Official Vaio Y 13.3 Series Owners Lounge

The 18 watts combines the chipset. The 10 watts does not. All in all the last gen model consumes more watts on paper 22 watts as opposed to 18 watts.

zeth006 it is a shame that some reviewers didn't review the last gen model so we can make a comparison. Hopefully laptopmag will review the latest model. The PC Pro review though does seem to give the new model excellent battery life, far exceeding anything i've seen yet for the last gen model.

 

Exactly. Not too many people game on the go unless you count the occasional LAN party animal and those who can't afford a desktop and a laptop. Those who fall into the latter case are more understandable as it's not all too difficult to obtain a decent refurbished gaming notebook for $600-700. The only problem in such a value proposition is the grand total carrying weight of the notebook+power source is often 8 pounds or higher.

 

http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/vaio/pre_include/html/Y21/spec_vom1.html

Japan version is available with a i3/i5 UM or a Celeron U. Got my Y115 for $699, I want to sell it and get the refresh version when it becomes available.

 

Wow, serious?

I really hope heating isn't a real issue. I hear the processor's a bit buggy. It upclocks to max clock speeds when it shouldn't.

You should be able to sell your Y for a decent amount on eBay.

 

I live here in Canada and saw the Sony Y series in a Sony Lifestyle store and really liked it. I went home and checked the Sony.CA site and it wasn't even listed. So I went to the Sony.COM site and got the spec information there.

Soon after, it disappeared from the Sony.COM site and I found it was because it was already discontinued.

So yesterday it finally appeared on the Sony.CA site.

And this morning I went to the site and was reading the specs again and I refreshed the page without even leaving the site and it was already gone.

Found that somewhat amusing.

I'm going to get this one anyways. But when I told the salesperson about it being discontinued and asking if there was going to be a discount soon he said it probably won't happen for another few months. And then the discount would only be about $50.

Anyone know where I can get a Canadian discount on this machine.

I saw that there was only 1 Future Shop location here in the city that was selling it. But the price was the same.

Thanks.

 

Well, I've seen reviews where they give it a 10/10 for battery live and say it lasts for 8 hours & 39 minutes with the standard battery...

Source

 

I'm picking this one up. However, I hear it doesn't come with any CD's. What happens if I want to wipe out the hard drive and reinstall Windows 7. Or if I wipe out some of the bloatware and want it back later.

Thanks.

 

You can always install a bootable version of Win7 onto a USB flash drive. Check out the threads on how to do this.

 

Thanks Zeth. One more question.

I had a chance to play around with the resolution settings on the Y series at my local shop today. So I changed the setting to 1024x800 and the screen didn't stretch out like it normally does on my other machines. Instead I got these black bars on the side.

I only downgraded the resolution so as the text would be a bit bigger and easier to see. However, all that happened was the actual screen got cut off on the sides and the text didn't appear any bigger.

I currently have my monitor at 1920x1200 and when I changed it to 800x600 the screen still covered my entire monitor and the text looked alot bigger...albeit stretched.

Would appreciate any answers on this because I'm going to get it soon.

Thanks.

 

Wish I could help ya there. Anyone got the answer?

 

I wonder if there's a scaling option to stretch out the screen on lower resolutions. Can you see if you have the Graphics/Video Options when you right-click on your desktop.

 

On LCD, or fixed pixel displays in general, it is generally not useful to change the resolution setting in that way. The main thing it does is just to make text look very ugly.

Instead, if you are using windows 7: Right click on the background and choose "Personalize" then "Display" then adjust size to some number like 120%.

This increases the sizes of things and yet they still look good.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The right-click option and select Graphics Properties works to stretch out the screen (aspect ratio). And yes, everything looks out of proportion.

I'll use your method and change the DPI scaling instead.

 

Any news on availablilty of new models in other countries? Nothing on sonystyle.com yet.

 

Here you go...
Y Series : VAIO and Computing : Sony

 

That update wasn't there a couple of days ago!
However the personalization option is not working and no prices on any models:
"Sorry, price information for this product is not currently available."

 

From what I understood, the pricing starts around $50 more than the current Y-series.

 

Same page, they just put up:
£699.00 Incl Vat

Y Series : VAIO and Computing : Models : Sony

 

Damn.


Including VAT, how much was the pre-refresh version?

 

Does anyone know what the difference is between these 2 model numbers?
1.VPCY115FX
2.VPCY115FX/BI

I need to download some drivers. My computer on the bottome of the LCD panel says VPCY115FX but the box the computer came in says VPCY115FX/BI

Anyone can help me out here?

Thanks.

OK...never mind...called support and he said the /BI is the color (Black).

 

Blech. eBay has so many Dell Adamo Pearls going for roughly $900-1100 before Bing cashback. I might just settle for that if my Envy 14 purchase doesn't fall through as hoped.

 

I don't know but the German as well as the Greek sony store is selling the older model for € 799.00

German: Y Serie : VAIO & weitere Computerprodukte : Models : Sony
Furthermore they're giving away an external DVD writer.

In Italy its € 899,00 but it has windows pro and 3G

Sony what's up with that? The internet knows no borders!

 

Hey, could anybody tell me what the keyboard and trackpad are like on the Y series compared to the new S series that BestBuy is selling?

