WHO does think DUO 11 is a good model?

Congrats to all who already own this piece of jewelry. Its an awesome machine. Am really thinkin about it and now am tryin to find somewhere if the SSD really is replaceable or not.

Can you guys please take a look into dev manager and post the details about the SSD here?

Thanks for sharing

 

Toshiba THNSNS128GMCP. Google shows that its an msata drive. Few being sold on ebay. Checking newegg for price of msata drives and it seems like 260gb is highest and cost $260 at $1 per gb. So even if we gained access to the ssd, theyre kind of outrageously expensive.

 

Thanks for reply.

Thats a great news. Everyone can save a lot buyin Duo jus twith 128GB SSD and then replacing it with drive like ADATA SX300 XPG 256GB. There is no special connector for mSATA available afaik, so thats superb

 

Yeah, np. Maybe by the time this 128gb fills up the 256gb will come down even more in price. That or a new version of the duo 11 will be out to upgrade to x). Let me know if you want any other information. Really wish the owners thread would be created already. Can anyone make it and then request for sticky? That is, can I just go make it?

EDIT:EDIT2: Spoke too soon. Touch freeze issue seems to happen again. This time the only thing different is probably that I had a hulu video running in the background? Maybe it happens more often when the system is stressed?

Seems like the way to unfreeze it is to use the function keys on the keyboard and turn the pad on and off (Fn+F1), then a message appears in windows saying pointing device has been turned on and screen works again.

 

The 128gb to 256gb upgrade on Sony costs $170 on the USA site, so not sure how you'd be saving any money since most 256gb msata drives cost north of $200. Of course, a better reason to replace it would be for performance reasons. Someone here should run some benchmarks on the drive and see what you're getting. Compare it to a mainstream drive like the msata M4 and see if it would be worth while.

CT256M4SSD3 - 256GB, mSATA Solid State Drive , from Crucial.com

Crucial m4 mSATA 256GB SSD Review > Benchmarks: CrystalDiskMark 3.0 - TechSpot Reviews
Crucial m4 256GB mSATA SSD: Performance

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony-owners-lounge-forum/695049-vaio-duo-11-owners-thread.html

 

Wouldn't you be able to potentially resell the old 128gb drive, making the cost of the 256gb much cheaper?

 

Yes although I'd be concerned about the warranty implications if it doesn't have the original SSD assuming it is even possible to replace the drive without breaking a warranty seal. As above I'd like to have the option further down the line to replace the 128GB SSD given the prices will likely plummet eventually although I'm working on the assumption that it won't be feasible, it's a bonus otherwise. Hopefully one of the sites that tear apart devices to show how to open them up and the bits inside will have a go at the Vaio Duo 11 although it may not be mainstream enough.

John

 

I'm really considering this computer--the only thing I'm concerned about is the high amount of scaling that will have to be done with 1920x1080 on an 11-inch. Scaling works well with the Windows 8 tiles, but I hope it doesn't cause too much distortion elsewhere. The only other complaints I've been seeing are about the small keyboard and the awkwardness of switching between tablet-mode and laptop mode (those are things I don't think would really bother me).

 

Desktop mode looks great--I use my device in desktop just as much as in the Modern UI, and I've never seen anything that looks out of place. It comes set at 125% scaling, but I set it to 150% for better touch-friendliness. Windows had 100, 125, and 150% scaling in Win 7 as well, so it's nothing new (nor is 1080p a new resolution). So with almost no exceptions, everything scales nicely. The ONLY exception I've found is the down-arrow once you've minimized the ribbon in MS Word...it doesn't scale right. But that's the only place I've noticed it, so it should be clear how well everything scales if that's the best I can come up with.

 

Is there an option in windows to just run the desktop at 960x540?

 

No. Sony has never allowed weird resolutions. 1024x768 is the smallest. It supports most of the popular resolutions (1600x900, 1366x768, etc.)

 

But since you can't get at the drive (or memory) without cracking the machine open and voiding your warranty (one of the downsides of some Sony laptops), just go for the bigger drive. I bought an 8GB SO-DIMM hoping I could bump things up to 12GB but there's no memory hatch.

 

You have to open the case which may void warranty, to install or upgrade Duo11

 

Have someone opened it till now?

When i keep it when some of this points get somehow fixed:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...vaio-duo-11-owners-thread-12.html#post8944550
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/696500-how-can-i-get-into-uefi-sony-vaio-duo-11-a.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/694968-should-i-keep-sony-duo-ii-hybrid.html#post8944557

Then i would like to change the RAM to 16GB, Change the Wifi Card to an good Atheros one and change the SSD. Later the CPU.

