Sony VAIO F 3D series owners lounge

[ I almost maxed out the whole package in my CTO, save for SSD and Win 7 Pro, and it cost me $2.6k. I definitely do not want any scratches on here, haha.

what is CTO, save for SSD? I know I sound dumb. lol

 

I've tried updating to several releases of the nvidia drivers including the most recent by modifying inf files. In each case I found oddities (hardware acceleration usually) that were enough to send me back to the Sony drivers. Too bad, some nice features in the newer drivers. None of them have fixed the hardware acceleration issue with Firefox though.

 

I get a pop (more like a thud) after wav sounds play. Not really a buzz and the fact it doesn't occur when playing video tells me it is some kind of driver issue. Probably a conflict between the Realtek drivers and the NVIDIA HDAudio drivers and switching.

 

CTO is the Configure-To-Order on Sony's online shop. Basically a base model that you upgrade each component as you see fit.

SSD is solid-state drive, a newer hard drive format. Currently the cost per gig of storage is still pretty high, so I chose not to go this route despite the speed gains.

What's funny about this is that I've tried digging around the menus with headphones on. Oddly, when I'm at the microphone menu under "Manage audio devices" the buzzing isn't nearly as strong. This almost reminds me of this issue I read about the first-gen F having; it was something about a constant whining noise, though I think that was even without headphones.

 

Ok....I'm gonna order it this week. Thanks for the info

 

Hi,

I had ordered a Sony Vaio VPCE490X from sonystyle on 3rd March and they
showed the estimated shipping date as 13th march. Yesterday my status changed from "being built" to "completed" and "payment processed". But the weird thing is that my debit card was charged when the status was "being built" and after the status change it is not showing the laptop transaction on my
debit card account and no money has been taken? Is there something weird going on?Has anyone experienced this before? Also if the laptop is "completed", is there a chance that they would be shipping it before 13th?

 

Well, in my experience preordering the F2, they "charged" my credit card after I submit the order. This was essentially just a hold of the funds and it went away after a week or so. Then, sometime during the laptop being in transit, they charged my card again, for real this time.

 

Does Sony charge a restocking fee on CTO machines? I'm returning my F 3D tomorrow and wondering if I should expect any restocking fees. Also any idea on how long it typically takes to credit the account?

 

As long as it's within 30 days of purchase, there is no restocking fee.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info.

 

I'm trying to figure out if I want the Bloggie or this guy...

DSC-HX9V/B | Cyber-shot® Digital Camera HX9V | Sony | Sony Style USA

I think I'm more interested in 3D stills for now and for $100 more I'd have a pretty full-featured point-and-shoot. The only "camera" I have right now is on my phone (HD7), and that leaves a little to be desired.

 

Go for the Hx9 bro Its a fantastic camera!!! Great at low light and amaxing quality Full HD Videos

 

Yeah, it's really tempting. I may very well just swing by the store and pick one up later this week when I'm off. We'll see.

 

Not sure if the outer casing is the same on the F13 as it is on the F11, however, I'm using a 100% carnauba wax and just rub the heck out of it. Really use some pressure in a circular motion to apply the wax. End result is a nice clean surface that does a good job of repelling finger oils. I hope this helps.



Buy the paste not the liquid.

Mothers® California Gold® Pure Carnauba Wax–Step 3

 

Interesting idea using wax to preserve the finish. It'll probably work unless the case is too flexible...the edges are pretty rigid, but the center isn't.

BTW, it'll never be 100% carnauba...carnauba by itself is to hard to apply.

 

I was actually "thinking ahead" after I saw the scratched demo units at the stores, wondering if ScratchX would work on them.

This is bad; you're making me want to wax my laptop, haha.

 

Yes, I do not rub as hard in the center, but the sides are where the fingerprints happen. But it will handle quite a bit of pressure and that pressure and heat from applying is the trick. Just don't use a cheaper product which will give you a lot of wax dust when it drys and the stuff gets all over the place.

