Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Vaio

What lightweight but powerful laptop should I buy?

bkudria — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:36:10 -0800

Which light-weight yet powerful laptop should I buy? I like the Sony Vaio Z, followed by the MB Air and the Thinkpad X200. Am I missing any models? I'm looking to replace my current work laptop - I use it for web development, so I need to be able to run Apache, MySQL, PHP, and some other stuff. I also use Chrome pretty heavily, and of course I watch a DVD every now and then, play music, etc. I don't run an office suite or play any games.

I carry my laptop to and from work every day, and my current HP is pretty heavy, so I am looking to buy the lightest laptop possible that still has a real CPU (e.g. no Atom, ULV, etc). I don't want anything at all resembling a "netbook". What I'm not considering at the moment is price - I'm happy to pay extra for a nicer, lighter, laptop.

At the moment, the best option I could find is the Sony VAIO Z-series. It weighs 3.3 pounds, not the lightest on my list, but it has a nice CPU (a T9900 @ 3.06 GHz). The MB Air is 0.3lbs lighter, but the CPU clocks in at 2.13 GHz and as expected does slightly worse in benchmarks. The Z also has a higher-res screen. I use an additional external monitor, but it is a nice extra. The Lenovo Thinkpad X200 and X200s are lighter even than the MB Air, but have even smaller screens and slower CPUs.

(Note: I am aware of the Z's in-BIOS VT block. I have no problems with patching the BIOS to work around this. I don't consider it a downside.)

Additional details: I plan on running Linux, so gross Linux incompatibilities are a no-go, but I think I can handle anything merely pedestrian. Also, I plan on swapping out the HDD with an SSD some point in the future, so if that has any bearing on anything, I'd love to know. I'm still in the research phase for that.

In short: I want a light yet powerful high-quality workhorse laptop. The VAIO Z looks to be a good balance.

My question: Am I missing anything in my analysis? Do any of these laptops have any glaring flaws? Are there any other models that have solid build quality and similar or better specs?

Thanks!

Audio driver problems!

FuckingAwesome — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:21:32 -0800

Audio driver needed for Sony Vaio VGN-SX61MN/B model laptop with Windows XP SP3! I recently downgraded to XP SP3 from Vista and cannot find a suitable audio driver. The ones on the Vaio website seem not to install properly. Very frustrating! Please help.

Do I buy a new laptop before I know if I need it?

Galt — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:28:01 -0800

LaptopFilter: Do I get a new one tomorrow because I'll have the money and it's a good machine, or do I keep on with my trusty older machine that hasn't given me a touch of trouble yet? Much (maybe too much) I’ve got a HP Pavillion dv1000 – I bought it for cheapz, on sale for around $700 and it’s served me well; it’s small, it’s keyboard is amazing, I rarely run into battery/CPU constraints. I’ve also got a 2.33GhZ iMac – I use it for most of my video/media/fun stuff. The HP has been my windows machine for two years now, and it’s got a lot of stuff installed on it – office, flash, adobe cs, two versions of cygwin, multiple versions of visual studio, eclipse, apache, five versions of java, sdks, plugins, the works. I need to have a windows machine, and I'm not spending more than a thousand dollars on a laptop, so the first person who suggests I get a MacBook and put boot camp on it can defenestrate themselves.

I’m starting grad school next week (a one year masters program), and I’m wondering if I should get a new laptop. Specifically, I’m eyeing the Sony Vaio FW, on sale for a shade over a thousand dollars at Best Buy. A part of me says that my 1.5Ghz, 1GB RAM two year old loss-leader laptop won’t survive constant use in software engineering grad classes. That part says that a 16.4” screen will be better than my 14.1” screen, and a Core 2 duo with 2.26GhZ and 3GB of RAM will be great for any needs (not to mention that I might be able to play team fortress 2 without having to reboot my computer every night, something I haven’t even attempted on the HP). And my parents are here, now, helping me move in. Through reimbursing them later, I could most easily get access to the money to buy it - but only tomorrow (because that much is over the limit of my existing credit cards, my checkbook is back at home and without my own internet, I’m hesitant to manage my money online right now. So I could have the money myself…in a week or two, maybe). Given how much I’m into technology and how much I’ll be working on the laptop, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to resist.

The other part of me looks at how much I’ve already spent moving in and looks at how much is installed on the HP. It’s worked fine so far – virus free, defect free, glitch free for two years. The only problem is that the fan introduces a whine into the audio feed, so it’s hard to watch videos or listen to music on it. I have no pressing need to get a new laptop. This part of me says to wait, see what classes are like and maybe try out team fortress 2 on the HP. Be reasonable, it says. And don’t impuse-buy. It’s important to be able to control yourself. Some stuff (Flash) I wouldn’t be able to install on the new computer, and I’m not sure of other’s compatibility with Vista (Adobe CS2?).

But then the first part kicks in and says that I’ve got some money in savings and what’s it for if not fun stuff? Most of the stuff I should be able to get onto a new machine in a week or two, and it’ll be good to clean house.

But then the second part says, “oh, yes, and you’ll make how much money this year? And can’t you clean house by /cleaning/ instead of, to continue this analogy, buidling a new house next door and wrecking the first one?”

And the first part says, “It’s a great deal, it’s a beautiful laptop, and it’ll last! Think of it as an investment. Or a continuing plan to stay on top of technology. You’ll need to be able to work with Vista. You can’t reasonably expect to build software without even having a machine that runs it. And everyone else will have Vista, too.”

