Sony SE Owners' Thread

Just got mine last week and did a fresh install of W7. I noticed that when I turn down my brightness all the way down it will flicker brighter then flicker back to lower brightness. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

I believe this is the Intel display power savings thing. If you disable it, it won't flicker anymore.

 

Where can I find that setting? Sorry, only had the laptop for a few days and still trying to figure it out. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Anyone know if the canadian version comes with a IPS display? It doesnt say on the CTO.

 

US and Canadian CTO laptops all come out of the same factory in China

 

Can someone comment on how long the battery last while browsing on WIFI with lowest brightness. Currently I have the Samsung S7 which has great battery life but the display quality is pretty poor.

 

I can reach ~5:30.

 

When you are in Stamina mode (the switch on the top left). Find "Graphic Properties" in the Intel Graphics Tab under Advanced Settings in Screen Resolution.

Look for Power, select On Battery. You should see a box to uncheck for "Display Power Saving Technology".

My directions for getting there might be different than yours because I am using some drivers that aren't from Sony. Hope that helps though.

 

Is there a way to enable two finger scrolling, via a new or hacked driver,

Also the Mouse Buttons are really cheap and tacky, you cannot really press them at the outer edges...

Also the low light performance or the exmor camera is pathetic.. can't see anything in a medium light room.. and what I see is at 5FPS

Had a 3 year old acer laptop with its HD crystal eye webcam, in complete darkness you can see everything at the full 30FPS.. sony have always been poor when it comes to webcams...

 

It's a registry edit:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...822-sony-se-owners-thread-66.html#post8076533

 

I finally got around to adding a FAQ to the first post... please let me know what else to add.

For number 5, I'm not actually sure what has been changed in the new SE releases.

 

Nice work BigNerd.

I think the display section could link to the colour calibration results that guy posted somewhere waaaaay back near the beginning of the thread. I think it's around page 28-35. It was really useful.

Maybe add something about battery life? I believe people are getting an average of 4-5 hours at 50% brightness with web browsing.

I know now that you can't rotate the screen in Windows and it has been disabled by Sony. This is a feature that I was looking for and was disappointed to find out it's not there.

The custom Switchable Drivers found here work with the SE. I am using them and the new options have resulted in no problems. Just follow the instructions carefully and make restore points.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

@redmimic: Good suggestions... have added them.

 

Hi All,
I'm thinking about getting this laptop.
I recently bought the Samsung Series 7 Chronos 15 inch and had a horrible time with it - returning it this weekend.
What are your guys thoughts overall on this laptop? Do you like it?

 

All my gripes with this laptop are minor. I am very happy so far. Going onto my 2nd month.

What was wrong with the Samsung that made you return it?

Summary is: Light, decent battery, great screen unless you need to work on projects that need colour accuracy, powerful enough for most tasks, alright for medium level gaming.

I know it's a long thread but if you take some time and read through it you should be able to get a good idea of what is right and wrong with this laptop. I went through a long list of laptops before deciding on this one and this thread was the most influential in making that decision. I felt I really knew what I was getting into.

See if it fits your needs because odds are good that there is someone on here who had needs similar to yours.

 

I saw the 15.5" HP Envy today and it made me... uh... envious.

Only because it had that cool MBP like construction, the infinity screen (flat bezel), and no 10-key (it had the dedicated vertical Home/End/Pg row). But at $1199, the SE is still a better value.

I'm not too concerned about OrangeGate... I don't do graphics work and most times I don't notice it.

I find it odd that many people prefer separate mouse buttons... I actually like the buttons integrated into the trackpad because then you don't have to deal with issues like a cheap button or it wearing out (well... I guess your trackpad will wear out). Maybe I was spoiled by Apple's glass trackpad.

 

Thanks! I was still able to find it

 

thanks all

samsung series 7 chronos quick summary-
great battery, great hardware for the price, nice design

downfalls that forced me to return it-
amd driver is busted, green to blue screen death every time you open videos on youtube or other sites
wifi virtually unusable if the broadcomm model - gets no reception
build quality poor
sharp edges hurt wrists
trackpad extremely finicky
screen dull and lifeless.

 

Hey all,
About to order my Vaio SE, choosing the custom build option.
I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions regarding the addons.

I was thinking of upgrading to the i7 processor as well as the 8GB of ram.

I was also thinking of going with the standard HD (not solid state) as well as the lower end AMD graphics card (not a gamer) and skipping on the blue ray player.

Any tips on what is worth upgrading?

 

Was also thinking of getting the sheet battery.

 

More RAM is good... I didn't really think the i5 to i7 was worth the price difference but others do.

I think the 1gb graphics is better than the 512mb by more than just memory.

Blu-ray is personal preference... I didn't really need it but mine was a pre-built system so it came with it.

