Sony Vaio CB Official Owners' Thread

arghh... you are making me regret my order already. Hopefully its not as bad as this HP Pavillion dv9500Z I have.

 

I doubt you'll regret it. It's a fantastic computer. The screen resolution is great, and it's not really more reflective than most. Seems the more matte-like screens are awfully expensive.

 

Grr, now I feel ripped off. Free Win 7 upgrade? Fresh start? 8GB ram? Even 3 years of Norton is -$17. Darnit

 

Yes, you can adjust the keyboard backlight in the Vaio settings.

I haven't tested the battery or graphics switching. Don't have anything graphic intensive to test it on yet. Sorry!

 

Agreed. I guess there will always be a better deal. Sigh...

 

So my biggest complaint - not of this laptop in particular but most laptops - is with the speakers. I was spoiled by the quality of my failing Toshiba Satellite. Just looking for something I can keep in the living room and use (wirelessly?) to get some better sound. Does anyone have anything similar they use for relatively small spaces, in-room speakers? Preferably not something I have to set up right next to the thing, since I use it on my lap often.

 

But they are usually business class laptops with better build quality. But for the price with all the upgrades I couldn't pass on the Sony. Hopefully the screen is more tolerable than my HP.

 

is there an email for sales support? can't find one on the webpage.

 

I tried to push it with the Live Chat but kept being told it was a website error that they are working on. I hope your order goes through for those cheap upgrades though lol (forgot who it was).

 

Here is an alternative to solve the problem of the crappy speakers...
Macally TUNEFAN 2.1 Stereo Speakers with Subwoofer and Cooling Fan | Best Laptop Coolers

 

does the blu-ray drive upgrade burn CD/DVD or not?

 

does the CB with "Fresh Start" have the Adobe bundled software? On one of the sony style pages I see:

but it doesn't specify which models. Or is the Sony® Imagination Studio™ Suite better anyways?

 

Yep, both. You have to pay more for the Blu-ray burner option (which also burns blu-rays), but would you really want that?

 

nah, just want to be able to burn a DVD when needed. Since it didn't specifically mention any burning capabilities I was a bit worried there for a sec.

 

It does mention it. When customizing, if you expand the "More info" for the drive, it has a little table that shows play/burn options for them all. It's confusing though.

I got the blu-ray and burned DVDs (for recovery media), so I can vouch for it.

 

So i just ordered my laptop and there site is having errors or mis-priced items or something because i got 8gigs of ram and it subtracted 20 dollars off the final price and upgraded windows 7 pro office pro and fresh start all for free!

 

Yeah, check a few posts back. I tried asking them, they claimed error. Hope your order goes through, might cancel it, might let you go through since it's on them. They wouldn't budge for me since I ordered on Saturday

 

yep, that's what made me pull the trigger today as well.

 

Hi!. Good news and Bad news for me today!
Bad News: after waiting for almost 17 business day on my CB order, they said i have to rebook my order due to system error.
Good News: I got a better deal, they credited my account for inconvenience.

I assembled my CB online.

Here's my confirmed Order:


Product: US-VPCCB190X-LBOM
Component: CD/DVD Player / Burner
Component: High capacity battery
Component: AMD Radeon™ HD 6630M (1GB VRAM) hybrid graphics with Intel® Wireless Display technology
Component: Fresh Start
Component: Norton Internet Security™ 2011 (3 year subscription)
Component: Sony® Imagination Studio™ Suite
Component: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333
Component: Intel® Core™ i5-2410M processor (2.30GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.90GHz
Component: 320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
Component: Microsoft® Office 2010 Professional
Component: Black
Component: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Component: 15.5" Full HD VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080)
Per Unit Price: $859.24
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $859.24
Description: VPCCB190X Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Expedited
Estimated Ship Date: 04/28/2011

Subtotal: $859.24
Tax:$53.81
Shipping Charges:$0.00

Order Total:$913.05

I also got the free Bloggie™ Touch Camera!!!!!!
They applied 10% on my order!!
WHAT A SAVINGS!!!

Cant Wait!!!!

 

congrats! I'm still peeved I couldn't get the Bloggie Touch on my order. Think I'm going to call and complain. They say I couldn't get the 10% off for extended warranty discount (education store) and the Bloggie Touch, however, I've combed the website and see no such restriction anywhere.

 

Congrats! Sounds like a great deal. I think you'll prefer it in black.

 

hahaha! yeah i guess so! my first and 2nd order was a mess. i hope this one will push trough. they will ship my order on or before end of april..
really a great deal! i also have $40 credit to my mastercard due to prolonged delay and inconvenience..

 

Thank you! i see you also got a great deal!

 

I got it in white, wanted a change from everything black. I still think both white and black look good though. Did anyone happen to order the C series laptop sleeve? Looks good...but $40? Ugh. Anyone have any recommendations for a 3rd party brand that would fit? Preferably someone who has the C already.

