New VAIO E series keyboard backlighting?

Do all of the new VAIO E series have this feature? I'm getting conflicting information from the official Sony site. There main page on the E series says it's included, but if you do a search for that feature the two 15.5 inch "customizable" models, the SVE151190X don't appear in the results, and the I can't find it on the details for these two. The non-customizable models SVE15112FZS and SVE1511AFZ models definately do.

 

Yes. All of the new E Series technical specs on the website say they have backlit keyboards. At least they better be right -- I just ordered a new 15" inch one two days ago

Keith

 

Figures. My friends and I use our $150 recycling eCoupons and the new E-series comes out. Ah well.. We got good deals. And I actually don't care for the new 'clickable touchpad' which is also on my ENVY 4t.

I really like my 14" Vaio!

 

Some E15 have it, some don't however! The white ones in Europe do not have it and only some higher end black/silver have it. Maybe different in the states?

 

Mine just shipped today, so I should have it in my hands by the weekend. I'll post then. If it doesn't have a backlit keyboard, it's going back!

Here's what I ordered:

Product: US-SVE151190X-LBOM
Component: Standard lithium-ion battery (4000mAh)
Component: White
Component: CD/DVD player / burner
Component: 3rd gen Intel® Core™ i5-3210M processor (2.50GHz / 3.10GHz with Turbo Boost)
Component: 4GB (4GB x1) DDR3-1333MHz
Component: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Component: AMD Radeon™ HD 7550M (1GB) dedicated graphics
Component: 15.5" LED backlit display (1366 x 768)

I only got 4 GB memory because I have about 4 sticks of 4 GB ram here at the house. Thought about getting (2) 8 GB modules, but then that just seemed like overkill

Keith

 

I hear ya. I really don't like "non-buttoned" trackpads, so I'm hoping that I don't end up hating my new E Series machine. I had the latest F series with the "one big button" (which I gave to my son) and I absolutely hated it. It was very unresponsive, and had a big "dead space" in the middle of the button. Even though it was one big button, it felt like it had a rocker in the middle of it that simply pushed the button from one side to the other.

Keith

 

Happy to say that my new E Series arrived today. It's a beautiful laptop (White with black insets on the side), and the screen is very nice.

Trackpad is much better than I feared it would be, and (finally!) 2-finger scrolling works great.

There is a little bit more flex in the keyboard than I like, but it doesn't seem to affect typing at all. The only other odd thing is that the keys are white and the lettering on them is also white (and, yes, the keyboard is backlit).

If anyone has any specific questions, just ask.

Keith

 

I ordered mine about the same way except I ordered the silver finish, the blu-ray player and no discreet graphics. I wasn't quite sure about spending a lot of money on what is ulitimately a cheap laptop, but ultimately decided there's no sense geting somthing where I'm unhappy about both the speed and the low resolution TN display. If they come out with a MVA or IPS display that can actually produce the color red I may spring for it, but I'm not holding my breath and I can't wait getting a new laptop any longer.

I take it you can just stick a 4 gig DIMM in without voiding the warranty and having to match exactly the brand and speed of the one that's there? What about swapping out the hard drive?

 

​

Yes, adding another 4 GB stick is easy, as well as swapping out the hard drive. I swapped mine for a 1 TB Western Digital in about 5 minutes. One thing I like about Sony laptops is they make getting to the memory and hard drive really easy. To add memory is removing 1 screw, and to swap hard drive is removing 3 screws (plus the 4 on the hard drive mount). Just be sure to create your "restore disks" first!

Keith

 

I just ordered the E14 with the Ivy Bridge Quad Core, 8 gb ram and 500 gb 7200rpm hard drive, but I'm planning on replacing the hard drive with a 256 gb ssd, since that option is not available through Sony in Europe. Is that upgrade possible and will it void my warranty?

 

Yes, it's very easy. The SSD "looks" just like a standard hard drive, so you just pop the door off, remove a couple of screws, and put the new hard drive in.

Just be sure to boot up your new machine and create the System Restore disks before you swap drives!

As far as I know, swapping out hard drives won't void your warranty. If you need to have the machine serviced, just pop the original hard drive back in

Keith

 

Can one of you kind folks tell me if the E15 keyboard backlight has a manual on/off control? Several years ago I had a Vaio 17" with keyboard backlighting that was controlled by a sensor that never seemed to turn the lighting on when I needed it. Drove me nuts (actually was a deal breaker).

 

Hmm...I'm not on my machine now, but I don't think it has a manual control. I'll check when I get home.

What it does have in the control panel is two settings, one set for "plugged in" and one set for "on battery". Settings are:

1. Always on
2. On when a key is pressed.

As far as I know it doesn't sense the ambient light -- it's just "on" or "off".

Keith

 

Thanks for the response, Keith. The reason I ask is that my current HP laptop has a simple on/off key on the keyboard which seems like an elegant (and obvious) solution. If I want to type in the evening I can turn the lights on, if I want to watch a movie (and the lights are distracting) I can turn them off. My new E15 is in the mail so I guess I'll find out soon enough if the Sony works for me.