Official Y series 11.6 Owners' Thread

the i3 is slight better then the e-350 cpu side, the amd instead is a lot better gpu side and leaves more memory free.

Both can handle any common task quite well for this a notebook of this class.

Just buy the one you can find at the lower price.

 

but i don't see any official 64-bit drivers for it.

 

There are no parts on that laptop that do not have 64drivers from the manuf. and sony's current programs are all 32/64bit (even if they don't say so).

 

Are most of the drivers are with AMD? We are looking to just upgrade the RAM to 4gb as that is plenty for her to work with.

 

sorry for the late reply. Yes, most of the drivers are avalible from AMD & realtek. The reality is, Windows Update should be able to get most of the drivers for you, once you are connected to the internet.

 

Ok..so I bought the Sony YB25 which has a E-350, 2Gb RAM ,Win7.
I updated the catalyst, ran Win update but dont know which driver package to download from AMD's site for the integrated chipset ( SATA, Chipset driver etc )

Can someone let me know?

 

IIRC, the CCC package will include the southbridge drivers, which is all you need.

 

^^ thanks Jeremy!

 

Hey guys. I have the YA2...with Intel Core i5 470UM and Windows 64 bit. Anyone else have this config? Looking to compare battery life! I get under 3 hours on powersave mode with the i5's turboobost feature disabled. I expected a lot more, especially considering I'm only web browsing with a bit of Office work...Any thoughts? I've got the 6 cell....thinking of picking up the 9 cell now though!

 

I picked up a YA15FG with the i3 ULV at Xmas abroad when it first came out with the small battery and it only lasted 3:30 on a light usage day with the screen at about half brightness. I was mightily disappointed, though it was a bit of an impulse buy with no research so I can't really complain. I looked at an extended battery but I don't like the way it almost doubles the height of machine rather than the more usual way of extending out the back, not to mention my laptop bag wouldn't fit anymore!

I'd say the only things to do are to disable all that you can, hardware and software, drop the brightness, and play with the battery settings, but I wouldn't expect a radical increase in life I'm afraid. PS. Adding an OCZ Vertex 2E dropped the life closer to 3hours as well, but other SSDs may be more efficient.

 

A vertex 2E should increase battery life (it did, marginally, for my Sony SC). Do you have the latest OCZ firmware installed, along with the latest AMD AHCI drivers?

 

I was convinced I had the 6-cell...but a double check showed me I actually have the 3-cell! No wonder my battery life hovers around the three hour mark...now I have the choice to buy the 9-cell and have the extra size or the 6-cell and add nothing in terms of bulk! Hmmm....

 

** I've read through the responses in this thread, and I've already derived a clearer picture. Still, if anybody has some interesting information to add on, it would be most appreciated. Thanks. **

Hi guys, I would appreciate if I could get some help with regards to the VAIO Y.

I'm planning to get this laptop as a birthday present for my girlfriend. However, I am deciding between the YA and YB. I've read a lot of reviews about the 2, and it is obvious the YA has better application performance.

However, I'm just curious about normal usage. My girlfriend basically does a lot of surfing (Facebook, mostly) and video/movie streaming. Will the YB be suffice for all of that? I'm hoping so.

Thanks in advance!

 

both will meet her demands. but i think the YB will perform a little better in the fps department. there is a drop in fps when i do a start+tab on my YA. i suspect this is one of the limitations of its igp. movies, youtube etc have no problems on mine.

a little update to my situation if anyone is interested. the part number i used previously is for the trackpad cable only. i've been told that the trackpad cover is part of the palm rest and this applies to most vaio models. i ended up taking it to the local sony repair centre and i will be footing the whole bill (not surprised). expected cost is around 270 bucks lol. cynically speaking, this laptop has burned my wallet twice. first from the dodgy seller i bought this off, and second from the crappy business model used by sony australia. no one from sony or the affiliates were able to help me track an exact part number for this trackpad. hell, even supposedly dedicated laptop repairers weren't able to provide a little guidance. i was only given the information after i took my laptop to the repair centre and paying the mandatory $99 service fee. this experience goes in line with that big rant another user here has written about sony australia.

 

Thanks for the help, Zantac. I decided to get a YB today, seeing as it was pretty decent with applications. Managed to get a 4 GB RAM upgrade, an 11" Sony sleeve and a 12-in-1 laptop kit. None too shabby, I suppose.

