Official Vaio Y 13.3 Series Owners Lounge

I didn't consider the edge, but that is because I don't like Lenovo's keyboard and touchpad design.

 

I still have the Edge as a close runner-up to the Y. The only reasons were the businessy design as well as the Y's keyboard and nicer aesthetics. Both are very close competitors.

Note once again these are just minor differences.


Lenovo has done a great job of maintaining the build quality reputation of its thinkpad trademark's previous owner and moving beyond into the oh-so new territory of design & aesthetics emphasis recently. In this day and age of marketers and engineers finding new ways for us to become attached to our gizmos and gadgets, it was about time Lenovo began concentrating on aesthetics instead of simply catering to the static business market. Same with Dell. The days of making reliable yet heavy, plain-looking black bricks are over.

 

I was actually comparing these models:
Sony Y
Thinkpad Edge
Asus UL30VT-A1
Dell Inspiron 13z
Sony S (Considered)

Overall I picked based on price. The Sony Y was cheapest in NZ by a decent margin and I realised I didn't really need the discrete graphics of the Asus as I game on my desktop.

If the Thinkpad Edge was a decent price cheaper than the Sony then I might have bit on that instead. However if they were a similar price I'd probably still go for the Sony Y since I like the design plus I'd like expresscard so I can use my eSATA card.

 

im almost willing to take the plunge given most people think arrandale wont give any significant performance boost.

Anyone can comment on playing games with this beast? Looking to play warcraft 3 and hopefully starcraft 2

 

Short answer: I don't recommend it.

Long answer:

The intel integrated graphics and the SU7300 processor are good for basic applications like web-surfing, watching movies at lower resolutions, and typing papers. It was build for road warriors and students needing a light, portable notebook. If you're looking for a gamer's rig, I'd suggest you submit a "What Notebook Should I Buy" posting and be prepared to buy a notebook weighing 6 pounds or in the case of my G50VT-X5, 8 pounds. This is probably one of the worst notebooks for gaming on SC2.


Realistically speaking if you want to get the best gaming experience, you're better off jumping in on a $100 20" monitor deal and paying $700 for a decent desktop rig. Most gaming laptops if played on actively don't last for more than 2 years, 3 if lucky. But that's just my opinion.


I've been told by others that StarCraft 2 will run best on a decent graphics card and as obvious as this may sound, an i7. RTS games tend to eat up CPU resources as a result of all these units constantly moving around on the map. The CPU is what crunches up all the numbers and calculations. While it IS true Blizzard designed SC2 to run on lower-end machines, you will NOT have a great experience playing on a notebook that was designed to consume very little power.



I don't meant to burst your bubble, but the Sony Y is more like an upscale netbook with better aesthetics, a much much better keyboard, a thin design that doesn't compromise on build construction, and higher reliability as is seen from Squaretrade's 2009 reliability report projections.



So in conclusion: You're better off looking elsewhere for a gaming notebook. Even though SC2 was meant to be able to run on a good ole' ATI 9800 Pro desktop card, you're not going to have a great time gaming on this baby. There are still plenty of Asus notebooks out there for below $800 that are heavier but churn out a LOT of CPU and graphics processing power. I would know because I paid $610 on fleabay for my G50VT-X5 and spent many joyous days playing Left 4 Dead 2, Starcraft, Dragon Age, and Guild Wars with my buddies. Though as I head off to school and bid a sad farewell to many of my gaming buddies who've either gotten girlfriends, have gone to grad school, or are working, those days are numbered. But I digress. My G50VT is a brick, but a very beautiful and solidly designed brick. But it's not designed for mobility which is why I may buy the Sony Y if/when it goes on sale again for $100 off.

Remember, people who buy this laptop don't buy it for high performance.

 

yeah i see what you mean.

Im only playing warcraft atm which runs fine on my sony sz15 on integrated mode. No loss if i cant play sc2 since i have less and less time to game these days. Im more after the portableness with a side game here and there.

 

Well you probably could play SC2 on it. But once again, for an $800 ultraportable, you'd be miserable. Heck, I would be! Take this from a guy who used to play SC on dial-up on his Pentium III! Even when my ping was showing 2-3 green bars, the low video memory, the pathetically miniscule 64mb of memory, and the 800mhz just couldn't chug smoothly through StarCraft after 15 minutes when the map would start filling up with units! Oh, the days of raging as I watched my cursor skip instead of sliding across the screen when I needed to build more pylons!


Ultimately it's your choice. But as a soon-to-be former gamer, I'm just trying to give my wisdom.

 

It runs warcraft 3 fine. I couldn't actually find a comprehensive answer anywhere whether intel X4500MHD could run dota at native res, max settings with good framerates. I can confirm it does.

I figured I'd like my laptop to at least play dota sometimes, as the only other game I play is MW2 on my desktop and a UL30VT-A1 wouldn't be enough to run that on max settings anyway.

