New Sony Vaio Pro 13 with upgraded wifi (a/b/g/n/ac) - any other changes?

Is this the "spring refresh" we were told about?

Any improvements on touchpad and fan noise?

 

and what with graphic performance added with intel 5000? it is stil underclocked? and what about fan during the load?
thanks for answers!

 

nobody have new pro?

 

I ordered my Sony Vaio Pro two weeks ago. Last wednesday it got deliverd.

Fan is a bit load under load, running on silent now in Care Control. It's not disturbing so far... I'll run it without any setting for a while and get back to you.

A thing that really got to me is the light of the keyboard. It shines through the fan grill unto the lower edge of the screen (where the Sony logo is)... i'll make a picture when I can.

 

Please share with us your experience (satisfaction or dissatisfaction) both regarding the fan noise under different loadings and with the light shining during using the Pro under different light conditions.

 

Stervis, if you can, run a 1080p movie for a while and check if the fan is audible/disturbing.

 

I will. I've got a nice 1080p movie I still need to watch!

 

Is the wifi problem fix and is it smooth now w/o disconnects and high signal?

 

I am copying a 1080p movie over the network as we speak. Fan is on standard setting. It's hearable, but not in a high pitch annoying way. It's very acceptable.

About the wifi signal. It's strong, sometimes drops a bar. But I do notice it needs to prioritize. I am uploading 4GB on Onedrive from desktop, copying 1080p over wifi. This results in a weak internet connection on the laptop, which ofcourse is logical. A bit of a 50-50 approach. Sometimes it goes trough, sometimes it doesn't.

Having a hard time not blaming the laptop(wifi), but I know it's my suck ADSL connection

-edit-

I just checked Intel website for new drivers and found some for Bluetooth, WIFI and Graphics. Going to install them, Vaio update didn't report any updates.

 

anything about graphic performance with hd 5000? it is still weaker than hd 4000 in svz?

 

BEFORE you read what I wrote below note that my own fix for the Vaio Pro 13 fan noise which suddenly appeared after 11 months of fan noise free usage refers to a youtube video made by Larry Blackledge , here is the link go watch it .. it puts my e-mail into context and helps you fix the problem (video title on you tube is the following but don't worry for the fix I didn't replace or remove the existing troublesome fan:
"Sony VAIO Pro13, svp132 fan replacement, case removal") .





I am surprised that owners of Vaio Pro 13's are getting this problem on day 1 as the fan should be in tip top condition.
.

So my original youtube post starts:

Many thanks for this kind sir, I was nervous about opening the laptop but I fixed the problem without replacing the fan (although for the future I ordered a fan as it seems to be the weakest link in this excellent laptop). Just as background I got my Sony Vaio Pro 13 around March 2014, it was the later version which didn't have the WiFi problem and I've never had any problems with fan noise or overheating until 2 days ago where the laptop launched into fan full speed with prolonged overheating on the underside and also with awful helicopter type buzzing noise which made the laptop almost unusable as this was a terrible distraction to others and myself. The noise would commence after starting the machine for 1 minute and then launching any application such as Skype or YouTube. I suspect that the problem was that the oil lubrication on the spindle of the fan had totally evaporated and the ball bearings were grinding, I typically used my laptop every day for an average of 2 hours and then left it on all night playing podcasts which I listened to (subconsciously mostly) for hours - this has been the pattern of usage for 11 or so months.

So the steps I followed to fix the fan noise problem for my Sony Vaio Pro 13 were as follows:

1) open the laptop as described in the video above being careful to not force anything as the plastic could snap, using one of those plastic levers used to open tablets is useful to have for this.
2) you will see the troublesome fan, focus on the fan and not the copper heat sink and without removing the fan (don't remove the fan for my fix) you will notice that it has a black circular sticker attached to the main spindle, the sticker has a center circle cut out at the middle with a small silver/white spindle dead center of the black sticker cut out hole (it's around 5mm in diameter). Now I removed the sticker taking care not to damage it but looking back I suspect this may be UNNECESSARY. Then I doused a COTTON SWAB with oil lubricant (I used U.K. WD-40(tm) although again I'm not sure if that was the ideal chemical to use), so you can use an oil soaked cotton swab or say instead a kitchen towel twisted to form a fine tip with oil on the end. REMEMBER you want the cotton swab to be wet with oil but not DRIPPING as it may drip the lubricating oil onto other components and you don't want that as damage may occur due to this.

3) With the cotton swab wet with lubricating oil simply gently circle the silver spindle in the middle of the black sticker ensuring that a modicum of oil enters the spindle. REMEMBER we don't want to saturate the spindle with OIL just a small SMEAR will do.
I smeared light amounts of lubricating oil under the sticker area but I think that is not needed. Also if you DID decide to remove the sticker remember that there are copper coils beneath the sticker now exposed, there is no need to oil those so don't do it ! If you did decide to remove the sticker put it back exactly as you found it, I used a small about of Pritt Stick(tm) to do this and it worked fine - make sure it is secure though you don't want that sticker peeling off and falling onto the components whilst your machine is on.

4) re-attach the underside of the Sony Vaio Pro 13 carefully as shown in the video above being mindful that the side with the ports USB/audio jack should be tackled first as this is like the main hinge (of the oyster clam!). The audio jack is notoriously difficult to slot into place but as a useful tip, simply plug in your head phones into the audio jack on your Vaio Pro 13 and then GENTLY pull down on the plugged in audio connector to slot it back into place. Then replace the screws and the rubber 'feet' of the laptop as stated in the video and VOILA !!! you have a (FAN) SILENT AND COOL SONY VAIO PRO 13, mine has been playing 4K Youtube videos for 5 hours straight and the fan is silent, you can't hear a thing.

Side Notes: To be honest I was surprised at the results, it's almost as if the controller for the fan doesn't start if it detects resistance due to lack of lubricant on the spindle for the Panasonic fan and then doesn't kick in until it's panic time and the CPU is at 65 to 70 degrees Celsius and then the fan is like a buzz saw / helicopter rotary blade on full steam ahead with the underside of the laptop uncomfortably hot. I'm glad this fixed it as I didn't want to make modifications to any driver configs (there are tools to do this) or go on a hunt for a troublesome app that was causing this or do a factory reset to see if it was a software problem. If your Sony Vaio Pro 13 is still under warranty and you have time then I recommend that you return it to Sony instead of following my instructions or if you are worried about taking damaging your laptop, call up Sony and ask how much it would cost to repair your unit - I'm not sure if they still do fixes for out of warranty laptops though as they sold their Vaio business last year...