Official Y series 11.6 Owners' Thread

Hi BUXX,

which is the older Fusion driver and which is the last one?
Thanks in advance.

 

Appears this model has disappeared from the main Sony page. (even after their recent upgrade of the CPU in the last few months). Not sure if for another upgrade or if this is the end of the model.

 

Hmm interesting, I was hoping Sony would update the Y with a new chassis design, more along the lines of the S series or something similar.

Perhaps a new model will be shown at CES?

 

The current Y does have the S design and this is what makes it still great
And if you are talking about the mediocre new SA/SB/SC/SD design - I so hope they don't do that. I hate it - ugly and impractical.

 

I see it is still available in Germany http://www.sony.de/product/vn-y-series
Unfortunately there are no new sw updates available

 

I never liked the old S design, made the laptops rather thick and ungainly. the design on the new S is much better, I was against it at the start as well but have warmed to the design and it is very sony.

 

A matter of taste I guess It looks flat and mediocre to me and is everything else but not sony-like. First time a saw it I thought that's a Toshiba. Not to mention all ports being on one side - hilarious and useless and heat dissipation hitting the screen - reading about the result of that in every SA/SB/SC/SD thread.
But as I said - a matter of taste. I personally find it a joke and love the old design with the cylindrical hinges, power button on the side (Vaio's signature!), heat vents on the left where it is supposed to be and so on.

Vaiolina, what do you think as a new owner of the Y? Would you have rather had the new (SA/SB/SC/SD) design or...?

 

Hm here I have to agree with Gracy123, I also prefer the old design. That is the reason why I bought my YB. Not that I don't like the new design, it is ok and still business, but a bit too edgy and with all the ports from the right side only doesn't convince me to prefer it.

 

Well as an additional new owner (Sept) of the Y, it's a nice little laptop - netbook size, but NOT netbook power. The CPU/GPU combo on here from AMD has sufficient power in a small form factor to actually do some work with.
Overall - well satisfied with the new lappy - just hoping it was not the last of its kind...

 

I completely agree with you. I also have it as a second laptop, but I'm kind of using it as a main one. So far so good, except the flickering problem I've mentioned in some other posts. I resolved the problem for now, but will see how long will this last. I'm also pretty happy with the battery, more than 5h - browsing, emails, download, youtube...
I hope that they will update any drivers on the Sony website.

 

Sony is not known for quick updates to drivers.
Will test my battery capability on a trip shortly - I upgraded RAM to 6GB and threw in a SSD - this thing works faster and better than our work computers.
If keeps flickering - I'd have Sony look at it while still have your warranty.

 

It isn't listed in the UK Sony Style website, but in the sony.co.uk website it's there:

Y Series : VAIO & computing : Sony

Though that might be because this is what is available in the stores or something? I don't know... crazy Sony corporate stuff going on!!

 

So far , I've just disabled the option "turn off display" and there is no flickering since then.

 

Well with wifi off and screen dimmed a bit, the battery lasted about 4 hours without much trouble - mostly was using MS Office and doing some typing on work while waiting / traveling. (I have upgraded to 6GB RAM, 64 bit OS and an Intel SSD)
Overall very pleased with the performance of this little laptop - quite impressed with the AMD CPU/GPU combination. Much snappier than a netbook, but just as portable to carry around.

 

Ahhhhhh that's a bit disappointing... I heard that the YB could last 4-5 hours, which may have been Sony propaganda to be fair. I have the YA and it lasts 3.5 hours which isn't far off the time you get. Though I did read an in-depth article that showed that AMD's Fusion platform draws more power than Sandy Bridge and Arrandale so I should not be that surprised.

Still, it is a great little machine!

 

... Flickering it started when Linux OS gone to sleep, after the first reset the flick was almost invisible. I was so scary becouse this flickering was and in the BIOS. After awhile i forgot about (no flick) and now you remember me about this, but it was repaired automaticly. Hope and Your.