 

ah cool...

now just need to decide whether i can hack taking the nonglobal warranty since ill be importing the US model

 

Will the SU7300 processor and graphics card in the Y series handle 1080 video playback? That is my only reservation at the moment. Otherwise, I will primarily use the laptop for office multi-tasking, i-tunes, digsby, quicken, etc...

Thanks.

 

Yes, the Y-series can handle 1080P videoplayback.

 

Do you know how difficult it is to upgrade this computer to the full 8gb of ram and possible a 1T hard drive?

I've heard that the sony vaio's are harder to uprgrade and I would like to know before I make the purchase.

 

Err. You can't upgrade to 1TB as there isn't a 1TB laptop drive as yet (coming soon I know) and the one that is coming soon, is bigger then standard. 640GB will be the biggest you could upgrade to in the near future. I don't know if that particular motherboard supports 8GB of ram....

 

With DDR3/DDR2 DIMM prices as they are now, I wouldn't count on upgrading anytime soon. I'd ask their CSR if it's possible to upgrade to 8gb and read the service manual if there is one.

 

If you're into the extended warranty thing, Tiger Direct has a great price on a Sony depot plan (not onsite service, and does not cover accidental damage).

I just got a Sony Y and was debating on the extended warranty. A 3 year plan was $299, almost half the price of the laptop. After searching on the part number, I found "Sony VAIO PCGA2SYLPE 2YR Extended Depot Warranty" from Tiger Direct, for $49. Note that the description says 2-year, but the part number indicates a 3-year. I figured it was worth a $49 gamble, and bought it.

Worked out well -- Tiger Direct shipped me the paperwork for a Sony 3 year depot warranty. I did have some problems registering the service plan -- I got an error when I tried online, so I had to call it in, and then fax in my laptop and service plan receipts. I think the problem was that they expected people to buy both laptop and service plan from the same vendor. But, I just got a call confirming that my warranty begins on date of my laptop purchase and will run for 3 years.

BTW, my battery is slightly loose, if you tap on the bottom. Aside from that, it's perfect. Great keyboard, nice and light. No problems with fingerprints (my objection to the Thinkpad Edge). I'm a fairly light user, so I can't speak to how powerful this laptop is/is not.

 

That cursed battery issue has been mentioned many a time on NBR and it's one that I'm hoping and praying I won't get when it comes time to buy. But it won't be a decisive factor seeing as I plan to remove the battery and attach it only when I need it. I don't plan to run the laptop on battery power as the libraries I plan to study at have plenty of desks and outlets.


But $49 for a 2-year extension through Sony Depot? That's a steal even compared to SQ! If you don't mind, could you give us more details on how service is provided? Is the information kept online, and are you required to retain all paper records of your purchase? Is accidental coverage provided for a few more clams? I've always been terrible at keeping my paper records stashed away neatly. I'll be spending my free time tonight looking into it.

 

Tiger Direct (and other vendors) are reselling Sony warranties. They ship you an official Sony Extended Service Plan card, with a contract/serial number (and they'll charge you shipping on it too, if that's all you're buying. I also got an external DVD drive, so I got free shipping). You then register it with www.sony.com/ESPreg, and from then on, you are only dealing with Sony (or whoever they've contracted out to handle their support plans). Sony suggests you keep the invoices for your laptop and service plan forever, just in case.

I couldn't find anything as good for accidental damage plans (none on Tiger Direct, I know I saw them at other sites but I can't recall pricing), but you may have better luck searching than I did!

 

To any Vaio Y owners out there, are there any manuals or blogs out there detailing how to open the notebook up to upgrade the hard drive? I'd like to be able to entertain the possibility of upgrading the Y with a SSD sometime later on down the road. Unfortunately I couldn't find the manual if there is one on Sony's website.

Some dude from the Philippines said he was able to do it. I posted in his comments section in his youtube video review of the Y asking how he installed it.


Also I've been looking up other notebooks on my free time as potential alternatives. I briefly entertained the HP DM3t and the Dell V13. The HP DM3t according to one review that compared it against the Sony Y and an Acer Timeline has one of the best keyboards out there. But the touchpad is the worst. It's glossy, attracts fingerprints and it's extremely insensitive and clumsy to use. Slash that off the list.

The V13 is somewhat of an attractive alternative. It's got a cheap starting price and is extremely pretty and thin. The major downside is it comes with only 1 DIMM slot, meaning that if you want to bump up from Dell's standard 2gb of RAM, you have to pony up an extra $175 more to get 4gb. Unless RAM prices drop dramatically sometime in the 2nd half of 2010, I don't see myself jumping on the V13 as the Sony Y with the student discount is almost $100 less than the V13 with the 4gb upgrade. Last I checked, chip prices are at a high.


The UL30VT-A1 is also something to look at. Switchable graphics with the SU7300.

 

Right, sorry I just misread the specs on sony, and the 4 gb is the max ram. About how much are new hard drives? I want to know if it's better to buy the Y series with the 320 in it and then upgrade in a little while when the 640 comes. Thanks!

 

Sony's manuals don't tell you how to open their notebooks, from what I've seen.

 

Thanks for the confirmation!

