Couple of new Vaio S 15 questions/issues SVS1512DCXB

Hi guys,
I received my new Win8 SVS1512DCXB this week and immediately threw in an SSD and installed Win7 X64


Love this laptop!

Couple of problems though.

1.) Can't get the FN key to work. I searched and tried a few different solutions including changing the model number and trying older vaio drivers, but no good. I keep getting the "This is meant for another edition of this laptop" message.
I tried extracting the files to install via Vaio Control Panel, but how do I even install the control panel in the first place? Can't find that anywhere and as far as I know, it's included in the hotkeys package.

2.) Battery life seems a little weak. Just browing on Chrome with 1 tab but on full brightness it looks like I only get about 1:15-1:30 hours of life. Is that normal?

3.) Is the touchpad supposed to take so much getting used to? This thing just seems weird to me right now. Do you only use 1 finger to do everything on it? My thumb keeps looking for mouse buttons! Played around with the mouse settings, but still feels strange!

4.) The speakers seem low. I installed the drivers for them just fine but at full volume, I can't hear a thing if there are other people in the room. And yes, my hearing is just fine!



I'm beginning to think I might just have to make do and settle with Win8 as much as I hate to do, but getting Win7 setup is proving to be quite a hassle.

Thanks for any advice!

 

I was in the same boat as you, the touch pad is a bit weird, and I just can't use it well, so I use a wireless mouse with the laptop. I was going to run windows 7 on mine as well, but decided to give windows 8 a chance, and it is a bit of a headache to be honest, but you do end up getting used to it.