FE21M / Motion Eye Camera questions

Hi, I have just ordered a Sony VAIO FE21M laptop/notebook computer. It comes with a built-in Motion Eye camera (as you may know), and I've heard pretty much all bad things about it - most notably that it breaks after a year of use.

Firstly, does anyone have any experience with this camera, what is the quality like, do you have any sample pics? And if your laptop has this built-in camera, does its presence annoy you at all? I'm having frustrating second thoughts now - by looking at images of the laptop it kind of seems like the built-in camera would annoy me by simply being there at the top of the laptop whilst I use it - plus I just bought a really good new webcam.

If it does break after one year or so... it will really really bug me knowing that there's something on the exterior that doesn't work. I'm so picky with stuff like that! Is there anyway to repair it when it goes "black and dead", or whatever the expression is?

Does anyone have any experience with the FE21M at all, if so what did you think? The "built-in Bluetooth" - will I be able to connect my phone with it right away, or do I have to purchase a USB Bluetooth receiver thing?

Finally, when the laptop arrives I'd like to make sure I treat the battery correctly from the word "go"... do you run it off the charger at all times, charge it up fully then run it down fully and repeat, or doesn't it matter? I'd just like to know the correct method as I am unsure with laptop's batteries; this will be my first notebook.

Many thanks in advance!

 

Anyone?

 

i doubt it would break easily, i have not heard any reports of webcam breaking. although, i could be wrong, i have just ordered this laptop too, and will be here in a couple days. But the bluetooth thing should work with your phone immediately, you wouldn't need the usb bluetooth, since u have bluetooth builtin, although i have heard builtin bluetooth is a pain in the ass sometimes, when ur reformating, or something, most laptops lose that feature due to some drivers and everything

 

Not when you reinstall correctly. I installed a fresh WinXP MCE twice on my SZ and three times on the S4 of my father and once on a FE series and we never had a lost feature. Sometimes you need to install a hotfix before you can install the driver so it can be tricky to get it working but it's not a real problem.

 

Thanks for the responses. Huntnplay I went to a computer shop with my sister today to get her VAIO FS checked out (it has a faulty audio output issue), and whilst waiting I noticed they had a FE21M on show... the built-in webcam is a mirror sort of thing and doesn't seem too irritating, the design of the laptop is very nice and the keys sink in comfortably when you press them... can't really explain but I felt happy I had ordered that particular model. Let me know what you think when you get it!

As for installing Win XP fresh... why? To get rid of the bloatware? Can't you just remove it yourself instead of risking all your drivers etc? Wouldn't you need to buy a brand new copy to persue the installation... just seems a bit questionable as to why you would want to do it, especially after getting a brand new laptop. I've no idea what a hotfix is and would do you define "when you reinstall correctly" exactly... is it worth buying Win XP again to reinstall over Sony's Win XP?...

As for the camera breaking after a period, this is what I was referring to: http://www.siliconpopculture.com/sonytr/viewtopic.php?t=5163&sid=1b3e11c88ba1c8a6dd63e2feb2ba46d9. it sounds more like an internal physical problem than a software/driver issue.

 

no, what I meant was in the future, when if you want to reformat for some reason, you have to be careful. yeah, im lookin forward to this laptop, it will arrive tomorrow, i saw this model at bestbuy, was looking at it for sometime, its really nice, especially the widescreen, its just too good. i doubt there is any difference to sony's winxp and normal winxp. i would just stick with sonys, and do remember to make a backup first thing, as stated by many people on this forum, they dont offer any backup discs. i will let u know how i feel about the laptop when i get it tomorrow, do let me know ur opinion when u get it. And, about the battery, my cousin who is an expert always says use the laptop with the wall charger, it runs smoother, i have a fujitsu laptop now, and it runs better when it has a constant power supply, thats why even when i take it somewhere outside, i take the adapter and powercord with it, but yeah, i doubt it would matter, just to be safe, start using ur laptop wtih the power supply, and reduce the amount of time you use it with the battery.

 

I see, so I should use the power supply whenever possible and don't rely too heavily on the laptop's own battery, ie using it without the power supply. Gotcha

That's great, I was also very picky for a university laptop and I came to the FE as a conclusion. The screen, as you say, really is amazing in person. Very clear. Looking forward to hearing your comments on the laptop. Mine should also arrive in a few days time (hopefully) so fingers crossed and I'll report back here!

As for making backups - definately. It's a bit of a shame they don't just ship them off with a disc, but whatever...

Where are you ordering from and how much did you pay?

 

Well my FE21M arrived today. First impressions - it's beautifal but I'm not an immediate fan of how you have to 'lock' it shut, rather than just open/close.

Full post should follow later (probably tonight when I've been out and come home) when I get to use it properly.

 

Hi Christopher,

Your full review would be much appreciated.
I've never used or been a fan of built in cameras...but I'm interested in the ones by Sony.

 

hi christoffah, got my laptop today, i think its great, great keyboard, great screen, that lock it shut is something we need to get used to, but i feel its more secure, and good. The bloatware that comes on this laptop takes about 10mins to remove, then i did the recovery discs. One thing I wanted to ask you was, how is the sound on ur laptop, I am not getting a good sound, its really low even in high volume, dont know what hte problem is, i changed my speaker settings to laptop stereo from desktop stereo in control panel, but that didn't seem to change it much. let me know, on the whole, im very happy with my purchase, another small gripe is the fact that you cannot scroll easily on this laptop, i would have liked something of a scroll button like on fujitsus, you have to hold down the right and left key together so you can scroll on this one.

