[Vaio S15] OrangeGate again ?

Everything was Okay. But the orangegate issue is preventing me to buy this beautiful laptop. So sadddddd.

 

honestly look at it in person, it's not bad at all

 

lol you guys should try testing your other laptops... most people don't realize how bad colors are on most laptop screens till they start running a bunch of test utilities.

while its not an excuse to make low quality screens this issue is not limited to sony alone.

 

So The Laptop is handsome, but impotent to produce the RED.

 

woooow, thats really orange. i know its true that you cant really see the difference in person, but thats only if you don't know to look for it. Once you start noticing, its a big deal, and if you're on this forum then you obviously know about the problem.

 

@hasanspg: Which HP screen is that showing the true Ferrari red?

Here's a question: do you need to have a wide gamut, highly accurate screen to see the deep, bright red on the HP screen? I'm viewing it on a Sony Z2 FHD 94% Adobe gamut, so I have no basis for comparison.

 

I do not know which HP screen. I got it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...22-sony-se-owners-thread-106.html#post8213929 Post: #1060

 

Absolutely right. Color reproduction might not be the best on the S15, but it has deep blacks and a good contrast ratio which have a much higher impact on viewing experience. Other laptops might have their perfect reds but will look unbelievably dull next to S15's IPS panel (try putting S15's competitor 15" Samsung Chronos next to it, lol).

I came from a beloved Z12 panel to the S15 and I HAD a problem with the orangegate at first, but if you dont exaggerate and say "oh my gosh it's so f**king orange I will immediately return this crap!" but instead use the laptop for a while, you will acclimate and won't notice the inaccurate reds 99% of the time.
Only big areas of one single shade of red which is near 255/0/0 will result in unpleasing red. Dark reds look completely red and also you won't notice it on things like... let's say the Google Chrome icon. You can stare at it and tell yourself it is orange but your eyes will not notice it unless you replaced them with colorimeters.

 

I am wondering how the Opera icon will look like. I use Opera too much.

 

Anyone who recently got the S15 can tell us if the issue is still there?

I'm seriously considering getting one but this orangegate is really stopping me to do that. I'm ready to get the top-pro version with enhanced graphic card, SSD and stuff, but since I work with Photoshop every day this is seriously a deal-breaker.

And there aren't a lot of 15'' notebooks as good as the S15, I'm also considering getting a MacBook Pro Retina, but I seriously hate Mac OS...

 

Yes, the issue is still present. You could wait for a supposed refresh, an ASUS U500, or maybe get an ASUS UX32VD (it's 13.1'' though). That's about it (that I know) for light machines with these kind of screens.

For 2.4kg and above you have the MSI GE60, Lenovo Y580, Clevos \ Compals, probably some HP that I don't recall the model right now.

I don't notice the orangeness unless I go look for it, the panel is beautiful, but for people that need color accuracy it's probably worse (though if you do anything serious with Photoshop you shouldn't be using a laptop monitor anyway).

 

If you want to do picture editing, you can use a color profile (I found one on the Internet, it's called Monitor_3-13-2012_1.icc, and it does correspond very well to my screen). By applying it, the gamut will slightly reduce (but still be well above standard laptop monitors) and all the primaries and secondaries will look right* (including red).

For the rest of the system, you won't care. If you often visit sites like deviantart, you can use a color managed browser (Firefox) so that the reds are corrected. For the rest, really you will get used to it, it's way easier than getting used to the deltaE > 12 of common laptop displays.

Don't get me wrong, the display is really amazing for its price point and the only better display I saw is the MacBook Pro Retina. If you really want a perfect display, then go for it (and put the money needed for that level of perfection).

* Btw, did you know that the blues are totally wrong on all laptop screens ? Much worse than the red here. If we take the iPhone 4S, which has a very similar gamut to most of laptops (because they are also powered by white LEDs), we can see how wrong it is:


Now let's take our panel:


It's also wrong, but in a different shape (the red is a bit oranger, but the greens are much better). Anyway, you should NOT take any laptop to make photo editing. But if you use a color profile, you can well make it reasonable for your works on the go. And invest in a real, good monitor before you publish your work.

