Sony VAIO F 3D series owners lounge

ok and what about 5.1 surround? did you realy feel the 5.1 effect?

 

The AW had pretty good bass for a laptop. I loved my AW when I had it...

 

oh i forgot an important question! what about the fan noise? thanks

 

So far, the only instances the fan has come on was during an antivirus scan and during a test of World of Warcraft while the game was still downloading patch files. It wasn't too overbearing, just your typical fan.

Just tried the 2D to 3D upscaling on Inception Blu-Ray. The conversion is mild, at best.

And still trying to figure out the sound, haha.

 

ok cause i wana buy this laptop and i don't wanna have a noisy fan when using it normaly(internet surfing ....) but i can accept some noise in heavy use

 

Okay--I got it. I'm having trouble with the 3D. Isn't this supposed to let you put regular blu-rays in and convert them to 3d? When I do this with the Corel 3d player, it says "Need software to play."

Isn't this supposed to play Youtube 3D videos? It asks for software when I do this as well. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

First impressions--the screen is WOW! The unit isn't as bulky as I thought it would be.

 

Did you run the NVIDIA 3D calibration when you first booted up?

 

can we have some pics plz

 

I've configured the 3D. The 3D Vision Player works with my home 3d movies. The 3D picture viewer works. However, when i press 3D on the Corel WinDVD program, it says screen cannot play 3d. The BluRay discs I've tried are Up and Independence Day, both not originally in 3D. This is frustrating; I thought this system was supposed to have 2D to 3D conversion.

 

Ughhhh...I am so frustrated .
The message I get is "Cannot switch to 3D Screen..Play Content.." But I am playing the content!

 

Here is my review--I included some pictures. I plan to put up some videos too.

Exclusive first-impressions look at Sony?s new Vaio F 3D laptop - Los Angeles Gadgets | Examiner.com

 

try to download windvd's update from sony esupport
WinDVD BD 3D Update - 10.0.5.761
What does it fix?
WinDVD may become unstable when changing between 2D and 3D playback.
WinDVD cannot enter exclusive mode when pressing Ctrl+Alt+e.

 

I can't find the link. I went to the Vaio F page and they have nothing on it. I may end up returning this.

 

samo350..can you provide me with a link. I can't find it anywhere on Sony's site.

 

I found it in the european esupport cause im in france, i'll try to search it in the us esupport, you can also try to use PowerDVD

 

VAIO : Sony Europe

it's the link from european support, but i found nothing in the US support! Bizzard!

ps : for the link, clic on vaio

 

Philly, I'll try out some more movies tomorrow after work to see if your issue will hit on mine.

Here are a few pics of the F, along with big brother AW.

VPCF2 pictures by eehpeehthreeh - Photobucket

 

3D conversion worked fine for me. Put the bluray in, started windvd, hit play and then pushed 3d. Did a good job converting MegaMind.

 

Okay, I just did a factory reset (took two hours). The blu-ray 2d to 3d conversion is incredible! It is almost as if the movie was made in 3D. Good job, Sony!

 

Here's a question for you fellow F owners, and anyone else that happens to know as well.

Going into the Nvidia Control Panel, the default refresh rate was at 75hz when I checked. I switched it to 120hz, and when the picture came back, the screen was noticabley darker color-wise. Reversing this process, I switched to 60hz and the picture got a little brighter. I've only ever owned 60hz displays and kept them at that setting, so I'm not sure if this is normal when switching the refresh rate, and I couldn't find any information regarding this during an initial web search. Thanks in advance.

And Philly, good to know it worked out all right on yours. I didn't see a very big 3D effect when I tried Inception, but I'll try some other movies when I get home from work this morning.

 

Quick Question guys - Made in China or Japan ?

 

The sticker on the bottom says China.

 

Shipped from China as well.

Clean installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit last night. 5 or 6 of the drivers would not install off the rescue CD. I had to hook up the harddrive that came with the Laptop and search it for the drivers to get them to install. Will be looking at getting the rest of the supplied applications I want (which isn't many of them) installed this morning.

 

i think you can also install vaio care to reinstall drivers and softs.
the 3d work good after clean install ?

 

Installed VAIO Care, that is how you install the drivers off the recovery CD's in windows. 3D works fine after installing the supporting software.

 

Not sure what I am missing, but there are oddities with the clean install. Lag in text boxes in Firefox. Wierdness with audio (pops after sounds play, sounds don't always play.)

