Sony X Series Official Owners Thread

@xxGenericSNxx: Yes I do, nice guess

@dariusf: I know those people too, same opinion here. We currently have a lot of people using their iPhones despite they have a camera. They keep it in their pocket, use headsets, risky but okay. Just with my Laptop standing on my desk all day while the head of IT-Security walks by every half an hour... Haven't seen one of the internal employees with personal notebooks yet, but I'm a consultant so I'm allowed. (We are even allowed to take the company notebooks home).

@jdbrookes: Even USB is allowed here, we have Wireless Lan,
but I think that is the differente between cars and money...

So, I'll try to remove it today, will keep you informed...

 

Not moving a millimeter after removing the screws... Any idea if there are two more under the round rubber on the top left & right on the screen?

 

The rubbers look transparent. The other vaio I removed the plastic from did have screws under the rubber pads but the pads were gray and not transparent. Might want to try a CC or some thin plastic to open it up. Like what you have to do with an ipod to change the battery. Perhaps you can hunt down a service manual for the X that would details how to open it up. Did you try to contact sony service dept? Not sure if they would be willing to help you.

 

check page 11, you might need to remove the plastic around the keyboard as well. Its not for the X but thats all I could find for now

http://home.comcast.net/~nw_systems/vgnA.pdf

 

[Vaio X Teardown (6)] Display Unit Thinner Than Expected -- Tech-On!
Sony Vaio X dissected, high price explained

maybe you will get some ideas

 

Wow, great you found that. Though it didn't work, it really seems that those two screws on the bottom of the display are the only ones. I cannot see any attachment that would suggest I had to remove the keyboard etcetera. Think I'll give it another shot plus try to contact the guys behind this posting.

Thanks a lot!
Martin

 

there have to be some clips holding the plastic around the screen. I would try carefully separate it open with some plastic sharp edge tool like opening the ipod.

 

hi everyone, i was just wondering if anyone knew about the status of the X? has the X series definitely been discontinued? even in japan? much thanks.

 

Hi. I recently installed a clean copy of Windows 7. I am not able to use the gps/verizon 3g now and wanted to know if anyone has a recovery disc or know of a place to purchase one? Thank you for your time.

 

You don't need recovery discs. What model number Vaio do you have? You can find your drivers online for the 3g functionality.

 

hello, ive had my signature black vaio x for a few months now and im pleased to annouce I am very happy and impressed each time i pick it up.

I was just wandering however if someone new any source of pictures taken of someones x with the skins on the website SGP Sony Vaio X Series Laptop Skin Guard Set Series - X Series - Sony - Laptops apart from the pcitures already on there!

Also, I wasnt aware they released a silver signature edition. Does any one know of a source online for someones pics of their silver edition as I would like to see it. Im currently interested in the black leather skin for mine or possibly the brown but having seen sony's page picture of the silver vaio x every part of me wants to combine it with the brown leather skin as I thing it would be absoutely amazing. what do you think? that combination could present the best looking ultraportable, stunning laptop in the world...hmmm would i go as far as selling my vaio x to find a silver one....hehe maybe......what do people think?,,,,,(editited here) i have just noticed a white leather skin,,no picture on website so if someone could quote me should they run into pics on the internet,,,this could well be a beautiful match with a silver edition too


ps, on another point
i bought minesecond hand, has a few scratches thats why imopting for a black leather skin although i think it would look better with the skin even if i hadnt had scratches, I wasnt aware my particular model didnt come with a sim slot,,,i dont mind as i woudnt use it anyway,,,as its better to use your phone as a modem rather than pay extra! also does anyone have any suggestions for cleaning the screen?

