Sony Vaio Duo 13 Owners Thread

hey guys i have a question.
is it possible that somebody can upload the recovery Image? i cleaned my HDD and delete my Partition and my recovery usb stick doesn´t work.

thank so much for you help

regards

 

Have you updated the drivers to the latest version? I was having some of these issues before I did, but now it works perfectly.

 

Hi, can anybody compare the Vaio Duo 13 to a Lenovo T440? Thanks

 

My drivers were up to date according to the vaio update program. I reinstalled and noticed the issue was not present with the old touchpad driver so now I'm hunting for the old driver to get it back.

** so it turns out the sony update program just de-installed the synaptics driver so I was driverless so to speak, the latest driver from sony website is working fine.

 

I've got an issue. I often keep multiple File Explorer windows open (working things back and forth or opening several files from multiple locations - trust me I have a business need). The problem is that when I have 2 open and try to select one from the task bar, it flashes up on the top for a split second and then drops below the other open windows. I have to minimize everything else that's open to get to the window. If I only have one file explorer window open, it works perfectly. I can select the window and it pops right up and stays on top.

Ideas?

 

Btw for those interested in how the DUO 13 handles diablo 3 (I have the i7 intel 5000 graphics)...well it doesn't. Low res, low settings, and I get 5 fps in battles. (this on an external lcd with hdmi) will try just the tablet but I don't expect it to be much different.

 

How about dropping the resolution? There are quite a few videos of the new Macbook Air with HD5000 running Diablo 3 at low settings and they look playable. Of course the resolution is lower...

 

Well, my custom build arrived today. So, far I'm very pleased with the device. My wifi seems to be working OK. I compared it with an old Samsung S7 tablet and the Sony had more bars?! I have two issues that I could use some help on:

1. In the touch keyboard, one of the keyboard layouts is greyed out (2nd from right) this is the virtual keyboard with the numbers displayed across the top. - How can I activate and select this one?
2. The login face recognition application is annoying. How can it be disabled?

 

swipe from charms menu, settings, change pc settings, general, scoll down to keyboard check off the one to add that keyboard., make standard kb avail.

 

Afternoon all,

I am replacing my Vaio SA3 and I am leaning towards the duo 13. I have read all the paged in this thread and still have a few questions. I hope that someone will be kind enough to answer the following for me:

1- There has been a lot of talk about the Wi-Fi issue, is it still present in the machines that have arrived (custom build) within last few days? (whilst talking to the Sony Uk sales, I was told that they have tweaked something in the new machines, but I know that sales people have their own pressures to shift the units and to meet targets)

2- Does Adobe Acrobat standard comes loaded (full version, not the trial version)? If yes, which one?

3- With regards to using the digitiser to take notes, would that work with the word 2010 (part of Office 2010 professional, with or without a patch) or would I have to get a more up to date version of office software?

4- My SA has a terrible problem with the fan going mad for no reason and making too much noise, what is the fan like on duo 13?

5- My current SA is black and is terrible for finger marks, what is the black version of Duo like? (marks on the other parts apart from the screen)..

Thank you in advance for your replies.

 

I don't have any idea if this will work on this machine, but N-trig has a Wintab driver for some computers.
Downloads & Drivers - N-trig
Select Windows 7 64 bit, HP, Touchsmart TX2
The installer doesn't seem to be specific for a particular model. I'd try it, but my Vaio Duo 13 won't be in for another week or so. This does work on my HP.

 

Hi all,

If someone could answer a few quick questions regarding the Duo 13, I'd really appreciate it:

Does anyone have the SVD132190X Enhanced?

Is the pricing on the SVD132190X Enhanced pretty good for what it's worth (i7-4650, hd 5000) at $1880 (tax included)?

How does the SVD132190X Enhanced run games like Battlefield 3, Sims 3, etc?

Thanks! This will be mostly a study/work laptop, but I do like to play games from time to time

 

Sims will may work, but I think that you cant play BF3 on this machine. You have to know that this isnt a gaming notebook. It has battery optimized CPU with 15W. If you want to play, dont buy it

 

As my previous post said, everything on low and I mean LOW. The only way I could get like 20 dps was to run it windowed in a 600x600 or so box.