The BestBuy Sony has one of the nicer keyboards I've seen on a laptop (imo). Good tactile feel + nice spacing (horizontal and vertical!) I'm a bit neurotic and usually measure the space between the 'a' and 'enter' key and the spacebar and 't' and 'y' keys. Some companies scrunch the keyboards up vertically and it throws off the whole keyboarding experience for me, as I kind of have big hands.

Anyway... the trackpad on the S series at Best Buy is also really nice.

I wish there was somewhere I could see the Y, but if it's trackpad and keyboard are like the S, then I should be more than happy with it.

 

From what I understand, they have nearly identical chassis. So I would expect your experience on the S series will be the same as on the Y Series.

 

Engadget is reporting that the Y series is getting refreshed with i3/i5 ULVs:
Sony VAIO Y and Z Serie s morph into MiFis with Share My Connection -- Engadget

It would be awesome if true... Maybe they are referring to the U5400?

 

WOW! The Y is not just sold at Sonystyle anymore. I just saw it at TD.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6363224&CatId=4938

 

I wonder why that model is not on any Sony website yet, while it's available on that site. And by the looks of it, they have it available for shipping, weird...

 

Read back a few pages. There's an incoming refresh. Too bad I've lost interest.

 

Can someone tell me how to create the recovery disks for the Sony Y. I looked through the documentation and couldn't find how to get to that option.

Thanks.

 

I wonder should I get the Y to replace my SR.

 

Just a query
how much performance difference exists betwenn su7300 and the new u540 keeping all other specs of vaio same....

 

No benchmarks posted yet.

 

How is this new i3 processor vs the last one?

 

I'm curious what the overall computing experience is like with one of these Core 2 Duo ULV processors? I've never used one before, but I have an Asus eee that I use and the Atom is a bit underpowered for me.

I'd love the long battery life, but I'm wondering if the Core 2 Duo ULV is a big jump up from the Atom?

I'm also curious what the graphics are like on this thing? I'm not going to play games but I may want to watch a 1080p video encoded at around 10,000 kpbs. That's a higher bitrate than what you see on iTunes (though nothing compared to BLue Ray). You think it should play it without any issues? My Asus can't even begin to play it.

 

I have look at the info and I just wonder if the HDMI can do 1920x1200. Anyone knows?

 

Not sure about the Y, but my FW had problems with HDMI at 1920x1200. However, adding a DVI adapter and plugging into the monitor's DVI port fixed the problems.

 

So has anyone bought the refresh Y from TigerDirect yet?

 

Link please. Can't seem to find it.

 

I posted link few pages back. Here .. Sony VAIO VPCY216FX/B Laptop Computer - Intel Core i3-330UM 1.2GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD, 13.3 Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Black at TigerDirect.com

Go to bing store and you can get another 12% back.

Let us know if anyone bought it yet and give us some review on the new refresh. Can it do 1920x1200 and is the speaker louder? Is the webcam better than previous?

 

I'll take a look at it. Thanks.

 

I would definitely buy it if it was sold here in Portugal...

I have a (bad) feeling that most of the European countries will only sell the model with the U5400 or so it seems by looking at the various SonyStyle websites. None of them seem to reference any models with the i3/i5...

The only website that references such models is the SonyStyle for the US, although it doesn't specify the exact laptop model, it does mention an i5, not the U5400.

 

Sooner or later I think it will have the low watt i3.

 

I'm not sure, they usually don't have all the models here as in the US...

And it was just added (I have a Firefox extension checking daily for page updates) the Y21S1E (U5400) to the online store. I then manually checked the local stores where we normally go out to buy stuff like this and they also have it to pre-order (end of June they say).

This new model is selling for 799€ but they still have the previous model (Y11S1E, the 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo) on sale too and lowered the price to 699€.

The difference, 100€ (~ $125), leaves me undecided... Is there anything else that's better on the new model that makes it worth the $125 difference? I don't know... The U5400 maybe based on the i's technology, the 100MHz difference (1.2GHz U5400 vs 1.3GHz Core 2 Duo) might not be that big of a deal, so, I really don't know what to do. At least the Core 2 Duo has hyper-threading and stuff like VT-x.

But hey, if the newer model has more battery life, I'm all for it. The size, weight and battery are the top reasons for me to opt for the Y Series.

Anyway, I can wait to see if any more models are coming to my country. In the meantime, I've emailed tech support to see if they can let me know of anything...

 

I think the new models are going to have a multi-touch trackpad too, and some models will have the option for 3G as well as the ability to use the laptop as a portable hot spot for up to 5 devices (requires Verizon subscription I think).

I don't care for the 3G but the multi-touch track pad might be cool.

 

I might just end up with the Envy 14. I've decided with this update to give the Y another look.

 

Aren't the trackpads already multitouch?

 

As far as I know, they are...

 

It keeps getting better. Now can add turboboost, delicated graphic and even SSD.

I got lots of questions. I wonder if the SSD is standard.

 

A backlit keyboard would be nice, as long as we can turn it off when wanted/needed for battery sake.

 

Doubt it. The Vaio Z's SSD comes standard.


Kind of lame though. I was hoping the i5-520UM would be standard, but it's a $100 upgrade. At $869, it's right in the territory of refurbished Macs and right below a Macbook/Macbook Pro. Long as the turboboost function is infamously buggy and causes things to run hot, it's not so attractive.