 

Wow, I am so disappointed. I just placed an order for the Vaio F-3D; I talked to a rep who told me that she believed it came with 3D glasses, but wasn't entirely sure. Thinking about it more, I looked at the box contents on the page and saw that no mention of the glasses was given. I then called their customer service to get a final confirmation- unlike the review units, the standard F-3D does not come with any 3D glasses. None. I have since canceled my order.
This is unbelievable- all the write ups so far have mentioned that a pair of active shutter glasses are included. The pictures with the press release show the glasses. This feels like total fraud to me. Glad I canceled my order before it was too late- I want this laptop but I can't condone this kind of misleading marketing. Total BS.

 

The laptop came with the 3d glasses (at least mine did.)

 

I'm not sure what you're talking about. I don't have one, but the laptop does come with 3D glasses. Everyone has said so. Don't know what country you're in but it does say on the US page that the glasses are included. 16" Full HD 3D Laptop | VAIO® F Series Laptop | VPCF21AFX/BI | Sony USA

 

So here is what I have done so far:

1) Booted, initial setup, make sure everything worked properly. Generated recovery disks
2) Swapped in harddrive from my old F series VAIO (hybrid harddrive) that had Win 7 Ultimate. Used Macriums redeploy tool to account for the hardware changes. Installed drivers from recovery disks (and ultimately the original harddrive that came with the new VAIO as the recovery disks were consistently failing to install the same drivers.) Audio oddities, lags in things like text boxes in Firefox 4.
3) Tried clean install of Win 7 Ult64 (after creating an image of my redeploy.) Installed all drivers and apps I wanted from recovery disks and original 3d Vaio harddrive. Same problems as redeploy.
4) Restore redeploy image. Problems are gone.

Definitely odd.

Edit to add: For the US Sony support, there is absolutely nothing for this laptop posted yet.

 

Interesting, I had them configure one for me over the phone- this appears to be a different model. Perhaps it was just an epic-mixup by customer service. However, my configured computer came to about $2400, whereas this doesn't look customizable. I guess I'll call back and sort this out once they're done voiding my order.
Here's the link I used... buyers, beware:
VAIO F Series PC | Sony | SonyStyle USA

 

To clarify, they are the same model but this is the 'ready-to-ship' version. The description mentions the glasses but not the 'in the box' section of the specification. Perhaps they are confused at the sony store... we'll find out. Sucks if I'm forced to get 6 gigs of ram just so I can get the glasses- don't know why they wouldn't want me to order a more expensive computer.

 

Well I just linked to the pre-configured model because it was easier, but here is the page for the laptop in general that can be configured. It says it here too.
VAIO-F Series PC

And the specific question is answered here in the FAQ: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...dPage&catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1

 

I placed my order again... it just came down to a massive degree of confusion on the part of the reps- three said no glasses, before a final rep promised that the glasses were included.

 

I posted a question a couple pages back, but it was the last one so I'm not sure if it was looked at. Does upping the refresh rate on a monitor usually make the screen darker? Going from 75hz to 120hz makes the screen darker, is this usual?

Also, how are you guys' webcams on the F doing? Captures seem really dark on mine, though it may just be my lighting.

 

Yes, changing the refresh rate does make the screen a little darker. I haven't tested the webcam yet.

The most awesome thing, in my opinion, is playing old videos through the Nvidia Vision Player. Set it to stereo viewing mode and put on your glasses.

Choose Interlaced right line first when playing normal videos. Then, put it in 3d mode. While watching, hold shift and press the right key about 7-10 times. It gives it a great spacial 3D effect. It's not as good as videos shot in 3D, but it's really awesome.

 

I'll definitely have to try that out. I'll be off work for the next seven days, so it's gonna be play time.

 

Unfortunately returned my i7 F13 this week because of the fan noise. I still want an F Series, so far , are there any positive reviews of the newer models? I.e fan noise, sandybridge processors and battery life?

