Sony S380 best laptop in the world?

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

 

Somebody probably already mentioned this somewhere in the 60 replies before this one, but just to make sure we're on the same page.

The 6200 is not a better card than the X600. The 6200 is a budget card. The X600 is a mainstream card. The X600 would be more equivalent to the 6400. Get your facts straight.

Digital Camera Reviews
The sister site of NotebookReview.com

 

Oops, I meant to say 9700, but we should all know that the 9700 and X600 are virtually identical performance-wise.

Digital Camera Reviews
The sister site of NotebookReview.com

 

Checked the locking mechanism for the battery. Both sliders are in the "lock" position and the battery still wiggles. Hmmm.

I wrote to Sony Customer service about these issues (battery wiggle, heating issue and dead pixel). Their reply ignored the battery wiggle issue, referred me to a knowledge base link regarding the dead pixel issue as well as the heating issue along with some instructions on how to change the power settings. I've included their email below:

I remain undecided at the moment. I love the formfactor and I hardly notice the pixel. The battery wiggle is no big deal either. The heat concerns me a bit as I'll have the unit running in class all day long. And taken all together I'm wondering if the 380 is ready for prime-time or if I should return it and wait a few months to let Sony Iron out the wrinkles.



_________Sony Email________

Thank you for contacting Sony Online Support.

We regret to learn the difficulties you are experiencing. We have
searched our support knowledgebase and found the following article that
should assist you with this issue. Please click the URL link below to
review the information on there are tiny black pixel points or bright pixel
points (red, blue, or green) that continuously appear on the Notebook
or Desktop LCD screen:

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/autoresponse.asp?id=221627

Please click the URL link below to review the information on the
Notebook Computer gets warm, and then turns off:

http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/autoresponse.asp?id=337164

You may control the cooling fan with the PowerPanel Profile. Please
follow the steps below to edit the fan setting in order the lower or
eliminate the fan noise:

NOTE: Disabling the fan will cause PowerPanel to regulate heat by
adjusting the CPU speed. When the system temperature reaches a certain
level, Power Panel will decrease the CPU speed and you may notice a drop in
system performance.

* Each of the profiles will need to be edited to conform to the
desired Thermal Control Strategy value. If each profile is not edited, the
same issue may arise due to actions of the Automatic Profile Selector.

1. Right-click the PowerPanel icon in the system tray.

2. Click Edit/Create Profiles.

3. Click Maximum Battery Life.

4. Double-click Thermal Control Strategy.

5. Click Quiet.

6. Click the Save current Power Management Profile button.

7. Close the PowerPanel Profile Editor.

NOTE: Once a profile setting is changed, the new settings will not
take effect until the system is restarted.

We hope this information has been helpful to you. If you need further
assistance, do not hesitate to reply to this message with any additional
details you require.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to be of assistance.

The Sony Internet Support Team
Online Support and Services Center
CP5M
Rohit

 

Noticed that nobody answered mpdo's question about what the P signifies. All the P meens is Windows XP or Windows XP Proffesional. At least that's what ive noticed on the S380's.

 

Thanks for the 'p' explanation.

So, after going through TWO S380s. Both of which had a single dead pixel, both had the heating issue, both had the battery wiggle issue...I've decided to return it and get an S270.

Will post my experience with it once I've had a few days to work with it.

To Sony's credit, they have taken back TWO brand new notebooks no questions asked. For that I am grateful and will likely remain a Sony customer.

Thanks for all your help. This board has been very valuable.

 

Now you have me wondering, I was about to purchase an S360/ or S380. Seems like their either perfect or their a lemon. Please post your experiances with the S270. Even i think that might be too old of a model for my taste.

 

I recently purchased an s360. No dead pixels but the battery does wiggle/rattle, only on the side with the lock/unlock switch. I think it is just a design flaw. Other than this minor annoyance, I love it so far.

 

CookieC22.
Promise to post my experience on the S270. Scheduled to shop 5/10.

I admit the S380 was a disappointment. I thought the Sonoma chipset was supposed to prolong battery life even with the Nvidia card. The S380 has some nice features: DDR2 RAM, 54000RPM hard disk but reading posts on the S270 convinced me to give that a try even with the older RAM and chipset.

Will keep you posted.

 

I agree the S380 is very nice however I am going to have to disagree on the graphics department. The Radeon Mobility 9700 (64MB dedicated) found in the S360 is a superior to the GoFX6200 turbo cache (32MB dedicated). Just look at some 3DMark05 comparisons if you don’t believe me.