ps I have just seen the panasonic j10 review ! what do people think of this? i like the idea ofthat ipod style scrolling and that it has i3 dual processor,,,lets face it there is hope that it will be quiter than the sometimes annoying fan on the vaio x. despite the panasonics thickness it will undoubtedly get the job done. hmm.thoughts? double the rpice i payed for my vaio x at 922GBP and as i use the high capacity extended battery all the time,,as i dont have any other battery i cant really comment further from here! we're talking my 15 hours use i get to 11 hours with the panasonic,,,so i dont really think it is worth paying an extra 400 at the stage just to have a nice and faster scroll in excel for example when running more applications(adobe etc).....what do peope think? maybe somone here with more computer knowledge could havve some valuableinput should in the fuututre i seriously consider swapping to the beefed panasonic. oh yes one more thing,,,i think,,although cant rally be bothered this late,,thatpanasonic i3 is about 2.5-2.83 callit 2.5 lbs(pounds) in weight as i think that will be its baseon the i3 over i5 processoor,, and i get 2.3 pounds say with extended battery, so vaio x still owns i think in that cattagory,,seems nothing can really compete then...or seems not?

thanks, enjoy [written from vaio x VPCX115KX, signature black/gold/non-gloss]

 

I have dissassembled my screen a couple of times to try to fix and to replace a broken lcd (which had several dead pixels and eventually cracked due to uncareful dissassembly). I have also dissassembled my unit entirely. it is not that hard if you are calm and don't rush.

there are only two screws. everything else is fit in place by pressure clips. I would recommed from the bottom to the top, using a plastic tool to avoid damaging the finish of the covers. Do each side a little and go to the other side. Also, be extremely careful not to bend the fore and aft covers too much. Otherwise you will end up like me with a cracked lcd.

regards,

 

I installed WIN7 SP1 and my fan ran constantly. I ended up uninstalling the update. Has anyone else experienced the same issues?

 

does anyone know if you leave the extended battery 8200Mah on its own,,not attached to the laptop and for that matter the 4100mah aswell does its battery drain,,,,,i read somewehre its negligeable but i dont know. I never got a 4100 battery as i bought it second hand and im considering buying teo 4100 and selling the 8200 so i would interchange the 4100 and keep one charged when at night.

i speak as a fanboy i would like to announce and this machine i incredible,,,,,also,,,come on nobody got any pics of silver vaio x ??

 

Hello, my impression is SP1 made my Vaio X somewhat unresponsive. Can anyone confirm this for his Vaio X?

If you intend to install SP1, you may want to run a benchmark before / after.

(This is NOT about a short-term slow-down immediately after SP1 installation, the PC has been running for days since then.)

If find internet browsing especially unresponsive, but cannot definitely track it down to the SP1 upgrade. It may also be due to the combination of SP1 with Opera 11.01 / resp. Internet Explorer 9 RC 1.

I have been using the excellent tabbed IE-based browser TheWorld 3.3 until now, but this browser has become unusable since SP1 (unresponsiveness). (TheWorld browser's programmers are currently looking into this.)

So, some feedback would be much appreciated. =) I think effects, of whatever kind, of SP1 may be particularly strong on Atom systems due to scarcity of resources (?).

I may be uninstalling SP1 in a week or two, to see if things go back to a better situation then. Be informed that I have had all other hotfixes and updates installed already, before upgrading.

Good luck!

Matthias

 

For those using Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7:

There is a hack going around that allows you to force IE9 to use graphics acceleration for browsing (currently with the GMA500 the option is greyed out in IE settings).

I've tested IE9 with and without the hardware acceleration, and it turns out there's a very good reason why it's turned off; graphics acceleration in IE9 with the GMA500 sucks . Laggy and quite unstable. I'm sure the less-than-mature state of the GMA500 drivers is at fault.

Despite that, IE9 (final version) is a great browser and works very well with the Vaio X. Combined with the latest release of Flash, browser video playback (both SD and HD) works much better now than it did a year ago with older versions of both IE and flash. Highly recommended, and a better option on the X than Firefox 4.

 

Hi forum! I've read literally every post of this forum - I guess I'm excited about being a new X owner. This thing blows me away every time I pick it up - it's really something that has to be experienced firsthand.

The only thing that got me down about my X was the battery drain issue. That is until I decided to do a test of my own!

Just so everything's straight, I have a 115kx - that's 128GB SSD, 2Ghz processor, and Gobi wwan card (which is off - pretty much always). I have cleaned bloatware (just the useless stuff) and turned off win7 services that I'll never use (a la Black Viper - "safe" configuration). Power management is set to balanced and battery care is enabled with 80% as max charge.

