Sony SE Owners' Thread

I also missed two finger scrolling and took a look in the registry and found the interesting entry "Visibility". Just change the default value of 8 to 0 to unhide the two finger scrolling option.

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics\SynTPCpl\Controls\2Scrolling\2Two-Finger Scrolling]
"Visibility"=dword:00000000

 

Thanks!

Can't believe it was as easy as a reg entry. I changed it, set up my vertical scrolling and now I can uninstall TwoFingerScroll.

I wonder why there isn't more info about this in the Googles.

 

Thanks for sharing this great deal tjmaxwell. I was looking for a 15.5" SE with Blu-Ray for under 1K out the door.

 

This looks like a great deal. I just got essentially with same setup with the Sony Store promotions and it was 1090 out the door. Do you know if the Microsoft Store has the 25% off deal available online as well?

 

I finally received my SE! I've heard a lot of negative comments about TNT, but they used less than 48hours to transport it from Eindhoven to Oslo. Mine is an i5 with the 512mb graphics card and 8gb of ram, so I didn't expect the fingerprint reader to be installed, but it was

My first impressions are overall good, but I'm not overwhelmed by the touchpad or the relatively loud touchpad buttons. However, I usually use an external mouse so that's not so important for me. The same goes for the speakers, but enabling dolby helped. I'm a bit afraid to break the flexible screen hinge, but I guess it won't be a problem. I usually use Opera and press ctrl+left arrow to go back a page, and this is a bit awkward when the arrow keys are "out of grid". However, these are just minor issues.

I find the screen to be excellent, I barely notice the orange-red when compared side by side to my other laptop, and the 1080 resolution gives soo much space. During my three hours of playing around with it so far, the fan only came on during some updates, and even then, the fan was far less intruding than my old hp dv5. Build quality sans the screen hinge seems to be really good as well IMO.

 

I installed an M4 in my SE a couple of weeks ago and despite searching every inch of that limited BIOS, I couldn't find a way to revert to IDE. I just did the formatting in my desktop before dropping it into the SE.

 

I think it's only an in-store deal. I haven't seen any coupon codes or mention of it on the Microsoft Store website. It's too bad, because I'd really like a Z series, but the only one they carry in the store is the $2999 model. Too pricy for my blood.

 

Thanks mate. The M4 arrived yesterday and the label says it has 009 already so I'm gold, I think. How is the M4 performing in the SE?

 

It's working very well for me although this is the first new computer for me in many years so anything was going to be a huge step up. Sounds like you're all set with the firmware version but if you want an easy way to double check you can check what version you have through the device manager. (Taken from the Crucial SSD support forums)

1) Click on the Start menu
2) Open Control panel> System> Hardware
3) Select device manager
4) Expand disk drives
5) Right click on the drive and select properties
6) Select details tab > select 'hardware lds' from the drop down menu and the firmware version will be displayed.

 

I have a few questions...

Is there a way to turn off the sounds coming from the function buttons (eg. changing brightness)?

I have deactivated the automatic brightness, as I found it disturbing to see the brightness change every few seconds. However, I still find the screen adjusting the brightness. This happens, for example, when I minimize my browser to look at the wallpaper. The brightness adjusts down. Is there a way to deactivate this "feature"? Edit: This only happens in stamina-mode...

 

it might be Intel's Display Power Saving. right click on the desktop, and select "Graphics Properties..." (the Intel one). when it loads, select Power from the left, and set power source to "On Battery". then disable "Display Power Saving Technology". (i have mine on Advanced Mode, so your configurations might differ a bit).

 

I just got this notebook in the mail today in silver, base specifications except 6630m. However it's running a little hot with a loud fan at 70c when downloading from Windows Update. This isn't good if I will game on it later. Any idea how to lower the temperature and if possible, the fan speed?

Also any idea how to disable the Bluetooth (for longer battery life)? I would prefer to set it like that when I'm on battery.