I like the sheet battery... but since my SE rarely goes mobile (or if it does, not far from an outlet)... I realized it's not a need.

I also prefer the silver over the black.

 

Do you guys run the laptop on stamina or speed mode?
If you run it on stamina mode the AMD chip doesn't even matter right?
If I'm not gaming is it worth getting the better graphics card?

 

Don't get the 8GB ram from Sony. Just get the 4gb. You can buy a 4gb sodimm ddr3 stick from newegg for under $20. Very simple manual upgrade.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Memory, Laptop Memory, 4GB, 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM, DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

 

Wow those are some legitimate reasons for returning the Samsung. Sounds like they messed up a lot on the design after cramming good specs into it.

Like someone said, don't get 8 gbs from Sony, I upgraded to 8 gbs for 20 bucks and it will take you 5-10 minutes to install yourself. There is even a Youtube video for the SE on how to install it if you're unfamiliar with the process.

The i7 is NOT a quad core and I believe someone said you will only get 12-15% more performance than the i5. It's up to you if you think that's worth it.

I'm almost always running in Stamina mode since I haven't found time for any gaming recently. I got the 6630m in case I need it in the future. I believe it's completely disabled in Stamina mode.

I have a slice but rarely use it. It's nice to have, but they threw it in as a holiday bonus so I didn't pay for it. It works great and can give you 8-10 hours of battery life total while only adding a bit of weight. With the slice the SE becomes the same weight as the average 15" laptop.

I do work that needs colour accuracy but I have an external monitor to check against. The SE is off but I'm unaware of any screen that is accurate at this price. Maybe the MBP 13"? The viewing angles and semi-matte screen really help productivity when you are in strange lighting situations.

 

Yeah... sorry... I didn't mean upgrade your RAM through Sony... it's more cost effective to do it aftermarket.

And since the optical drive is actually modular (not so in the 15z or the Envy), you can probably get away with a standard DVD and buy the BluRay part later if you really need it (many people replace the optical drive with a HDD so maybe you can get one on eBay).

I'm always plugged in so I run in Speed mode because I like to watch movies on it.

As for the YouTube crashing thing on the Sammy... I thought I read there was a Chrome video acceleration setting you could change to fix that.

 

Using the AMD GPU does sometimes provide some quality improvements over the integrated graphics, even if you're not gaming or whatever. For instance, I noticed that fullscreen Youtube videos look somewhat pixelated in Stamina mode, but they look fine in Speed mode.

 

There is an option to enable "show raid configuration" in bios, does this let you raid when you have a hard disk plugged into the optical drive bay?

Also how do you enable scroll under selected item for touchpad

As for those complaining about the sound it might not be loud or have alot of bass but the detail of the sa/sb/se speakers are incredible, they pump out alot of detail and high clarity, if you listen to a movie with a true hd or dts-ma soundtrack you can pick out all the little detail in the sound, which most over laptop speakers just shadow out with there bass

The dolby enhancement worked for the sa/sb but the se you loose all the clairty and detail in the audio if you enable it, wish they had the same dolby option as the sa/sb not just music/game/music...

 

I noticed it was the 500GB 7200RPM hard drive that made my order 4-5 weeks. If I choose the 320GB 5200RPM, it's 1~2 weeks.

Hope the little bit of extra speed is worth the wait!

 

ANy mechanical disk will slow this thing down, the stock 320GB Toshiba HD is painfully slow, about 3 minutes to start up, with Samsung 830 SSD now 22second startup, 5 second sleep, 2 second resume from sleep, and 5 second shutdown, this is with a cloned hard disk, going to do a clean install so will be much quicker, but this thing is soooo slow with stock hard disk

Anyone using Raid yet with 2nd hard disk in optical bay drive?, as I see raid utility when enabling it in bios

 

How can you get the 7200 RPM drive. I only see the 5200 RPM drive as an option or the solid state drives.

 

I am having trouble with the graphic card switch after reinstalling Windows. I installed both Intel and Ati graphics card driver from sony drivers & software page. But the switch doesn't work.

I am guessing there is a separate driver for the switch, but I couldn't find it on the driver page. Could someone tell me which program/driver I need to install for the graphics switch to work?

 

Was the switch set to "Speed" mode when you installed it? I remember the driver warning you about which mode to be in when installing the driver because otherwise the switch will not work. That's all I can think of because it was fairly painless for me.

Was it working before you reinstalled windows?

 

I think it depends on the country and their stock. 7200 RPM vanished from my choices when I was buying the SE but it remained the on the US Sony site.

 

It worked before reinstalling Windows.
I don't remember which mode I set to. I didn't get any warning either. I'll try again with switch on speed mode.

There used to be a tray icon for the switch before, but it's not there. Do you know which installation gives that?
------------

Edit: It works after installing Sony® Notebook Utilities.