 

Just downloaded a pdf catalogue from the Sony India website.
They only mention the VPCYA17GG/B with the Intel Processor.
There is no mention of the AMD variants.
Are they being discontinued? Maybe only in India?

http://www.sony.co.in/product/resources/en_IN/pdf/VAIO/VAIO-catalogue-2011.pdf

 

the YB is listed in the sony india Y series page. it's also the only country (i think) that sells the YB in black. if anything, i think the YA is discontinued. they are quite hard to find brand new, in australia anyway.

 

The UK has just launched the YB, but no sign of the YA over here...

Tarantula - the YB was the better choice IMHO, as the Fusion platform is better than the first generation Core-i in the YA (unless YA got a Sandy Bridge refresh I missed?) and for her tasks the added oomph of the GPU on the die will be much better with AMD's new "Heterogeneous" processing ideas. It'll certainly be better for video streaming and handling the rich internet experience that the new age of webdev seems to try to inflict on us, and superior battery life too.

Jeremyshaw - got the newest OCZ firmware, but not upgraded the Intel AHCI drivers (I've got the YA). I'll have a hack at it when I have a moment and see if I can stretch it out. Thanks!

 

Yup, I very much think so too. In the end, I went with the YB based on the very same thoughts. My fiance is a very light internet user who spends most of her time surfing Facebook, Wikipedia and some internet forums - nothing too demanding. However, she watches a lot of movies, including HD/FHD/streaming versions. As such, the Radeon GPU in the YB is most definitely required as opposed to the weak Intel GPU. All other sites have corroborated that opinion, and I'm glad I made the right choice.

Ultimately, the only thing I really like about the YA over the YB is the color scheme. I'm loving that all black design.

Btw, are you a Y user yourself?

 

Yep - picked up a YA15 with the first generation Core-i3 CPU back at the turn of the year. I was abroad, saw it going at a great price, and made an impulse buy. It comes in the dark, dark grey, but the colour of the left mouse button has degraded to black already. I use it for work and it doesn't disappoint, with a RAM and SSD upgrade it is amazingly fast, probably a better choice personally than the AMD as I use it for CPU intensive tasks, notwithstanding that the AMD one hadn't been released when I got it!

 

Well, it seems the YA has been slowly phased out in favor of the YB. Most of the stores around here have already depleted their stock of the former. It's a shame, as I'm thinking of getting the dark gray one for myself.

I managed to get a free RAM upgrade to 4 GB at the point of purchase, which was a pretty nice touch.

 

can someone point me to a video or step-by-step guide to replacing the HDD on the Sony Vaio YB to a SSD ?

I have a Transcend 32GB MLC SSD that i would like to plonk in this baby!

 

Hi buxx, I did it on a YA but from my quick look at the machine last night in a shop, it should be the same...

First things first, decide what you are going to do for the new drive - are you going to clone the existing one or do a fresh install? For a fresh install, you just follow the steps that you would normally do using an external optical drive or USB drive, but remember to set the BIOS to load from the device first rather than the internal drive.

To clone the existing drive, download cloning software such as Acronis True Image (which many folk here use), or Paragon Backup & Restore, or sometimes the manufacturers of the drives have their own, but they have a habit of working only on their own kit. Also create the external recovery software on a USB key or CD, and set the BIOS to boot from USB or external optical drive. It's best to remove as much data as possible from the hard drive to minimise the size of the image, and you will have to shrink the partition you are cloning to 32GB to fit on that SSD, which will mean defragging Windows, and also removing the pagefile, caches, etc as Windows has a habit of putting those towards the end of a partition.

To physically replace the drive, unscrew the back panel (the screws are retained in the panel so do not come out of the plastic panel), and you have to squeeze the edges inwards to get the clips to disengage. The drive bay is right in the middle and has 2 screws holding it in place, with 4 screws holding the brackets on the drive as well. Put the SSD in (I leave the panel off until the reimaging has finished) and then boot with the recovery software, and restore the image as per the on screen instructions. If you're happy with it, put the panel back on, carefully pushing the clips in and job's a good 'un!

Hope that covers it well enough - just holler if you need more detailed instructions.

 

Well the biggest advantage I see between the two is the battery life, which is crucial for an ultraportable - I've got the 41,040 mWh one, but the larger battery sticks out vertically which removes the "thin" part of the "thin'n'light" description!

If you are lucky, you might find the plastics on sale online, but I think the YA was such a brief model, and especially since any owners must still be in their first year of warranty, that is unlikely I'm afraid!

