Sony Vaio CB Official Owners' Thread

hmm, sony got me confused! i received a delay email from them, i emailed them back to ask if why my estimated ship date didnt change if there is a delay. Here is their reply:
"At this time, your order for the VPCCB190X Configure-to-Order laptop is ready for shipment, and the estimated ship date is April 28. As much as I would like to ensure the ship date of your order, I am unable to do so. Estimated ship date is an approximately only, and may still change, but we really can not confirm the date. Rest assured that we are working to fulfill your order as soon as possible. "

Hmmmmm, what do you think ScoobyDo and Reli?

 

If it's ready for shipment, why do they even need 6 days to send it out? Makes no sense at all.

 

exactly!...

 

I'll try to answer these as best I can.

1) Driver support (especially Sony's) for switchable graphics is very poor. I'm not expecting perfection from this at this point. But it seems card recognition issues are a problem particularly caused sony's locked-in bios settings. Far as I can tell CCC can enable the 6630M in most cases, but not for detection.

3) GTA 4 is the worst port ever. Seriously. It's coded horribly. Don't expect it to run well on anything.

4) Sony has locked out AMD drivers from being used on this system. (basically you can only update drivers when Sony decides to rubber stamp the drivers AMD released)

5) That's somewhat true.

6) Drivers would be an issue in this case.

7) I can't view the readout for the Radeon 6630M in dxdiag, which is annoying because it's having issues with some games. So basically there's a problem and I can't troubleshoot it.

 

Well i called them they said they will charge me when it is shipped...they told me the delay was because of out of stock components ? and if they have it they should ship it asap don't understand the reasoning for taking them so long.

 

Earthquake in Japan and nuclear disaster... It's causing most electronics manufacturers issues.

 

Sony computers aren't made in Japan anymore but in China

 

OMG. i received a delay email for my order. then i checked my status online, it says, PAYMENT PROCESSED... Wowowo.
Did you checked yours ScoobyDo? and Reli?

 

And you don't think there aren't at least a couple *components* made in Japan? I don't know, but I'm willing to bet it's affecting sony at least a little bit, regardless of where the laptops are 'assembled'.

 

Yep! On the main order page it say "Completed" for order status, and "Payment Processed" on the order page itself. I'm sure the payment processing is automated based on some order completion criteria so I definitely think its a good sign. Maybe it will get shipped before the 28th.

 

Yep! I agree to that. i'll take it as a good sign as well.
but, i remember they said they will only charge us if our order has been shipped... hmmm...

 

Most of the manufacturers have production lines in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China so chances are that the components in the computer are also made there.

 

Anyone knows a good 100% waterproof backpack to protect this beauty?

 

I think there's an effect to overall production of Vaio. Anyway.. but i preferred my vaio to be made from Japan, because Japanese electronics are great. it's the home home of the original vaios

 

The standards in Japan are by far much better than in China of course, but unfortunately, with competition on the market, manufacturers are trying to cut anywhere they can to be competitive and the result is that they go where manpower is the cheapest. One example, if you buy a Dell here in Thailand, you'll get one made in China, but if you cross the border and go to Malaysia, you'll get one made there in Malaysia and they are better quality than the ones from China. There is a "mini silicon valley" in Malaysia and without being a fully developed country, the standards are better there than in China. Conclusion I would also prefer having my Vaio made in Japan, but that I'm affraid won't happen anymore.

 

dont worry sir, vaio from China are also cool, i read that the vaio facility there uses the same engineering standards as Japan. Now that most of the sony production plants in japan halted, China is somewhat the PLAN B.

 

Yeap i'm seeing payment processed as well hoping it will arrive sooner then later.

