Vaio SA/SB/SC uneven bezel, WD 5400rpm HDD click noise, is this normal?

I just received my SA yesterday from Microsoft.

Upon opening the box, I noticed the bezel is uneven, and I can see the ugly glue or sticky stuff here and there. Is this normal? I didn't expect something like this low quality for what Sony calls a premium laptop. Not so premium in my opinion, but $1170 should still give me a better build than this.

Picture:


Also, the HDD makes random 5-10 seconds interval clicky noise when idle. It's driving me nuts. It has a WD scorpio blue 500 gb, 5400rpm.
Here's a youtube video made by someone else that's having the exact same noise.


The battery life seems like 4-5 hours on stamina graphics (intel) for normal web surfing with medium brightness, and the laptop's internal gets pretty hot, normally ranging from 50C to 70C. I can lower the performance setting to 'Power Saver', then it will stay around 50C most of the times, but I can feel the sluggishness in that mode.


Edit:
I took another picture in better light condition to describe the condition of the screen bezel.

 

Useless to say both are not normal....
Return it and get another one or ask for your money back.

Unfortunately the heat-problem seems to be typical for SA/SB/SC .... result of the ridiculous design if you ask me.

 

You know, I hadn't noticed before, but mine has the bezel problem too. :/

 

Ohhh Sony, Sony, Sony......

 

I don't have it. Might just affect a few.

 

Wait a few years and they may go down the road of IBM => Lenovo

 

I don't have this problem on my Vaio SB2C5E.
It looks like you've got a returned device, probably somebody who didn't like Vaio SA and returned it for money.

I don't have any of your problems :-s

 

I don't think I could have gotten a returned device. MS Store can't sell returned device as new.

For the clicky noise from the HDD, do you also have WD Scorpio Blue 500 GB 5400 RPM? If you have a 7200 rpm or different brand, then I'm sure you won't have this problem.


I called MS, and they said they can charge me the money for the laptop and ship it 2nd day air for free. Then after I receive the new one, send in the old one. I hope the replacement doesn't have any of these problems. I'm happy with the atheistic and performance, and also the free xbox , but this quality control is a let down.

 

I love the hypocrisy of people. First they say Apple laptops are overpriced for their specs. A clear example where you're paying for more for the laptop than just standard components (CPU, LCD, SSD, etc.). But when they're not happy about something in their PC laptop (a device they *brag* does not cost much more than just the components), they suddenly expect their PC laptop to have a premium build quality despite not dedicating much money towards it.

Not trying to single you out, OP. Nothing against you personally. Just a pattern I see and it bugs me.

 

I had a MBP13 2011 with core i5, and it was a pleasant experience. I had to return it just because I couldn't find enough time to learn the new OS. I paid close to $1200 with student discount, and I don't think it is overpriced at all. In fact, I think it's a very good deal considering the solid build and the sandy bridge components. But I still think the 15" and 17" are overpriced even considering excellent build quality.

Back to this Vaio SA, it's suppose to be a gap filler for top of the line Z1 and Z2, and a successor of Z1 if you want everything in one package. Even if they moved the factory to China, they should have tight quality control. It's just sad to see a brand's quality going down. I wanted to get the made in Japan Z2, but I couldn't justify spending $2500 for the configuration I want. Besides, laptops are cheaper these days. You don't have to spend $2000 like 5 years ago to get a okay laptop. If it's priced close to $1500 these days, I expect them to have good build quality, just like Apple's MBP13. What's wrong with that?


On another note, I tried playing TF2 with AMD graphics card, I never heard a laptop fan running so violent. Now I understand people saying 'sounds like a jet'. I'm probably not going to play any games on this thing unless I put a powerful notebook cooler that directly blows air towards the bottom right side. Games are for desktops, so it might have been just better to man up and get the Z2. I'll have to see how the replacement's quality is.

 

Guys you need to forget the "made in ..." label! It means nothing nowadays, because EVERYTHING is made in Asia! It doesn't make any difference whether in China, Taiwan or Japan - it is all about quality control!

