S260 Owners Thread

Howdy all,

New S260 ownere here and loving it. Starting this thread to hear from the rest of you S260 owners so we can talk about tips, tricks, accessories etc..

I'll start

No avatar for the S260? What's up with that?

RoadCake

 

Hi there,
have you had previous experience with a sony s1 series? The main thing that bugged me was their loud fan noise...
so, the big question is, have they solved the fan noise issue with this s2 update?

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W1N - 1.7GHz - 1024MB

 

I don't think the fan is louder than any other notebooks out there. I know that it doesnt spin up as often as others. I've go no problem with the fan noise.

 

When I first got the notebook I tired to load XP pro on it but the sony driver site didn't have drivers for the video card or the audio card. I was told to use the restore CD's toget the driver but you could only restore XP home. Has anyone tried to load XP pro on it?

 

i am happy except for the fact that i have one dead pixel. i don't even know the fan is running when it is.
accessories...i want a sonystyle slip cover for it!

 

I bought the "streachy" cover for another model, can't reember what it was but it was a little bit samaller than the S260. Fits with a tiny bit of streaching. I got mine at Fry's in San Diego.

 

New S260 owner here, WOW! Love the widescreen. All the important features in a great size. I looked at the X505, but too many sacrafices for the weight. I think we have a real winner here. Has anyone tried the bluetooth yet?

 

Well I got a S2XP (the european version of the Vaio S260). Since I had reviewed a S1 model for a german magazine, I was wondering if they finally fixed the fan issue. Here ist the answer: Unfortunately they did not. Just working on the battery I started scrolling through a picture folder - the fan set in after few seconds. Well - my final advice: dont buy this excellent notebook. Its still too loud. :-(

 

Has anyone tweaked the power management software to get max battery life?

I would like to start testing in different inviroments like playing DVD's or basic word processing and web surfing.

If you have some info please post

 

I'm not sure if it is much louder than any other notebook I have owned. The unit stays cool and the fan doesn't come on that often.

I guess I am so happy with the unit that I don't notice the fan noise. Sort of like a super hot chick whos missing a pinky toe, It just doesnt bother me =]

 

Is anyone running 1GB of ram in the 260? If so hows it changer performance and what apps are you using?

~RC

 

I picked up my S260 four days ago and love it! Got it for 2000 minus 250 in rebates at CC. Not to bad I supsose. I just read about the massive discounts from Office Depot. Oh well...

I love the fact it is sooo light. I had a Compaq that weighed 7.4 pounds and when that thing was out of my flight case I could tell. I guess we will see how this laptop holds up to being on the road 25 days a month.

My only pet peeve is the fact you have to press the FN key to do PGDn PGUp...oh well I picked up a wireless optical mouse and the wheel makes up for it.

Fan noise really isn't a problem for me yet.

I dislike the fact that it dosn't come with recovery CDs and no hard copy on the manual.

Nevertheless, I like the new laptop.

I saw a review somewhere where two people mentioned that the wireless performance was less when running on battery power. I tested that and didn't notice that at all.

James

 

James,

Goto the control panel and look for the recovery wizzard, you can create recovery CD's there. If you have a DVD writer you can make one DVD. Also there is a recovery partition on the drive so you can recover the OS without the CD's.

Hope this helps

~RC

 

Thanks! I need to get on it and create my backup cds. I didn't get the DVDR option.

I guess if I lost the hdd I would lose that recovery data? Then have to go cry to Sony.

James

 

The recovery wizzard is to recover apps and the OS only. You have to back up your data seperate.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by roadcake

 

So the question is still on the floor:
If someone were to buy the S260 with XP Home who already has an available XP Pro license (and who doesn't want to buy yet another copy of Pro), is everything available on the SONY site to install all the drivers needed by the XP Pro install???

Andrew
Austin, TX

 

Yes, you can buy the XP home and just upgrade it to XP Pro with the CD you already have. All the drivers you need are in the Sony website. Dont forget to burn your recovery discs first though since there are some apps you need that is located there. You can go to the Sony website and they even have a walkthrough of how you can do the clean install of windows.

