SONY VAIO SVS15113FXS review ?

Hi Guys,

Am new to SONY, and figured i would ask folks who are familiar with the product.

Any take on SONY VAIO SVS15113FX/S OR /B ? Its relatively new so couldnt really get any reviews online :/

My concerns -
1. the last gen SA series has overheating / loud fan issues.
2. And since I am new to Sony, would like to know user experience on Sonys customer service, warranty claims etc...

Really appreciate any help !

 

Word is the 13" runs at a much more comfortable temp than sandy bridge models, I'm assuming the 15.5" will run even cooler with the same config. I didn't notice any fan noise playing with an S15 at the store, but I didn't do anything to tax the processor.

 

Heat wont be a problem any more { For 15.5" though }

I had It for a week ...so far so good ... play alot of intensive games with moderate settings without any slowing nor freezing ..

Every one loves it .

 

This is your lucky day! I can't sleep and I have been very active on the Sony forum for the last two years and have owned several Sony Zs and looked into the s13 and s15 for others, so I can provide you with more information than you probably expected to get in response to your request! Pleasure to do so and Sony does have very compelling products that are excellent values in the S models and the Z, but it's not all hearts and flowers, so I'll give you all the insight I can until I bore myself to sleep!

If you read the threads on the 2011 versions of the s13 and s15 you'll hear the worst of it because the 2012 versions, with IB cpu and Intel 4000 iGP and Kepler d-gpu all run much cooler than their SB equivalents. The integrated graphics is supposed to be 50% or more improvement in performance. The fan in the SA13 of last year is also said to be improved, though again it hopefully will not need to run very much at all with the more energy efficient components.

The screens of both the 13 and 15 have been subjects of controversy - for totally different reasons. The base screen on the 13 is 1600X900 so pretty high res. for the size, but the 2011 SA13's was a terrible quality display with low contrast and washed out colors. There have been a couple of reviews of the new SVS13 "premium" screen suggesting that it is somewhat better but still not a high quality screen, nothing approaching the superb quality of the 13" FHD screens in the Sony Z line nor the excellent screens now used in the Asus Zenbook line, all FHD IPS screens that apparently are considered even better than the vaunted Z screen, which was truly the "gold standard", nor is the S screen even as good as the Samsung Series 9, 13" 1600X900 ("PLS," Samsung's proprietary take on IPS). So if screen quality is important to you, the Sony SVS13 would not be a good choice. If it is not that important to you, the SVS13 is an excellent choice because it is a very light, full featured laptop using full voltage IB cpu and d-gpu and selling at a far lower price than the other models referred to above and likewise better value than most "ultrabooks" though those will be about 1 lb lighter and will have SSDs where the SVS13 costs a fortune if you let Sony add the SSD but if you get the lowest cost HDD in an SVS13 and buy an SSD to put into it you have a high capacity, super fast SSD and still likely spend less than on an ultrabook.

The S15 screen is an excellent IPS matte screen with one weakness: it does not produce the red tones accurately and is known as 'orange-gate" for the controversy around it and the same screen used in the HP Envy 15. The new Envy 15 screen is said to have none of the red/orange problems but colors are a bit washed out compared to the previous year's display. At present Sony appears to be using the same display, with the orange issues, but otherwise a superb screen. Read the many threads on the subject for perspective - many found it didn't matter to them at all and many returned theirs.

Finally, as a Sony owner for several years and reader of these forums I have t o warn you that Sony has in recent years become about the worst in customer support of any major computer brand. They are often unresponsive and way too many times owners have reported that Sony has refused to do a repair under warranty by claiming that somehow the owner did something to cause problems that were so clearly manufacturing defects. A lot of people purchase extended warranties from Square Trade, a highly regarded third party warranty provider, who has and observes a policy that they will either repair your computer within 5 days or they'll send you a check for your original purchase price, and they have a track record of being good to their word. On a $1,200 laptop they would charge about $200 for a 3 year exteneded warranty that includes Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH). Of course, people have horror stories dealing with support from all the major brands so some would say Sony is about average, but brands like Dell and HP have really improved support in recent years and Sony's has gotten worse. One positive is that the quality of their premium laptops - S and Z lines - has been quite good, so if your machine looks and works as expected out of the box, it's got a good chance of not experiencing a problem requiring warranty service. Still, consider yourself "forwarned!"

Hope I've provided the feedback you were seeking. I would say that the S15 and S13 are excellent values and that the S13 screen is now acceptable, if not anything like high end, while the S15 is an all around excellent and very light weight computer for its size and it has an excellent screen, if you are not bothered by the red/orange issue. Sony gives you 30 days from purchase to return for full refund, no restocking fees, so check them out in stores if you have them nearby but otherwise know that you can try them out for 30 days and decide if you like them and can accept the tradeoffs.

Good luck.

 

Pros:
1) Fan is very silent in normal use. I believe its cooling system is one of its strength.
2) 640mLE can be modded to become as fast as 650m or better.. with the help of #1 ^
3) Very light weight for its size.
4) Good touchpad compared to my old one.
5) Matte and 1080p ..but...

Cons:
1) Inaccurate colors.. not just orange, Blue appears different too but not as bad as orange. However, the S13 might have accurate colors but there is a banding issue and I see tiny glittery matte cover effect - unbearable.. I should have went to s13 but not because of this.
2) Locked SATA3 (6 Gbps).. why??
3) Installed software don't come with disk installers.
4) Very bad speakers.. I think my phone can produce better sound.
5) Disappointing speed with Hard drive and the bloatwares. Can be fixed with SSD and fresh install.

This is what I can say for 5 day of use.

 

hi guys,

Urgent help required. Just joined this forum looking to find some help. I know this is a post for S series primarily, but my question is related to VAIO SVE1511MFXS, so its kind of related.

Ok so i just got my first ever laptop which is VAIO SVE1511MFXS. It comes with a windows 7 64-bit home version. However i needed a 32-bit version professional version. and since i am quite naive about all this computer stuff, so what i did was to format my C; drive and did the 32 bit professional version on it. and here is the hitch...apart from some basic drivers, it never picked some really useful drivers. I did create a windows restore point (dint know how it worked) but it never worked when i tried to revert. So now what i have is a full 3rd generation i7 system, but not really sony without the software and support i managed to get most of the drivers from internet but this VAIO doesnt look the same. I tried to get almost all the drivers from sony support website, however in some cases it just gives an error that its not properly installed (may be its just compatible with 64-bit version). There are no VAIO support tools, gate, care etc...and even in device manager, there is still a yellow marker saying an "unknown device" and i dont know what that is. I checked and found its SOny firmware extension parser but even when i install its driver, it says its not for this model !!!

All i need now is to just have my VAIO back (software wise) preferably on this 32-bit version. Anyone can guide or explain the steps to follow or do i really need to visit Sony center and will they redo the whole windows n software??? i am really desperate here...bought it with my pocket money

Thanking you all in anticipation

Regards.