Official Vaio Y 13.3 Series Owners Lounge

hey guys any one has any inside news/scoop at to when is Sony putting in the Core i5 520um or Core i7 620/640um in Vaio Y Series...?!?

 

Our best estimate as of now is sometime this Spring, either late March or mid-April.

 

for those that prefer the Y over other ULVs because of the express card slot. I was wondering what exactly do you use it for? i never had to use it, just wondering if im missing out on some useful accessories =)

 

creative x-fi sound card
for wireless music streaming

 

I wonder if you can get one of those external GPU's to work with express port.

 

Anyone got theirs and can comment on the quality of the display? Is it a typical laptop display, or is it better?

 

Hi!

I've been reading on the S series owners lounge in this forum about construction issues, namingly lose battery and abnormal early wear of the paint on trackpad buttons.
Any issues like this with Y series owners, mainly the lose battery?
On S series woners lounge almost everyone says they don't care about it, but for me personally it's a deal braker!
The Y series is excellent, but I won't pay extra money for a Vaio because its quality is better than its competitors and have to put up with a lose battery.


That's unacceptable!

 

I think the loose fitting battery has been reported for the Y-series and CW-series, I'm not too sure. Getting my Y-series today so later I'll tell you.

 

@Mikazukinoyaiba

Please include as much detail as you can about the quality of the display. I'm so close to buying it, but only the display keeps me waiting.

 

It may have to be this weekend when I comment on the Y-series.

 

The guy from France just got this laptop for his wife and says on other forum that it has horrible glossy screen....

 

I don't care if its glossy. All I care about is if the colors and viewing angles are good/great. I hope that he only hated the reflectivity of the screen, not it's colors.

 

What I meant (and what this guy meant) is that it is horrible & glossy. Viewing angles are bad, contrast is bad.
And he says that he was the owner of almost all Sony business laptops from 2004-2008... And he can see the difference.

I hope (but really doubt it) that European version of Y may have other display model than US. Because it also has different (cheaper) SU4200 processor (dual pentium, not core 2 duo)

 

quirki, you just made me really sad ;(. I've been searching for a ultraportable 13,3-14" /w a good enought screen for 3 months now. I thought that maybe Sony had the solution, because they are 'known' to have better displays. But now I just don't know what to do...

The worst part is, I can't find the Vaio Y anywhere on display to see it for myself...

 

Yeah, but imagine how disappointed you would be if I
didn't say that and you would order it
By the way I already ordered this laptop last week. Will get it in 10 days. Hope the screen won't be that bad

 

Sounds just like the Sony F series. I went into Best Buy about three weeks ago and I was shocked. Clearly the worst monitor in the store. One of the worst laptop screens I have ever seen, and I would have to go back to the cheapest crap sold ten years ago for that comparison.

It is that bad. Sony should recall them.
--

 

Oh come on, I'm sure that while the screens are worse than how they use to be (I remind myself that Sony is trying to make their products more affordable) saying that the F-series had the worst monitor in the entire store is quite the exaggeration.

 

Okay I opened it and it is still charging. Regarding your battery concerns, I haven't seen any looseness in the battery. It fits in very nicely, in fact I faced just a slight bit of resistance while putting it in but that was most likely because when I handle new electronics I do so gently.

I shook the VAIO slightly from all directions and didn't hear any rattle or see any movement, so either some manufactured products have the issue or it is non-existent in the Y-series. I don't know, that is the problem with the internet. Some reported problems seem blown up or more frequent than they actually are.

When the battery is fully charged I'll turn on the notebook and check out the resolution.

I must say, I really love the slim design and weight, this notebook looks gorgeous. Makes my HP dv4t look gaudy.

 

Okay... well after turning on the VAIO and staring at the mostly black startup screen I can comment on the screen.

People were definitely right about contrast and vertical angles. Which is unfortunate, when comparing it to my dv4t it does seem worse.

But at the same time, I'm also a person who doesn't really notice these kind of things normally and I'm always sitting directly in front of my screen so... maybe I'm not the best person to give this sort of criticism.

I will say that horizontal view angles were just fine, maybe even better than my dv4t's.

 

No I am not exaggerating.

The screen on the Sony F11 is defective. Sony should recall this model.

Go into a Best Buy and look at it.
--

 

Still seems like an exaggeration to me, but I don't have the luxury of dropping by a Best Buy to prove my point.

 

I wonder if it is worth waiting for the Y refresh? If I wait I will probably get a better battery life and better graphics card, so it does sound worth while. I am sick of waiting though!