I did this too when i got my Vaio S with XP Home.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by aamsel

 

Has anyone tried replacing the s260's hard drive? I unscrewed all the bottom screws, removed the keyboard, unscrewed the "under" keyboard screws and the cover won't come off. The corner next to the WLAN light seems to be "stuck".

Any ideas? I want to swap the drive with a 8 mb/5400 rpm drive. The original drive seems to be in use alot (paging every couple seconds or so).

 

I'm considering purchasing the S260, but I'm confused with what I see on eBay. Apparently there is an S260 model as well as an S260P model. Can anyone tell me what the "P" stands for and how the S260P differs from the S260?

 

I think the P has the DVD R drive. Wish I got that one

Can I upgrade ?

 

I don't think that's true. I've looked at several S260P's for sale on eBay and none of them list a DVD-R. One guy told me he thought that this stood for XP Professional rather than XP Home. I don't think this is correct either because all of the S260's that I've seen, also come with XP Professional.

One other question - regarding a DVD-R: I would really like to have one, but I can't find one (other than going to Sony's website but then it gets awfully expensive). Therefore I was wondering, has anyone bought one without a DVD-R and put one in themselves? I was just wondering how feasible this is and what kind of cost this would involve.

I was at Best Buy today and saw an additional discount on the 260's (the lowest price that I've seen so far at a retailer - aside from the Office Depot sale going on last week that I'm still very skeptical about). After rebates, the bottom price is $1,650. I think I'm going to go ahead now and get one, but again, I just want to know if down the road I can replace the optical drive and add a DVD-R and what that might cost me.

 

Well, I guess the one guy actually was correct - from what I understand the only difference between the 260 and 260P is that the 260 has Win XP Home and the 260P has Win XP Pro.

I still want to know about the DVD-R, can anyone provide me with any information as to how feasible it is and what kind of costs are involved? Anyone?

 

Here is how to upgrade HDD in S-series

http://www.thumbrocket.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8

While you are there, dig out all the upgrade information available there, including the link to the Service Manual of S260 that tells you what every component is in S260.

S260P is with XP Pro and S260 is with XP Home. Upgrading optical drive by yourself is possible and I have read in some Taiwanese and Chinese forum that people have done so, but I couldn't find a good guide on how to do that.

 

Well, I decided to buy the 260 tonight, and I'm certainly glad I did. This is a great notebook! One thing that I really want though to protect my baby is a nice (hopefully inexpensive) case. Anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking for something that the 260 can snug in real tight to so it doesn't add much bulk. I don't need much protection in terms of padding, I'm more interested in a very snug, light case that fits the 260 really well. Any ideas?

 

This is the official sleeve. I have it and it fits S very well. No padding what-so-ever, so you need to put the laptop in it then put the whole thing into something with padding or protection.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?CategoryName=acc_PCAccessories_CasesSecurity_NotebookCases&ProductSKU=VGPAMC1

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the picture on Sony's website is wrong, so it looks more like a sleeve for non-wide laptops.

 

I want a sleeve like you are describing too!

 

Skyshade - SWEET, thanks! That was EXACTLY what I was looking for and the price is very reasonable on this, especially coming from Sony. I was actually expecting it to be 15-20 bucks more than it was. I ordered it and should be getting it in a couple of days. Thanks again!

 

You are welcome.

 

I just purchased an S260 tonight at Circuit City for $1549 after discounts and rebates. It was priced $100 more in the store but I asked them if they would match the web only discount for the other $100 and they did, so I feel like I got a pretty good deal.

I was planning on getting a TR3A, which is a great little notebook too, but once I saw the S260, I just knew that was the one I really wanted.

I probably won't get to really mess with it until the weekend since I will be busy with Thanskgiving tomorrow and I have to work Friday. [ ]

I plan on updating it to SP2 and then upgrading XP Home to XP Pro so I'll let you know how it goes.