My S is made in China, but has less (pretty much no) quality issues than Z1 made in Japan! And where do you think MacBook is made? California? Yeah right - just a few thousand KMs to the east

But yes - I couldn't agree more that we are all allowed to expect a (in some cases MUCH) better build quality for the premium price of Vaio!

HDD clicking noise is not so easy to find and actually has nothing to do with Sony... but how could such a laptop, with such a bezel ever get out of the Quality Assurance department ?? My S came with a wiggly DVD bezel/cover. Not a big deal, fixed it myself but still - where is Quality Control!???

I still believe VAIO offers much better built laptops than the majority out there, but it should be better, based on the price and brand!

 

I checked my SA last night and none of the issues that were mentioned. It may have to do with the country that bought the goods because some countries actually gets higher quality goods over another. Yes, it's true.

 

There's something else as well: We found out (based on statistics) that CTO S11/S12/S13 models tend to have more quality issues. I only know of 2-3 complains about quality of pre-configured S1. Most of the CTOs came with defects however.

Don't know if this is still valid by SA/SB/SC, but is one thing to pay attention to.

 

Mine is a preconfig. It's also possible I suppose that it started to come apart after I got it.

 

Unlikely! It is just that Sony have more and more Quality Assurance problems lately....

Pity, but fact.

 

I don't know about that. Throughout the years, I've been seeing constant complaints about quality problems with every new batch of computers. As time moves on with the major redesign, the complaints seem to die down until a new major overhaul happens again.

This year just happens to be the year where we get a lot of major overhaul of models. The previous updates are just that.. updates. Same skin and basic design so the manufacturing doesn't really need to do as much retooling.

But FYI, mine's a prebuilt.

 

Well, since SA was released much later than the SB/SC, and they call it 'premium', I think it's expected to have less problems and everything tweaked. I think this is one reason why there are no BIOS updates for the SA. They probably used the revised intel chipset too even though it doesn't need all the SATA3.0 ports.

Maybe I got a dud (mine is a microsoft signature / VPCSA2FGX/BI), but I'm thinking this is the general sony quality these days. I'll have to see when I get my replacement on Friday. Or maybe I'll stop by sony retail store this evening to checkout several SA's they have on display.

Does everyone use the AMD graphics only for occasional gaming? I played TF2 with it, and it sounded like a jet and heats up a lot. I gave up playing games on this, so I find no need for AMD graphics Intel's hd3000 can handle any video playback, any OS effects, and even does encoding faster than the 6630 using MediaEspresso. I can't think of what other use there might be besides gaming. Bragging rights?

 

Photoshop GPU acceleration? Video editing? It's there if you need it.

Gaming on any 13.3" or smaller gets that loud; just be thankful you don't have an Alienware M14X or M11X... twice as loud as the S.

 

Absolutely not true! Take my 13.3 for example! The difference is huge! Look at the S Owners' Thread - No one ever complained about such an issue. Do you want me to record the sound of my FAN when GPU under full load? You'll be surprised!

 

So you are calling me a liar? I have gone to LAN parties with this laptop where a friend had the M14X and his was MUCH louder; we even compared side to side and everyone was making fun of his laptop for being a 'jet'. Sure, I would like you to record it; I'll record mine as well.

 

No. I don't know about M14X and I am not arguing about that. I'm also not saying the SA is the LOUDEST laptop - you will certainly even find louder than M14X.

I'm saying however that your statement that "Gaming on any 13.3" or smaller gets that loud" --> This is absolutely wrong!

The SA is louder than most (by load).
I'm taking my S11 for instance as I know it pretty well and also has a dedicated GPU. The "jet" is a new "feature" this year and was not present last year!

 

So comparing it to my girlfriends XPS13, an M14X, and several other laptops ranging from HP to Dell to Toshiba at school, work, and several other LAN parties for sound, build quality, and every possible thing you can think of -- my opinion is wrong yet yours is correct.

Wonderful.

 

I really don't understand how build quality got into this at all!?

