FS series stickers - do they come off?

Hi all,

I finally went for an FS195VP and love it. The screen is incredibe (pin sharp, colourful, no dead pixels, and perhaps TOO bright!), it's running all of my tools smoothly and it's already replaced my aging desktop machine as my main workstation.

But... Those black stickers at the sides of the touchpad... Please tell me they can be removed. I've had a go at one of the corners but they feel like they've been superglued to the casing and I'm reluctant to really pick at it in case I end with a deformed, permanent label. Worse still would be to get the stickers off but have sticky patches where my hands rest. The machine looks great but why does everybody need to know I've got 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive, the Adobe Companion Pack etc etc???

Fair enough when you go into a shop but once you pay your money, you don't really need those stickers. I've never seen these stickers in any photos of the laptops or on the VAIO site so it's not as if they ever had to go on...

I'm not bothered by the Windows, Centrino and nVidia stickers but those Sony ones, they have to go!

Any help most appreciated!

Cheers,

Colin

 

Hi, I have the FS195XP model and yes, those black stickers can be removed, I only removed those ones and not the small Windows, Centrino and nVidia stickers. Yes, when I first had a go at picking at one of the corners I found it difficult to get my nail underneath, you just need to put a bit of firm pressure on it when picking one of the corners. Once you have one corner raised, the rest comes off cleanly and all in one piece, also there were no marks/stickyness either. You just have to be quite firm to get started with, the rest is easy![8D]

BTW, do you have the buzzing screen problem that lots of us are having? Buzzing when not on full brightness? Mine is with Sony for repair at the moment, changing brightness through the graphics card settings proved not a very good solution in the end. Plus, this thing was expensive and I consider it a fault.

Cheers.

 

Hi Me2,

Thanks for that - I'll have another go later at getting those labels off. As for the buzzing, I do have it when not on full brightness. It doesn't bother me too much but I'd obviously prefer it wasn't there, especially since I'm rarely using my FS on full brightness - it's just too bright compared to the CRT's I'm surrounded by.

Since your's is with Sony for repair does that mean Sony recognise the buzzing as a fault and not just the intended design? Can they actually fix it and do you know what the turnaround time is? (Sorry for all the questions!)

Cheers,

Colin

 

i am thinking of buy one of these notebooks from a friend of mine, he got it as a present but has no need for it, although if there is this buzzing sound would i be able to send it to sony for warrenty repair? is that what you did? and of course i would not have proof of purchase, is the warrenty fixed to the laptop by some sort of serial number?<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Me2

 

Hi Colgate7110, I don't know if Sony recognise the buzzing as a fault and not just the intended design. After 2 weeks of trying to get used to living with the buzzing, I decided to call Sony and ask them about this buzzing problem. I was asked to try updating the bios & graphics card drivers, but I had already done that a few days before. So, I was put on hold for a few seconds & when he came back he said they would pick it up the next day. The next morning DHL picked it up and since then I have been checking the "repair status" on their site. According to this, they have repaired my notebook, and apparently have replaced the LCD. It should be shipped back from the repair centre in France shortly. I was told it takes 10-15 days depending on parts etc. They picked mine up on wednesday and it was according to their site repaired on friday, 2 days later! Not too bad really, but of course I have not got it back yet, so I'll wait and see when it arrives back to me. Fingers crossed with no buzzing screen or any other problems[|)] I'll let you know in this thread how it has turned out[ ]

Hi camel_456, all notebooks come with 1 years warrenty as far as I know so, I don't see why not. Mine was two weeks old when I called them, with no extended warrenty. I don't know about having proof of purchase, all I was asked was when I purchased it. You do have to register the notebook when you call them, serial number, personal details etc I guess they know it's within it's 1 year warrenty because the FS series have only been on sale for a couple of months[?] I would give Sony a call and ask them if you would be covered.

Cheers.

 

Just got my notebook back & guess what, buzzing is still there, exactly the same as before.[xx(] They said they have replaced the LCD which they have because I had 2 dead pixels which are now gone, plus a slight mark on the bezel is also gone. It has taken 5 days for them to pick it up and return it, which is ok. But, it has not solved the buzzing, although I now have a screen that has no dead pixels[^] If I can't get used to the buzzing noise I will just sell the thing, I really can't be bothered messing around anymore![|)]

Cheers.

 

Typical. I'm guessing the buzzing is being caused by some less-than-perfect voltage regulation when the power drawn by the screen drops. If that's the case then it's probably a pretty fundamental component spec change to fix it.

The buzzing isn't actually bothering me now to be honest. Unless mine is more subtle than other users are experiencing, it's not too bad and it makes less than my supposedly silent PC (which I've spent hundreds on making quieter and went through it's fair share of coil-buzz prone power supplies) plus my hearing seems to be perfectly attuned to picking up really annoying, high frequency noises which other people are seemingly oblivious too [ ]

I think the trick might be I'm always working with the screen below maximum brightness. That way it's never totally silent and the noise is just there - there's no sense of it going away when I go to mains power etc.

As for selling it, since my FS is company property that wouldn't go down too well [ ] In saying that, I'd find it hard to find a machine this good with the combination of price, performance, features and admittedly looks outside of maybe an iBook and that's not really an option for my work.

BTW, we pulled the stickers of our VAIOs the other day and they look so much better if a little strange now with all that gray where the black patches once were! You're not joking about applying pressure to get them off. Anyways, good luck with your screen - hopefully you'll keep it!

Cheers,

Colin