Sony SE Owners' Thread

Yep, figured it out eventually. THANKS for the reply though!

They definitely could have made that clearer in the packaging.

 

dontpush: Which graphics card are you on? Just ran mine (have the 6630 1GB graphics card):

STAMINA:
Graphics: 6.4
Gaming graphics: 6.4

SPEED:
Graphics: 6.7
Gaming graphics: 6.7

 

Don't worry about WEI, it has absolutely no connection to real world usage. Run 3DMark06 for example.

 

Broken battery?

Have an odd battery problem with my SE. When plugged to AC indicator shows charging but battery level remains at 69%. When unplugging AC the SE is immediately shutting down.

Looks that the battery is broken and I have to call for replacement. Any other ideas what I can try more?

 

99% broken battery. But try if it charges when powered off.

 

What does the battery diagnostic tool state? It's located within Vaio Care Utility, Extended Tools, Diagnosis.

 

Okay thats what i figured, but is there any reason why my onboard video would run AERO better than the other card?

 

It doesn't run it better, that test is flawed. How can you run a window manager better?

 

Is there any point in using the leshcat video drivers? Got my SE today and everything seems to be running good out of the box.

 

if it's not broken, don't fix it. i'm still using the SONY driver on my SA, as it's very stable in Battlefield 3 and also lets me to overvolt my dGPU (the newer AMD mobility drivers don't allow that).

 

HELP!!! I think I accidentally messed with the hidden partition and now the "system restore to factory condition" doesn't work anymore... when I click it through VAIO care, it only restarts the computer without doing anything... I checked the partition under Windows and looks like the partition's file type is blank, while the others are NTSF... Is there a way I could restore the hidden partition? I don't even have a recovery disk now...Thanks a lot guys.. Totally driven crazy by the problem now..

 

use TestDisk if you're comfortable with these stuff. if not, wait for someone else to suggest another method. good luck

 

Saying all fine ;-( there is not much diagnostic however.

 

Doesn't charge as well ...

 

Call Sony, there is nothing we or you can do.

 

I installed leshcats drivers just to test, completely borks my brightness settings. None of the power saving settings work, and neither did the keyboard shorcuts. Went back to Sony drivers.

A new question, where can I tweak the keyboard illumination settings?

 

anyone know you do you do a clean install with a sony vaio key ? its windows 7 hime premium OA

 

What do you mean by key? Windows 7 serial number? If yes, use ABR Backup and Restore to an USB stick.

 

VAIO control center > Keyboard and mouse > Backlit keyboard

Not a big fan of backlit keyboards so turning it off was one of the first things I did...

 

Hi all,
overall i'm very happy with my computer, just a few questions.

Does any of you find that it takes a ton of time to charge this laptop?

also, have any of you had this experience?

watching a video on espn and the video goes hazy and green and the voice goes on without the video picture. any way to fix this?

also having a terrible time running word, whenever i open a document it freezes. can only open a document in safe mode. any tips?

thanks,

nico

 

last thing, is there any way to get rid of the annoying sony taskbar at the top of the screen?

 

Remove Vaio Gate.

My battery seems to be really poor - Reporting as 2hrs 52 mins whilst on balanced power and stamina

Not expecting great length on this laptop, but that seems a little low. Any tips for me to optimize the power plans/battery life?

I would pick up a slice, but I'm struggling to find it in the UK at a decent price. Sony charge £159! http://www.sony.co.uk/product/batteries/vgp-bpsc29

 

Has anyone found any customizeable covers/lids? I love the silver look but I wanna keep it nice, so I was wondering if there is any way to protect it. Also wanna make it look different since my gf has the same one XD

 

I keep hearing a squealing/squeaking sound coming from the upper right corner of this computer.

Reading up on it led me to believe I'm hearing CPU activity (since the noise doesn't correspond to hard drive activity). I have an SSD as well, so the hard drive is silent.

This is very annoying and I might be returning it for this reason.

Anyone else hear that squeaking sound?

