Sony SA Series Discussion Sony's next new 13.3 laptop

I use a 1TB USB 3.0 HDD with my VAIO Z using a USB 3.0 expresscard. My new desktop PC (when it arrives) will have a bunch of USB 3.0 ports. Faster speeds FTW!

 

Having just built a new workstation with USB3 as well as ordering the laptop I've been checking out the price of drives, and was pleased to discover that USB3 external drives are now only marginally more expensive than USB2 - you can get 2TB for £90 delivered, which isn't bad at all.

 

Ok I have the user manual for the SA and SB, where can I upload it? here there is a file size limit.

 

2shared - file upload would be one idea

 

ok

user manual
http://www.2shared.com/document/Pv3qjBcY/User_manual.html

internals, aka the guts
http://www.2shared.com/document/2H6o87X-/inside.html

enjoy

 

lmao just checked the config of the standard vaio sb here in Belgium (we can't configure specs here): it has a 5400 rpm hard drive as I feared. (other brands switched in 2009 to 7200rpm drives here).

And how long has it been since they had the vaio sr? That laptop also had a very weak gpu (ati hd 4570 or something like that). It seems they keep using rebranded gpu's with very minimal power increase. Aside from the better cpu's, this new model seems just as weak as the sr series which they were selling like two years ago. (same with the F series regarding graphics).

I know sony laptops aren't for gaming, but common, you'd expect a way bigger performance improvement regarding graphics and hard drives over a time span of 2-3 years right?

Does anybody know how much the amd 6630 are an improvement compared to the hd6470? (and the latter compared to the ati hd4570?).

 

You can specify a 7200rpm hard drive or SSD on the customise-to-order. In the UK they're only offering one pre-built model so far and everything else is CTO - much better way to do it.

I honestly couldn't care what graphics card it has in it, as long as it can display things on two monitors and has a HDMI output. I didn't even spend the extra £60 to upgrade to whatever the 1GB card is, waste of money for my needs.

Edit: for your question about graphics card comparison, see this (disclaimer: I haven't looked through it for the cards you mention, but they will surely be on there)

 

Banned cos of my work firewall...

Will definitely have a look later!

 

I still can't understand how the WWAN module is connected. I was hoping for a free Mini PCI-e to fit a high speep SSD...

 

ascariss, thank you! I got the answer to my question, SIM has its own cover on the bottom, that's good. Everything clear in terms of ports now.

 

Anyone got some personal webspace they could host those on for 5 mins & PM me a link? I'm getting curious now...!

 

Wow.. the battery is very large! Now I understand why it gets 6 hours of wi-fi-..

 

ssssssssss, if any maiboxes that can accept 7 and 5 MB files, drop me a PM, I will send both.

 

Unfortunately I can't even access any of my personal email from this location

(well, I can on my phone, but can't even get a 3G connection here, & I don't really fancy standing in the window holding my phone up for as long as it takes to d/l 12MB over GPRS! Same problem with my work laptop - if I'm at my other office & want to get round the firewall I just unplug the network cable & use 3G)

Going home in <4hours anyway so it's not a massive problem, I'll just have to try to stop acting like a little kid just before Christmas...

 

ssssssssss, ok, see a PM. Afetr you got it, pls reply.

 

Downloaded, rep added. Thanks man

 

As you can notice from the images and the manual, the fan exaust is in the rear.. the doubt is solved.

 

All I can see is what's on page 25 which just looks like a daughter board for the SIM card. The only mini PCIe board I can see is the WiFi adapter on the preceding page, so presumably either this laptop didn't have the Gobi card in or it is not mini PCIe?

 

Some stuff that I found out while trying to solve the WWAN card mistery (still not solved ):
- the USB 3.0 controller is made by NEC (D720200 to be more exact);
- there seems that some memory is soldered on the the mainboard (not only the one for the GPU but also for system. I think that the initial 4GB are soldered and there is only one RAM slot available;
- the ODD is made by MATSHIITA / PANASONIC (the one in the pictures is a BluRay Writer, made in Philippines );
- it seems like the card reader controller(s) are made by Realtek;
- there seems to be a full Mini PCI-e card below the notebook in page 11 but I have no idea where they took it from;
- the WAN card is the new Rainbow Peak Advanced N 6205 (half height - so it's not the one from the previous point);
- there is a SDD made by SAMSUNG but with non standard connectors;
- the Bluetooth module is made by FOXCONN (T77H114) Broadcom BCM2070 chip;
- there is something that looks like a Mini PCI-e slot in page 31 ... but I'm not sure...