 

Could you please post your Monitor_3-13-2012_1.icc file... I can not seem to find it around and would like to try it before deciding to return this laptop.

 

You can't boost reds with calibration, the monitor simply can't reproduce those colors. Desaturating blue and green only pushes in the other corners of the gamut - it might trick your eyes a bit but the reds are still not there.

 

Video editors: Why not use external screen?

My point is you shouldn't use any other screen than CRT display for image editing if you want precise work.

 

Of course, but if you take other monitors they often appear "right" (well, nobody ever complained about any "orangegate" at least) while having a far far more reduced color gamut. The thing is, you can easily get used to a slightly reduced color gamut like you will have once calibrated. It certainly won't be perfect, but it won't appear obviously wrong and be better than the other laptops (and quite a lot of desktop LED monitors too).

 

Here it is. I'll make my own in a moment, just that the spyder3express software seems not to run on Windows 8.

 

For photo editors, I think an external monitor is a must. Even the best screen among all laptops still can not provide all the features which the desktop monitors have. Not only color gamut, screen size also matters.

But for normal users, you won't even notice any differences if you don't really make comparison. I am a big fan of Pixiv, those pics still look great on my S15.

Yet I'm still looking forward to the new S15 in this fall. If sony do place a correct color IPS display in it, I will definitely return my current one and get a new S15 of intel 3632qm.

 

And here is my profile (all standard 6500k 2.2 etc.). It changes things quite a bit with the one I found on Internet actually (in the blues only), I wonder if the gamma was not the same.

However, I wonder if the results are actually better.

 

Just curious if there are any other 1080p IPS displays that can be bought online that work with the S15 that dont suffer from "OrangeGate"? I currently have a HP DV6T Im using on trial that has an IPS 1080p (LGD037F) that has no problems and is close to perfect, however its a 15.6" screen. Is the fact the Sony a 15.5" screen make it hard to swap out with alternatives?

Any and all info is truly appreciated!

 

I have often wondered the same thing, if the HP Envy 15 has the same screen, you should be able to buy it at http://www.laptopscreen.com/ and swap it into your VAIO S15...

Not sure if this would work but if the screen dimensions are the same, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to swap it out as long as the connector is also the same, which is a risk one would have to take.

You could try looking at a Sony S15 disassembly video on YouTube in HD and have a good look at the screen connector then check out the Envy 15 videos or have laptopscreen.com send you a high res image.

 

Just wondering if anyone knows if the S15 laptops coming with Windows 8 have had the Orange-gate problem resolved?

Not even sure if Sony are continuing with the S15 but I was wondering if they did a HP and performed a stealth fix.

 

Has the Orange-Red problem fixed in the new S15 series laptops with Windows 8 now? Can anyone confirm? It's very frustrating response from SONYY.....

 

Nothing changes. My new Windows 8 S15 arrived in this morning. When I drew the 255,0,0 color in the paint app, it is still displayed as orange as it used to be.

 

Ouch that is seriously disappointing..

 

That really sux, Sony need to pull their finger out on this issue, it's not like a minor problem for anyone who wants to have accurate colours on their display for watching movies, photo editing etc. Very disappointing.

 

It isn't a big deal for movies. You can still watch classics like "Orange Dawn" or "The Hunt for Orange October".

 

I haven't had any issue while watching movies, TV series, playing or just browsing to be honest. It's seldom for pure red to appear anywhere, so unless you go orange hunting you'll easily give in because it's a great panel otherwise.

Still it's strange that they're still making these panels instead of the corrected ones.

 

I would agree with you, if it was not for the panel not being able to display one of the primary colors correctly and poorly display blues, so 2 of the three primary RGB colors are not shown correctly but yeah it's great...