You are correct with the 100% statement. It refers to the fact the wax is 100% carnauba and it seems they blend it with other products to make it malleable.

http://www.autogeek.net/qude101.html

 

No restocking fee afaik. I returned mine after scratches built up from my hands on glossy area between keyboard and palm rest.

 

Anyone here tried enabling S Force Front Surround 3D ??? What effect do you notice?
Also can anyone run PCMARK7 on their F2 and post scores?

 

Cool. I logged on to my Sony Style Online account Saturday morning and see that they credited me back all $2700+ of my order. Now the question is how long to I have to wait to get credited back to my Visa. They say it can be as long as 90 days. Did you get your money credited back to your card yet? If so how long did it take after Sony processed the return?

And yes, after 2 days of normal use I had a ton of scratches all over the same area as well and all above the keyboard. I loved this laptop, but it has got to be the stupidest physical design I have ever seen. The high gloss finish is a finger print magnet, and just asking to be all scratched up, the inside is a scratch magnet. I whipped it down with a brand new microfiber cloth and micro scratches just started appearing. I hate the way when the laptop is closed the screen doesn’t cover the whole bottom, and don’t even get me started on how the sides of this machine are tapered inwards. What motivated me enough to return it was I purchased a USB air card from Sprint to have mobile 3G access on the go, when the antenna is in the vertical position the side of it hits the side of the laptop (due to the side of the laptop not being flush) and while it doesn’t lose USB connectivity at that point, because its such a tight fit the slightest bump will cause it to come loose and I lose USB connectivity and therefore lose internet connectivity and had to reinsert the antenna and reconnect on a constant basis.

The specs on this laptop are awesome, although it would have been great to have a 5.0 GHz compatible WLAN card, I loved not having to uninstall a bunch of crapware and this thing didn’t get that warm at all, but I just could not see myself forking out upwards of $3,000 on a computer that had so many things I was unsatisfied with. It’s a shame. Sony makes some good products, I just spent about $7,000 on a new home theater set up with all of the components being higher end Sony, high end 3DTV, mid end Blu Ray Player, an ES Series A/V receiver, PS3 w/Move. And I am 110% satisfied, and I was really looking forward to this laptop. If they could have just made it more like their lowerend machines designwise, I would still have it.

 

It sounds fuller and richer. I didn't realize S Force wasn't enabled by default until two days before I returned it. With it enabled it gives it the typical virtual surround feel, better than the default setting that for sure, but to me, the Dolby sound option sounded better than the S Force. That’s all I can really say as I didn’t really play with it that much, and I only experimented with it on music not movies on blu ray.

 

anyone know if this laptop has Sata 3?

 

@Shem113, the USB Probleme wasn't really a probleme a simple M/F usb stick will resolve the probleme

 

like this one Mâlbe M / USB Femelle F Adaptateur Convertisseur Neuf | eBay

 

Yes, I know those exist. And my Air Card came with an extension cable. Point is I should not have to use an extra adaptor due to the physical short comings of the laptop. Like I said the F 3D was an awesome machine but very lame design. And the USB adaptor doesn’t remove all the scratches the thing accumulated in 6 days of use.

 

your opinon about this laptop make me uncertain, cause i wana buy this laptop in few weeks and i dont wana have to return it or anything else, so do you have an alternative for this laptop that you wana buy who thasn't have this probleme ( design, glossy...)??. thanks a lot

 

Yes, this laptop is SATA3.

To be on the other end of this discussion, I love mine and don't really picture myself returning it. Mine has already developed those "white scratches," but those will appear on really any glossy surface inevitably. As far as really significant surface scratches, I have yet to get any of those on my system and hope I never do. Just gotta be careful with your machine in the end.

And, as always, styling is subjective. I think the F is probably the slickest laptop design they have this year. Yeah, the shapes are very unconventional, but that's part of its charm to me.

