VAIO VPC-S screen vs VGN-SR

Hi,

I'm new at this forum. I was looking info about new VAIO series and I found it here.

I currently own a VAIO VGN-SR21M/S and considering replacing by a new S.

I have read all the info on the S dedicated thread, and even after that have some doubts about its screen.

Don't you think that new S screen seems to be one step behind the SRs?
At the showroom I tried to tweak some parameters, as explained in the thread but even at its best was far from the vividness SRs undoubtely have.

I don't know if graphic card has something to do with crisp and vividness. The S I tried "ony" had the Intel HD. Does the optional Nvidia make any difference? I mean, does it allow additional settings?

Thanks.

 

If you really read the S owners thread I don't think anything can be added to that.

This might be of interest to you: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/551644-sony-sz-display-vs-sony-s.html

The rest is up to you. IMO S's screen is not bad at all, in fact I find it really good, without being the best on the market.

 

I really appreciate this. Thanks.

I can't imagine how Sony has downgraded display quality. I think S's screen is good enough for most users, but if those at Sony were not going to improve the new S's screen, for sure it would have been easier for them to continue fitting SR's displays.

 

Don't forget that S was never advertised as a multimedia notebook, but as a business one! For a better screen you need to go to the more expensive business one - Z, or look at the multimedia series like the F

 

Sony SR was 16:10 and the S series is 16:9 widescreen so the same displays could not be used. Most manfacturers have now moved over to this aspect ratio.

Both of these laptops retailed around the same price point. If anything the S series is slightly more expensive. Around the same price point as the S series is the 13" MBP which has one of the best displays in this form factor.

It is just me or do more people seem to be complaining about Sony displays on this forum than compared to say even a couple of years ago?

The S series should have a display really as least as good as the SR.

 

Disagree:

1. MBP 13" is more expensive for a WAY older and less powerful configuration (They still don't even feature Arrandale!! The 13" sub-model is stuck with 2 years old CPU!! Also no connectivity options... basically nothing.)
3. The displays of the latest MBP are not as they used to be... I would say very close to the quality of the S (once the proper settings are applied to it).

I believe more people are complaining as a lot of people are not aware that LED displays do have some disadvantages as well, such as not so even back-lightning and so on. They call this a "poor display" comparing it to the displays of their 4 years old laptops. Sometimes the disadvantages are more obvious than the advantages, especially to people who have no idea.

 

That's true about the processor and it needs an update now. Connectivity in my opinion also needs to be improved. You can find upper end S models that are about the same price as the 13" MBP. The MBP does have a better graphics card and offers other features that some people will see as positive and vice versa. The Z is certainly a lot more expensive than the MBP.

It's getting so hard to configure the S series, at least in the UK many options are not available. May be the S series as we know it is reaching EOL.

 

Depends on which market also. In the US the MBP 13 is considerably more expensive than the S. If you configure an MBP 13 with a SSD the price gets close to the Z. Here in Au, the MBP and S are in the same price range.

People are definitely complaining about Sony displays a lot more now than they used to a couple years ago. The displays have gotten much worse since XBRITE was phased out. Just going back to 2009, most of the VAIO lineup had good displays, the AW was stunning, SZ, TT, and FW were very good, even the lower end models like the SR were good compared to what Sony is offering now across most of the range.

 

Not really. Only if you compare the BestBuy low-end S model to MBP, but that's pretty much the cheapest S that ever existed. The average price of an S is not much lower or even not lower at all than a MBP 13, but you get so much more from the S!

 

In the US, the S starts at $875, the MBP starts at $1200. You can get the S with i5, GeForce, 4GB, 320GB HDD for $1000. The comparable MBP 13 is $1500.

Since Sony started offering the S directly it's been about $100 cheaper for the same configuration that Best Buy sold.

 

Right, different displays with different aspect ratios… but also different qualities. For instance S’s poor viewing angles compared to SR’s

Not only on this forum. A couple of years ago Sony offered amazing displays in almost all its range but, since then Sony has moved in the wrong direction.

You’re right.

What options?

 

In fact right now both CTO models are not available.

This could just be nothing though and they just need to stock up. I wondered as sometimes before a model goes EOL this is what happens.

What's the matter with your SR btw?

 

Both are available in Germany, there is even a special offer for Blu-Ray drive until 07.02.