I have both the S and X batteries and used 24-hour periods for the tests. I charged them overnight then unplugged at 6AM, the next morning (24hrs later) booting them up at 6AM.

Results after 24 hours idle, battery attached.
S - 80 percent charge on boot, but then quickly (within 60 seconds) dropped to 78%
X - 80 percent charge on boot, with no quick drop

So - no REAL battery drain here - at least not 10-15% like some people experienced. I wonder if charging to only 80% made the difference, so I'm going to turn off battery care function for next test, charge to 100% and I'll tell you how it goes.

 

Sony Style is selling the Sony X for $699. I know, unrealistic but true.

https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...52921666191285

Use coupon "VAIOX300" to bring it down from $999 to $699.

 

His link didn't work, but it's true! @sonystyle $999 minus $300 promotion code = $699 for an X! Considered buying a 2nd...for a second.

 

Considering how much I paid for it in 2009: heartbreaking!

For anyone else buying it for the first time: bargain!

 

i don't know if the code still works, can someone verify?

it says: "Promotion "AFF Promo VAIO 46" is temporarily not available at this time"

 

Not sure about promo being still valid, but the online agent just confirmed that VAIO X had been discontinued. Just heads up for those who still want it new - here's the link

VPCX131KX/B | VAIO® X Series Laptop | Sony | Sony Style USA

 

yea i just got off the phone with an agent and they said the promo code ended last night, apparently it ran from 3/17 to 3/26

oh well guess i need to keep looking

 

Is that really correct that the VPCX115KX/B has SATA interface while the other models have PATA interface?

And if it does have SATA, does it really make a difference performance-wise?

Also, is X still viable machine now for light computing usage vs other new lightweight current model laptops out there?

 

Yes, the promotion is over. Sorry if you missed out. I got mine used soo... didn't pay much

Earlier in this thread that was discussed - you would think that SATA has an advantage over PATA, but the MoBo in the X has no SATA support. In order to bypass this, there is an SATA adapter in older models that actually slows down HDD performance compared to PATA hdds. Interesting, and sad for those of us with SATA drives

Back to the battery drain tests - I got some more results. When turning OFF battery care and charging to 100% on the S (2-cell 2050mAh battery) I lost 8% in a 24 hour idle period.

BUT - I realized that I had left the wifi switch on...I had it switched off in previous trials (look back 6-7 posts).

SO - nothing conclusive yet, but either the wifi switch or the (lack of) battery care function (or both) could be the battery drain culprit. I'm going to redo my test tonight taking care to switch off the wifi switch. I'll post my results.

 

Thanks for your input.....

I'm getting a VPCX115KX/B soon...my understanding (from Sony US site...) is that it has the SATA SSD right?

So, if I wanted, I could get one of those Samsung 256GB SSD's and swap it out with the 64GB SSD that it comes with, right?

Anyone done this SSD swap in their X and got it working OK?

Thanks,

Mark


UPDATE

I received the following reply from sdnv regarding the outcome of the 256GB SSD drive swap...thought it would be useful for others here and hope that he doesn't mind me sharing this info....

So, that is good news!.....

However, there is no noticeable performance improvement with the 256GB drive. you just get more storage space.....

Oh well, had thought this might be a way to more space and a performance boost at same time....

 

Fellow X Owners.....could use your valuable advice and input please....

I have can get a used, but in excellent, like new condition X (Model CPCX115KX/B) with 128GB SSD for the same price as a new in the box, never opened or used X model CPCX131KX/B with 64GB for the same price.

So, question is which one to get?.....used with larger SSD or brand new with smaller SSD....

Think if I'm careful, I can probably get by with just a 64GB SSD, so, tempted to get the brand new one with warranty....

What do you guys think?

Thanks for any and all input....

Mark

 

check this out Compare Sony VAIO VPC-X131KX and Sony VAIO VPC-X115KX Laptops, Netbooks / Comparisons / Ultra Laptops

Literally the only difference b/t the two is the HDD. The PATA 64 GB HDD will be a bit quicker - but not enough to raise it even 0.1 on the Windows index. I doubt a normal user could tell the difference. This is due the the adapter in the SATA 128 GB.

So it's really a question of a 1-year warranty vs 64 extra GB of storage space. Personally I'd go with the extra space, but I baby my laptops. Have you ever used a warranty before? Not me.