 

Hello. I plan on buying a VPC-YB1S1E/S soon but I'm a computer noob and I've got some questions, any piece of information would be greatly appreciated!
I'd like to do a fresh install of Windows 7. Is the operations order good or did I miss something?


1. Download a .iso of Windows 7 (the same version as the one pre-installed on the VAIO) from digitalrivercontent and use “ Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool” to create a bootable USB key [But someone on this thread said you can't boot from a USB Key with this VAIO, only USB disk drives work, is it true?]
2. Replace HDD by a SSD, add 2 GB of RAM
3. Access BIOS using the F2 key, change boot order, boot from USB, install W7 [Is the activation key written somewhere on the computer or do I need to call Microsoft?]


4. Should I install the drivers in a specific order?

(“Pre-installed” section of YB1S1E on Sony support website)
• Graphics Driver – AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics ✔
• SATA Driver Non-Raid – AMD SATA Controller ✔
• Touchpad Driver – Synaptics PS/2 Port ✔
• Chipset Driver – AMD USB Filter (Chipset) ✔
• Memory Stick Driver – Realtek USB 2.0 Card Reader ✔
• Audio Driver – Realtek High Definition Audio ✔
• Ethernet Driver – Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller ✔
• Bluetooth Driver – Broadcom Siennatooth Driver ✔
• Wireless LAN Driver – Atheros AR9285 ✔


5. What are these ones? I am FORCED to install them or can I not install them (I don't want to install useless Sony utilities)?

• Sony Notebook Utilities – Battery Checker, Setting Utility Series, VAIO Control Center, VAIO Event Service
• SFEP Driver – Sony Firmware Extension Parser Device
• Sony Shared Library

(“Updates” section of YB1S1E on Sony support website)
• Media Gallery
300 MB! sounds useless… but the description says “What does it fix? – VAIO Care cannot run if VAIO Media is uninstalled.” so I'm a bit lost.
• PMB VAIO Edition Plug-in & PMB VAIO Edition Guide Update
“is a software suite which enables you to browse and manipulate videos” I don't need that ✘
• Remote Keyboard & TrackID
“allows to input text to BRAVIA, Blu-ray Disc Player, PlayStation 3 system or other compatible Sony devices using your VAIO keyboard” ✘
• VAIO Care
“VAIO Care is an application which helps you maintain, diagnose and troubleshoot your VAIO.” (?)
• VAIO Content Metadata Intelligent Analyzing Manager
“This is a software library, which assists VAIO Content Importer / Exporter in analysing and working with media content.” (???)
• VAIO Gate
“This is the preinstalled launcher bar at the top of the display.” (?)
• VAIO User Guide Update (?)


Thanks in advance.

 

i did a fresh install using a bootable usb key. just make sure you format the stick as a bootable device and you're set. the product key is on a windows sticker at the back of the laptop. keep in mind it's a windows 7 home product key.

drivers, i didn't need to dl any. the video drivers are probably the only ones you would need to dl (to get the latest version). also with the AMD being new and all, you probably would need to dl the drivers that are associated with the chipset.

i didn't install any vaio software. i don't need them. installing the utilities would be beneficial if you want an accurate battery meter and working FN keys (which i think are part of the utilities software).

 

how did you get a Windows 7 Installation ISO/disk? came with your Vaio? And was it SP1 ?

 

what happened ??

^^ is the above Q so disgusting that people have stopped talking on this thread?

Post away people !

 

Yes... it was horrifying I couldn't stop thinking about it



Anyhow, just get your own install disc. Since you have an official microsoft lic (it came, OEM, with your computer), just get the appropriate disc (32/64bit does not matter to lic, just see which one your prefer), after googling "legal windows 7 download links NBR," and you'll find links MS provides to legal Win7 owners that weren't provided the CD. Not only that, you can choose to have the downloaded setup work on an USB flash drive, instead, saving a bit of install time...

 

if anyone is interested, i eventually got my little touch pad problem fixed. when i took it into the service centre, i specifically asked for the original broken part back. they even said that was standard procedure. a few days later i go back to collect my repaired vaio and they told me they threw away the old part to the junk bin. i suspect the $260 job was a quick fix with the good ole trusty glue. love this laptop.

also the trackpad cover is part of the palm rest assembly.

 

Ouch! That's a lot!! But yeah, if it's fixed and the wee beauty is usable again, it's well worth it. Interesting that the pad forms part of the handrest - next time I open mine up for a clean I'll have a good look at it.