 

Yes, I do hear this electrostatic noise!
I have this same noise on some of my other laptops, but on this Sony it seems more annoying than usual. I used to think that the noise can from the HDD, but if you swapped it out and the noise is still there, then maybe its from CPU or mobo. I haven't yet swapped for an SSD yet, so right now the HDD drowns out some of the noise. But its very noticeable (especially in a quiet room)!

Also, do you notice that when you move the mouse, the noise gets quieter by a lot? When the mouse is idle, the noise resumes.

 

I haven't noticed that about moving the mouse, but I'll check it out more.

And yeah, the noise is the CPU/motherboard. I couldn't hear it with the HDD because it was drowning out the noise.

The only worry I have is that on another Sony I had I could hear that electrostatic noise through the headphones and it became so annoying that I got rid of the computer. I'm worried the same thing will happen with this computer.

 

Yes, most definitely the noise gets transmitted through the headphone jack. This was evident in my other laptops as well.
This pulsing screech noise is getting annoying. I don't even have the SSD, and yet I begin to notice it more and more.
More than Orangegate, the noisy fan, and the loud clickpad, this is by far the worst flaw out of all of them combined!

 

The finger print scanner is terrible.

I also have fairly large CPU temperature spikes at times up to 78 degrees.

 

I just got a Sony SA2, and I'm trying to do graphics work, but the viewing angles are quite bad. The contrast changes a lot when just sitting up or leaning back on my chair, especially clouds, which turn completely white when i move forward in my chair.

I am thinking about getting the SE. Could someone tell me if the screen on the SE1 and SE2 are exactly the same, or is there a difference? Why do the product stats on the SE2 mention IPS while SE1 doesn't mention it?

The other issue I have is compactness. I've been backpacking for 4 years and I'm not sure if a 15" laptop would be good for me. I've been using a 10" netbook for 3 years, but it has outgrown it's usefulness. I feel comfortable moving up to a 13" laptop, but the SA just doesn't have a good enough screen for processing my photos. The 15" SE is also 4.40lb vs the 3.65lb of the 13" SA.

Also, does R1031H4 work on SE2 for SATA3?

Thanks

 

I can tell you that it's super light! And this is coming from someone who has been carrying around a 10 inch asus eee pc. One of the many reasons I switched to the SE.

 

Question for anyone who has done a clean install of Windows 7 on their SE, should the light beside the switch turn on when switching from "stamina" to "speed" mode?

I should add I installed all the necessary drivers and when I change to speed mode the graphics settings do change but the light does not come on, just want to know if this is normal or not. Thanks.

 

So far people are saying the SE1 and SE2 screens are the same. It's unknown why Sony didn't widely advertise the IPS feature with the first generation.

The SE is probably one of the lightest 15" laptops. Weight won't be an issue but physical dimensions might if you are upgrading from a 10". It is fairly thin but it was a big longer than my old Toshiba. I had to get a different backpack to carry it around in. You might want to find a Sony Store and ask for some help to see if it fits in your backpack.

Hope that helps.

 

Well I have just bought an SE2 which I am very pleased with, surprised at how light it is, thought the battery wasn't fitted.

I did look at a first generation one a while ago and the SE2 screen looks exactly the same so do not believe this has been changed during the upgrade. It is quite a big machine as it has a separate number pad but I just liked the styling, first one I have seen in a long time I just like the look of.

 

What's Sonys policy on dead pixels? I've found one on my screen It's blue, shows up quite easily on a black background.

 

This makes me worried. My problem is that I am extremely sensitive to CPU whine (the name of this noise), and I have sold a Thinkpad because of this. The problem is that some laptops don't have this at all, while others have. On my Acer there is absolutely no CPU white and I can control the fan, so it would be a perfect laptop for noise, but the screen is terrible and glossy. So far this Sony was my favourite choice, but now I'm not sure. Maybe I'll order and return it if it's really bad.

 

it's not a light, but a light sensor for the backlit keyboard.

 

Yeah, I was really disappointed by it. My Toshiba Satellite, with its awful screen and plasticky build is absolutely silent when the SSD is in and the fan is off. The same can't be said for this Sony

When I put my ear right up next to my Mac, I can hear the tiniest hint of CPU whine. But you have to really try and hear it. With the Sony I can hear it just sitting at the computer.