 

^
I had a look yesterday at different EU stores after i posted and saw that. I also saw that other models like the X which have been thought to have been discontinued are still available in other EU stores but been removed some time ago in the UK. Anyway, i doubt if the S is going anywhere at least not for a while.

 

Unfortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree with the above, based only on my experience. I also cannot help but think that it is probably not a coincidence for the successor notebooks to come with reduced prices & lower quality screens.

My experiences come from owning/owned 3 different VAIO SZ notebooks. The SZ381 (bought in 2007) that I still keep has got a better screen than the one in my SZ791 (bought in 2008), which I've since sold. You might think that maybe it is just "luck of the draw" in terms of the screens I got in those 2 SZ notebooks, but I've also previously had a SZ370 (bought in 2006) that I sold after I've bought the SZ381 to replace it. If I remember correctly, I compared those 2 screens before selling the SZ370 & IMHO, the screen on the SZ370 is slightly better than the one found on the SZ381.

Based on my experience (I guess this is subjective), the quality of the screens are as follows:

SZ370 > SZ381 > SZ791
(Better > ........ > Worse)

 

It really is a shame, I want to like the S, but the bloody screen is what keeps me from looking at it. With SB and USB 3.0 coming out, I got the bug to upgrade my TT(main machine) in the 11-13in market and what I am finding is a lot of nice machines with poor quality screens. The TT's screen(and a lesser extend mother's Vaio F) has a really spoiled me and it seem like the only vaible options one has in this category is going either with the C2D devices like the Envy 13, or MBA, or spending a a bit more and getting the Vaio Z and maybe the Lenovo X20x with the AFFS screen.

Hopefully the supposed S replacement the SA and the lower res SB get a good acceptable screen(matte/anti-glare even as an option would be a nice bonus). Come one Sony I know you can do it.

 

I just posted elsewhere on the board but wanted to mention something here as well since it seems applicable:

I finally just upgraded my 3-year old, top of the line SZ680 model with the new S13.

A big part of why I held back on the S11 and S12 (Best Buy exclusive in the states) over the past year was because of the screen. I had taken my SZ680 into the store and did a side-by-side comparison, and the screen on the Best Buy model was just horrible IMO. (Even after I tweeked it).

Much to my surprise a few days ago, when I went into a SonyStyle store and saw the new S13 model, the screen seemed drastically different to me. I ended up purchsing it 2 days ago and now that I've played with it for a couple days, I can confirm that the screen of the S13 is WONDERFUL. Seriously. (And I'm very picky when it comes to this - especially after paying $3,800 for my previous SZ model).

I even have both laptops side-by-side as I write this, and amazingly, the screen on the S13 is BRIGHTER. And just as crisp. So I'm quite happy.

So definitely don't worry about the S13 screen! It's obviously not as nice as the Z screen, but then again, almost nothing is. But it's every bit as nice as VAIO xbrite screens from the past. And it's evidently much better than the previous S11 and S12 from Best Buy.

 

I've never seen the bestbuy model myself, but I've compared my S11 to S13 - found no obvious difference in the screen or anything else. So it could be just that bestbuy model... or your first impression But as said before - I find the screen of the S (specifically S11) very very good...

 

Right... I think it was specific to the cheaper Best Buy model, which was the only one you could get in the states up until last month. I assume you are in Europe, which probably had the better screen. Or right... I may have just compared one last year that was out of whack... or I was hungover and my eyes were fuzzy, LOL.

 

I assume that you bought your new S13 with the Nvidia dedicated GPU as well? Makes me wonder if that contributes a little to the overall display quality when compared to the VAIO S series sold by BestBuy with Intel integrated GPUs...

 

I doubt! what could it contribute - it certainly has its own settings... but settings are settings. I don't find the default NVIDIA settings of the S optimal at all anyway.

 

Actually I do not even have the Nvidia version, however that wouldn't affect the look of the screen at all anyway. (It would mainly affect speed and action). Even on my SZ, there was no difference at all in the look of the screen whether switched to speed or stamina.

I would have prefered to have the Nvidia chip in my S13, however I opted to have the model with the backlit keyboard and wireless display that the SonyStyle store offered. Normally I have configured my prior VAIOs on the Sony website, but I didn't have time to wait this time since I'm going overseas - and really the only thing I would have upgraded was the RAM (which I already added 8gb to myself) and the Nvidia chip.

