Sony SE Owners' Thread

Hey there, I just picked up a se last Saturday. I might have the new model according to the guy at the Sony store(Said they just put this on display for the first time a few days before). If some knows how to tell if its the new model and I do have it, I'm glade to answers any questions that I can.

Specs
Intel i5 2450m
6 Gb of ram
ATI HD 6630m
750 Gb 5200rpm Hard drive
Black version

Also is there any suggestion on what to do when you first get the laptop?

 

the new version is the "290" model...SE290X...the previous model was the SE190X

If he sold you the "190" version, take it back and get the updated model!

 

Where is the model number located? I can't find SE190X or SE290X anywhere on the laptop.

*Edit* If it helps the Product name is VPCSE23FD.

 

@novaintel:

If you do have the new model, can you test the display to see if it shows the OrangeGate effect... basically reds look orangish (either Coca Cola's site or Google for the image 'red').

I looked at a new Envy today... their OrangeGate seems more noticeable than the SE's.

 

As far as I can tell from the coke site there is a bit of orange look to the red. I can see if I can take a picture though I do now how well it will turn out.

Also from looking at the bottom, it looks like the laptop was made last month, I don't know if that also means anything.

 

Here are some pictures that I took. They are not the greatest photos, but I hope that it helps one way or another.

 

Honestly, that doesn't look that bad to me. I know it's frustrating to have a high-end screen with non-accurate colors, but compared to the vast majority of crappy screens out there, this one is SO much better that I think I can put up with slightly less-accurate red reproduction.

 

I'm okay with it... but Envy owners... not so much.

 

From what I found looking around locally there was no display as good as this one. Though I might be easily impressed since I came from a 1280 by 800 display on a Gateway Laptop. Plus I'm not a colour kinda guy, if you never told me that there was an orange look to red I would never have known.

 

novaintel: Thanks for the pictures, they're very helpful!

I posted in this thread around about November, was thinking about getting the SE, but was put off by the colour issue - so decided to try and wait it out for a refresh. Unfortunately my current laptop is now becoming rather unreliable so am now looking at the SE again!

I'll actually be quite happy if the red is similar to what novaintel is getting. This red looks better than what I've seen on multiple SE display units (although this could be due to seeing it on a photo rather than in person of course!).

Not sure how much has been fixed by the refresh, but think I'm going to try to wait until the UK gets the refresh (according to the VAIO customisation person I talked to today, they're running low on SE parts and are expecting an update. Although he has no idea when the update is going to take place, could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be ...? last year I think the UK got the SE about a month after the US...).

 

Besides red being orange on SE screen (I am comparing to Full HD screen on Z1) the green on Z1 is brilliant and SE's version of it is desaturated and "dirty". Until I saw them side by side, I thought SE's screen was great. I still think SE is pretty good and well worth it. It's just that gnawing feeling: a few more touches and that laptop could have been perfect. Stuff like that...

 

No problem, glade I could help.

I was thinking of doing a clean install of Windows. Have people had luck reinstalling the drivers? Where do I get the drivers and what is the procedure. I'm kinda not too happy that I'm running 138 processes after booting.

 

I can't seem to find your model (product name) on the sony website. there is a vpcse23fx which is a new model that is available for pre-sale. the "290" is the product name for the custom build 15.5in SE.

 

Thanks for posting those pictures! It's hard to say but the problem seems to be less extreme than what I see on my monitor. That could also be the camera adding a blue tinge to the red, hard to say... but I'm hopeful others can enjoy a better screen than I have right now.

Still happy with the SE despite this issue though.

 

Got this baby for Christmas. So far, quite impressed. Screen didn't initially blow me away. Figured it was the jump from 720 to 1080. Took a look at my old computer and only then did I realize how much better this screen is. Colors are so crisp, contrast is great.

Keyboard has really grown on me. Number pad is absolutely necessary for me. Strange that the backlight bleeds through so much.

Would have preferred the quad core and better video card. Insurance against the future. The fan noise inconsistency can get on my nerves too, especially when it's just loading something and the cpu shoots to 90% for a few seconds.

All in all, a solid buy. I've already recommended it to people and got comments on the general look and style of the computer.