All I said and am saying is that

"Gaming on any 13.3" or smaller gets that loud" is not true! SA is louder than most 13" and even 14" laptops when put under load! This is my personal impression based on comparison and I can guarantee you for one, that the 2010 S does not have this issue!

Compare the complains! There are already at least 10 threads about the "jet" sound out of SA!

 

Guess what Sherlock, so is mine. Maybe you should take a chill pill and stop getting upset at the fact that someone else has done comparisons as well and has come up with a different opinion.

 

I'm fine with your opinion. I'm not fine with other people being mislead because of that, so I'm sharing mine and can prove it

It is just one of the (unfortunately quite a few) "bugs" in the new S line - the loud FAN whenever put under load.
Those who upgraded from 2010 S to 2011 S know what a noticeable difference there is...

 

I'm misleading no one. I've done comparisons with my laptop more-so (probably) than you. What makes my opinion less valid than yours? Because I'm not as well known in the community? Because I don't agree with you?

Maybe you should just stop and accept it that I find my laptop NOT THAT NOISY.

 

Here's the thing though. The S series back in the days with the GPU is mediocre at best, no where close to a good 13" gaming laptop. The 310 is no more powerful than the Intel GPU in the S2 today.

In comparison, the 6630 in the S2 is above average for today's 13" laptop in terms of GPU. In fact, it is pretty much where the Z1 used to be in terms of performance.

At the same time, running similar type of programs, I've noticed the same type of Jet exhaust from both the old S1, Z1, as well as my old SZ. They all gets loud. Unless Sony decide to replace the 1 fan setup with a dual large fan setup like the way Acer did with the 3820TG, there's no way we can eliminate the loud fan noise. That's just the physics of things.

 

I think you need some more physics then.
It is all about temperature and not about GPU class! The CPU and GPU of SA get just as hot as S1 when put under load (compare the thermal specs of the CPUs and GPUs!). The difference is just in the heat dissipation system! Obviously the SA's one is inadequate or just worse than many others (although I'm sure you can find even much worse than that) and there is one very obvious reason for that - that bloody design that makes functionality 0 favour. And no - Z1 is also much more silent than SA Had been using one for a few months - never did I have such a jet noise out of it, no matter what I did with it.
What you are saying is absurd - the more powerful the GPU, the more noisy the laptop?? So what - should manufacturers never put newer GPUs then - I guess following your way of thinking in 2-3 years the neighbors will start complaining about our laptop noise because the GPUs will be much more powerful in terms of performance than what we have today? Nice one.

And even if your theory is any right - then it was a mistake to put such a "high class" GPU in the SA - obviously it causes thermal issues and excessive noise and besides that the S is still a business class notebook and not a multimedia one! Gaming was never and should never be first priority and I have no problems using my "low class" silent GPU even for 3D modeling.

No matter what the reasons are - the root of the problem is Sony unfortunately.

 

You're looking at TDP of 14W in the 310M vs 19W in the 6630M. Everything else equal.. just the GPU itself would emit more heat.

And lets not forget, Sony underclocked the Nvidia GPUs for the S1 and the Z1 to have even lower heat output and lower power consumption.

 

I got my replacement today. The bezel is good, not perfectly straight, but I think this is as good as it's going to get from a bad quality control line.

Then I was about to pack the original SA I had, and saw the hinge is also not aligned correctly when I looked from underneath. Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive, but I want everything to be near perfect. Here's some more pictures. I don't know if the replacement notebook's hinge are straight yet. I was going to get a Z2 if the replacement was also a dud. (microcenter has it for $1800 for the base model)

I don't know about the HDD yet since I'm doing a Windows Home Server recovery right now on the replacement, but I'll report back later on.

Bad hinge:


Bad bezel:


Good bezel:




Edit:
I didn't have to take a picture of the hinge. The replacement SA had a good hinge. It's not crooked and it's not leaning towards one side. Great!

The HDD is Hitachi, so naturally, there are no clicky click noise as the WD Scorpio Blue. Everything looks good now. I sent back my original SA, and I'm happy with my SA now.