 

I usually end up returning my laptops, but this one was a keeper. I think the design sucks (but not too much), but beyond that is a miracle. Using Power DVD 11 and watching old family videos converted into 3D is a cool experience. Even cooler is watching actual 3D videos I have taken with my Bloggie 3D. And the sound, once you turn Dolby on, is fantastic. I'm surprised Sony didn't automatically turn it on.

I've owned a lot of laptops and I review them as a hobby for different websites. This is, by far, the best laptop I have seen and used.

That said, I wish there was a way to view 3D YouTube Videos on this.

 

Glad to see you're enjoying the beast
Why don't you ask Sony Technical support how Youtube 3D videos can be viewed on the laptop ? Maybe they could help.

Ill only be getting mine next month so cannot really "play around".

EDIT:

I contacted Sony online support and they said online 3D videos will not work. The video needs to be downloaded and played via Nvidia 3D vision player for viewing in 3D.
I am not sure if the guy knew what he was talking about, I am sure there must be some way of watching Youtube 3D.
Did anyone try downloading the 3D video from Youtube and then playing it back from the HDD using 3D vision player?

P.S. I hope you guys have IE9 installed in your system, if not please install it. Then enable GPU acceleration in browser. Go to Youtube 3D channel. Pick any video and select 3d mode - side by side. And video quality at 1080p. Put on your glasses and see if it works.
Also try clicking the swap left-right option in youtube 3d video settings.
If the above does not work try Interleaved rows, columns or checkerboard option. Either of the two SHOULD work theoretically.

 

i think it will be easy to download it via Internet Download Manager and play it with video player (like power -DVD).

P.S : I think you can watch youtube's videos from Power DVD 11 there is an option for youtube you can try that

 

Thought I would post here what I've been posting in the Vaio Series 3d - Blu-ray 3d doesn't work thread in the Sony eSupport forum for some time.
Currently I own/collected over 30 Blu-ray 3D's and wish they all would play on the laptop.

 

You can download a trial version of PowerDVD 11. Try it and let us know if the DVDs work.

 

Ok, I did it. Here is how to download 3D videos from YouTube...you need to use the Chrome Browser:

Easy way to download YouTube 3D videos

Also, videos don't seem to download directly from the Youtube 3D page. Instead, just do a search for 3D videos from Youtube's regular channel and a download link will appear.

You will need Power DVD 11...you can download a trial version. It doesn't seem to work on the NVIDIA Vision Player.

I am watching the 3D trailer for Avatar right now on my Vaio F. Wow! Wow! Wow!

 

Hey its actually an issue with the Corel Win DVD player and not the laptop itself. As philly suggested, get Power DVD ultra. It will playback all 3D bluray discs and it also has better 2D to 3D up conversion to boot. There is also Arcsoft Trumedia total theater.

 

Hi all. I thought I'd join since I also have this wonderfull 3D laptop.

Ok. Sony just released an Nvidia driver update at Sony esupport.

From Sony Esupport:

This utility updates the NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M video driver to version 8.17.12.6780 to resolve the following issues:

•Movie playback is not smooth when using the Windows Live® Photo Gallery or Movie Maker applications
•The Stereo 3D function may disappear when running the 3D Mark®06 test
•The 3D function cannot be enabled after resuming from sleep mode

I'm wondering if anyone has installed this update.

If so, can you see if the hardware acceleration has improved? I have the driver installed. I just don't want to upgrade to IE9 unless I know for sure it works like it's suppose to. I tried using IE9 before the update. It was super slow at the IE9 speed test page. It's here. Internet Explorer 10 Test Drive Try the test called "Speed reading." My VGN-FW480J did it in 9 seconds. This new 3D laptop I have couldn't complete the test. I ended up going back to IE8. I'm hoping someone here can test out the hardware acceleration before I reinstall IE9.

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the link. I installed IE9 on my unit a while back, so I'll download this update after work and let you know of any findings.

Oh, and welcome aboard! How are you liking your F so far?