The sad thing is the panel has lots of potential, good viewing angles, IPS, resolution and contrast ratio but it has a poor color gamut, a hardware fault on the red channel and possibly an issue with blues.

Just try the same 255 0 0 test in MSpaint as you would to test the red/orange issue but this time do it for blue and then put the screen next to a decent screen or if you have an ipad just open a paint application on your ipad or iphone and fill the screen with 255 blue, again you will notice how poor the reproduction is.

Sure many people won't notice these issues because they know no better so they go on thinking that's the colour the creators of the content wanted them to see, but it only takes for someone to run a simple 255 test and I am sure anyone who is not colour blind will immediately notice the difference.

This panel had lots of potential but Sony has done a terrible job of dealing with this real issue and basically preys on peoples ignorance to get away with it because I am sure if they had this screen on the sales floor side by side to a quality panel displaying a colour test chart, far fewer people would drop their cash down for one.

I think retailers should do this for all their laptops, similar to what some do for TV's, pop the same colour test chart on all the displays so people can clearly see which display is best at colour reproduction.

 

I've got good screens at home and still have no real issues with it. Yes I have compared it to other screens and it's pretty easy to notice the orange in comparison but it doesn't bother me the slightest while gaming, watching videos, browsing or working especially because the image is still great.

Both my work and the content I consume don't have "go to X image application and check if 255 0 0, 0 255 0, 0 0 255 are correct" listed. Aside from the fact that pure colours are something you basically don't see outside very specific scenarios, unless you go hunt for it during "normal" use it's just not worth it to be bothered.

Should the panel have a better colour gamut? Absolutely! Does that hinder my work and \ or experience with the laptop? Not really. Rather the bad colour gamut than bad resolution \ angles \ contrast \ graininess which would affect me much more.

 

Let's be honest, nearly all the primaries are off: the red tends to be orange, the yellow is orangeish and more saturated than normal/sRGB, the green is yellowish and more saturated too, the cyan is pretty fine, the blue is off (tend a lot towards sky blue) and magenta is off as a result (I'd say it should have twice the saturation it has to fit in the sRGB). But it's common to a lot of laptops, and more generally to LED-backlighted monitors. I saw a lot of laptops from different brands today, and I can say while sometimes the red is okay, the blue has never been good at all, hardly ever is the green either. Also even when okay, the green is often missing a lot of saturation (unlike this VAIO S15).

You can be more picky just because the display is better than what you usually have, but the S15 panel, while not doing very good on the gamut side, is still superior to other laptops on other aspects (angles, graininess, white point calibration, inversion, and the resolution is pretty good too and it keeps being comfortable unlike other "professional" screens of that resolution) so it's fair to see that the panel is excellent. It would be perfect if the gamut was covered properly (and the MacBook Pro Retina does it, for information).

 

Unfortunately the MBP Retina (15'') costs more than double what I paid for my S15, and it's a total pain for upgrading whatever.

It's also not the best machine for running windows, and I don't like OSX so meh.

It's a fine machine at any rate, one of the few Apple machines I'd easily recommend for people with the money for it.

Maybe next year's Vaio will come with a fixed screen?

 

Does anyone have a clue what HP did to correct this on the Envy 15? This just shouldn't be so hard. No surprise that Sony makes the simple something impossible, but can we do anything to work around it? Worst case, would replacing this screen with the new one used in the Envy 15 take care of the problem

 

From first impression it was nearly as impressive as the retina, and reds still appear much "redder" than something orange.

 

I really like the size and weight of the Vaio 15 S. I was waiting for the red/orange problem to get fixed because this model is a great price for this level of functionality with a 1080P screen. I was very concerned about the red/orange issue because there are not many good options in this price range with a 1080P display. Additionally, the resolution and color are very important to me.

Several weeks ago my friend bought the 15 S from Best Buy and I checked out the screen very close and it looked great.

I can't stand Windows 8 on laptops and desktops. As soon as Sony moved the Vaio 15 S with Windows 7 to the clearance section I bought one. I configured it with the 2 SSDs, quad core proc, and 12GB of RAM.

