Possible vaio laptop problems?

Hi, I have a new sony vaio laptop and it seems to have 2 possible problems, and one annoying feature:

Problem 1: The charger port seems a bit loose. It charges totally fine, no disconnecting or anything. Its not super lose,, but has quite a bit of play with it? Is this normal, as once a computer shop guy said newer laptops are made not as ridgid so they dont break as easy as they used too

Problem 2: The laptop has been on for about 15minutes in total today and its really putting out some heat. Its as if I have a lot of programs running using a lot of CPU, making the fan run to keep it cool. All ive done on it since turning it on is look for these problems im listing

Annoyance: Is their anyway to speed up the touch pad? It moves at a good speed, but if I dont apply enough pressure, it wont recognise. My dell that I just replaced was really good. Fast and smooth. Ive changed the settings to the fastest possible, but its nowhere near as good as the dell one was

I have tried to keep this as short as possible, if you require any other info I will do what I can. The laptop by the way is a:
Sony Vaio pcg 81112m
Sony VAIO F13 S0E/B / Intel Core i7-740QM 1.73GHz / 6GB / 500GB / Blu-ray Combo / 16.4 inch / Windows 7 Home Premium / Laptop / Notebook / Black - Computing at Play.com (UK)

Thank you

 

your model is a VPC-F13 (it says that on the bottom right of your LCD panel).

Problem 1: i'd call Sony to get that fixed... I believe most would agree with me that the statement: "newer laptops are made not as ridgid so they dont break as easy as they used too" is TOTAL sales BS. I believe laptops were once built better back then than they are now... Nowadays, you buy a laptop, it maybe has a 2 year life... some laptops of the past have been working for 10+ years.

Problem 2: I don't know if that's a typical problem of the F13... i dont think so though. look at task manager, etc.

Annoyance: in your taskbar (bottom right of screen) look for the Synaptics icon (it should be white symbol on red background) or the touchpad icon. (or go Control Panel >> Mouse) then under Device settings >> Synaptics TouchPad >> Settings then under Pointing >>Sensitivity >> Touch Sensitivity then move that thingy(i forget what it's called) for higher sensitivity.

 

If it is the F you linked to:

1. Yes, this is normal and intentionally made this way... Imagine how easy it would be to damage the connector port if it is not at least flexible! This is fine.

2. Typical for F-series unfortunately. This is one of the disadvantages of this model - quite noisy FAN changing speeds very often. Many, many, many threads and posts about it, just look around and mainly in the F Owner's thread.

3. Try the settings...?
Again - use the F Owners thread to ask other owners of the same Vaio model. Sony has many models and the quality and eventual issues vary from mode to model, not to mention that they all have different components.

 

You are aware that most of the Vaio F have a different brand/model touchpad, not made by Synaptics, don't you!?

 

The person I asked about the charging port didnt sell me the laptop or try too, so he wasnt trying a sales pitch. I should really take the laptop and ask his opinion. The port really does seem a bit loose, not as bad as some I have in the past. I'd say if i lifted the charge up and down I could probably move it around 3mm. So im not sure if their is a problem or I am paranoid.

My other concern is the touchpad. I did go into the settings like you have suggested and mirrored my dell settings, and its just not as good. I downloaded synaptics to try and again, that gives me no extra options, so Im guessing the only way I can get that better is if vaio brought out some updates?

My issue with the laptop basically is, I work in a shop where we buy and sell second hand items. This guy sold this laptop as he wanted a mac. Im really tempted to buy this as I can get it for £400 which is an absolute bargain.

I just wanted to make sure everything about it is in working order before I do pay for it. I looked on the vaio website and the only way I can check the warranty status is if I put the details of where it was bought etc, which I have no idea, whereas with the dell as soon as I entered the serial number I got all the info I needed

 

I'm not sure downloading anything Synaptics will do your touchpad any good. I'm of the understanding that all of the F series have ALPS touchpads. Mine is quite responsive. I've got mouse pointer speed up to 2 clicks shy of full speed and the touchpad is set to more sensitive. Works well.

The F series does put out a lot of heat. It's very good at keeping its i7 processor cool. Since you're getting this 2nd hand though, who knows just what software the former owner has running on it that's using the CPU. You'd be best suited to burn Recovery Discs from VAIO Care and then perform a clean install from them as directed here:
Vaio F Series Clean Install Guide - F11 F12 F13 by Joe Bleau

A good clean install will make sure that you have no processes running that should not be. It'll decrease your RAM usage by about 1GB and will be a bit quieter (hopefully).

Yeah, the connector has wiggle room. For reasons already mentioned, it's safer to have wiggle room than to have a rigid connection that will eventually crack and break at its join.

 

I had my F11 keyboard replaced last week under warranty. Good warranty experience, but the guy told me he replaced a ton of keyboards and a ton of the power jacks.

i7 laptops are hot. From what I hear, the F's are a lot better than some, say HP Envy. At one point, Dell was not able to use full HD screens with i7. This is probably the biggest annoyance I have though, the damn whining fan. And it is far worse if you two screens at once.