 

Hi Huntnplay,

While I've never had the chance to fidlle with the FE series, I have experience with the Sony SZs.
The sound is really good.
I have compared it with the Fujitsu P7120, P5010, S7110 (Core Duo) by playing the same mp3 file on all machines at the same time.

3 other people who were with me unanimously agreed that the SZ sounded a lot better. (The sound doesn't crack up half as bad as the rest at higher volumes sounds louder at the same time)

 

Hi guys, yeah - I also think the laptop is excellent as a whole. The bloatware is a bit of a pain, as there is just so much of it - did you erase things like the 'ISP' directory that contains AOL etc? I'd love to get rid of it but can't find a way properly uninstall it.

Moving on, about the sound - I did find it quiet at first but have you tried the actual sound controllers (+ and -) above the F1/F2 keys. I found that holding + down for a few seconds makes the volume satisfactory - seems like the "Sound Options" and those controls don't work hand in hand, my way is to keep the 'Sony' volume all the way up then adjust it accordingly with "Sound Options" - hope this made sense. By the way I think the "Sony" volume resets to half-way when you restart or whatever so you have to do this every time.

As for scrolling, I think you can hold the two soft keys together to make it scroll. For Whwtan, I believe the touchpad to be the weakest feature of the laptop - it's very "tough". I'd honestly go with a USB mouse and just use the touchpad when it's the only option.

How much did you pay Huntnplay? Mine was £840 or so.

 

By the way, a tip - when closing the laptop, set the lock on and then close it, this saves you closing, holding tight and then locking. By pressing the lock first and then closing, it slides into place as it closes, and holds it tight for you. This should be safe enough, if you examine it closely doing the method I described you can see it locks in quite comfortably.

Tell me what you think of this method

 

yeah, usb mouse is the best way to go. touchpad is hard, but i think i have gotten used to it, and the two soft keys are a think pad, so its kinda weird, but again not too bad. the sound is the only problem right now, i click on the +, and i think on mine it adjusts accordingly to sound options. but, I have the volume to full to get some good sound, otherwise midway its just too quiet. but will try to find a solution for that. got mine for $1200.

 

Maybe our sound is the same level, I don't know. but I was playing 3D games loud enough to overpower my sister watching widescreen TV in the same room

Have you tried out the Motion Eye camera? the quality is actually quite nice.

 

wow, that is very good, my sound is very low for some reason. Do you have sigmatel high definition audio? i dont know wat the problem is. can u post a pic of ur sound reality settings, and volume control settings? thanks. how did u try the motion eye cmaera? did u use it wtih a messenger device, or can you just go into programs and use it?

 

Sorry, my bad! the - and + keys do infact alter the Sound Control level, not sure why I stated otherwise! I just have it all on full and make sure "wave" (next to Master) is full... I guess that's the loudest.

You can use the camera by going to My Computer and then to Sony Visual Communication Camera VGP-VCC1. It shows up there because it's actually a USB device (apparently), maybe explaining why there was so many USB sounds when I first loaded the computer up.

Is your laptop actually called an FE21M btw? I noticed you were from USA/AUS and I thought every model in the whole VGN range was named differently there and had an international equivalant (I see this by looking at Sony VAIO on Notebookreview.com.)

I have a question - what on earth is the button on the very bottom right of the laptop, on the side? It was covered in green selotape when the laptop first came... it seems very odd, any idea what it is?

How's the laptop been so far? I'm on it right now and am still every bit as pleased.

 

yeah, the sound is better now, i guess you can only get it that loud, but its still good. i found out how u can scroll with the touchpad, drag your finger on the right edge of the touchpad, and there is ur scroll, i found that under the vaio user guide. the button that was covered with the green selotape is for external cards, like wifi cards, what you have to do is press it, and it will pop out, then push it back in, the tray next to the button will come out, and you place the wifi card there, i do not use it though. the laptop has been great so far, i can adjust with the sound, use it with headphones, it sounds great. the scroll in the touchpad has made me feel better about the laptop, i went back on my fujitsu laptop, and i noticed how soft the touchpad was of fujitsus, sony's is hard, but it does the job. Ohter things, i used the motion eye camera in msn messenger, not bad, i liked it, i thought the sony visual communication camera was for external devices, thanks for telling me. i will check that out.

 

Turn off your wireless switch (and disable Bluetooth at the bottom right) when not using it - saves battery!

 

Hi guys,

Motion Eye Camera ... can this be used to talk and watch someone on internet ... Motion OK ... what about "SOUND"?

Thanks,
G!

 

how do I get my Motion eye camera to work

 

sorry if this isn't the right place to post this comment

I've been having issues with my webcam, i have a Sony Vaio PCG-7q1l, with the standard webcam installed, for some reason the only time the computer will recognize the webcam is when my laptop is essentially shut, it will make the "turn on" noise and then the computer will find the webcam.

it used to work in the past, i have no idea what happened. any help would be greatly appreciated