In my machine and my friend's machine the reds and oranges are very close to accurate. I compared many images and web sites while looking at the Sony and looking at several desktop monitors, a new Alienware 17, 13" Mac Air, and Asus laptop. There are no major issues with the reds like in some of the earlier posts.

Out of the box this is the best color and resolution screen I have seen outside of the expensive Retina Mac Book Pro. In some cases the reds can be slightly orange, but you will have to look hard and it has to be the right tint/shade of red. The standard red looks red like it is supposed to look.

With a good coupon this machine is very hard to beat for portability and performance, unless you want gaming performance. I can not speak for all machines, but I believe this issue has been fixed on the recent models. You can always return it to Sony if you are not happy.

I get a lot of information from the forums and I hope this helps anyone looking at this model.

 

Not sure what they did but Sony should have done it by now, like others have already said this IPS panel has many positives but this colour reproduction issue is a major let down for some who would like to use it for photo/video editing or simply like to see accurate colours.

Like was said before, if Sony fixed this colour issue the screen would be close to perfect for the price point. If HP have been able to do it, I see no reason why Sony can't apart from laziness or not giving a damn about the consumer because I am sure they are aware of it by now.

 

My guess is they are cleaning up selling this otherwise superb machine at such a low price point. It seems like more and more owners are finding the red color deficiency to be a minor annoyance at best. For the right price, I'd say steal this machine and, if you must, use it wearing rose colored glasses!

 

I don't understand why Sony uses LG as their monitor to begin with. They are Sony, they make their own and they could have just used a sony panel to fix the orange issue.

 

I don't understand why Sony uses LG as their monitor to begin with. They are Sony, they make their own and they could have just used a sony panel to fix the orange issue.

 

Where would one find "Sony Panels"?

 

I mean Sony is their own company and one of the largest tech company that makes Television and electronic devices for a very long time now and what i meant was they could have made their own monitor to use on their laptops but instead they had to use another company's monitor to use on their laptops like LG.

 

You specifically said "sony panels". Regardless, they don't make most of their own TV's....and no current Sony TV's have a "Sony Panel" in them.

 

Look at my post here. I think the orange gate has completely gone or maybe I'm just half blinded or so...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...y-s-series-owners-thread-502.html#post8939868

 

Yes I agree. That's what I posted a few days ago. I recently acquired a new Vaio S 15 and the colors look great. My friend bought one from Best Buy and the colors look great on his too. My friend bought his Vaio S 15 from Best Buy at least a month ago so they have new panels in the supply chain. If you get an older orange one you can always return it.

 

Best way to check if this is true would be to simply put a new S15 next to a 255 red iPad screen or any other display that is known to not have an issue with reds and take a photo.

If someone with a new Vaio 15 could please do a 255,0,0 RED test in MS paint next to another panel or ipad and then post it, that would be great.

This would be excellent new for VAIO S15 owners if this is true. They should be able to swap their panels to the new one under warranty, that's coming from a Sony rep here in Australia who I spoke to about the issue. I wanted to know my options had I decided to keep my VAIO S15 rather than return it. I asked him if I could get a replacement display panel if Sony fixed the issue inside the 1yr warranty and he told me it shouldn't be an issue as long as you can display the fault; which people with an orange-gate panel can.

Hence I think it's really important to confirm or deny these claims ASAP so other S15 owners can at last look at getting a replacement display.

I hope it's true, because apart from the orange-gate issue it's a good display for the price.

Edit: Just looked at the picture of the Ferrari on a S15 and it does look very promising. If someone with a new S15 could still do a 255 red test, that would confirm it.

 

Beaups, got any insight to share on this?

 

Done, I've got no ipad, sorry. If users start to return their Vaios to swap the screen and Sony accepts that, you can make a collect to buy me one
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/696286-s15-orange-gate-fixed.html#post8941785