Many thanks

 

Hi Eehpeehthreeh, I see you're coming from a AW like me,
mine is the UK model VGN-AW11XU/Q with Core 2 Duo T9600 2.8 GHz ,4GB RAM with hybrid HD: 128 GB SSD + 500 GB and which I upgraded from Vista to WIN 7 Ultimate.
Was your AW the one with hybrid HD like mine? If so, your opinion is really important for me and will make me decide if it's worth changing laptop or not: can you please tell me do you think the standard UK version (which is not customizable) of the Vaio F 3D VPCF21Z1E/BI with Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor 2.00 (with Turbo Boost up to 2.90), 8GB RAM and HD Serial ATA 640GB 7200 rpm is much superior to my AW? What I am a bit scared of is selling a laptop with SSD to go for one without SSD. is the boot time going to be slower, or perhaps, given the fact it has a much better processor and twice the RAM it could be comparable? Also, when i put on sleep mode like i always do with the AW (when the light on the hinge goes orange), when i awake it from sleep mode by moving the mouse, will it take much longer to awake from sleep? Sorry about my silly question and bad English (it's not my native language).
If I knew how to put SSD in it, I would but I'm not capable and don't want to invalidate warranty should I decide to purchase it and unfortunately in UK you can't customize it like in the US.
In essence do you recommend me to upgrade from AW I currently have to the VPCF21Z1E/BI VPCF21Z1E/BI (VPCF21Z1E/BI) : Technical Specifications : VAIO and Computing : Sony considering that I am not a gamer, I am fascinated by the 3D capability and use my AW a lot to watch movies on a Sony Bravia via HDMI, a task which the AW doesn't seem to handle too easily as it gets a bit overheated and becomes very noisy with the fan.


Thanks in advance for your time

 

Well, the AW I own is a U.S. model, VGN-AW125J. This one did not have a hybrid hard drive, only a standard 7200 rpm and the P8400 processor. Additionally, this time I opted for the highest processor available, 2820QM. I've never experienced SSD first-hand, though if it means anything to you, boot up on the F21 compared to my AW is quite a significant difference. I'm mainly into gaming, but so far all of the media experiments on here have been really wonderful. The 3D works very well on both standard 3D media and the 2D to 3D upscaling. While of course it's still early and I'm learning more about this system every day, I'd recommend it. It's a very beautiful and capable machine.

And I think, though not 100% positive, changing hard drives shouldn't void your warranty and it's pretty simple from what I've read. Just pop open the door and switch it out is the basic premise.

 

Hi, thanks a lot for your reply,
as long as it doesn't take longer than a minute to boot up I'd be happy....I have bad memories of my AR series with Vista which was taking over 3 minutes to boot.
When it's in sleep mode when you hit a key or move the mouse, does it take a long time to become fully responsive?
last question: when in 2D, is the screen as bright as the AW or less/more?

Thanks for your time, hope you are enjoying your new machine

 

The F21 has SATA II or SATA III?

 

Vaiog, I just put it in "orange sleep" mode, and it only took about 2 seconds to come back after hitting the power button again. The screen on this thing is very bright and sharp, I've taken a great liking to it. I have my refresh on 120hz so everything is a little darker right now.

Samo350, I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can chime in on this one.

 

thanks for your reply, that's great

 

Harddrive is easy to replace an should not void your warranty. 2 screws door, 2 screws tray, 4 screws harddrive to the tray. Just keep the original harddrive in storage and if you have issues, swap it back in.

 

me wanna buy this laptop and replace the hdd with an ssd and install the original hdd in the optical drive bay with a sata to sata caddy, and of course install the BD drive in an external USB case

 

So I think I have managed to trace down my audio issues and lag in firefox to a conflict between the nVidia (which has digital audio through HDMI) and the realtek hi-def audio drivers. Not sure how to permanently solve the issue yet or even exactly what causes it.

 

Here is my full review of the Vaio F 3D laptop--

Exclusive review: Sony Vaio F 3D series changes meaning of the word ?laptop? - Los Angeles Gadgets | Examiner.com

 

I finally got around to taking off the stickers on my unit and all the protective plastic around the glossy parts, it was painful. I really wish they didn't put that 3D sticker on the actual plastic. After removing it and cleaning up the residue, no matter how careful I was that spot now has what's best compared to swirl marks on a dark car. Oh well, can't notice it unless you shine a light on the surface and look for it (I do that kind of thing).

Also, the Sony store here in Dallas had some of the "newer" keyboard skins which fit the F2. One I never saw online is this white one I have on it now. It still lets the backlight through, which looks pretty nice.

 

Odd, mine came off no problem and no residue. Did slip under my thumbnail and bloody it up though.