If anybody can find out more please share...
I tried to figure out what is written on the back of the LCD panel but the quality of the picture is just too poor.

 

Thanks!

What I don't get tho, where is the harddisk? Can i replace the hard disk with an SSD?

 

well i read the LCD as a chunghwa CLAA1...W.1 if only the rest was legible, anyone good at graphics messing to optimize the picture?

 

Page 1, bottom corner on the left. It's an ssd drive with built-in connectors. In a sample with normal hdd 99% it will be possible to get another one

 

I think it's this one.. Chunghwa CLAA133WA01

http://www.cptt.com.tw/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=54

If it's like in these tech specs, it would have a brightness of 200 cd/cm2 and a black of 0.4... no hints about the gamut.

Being tech specs I don't expect a great lcd obviusly..

 

oh man, you guys are like detectives, lol

 

Sorry don't quite understand what your saying Crystal. Can you elaborate?

To my eyes it looks like replacing the SSD with a different SSD will probably not be possible. It would be great to see a version with a hdd in the bay so we could get an idea on dimensions and mounting.

Im more hopeful that the a newmodus caddy could be used to put it where the DVD drive currently is.

 

not sure what I should do now, wait for the SA to see what specs it will have or just go for a cheaper SB and then stick in my own ssd.

 

What I mean is:
- if you get an SB with ssd by CTO, it would be impossibile to replace the ssd.
- if you get an SB with a normal hdd (5400 or 7200) I think there would be no problem to replace it with another hdd or ssd.
But as you say, it would be great to see a sample with a normal hdd

 

Thanks ascariss for the documents!!

it looks like that samsung ssd will be very hard to replace. We are better off buying it with standard hdd and then replacing it with a standard 2.5 ssd.

Btw chassis looks pretty solid from pictures.

 

no problem, it is good to know that the SSD version is probably not the way to go since of the non-standard connector. Now I just hope the price of the SB here in Poland will be reasonable

 

Nowadays, almost every laptop manufacturer is using different connectors for their ssd offerings. Dont know why. My toshiba r700 had different ssd connector as well which was not compatible with normal sata connectors.

 

hmm maybe due to the fact that if it came with standard connectors, then people could just keep upgrading their ssds to larger ones as time passed, and that could mean a drop in sales for the laptop company.

 

Probably cost - Samsung gotta give you a fairly decent discount for just ordering the PCBs with flash memory on rather than the retail type unit with metal case + controller circuitry etc. Especially if you're ordering tens of thousands of em.

Whereas trying to just order the platters out of a mechanical drive isn't going to get you too far!

 

There's also the raid 0.. 128GB is the sum of 64x2 in raid 0..

 

It seems that you can take out the dvd/blu-ray drive without opening the case itself, So that means i can exchange the drive for a ssd without losing warranty.

I already ordered the SB version with these specs
Black version +20 euro's
Intel i5 2520 2,5ghz + 100 euro's
AMD 6630M 1gb + 60 euro's
1x4GB ram (2x4gb would be 80 euros and aftermarket around 45 euros)
500gb 5400rpm drive +30 euros (320gb is a little too small as storage goes)
English keyboard (dutch is standard but i don't like that)
Extra flat battery +120 euros
tpm+fingerprint +30 euro's (i just like logging in with fingerprint)

So that is a total of 1279 euro's, or 1095 pound or 1782 dollar

Sony says it will be 4-5 weeks. When i have it i will post some pictures in this thread.

 

Very similar to mine! I went for 8GB RAM & a 7200rpm disk, but not the graphics card upgrade or the extra battery. Everything else identical. Bit cheeky charging you for having it black (free in UK) but yours still slightly cheaper overall, as usual...

Should have mine in just over 2 weeks

 

Why go for 8gb if you can just buy a 4gb card for half the price and put it in yourself ?

