Help Deciding on Vaio S, EC or F

Currently have a FZ that has died and sony is going to replace it. I'm looking
at 13.3 inch S for portability or EC or F. Obviously the F has the most power availability and is the heaviest. Although I think the EC with the ATI graphics card and 1Gb memory is better. Both the S and F have backlit keyboards which seems to be a nice function to have at night.

I only do light/medium games, heavy user of Microsoft Office and autocad light.

Any feedback on durability, build of these units as well as your recommendation is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Without additional information it is really hard to give you an advise which would better suite your needs.

F and S are very different - one is a business one, the other a multimedia one.

Hence:
Multimedia needs (Movies/Audio/Graphics/Games): F
Office needs (Mobility/Connectivity/Durability): S

I know almost nothing about ES, that's why I'm not mentioning it.

 

Thanks.
That was a crazy impulsive question. I have had time to review and agree with you on S and F series. The EC is closer to the F in functionality with slightly smaller screen, lower cpu options. However the F has some nice additions such as 2 - USB 3.0 ports, eSata port, backlit keyboard and better processor. It is only $100 more for F with similar configurations.
I will be talking with Sony tomorrow to tell them I want to go with the F. They wanted me to stay around $900 and I configured a F at $1080 as follows:

i7-740
Win7 Pro - 64 bit
500 GB/7200 rpm HDD
4 GB RAM DDR3-1333
16.4 Full HD Display (1920x1080)
NVIDIA GeForce GT425M GPU (1 GB VRAM)
Fresh Start (less bloatware)
LED Backlit keyboard

Take it easy....Chris.

 

NOTE: In case someone configures the above, the $1080 i quoted was using my company discount which is only $57 less than the $1144 if configured on the sonystyle site without discount. Also, they are always changing their promotions.

 

Your F configuration for that price in my opinion is really good.
I would definitely get the F.
Let us know how it goes.

 

Chris,

Perhaps you meant the EB? The EC is slightly bigger than the F and has an i7 option and is more expensive.

Your F configuration currently goes for $1120 on SonyStyle. The closest matching EB configuration is $1130 and that's with the best i5. The equivalent EC with i7 is $1280. Sony recently reduced the price of the F by about $150 to make way for the new 3D model announced at CES, so if that's the model you want it's a good time to buy.

Before you make a decision, it would be good to check out the options in person. Two very common complaints with the F are the screen quality and fan. Aside from the higher resolution which is nice, the screen quality is going to be a big step down from what you're used to. The F suffers from lots of light bleed, poor vertical viewing angles, and average color gamut. Brightness is not a problem if you disable the auto-brightness feature. The screen is fine for web browsing & MS Office and you'll appreciate the extra resolution with Autocad. But if you like to watch movies or play games with dark scenes, you'll really notice the difference compared to your FZ. The EC is about the same. The S is somewhat better when it comes to light bleed/black level and vertical viewing angles, but not as good as the FZ and the resolution is about the same as the FZ.

The fan is the other major issue people have with the F. It's not loud, but it constantly changes speed and it emits a whining/whistling noise when passing through a certain rpm range. Some people aren't bothered by it, some find it mildly annoying, and a few find it massively annoying.

Regarding build quality, the S has the best build quality by a significant margin. The F is fairly good. I wouldn't say the EC is bad, but it's more like what you get from an Asus or Toshiba consumer model.

If it were me, I'd make a decision based on where you're going to use it. If it's just going to sit on your desk at home, get the F. If you need to carry it around or travel with it, get the S.

 

I completely agree with the above!!

 

Dohh! You guys/gals have great input and I appreciate it. I thought I was all decided to go with the most power (F) and you make such good points. I guess larger is not always better. I do like the style of the S series and I especially like the portability. We pretty much use our laptop on the couch or table, never a desk. I had a FZ Hi-color Xbrite which had 2 backlights and the screen was great. I like the fact to learn that the S has good screen quality.

Some questions on the S options:
i5-480 vs i5-580 - pretty similar and not much bang for your buck to upgrade.
The 580M can be used for wireless stream to TV with additional software according to Intel.

Is the larger battery worth it. I was concerned about it sitting at too much of an angle on a laptop holder that you sit in your lap.