Merry Chrismas

 

hey guys ive gone through these pages and it seems like

1. the fan is really loud. is there any fan control out there or a way to have it spin slower?

2. seems like it can handle 6gb ram even though it says only 4gb? id like to upgrade to 6 and get the most out of it

3. it can work 64 bit windows os with the 32bit drivers on the website? can the owners confirm? thanks

im getting this laptop at a deal from a friend

 

lokster, I presume you are getting a YB model rather than a YA one?

 

I have 6GB of RAM in mine and 64 bit WIN 7 with a Intel SSD. Works better and faster than most of the computers at my office.
For the drivers just download the drivers from Sony's site - order of install is important. Win 7 will find some of the drivers automatically, the rest just use the ones from Sony. Can post the order of install if required. same as what Sony list for clean install.
Have not had issues with fan noise - I did get a later model tho - they may have fixed that issue.

 

well im getting the yb version, J&sinKTO, what version do you have?

im getting the e450 ati 6320 version.

 

and these are the drivers right?

Original Drivers and Applications for VPCYB3 Series (Windows 7 32-Bit) : Download : Sony Philippines

32bit versions will be fine on 64bit? how about the webcam?

 

and how do you guys boot from a usb stick? i for the life of me cant. ive tried f11 and its already listed as boot from external in the bios

 

nevermind ive figured out a few things myself

to boot from a USB stick is possible thru sony viao, set the boot order in the BIOS(F2) and set to external, then use a NTFS formatted USB, its specially formatted so as it will be read as a boot drive. if you want to know just google

and it is possible to install 6gb of ram on this baby

everything seems to be working in 64bit except i have 1 thing thats unknown device in my device manager, i have no idea what though, the webcam and bluetooth all work on 64bit and the memory card and the wifi

if there is a problem with your battery after updating dont worry theres a fix for that, the detection for sony is super sensitive and buggy.

 

I have the YB33KX model

 

how did you get the function keys to work again?

 

Sony's order of install is critical - out of order for drivers = no function keys and some devices that won't be recognized.
Here's the order (used on mine)
1. Audio
2. Bluetooth
3. Memory Card Reader
4. Network
5. Video driver
6. Wireless Lan
7. Sony Shared Library - soassl-00244666-0041
8. Notebook control and utilities - soaoth-58700000-0041
9 Sony Notebook Utilities - soavac-00250071-0041
10 Touch pad

Gave you the file names - the function keys work off of numbers 7-8-9 above in that order. Also you're unknown device could be the firmware extension parser (altho win 7 update should resolve it too)

 

Should be under "Notebook Control and Utilities, then notebook utilities sub-menu. Large file about 85MB. Here's the link - not sure this will match your model - verify that.
Sony eSupport - VPCYB33KX - Software & Drivers

Yes you should be able to reinstall the drivers - what you're after is the order of those three (7-8-9) So if installed some of those - find them in programs and features, uninstall then re-boot (even if says don't need to). Then reload and re-boot IAW what tells you. AT end of the three re-boot again and should be set. Getting all those keys to work can be a pain...

 

thanks, installing the last three drivers and the shortcuts did the trick

all function keys work

and the parser was the missing driver. everything is fully functional at 64bit windows 7 ultimate with 6gb ram.

still not as fast as i hoped it would be, the processor is the bottle neck

 

The bottleneck I saw was the 5400 RPM hard drive - but I'll admit I'm hooked on SSDs and the speed they provide.
Glad you're up and running. Still a great little portable notebook.

 

its an awesome portable notebook and i can play a few games on low graphic.

how do you update the video card driver? the one sony provides is a few months old

 

Not a big gamer, and for little I do, I have another system to game on. The little one is my carry-along work notebook -part of my normal daily briefcase. Does everything office-wise I need it to do and actually better than our office systems after the upgrades I did to it.

 

thanks for all the help man i appreciate it.

 

anyone know how to protect the outer cover? scratches really easily

 

Bought one of the "leaterette" stick on covers - unfortunately, appears out nice little laptop is not overly popular, so buy one for a model a bit bigger and trim to fit. Not the ideal solution but covers mine and has worked well for being jostled around daily for about 4 months in a briefcase.