I find the Intel chip to be perfectly fine for my needs though. Just don't get me started on the stupid speakers which are a far cry from my SZ, LOL. (That's really my only critisism so far).

 

...it challenged the Law of Gravity. Twice.

And it continues running perfectly, but an usb port and housing is damaged.
600€ for having it repaired so I am planning to upgrade to S or maybe Z.

Yesterday at Sony store Z's screen was clearly better than S's. I am not sure about paying for the Z such a high price.

Maybe I should wait until April for new models to arrive...

 

May be time to do DIY or take it someone local, Vaio refurbs on ebay would fit it for you but then you'd need to pay shipping costs to the UK.

Disassembly guide
Smontare Sony Vaio VGN-SR / Upgrade CPU Lo smontatore

Sony Vaio VGN-SR Series USB Board IFX-505 M751 on eBay (end time 06-Mar-11 10:07:08 GMT)

Sony Vaio VGN-SR USB Board - Motherboard Ribbon FPC-USB on eBay (end time 06-Mar-11 10:38:54 GMT)

You probably could also find the housing on ebay

 

Definitely that's the way. I have ordered both the usb board and the housing. Once they arrive I will put my repairing skills to the test

Thanks Rachel!

 

I got a chance recently to check out a VPC-S in person at the sony store. I thought the S screen was not as good as the SR. The S screen colors seemed more washed out looking imo. maybe it was a setting?

Also checked out a Z. wow what a nice machine. well built.
I thought the vaio X was pretty awesome. It's amazingly thin, but I didn't think the screen quality was that great. It reminded me of a thinkpad screen.
Also the X screen is very thin and flexible, almost too fragile.

 

It's sad that laptop makers are choosing to give us less real estate on our laptop. But Vaio S is cheaper then Vaio SR was at retail. And there was a reason to go with Vaio SR over Vaio Z, as SR came with better graphics for a laptop that was very close to the same in size. With the upgrade Vaio Z got in graphics I would go with the Z at this point though. Hope it does not get canceled and replaced with SA.

 

I don't agree with you on the pricing at least not in the UK. At retail there were some SR models that retailed at about £750 for the low end model with integrated graphics and with sales it dropped under this. They were at least priced in the similar price range. Upper end S models with dedicated graphics are not cheap and i don't recall the upper end SR models being anymore expensive.
The last highest end SR model had an RRP of £1,249
VGN-SR59VG/H
The high end S series S13V9E has a rrp of £1,299

I do though agree with you though about the graphics.
The Vaio SB which will most likely be the S successor looks like it may have a better display than the S series so that's good.

 

I thought I would never get tired repeating this but I do...:

S has non-optimized saturation setting by default! The colors are washed out but it is a matter of +10..15% Saturation boost from the NVIDIA settings menu to make you go "WOOW" about the screen!

This is definitely not true As already mentioned, S is even a bit more expensive than SR... The price I paid for my S is definitely more than any SR ever cost.

 

Again saying something does not make it true. Even looking at Vaio Sr prices in SR owner post on this forum shows it was more expensive.

 

Me and Rachel share the same opinion though. Comparison is not that easy but I've never seen SR for over ~1500 euros myself.

 

Pricing differs all over. Sony has lowered the price of the S series now at least in the UK. Gracy123 might not like this but it appears to be a model on the way out. Like i wrote before the top end S13 had an rrp of £1,299/ $2,111 when it was released.
Sony VAIO S13V9E 13.3 inch notebook (Intel Core i5 460M 2.53GHz, 6Gb, 500Gb, DVDSM, WLAN, WWAN, BT, Webcam, Win 7 Professional): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Prices are at least in some countries in the EU comparable to the SR prices if we look at the bottom end and top end model. There are more models it seems all in between but i'm looking more at upper end and lower end pricing.
I don't follow the US market pricing as closely. I've had a look at the SR owners' thread as some time has elapsed and it certainly was quite expensive in the US.

 

There's nothing not to like - I have my S and would never buy the ugly SA/SB no matter what

But a lower price doesn't really mean much. We can't expect it to have the same price years long... Sandy Bridge is now on the market - nothing more natural than S having its price to drop a bit...

What bothers me more is that there hasn't been a single update of any driver or software that goes with S since the beginning of this year...

You could be right as well... time will show