My guess is the cpu not being able to run at max speed. The power options don't let you change it so it's always throttling down. I haven't looked at options to getting around this since I have other issues.

This is not a gaming laptop. A good alternative is the clevo/sager 13" as a replacement.

 

So I really really like this laptop so far. However maybe I'm trying to do too much with it. I have it attached to a belkin usb 3.0 windows 8 tablet dock with dual video and I have my 24" connected via HDMI to unit and the 22" LCD hooked up to the display port on the dock.

The problem is whenever I have ANY usb 3.0 devices hooked up to the laptop, be it the belkin dock or a usb 3.0 hard drive, the laptop starts to act weird, freezes every once in a while and bluetooth media streaming to my stereo is all jittery and messed up.

If I disconnect the usb 3.0 devices, problem solved. This problem can easily be reproduced if you plug in a usb 3.0 hard drive, transfer a ton of files while you stream audio (via youtube/soundcloud/local disk).

Anyone ran into this? So far I'm really like this guy as a single unit to not carry a tablet around. Colors are great, battery is great, etc.

I am using it with vmware to run other OSs, coding, and entertainement.

 

Early versions of the haswell chipset has an usb 3.0 bug, there is supposed to be a software fix, dont know if it has been posted yet, maybe that`s your problem.

EDIT: It`s supposedly related to sleep mode, so use hibernate or shutdown, if this is the reason for your usb 3.0 problems until it`s fixed.

John.

 

Thanks for the info. I just saw some youtube videos with hd 4400 and i7's running CS:GO and other games pretty well so I thought I would inquire. Well, it'll be for the better anyways. More studying and less distractions ha

 

Did you run it plugged in? I believe it won't throttle down if plugged in. In fact, it can run higher than 15 watts due to Intel's cTDP (configurable thermal design power) when plugged in. I think how's the Duo gets higher than usual benchmark results on some reviews due to this.

 

Has anyone else tested this method ? Please share your experience to see if this really work. I'm expecting my duo13 very soon. Thanks and really hope this method could help everyone

 

a little bit better. The internet doesn't disconnect all the time right now.
But it's still unacceptable for a $1400 machine which isn't able to watch live stream.

 

They should have put an Intel N 6235 in like the Duo 11 or better, why did they go with broardcom, is it a wifi/bluetooth/3g combo card or something.

John.

 

I got the Dou 13(i7-4500, 8, 256) last Saturday and I like it. It feels snappy, its silent, the screen is beautiful and in general the thing just looks good I'm not gamer, but I have Need for Speed and the Duo does fine in 1080p medium settings, although it has to blow a little air now.

I had bad wifi too - only took down 2-3 mbit out of 25 - and didn't know how to solve it. I called the support and they had only heard form one other in my country about the wifi, but they would look into it. Later i got informed that they would have a fix for Wednesday next week. I called the store were I bought it and got an agreement with them, that I could return it and get a refund if the fix wouldn't help it and the machine didn't have any scratches. So I thought I better clean it up and see how to reset it, to be prepared for returning it. So I tried a full system reset in the "assist" thing and when got back in again, after setting up Windows, I suddenly had wifi full working 23-25 mbit. I don't know why, but resetting the system somehow solved it for me. I know it sounds too simple and easy, but maybe people should try it.

About the pen. Which painting/drawing programs works with the pens pressure sensitivity? I tried Fresh Paint, but the pressure sensitivity isn't good in it. You really have to press hard to get some paint on the canvas.

 

I have the Duo 11 and it also has simlar wifi problems. There's a long thread on an intel forum about Intel N 6235 dropouts, so I'm not the only one. It's fine when I'm close to the router but temperamental at a distance.

 

I am not far from my router, but i have not had an any disconnections and i have had the duo 11 for 5 weeks, i always instal the lastest drivers.

John.

 

Diablo3: yep it was plugged in.