Kirk

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by renesis

 

Make sure you make the recovery disc set before you upgrade.[8D]

Happy Thanksgiving![ ]

 

It may already have SP2 but I have not opened it yet as I am thinking about taking it back and ordering a customized S70 from Sonystyle.com instead. There won't be a restocking fee if it is unopened so I will make by decision over the weekend.

Kirk

 

I have the Mac powerbook G4 12inch and just purchased the Sony Vaio s 260....now, I don't know cuz I'm a mac gal, but has anyone noticed that this computer is abnormally loud...any tips with this computer would be great. I need it to take exams on at school (mac is not compatible with the software company for taking tests) and I am NOT used this thing.

 

I believe you can set your power-settings to battery or low fan-noise or something like that. That should reduce the fan noise unless you're doing something like playing games. Hope it helps, but sadly the fan's noise seems to be a common problem. Especially compared to macs which are known to be pretty silent.

But if you compare both machines, which is better build? Better usable? Is the 12" Powerbook the perfect Notebook or are there things where it can't compete with the Sony?

 

The mac powerbook 12inch is the best notebook i have ever had...hands down...It was my first mac and i am never going back...BUT the vaio is pretty cool huh?? I'm not used to all this anti-virus stuff though (not as much as a problem with macs)--its a bit of a pain....the mac's screen is not as cool as the vaio's though...the vaio is a bit lighter too. I was suprised about that cuz the mac is smaller, but I guess that titanium metal stuff must be a bit heavy. I'm not sure which computer is quicker yet...seems like a dead tie...i'll keep ya updated as i discover interesting differences...thanks for the fan tip

 

After receiving my new S260 from Amazon yesterday, I fired it up and was instantly impressed by the quality of the screen and overall design of the unit. But, after a few minutes of using it, my excitement quickly turned to disappointment as the Boeing 747-styled cooling fan kicked in.

While I would expect a fan to kick in while doing intensive work, I was simply browsing the web AND the cpu was set to "adaptive." Unfortunately, I think I will need to return this unit due to the fan noise. It seems a few others have experienced the same problem. I'm looking at the Panasonic toughbooks because they don't even have fans. If it wasn't for the loud fan, this would be a great machine.

 

I've had my S260 for a couple of weeks now and took it to Chicago on a business trip with me last week and the fan is pretty quiet. Hopefully loud fan noise is not a widespead problem.

Kirk

 

What’s going on people? I’ve been looking for a Sony forum online and I’m surprised that the Sony website didn’t have one, which is kind of retarded, but anyways I just wanted to get opinions about the Sony Vaio notebook.

I’m an owner of the VGNS260 and I just wanted to know if you guys were having any problems with yours. How it was running? If you’ve noticed significant changes to performance, and etc.

I’ve had this since October and it’s been working out great just a few minor things I would change about it. #1 being the fan noise. It’s just too loud in certain situations and what not.

Well it’s December now and I’ve felt a little difference in the performance of my Sony. When I first got it, it would take seconds (meaning you wouldn’t even notice) for the it to load Windows XP Home, now (I have timed this) and it takes over 2 mins. I was wondering if anyone else had a problem with it starting up so late?

Another issue that I was having is when it loads programs such as i.e., loading multiple FireFox web browsers or IE or opening my computer . It takes a while a little longer than it used to.

The wireless integrated card sometimes acts up. The problem I’m having with this is when you search for a wireless connection sometime it takes about 3 mins or so just to find it and then about 2 mins to connect to it.

Last was the screen, the screen is beautiful, but how do you keep it clean? It attracts so much dust that everytime I turn it on you can’t even appreciate the screen for what it is. I don’t know if you notice (may be it’s just my notebook) but where it is written VAIO on the notebook screen it is kind of loose and I feel I could rip it open. I was wondering if all of them are like that?