 

Definitely wait for the refresh, it is better in the end.

I only got this because of the sell and after playing with it a little longer I will decide whether to keep it (out of convenience) or return it within the 30 day period and wait for the refresh.

Either way, I'm keeping a Vaio Y but if the SU7300 fits my needs and performance I will be very happy that I got this notebook @ $664.

 

So when you are looking at it head-on, the screen is fine? Or is the bad viewing angles also present then? Please check out this test http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/viewing_angle.php The correct angle should be where the text is bearly visible, or little greenish. Very green, or red, means that the viewing angle is bad in that part.

 

Also I'm somewhat skeptic of DVD9s view of the display on the F11. The F Series is almost the best, certainly the newest model of Sony's Vaio's. I doubt that the screen is so terrible, that you would have called it the "worst monitor in the entire store". I mean look at it's benchmark at http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Sony-Vaio-VPC-F11Z1-E-Notebook.25324.0.html

 

Did not pass the lagom test, I could clearly see the text in the center, it wasn't red or green but more of a sickly yellow-green. However there was no visible opacity in the center for the text.

Guess you're going to have to move on to another model, this screen definitely isn't up to snuff.

 

Now playing with the Y-series a little more:
- Touchpad is very large and receptive, smooth and very frictionless. Only qualm I have with it is how there is no physical button to turn if off, that is just something I was use to w/ the HP since I use a USB mouse rather than the touch pad.

Also because of the size my left palm touches the touchpad, causing issues while typing. But that is probably an easy fix once I get into the synaptics settings and tell the touchpad to be unresponsive longer while I am typing.

- Buzzing noise, if you have watched the CW and F series threads, some users have reported hearing an odd buzzing noise. Some have said it is the CPU while others have said it is a problem with the mic, I don't know what exactly is the source for the Y-series or if this is prevalent with every model.

It is noticeable when you're alone and everything is dead quiet, it doesn't bother me too much but I can imagine that some would be frustrated by this. It is slightly louder than the hum you would hear from your notebook's hard drive spinning while idle. If I had my television on or was in lecture I doubt I would be able to notice the noise or bother my fellow classmates.

-Keyboard, this keyboard is just perfect honestly. Each key is of a good larges size and I rarely make any typos, this is coming from a previous owner of an HP who IMHO also has among the best keyboards.

- Fan, from normal browsing I have rarely ever heard the fan. Occasionally it might start but even then only for a couple seconds and it is very quiet, only noticeable because of how unexpected it was and I'm in a dead silent house.

 

Maybe try to disable the mic and sound card in the Device manager (and restart), after that check if the buzzing still persists. And maybe check if it buzzes in BIOS? That would rule out any driver conflict.

 

Thanks, I may try that.

Also I have to comment on the speakers, playing Burn Notice on Hulu went streamlessly but the speakers sound like they have some sort of filter over them.

It is as if the characters were talking from the other room and the same goes for sound effects and music. This is quite unfortunate and a major turnoff for me actually, I like to listen to my music and my dvr5 had Altec Lansing speakers. I realize the Y-series was never meant to be a multimedia notebook, but they could have included better. Hell, I never thought the dv4t's speakers were perfect but the clarity is way better.

Edit: After speaking with others and some consideration, while the Y-series speakers are still worse than my dv4t's Altec Lansing speakers I'm convinced that the quality of these speakers are pretty much standard and what is expected from notebooks. So I wouldn't count the Y-series speakers as being a negative against them, just a negative for me in comparison to the sound quality I was used to and enjoyed from my HP.

 

Where do you live?

If you live in North America go into a store that sells the F11 and look at the screen. It is truly horrible. Defective.

If you live in Europe then you can order it with an RGBLED screen that is excellent. In North America though both screens offered are crap. Read the reveiw on Best Buy from a customer who purchased the $1249- model with the 1600x900 screen. Same lousy washed out colors as the HD screen.

Sony should recall this model in North America.
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The refreshed version may have a backlit keyboard too. The sonystyle sight lists the "Y and Z" models as having backlit keyboards.

That could just be an error though. Perhaps it was supposed to say "F and Z".
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Then that would mean they are willing to make the Y-series CTO, which is nice. I don't need a backlit keyboard but those are always cool. Would drain battery life though...

 

How's the battery on the Y? LaptopMag said that it will last about 6h with 40% and WiFi, but HotHardware did their 'real world test' and they clocked just ~3h, which frankly upsets me.

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Sony-VAIO-Y-Series-Notebook-Review/?page=8

 

Esseti, are you in another country? You always post at odd times early in the morning.