 

I use a SSD for my primary storage, and I put the original HDD in a caddy (500 GB, 7200 RPM)


My problem is that the HDD often starts for no good reason! I even got my wallpaper stored on the SSD, and as fare as I know, nothing else should be running from the HDD!

The HDD also likes to spin when I open Google Chrome (installed on the SSD, like all my apps)!


Any ide?

 

Cache set to HDD? Power options? If you are in high performance mode, the laptop should not theoretically turn off any hard drives. (Look under power management options to configure options for turning off the hard drive.)

 

Ooooh UK Sony website has updated with new options - think this is the refresh?

Only very confusing thing is the specs for the screen on the Sony sites:
UK: 39.5 cm LCD, 1920x1080+webcam 39.5 cm (15.5") VAIO Display Plus (1920x1080 pixels) (16:9)
Asia: 15.5 inch wide (Full HD: 1920x1080) TFT colour display (VAIO Display Plus, LED backlight)
US: 15.5" LED backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080)

Unless LCD and LED are the same thing...? Otherwise I find it hard to believe that there could be different screens for different regions, especially as the UK version also had the orange/red issue...

Also - does anyone know if VPCSE2--- indicates that it's the refreshed version (as opposed to VPCSE1---)?

 

LCD and LED are referring to different things, the screen is in fact LCD, LED and though some may dispute, IPS, it can be all 3 things . So is the Apple Cinema Display.

Anyway just got this laptop, I love it, i love it more than any other Vaio laptop i've owned, the old SR, the Z1 (which i sold off for this).

The screen is just amazing , love it.

Waiting for my SSD to arrive so i can get rid of the spinning hard drive oh and caddy so i can get rid of the optical drive.

It is so light for a 15 inch and unbelievably thin.

Really the one and only problem with this laptop is the battery, if not i think it's perfect.

 

Hey guys, got my Se in the mail yesterday, first thing i did after unboxing was to take out the hard drive and clone it onto my desktop. then last night i fresh installed win 7 but now im stuck with not knowing what Vaio software i need to install... anyone know which software controls the stamina<-->Speed Button? that would be a great help. as i don't feel like re-installing ALL the bloatware that i wiped clean...

 

i got mine yesterday was really worried as to the orangegate affair but the reds dont look bad at all to me !! just a quick one when i open a web page the page seems to need to be zoomed in as their are gaps down the sides and the writing on the pages is small is ther any fix to this to save having to manually do it myself or is this down to the aspect ratio

 

Just install these and you will be safe, these are MUST installs i have personally done it and it's very minimal, basically none of these are even usable applications.
cross reference from our cousin SA/SB
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...b-windows-7-clean-install-backup-restore.html

You may check against Z1 installs as well
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/467565-vaio-z-vpcz1-clean-install.html

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for quicker boot times? I Just ordered a CTO SE290x (i7-2640m, 8gb (self upgrade from 4gb) ,256SSD, AMD HD6630 1gb, win7 pro with fresh start) Are there any programs that run on start-up that are not needed? Or are there any other quick tips to improve the boot up time?

Also, I will definitely post some comparison pictures of the "new SE2" screen to see if the orangegate issue has been fixed...or atleast an improved! I will try to do something like the guy on page 109 did with multiple screens set up. shipping estimate is the 23rd so hopefully it arrives by then!

 

From what I can tell mine is the new SE2, its not the 290x but that may be becuase I bought a pre-built from the local sony store. It look like there is still the orangegate issue with the display. I posted some pictures but they didn't come out that great.

 

Thanks for your pics! I saw them the other day but it's tough to compare when only seeing them on the SE. I was going to put a few different laptops and display's together with the same page, with something red displayed (like someone posted on page 109 from this forum)

 

I could see if I can do that. I still have a Gateway Laptop, my iPod touch and a HP monitor(which I think was the 2nd best purchace I made after this laptop). Though the best thing would be to use one of the programs that some of the others on this thread where using back at the begining.

 

I think I found an easy way to find out about the Red/Orange issue if you don't have anything to compare to or a colour measuring device.

How does this image look to you?
On my 1st generation SE the Palette window goes from grey to Magenta to Orange.

On a correct monitor it should be grey, to magenta to a really saturated Magenta. Little to no orange should be present.