My notebook came shipped with the newest BIOS (R2084H4), any comments on the SATA3/SATA2 issue?

 

Thanks for this. Looks like my M4 is 002. Bummer, gonna have to pull the drive to upgrade.

 

For anyone on the fence and who plays StarCraft 2, mine with the i7 and 6630m upgrade runs SC2 on ultra and native resolution, kinda excited

 

So as soon as Sony's website stops acting up I am going to buy this thing.
Some question though.
Anyone played with the widi at all, is it decent?
Anyone in the US found it un-customized with BluRay Writer?
Anyone know if the optical drive is custom besides the face plate? Such as taking the bluray from another notebook and putting the faceplate on it and it be functional?

 

Is there a way to turn of the keyboard backlit? Yesterday I was touching the little thing between the Power Button and the button written "Vaio" and the keyboard turned on and off, but now it's not working.

I dont understand how I did that hehehe

 

VAIO Control Center > Keyboard and Mouse > Backlit Keyboard

 

Quick question to see if anyone else is experiencing the same problem as me. Ever since I updated the BIOS to the latest (R2084H4), I've been having issues with my main (internal) battery randomly showing as "Not Present" in Windows.

I can force the issue by simply plugging in an external sheet battery. The primary internal battery will immediately show as "Not Present", and the total battery capacity (as shown by Windows) will read 49%. It's not like the internal battery is failing, as I can unplug the AC adapter and yank the sheet battery and the laptop stays on, with the primary battery showing up again.

It's a minor inconvenience until I realized that when running without an adaptor, Windows will shut down once the sheet battery is drained, without switching to the (fully charged) internal battery. That means I have to catch it in time and remove the sheet battery in order to continue using the laptop, which makes it a little more than a minor problem now.

I've searched around to see if the original BIOS image (R2080H4) was floating around somewhere so I could revert it to test my theory that the new BIOS is the problem, but so far no luck. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

^ there are reports of the same behavior in the SA thread. check the posts there.

 

Thanks! =)

 

Thanks! It was driving me nuts!

 

Hi.
Got my new SE1C5E two weeks ago, and so far very pleased with it. The only thing i want to adress with this laptop is the fan. The problem is that the CPU fan is constantly running, and it's running at a speed thats quite noticable. Even though i only have Chrome up and running and the CPU usage is around 0% - 5% it wont settle down. I did some checks of my system and could not figure out whats causing this. My temps are 45C for GPU, 46C for CPU and around 35C for the HDD. I also got the newest BIOS version and all other updates.
Is it "just how it is" ? How much noisee does your SE create when idle?
Tried to manualy control the fan, but that didnt get me anywhere..
My specs are:
i7-2640M @ 2,8 ghz
AMD 6630M
8 GB ram
500 gb 7200rpm disk

thanks!

 

@kryen:

As I've said before... my fan hardly ever comes on... and I'm using Chrome as my primary browser too with usually 7-10 tabs open. It is always off when idle.

The only time it came on for me is when I ran Battery Eater.

So either yours or mine is defective.

 

My fan comes on all the time. It is audible at idle, but not annoying. It runs hot with an obnoxious loud fan at 70-75c when downloading from Windows Update. This doesn't bode well if I will game on it. I'm thinking of replacing the stock thermal paste on the CPU and GPU, but cannot find a disassembly guide online.

Also any idea how to disable the Bluetooth (for longer battery life)? I would prefer to set it like that when I'm on battery.

Specs:
i5 2430m
AMD 6630m
4GB RAM
500GB 5400rpm

The fan and the temperature of this Sony are the only things that I'm not satisfied with. I am impressed with it's startup time of around 40 seconds (on a HDD) when most of the bloatware is thrown out.

 

The VAIO Smart Network utility (in the system tray) has a Bluetooth On/Off switch but I don't think you can tie that to the Power Management settings.

