What's going on? Why don't Nvidia's drivers support Sony?

I'm guessing it's Sony's doing? That's apparently why this took so long to get notebook drivers-sounds like Nvidia's been fighting OEMs for years.

But...Sony isn't supported! One of the only companies. Is it Sony refusing? Or is there some hardware/technical reason? Something Sony's doing differently?

I was FINALLY pretty close to ordering an AW...and then this happens. When Asus...and APPLE for crying out loud, get support...can I really still get a Sony?

 

I thought Laptopvideo2go.com has all the Nvidia drivers you need.

 

Well, first, I wouldn't use them, I'd just install Nvidia's normal reference drivers, but having official support like this is a huge thing. I'm wondering why Sony's excluded.

 

Probably because of the Z. Though I don't know why they don't just exclude the Z only and allow the other models.

Maybe Sony's put special tweaks in all their laptop drivers that make them work with the VAIO utilities. Though I do hope that either Sony lets NVIDIA start handling the drivers (including our Z series), or Sony starts getting people around to making a DRIVER UPDATE.

 

What's with the Z that makes it different?

I've never really understood exactly what the deal is with laptops and GPU drivers to begin with. Is it like some of them use the GPU drivers to control the fans or something, rather than other drivers (or just using settings in the firmware?)

This really is confusing to me, because honestly I was probably going to order an AW today, and then this.

 

Speed/Stamina switch. Allows us to switch between Intel's X4500 integrated GPU and NVIDIA's 9300M GS GPU on the fly. Sony did something amazing to the driver that no one's really been able to figure out. Some speculate it has "Hybrid SLI" coding somewhere that allows for the switch, others say that some portion of the Intel Integrated driver is bundled inside to allow for the switch.

Why the other VAIOs are not "supported" isn't really clear. However, with the new NVIDIA drivers, Dox has said that it should probably be pretty easy to get these drivers re-optimized for most if not all laptops now.

Even if VAIOs don't have "official support", LV2GO drivers should work even better than before now thanks to NVIDIA.

 

LV2TG only have .inf file "patched" that basicly tells windows that this driver is the correct one.

so no problem is using them.

 

Ooooh, thanks for the info about the Z. That makes sense then. I know that was one of a kind at the time (actually still really rare).

I really think Sony's got amazing hardware and software engineers, but none the less, I want official drivers!!! This honestly is putting me off from getting the AW...

And the Macbook Pro? I really am questioning if it's built half as well. Asus? I don't know if I trust them or not, though maybe it's fine (they've got an IONIZER on some of their models now, which is insane and just makes me wonder...)

EDIT: Plus I love the physical wifi switch on the AW!