I like the black version better than the rest of the colors, and the extra battery is black so that looks alot nicer then.

I hope i can exchange the dvd drive for a caddy + ssd and i will be flying in this laptop .

 

For the sake of ~£35 I'd rather just pay Sony for it; it's less hassle, it means its all under the same warranty rather than half the RAM being separate if it goes wrong, and it is better to use identical (manufacturer, model, and in this case batch) DIMMs.

If they wanted over £200 for it like on the old S13 then I'd have done it myself, for sure.

Edit: wasn't criticising your choice of black, just commenting on the fact you had to pay for it! All the colours are free here, I went for black as well, definitely the best colour.

 

Congrats!!! Exactly how I want to order mine except I will go with the smallest hdd and replace it with ssd. I also dont think I will need extra battery.

 

Take a look to the images... the ddr3 chips soldered on the mobo are different compared to the sodimm's chips...

 

Didn't realise one was soldered! Thinking about it the S13 had them both accessible which is probably what's confusing me.

Rest of my points still stand tho.

 

I took the extra battery so i can easily go 10 hours without a charger and i dont have to bring my adapter when im going to school.

 

Aha, so this means that I could replace the HD with an SSD?

What abotu Sata 600? What if I want to put in the new Intel/OCZ SSDs in it with like 500mb write/read, will they be able to reach that speed? Because if this is so i'm just goign to order an SB with 320GIG HD

 

Wow this is so much better then the sony vaio Z, it has a GPU that can actually game the newest games and all the while fit the form factor. Go S series!

 

Well, that's the same question that I have:

the chip is HM65, it supports both Sata 3 Gb and 6 Gb but I don't know which port is in use for hdd

That's why I don't know if it's better to buy something like Agility 2 240GB or Vertex 2E 240GB (Sata 2) ... or aim to Crucial C300 256GB (Sata 3) / wait new ssd with sandforce 2xxx

In ANY case my advise is to buy the SB with only the 320GB HDD cuz' even if you take Agility 2 or Vertex 2, you would see ridiculous improvements.

Avoid the new Intel 510, in 4K and I/O it goes bad. Even Agility 2 it's better. I would prefer Vertex 3 or Corsair GT talking about performance.

 

I had a 80gb vertex 2 but I returned it. It was amazingly fast on my dell xps 1340 but It just did not inspire confidence to me. OCZ forum was full of people who had dead drives. So I got scared and returned it. I think they are fine on a desktop where you may have severall hard drives but on a laptop I want to have something extremely reliable as that will be the only drive I have. It is hard to guess for intel 510 but intel G2 was extremely reliable. It is slower than Vertex 2 but definately more reliable. Unfortunately new Intel 510 uses marvel controller instead of the original Intel controller like the G2 so I'm not sure how reliable it will be.

 

I didn't know about that.. this isn't good..what can you tell me about Force series by Corsair?

 

Force uses the same controller Vertex 2 uses; Sandforce. Again extremely fast drive, but not as reliable as Intel G2 as far as what I read in the other forums. Also keep in mind that Corsair is coming up with force gt which is going to support 6gb/s Sata 3. A lot of promising drives are coming out, I'm gonna wait till April before pulling the trigger. Hopefully by then prices will go down slightly.

 

How thick does the extra battery make the SB? And is the SA going to have better battery life? Are there any good pictures of the extra battery on the SB or SA besides that youtube video?

I mean, what advantages does the SA have over the SB besides slightly lighter and higher resolution?

 

Sure, at the moment it's not a good choice to buy... but remember that if the port in use is a Sata 2 and not 3... there's no use buying a Corsair GT, Crucial C300, Muskin or Vertex 3.. at that point it's bettere to buy Intel G, Vertex 2, Agility 2 or F series at lower prices (I hope)

11 mm of thickness.. and SA won't have a better battery life (theoretically).

SA wil be lighter and in carbon fiber, higher resolution, better contrast, higher brightness, wide gamut color, low delta color.. and maybe no chance to have a HDD 5400 o 7200 rpm; but only ssd, this means higher prices from the start.

 

Oh man... if SA only includes SSD I think I'm out on that... I need storage before I need speed. Hopefully that's not the case because I need the higher resolution screen.