 

The two most obvious and foolproof ways I know of to detect Orangegate are the following.

1. Look at a full screen of solid red. Normal photos containing red things aren't sufficient, because human color perception is less acute in small patches and you can also be fooled by the presence of other contrasting colors. If you're looking at a store model, you can easily generate full screen red by opening up Paint and filling the screen with RGB 255,0,0.

2. Use the color wheel graphic the Envy folks have been using. If the screen is the same as the SE1/Envy 15 Radiance, then "Red" will look orange and "Violet" will look blue.

 

For number 2 there is a definite look of orange to the red. Looks like the problem wasn't fixed in the refresh, though for me its not a big deal.

 

Yup, it is unlikely that the panel was changed..

Hopefully they will in the total refresh for IB.

Thin & Light, good battery life, relatively powerful, decent screen.

 

A general question on the speed/stamina switch, apart from the GPU switch is there anything else that happens when you toggle the switch?

I do a lot of CPU intensive work , essentially lots of math calculations, and was wondering if i can just leave it permanently at Stamina.

 

what about the good old direct comparision photos?

I have a Dell Ultrasharp 2408 WFP with S-PVA-Panel (which costed me 630€ back then) which was advertised with 110% color accuracy (Wide Color Gamut: 110% CIE 1976, 102% CIE 1931 - whatever that is supposed to mean). It has superb viewing angles (178°/178° - according to datasheet).

So: first picture is the Coke-Site. Sorry, but there is a clear orange look in the red. And the other picture is the colorwheel, which has slightly color shifting in the violet and even green sections.

I took these pictures with my mobile phone, so sorry for the quality (my phone can make better pics, but it needs more sunlight for that and its really cloudy outside ). At least the color reproduction is very accurate, i can see no difference between the colors in the photos and in reality.

PS: And i dont think, that Sony will improve the Notebook in the next version, since its only a few months in the market. Normally they introduce a NB and sell that model for two years, before they replace it with a totally new designed successor.

 

What I was wondering about:
Sony says about the SE2: "Automatically selects high speed graphics or stamina"

Did they drop the switch?

 

I wanted to ask the exact same question:
Does it limit CPU in Stamina mode?

I would mostly like to use this on Integrated graphics with full 100% CPU power, like you would use any business class notebook today (X220, T420, E6520, etc.), except for when I would need 3D. On my Acer 3820TG I am using a BIOS hack to make it in permanent integrated mode and switch to AMD in BIOS only when needed. I really like the manual control over the video card in use.

Or, if this way is not possible:
Is it possible to use the machine on full power CPU mode and disable switching to the AMD card?

 

No the switch is still on my SE2 laptop.

As far as I know, windows moves over to power saver mode and the ATI gpu is disabled. The only time when the CPU is limited is when you change the fan to silent mode, to which the CPU is limited to 1.2Ghz or something like that. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

Just that someone reported that in even in Linux the CPU is limited when in Stamina, suggesting that it's some kind of hardware switch. Can you try Prime95 + CPU-Z in Stamina mode?

Also, does i5-2450M mean SE2? This processor has been official only at Q1 12.

 

Wow that's pretty bad. Do you have the first or second gen? Though I'm pretty sure now that both panels are the same.

 

I run ubuntu 11.10 and have seen no limitations or actions of any kind due to the stamina / speed switch on my Sony SA. It's not a hardware switch, just software, triggering drivers in windows to do things. In Ubuntu, where there's no software support it's just an ornament.

 

Let me say this - for everyone just getting the computer or people who have a clean, functioning SE - create a clean restore disk.

I put it off. Everything ran smoothly, no need to rush, ect.

My computer got a really bad virus. After using the BIOS reformat, it is still infected. Even with all the tools in the world, this problem will not go away. My recovery partition is infected. I have to order the clean disc from sony, completely restore the entire hard drive. Wipe them clean. I don't even know how I can completly reformat the two SSDs in here. After spending $2000 on all of the bells and whistles, I think sony should send out a recovery disk free of charge. Didn't think I was downloading shady files, apparently I was. Make that restore disc so you don't have to spend more money than you should.

Lesson of the day, gentlemen.