I am opting for win7 pro thinking it will be more compatible in connencting to work VPN and compatibility with NAS. I was kicking around going with Home Premium and get extra RAM. Of course you can always buy extra RAM cheaper and install yourself.

Really not too many options. Here is the config. Any other suggestions.

i5-480 or i5-580
Win7 Pro
500 GB, 7200 rpm
4 GB RAM
NVIDIA 310 (512 GB)
LED backlight

 

Love your Z setup and jelous. I would choose the Z over all of the others if it wasn't so expensive.

Thanks.

Chris

 

If you are going for an S, I would HIGHLY recommend spending a few hours browsing the http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...794-official-sony-s-series-owners-thread.html

Mine came with Win 7 Pro, so don't know what advise to give you there.
CPU - depends on the price difference I guess, I don't think you would feel much difference - it would be 1. The 4GB RAM and 2. The HDD that will bottleneck your PC much earlier than the CPU.

Also be advised that:

1. CTO Vaios (or specifically S) very often come with manufacturing defects! Don't know the reason, but according to my statistics based on the S thread and other sources - 80% of the complains about bad quality of the S come from CTO model owners! Bent base, missing parts, bad screen... I've read it all! I would avoid this if possible - buy a pre-configured model! Almost no complains about those!

2. S without NVIDIA is more silent. Not that the S with NVIDIA is noisy - not at all!! But the one without NVIDIA runs most of the time without FAN, whereas the one with NVIDIA has the FAN on its lower speed 95% of the time. But still very silent - not to be compared with the issues F owners have!! I have the model with NVIDIA - it is a bit irritating when you start the PC in the morning - first 20-30 min the FAN goes on and off every couple of seconds trying to adapt itself to the constantly changing temp of the cold machine. After that it just spins on its lower speed and is not to be noticed. It is the constant on and off going that are far more noticeable.

As I said - you will learn a lot from the S Owner Thread. I am really happy with it, it is a great machine without being perfect, but what is! The best laptop I've ever had AND used! However if you are willing to use it for multimedia purposes - You might remain a bit disappointed - I'm telling you this, as I don't want you to be the next obviously badly informed S owner who would write:

"Why is the web-camera only 0.3 MP, is there a way to make it better"
"Why is the sound so thin, can't watch Movies like that"
etc.

It is NOT a multimedia PC! It is a business one. So if you are an erotic web-cam model or a teenager willing to play 3D games - you might want to consider another model

 

Chris, What happened to your FZ?. I remember seeing you in my clean install thread.

 

Thanks Gracy
I skimmed some S threads last night and I am considering CTO vs preconfigured (Fresh Start is nudging me towards CTO but you have some very good info). We currently do not use multimedia much on laptop but it is nice to know you have power to do so. I would have to have a graphics card for a few applications but we don't do any hard gaming. Still trying to make up my mind. Portability or Power. You can't have everything but I know I will be happy with either choice of S or F. If I was rich I would get the Z

 

I'm not really sure why you call the F "power" It is just a multimedia PC - same range CPUs, same range RAM... just slightly better GPU. I wouldn't call that "more powerful" - it is just meant for other purposes! The S can be as powerful as you choose/need it to be

Z - Don't wish that - read all the threads about problems with the Z. I almost bought a Z - had the money in my pocket, ready to go to the store. Glad I slept on it.

 

Hi Coolguy,

FZ died. NVIDIA chip on motherboard again. Sony was going to replace it. They wanted to replace it with EB with nicely upgrade options, but I was wanted the S or F which took me over their price they had available for replacement. Just now got off the phone with Sony. I asked if I could pay the difference of $100 - $150 for S or F model, but they can't do that. They are going to send me a check and I will have to purchase myself. My warranty was up on 2/1/11 but this is the 3rd issue and the 2nd motherboard issue. So it was nice of them to honor their warranty, but let me tell you, the problems have been going on since November and I have spent alot of time on the phone with them.

Chris.

 

I was just using the power term in relative context of higher performance cpu (with larger L3 cache and 8 HT), Faster RAM (1333), 3.0 usb ports, esata port, full hd 1900x1080 display, better GPU with 1GB. Bigger and more powerful to me, but yes it definitely isn't a "power" computer. I really like the portability of the S and it has as much power as my dead FZ. But the FZ screen rocked.