 

Just checked something... I wanted to do a fresh install and upgrade to 7 Ultimate but apparently there is no way to get only the drivers after a format. You can restore the whole system but you will end up with 7 Home again. After googling that, some people had the same problem and after contacting the support they were asked to pay to get a disc with the drivers. Some don't even want to buy a sony anymore because of that

 

is there no sony resource pre-installed for burning a drivers-only disc?

 

You CAN burn recovery discs, but when you put them in the drive and boot, it reinstalls the sytem to default with home again.

 

I did get the laptop sleeve. Fits nice and looks pretty slick! Figured I'd spend the money for a decent quality holder that I know will fit the laptop, since my current laptop backpack is barely hanging on by a thread. It's not a great deal, probably, but looks pretty nice!

 

Sounds good enough for me. Might as well get it, I don't plan on getting another lol. Ordered.

 

That's what I figured. Wouldn't be back on the Sony website again, so might as well do it now.

 

Hi guys, i just placed my order few hours ago for Black CB. I have a question, from the day you placed your order, did you receive an email saying that your vaio is being built?, my current order status is "Processing"... should it be "Your vaio is being built"??
Thanks guys.

 

It took a few hours. I was waiting for it anxiously as well. May have even been the next morning.

 

Sony's driver support definitely is below average in my book.

Side question: Does anyone know how to get dxdiag to recognize the AMD graphics card when it's enabled? I can only get it to acknowledge me having Intel HD Graphics.

 

Thanks sir. You received an email, or you saw it on sonystyle.com?? Okay i'll wait until tomorrow. if i didnt received a message that my vaio is being built, i'll call them right away.

 

Found a solution though. You use Driver Genius and backup the drivers before formatting and restore them afterwards. They are the same drivers for any versions of windows 7

 

still processing hope it goes through

 

There are no drivers downloads for this model on the Sony site.

So before formatting, make sure that you backup your drivers using DriverMax or DriverGenius & reinstall them afterwards.

I think even Windows Device manager would be able to pull drivers from the internet.

Also it is a good idea to note down the Device IDs & Vendor IDs of various devices.

 

I did a fresh install of Windows 7 for mine. You can find the drivers on the sony website Sony eSupport - VPCCB17FX/B - Software Updates & Drivers. This for the VPCCB17FX/B but you can find the other drivers as well.

 

There are drivers on that page for the model VPCC17FX/B but none for the VPCCB15FH (that's mine). Now I think that these drivers would probably work for mine anyway. The selected O/S is Home Premium for this model but they are the same drivers for any windows 7 including Ultimate and it's basically the same model so my guess is that they would probably work.

Device Manager is good to update drivers when there is an entry there, but if windows doesn't recognise the utility, you won't have any entries in Device Manager and since this is a new model a lot of drivers will be missing especially those like the WEB access button and these kind of utilities.

 

okay. i received an email that my vaio is being built. i hope no hassle this time.

 

same here. have an estimated ship date of 4/28, hopeful that it goes out sooner than that.

 

Also it looks like the glitch from yesterday has now been corrected. The same configuration that I got yesterday for $1106 now costs $1670 (most of it software though for Office Pro $350, however the 8GB ram is also $200).

Glad I jumped when I did!

 

Man that makes me regret of not waiting a couple of days to order mine, I spend $1279 with inferior ram(4gb) and win7... But good for you!... Did you talk with some somebody from cutomers service?, if I were you I would verify if the laptop is being built with those specs and without problems...

 

I ordered mine yesterday as well and got the 8 gig with the price glitched along with office pro and fresh start and received my being built email last night. Hope things all go through and doesn't back fire. But in reality its there fault and the price that we ordered and configured should go through.

 

I will call customer service -- but only to complain about not getting a free bloggie touch as well! I don't feel the need to call to verify the specs; I've received both an order confirmation and and order update (being built) that both detail all of the specs I chose. If it gets to me and its not right, they can either correct it or give me a full refund.

I seriously doubt they would cancel or try to correct these orders in any way. It was only for one day, and its not like we got the laptops for 80% off or anything.

 

Hey man with those specs at that price I wouldn't care if they give me or not a free camera lol....

 

hahaha! yes sir! me too! i maximized the specs yesterday yet low price! i thinks we're lucky!

 

I'm definitely not going to cancel or complain too loudly if I don't get the camera. But if a little bit of begging/complaining on the phone gets me a free camera, I'll definitely spend the few minutes of my time.

 

My coworker just got his shiny new XPS 15 today. I'm dying to get this Vaio in so I can compare. I was considering the XPS15 and the Latitude 5520 along with the Sony. Hope I made the right decision.

 

I agree! Our orders should go through. it's their fault.
I also heard that the sonystyle website has been hacked recently. i dont have the details, i'll google it.