 

i just bought a ssd, but i have no idea on how to actually install everything on there, when i put the ssd in the laptop, am i supposed to go to the BIOS and change any settings? also i created some recovery discs from vaio care, am i supposed to just use those discs and install windows on the ssd, would all the drivers be there or do i have to manually install all the drivers again?


what i plan to do is have the ssd as the primary os drive and take out the bluray drive and buy a caddy to put the original drive that came with the laptop in it and use that for storage

 

on a youtube video that i saw, the hdd was cloned to the ssd first using a software so that when you install the ssd, you dont have to install everything again.

you can also tey to use the recovery discs, im curios about that. hehehe

 

Im trying to overclock the AMD 6630M on my Sony CB but for some reason when i try running AMD overdrive it crashes (why would this happen on an AMD GPU??). Anybody know a way to overclock this GPU?

 

Another option would be to use O&O diskimage. I use it all the time to create an image of my O/S and recover everything in case of a messup. You can use it in the BIOS when booting with a disc that you create, and you've got many options like cloning your entire drive or checking disc etc.

 

i just burnt some recovery discs, i might try installing with the discs first, do you think i need to change any settings in the BIOS menu because its a different type of hard drive?

also i opened up my ram compartment to see what kind of ram i got, its weird, on the sonystyle site it clearly states "4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333 " but the ram i got in the laptop right now is Elpida 2GB 2Rx8 PC3-10600S-9-10-F1 DDR3 Ram


isnt it supposed to be 1333 not 1066? im not too happy about getting a slower type of ram

 

This laptop is seriously locked-down in terms of hardware, I'd think overclocking would be near impossible at current time.

 

My guess is that when you install the O/S again it will recognize the new drive and install everything needed. You may have to check the boot priority in the BIOS afterwards. Concerning the RAM, I will probably upgrade to 2X4GB Kingston. The fact that the O/S is 64 bit means that you can use more RAM for better performance and you're not limited to 4GB like the 32 bit.

PS: Here is a guide on how to do it. They suggest you to use Acronis true image in there, I personally use O&O diskimage which I think is better.

http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/how-to-install-ssd-in-your-laptop-2010025/

 

i just talked to a sony rep online and told them about how they gave me the wrong ram, he told me to call the sonystyle place to get it replaced asap but they are closed right now, everyone that has this laptop, i suggest you guys check if they gave you guys the correct 1333mhz ram instead of the 1066mhz ram

he also told me that if you switch out the hard drive it voids your warranty, i find that hard to believe, i already opened the hard drive compartment and removed my harddrive and there is no warranty sticker or anything so im not sure how they would know you switched it out in the first place, i think you could just swap it with your original hard drive if you need to send it in for a repair so they wont know

 

You realise that your RAM is in fact 1333mhz don't you? Here is the spec sheet:
http://www.elpida.com/eolpdfs/E1642E30.pdf

You really should know what you are talking about before accusing people of making mistakes and causing extra work for others. And did you even once bother to check what speed your memory was running at before running to support?

"Today's DDR3-1333 has a peak bandwidth of 10666 MHz, which can be improperly rounded down and called PC3-10600, rounded up to be called PC3-10700 or stated without rounding as PC3-10666 depending on the manufacturer's desires.

Buyers will find that searching some venders for multiple DDR3-1333 brands will require them to check all three "ratings" to view modules of the same actual speed, but most brands label their DDR3-1333 products as either PC3-10600 or PC3-10666."
- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ddr3-1333-speed-latency-shootout,1754.html


As for installing an SSD, it is very easy. Just create restore media, take out the HDD, shove in the SSD. You dont even have to do things like changing the boot order because the C series boots from CD first. Be warned though that restoring from DVD takes AGES...

But it is very, very worth it. My green C is super fast.

 

thanks for making it clear, i was talking to a rep asking him if switching out the hard drive would void the warranty and just asked him about the ram too since i was already talking to him and he was the one that told me they put in the wrong ram, i guess he was wrong, i dont have to call the sonystyle division then. he said switching out the hard drive voids the warranty but i dont see how they would know

are you running another hard drive in the dvd bay? if so do you have to change anything in the BIOS? if the cd drive boots first then how do make it so that the ssd would boot first instead?