Here's a copy/paste of the reply I got:

Call me excessive. But if the SSD is responsible for upping performance in many non-gaming categories, I'm in! I get easily pissy when it takes more than a second or two to open up applications and when load times get bogged down by moderate to heavy multi-tasking.

 

Well I ordered my Y series today. I guess I'm only a little confused because on sony's website it tells you that the max ram is 4gb but on the ordering screen it says that it is 8. hmm.

And one question, do you guys recommend upgrading to an SSD? if so, what kind?

 

I'm no expert on that topic.


Your best bet is to ask around the appropriate section in NBR and to look around threads on slickdeals.net. Seems like everyday a SSD deal pops up!

 

Sony only offers the Y-series with 4GB of RAM on their site, but the processor and motherboard I assume can support 2x4GB sticks of RAM.

Not that I think you would ever need to upgrade your RAM due to the kind of tasks the Y-series is meant to handle.

An SSD however is a very good upgrade, especially for those traveling frequently. I'm keeping the standard 320GB harddrive since I could use the space.

 

I ended up replacing the Win7 Home Premium x64 with Pro x64 and it's been a smooth installation so far.

Just installed some Sony apps so that the Fn keys would work properly and using the battery care function to keep max charge level at 80%.

 

Has anyone put a SSD in the Y yet? Is it a standard 2.5" drive?

 

Ask this guy here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUZmRHT7jMc&playnext_from=TL&videos=K8F6x11B-jM

 

I have put an Intel G2 80 GB SSD 2.5. It was very easy. And my system works much faster. Went from 60 second boot to 30 second boot.

 

Sweet. Our usernames are straight lines!

 

Thanks. I will consider the Y when the price come down a bit. Stop buying it and it will come down.

 

It's all about timing, friend. They've discounted by $100 twice in the past. I won't be surprised one bit if they discount it once again within the next 3 months. Plus let's not forget the shipments of ULV i5 notebooks. If Intel solves the CPU shipment shortage problem, Sony and Lenovo will be under pressure either to refresh their lines, or offer a discount to customers using technology that's already outdated.

 

Is anyone using a Zeroshock case with their Y? I'm thinking of getting one but thought I'd get some opinions on the fit first.

 

Never heard of it, looking into it.

 

Got my Y series yesterday. So far it's awesome! It's about the same size as a macbook, runs like a champ, and works programs like Photoshop and some AutoCAD without bogging down!

 

I read a review today and under normal condition, the most you get is 3 hrs out of it. That is no ULV at all.

 

Well with the MBP refresh, is Sony doing anything to refresh the Sony Y? I'd gladly pay $900 if they would add the same i5 processors and nvidia optimus graphics.

 

Hey all,

Sorry for not perusing through the owner's lounge before posting this, but I bought a Y-Series about a month ago. Haven't had a chance to really use it much yet... all I did was go through the initial setup and Office 2007 activation, and that's about it.

I hope to spend some more time on it this week. Was planning to run PC Decrapifier before anything else. Are there any useless or annoying apps on the Y-Series that I should go ahead and uninstall? I didn't enable the Norton Security Suite because I plan to uninstall it and install Avast's free anti-virus software. Unfortunately I do not have a fresh copy of Windows 7 to install on my Y-Series, so I'll have to work with the OS that comes pre-installed on it.

Any other tips or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

Can anyone point me to finding the directions on removing the Keyboard on the Y series, searched the forum and googled but found nothing.

 

Well. My MBP 13's seen its 3rd day. Really happy with it. Still getting used to the touchpad and the different interface, but a I've always thought, the build construction, key board, and the touchpad are top-notch.


If Sony had offered the $100 discount, I would've seriously considered it.

 

If you run across any instructions somewhere, please post them here. I'm sort of assuming that you'd simply remove the screws from the bottom and pry the case apart, but it's be nice for someone else to demo this before I tear mine apart. I've got an Intel 5300 card I'd like to swap in.

 

Has Sony added a backlit keyboard to the Y ?

 

I guess not!

 

Any luck in getting rid of that nasty buzz? Looks like it's present in every Vaio Y...

I know one solution - if you turn on bluetooth, go to device Manager, bluetooth properties, unmark power saving and apply - it stops! But after you reboot you have to go there again, mark it, apply, wait for some time, then unmark and apply.

Anybody knows a better fix?

 

So this buzz is on every Y ?

I wonder if it sound like those buzz coming from some LCD monitor.

 

It's coming from my Y too, seems to be near the right palm rest.

 

Maybe the HDD? Just my theory. I hear that the Vostro V13 has a vibrating feel on the palmrest until you install a SSD which gets rid of it completely.

 

It seems to be coming from the right hand side near the power supply area. Am I talking about the same buzz as everybody else? like a sizzling buzz? I can't hear it unless I am sitting in a very quiet setting. It is kind of bothering me that now I know it's there...

 

I will not get the Y until this is fix.

 

I wanted to buy a Y but the Sony website says not available. Is this one getting replaced? Is there a link to the replacement?

 

That would certainly be interesting.