio" button launches Vaio Care. All function keys work as they should.

No annoying Sony bloatware software either.

At the end of the day, I am happy with my purchase. This thing is small, light weight, easily portable, yet with all the power I need to have a seamless desktop experience. (I have used netbooks before and know how sluggish that experience can be and this is nothing like that.)

As for battery life, it's hard for me to judge. With 80% charge, it's saying I have 4 hours, 20 minutes of life remaining, but it hasn't budged from that for the past 15-20 minutes. I would guess I am getting at least around 5 hours with this with WiFi on and screen brightness at 50%.

In the end, this is the only laptop I found that had all the features I wanted, and I am quite happy with it. It feels solid, aside from a slightly loose battery, and I hope if I take care of it, it will give me a good 3-4 years of service.

In terms of features, I suppose that new wireless screen technology from Intel would be fun but certainly not necessary.

 

Could you please?

I'm interested in getting one with the extended battery (although in the UK I have to buy as separate and end up with 2 batteries... )

 

Go to bing and type "newegg" and you can get 10% off anything. So they go the Y for $799. So you do the math.

=====

Too late. It only lasted 3 hrs.

 

Here's some comparison pics:






The extended battery props the rear up about 1/2" or so when working on a table, which makes the typing experience even nicer (it's already excellent). It's a bit less welcome on my lap, but not bothersome.

 

Awesome job dmk2, thanks!

I was afraid of that. The extended battery is ridiculously high.

Do you think it is an accident waiting to happen? (the edge getting hit and breaking something?
What kind of usage do you get out of the big battery? (which configuration?)

 

@selekkkkka

I figured that Vaio Care software doesn't support Win7 Ultimate, so I went on and installed Win7 Pro instead. I used Sony Download Taxi which gives you an instruction to what to install first before installing Vaio Care (note: Hardware diagnostics tools MUST be installed AFTER installing Vaio Care), and Vaio Care now launches by pressing "Assist" button.

 

Thanks for the tip regarding the hardware diagnostics! About the download taxi, errr… Don’t seem to be able to find it on European support sites. So, it downloads and installs drivers and stuff in the right order? Is that it? Could you post a link or something? Sorry about all the questions, hope I’m not being a dunse!

 

If I go with the ATI GPU vs. integrated, would I be losing an hour (out of 5) of battery life on the standard battery pack? Thanks.

 

@selekkkkka
Download Taxi just lets you keep track of what you downloaded. You can find the same installing instruction on this page, under "You may need this," as well. Hope this helps!

@alanbrenton
I'm getting slightly more than 5 hours of battery life with the dedicated graphics and the standard battery.

 

Thanks Visiom88. I'll probably go with the ATI graphics card then once the customizable Y series is available in Canada or maybe I will just purchase in the US and pick it up there. Always have to pay a 20% premium up north!

 

I've tried to reinstall Windows from scratch to have a clean one. Does anybody know how / where to get the drivers?
My Model: VPCY21C5E
Sony site the drivers are completely empty:
VAIO : Sony Europe

 

Hi! I have a question. A friend is selling me a Sony Vaio Y series laptop model VPCY2190X. She's telling me that it has a dvd writer upgrade.

However, from what I've read in all the forums and websites, the Vaio Y series does not have a dvd drive.

Is she trying to pull my leg? Sell me a fake Vaio? Or is it really possible to have a dvd drive/writer installed?

Thank you for your input!!

 

As far as I know, the Y-Series does not come with a burner nor is it an option. Best bet is to just take a look at it first.

 

I don't think the extended battery is a problem waiting to happen. It's a little less comfortable to use on your lap with the extended battery and doesn't fit as nicely into a notebook sleeve, but those are the only downsides. Since I use the Y on my lap most of the time, I wouldn't want to have the extended battery as my only option. But it's nice to have the extended battery for flights across the Pacific.

I think Sony's estimate of 9 hours with the extended battery is probably accurate for the i3 model with integrated graphics, assuming you're just web surfing and using productivity apps.

However, I've only used the extended battery with the Y118GX config, which is a pre-refresh model that came with Win 7 Pro, 500GB drive, and standard + extended batteries. I picked the old Y up at a Sony Style store discounted for $675 at the same time I got a Y21, with the intention of giving the old one to my father. But I ended up keeping the old model instead. With this model, I've used the extended battery for 8 hours and still had 25% left, so it will probably go for 10-10.5 hours. The standard battery gives me 7 hours with this model and 6 hours with the Y21, so by extrapolation I figure the extended is good for 9 hours with the Y21, just as Sony claims.