 

You should always have your BIOS configured to boot from the DVD first in the priority and your hard drive 2nd. The way it works is that when you boot, your BIOS will look in the DVD first to see if there is a bootable media (Disc) and if it's the case will then ask you if you want to boot from the disc. If there is no disc in your DVD it will automaticly switch to the second priority which is your hard drive. Now if you set your BIOS to boot directly to your HDD or SSD first, then you will never have the option to boot from your disc. Hope I made it understandable.

PS: Concerning the installation of your SSD, what the "newbie" told you is exactly what I told you earlier. You need to create an image of your drive first (that is a restore media) and to do that you'll need or Acronis true image or O&O Diskimage. And by the way it's much faster with O&O than Acronis (I've tried both).

 

That is a good question...

I am planning to replace the DVD with the HDD that came out of it, but the boot order might be an issue. I have looked in the bios, it is really locked down and I cant remember if it allows changing the boot order. I'll have to check this.

 

An image takes a snapshot of a drive, including all the programs you install, all your files, everything. The recovery discs you can create are not an image. They only include software that was shipped with the laptop and will not copy any of your personal files over, or reflect any software changes you have made. It is essentially a reinstall of windows.

What I said and what you are saying are two quite different things.

 

And which is better? Using the recovery discs that you created from sony and having to reinstall everything of your own afterwards, or creating an image and having your computer exactly the way it was before?

 

Are you sure of what you're doing there? Never heard about replacing a DVD with a HDD? You'll need a DVD sooner or later anyway for installing softwares or O/S. Why don't you buy an external case? I bought one here that cost me 10 bucks. Now to start the BIOS you need to press F2 when booting. I still haven't received mine but I hope that sony hasn't blocked the access to the BIOS with some kind of passwords at least? That would be terrible.

PS: Can anyone check if the BIOS is locked? If it's the case I think I will cancel my order.

 

guys i have a question
i am really puzzled between getting me one of those or a pavillion from hp

the make of break point for me is the battery
how long juice are you getting and from what type of battery ?

 

Well I'm still waiting for mine but what I can tell you is that all the new laptops equiped with the sandy bridge processor are supposed to be more "energy efficient" due to the fact that the processor gives you the power that you need only when you need it. But of course if you play heavy games you'll run at full power and pump the juice out in no time. HP Pavillionis a good choice too but if you look for reliability over 3 years here is something that you might be interested on...
The Most Reliable Laptop Survey

 

i think i know what i will do, yeah you press f2 and the BIOS will pop up, alot of people buy a hard drive caddy that would fit into the dvd slot to use two hard drives, i have a 128gb ssd and i dont think its going to be able to hold all my music and stuff so im going to use the 500gb hard drive that came with the laptop for storage, its easier for me because i dont have to always have a external hd plugged into the computer, i bought a dvd enclosure for the bluray player that came with my laptop so i can just connect it to the computer when i need it, i barely use the optical drive anyways

i think im just going to make the computers boot sequence to the ssd first then the external device since the optical drive isnt going to be in the laptop, i dont know how its going to be though since theres two hard drives in the laptop so i will have to wait until all of my parts are shipped to me to find out how everything really is, you can always change the boot sequence again if you need to boot up with the optical first

 

Ok I see your point now. That makes sense. Have you checked if you have access to the BIOS? I've seen some computers that had the access to the BIOS blocked with a password before. Acer did that here with a model that had a defect in the finger scan touchpad and that they were trying to sell through department stores without telling people about it. Nice from them!

PS: Let me know if your configuration works later. I may do the same thing if it does. I already have my SSD and I'm waiting for the laptop to be shipped.