 

Hi there,
just got my SE two days ago and now I take that next step by installing a new crucial M4. I just have a question about the "clean install" that you guys are talking about.
I made the recovery on a usb stick, but how can I install win 7 since I can't find it on the stick. Will I have the option of just installing a clean windows or do I have to install everything including the bloatware and then uninstall the stuff???
Thanks for your help....

 

Hi, so I just got the new Vaio SE from Microsoft store on Sunday. Overall, the laptop is pretty decent. Recently, I've been doing some tests and playing around with the power plan. When I first got the laptop, I fully charged it then recharged at 10%, and keep doing that for 4 times. Today I start to enable Battery Care function on the laptop. I run Stamina mode on battery and get the power discharge rate from Batterybar of -10,000 mW. I don't know if it is too high for a new laptop to have such discharge rate because I kinda feel the battery seems to shorter than on the first days or may be I'm too obsessed about it. Any opinions? Also could anyone please tell me how to set up the right power plan to maximize the battery life? THanks a lot

 

Well, this is "extreme condition". In normal setups, the red seems pretty good. When i watch a DVD on the screen, it is almost unnoticeable. Maybe I'll upload some screenshots to show, but i'm not sure about the copyright issues.
Can this be considered as an scientific discussion or is posting a single frame out of an 45min episode a criminal act?

And yes its the first generation SE.

 

im not disputing there is an issue with the reds but in my opinion its down to each individuals peception i dont think the reds are that bad at all. also i looked at one of the links in the thread comparing the se screen with another screen and on my own se the se screen in the link looked really orange and the other screen really red how does that work surely if it was that bad both reds would have been really orange ??

 

Screen lacks blue and thats why it gets yellow tint over all colors and red is affected the most.

Your phone also distorts the colors as green on SE look closer to daylight green than on your Ultrasharp which looks too cool. In reality I know thats not the case cause US is an awesome monitor for color reproduction.

SE is on my shopping list and once I get it (unless something else comes out in between) I will try to run X-Rite on it to see if it can fix it. My success rate with Vaios color calibration has been really high on desktop replacements models such as A, AW, etc pretty much what F is today and F already has a correct screen. I would say AW Adobe RGB was the best non LED screen fitted in any Vaio.

Problem with calibration always happened on "affordable" models such as NR and others, you can't really do nothing with them besides big shifts from yellow to blue and thats about it. Contrast sucks, viewing angle sucks so color is going to suck as well. SE is not top of the line model but its not a bottom feeder either so I dont know what to expect.

 

Compared to my Ultrasharp 2410's all colors are off, and red the most ofcourse. But a 2410 shouldnt really be compared to a laptop screen anyway! Same goes for the 2408. Also calibrations can be bad and difference in screen brightnes, photo angles, brightness, autofocus and camera color correction and os color correction make alot of difference too.

Also I find that red is used so little I never notice. Or do i not notice alot of red because i see it as orange

also for comparisons use this: http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/contrast.php

 

Well like was said before you're much less likely to notice the lack of red when it is surrounded with different colors. It's going to be most obvious when you're looking at red alone and even more when you put a good monitor next to it. I know in real life you barely ever do that. Unless you work with graphics in which case I think a monitor like this is even worse then having a TN panel with bad viewing angles, as if you get the angle right at least all colors are off by equal amount as they are bound to be on a cheap screen, but if you send your files to print at least all colors will see a shift as opposed to a single color. Regarding calibration I'd be interested to see if this can be fixed (somehow doubt it) with a hardware calibrator so be sure to let us know.

 

I'm thinking between SE and F models, which has a better screen? The orange issue so far isn't much of a deal breaker for me based on the screenshots. But between the 2 models, which has a superior screen? Both SE and F have almost the same price point so I'm choosing between the two.

 

From everything I've read the F has the better screen. Not sure if it has the quad core cpu but it does come with gt 540m as the video card. The F is huge though, might want to keep that in mind. The SE is much sleeker and more professional looking.

 

F has a better screen and better sound... but it is a huge beast.

Mitlov does a video review somewhere on here.

 

sadly i'm getting the high pitched ticking/scratching sounds during light activity.
it's freaking annoying (and i am the sort of person who isn't bothered by loud fans) when the room is quiet.

anyone else?