 

I went to Sonystyle store today to look at the Y and Z.

I notice the Z has a narrow band of brightness when you move out a little and move up and down.

The Y screen is actually better than the Z!

 

Looking to purchase the Y series soon. Was contemplating on an Asus too but people on this thread have complained that the Asus feels a little flimsier and that the keyboard has more flex.

Just wondering if anyone is experiencing buyer's remorse and why so I can finally make up my mind.

Many thanks.

 

I cannot decide between this, the Asus UL30VT and the Toshiba Protege r705!

please help me if you can, i would really appreciate it! (i made a thread in the "what computer should i buy" section)

 

Buy it online and avoid paying tax. You get 3 yr warranty, fingerprint reader and bluetooth. R705 at BB is only 1 yr warranty n none of those 3 things. This R70x got DVD Drive.

Y weight 1 lb more and no DVD drive.

 

^ but the r700 online is more expensive from the get go isn't it?

 

okay, is the sony vaio y + i5 + ATI for $900 worth it? and will it last 4 years as an engineering student?

someone please tell me yes so i can end all of this notebook debate...

 

I believe you can knock about $47.50 down if you go the educational pricing route. Just google Sony Vaio Education and you will likely find that link. Most add-ons are 5% less as well.

 

Although I'm planning on getting myself the more powerful (and expensive) S series, I got a Y for my girlfriend and am impressed with it. Obviously it's no powerhouse, but the battery life and weight are important for her. Although it's still pretty new I'm confident that it has been a good purchase.

 

Wrong thread but FYI the last two laptops I have owned were Toshibas and I have found them both to be mediocre. No experience with Asus so can’t really comment on those.

 

When bing was alive, it was only $50 more. Now we cant talk about it. I miss bing.

 

I don't understand why people go through such pain of re-installing all software and drivers just to remove the bloatware that comes from factory. It would make sense if you are putting in a new hard disk or changing the OS. Is it not much easier to use the Windows un-installer to remove unwanted software? You can boot into safemode to do this if you worry about things not getting removed completely. I just don't see any benefits in doing a "clean" install other than killing time. The bloatware that comes with this laptop is not really that bad.

 

Hi, just got my new sony vaio y series laptop from Amazon £699.

Intel pentium u5400 @ 1.2ghz
4gb ram
Windows Home Premium 64 bit
320gb hdd

I used to use the model with the su4100 (VPCY11M1E) and liked the palm rest design compared to my new model (VPCY21S1ESI) which is plain. Itsnot a big problem just wondering if anyone else noticed this and had preference?

I have only had it for 9 hours and so far so good. It feels really tough and well built. I am so glad I went for the Y series rather than the S. I think I saved a lot of money going for the Y and it meets my basic computing needs.

Does anyone else have the model that am using and also a color profile to use on the screen?

Also, my battery wobbles in the new model but never did in the old.

thanks

 

Like I mentioned, the primary intention was not to remove bloatware but to change the OS language. As far as I know, there are two ways of doing this: 1 - paying through the nose to ge W7 Ultimate and downloading required language packs, or 2 - Clean install of current version of Windows in the desired language. The first option was a no no for me so I went for the second, which for me also has the "added bonus" of removing any bloatware. There is no way I would bother reinstalling JUST to remove bloatware.

Anyway I've done the clean install and it was actually a lot less troublesome than I expected. It appears to have gone well however I will be testing the laptop over the weekend to make sure everything works and will update next week...

 

So all you had to do was search on Bing and you got a discount? Or was there a sign up required? I guess the deal is dead, huh?

 

Seems like nobody on this thread has reported a problem playing HD video from iTunes, etc. Has anyone connected the Vaio to their TV using HDMI or VGA and played HD video without issues?

I'm so close to pulling the trigger on a VAIO Y purchase but I can't quite get over the 1.2GHz processor speed. Adobe says the minimum system requirements for HD in flash 10.1 are a 3GHz Pentium 4. I understand that the i3 architecture can be a lot more powerful than this on benchmarks, but a lot of that depends on software being written to take advantage of the architecture fully...

 

can anybody here post the Windows Experience Index (WEI) for the i5/ati model?

thank you.

 

Guys, could you please post your user experience regarding the CPU? My friend is ready to buy one of these, but the problem is that here in Russia the only available CPU config is U3400, which sounds like crap. She won't do anything beyond basic word/excel/surfing/movies with moderate multitasking, but man, 1.06Ghz today does look lame. So if you commented how does your U5400 handle those tasks, I might have some sort of estimation.