 

yes, press f2 to see BIOS it isnt blocked by a pw

 

I haven't told my story on this forum up to now and I don't know if someone is really interested in reading it but in any case here it is...
When I decided to go for the CB model, I had a look a some Sony websites around the world and noticed that the "default configuration" of Sony that you find in Sony Style Shops were different from one country to another. As an example if you buy it here in Thailand, you get a DVD drive only and 500GB HDD. In singapore, you get a blu-ray drive and so on. Since we don't have the option of "build your computer" here, I asked some Sony Style shops if it was possible to upgrade? The answer was "no it isn't possible" of course. So I decided to go straight to the Sony head office and see if I would have a better luck there. After taking a number and waiting to see a rep. I sat in front of her and told her what I was there for. She said " no problems I'll be with you in a minute". That sounded promising. But when she asked the lady that was walking behind her the question, that lady said to me "I'm sorry but it isn't possible to upgrade" I think I've heard that before? I tried to tell her that it didn't make sense that you get more in the neighboring country and can't even upgrade here but there was nothing to do. When I came back home, I decided to have a look at Sony Canada just for fun. Strange that I forgot to check there because that's where I come from. What I noticed is that they also offer a blu-ray drive and 640GB drive instead of 500GB for the exact same price I was paying here. That's it I will order it from Canada and have it shipped here then. No, No, No, it isn't possible either. Sony Canada is for people living in Canada not in Thailand! Sony refers me to Sony Global that refers me to Sony Thailand. I'll go crazy with that. Finally to make a long story short, I bought it online in Canada and had it shipped to my brother's house who will ship it to me here as soon as he gets it. Shipping Date is Tuesday the 26. That's it...hope my story wasn't too boring

 

:confused2:

 

True. But the bios is still VERY limited, as in a lot of basic settings are not even in the bios.

 

Well it depends. If you have already begun using your laptop and have it setup the way you want then an image will save lots of time. But if you have just bought it then basically both the recovery discs and the image will restore the laptop to the same state.

Keep in mind though that to create an image you will need another HDD (connected) to copy the image to. For the recovery discs you will need 3 DVDs.


Re the HDD replacing the DVD, the only time I have used optical media in the past few years was to create those recovery discs. I download every program and use a USB where I cant. I really have no need for optical media. What I do have a need for is a place to store my music collection which is much larger than I thought (wont fit on my 120GB SSD). I am currently using an external HDD but windows media player (still the best at organizing a music collection) does not seem to play nice with external HDDs.

 

You said that WMP doesn't seem to play nice with external drives. I personally use iTunes with my WD external and haven't got any problems? I mainly have most of my music @320kbps though. Just figured out that I have 3030GB (over 3TB) of external storage and according to iTunes 207.25GB of music that I should backup actually. I'll have to figure out my desktop one of these days. That's a bit off topic I guess... sorry guys.

 

Hey ScoobyDo and Reli, i already have my FedEx Tracking number for my Vaio.
and they followed my glitched configuration.
Check yours

 

The problem is that whenever I reopen WMP all the music from the external HDD is gone. Depending on its mood it will slowly add it again to the library on each start. It is very annoying.

 

Yep, mine is scheduled for delivery on Thursday. Can't wait!

 

In Canada everything is closed until Tuesday because of Easter. My estimate delivery date is Tuesday and I paid an extra $10 for Express Delivery 1 or 2 days they say. Then after that Montreal-Bangkok. Don't know when I'll get it?

 

Yup my computer shipped today and it will be here on Thursday with the glitched configuration as well not bad for spending around 1k with tax for 8 gigs and w7 with office pro !!!

 

Alright! Me, i took the Norton Internet Security (3yr subscription), 8GB RAM, Office 2010 Pro, Windows 7 Pro, and Fresh Start for Free!! (i think $20 on the RAM). What an incredible Savings for me! Cant Wait!

 

Ordered mine the 16th, estimated ship date is tomorrow (free 2 day delivery, so Thurs).

 

I called, I ordered and I finally bought it...

Hi all,

I just got my black VPCCB16FG and it looks cool. I wish I could've gotten the white one. But there's only 1 color available.
Here are my questions:
1. As expected from new laptops, there are loads of bloatware installed by the manufacturer. Do you guys uninstall all of them or leave them be?
2. Do I really need to create recovery disks? I understand they are important to recover the laptop to factory settings (default). But if I restore the laptop using these disks would that mean the bloatware from Q1 will also be installed?
3. Did I mention that the black looks really cool?

Thanks