Sony VAIO Pro 13 fan noise. Return it?

I just bought a VAIO Pro 13, i7, 8GB ram, the top of the line one basically. The fan makes a lot of noise and is on high all the time. It's much quieter now after I did VAIO updates and set the fan on Silence. Before the updates it was also using 30% cpu CONSTANTLY because I had a Bluetooth headset connected. The problem seems to be gone after updates.

QUESTION: If I keep the fan on Silence it says it reduces performance to keep it quiet. How much performance am I giving up exactly? Is it even worth buying an expensive ultrabook if I'm just gonna keep it on low-performance all the time?

The noise is really unacceptable, it's this high-pitch whirring noise that'll drive anyone crazy. Don't know why Sony designed this so poorly. This is definitely not worth the Sony badge, although the computer is amazing in every other way.

The computer is only 1 day old, I am wondering if I should return it. Thoughts? Anyone have the same problem?

 

Check others near by store if it's available.
However, you bought a top of line which means chances to get CPU at high loads are less than other ones with lower specs.

 

Check others? Other what? Other computers? I'm pretty sure this is a common problem with them since I saw some threads about this online. I bought this from the Sony store, but at the store it's loud, you can't detect the problem until you're home.

Just wondering how Pro owners are dealing with this.

 

Check the now 88 pages long thread for the Vaio Pro 13 in the section for Sony Owner's Lounge. In that forum there are a whole lot of posts about the problem with a loud fan noise, among other things.

 

In the forum called Sony Owner's Lounge there is a very long thread for the Vaio Pro 13, and a whole lot of posts there are dealing with the problem of the loud noise from the fan. This thread is now 88 pages long:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...aio-pro-13-owners-lounge-svp13-2013-a-88.html

This issue is also dealt with in this Forum:
Vaio Pro loud fan - Sony Community

Hope the experience from these users and posters will give you much more information about the issue.

 

Hmm, another case of a thin machine having to work extra hard to dissipate heat. Possibly over aggresive fan profiles. I suppose a few extra millimeters of thickness would ruin the advertising/marketing pitch...

 

I think you're right, and that is really absurd: I cannot let go of the potential idea and vision of a Pro (11 and 13) that could and should be made by Sony by constructing a Pro that prevented such really an unnecessary thing as excessive fan noise. With a slightly thicker body, also the battery life and hyper-flexibility would supposedly have been much better off, even though battery life is OK for this model, as I understand the feedback.

But such noisy fan activity is just unacceptable.

But I think you're right about that "a few extra millimeters of thickness would ruin the advertising/marketing pitch".

Too bad. And it's indeed incredible that a company like Sony can make such bad decisions in these matters.

 

just noted, the sony x505 was ultrathin and fanless.
I just posted a rant in the samsung thread ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...plus-haswell-new-post9344245.html#post9344245) because I am forced to choose between a quiet matte samsung X3E but with inacceptabel 4GB soldered ram limitation -- and an 8 GB RAM matte sony, but with inacceptable noise. Other buying options include such nice combinations like 8GB + quiet, but unusable glossy screen (hello, ativ book 9 plus, hello acer s7 392, hello zenbook infinity) with no option for matte.

 

Installing the latest Intel Graphics driver has drastically reduced the fan noise of my SVP13. Right now I have my Power Plan set to High Performance and My CPU and Fan settings set to Performance and the fan noise only increases during dowloads/extractions (heavy loads).

Please look at message #204 of the following link for instructions: Topic: Windows 8.1 Update on the Vaio Pro You can't install the driver right away because it's not verified by Sony, but it's wel worth the extra effort.

 

BEFORE you read what I wrote below note that my own fix for the Vaio Pro 13 fan noise which suddenly appeared after 11 months of fan noise free usage refers to a youtube video made by Larry Blackledge , here is the link go watch it .. it puts my e-mail into context and helps you fix the problem (video title on you tube is the following but don't worry for the fix I didn't replace or remove the existing troublesome fan:
"Sony VAIO Pro13, svp132 fan replacement, case removal" ) .

I am surprised that owners of Vaio Pro 13's are getting this problem on day 1 as the fan should be in tip top condition.
.

