Sony SE Owners' Thread

yes, me too. i learned to live with it. it happens usually after i overclock the GPU and play Battlefield 3 for a while. whenever i move the mouse cursor (USB mouse) or type anything on the keyboard, i hear a high-pitched whine. (although weirdly enough, it's not doing that right now!)

 

How does Battlefield 3 play? General settings would be nice. The SE can run skyrim at solid framerates but has a weird stutter in first person. No amount of optimization can fix it, just wondering if BF3 has similar issues.

 

I think the SEs screen is labelled as "plus"-Display, the Fs screen as "premium"-Display. So the F should be better.

But some time ago, i went to a local electronics store, and i was able to compare both screens. Personally i liked the SEs screen better, mainly because it didn't have any inversions on colors at all. There was absolutely no difference in contrast and color from any viewing angle. But there was of course the orange/red effect on the SE.

If you want to compare, i found some reviews with screen pictures

Review Sony Vaio VPC-SE1Z9E/B Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

Review Sony Vaio VPC-F22S1E/B (FHD) Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

("contrast changes and color inversions start at 15 to 20 degrees vertically")

or you have to consider buying the 3D-Screen

Review Sony Vaio VPC-F21Z1E/BI 3D Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

Going to phone Sony and give them a chase. Been waiting since the 31st of Jan for an update, still stuck with "Your VAIO order is being custom built for you."

How on earth do you contact them? The only number I can find is for Vaio support when you already have the laptop.

 

The store has an 800 number at the bottom of the Canadian Sony Shop. Not sure which country you're based out of but it should be the same.

(If you happen to be Canadian, give this number a try: 1-888-289-7669)

 

Thanks, I'm from the UK but I finally found the number.

Not going to get the laptop till between the 2nd and 6th of March

One hell of a wait

 

1366x768, mix of MEDIUM+HIGH settings, MSAA off, FXAA on, HBAO off, with
WorldRender.DXDeferredCSPathEnable 0
in user.cfg, and i get 40+ fps in multiplayer maps, and it runs very smoothly. i have overclocked my GPU though (725MHz/945MHz/904mV).

 

Sounds like it runs like the 360 version

 

Finally I went to a Sony store and had a look at this babe! Oh, what a display! It's absolutely gorgeous! I'm 1000% sure it's IPS. I've spent a fortune on importing a NEC 2180UX from Germany a few years ago because it's IPS screen. Oh, I've never seen any screen like this on a laptop! And all in a 2.0 kg package! It's amazing. Now I just have to save money and sell my Acer...

 

/trollmode_on
except the graphics are much better on the PC version
/trollmode_off

 

Also, there was a nice experience in the Sony store (I am in the UK). The store manager told me, that I can order the same machines as in the webshop for the same price, but when I order through them they offer a higher standard of warranty services and they give me a free laptop while the service is working on my computer. Also they vacuum the machine / clean the inside for free in the first year.

 

I was tempted by the better standard of warranty (?) too. Then I found out that if I were to order online, I can get 6% cashback (quidco), and that there was also an education discount (7% off the base price of the SE) via the sony education store.

Also, my local Sony store just closed this week. It was a bit strange as I was only in there last week asking about ordering a customised SE, and all they said was that it'd take 2-3 weeks (no mention at all about them closing - wonder what would have happened if I had actually ordered one last week!!).

I'm still a bit frustrated by the Sony UK website though. The semi-refresh of the SE laptops started appearing on their website on Tuesday, but it took them until Thursday before the entire website updated, and even now the education store shows me three different things on three different (consecutive) pages. Think I'm going to wait for everything to be updated before I order...

 

Can you point me to some information about this education store? I am a uni student too, I would love to know about this edu store!

 

This should be the page https://shop.sony.co.uk/shop/b2c/education.do?shop=SST_GB_EN
If the link doesn't work, go to the Sony VAIO page VAIO Laptops | VAIO Notebook PC : Sony and at the bottom (under "Site") there is a link to "Sony Store, Education".

Although the education store isn't fully updated yet - on the first page it says there is a discount on processor/memory upgrade (apparently this was last week and it's now no longer on), on the second page it says the base price of the SE starts from 644.02 (same as the non-education store), and if you click on configure it then says the base price is 598.93...

 

Thanks, it really works! Did Quidico work even with this education store hyperlink? For me it looks like that the referrer disappears at the main Sony site, but maybe it keeps tracking later too.

 

No problem

Also quidco wise - just realised that the way I posted earlier to get to the education store opens a new tab so not sure how quidco might deal with that! The other way of getting to the education store would be to get to the VAIO page, go to the "Shops" tab at the top, which when you hover over opens to show "Sony Store, Education" at the bottom right. With this you stay in the same tab for the education store.