I wonder if I just don't do enough on my machine. The temperature isn't that bad and like I've said... fan is hardly on... but then again... most of my daytime usage is with an external display/keyboard so the lid is closed.

At night, however, when I'm using its display/keyboard, I don't notice the heat or fan.

 

You probably had a good one out of the factory, but to check your temperature, take a look at RealTemp. I'm sure the temperature will be not too low.

I'll rep you if the bluetooth off works.

EDIT: I have disabled the Smart Network to show up in the tray, guess I'll re-enable to it to turn off BT.

 

While just browsing using Opera, I can only notice the fan if I listen closely. The left palm rest is at room temperature, while the right palm rest is slightly warmer, but not annoyingly so. This is with i5 and on stamina.

I previously asked how to silence the beeps coming from pressing the FN+_ , and I found the solution. If anyone else wants to try; locate the file pi.wav file and rename it.

 

I have RealTemp running and it's between 43-50C the last few hours.

Maybe I should try something more tasking to see at what temp does the fan come on.

 

I'm thinking of picking up the VPCSE1CFX/B version from my local Microcenter, can you reivew the FAN NOISE issue to date... still no problem?

 

The fan is somewhat audible, no jet engine sound but quiet "whoosh" sound when doing light tasks (surfing the internet, writing a document, etc.)

However, this is a nice notebook for sure. I got my notebook to boot in 35 seconds without a SSD (after doing like a semi-clean install). Feels lighter than the 13" ASUS that I was using before.

 

What does a "semi-clean" install include? I looked at it for about 15 minutes in-store before deciding to get some more reviews. I am probably going back tomorrow to pick one up... the fan on my current HP HDX16-114us sounds like a jet engine at times, literally, so the "whoosh" sound should be a good change!

 

A semi-clean install is pretty much removal of the unneeded VAIO "bloatware", the Norton antivirus trial and whatnot. However, some of it is pretty useful, like VAIO Smart Network for instance, allows me to turn on/off bluetooth.

The fan noise is only a problem when you start loading a graphic intensive game, benchmark, Windows Update, etc.

Other than that, I am somewhat satisfied. The sleek aesthetics, num pad, matte Full HD screen with good viewing angles, backlit chiclet keyboard, removable battery (and easy to upgrade RAM and HDD to SSD) is what won me over.

Only gripes are the "orange-ish red" screen issue (but that's only very important to Photoshop users, you can see the discussion in the previous pages), somewhat lacklustre battery life (compared to the other 13" S series, the 15" loses about an hour of battery life), and runs somewhat more hot with switch turned on to Speed (I think the GPU shares the heatsink with the CPU, oh well), and loud fan when loaded.

Aside: I really think that the 6470m suits this type of notebook well, because the 6630m emits more heat, even though I got the 6630m.

 

Hmm...maybe that's why my fan doesn't come on as much as everyone else... I'm in Stamina mode.

 

I'm in Stamina mode now as well. It's the only setting that I use when not doing Windows Update. When on this setting, I get 40-44 celsius when doing light tasks. 70 celsius when I play a graphic intensive game in 720p.

Speed mode adds give or take 7 celsius (approximately 49) when doing light tasks. Can't say much about about the temperature on load, haven't tried yet.

 

I have tried stamina mode, power saver, balanced ect. none have had any impact.. It occured to me though that maybe it's the gpu fan since the fan noise is comming from the area around the vga and hdmi ports. is there a way to know for shure that the gpu has been disabled?

 

OFF TRACK FROM FAN DISCUSSION; but does anyone have a suggestion for a good software to clone the stock drive to a new drive?

 

I do a lot of photo work & travel frequently so am looking at the SE because of the 1080p screen, weight and self upgrade options (I have a HP EB 2540p now and am aware of the red tint issue). What is everyone's experience with the battery life on this unit? I can easily go from SFO to NYC on a single charge on my HP.