Thanks

 

So I have been enjoying my Silver VPCSE16FX immensely these past few weeks. The screen is gorgeous & I love having the choice between a relatively light 15.6" notebook and a regular weight one with double the battery life. Also it is powerful enough to make what few games I play (mostly WoW) look beautiful.

I just have 2 complaints. 1) the engineer who designed the I/O must be a lefty, unlike me. It is not so fun to have all the ports on the right hand side of the notebook. I regularly use a wired mouse and sometimes connect via an ethernet cable. Doing so means having cables go directly where my mouse and hand are. This is merely a design choice that gets in my way, as a righty who plugs cables in.

The bigger concern is this issue I've been having persistently. The computer will "change plains." That's the best way I can describe it. If I'm typing in online (email, form, etc...) I will sometimes lose my spot in the middle of my typing as if I'm no longer in the current window. I disable the touchpad most of the time since I like to use a mouse. It is very annoying as it often happens while I'm in the middle of typing something for work. It is even more annoying when I try to play a game. For instance, in WoW, I'll be in the middle of playing online and the window will suddenly minimize to the desktop!

Does anyone know of a fix for this?

 

Glad to hear it umberto, did that program come separately or part of a package?

I guess there are lefties out there who are happy someone made a laptop for them... I also wish the ports were on the other side..

I would also like to know if there is a workaround for the window jumping as well. I guess disabling the trackpad with the function key while typing long letters isn't much of a solution...

 

Why does it say "while supplies last" on the Sony site for this laptop? Makes it sound like they're going to discontinue it and it just got updated

 

Is the samsung SSD the one Sony offers for a upgrade? I am going to purchase the SE tonight or tomorrow and wanted to know if it is worth the extra money? Fast boot up times and resumes are extremely important to me. I don't really feel comfortable installing one myself, so the extra cost for the Sony upgrade rather than purchasing from newegg or other retailer.

I contacted the Sony sales team and they could not provide me with any info about the SSD that they upgrade to. literally, NO info at all! no specs, no manufacturer, nothing! I was pretty surprised by this. So any info from anyone who has the Sony upgrade would be very appreciated!

BTW, I originally ordered the Samsung series 7 and just canceled my order due to all the graphics and wifi issues. Samsung has some incredible specs for the price but when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

 

Would I need to install any drivers to make this work? I watched the youtube video and all they show is the install. What else would I need to do to get this to work properly? I noticed some of the comments say that the system doesn't recognize or use the full 8gb after the install. any help would be greatly appreciated!

If it's as simple as putting the $20 4gb chip in, I would much rather save the extra $100 that sony charges!

 

I popped it in before turning my computer on for the first time. Recognized it right away, didn't have to install a thing.

The hardest thing about it was screwing the panel back on (and that was easy!). Save yourself some money.

 

No, you don't need a driver - would be the first PC that needs one for additional RAM.

RAM is always related to the BIOS.
So your BIOS-Version has to recognize it, otherwise it wont't work.
Usually (when you buy RAM with the correct specifications) this is not a problem, but in rare cases of course it can be one.

 

Thanks Redmimic! I am inline to get the new SE290X model. How can I find a card that will be specific/compatible for the new model?

 

Just saw your reply, Hardwarefox. Thanks for the heads up. How would I find out how to get the right RAM with the correct specifications? I went to crucial.com and they don't have the new SE290X model listed.

 

Crucial.com has a RAM advisory tool. It should be able to find out exactly what you need. I think all SE models would use the same RAM but I am not sure of that. Maybe someone with more knowledge could chime in.

RAM Memory Upgrade: Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq. USB drives, SSD at Crucial.com

I don't think your model is listed but this is what I bought and had no problems.

Newegg.com - Crucial 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT51264BC1339

 

any DDR3 1333 (PC3-10600) CAS 9 SO-DIMM module will work.

 

Hi,

i'm reading here about orange issue on IPS screen. Are you talking about the "refreshed" vaio ? I mean the new models refreshed this "spring" ?

 

So far no one on this thread has seen the 'spring' model. Earlier we were wondering if Sony would fix the problem or if they will just use the same display.

We should find out soon.

 

Hey guys, is there much difference between the 500gb 5400 version and the 500gb 7200 version? Also, I had noticed the screen feels a bit flimsy, is that normal because of the way Sony have tried to reduce the weight?

 

Just ordered my new se290x today. (spring model) It is scheduled to ship the 23rd. I will let you guys know about the screen once it arrives!

What should I be looking for?

 

Thanks for helping the thread out.

Someone earlier suggested going to the Coca-Cola website. You should instantly know if something is off if it's a red-orange where classic Coke red should be.

Extending the desktop to a plugged in monitor is also a good choice as long as the external monitor doesn't have the same problem.

This HP envy thread has some good pics of the difference.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/636482-envy-15-ips-red-vs-orange-tally-4.html#post8217301