I'm not 100% sure if quidco will work with the education store (haven't yet ordered as am waiting for the education site to update first!). However I think there was a post much earlier in this thread by someone who said they ordered a customised SE and got cashback via quidco, though this probably wasn't the education store (and Sony doesn't seem to advertise their student discount!)...

 

Hi, I have a question about SE display. I'm trying to find a 15"/clean design/well build/thin&light laptop witch is not a mac. Vaio SE fits perfectly beside screen calibration. I'm going to do some graphic designing and photo editing and possible wide gamut and color accuracy is absolutely necessary. I've check the orange gate problem, I think this is more orange-violet-green problem. All of these are not representing well. So my question is can I make some software color calibration to move the colors to their right places?

 

No, unfortunatly - as this is a hardware issue - this is not possible.
Someone just explained it some pages ago. The display isn't able to show clean red.
Of course you can manipulate the settings somehow, but when you do this, you will only fool yourself.
So afterwards you might belive that the red is showed correctly (of course it is not, because as I already told the hardware isn't able to show correct red...), but this would be only an illusion coused by incorrect blue / green.


Just look at the color spectrum messured by notebookcheck.
As you can see on the right hand side of the diagramms, there is only orange and no correct red.
Now - when you try to do some software adjustment - you can not expand the color spectrum, you can only mix up the existing colours showed in the diagramms.
And as you might see now there is no way to create red out of the other colours.

 

Update on this: I just ordered an SE (through the Quidco link and the education store) and Quidco has now tracked my order - so it appears that it should work together.

However, the Sony UK site managed to get a small part of my address wrong (the frustrating thing is it was correct on the first confirmation screen, but when I clicked around and came back to "open orders" about 5 minutes later it had changed). And there's no email contact. So I'm just going to have to wait until 9am tomorrow before I can call them and ask them to change it... (I'll probably still receive the item with the slightly incorrect address, but just want to make sure!)

Also I was never given the option of engraving (which they advertise on the front page and throughout the education store). I don't really mind as I wasn't going to get it anyway, but probably worth keeping in mind that their site may have issues at the moment...

 

If you choose engraving you have to click that the 30 day return policy is not available on engarved items!

 

The terms and conditions actually say that the UK distance selling regulations don't apply to customised VAIOs, so I'm not too sure how much difference engraving would make (is there usually a 30 day return policy on customised VAIOs in the UK?)... Just surprised that I was never even given the option of engraving!

 

I think engraving is not available for the SE (at least not for germany and probably also not for UK, as their CTO is nearly the same).
Waiting for a good offer, I've looked at the CTO on regular basis for the last 3 month and there never had been an option for this.

Other models (e.g. the C-series) have 4 steps on CTO (third is engraving) while the SE only has 3 steps.

 

It's not actually orange-green-violet problem, it's a red and blue problem, both of them being the primary colors used to mix any other color in the RGB spectrum so therefore as Hardwarefox pointed out you wouldn't be able to do anything with it.

 

This is a limitation of the hardware.

The way xismo put is spot on, there is no possibility of increasing color gamut on an already manufactured screen.

Hopefully Sony will use better panels in the IB refresh.

 

If they do I'll be definitely getting one.

 

Thanks for the info, all is clear now. This is not good news, Vaio SE fits like no other model but this color problem just disqualifys it for me. Getting back to searching.

 

If Sony had put a decent FD screen in the SE (TN or IPS) I'd have gladly payed $1200 or $1300 for one. I can kinda understand gimping the screen on the SA (low contrast but still good color) so it wouldn't compete too much with the Z, but the SE has no higher quality line from Sony to compete with really. Putting a mediocre IPS screen in it was a very bad move. If I'm gonna get a 1080p 15" machine I'll get something with at least a 75% color gamut screen and no color shift problems, like the HP DV6 or a Sager NP5165 and so on.

 

From what I understand, it's not a mediocre screen... the new HP Envy is similar. It's "just" the color(s) issue.

 

This is exactly what bothers me. I get that companies are trying to continually reduce prices to appeal to most people; as we all know low prices are the easiest way to sell, but what I don't understand is that with all the CTO you don't have the option to get a high spec laptop if you are willing to pay extra for it. And I'm not even talking about upgrades like CPU or GPU which they already offer (at least CPU on SE) which are soldered directly on the motherboard, but stuff like good display, second HDD bay instead of optical drive should be all in there if you are willing to pay for it.

 

They do so on the F-series. You can order it with three types of panels:

Normal: 41,6 cm LCD, 1600x900 - 41,6 cm (16,4") VAIO Display (1600x900) (16:9)

Plus: 41,6 cm LCD, 1920x1080 Plus [+ 65.0 € ] 41,6 cm (16,4") VAIO Display Plus Full HD (1920x1080) (16:9)

Premium: 41,6 cm LCD, 1920x1080 Premium [+110 €] 41,6 cm (16,4") VAIO Display Premium Full HD (1920x1080) (16:9)

but all TN with average viewing angles.
and i really need viewing angles for watching DVD at work.