 

In addition to all the requests I'd like to know about the "loose battery" issue and your experiences with Sony's support. Strange that they don't offer an on-site option even for their more expensive laptops.

 

I can confirm that 1080p YouTube and 1080p Flash video work fine on both the SU7300 and i3-330UM models with integrated graphics. CPU utilization is around 35-40% for YouTube 1080p and can get over 50% with Flash 1080p in version 10.1.

EDIT: Those CPU numbers are for streaming video. When playing 1080p video from the hard drive, CPU utilization stays around 20-25%.

Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any reduction in video performance and not much increase in CPU utilization when driving a 1920x1080p TV through HDMI.

I did notice some intermittent connection/sync problems when trying the HDMI output with a Pioneer plasma TV, but I didn't really look into it to see what the problem might be. I didn't have any problems with connecting an HP 1080p LCD monitor through HDMI. Haven't tried the VGA output.

The loose battery issue spans the whole VAIO lineup to varying degrees. I put some masking tape on the battery to take up the slack and now it's snug.

 

WEI is 5.0
Processor: 5.4
Memory: 5.4
Graphics: 5.0
Gaming: 6.2
Hard Disk: 5.9

Little disappointed at the CPU score. My old E8400 desktop gets 6.6. Have not tried any games yet on the ATI graphics. Getting just 4-5 hours battery life on light usage (50% brightness, wi-fi, internet and office work). Battery does not wobble at all on mine. Overall I am quite happy since there is nothing in this category that is more solid, better built or faster, at least not yet.

 

I wrote my question on a separate thread, and then I saw this one. I`m new to this forum, I don`t know where my question fits bets, so I write it here again, maybe I can get some clarification on this issue.

I am looking for a light, portable and well built laptop and I decided to buy a Sony Vaio VPCY 11S1E which is a little faster than the Vaio VPCY 21S1E.

Light, battery lasts around 7 hrs, great keyboard and touch-pad (which I value as I type a lot) but something worries me.
I read in reviews that when on battery the display are dimmed automatic and there is not option for the user to set it higher. How dimmed...I cannot figure out only from the numbers I read on the review.

Anyway, I find this rather strange, portability means often taking the machine outside where is a lot of light and you need to set the display at its highest brightness. Same stands for watching the movie, when you need the display to be very bright. This would be a real turn off for me, what is the use of long battery life if you have to struggle to see the display?

I wonder if anybody here owning this laptop found the display rather dull on battery or had problem with the disply.

And an additional question, as I am not good in computers, what is the difference between ony Vaio VPCY11S1 E and ony Vaio VPCY11S1 E/S?

thank you!

 

Strange, close to checkout:

The keyboard skin that shows under accessories is for NW or FW. Does the Y Series have the same keyboard design/size?

VGP-KBV1/B | Keyboard Skin | Sony | Sony Style USA

EDIT: Seems like it is the keyboard skin under compatibility tab:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...1&productId=8198552921666036651#compatability

 

No, this is a non-issue, there are keyboard shortcuts to adjust brightness, it's very easy. I think it's Fn + F3 for darker, and Fn + F4 for brighter (can't check right now as I don't have it with me). So literally a second to change the brightness, regardless of being on battery or AC power. You can also change the defaults easily. Obviously the brighter the screen is, the less the battery will last.

Regarding your second question, not sure… I think it’s the color (S for Silver?). Look them up on your local Sony website and compare them.

 

Really?
You can adjust the brightness when on battery??!! I ask again as I read on a review (I`ll look for the quote) you cannot.
And can you please tell me what do you think about the display quality in general?

(yes, S is from Silver)

Thank you!!

sign: almost an vaio y owner

 

I'm right now adjusting brightness of my Vaio Y on battery with no problem.

 

Is it a Y11S1E?

 

It's Y2190X. I don't see how it'd be different as long as it's Y-Series.

 

I've had a Y11 and Y21 and the brightness control works the same on both machines.

It's the same on the whole VAIO line except those models with the ambient light sensor. Those models have a horrible auto-dimming feature which defeats the keyboard shortcuts until you disable it in VAIO Control Center.

 

This is fine, then, one worry less!

 

Sorry my ignorance, I hardly understand all this technical specs. But I keep asking.

How`s the battery in its slot, fixed or still a little bit flimsy, wiggling?

 

Mine doesn't "wiggle" at all. (VPCY11S1E). BTW it's Fn + F5 & F6 to adjust brightness, not F3 & F4 as mentioned before. There are symbols on the keys to show this anyway, so you don't have to remember it!