Let us know what you decide.

Cheers - (I'm also) Mark

 

From one Mark to another, THANKS, Mark, for your input. Very helpful!

While I haven't used a warranty that I can recall, I have had some laptops in the past that needed some repair after the warranty ran out of course....

I think I'll probably end up erring on the safe side with the new one, as in my case I don't think I need to have the larger SSD the more I think about it....at least that's my thought right now....

 

Sounds like a reasonable decision...external HDDs are getting cheap anyway!

Back to power drain - I've just tested charging the battery to 100%, battery-save feature off, and wireless switch off. After 24 hours my 2-cell battery was 94% and my 6-cell was 97%.

A bit better than before (see my other results a few posts back), probably has something to do with the wireless switch. Has anyone else noticed a difference in battery drain with/without the wifi switch turned on?

I'm considering keeping the battery out of the laptop in-between use.

 

I'd love to know your findings on the battery drain issue. I have battery drain on my P. I've noticed if I take the battery out of the laptop and put it back in a week later, I still have 100% charge. I'll play around with the wireless switch to see if it makes a difference (I've always had wireless on and noticed drain).

 

Well, there must be factors I'm not aware of, but to sum up my results (you can read specifics - I've posted 3 or 4 times in the most recent 20 posts) battery drain seems very low when the power function is set to 80% max charge and the wifi is switched off when in storage. On my 2-cell, I average about 2-4% loss daily when I keep the wireless switched off. On my 6-cell it's more like 0-2% daily. Some in this forum have reported 10-15% daily loss. My worst test was with the wifi switch on and the battery-saver function off (charged to 100%). Even then I only lost 7% on my 2-cell.

You're right on one thing. The battery keeps its charge longer if you just pull it out.

 

Hi ,
I've just bought a Vaio X Series from the US and I'm currently using it in Italy.
Since I can't activate a Verizon subrscription I would like to activate at least my GPS device.I've tried to do as posted on this thread : How to enable the GPS on your VAIO VPCZ-137GG but when I turn on the Location Service on the SmartWi Connection Utility application it just says " searching for GPS signal " and automatically turns on Verizon Wireless too . I've tried with another and it could not find any satellite.
What should I do?
Thanks .

 

@devo985
Yeah, mine did the same thing. My fix was easy:

1 Turn on location services.
2 After a few seconds Verizon Wireless turns on. This is OK, leave it on.
3 Open streets and trips 2009 (or whatever you use) - don't "launch navigation" on smart-wi, open it through start --> all programs --> Microsoft Streets and Trips 2009
4 Open GPS panel - by navigating to Tools --> Open GPS Task Pane
5 Click "Configure GPS"
6 Click "scan", wait a bit
7 Choose the correct port - should say something like "Communications Port 5: GPS device found" (mine is on port 5)
8 Click OK


Now that it's configured, it should show satellites on the smart-wi. This works for me.

Oh - I've uninstalled streets and trips 2009 and installed 2010 - don't know if this makes any difference but I thought I'd mention it.

Hope this helps - let us know

 

Thank you for your help ! I did everything you said but it isn't working properly , the program does find the GPS device but the problem is that it can't find any satellite ! It keeps saying "searching for satellites Sats : 0 " I don't know what's going wrong ! I 'm using MS Streets and trips 2011 .

 

Bummer - Ok, don't give up.

Here: Acquiring Satellites GPS Review
It says that it could take up to an hour, when in a new location (like Europe), to find and map new GPS satellites. A wait like that hasn't been my experience in the states, but you might give it a bit more time in Italy.

and here: Streets n Trips for Europe? • BootsnAll's Travel Community
"Microsoft also produces a European version of Streets & Trips known as Autoroute. I believe it's only sold in Europe...http://www.microsoft.com/autoroute" - maybe you need a European version of the program (I know it's a stab in the dark, but give it a try!)

Finally:
A "clear view of the sky" means a 360 degree circle around you, and located on a flat plain. Obviously, that's not mandatory - but it is the best possible case. With only a small number of satellites overhead, it is easier to get a good fix if the satellites are at a large angular separation - which could mean that your device needs to be able to "see to the horizon" as well as directly overhead. In urban environments, that is very difficult, especially at street level.