Well if anyone has any suggestions or comments about how long your Vaio takes to load please and I mean PLEASE post it here. There are no other forums that talk about Sony Vaios, especially the VGN-S260. Thank you

 

It's normal to have performance degraded over time because new applications are installed and the system, at the very least, has to handle larger registry and such. This is the reason why some people will use Norton Ghost to make an image of the HDD after a bare minimum selection of software has been installed then re-image their HDD regularly. There is also a guide on how to optimize your laptop performance by Bootleg2go and it's a sticky somewhere here (I think it's the hardware section).

For your case, you might also want to do a spyware/adware check. Also, I notice that if I turn on the wireless swtich (the hardware one by your wrist rest) during booting, sometimes it slows down the booting as well. So, now I make sure I turn off the switch when I shut down.

About the loose cover on the LCD, that's true for everyone. To clean the screen, you need a microfiber cloth (and a can of compressed air will also help).

Oh, and there are several S forums, such as www.talkvaio.com and http://www.siliconpopculture.com/sonytr/index.php

 

SkyShade, thanks for the solution on the screen and wireless. I guess it might have something to do with the wireless being on or off. However, I haven't really loaded the registry up with too many things. The few things that I did install are basic things like:

WinAmp
WMP/ RealPlayer / Quicktime -- you can't really live without those on the internet

AIM
Microsoft Office 2003
Microsoft Frontpage 2003

No games, I only use it for productive purposes really. I leave the desktop for my gaming/ serving / downloading; you know all of the other stuff. I had these installed when I first got the Sony Vaio 2months ago and the performance never changed like the way it does now.

How long does it take for you to have the sony s boot up?
Anyone else? How long does it take for you to boot up your sony s260?

 

My S170 (1.5GHz, 1 GB RAM, 4200 RPM 60 GB HDD) takes about 45 seconds, but software wise I had a clean install with minimum amount of Sony stuff. I don't even use Norton Antivirus because it is a system hog. If the wireless switch is on, it could go to 1.5 to 2 minutes.

You might also want to use msconfig.exe and see the hidden or resident stuff that come with your programs, like the qttask.exe that comes with QuickTime. You need QuickTime, but that qttask is purely useless (it's especially annoying because it will still be loaded even after you have turned off the tray icon).

See if these measures and what Bootleg2go suggested help. If not, you may have some hardware problems.

 

what is the difference of the S260 and the S270??

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ryotamasaki

 

I use Monster iClean to keep my screen clean. It's good stuff.

By the way, there are Sony forums now at http://www.talkvaio.com

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Visit the Sony VAIO Forums at http://www.talkvaio.com
News, info, and the latest deals Sony VAIO's!

 

Hi All- Long time reader- frist time poster


Thanks all for the info and reviews about your experiences with this computer. I picked up my S260 today, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm glad I went with this portable slick machine as oppossed to others I considered.... including that mammoth fujitsu N6010. Anyways, while I understand I'm in the honeymoon period with this machine- I'm still impressed with all aspects of it. I do hear the fan when it gets going, but i don't seem to mind it much- maybe I'm not as picky. My only real gripe with this machine is the memory stick-only reader. But I knew Sony is only about memory sticks, so it wasnt a surprise. Anyways thanks all. I look forward to coming back here and finding all sorts of info in the future regarding this machine. Thanks

 

Congrats on your new machine!

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Visit the Sony VAIO Forums at http://www.talkvaio.com
News, info, and the latest deals Sony VAIO's!

 

Hi there

does the s270 NOT have the awful loud fan as the s260? I am thinking of ordering one but the loud fan comments scares me- I've loved my current old vaio because it is stylish and silent... i do not dare switch to a Mac G4 eventhough it is beautiful, light and was silent for the 5 month test, it is that software and 1-button mouse old restriction.
Thanks from this eager sonygirl,

clara


The S270 is configurable (www.sonystyle.com)whereas the S260 is the one you will find in stores that comes preconfigured.

Kirk
[/quote]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by renesis