 

I had read a post before hand, someone stated they too had battery problems with the battery wiggling and being loose, even after they locked it in place. I hope they fix it with the S480 series.

 

270 vs S380

After going through two (2) S380 units I thought I’d try my luck with a custom configured S270. As we’ve all read, the S270 is equivalent to a customer configured S360. Here is my impression of the S270 after having worked with it over the past week.

My reasons for sending back the S380s were:

• Dead pixels – each unit arrived with a single dead pixel. Both were bright blue which I found extremely distracting when watching DVD movies.
• Hot Right Palm Rest – on both units the right palm rest became warm enough to make my palm sweat.
• Fan Noise – The fan ran continuously on both units during basic web surfing and emailing. There are several posts on how to under-clock or under volt your CPU and change the power settings on this board but to me that seemed like too much trouble.
• Power Brick (AC adapter) – I found it odd that a unit that weighed 4.2lbs had a power adapter that weighed a bit more than a pound (with cables).
• Battery Wiggle – The battery wiggled slightly even while the latches were in the locked position. This is a minor annoyance as it didn’t disrupt power or cause any noticeable problems.
• Screen Flicker at dimmed setting – This was corrected by switching off the NVidia “Smart Display” setting but I only mention it here in case others have the same problem and think it’s a hardware issue.

The S270 arrived right on time (as published on the Excellent Sony Styles order site).
Positive impressions:
• Small AC Adapter
• No DEAD PIXELS
• Fan hardly comes on during basic use (Web surfing, email and documents)
• Unit looks and feels exactly like the S380


Negative Impressions:
• No Sony Mouse. Both S380s came with a cool shiny black Sony mouse…wonder why it wasn’t included with the S270
• Boring old Sony software (2004 versions of installed applications). Not a big deal to me but worth mentioning.
• Same slight but noticeable “battery wiggle” issue as the S380. This appears to be a general design flaw and hopefully they will fix it in the newer models.


Honorable Mention

I should take a moment here to applaud Sony for their Customer Service and Return policies. I have read several posts about negative experiences with Sony Customer support. I work in technical support so I’ve learned there are always three sides to every story. So I’m not taking sides…just relaying my experience. My experience involves the following objective observations.

Sony responded to my initial email inquiries within 24 hours with a personalized response (From Support Overseas)

Sony provided an RMA number and free Fedex shipping for both laptops upon request with no questions asked. In both instances I contacted Sony within 30 days of receiving the unit. Both times they were apologetic about my dissatisfaction with each unit. The company I work for has a 14 day return policy and will not take back a unit for a single dead pixel. In addition, they will have a technician test the unit and if the technician says there is nothing wrong with the unit then you are charged a 15% restocking fee.
So I am grateful for Sony’s policy and will likely remain a loyal Sony customer for years to come.

My overall impression

The S270/360 and s380 are identical in form insofar as the physical appearance, screen, keyboard, DVD-+RW, USB/Firewire ports and locations, Memory stick and features like Bluetooth, WiFi (not sure if 270 has a/b/g like the 380 though just b/g). Where they differ is in the graphics card (ATI vs Nvidia), memory capacity (1gb vs 2gb), memory type (DDR vs DDR2). I couldn’t’ find the spec on the HD but the custom S270 I ordered had a 100GB drive like the previous S380s just not sure if it’s SATA and 5400rpm like the S380.

All that said my conclusion is that the custom S270 is the right option for me. It is quiet, cool and ultra-portable with no noticeable loss in speed or quality of construction. The S270 shares all the positive traits of the S380 without any of its drawbacks. The S380 feels like they were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Rather than design the unit from the ground up to handle the unique characteristics of the Sonoma Chipset they tried to squeeze it into the proven package of the S270 and failed.

I have two suggestions to improve this current model. First is to provide more options as far as memory sticks (besides the Sony stick)…while the Sony stick is cool…this just feels like too obvious an attempt to get consumers to buy Sony products. The second is to follow Apple’s lead and backlight the keyboard.

 

Thats exactly why I switched back from a 380 to a 270- but my 270 has one stuck pixel- only shows up when the screen is black so I kept it and i wish that ALL the Sony S series had better keyboards, but other than that I love my S270! Glad I got one before they are gone

Also 128 megs of ATI 9700 Vid RAM would have made this a PERFECT machine!