 

I thought someone said that F series uses IPS but regardless the F series is huge and heavy. I'd like to see full customization options on every model where they offer CTO so that if you want you can max out the specs and pay something like $1500-$1800 which would give you the best CPU and GPU and actually good display. Stuff like RAM or HDD I don't care about since you can change that yourself for cheaper anyways. And at least you can choose which brand you want to go with.

 

Does anyone know the exact release date of the refreshed SEs? I'm looking at Amazon's stock and it seems like they are still getting rid of the first-gen.

 

Well, I dont't know, when amazon will sell it,
but why dont't you buy it directly from sony?

There the SE2 is already available.

 

Probably wants to save on sales tax and shipping (if they are a Prime member).

 

Yup. I already own the first-gen, but just got an OK from boss to buy one for work, so I'm thinking with $ saved on tax + shipping I can go for a higher-end version.

 

To me a screen that can't display red properly is mediocre. It's like having a stereo that works fine, except it can't reproduce sounds well or without massive distortion between 900Hz and 1100Hz.

I can forgive poor viewing angles, and low contrast a lot more than I can a screen that makes reds look orange and violets look blue.

 

If you use the chat feature from sony dot com, you can ask for a free shipping upgrade and they will do it. I even got my sales rep to give me expedited shipping for free! also, you can sign-up for the education program and save an additional 5%

Unfortunately, mine was a CTO and is taking 6 days (due to the weekend) to get here from China!

 

VPCSE23FX and VPCSE27FX are marked as being available around March 3. If someone gets one, please share views about the color reproduction.

As for free shipping, the U.S. store header clearly states: "Free ground shipping on all orders $25 and over."

 

In the end its up to the user. I rather have orange looking red then poor viewing angles. For the price range cuts have to be made somewhere and if the SE had perfect Red but horrible viewing angles I would have passed it by without a second glance.

 

I think they uses two 1.8" SSD on both SATA interfaces. That's the probably the reason they limited SATA interfaces to SATA2 speed. SATA controller can handle more than 300MBps, but new BIOS limited each interface to 300MBps. if they enabled SATA3 speed on the interfaces, then it would defeat the purpose of having two 1.8" SSD SATA2 drives when you can just have one SSD SATA3 drive instead. But that's my guess.

 

Hi guys, first post here
I was wondering if anyone has tried the glasses free 3d panel for the vaio SE?
I looked everywhere on google for review but cannot find anything apart from IFA show in berlin hands on. has anyone tried it?

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/others/vgp-fl3d15a

 

On notebookinfo.de (unfotunatly only german) they have tested the 3D Panel.

The most important fact, that they found out, is that the AMD-drivers provided by sony don't support 3D.
So you have to switch to stamina and use the Intel-graphics.
Therfore - as the Intel HD Graphics 3000 has not enough power for most actual games - the only sensible application for the 3D-Panel is to watch 3D-Blu-Ray.

Furthermore they say, it's only usable for one single user (because the webcam track your eyes) and you should ceep the distance between your head and the disply constant. In 30 to 50 cm distance you will see ghosting.
And in general, the quality is poor compared to shutter systems.

 

I notice that running on battery mode, youtube video is a bit choppy. Anyone know how to fix this problem?

Update: Nvm, it is caused by refresh rate dropping to 40 hz when on battery in stamina mode. Bumping it up to 60hz fix the problem. Now need to figure out how to permanently keep it that way.

 

hallo!i ve bought this 3d panel but have nt yet got it to work for BD3D movies,cause power dvd seems not to support it at the time.if anyone has done otherwise,let us know.Thank you!

 

Could be but that would surely depend on whether the SE's motherboard supports SATA3 or not. And even if it did I doubt they would be putting in SSDs with higher than 300 mb/s speeds in the CTO section as these are more expensive. So the only benefit in that case would be if you bought something like the Crucial C300 and installed it yourself. Plus who knows they might even be soldering the SSDs straight onto the MB to maximize space.

Does anyone actually know what SSDs they're putting in?

 

looks like your keyboard is not working either mate

 

Hi All,
I just got my Vaio SE. I wanted to know what programs you immediately uninstalled. What is all the sh*tware that I should remove?

Thanks a lot for your help,
Nico

 

ABR Backup -> Win 7 install from USB -> ABR Restore -> Download drivers from Sony

 

In other words, do I need?
Application Manager for Vaio
ArcSoft Magic i Visual Effects 2
ArcSoft WebCamp Comopanion 4
Evernote v.4.5
Vaio Messenger
Vaio Care
VIP Access
Etc?

 

Sorry Im a novice what do you mean by this?