Wifi: I get decent performance if I keep the top left corner (where is says sony) upright, so if it's in portrait mode the "sony" corner is up and to the right. I tried a mini wifi usb adapter and it was actually worse, I tried a "on networks" 150mbit one.

Bluetooth: well it pretty much sucks. With other laptops with the broadcom chip you can download the drivers from their website and it usually fixes it/ makes it better. I can't seem to get windows 8 to use the broadcom driver instead of the windows provided one.

My sony z phone streams bluetooth perfectly to my stereo, headphones, etc. the duo 13 unfortunately not =\

USB3: I indeed have the C1 stepping (the one with the problem), I'm assuming in a few months models will include the fixed chip, can't fix this with firmware. my usb 3 drive disconnects randomly on top of the issues I already mentioned. So if you are going to run a full usb 3 setup with dock, hard drive etc. Wait till they work out the problems, don't buy just yet.

I love how light it is, easy for reading. Took it with me to a coffee shop and it performed beautifully. I'm a huge fan and will buy one later or an updated duo 11. For now though, as a single device to be my main pc, tablet, note taker this is a fail. I will be returning it. For ~3k it should be able to stream bluetooth and not have usb issues.

 

Hey John,

Do you have any issues with usb or bluetooth on your DUO 11? I may pick one up in the interim.

 

How does the NFC work? I've tried tapping my galaxy s3 on the NFC logo to transfer a photo on the back but nothing happens

 

How do you connect to a 1440p external monitor?

Thanks.

 

Sorry do you mean problems with usb 3.0, if so i have only used usb 2.0 gadgets without a problem, and i have not use the bluetooth yet.

EDIT: just tried my Sony bluetooth MW600 headset and it works fine as far as i can tell, track forward back, and pause, i also tried my HTC One M7, i can send photo`s to my photo, but not from my phone to my notebook for some reason it keeps failing, but i think it`s a phone not an notebook problem.

Also my logitech bluetooth mouse works fine as well.

John.

 

HDMI works fine?

 

Thanks. I had thought that HDMI is limited to 1080p output and that most people use DP for 1440p, but the Duo doesn't have DP.

 

The HDMI 1.3+ Specification allows up to 1440p, but most Monitors restrict 1440p access through HDMI port and defer to the use of DisplayPort for anything higher than 1080p. (due to bandwidth)

If you have your monitor's model number, then it'd be more helpful to provide you with a better answer.

 

Afternoon all,

I am replacing my Vaio SA3 and I am leaning towards the duo 13. I have read all the paged in this thread and still have a few questions. I hope that someone will be kind enough to answer the following for me:

1- There has been a lot of talk about the Wi-Fi issue, is it still present in the machines that have arrived (custom build) within last few days? (whilst talking to the Sony Uk sales, I was told that they have tweaked something in the new machines, but I know that sales people have their own pressures to shift the units and to meet targets)

2- Does Adobe Acrobat standard comes loaded (full version, not the trial version)? If yes, which one?

3- With regards to using the digitiser to take notes, would that work with the word 2010 (part of Office 2010 professional, with or without a patch) or would I have to get a more up to date version of office software?

4- My SA has a terrible problem with the fan going mad for no reason and making too much noise, what is the fan like on duo 13?

5- My current SA is black and is terrible for finger marks, what is the black version of Duo like? (marks on the other parts apart from the screen)..

Thank you in advance for your replies.

 

1920x1200 works fine on my Duo with a Dell U2413...

 

What is C1 stepping? After reading your post, I became rather concerned as there seems like there is an ever increasing list of what seem like critical issues for the Duo 13. And so I thought I'd see for myself what the issue was before deciding what to do.

I've been listening to music off of a USB 3 flash drive via Bluetooth headphones all morning and haven't run across any issues with either yet (music has been playing fine, the thumb drive has never disconnected on its own, and the headphones have been pretty rock solid as well - with full Bluetooth remote control of the music playback).

Is there something else I should be doing to test for these issues?