 

Me likey very much!!

I was a bit confused as to why IE9 was so slow on the 3D laptop. Doing some research has lead me to this forum.

A friend of mine bought an "Alienware" laptop. His was having the same problem with IE9. (Being slow.) But after he downloaded a video driver update from Windows update, his IE9 runs like it should. Since Sony Esupport didn't mention "hardware acceleration" in the update, I'm worried about reinstalling IE9 thinking that it still runs slow. I like how it performs on my other laptop when I'm on that speed test web page.

As for the other features, I'm glad it has USB 3.0 and an 8bit connection for the Memory Stick HG Duo. It'll also reads SDXC and SDHC at high speed. Thats if you have high speed SD cards. I'm very happy with my purchase. All I need is to make sure IE9 works like it should before I reinstall it.

 

Why don't you install the update and IE9 and check yourself? Doing so won't harm your PC, would it ?

 

I don't want to go through the process of "uninstalling" IE9 if it doesn't work the way it should. Or using System restore. I just thought I'd ask to make sure it works before reinstalling IE9. Call me lazy.

 

I know what you mean about the performance. Upon first installing it I was pretty disappointed with how slow everything became. At worst, there's still a workaround to the speed issue. A couple of us pitched in on this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/575378-im-having-issue-vaio-3d-do-you.html

 

What is the driver version and date of your Nvidia GT540M ?

 

Okay, I just installed the update and the driver is now 267.80.

Regarding your concern about the hardware acceleration on IE9, here's a funny thing. Before updating, I played around with the benchmark links you provided. Speed Reading gave me a 6 second score and Paintball gave about 11.6 seconds, both of these after re-enabling hardware acceleration. I don't know what happened between when I first installed IE9 and now, but the browser's performance is as it should be even without the workaround I posted on the previous page. Perhaps some sort of update fixed the issue.

I tested the same links again with this new driver. 6 seconds again for Speed Reading and 11.3 seconds for Paintball. Hope this helps!

 

I already installed the Nvidia driver. It's IE9 that I havn't installed.

Yes. This certainly does help. Thanks.


I did learn one thing. Microsoft says to make sure all your updates are in before you install IE9. And make sure no updates are pending. You know, the need to restart your computer.

I'm going to install IE9 and see if it performs like it should.

Thanks again.

EDIT-----Woo hoo! It works like it should!! I also got 6 seconds on the speed reading test. My other laptop got 9 seconds.

 

Good to know it worked.

Yeah, I guess the updates, or lack thereof, was bringing IE9 down when I first got it.

 

I'm not sure what kind of update this Sony 3D laptop needed. My friends Alienware needed a driver update for his video card in order for IE9 to work properly. I was guessing my 3D laptop needed the same thing. Turns out that wasn't the case. I'm just glad IE9 works like it should now.

 

I think the last Nvidia Drivers are 270.61 NVIDIA DRIVERS 270.61 WHQL

 

There's one problem, you can't update the Nvidia driver using the Nvidia website. You have to use Sony esupport. The reason is that the driver Sony provides is taylor made for the 3D laptop. If you update with a different Nvidia driver made for that same video card, you'll loose special functions. Like that 3D button.

The video player buttons work for WinDVD only. Add anything else and those buttons won't work.

 

You can update using the NVIDIA drivers. You just have to modify an inf file to trick it into recognizing your hardware. FWIW I have tried about every NVIDIA driver available and each had its own problems that were worse then what I was experiencing with the Sony driver. I really wish Sony had based the update off the newest NVIDIA drivers as there were some nice new features in them.

 

I sure wish I knew how to modify programs. What I'll do is look for the problem and fix it myself.

 

In the Cyberlink PowerDVD > Help > Topic: 3D Playback section, there is a note:

Apparently you will have to use the Sony-VAIO-F-3D supplied "Corel Win DVD BD" formatted to the NVIDIA software/hardware for optional 2D to 3D Blu-ray conversion.

Paul