Reviews say 4 hours is typical, which is really not enough for me, however, I would replace the HD & optical drive with SSDs and only use the Intel GFX (stamina mode). I don't really want to carry around the sheet battery because of the added weight (got enough gadgets in my bag already...)

Also, I'm assuming the SE has an a socketed rPGA CPU - can someone confirm this? I have access to CPU's so might make for some interesting lower power i7 options. Thanks!

 

It sounds like the battery might not be enough for you. Let's do some ballpark estimates. At idle on minimum brightness in Stamina mode, my system draws around 8.5 W or so. That's already with the optical drive off. Replacing the HDD with an SSD might yield somewhat lower idle power consumption, but not that much lower. So with a 48 Wh battery, that's roughly 5.6 hours if you're doing nothing at all.

Now, let's say you want a more usable brightness level, say about 50% or so. That adds another 2 W, so now you're looking at 4.6 hours of idle lifetime. I could easily see that going well under 4 hours if you're actually doing significant amounts of photo editing during that time frame.

 

i've used Norton Ghost. others use Acronis True Image.

 

Seeing how the optical drive is semi-modular (remove the screws and slide it out), it's too bad notebooks today aren't like the old school ones where you can put it either a weight-saving caddy, an extra battery or another HDD.

My old Dell had that, press a button, slide out the optical drive and put it an extra battery.

 

Thanks! I appreciate your advice, Acronis was recommended to me in-store and I could not remember the name for the life of me!

 

Casper is good for that cloning too!

 

So did a little research and the lower TDP CPUs only come in BGA packages... However, I believe this laptop has an H67 chipset which will be forward compatible with Ivy Bridge. Would be curious if Sony will update the BIOS so one could self upgrade the CPU next year (If I remember correctly, it was possible to do this on the old Z series going from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo.)

 

Hello,

I'm going to buy a Sony SE but I have one question about Linux : did anyone try Linux on this notebook ? Is everything OK ? I was in a Sony Store an hour ago but they could not answer about this subject...

Thank you.

P.S. : the fan's problem seems to be... very annoying :-(

 

I can't confirm anything regarding the Linux installation.

However I purchased my SE last night OPEN BOX ITEM FROM MICROCENTER store, VPCSE1CFX/B. I can't say I have really PUSHED the computer to any real limits and I went out to dinner while it did it's first batch of Windows 7 Updates (30+) but so far heat/fan noise has been a non-issue. Last night I used it to stream Spotify, d/l Torrents and browse the web for a little more than an hour and it was far cooler than my HP HDX16 would have been and I could not even tell a fan was running, if it was.

 

I seem to be the only one not having a fan problem.

I've changed mine to Speed mode so let me see if that makes a difference... running RealTemp, the temps are now in the mid 50s.

 

OK. Thank you. So, I can consider there is no fan problem (I'm optimist ;-)).

Now, I'm just waiting for a Linux user...
May be a test with a live CD ?

 

On speed mode, I also get temperatures of 50-55 when doing light surfing. Graphics card is at 50-54 degrees Celsius.

byers, glad to hear (pun intended) that you have no problem with the fan. The fan on my notebook only ramps up if I download Windows Update, do a disk cleanup, or a video game. I am estimating a load of about 75 Celsius when gaming with the AMD6630 graphics, I had 70 Celsius when using the HD3000.

 

Okay... so I do notice a bit of heat venting from the back. I have to lift the back of the notebook to my ear to hear anything. Like I've said before, i don't have my screen up (using external monitor) so that may be why my fan is not spinning very fast. RealTemp is about 10 degrees higher on Speed mode.

My next test will be to leave the screen up and see how that effects heat, venting and fan speed/noise.

 

My last two questions ;-) If I'm not at the right place to ask this questions, please, tell me...

So, has the choice of the processor an impact on the autonomy (i7 instead of i5) ?
Has the choice of the hard disk speed (5400 or 7200) an impact on the fan ?

Thank you.