As for WiFi, I posted earlier that I was getting pretty decent performance from my Duo 13. I've since tried it in a few more challenging locations (relative to the access point), and while I have noticed the signal strength being displayed is definitely weaker than that for another device I was using in comparison (2 bars as opposed to full for my other device), I also noticed that the actual performance of the other device wasn't all that great (not scientific mind you, just observing how much longer it took to do simple things like connect to/open a website). Which actually makes me wonder about what the other device is reporting/displaying in terms of signal strength.

-DH

 

The stepping code in this case identifies which of the CPUs are affected in Intel's press release. Intel so far has admitted it's a sleep issue but I'm willing to be there's more to it.

In my case if I plug in any USB 3 device and block the duo13's line of site to my stereo receiver (a hand will do, waving it in front of the unit) audio will begin to stutter and mess up (buffer issue). My receiver is like 8 ft away. With the headphones or receiver and no usb3 devices plugged in, it works, however it once in a while skips and the range on the headphones is bad.

I compared this to streaming with my sony z android phone which streams everything well and with good range.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone. Just ordered my duo 13. Hopefully the WiFi issue is fixed within the next week and a half but I'll keep my phone handy to tether just in case.

 

What's the best price and place to buy a Duo 13 stylus (exact same as OEM with clip and all) and extra power adapter?

 

Hi everyone, do you know how to prevent the Duo 13 from stop playing music when you go into sleep mode or even just screen off after x minutes? My Android devices keeps playing music during sleep and my old Win 7 notebook had a button to turn the screen off, but everything is still working.
The Vaio duo has a very minimalistic power options menu. Since the screen eats most of the battery it would be awesome if you could just turn the screen off and let the PC still manage processes.
Edit:
I figured it out that the windows music app and the sony music app will play music in sleep mode, but I like to know how it works with desktop application such as vlc or winamp.

And something else that is a pain:
The screen keeps dimming or brighten itself although I disabled dimming after x minutesin power optiions and I also disabled the auto brightness in windows 8 setting? Anyone else getting this issue?
It"s pretty random but pretty often, sometimes it adjusts the screen brightness when I'm using the touchpad?

Another thing that bugs me is that the accuracy while browsing (chrome) is sometimes not very high. Even if there is only one button (link) and I hitting that button like 5 times, nothing happens (like the save button on this website after editing a post). It's even worser if there are a lot of links. My Galaxy Note has a feature that if it's note sure which link you pressed (chrome) it pops up the links and and ask you again to choose the right link before proceeding.

 

Hey guys, do you know if Sony is selling a smart battery for the duo 13 like they have for the duo 11, pro 11/13, s13 ??

@wurstt
just go to intel graphics, and disable display energy saving there.

 

I dont think they do, as the 13`s have very good battery life anyway, us 11`s owners need all the help we can get , nah i love my 11

John.

 

Well, my custom Duo 13 shipped from Japan and will arrive on Friday morning in time for the long weekend. I'm very excited.

 

how many days from being built to shipped? my status changed to being built on Monday, i think i won't get it before long weekend, my estimate ship date is sep 17, i don't think it will take this long either

 

Here's my timeline

Ordered: 8/13
Estimated Shipping: 8/29
"Being built" email: 8/21
Actual shipping: 8/27

 

Thanks for the great thread, if I may ask a couple of questions:

1- Can not seem to use the eraser with the pen.. my finger erases but the pen doesn't, I press the side button but nothing happens. Just like when I choose the pencil tool nothing is drawn.
2- Can I disable hand touch and only enable pen touch?
Looking forward to your reply

 

Has anyone tried replacing the hard drive? Would love to hear how easy/difficult this is to do.

Thanks!

 

thanks for sharing, i would expect it to be shipped early next week

 

I haven't owned a Vaio in years and am very interested in the Pro 13. Are there ever discounts or deals on Vaios? I've been looking for some time, and other than some deals back in July, I haven't seen anything on the Vaio Pro 13

 

The door to the Pro 13 owner's lounge is down that way

 

There's a deal on the stock customizable i7-4650, hd5000, 256gb, 8gb that brings it down lower than the price of the i7-4600, hd4400, 256gb, 8gb (unless you're a student; then this price will still be ~$100 lower... I thought the upgraded processor and hd5000 was worth it, meh).