Hope this helps - I'll keep digging. Don't give up!

 

OK, I've noticed that a lot of people have your problem when traveling outside the US. It's strange because the Gobi2000 is the same modem in EVERY model of X (P too), be it european, asian, or US. The card is limited to providers available in each region so I think, maybe devo should try unlocking his Gobi2000 and the new firmware may open up a previous limitation on GPS. Worth a try?

Here's a walkthrough: Vaio P WAN unlock

Good luck!

 

On my P I couldn't get a GPS signal with the Verizon Firmware, after installing OneClickInternet from this Link I was able to load the AT&T firmware and GPS works ok.

I still like the Bluetooth GPS that came with my UX490N better. It works well because you can put it where ever the best spot is and as long as you are within 30 feet of it you are all set. For example when I use it in the truck I can throw it on the dashboard and my computer can be elsewhere. The GPS in Gobi would probably work much better in aGPS mode with an active GSM or 3G connection. The old style GPS that came with my UX doesn't seem to have a problem picking up a signal and quickly I might add.

 

@computercowboy - Nice! Where'd you get the AT&T firmware?
@devo985 - There you go. It seems that the Verizon firmware is the limiting factor.

 

the link in my last post
WebToGo Update version 3.1 : Sony Australia

 

Hi all

My newest sony x works very slow.

I was thinking to make a fresh windows 7 install without any preinstalled programs they put.

Will that improve the performance? Can someone post a guide for clean install?

 

Thanks for your help guys , but in Italy we don't have AT&T !
Do I really need to downgrade to W XP to unlock my modem ?
I managed to install Oneclick Internet but I don't know to use it !
It's asking me if I want to do a manual or automated activation

 

@devo985 - Automated. Oh- and about no AT&T service, the point isn't getting you on WWAN service, I think the point is: unlock your card from Verizon. If installing AT&T firmware does the trick, great! If not, check my post where tnkgirl goes step by step on unlocking software-side. She was using a Vaio-P and was unhappy with windows vista. You can skip the downgrade to XP - 32-bit Windows 7 should be fine.

@Reverence - define slow. Mine is slow too compared to most comps - it's basically a netbook hardware-wise. If it's really slow then go for it. I've upgraded laptops to Windows 7 and haven't had any "no driver" problems, but you might download the wireless lan/ethernet drivers from sony to a flash drive before you start. support.sonystyle.com

 

mmmsheen can you point me to the exact drivers I need to make wireless work

Thanks,

 

mmmsheen, I've tried to unlock my card as said on your post but it didn't work.
I would like to try using oneclick internet but it does not seem to activate , it just says "activation failed. timed out" . Do I have to change something when it's saying " the following number will be dialed " ? Where can I download AT&T software ?
Thanks

 

devo-sorry for the runaround. Truth be told, I just now unlocked my Gobi2000 and it was confusing at times. Here's a link on notebookreview that helped: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...lution-tested-works-new-z-win7-64bit-pro.html
make sure you read all of the posts before you begin -some discussion of how to make it work. First, to answer the automatic/manual question, just do automatic to bypass it (we're not concerned with getting a connection anyway). Then update. On my first try the update failed, but the second one downloaded and installed fine. Then restart your computer. Then turn on wwan with your smart wi and open one click from your program group (start-->programs-->one click). Next click settings-->firmware tab and select a new firmware. I picked T-Mobile...try something that you recognize in Italy or just go with generic.

It took two times to get a firmware loaded (what is it with 2 tries??) but I'm glad I did. The old verizon firmware found 5 satellites while the t-mobile firmware finds 8-9 - same location! Anyway, I hope this helps... let us know.

 

@reverence here is the page for the 115kx (drivers should be pretty much the same for all x series). You'll notice at the bottom an option to download wireless lan drivers.
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VPCX115KX&LOC=3

 

How do you get into the BIOS on the Sony Vaio X? I don't see the option during start up?

 

I think it's F2.

 

I heard the 128GB ssd wont have either trim support or garbage collector.
did anybody successfully replaced the ssd with another? what connector does it have ? microsata or zif?