So my original youtube post starts:

Many thanks for this kind sir, I was nervous about opening the laptop but I fixed the problem without replacing the fan (although for the future I ordered a fan as it seems to be the weakest link in this excellent laptop). Just as background I got my Sony Vaio Pro 13 around March 2014, it was the later version which didn't have the WiFi problem and I've never had any problems with fan noise or overheating until 2 days ago where the laptop launched into fan full speed with prolonged overheating on the underside and also with awful helicopter type buzzing noise which made the laptop almost unusable as this was a terrible distraction to others and myself. The noise would commence after starting the machine for 1 minute and then launching any application such as Skype or YouTube. I suspect that the problem was that the oil lubrication on the spindle of the fan had totally evaporated and the ball bearings were grinding, I typically used my laptop every day for an average of 2 hours and then left it on all night playing podcasts which I listened to (subconsciously mostly) for hours - this has been the pattern of usage for 11 or so months.

So the steps I followed to fix the fan noise problem for my Sony Vaio Pro 13 were as follows:

1) open the laptop as described in the video above being careful to not force anything as the plastic could snap, using one of those plastic levers used to open tablets is useful to have for this.
2) you will see the troublesome fan, focus on the fan and not the copper heat sink and without removing the fan (don't remove the fan for my fix) you will notice that it has a black circular sticker attached to the main spindle, the sticker has a center circle cut out at the middle with a small silver/white spindle dead center of the black sticker cut out hole (it's around 5mm in diameter). Now I removed the sticker taking care not to damage it but looking back I suspect this may be UNNECESSARY. Then I doused a COTTON SWAB with oil lubricant (I used U.K. WD-40(tm) although again I'm not sure if that was the ideal chemical to use), so you can use an oil soaked cotton swab or say instead a kitchen towel twisted to form a fine tip with oil on the end. REMEMBER you want the cotton swab to be wet with oil but not DRIPPING as it may drip the lubricating oil onto other components and you don't want that as damage may occur due to this.

3) With the cotton swab wet with lubricating oil simply gently circle the silver spindle in the middle of the black sticker ensuring that a modicum of oil enters the spindle. REMEMBER we don't want to saturate the spindle with OIL just a small SMEAR will do.
I smeared light amounts of lubricating oil under the sticker area but I think that is not needed. Also if you DID decide to remove the sticker remember that there are copper coils beneath the sticker now exposed, there is no need to oil those so don't do it ! If you did decide to remove the sticker put it back exactly as you found it, I used a small about of Pritt Stick(tm) to do this and it worked fine - make sure it is secure though you don't want that sticker peeling off and falling onto the components whilst your machine is on.

4) re-attach the underside of the Sony Vaio Pro 13 carefully as shown in the video above being mindful that the side with the ports USB/audio jack should be tackled first as this is like the main hinge (of the oyster clam!). The audio jack is notoriously difficult to slot into place but as a useful tip, simply plug in your head phones into the audio jack on your Vaio Pro 13 and then GENTLY pull down on the plugged in audio connector to slot it back into place. Then replace the screws and the rubber 'feet' of the laptop as stated in the video and VOILA !!! you have a (FAN) SILENT AND COOL SONY VAIO PRO 13, mine has been playing 4K Youtube videos for 5 hours straight and the fan is silent, you can't hear a thing.

Side Notes: To be honest I was surprised at the results, it's almost as if the controller for the fan doesn't start if it detects resistance due to lack of lubricant on the spindle for the Panasonic fan and then doesn't kick in until it's panic time and the CPU is at 65 to 70 degrees Celsius and then the fan is like a buzz saw / helicopter rotary blade on full steam ahead with the underside of the laptop uncomfortably hot. I'm glad this fixed it as I didn't want to make modifications to any driver configs (there are tools to do this) or go on a hunt for a troublesome app that was causing this or do a factory reset to see if it was a software problem. If your Sony Vaio Pro 13 is still under warranty and you have time then I recommend that you return it to Sony instead of following my instructions or if you are worried about taking damaging your laptop, call up Sony and ask how much it would cost to repair your unit - I'm not sure if they still do fixes for out of warranty laptops though as they sold their Vaio business last year...