Now I'm debating whether or not I should return for this reason...

 

lol, well I feel a little silly now.

 

Overall I'm very pleased with this notebook, got it yesterday and clean installed Windows 7 right away (bloatware) and it's been great. The only drawback is the 5400 rpm hdd that came with mine, it bottlenecks the system for sure but I have already ordered a Crucial M4 256 ssd and another 4gb stick of ram to juice it up to the max.

 

Ah yes, my Acer also has no noise whateoever with the CPU whine. However, both my Dell's do.
So in a word, the noise is a hardware problem due to maybe electronic or magnetic interference? Sony did a bad job with shielding the power connections (b/c the power plug is right next to the area where the noise is coming from) and I'm guessing the CPU is there as well because thats where the laptop gets hot.

The screen on the SE is pretty good, and the viewing angles are great. Although for graphical work, it would be a concern because of the red color reproduction inability.
The laptop itself is very light. When I first picked it up I was thinking whether the insides were mostly empty! However, as others mentioned, the footprint is quite large. Alhtough the screen is 15.6'', it has a large bezel with 1.5cm on the sides and 2cm on top/bottom of the screen.The laptop is fairly wide at 38cm across and 25cm deep.

 

I don't hear this whining noise you guys are talking about unless I put my ear right up against my notebook to listen for it.

 

Also try putting your ear near the vent holes underneath the laptop, near the power plug. You can clearly hear the noise there.

I also just read that it's actually pretty common with Intel CPus. Which explains why the noise subsides when stressing the CPU.

"It needs multi-layer polymer solid state capacitors. It's due to electrical charge being not used by your PC ( less than the maximum output ) so the capacitors will literally vibrate at such a high frequency you can hear it."

 

I have and do hear the high pitched whining noise this way, mentioned it in my previous post. Other then putting my ear right up against the notebook the noise is pretty much a non-factor during normal usage though. I wouldn't worry about it too much, if the noise consistently gets louder/worse then it already is then it might be time to raise a caution flag. Just sounds like the normal operation of Intel CPU's from the info you dug up. I also read SSD's will make a little whining noise when installed on this notebook as well but it's perfectly normal.

 

Yeah, I still haven't decided if this is grounds for returning it. I know there are some laptops that do not make the noise at all. And there are others that do make it, but it's much more subtle. But no one should be hearing it through the headphones--that's unacceptable.

 

Anyone else notice that when you make a cup shape with your hands around the two speakers towards yourself, the sound quality dramatically improves? This makes me think the speakers are good, but the placement/design is bad :/

 

Is this an se1 or se2 that you've used for the testing? Can anyone compare the two? Price difference is about $100 so if the screens aren't better on the newer one I might as well get the first generation.

 

I agree, if you're hearing those sounds through the headphone jack something is not right. Could possibly be a grounding issue within the laptop imo. I tried two different pairs of headphones just to make sure and I didn't hear anything. It was completely silent (when I was not playing any audio) and both headphones sounded great when I did play something.

 

Trust me, I have pulled all my hair out because of that noise and it's really hard. It depends from actual model to model, it mostly depends on the CPU, and it's not as bad with Core i processors as it was with Core 2 Duo. My Thinkpad X61 was so loud that I could hear it from an other room! Also, some of us are not hearing it at all, while some of us are going crazy about it.

I think I will order this model and see how it goes. I'm just waiting for the "free memory" upgrade period to end and hope that next week it will be a free CPU or GPU upgrade.

 

I never had the problem on my 3+ year old Lenovo y530 (which is what my SE is replacing) and it had a Core 2 Duo. Guess I got lucky, that said the speakers on my Lenovo blow the SE's out of the water and then some. I think you'll be fine ordering an SE, if you have the noise just return it for another.

I have the VPCSE1CGX/B model which has an i5 2430M CPU and the Radeon 6630M GPU btw.

 

In the HP Envy Orangegate thread, a poster claims that HP will replace the screens.

Let's see if that happens... and if it does... who wants to start a petition to Sony?