 

For those of you who are still on the fence about the Duo 11, I have a 30 minute video review that might help answer some questions:
MobileTechReview Forum and News: Sony Vaio Duo 11 Video Review - Windows 8 Slider Tablet

It most definitely is an N-Trig digitizer. It supports pressure sensitivity in the included Art Rage Pro and in Alias Sketchbook Pro, but I haven't found drivers for Photoshop yet.

Press and hold the Vaio Assist button when the Duo is turned off to get into the equiv. of BIOS settings.

I'm working on taking it apart, but the 5th Philips head screw (on the rear edge rather than the bottom cover) is screwed in madly tight. I don't think taking the bottom cover off will void the warranty

 

Ah, you mean the pen is an N-Trig digitizer. Have read a bit about it.

Is it _somehow_ possible to use the strange "touch-trackpoint" as a regular trackpoint? So just letting the finger on the pin and with light pressure get possible to move the mouse from one corner to the other? Just like I do this since 1997!

If not i am thinking if it were possible to remove it and put an good, normal one inside. For example the trackpoint of my Sony Vaio P11S have the same size and looks same!

 

The trackpoint does not move or respond to lateral pressure as it does on ThinkPads, you can only run your finger across the top, as if it were a miniature trackpad. You can disable it easily if you don't like it.

Both the active digitizer and pen combo are N-Trig (the pen and digitizer are a matched pair, so to speak).

 

Not only on Thinkpads. Professional HP Notebooks have also a Trackpoint. My Vaip P11S have also one. I owned a DELL with a trackpoint.

I dont have a usable mouse now - i send this device back. Thats the most worse thing i ever used and i use a trackpoint since ~10years every day for some hours!

 

I found it worked much better after disabling tap-to-click and decreasing the sensitivity. But remember, it's not supposed to be the primary pointing control for the machine--the touchscreen is. The optical trackpoint is just there for detail work.

I don't think a mechanical trackpoint could fit in a device this slim; that's why they went with what they did.

Regardless, if you don't like it and it's that important to you, just return it.

 

The Sony Vaio P11S ist way smaller, thinner and with 0,6KG also much lighter and have a correct one. Also the deph of such a trackpoint is just a few mm - the same as the actual device have!

I also tried all this. It stays unusable!

 

The Vaio P also has an Atom processor does it not? I'd have to agree, a traditional trackpoint would have been better, but given the fact that this has a touch screen, a stylus, and can be easily paired with a bluetooth mouse, I don't see it as that big of a deal.

 

I have a chance to play with optical stick point on duo 11. I found it is not hard to use. However, tapping it as a left click is a bit annoying because the mouse will move when you tap and it may not click on the right place accurately.

Sent from my SGPT12 using Tapatalk 2

 

Absolutely. You should disable tap-to-click in the Vaio Control Center. It makes it much easier to use. I also turned down sensitivity as I found it oversensitive on stock settings.

 

does anyone know where you go in the settings to change the functions of the buttons on the styles?

 

Vaio Control Center > mouse and pointing devices > details, if I understand your question correctly.

 

Your directions are for the optical track pad. I was wondering how do you assign different functions to the stylus. As of right now the small button starts the active clip program and the big button does nothing.

 

Control panel > pen and touch.

 

I went into pen and touch but don't see anything that would allow me to change how the buttons work. On my asus ep121 it also has "Pen Tablet Properties" in the control panel that allows me to do this.

 

Ok had a talk to sony support and they told me that the stylus that comes with the duo 11 does not have any option to customize the buttons. Only functions are the small button is for the active clip and the larger one to erase.

 

Its pretty frustrating that they don't let you assign the buttons, as that function would be pretty useful in certain apps where a hotkey might call up a new pen, or an eraser.

Speaking of the eraser, has anyone had any luck using the eraser on the MS PDF Reader app? I can make marks, but I can't erase them. The eraser icon gets activated when I click the eraser button, but if I try to erase, the pen just makes more marks on the PDF, and its very frustrating. Especially as PDF annotation is such a key part of having a tablet PC.

 

The PDF Touch app in the Windows store (free) is somewhat better than Microsoft's Reader app. It at least allows you to easily undo lines, as well as allowing drawing in multiple colors, etc (swipe from the top). Curiously, the eraser function doesn't work in that app either. But having an always-present "undo" button while you're inking mitigates that.

 

Quite annoyingly PDF Touch doesn't differentiate between touch and stylus input, so you can not scroll and zoom with one hand and write with the stylus.