 

What I meant was that you can get almost all of the above on the S as well - i7 CPU for example. USB 3.0 as an express card is always an option, so is esata (it is understandable not to have those integrated in a 13" <2kg laptop). Only the GPU and higher res. screen are harder obtainable, but exactly those are not really a part of the "power" but a part of the "multimedia" chapter

I was considering F myself an year ago.... but the weight and size are more direction "desktop replacement" and that was not what I was looking for.

 

You are right . You know, I had not thought of using the express card at all. What a great idea in using it for USB 3.0 or eSata! I had planned on getting the S, because as I said earlier, we always have the laptop on the couch or wherever we are at....right on our lap. S is a light laptop. F is a heavy laptop.

I didn't know you could get an I7. Options I see are i3 and 2 i5's. Is i7 available in europe or are you talking about upgrade? I believe Sandy Bridge CPU's will be out soon for the S or rumors are they may change it to SA.

Hopefully, there will be some descent deals on the S over the next few weeks. I believe the deals will change this weekend or after V-day.

Thanks and let me know if you see any Deals

 

There you go:



There's even a free CPU upgrade available until 14.02

I don't think S will be upgraded to SB soon - too much effort for not so much difference...

 

I do not have same options on USA SonyStyle site.

 

There is lots of good stuff you don't have out there Joking

i7 has been available to CTOs here since March or April last year.

 

I wonder what the shipping would cost me if I ordered from Europe

 

1. Not possible (at least not from SonyStyle)
2. I would worry more about taxes, VAT, etc.

You could ask a friend travelling or living in Europe to buy one for you - that would be a more reasonable solution. Oh - and European Laptops (except UK) come with 2 Years Warranty as a minimum (law regulations).

 

As a $100 option, the 580M is not worth it. The 580M benchmarks 5-10% faster than the 480M.

I'm not sure what Intel is talking about regarding wireless streaming. If you have a wireless networked TV with DLNA, you can stream to it from any computer running Windows Media Player 11 or better, from a NAS with DLNA server software, or from an iPhone or Android phone, etc.

How much battery life do you want? The F with standard battery will last for about 2.5 hours doing web surfing over wi-fi in power saver mode with screen dimmed to ~50%, and maybe 3 hours for MS Office type work. I believe the S with integrated graphics gets about 4 hours on the standard battery. I don't know about S with GeForce, but I'd suspect at least 0.5 hour less. The larger battery will increase the run time of either model by about 50%.

The larger battery is less comfortable when using it directly on your lap, but I've never used a laptop holder.

I doubt you'll need Win 7 Pro.

The main differences between Win 7 Pro and Home Premium are the ability to join a domain, XP mode, and network backup. Unless you're going to use the computer at work, directly connected to your company's network and not through VPN, you won't need to join a domain. XP mode is a virtual XP machine for running legacy applications that don't work under Windows 7. Network backup is handy if you have a NAS, but most NAS devices include their own network backup software.

 

DMK2
I appreciate your great input. Especially with the Win7 version and network backup which I wasn't sure about. I have a Seagate BlackArmor 2Bay, 2TB NAS, but I have not hooked it up yet and it has backup software with it. I will probably save myself some money and go with Win Home Premium.

From the Sony Europe site that Gracy posted, looks like the S comes with Win7 Ultimate. What is your Sony laptop?

 

If I buy a S with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator can I add GPU in future? Is it plug and play like CPU or is it soldered to motherboard?

 

You might be able to. I haven't seen the motherboard of the Vaio S with integrated graphics. I would have thought that they would be using all the same motherboards so may be there will be a space to add the gpu. Graphics cards are soldered. However, there are people that can do this type of work. It's not that expensive where i live. I'm not sure if that's the case where you live.

If you could do this and get a 310M soldered i can't though say how well this would work for you. Also, it might be cheaper and less hassle just to buy a motherboard of ebay and swap it. Of course you could just purchase one with dedicated graphics in the beginning.

 

One thing that's very likely to be different with the GeForce option is the heat pipe/heat sink. Even if Sony is using the same MB for both versions, I doubt they would leave an unattached heat pipe dangling over the spot where the GPU would be. So you'd likely have to source that too. It's a pretty big gamble for such a small savings.