I'll test out the battery life today and will tell you what happens through basic web browsing and productivity, since in the "real world" I don't think people would waste battery life by playing music or streaming videos.

 

I've been running it for over an hour so far (don't know if I will have the time to test the whole battery life) and I would have to say that site's "real world" software is bulll.

They really should stop being lazy and actually test the battery life and record what they have done. With the screen @ 40% brightness and from simply browsing the internet my battery life has reached around 80%.

So that is around 5 hours of battery life, really would like to have 6 minimum so we'll see. Still the other notebooks battery lives they rated also are inconsistent with what reviewers have stated. 4 hours with the Asus Ul80VT integrated graphics?

Edit: However do note that they had their screen @ 60% that does make quite the difference. I kept my screen at the default on battery setting. Also I haven't let my screen turn off as I've been active on it non-stop. Once again, note that I'm not listening to music or streaming video as I don't think that is what someone who wants long battery life would do while on the battery. I know for sure I wouldn't do it if I could help it.

 

Also if you're curious, I agree with everything else they mentioned in that review, about the design and the easy and convenience of start up. Having Google Chrome offered to me as a browser from the get go and the option to either accept the Norton Trial or not was nice. It wasn't a long hassle and they did a good job keeping bloatware to a minimum.

Unlike say, HP who has way too much bloatware. I'm getting more and more satisfied with my purchase the more I use my VAIO Y.

 

After three hours and with the battery at 50%, I think it is safe to say the battery life is more than 3 hours if you're reasonable and don't put the screen up to 60% like that site did.

With that said I'm putting my VAIO back on AC power, I don't want to drain the battery all the way.

 

You've posted this information about battery life synchronously with the guy from other forum where I've started vaio Y topic

He just said that battery life in vaio power saving mode was 6 hours 40 minutes. (from 100% to 5%)
LCD was at 30% most of the time. He had web browsing most of the time (wi-fi turned on), installed soft, updated & used messenger to chat.

 

quirki where is this other forum?

 

it's here: http://forum.ixbt.com/topic.cgi?id=17:38693
but it's in Russian.

 

Any new information on a possible refreshed "Y"? I sure would like to get one with a backlit keyboard and an iCore processor. Anybody know if they are clearing out the CULV's?

 

No new word, maybe they'll announce it at that tech even this week or some other time during March.

I really don't think they will offer backlit keyboards but who knows, I think backlit keyboards sort of defeat the purpose of a ULV notebook, conserving battery life.

 

If you guys missed out on that sale last time you have a second chance:
https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wc...0151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644693500

Once again Sony is offering the Y-series for $100 off and of course if you're a student you can click their Campus Store deals hyperlink and get it for an additional 5% off, thus dropping the price to $664.99.

 

Why would they refresh it, when it just came out? Plus even if, they plan to add Core i5-7UM processors, it won't be soon. Because I don't think that even Intel finished the work on them, not to mention that there isn't any laptop with this processor on the market.

 

yeah, i would say you are correct. But my guess would be around 2-3months from now, which would be inline with a refresh.

If you decide to wait, a word of warning is, you will wait forever (because there are so many constant refreshes). Get the Y now while it is on discount!

 

Mikazukinoyaiba:

Any luck trying to silence that buzzing sound you noticed?
About discoloration of trackpad buttons, did you noticed something?

One last question: I''ve seen a Y on a store and that top part of the display where the webcam sits seemed to be a little bent (noiced this when I closed the lid and at that the lid is very noticeably not close to the bottom part of the notebook).
Maybe it's because as it is on display people open a nd close the notebook carelessly.
Any issues regarding this?

Is the lid flush with the ~bottom part when you close it?



REgards


RM

 

I can't see them including premium features in a budget range, it would defeat the purpose of having more expensive models.

 

Mikazukinoyaiba could you give us some more feedback about using the laptop? Any particular thoughts on the display maybe?

 

If you would check Intel's website you would see that the status of the ULV Arrandale processors are "Released", so they are out and there is actually already one notebook from Asus that has the i7 ULV processor.

I haven't bothered, I actually learned to ignore the sound and I don't hear it anymore unless I bother to try to listen for it.

I haven't seen any discoloration.

Yes

 

I am goint to take the plunge!

I just ordered a vaio Y!

Hope I don't regret my decision. After reading lots of stuff, it appears that the new i5 ULV processors that could suit this notebook are delayed, and after all, it isn't much expectable to see dramatic improvements, so... I guess I made the right decision!

Anyway, what Asus model did you mention, Mikazukinoyaiba?