 

Be thankful that there is a Y 11.6 thread at least... I have no one to chat to about my lovely little Vaio TR5, the grand daddy of all the ultraportable Vaios!!!

 

Been watching this model for a while to replace my Sony Netbook (C Series).
New processor & slight upgrades to the model (not exactly sure what tho from the Sony page).
We'll see, should be here in a few days

 

Which one did you go for? The Intel or AMD version? From the general range of machines available under the CW brand, I would guess that the performance would be about the same, but the portability of the machine will be much better. Good luck and enjoy using your new bit of shiny!

 

ok.. so the YB25 got a bios update. flashed it. no problems seen yet.

does anyone know what are the release notes? what does the BIOS update fix?

 

OK quick update on the new YB33 with AMD processor:
1. Loaded it with 64 bit Win 7 HP
2. Upgraded RAM to 6GB (overkill but the 4GB stick was a better price than the 2GB (sale)
3. Intell 320 series 120GB SSD
4. This is what a small travel laptop should be - quick, snappy and light enough to do what I need without lugging around my desktop replacement. Better than what it replaced (Sony Netbook - altho nice the Atom was just too slow to do what I needed.)
5. Let me know if questions.

 

Hi all,
I just became an owner of a Sony_Vaio_VPCYB3V1E and I have a problem that I can't solve. After inserting the battery I'm not able to find the menu where one can set the charge level,..etc... There is no "Battery" option in the Vaio_Control_center ->Power Management section. .
Any ideas?

 

Did not see one either (Battery care options) on my new YB33 either - basically it just charges to 100%. Normally I use Sony's program to charge to 80%, but that is not available. The version of Vaio Control Center on this model is very basic.

 

It is not up to Vaio Control Center, obviously this option is not activated.
Are there any other solutions?

I kind of expected this:


... and what I have is :

 

i just bought vaio vpcyb15ag, it came with windows 7 starter 32 bit n 2 GB DDR3... AFAIK this laptop can hold up to 4GB DDR3, but the problem is i look everywhere on sony pages (in my case it'd be asia region) there's no driver for 64 bit... any news about 64 bit drivers?

thx

 

Well you can still install 4GB on a 32Bit, thus winning 1,5 GB (as only 3,5 will be usable), but you will have to upgrade to at least Home Premium, as Starter is limited to 2GB RAM only.

 

Put 64bit HP on my YB33, used all the 32 bit drivers from the Sony download page and it works fine. (have the original 2GB stick and a 4 GB stick in mine).
My model page said max RAM was 4 GB, but the 6GB registers and functions.

 

Hi,
I'm experiencing an issue - my display flickers quite visibly. I've noticed it started last week, first when not using the laptop for a while ( ~ 15mins), then it started to appear while using my laptop and I'm still not able to find any solution. It is 3 weeks old laptop and this is really annoying.
Does anyone have the same problem? Help please!!!

 

Install anything recently, update drivers, checked for malware? The new version also has a new BIOS update on the support page.
Anything for info on the action center?

 

It would be helpful to know if it flickers all the time or if anything makes it go away!? Based on you description it started 3 weeks ago and never stopped flickering, is that right? Describe the flickering too. Does the whole screen flicker or any particular part of it only and which? How intense?

All those are answers you need to submit in order to get help...

 

Hi,
no there is nothing recently installed. I'm using the last BIOS update from the support page.
I installed it when I installed my pc 3 weeks ago and this problem started last week.
I quess it is some driver or a hardware problem but I'm not able to solve it, I have no clue at all...

 

Hmm, it flickers spontaneously, I mean not all the time. When I see it and restart the laptop and then it is working normally till the next flicker time
It is not the whole screen, it is mainly the top of the screen and some part in the middle on the right side. At least this is what I notice.
"How intense?" -> Well it is hard to say.
Since yesterday I got the problem twice, but the day before all was ok. As I said it started last week on Wednesday, as I remember. There is no specific program that I'm using. Normally browsing . But this morning there was notnihg running , my laptop was on the whole night and when I opened it in the morning I noticed that it was flickering.

 

Hi again,
can someone tell me which is the correct video driver [AMD Radeon HD6320] needed from the sony website?
VAIO : Sony Europe
Thanks in advance.

 

vaiolina: i think you have an lcd problem. it must be one of the backlights
have it checked at the service center

 

@Vaiolina:

that flickering was a known issue with an older Fusion driver..

Try updating to the latest one and if that does not work, try using "performance" mode & check if that flickering still occurs.