 

Are the YBs painted, or what is it that makes them scratch easily? The YA came in black plastic so no problems after a year.

 

Mine is the same black plastic - but as mentioned, its for traveling and takes some abuse - my purpose of the sticker was designed to help protect the top finish.

 

I got a free Targus case when I got mine, so it just sits in there when in transit. Had it a year and still no noticeable damage, save for the paint wearing off the left mouse button and some shiny keys.

 

well i got a few scratches on mine on the outside, its plastic silver so the scratches can be seen, i was thinking if there was a film protector for this for the cover.

Also this thing can do games, not on the highest mind you but pretty decent, like dead space 2 and modern warfare 3 and portal 2

 

I'm thinking of buying the yb model VPCYB35KX/B. I've read a lot of reviews and they're all really mixed. I'd like to know how yours is running lokster, since i was thinking of running a similar set up. does the extra 2 gigs of ram really make a difference? I was also thinking of replacing the hdd with a nice sized ssd which many people say would improve performance. I'm not really planning to play games on it but whats the quality and fps of the games you are running. I'm really interested in buying this laptop.

 

Put in another 4GB stick of RAM in mine (6GB total) and an Intel 320 (120GB) SSD.
System is fast, responsive and works faster/more efficiently than the "main systems" I must use at work. Bought it for the size and the upgraded CPU/GPU that were (and are) better than the netbook it replaced. Size was the critical factor - this is a briefcase computer that travels with me daily. I'll defer to lokster for gaming reviews/updates.
All-in-all a nice little performing laptop.

 

well ive got 6gb working on it, two slots with 4gb+2gb ato 1066mhz

still on 500gb 5400rpm

im not sure with an SSD but with 6gb its blazing fast, esp data transfers.

Games ive played on it
modern warfare 3
assassins creed revelations
portal 2
team fortress 2
dead space 2

all on low and mostly low, except modern warfare 3 and team fortress 2. works great. im happy with how light and powerful this laptop is

 

Okay one more question, I've seen various places advertise this laptop as having a max memory of 4 gigs, is there a reason for that?

 

Hi everyone,

I've installed a fresh version of Windows 7 64-bit on it (with 4gb and a 128g SSD). At first I've struggled to find the drivers for the 64-bit platform but it seems (after intense googling) that I could use the 32bit. So after installing everything (no more unknown component in the Device Manager), all is ok except 2 things:

-The functions buttons doesn't work (FN+F*) so I can't adjust the brightness and the volume (not easily I mean).
-I keep getting an error telling me that my battery is not adapted for this laptop and that I should hibernate due to the "none recognized battery" (I've disable the battery software check at startup, something like isd.exe).

Those 2 problems comes after installing the Notebook Utilities software. By the way, I've installed the SFEP driver before installing the Notebook Utilities software.

Any insight about what might be the problem?

Thanks a lot,

 

@lokster: is your RAM at 1066MHz? I think that it should be at 1333MHz, you would see improvement or am I missing something?

Regards,

 

Read post # 376 - Sony has a very specific order for driver install to make functions buttons work (includes what need also to make your battery issue resolve itself).

 

Hi J&SinKTO,

Does it means that I have to reinstall Windows or I can uninstall the drivers manually and reinstall everything without reinstalling Windows?

Thanks a lot for your help,

 

Ok, I read the rest, I'll try that, fingers crossed! Thanks a lot again!!

 

Can anyone post CPU-Z and GPU-Z screenshots of either the VPCYB33KX or VPCYB35KX models?

I thought the E-450 should be paired with a Radeon HD 6320? (Sony's site and marketing specs still list it as a 6310). Also - I thought the E-450 was capable of supporting 1333 Mhz DDR3 RAM? These models are listed with 1066 Mhz modules which seems strange.

 

Probably because the officially supported OS is 32 bit [only]? Just a guess.