And the second part says that it’s not critical and the first part says “you’ll end up buying it anyway” and the part of me that doesn’t war with its self says, “I wish I had some less biased input!”

So, hive mind, some help? Wait and see, or just get it?

Vaio gives "system timer error"

daksya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:58:44 -0800

My laptop gives a "system timer error" and so I probably need some guidance in replacing my laptop's CMOS battery I've an 8 yr old Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-F590 (a.k.a PCG-9201), which for practical purposes, stopped working 3 weeks ago. The computer boots into XP, but during the login screen, or shortly after logging in, freezes altogether, not responding to any input. Occasionally, it gets stuck during POST itself, displaying "KEYBOARD ERROR" and "SYSTEM TIMER ERROR". Some web browsing tells me that it's likely that the CMOS battery has a lifespan of around 10 years and that could be the issue here.

Before I replace the battery, is there something else I should look into? There was no physical trauma inflicted on the laptop, and I guess the system timer hardware itself hasn't gone kaput. This initially happened all of a sudden while watching a video (the sole purpose of the laptop) 3 weeks ago.

I searched online and this store indicates that the battery is NiMH 2 cells with a mainboard connector. How specific do I have to be with the battery purchase besides the voltage and the connector type?

Most importantly, before I open my laptop, I'd like to know where the battery is located and how I should go on about replacing it? Despite my best efforts, I can't find a motherboard schematic for this laptop. The laptop's way past warranty and besides I'm not the original owner. Repair businesses here charge exorbitantly, so I'd like to do it myself.

Recovery key plz? (again)

T.D. Strange — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:17:14 -0800

What key I need to hold down to access the recovery partition on my Sony Vaio? So my Viao is corrupted and wont boot (again, god how I hate Vista and its shitty sleep/shutdown). I can fix it because this has happen 4 or 5 times now, but I can't for the live of my remember which key you have to hold to enter the recovery partition. I've tried F2 (bios), F8 (Vista recovery console) F10 (nothing), F8, Nothing, F6, Nothing and R, nothing. I need to get this started in the next hour if Im going to be able to take notes in my night class this week - help me hive mind!

Does anyone know what the right key is?

How to upgrade the OS on a laptop with no CD or floppy?

monkeystronghold — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:52:13 -0800

How do I upgrade from Win 2k to XP on a laptop with no CD or floppy and no option in the bios to boot from USB? I have a Sony Vaio z505-JEK from 2000 which came preinstalled with Win2k. As it sits, it's useless to me because everything I'd like to use requires XP.

I've tried the BIOS to boot via USB (the only input it has, really) but it isn't an option.

I've tried to install Virtual PC, but it says it doesn't meet the requirements.

The Sony website doesn't seem to list this model on the support website.

If I can't get it to boot via USB are there any other options to update the OS on my machine? Can I update the BIOS somehow?

Extremely hot laptop

jonathanbell — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:12:40 -0800

I have a hot laptop. In fact, it's so hot that I can't even touch it. Is this normal? Or has the fan given up? I have an 18 month old Sony Vaio VGN-SZ1XP. Either the fan is incredibly quiet or it's broken. Regardless, if the laptop has been on all day, the temperatures on the underside, around the battery, are so high that it's painful to touch. I usually leave it plugged in with the battery installed, but make a point of not leaving it unattended on beds, carpets, etc. Is this normal? Is there a way of seeing if the fan is functioning normally, or does it need replacing? And can I do that myself?

PC card reader broken - Can anything be done?

likedoomsday — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:51:16 -0800

My (secondhand) Sony Vaio PCG-V505DC2 laptop's PC Card slot isn't recognizing any cards put in it (I've tried three, all of which I know work). I know it's not a driver problem because all of the cards worked until recently, when they started working only intermittently before stopping working at all. Can this be fixed in any kind of cost-effective way, preferably by myself? When they're plugged in, nothing happens; the "power" light on the ones that have them doesn't activate.

I'm not terribly afraid of opening the laptop and doing some very basic fiddling, but I'm not good enough at soldering to do anything really involved. Sony wanted something on the order of $150 just to look at it, which is out of the question. Is there anything that can be done?

The laptop is running Windows XP Professional, has a 2.0 GHz processor, 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB RAM, though I doubt it's particularly relevant.

How do I get a Vista laptop over its wireless quirk?

Cricket — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:04:05 -0800

Why does my laptop disconnect after it wakes up? At tax time, my husband and I bought new laptops. They're Sony Vaio I-don't-know-the-models running Vista and have generally been great for what we've needed (communications, media, and schoolwork). There's one quirk, though. When either of us opens one of the laptops and enters a password, the internet will work for the first thirty seconds to a minute and look like it's been connected either the whole time or for a while (my IM will either show offline messages or messages that came through--and other people have reported me online when I know the computer was shut). After that first minute or so, the wireless loses connection and thinks there's no network at all for a few minutes. It automatically reconnects after that, and I can't manually reconnect any faster. Is there a reason it does this? Any help for the problem? Google only brought up people who were having problems with reconnecting at all after their Vista laptops woke up.

Decide what laptop is best for me!

tomcosgrave — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:29:33 -0800

I am seriously considering getting a laptop. Basic requirements are that it have a 15-inch screen, 2GBs of RAM and Windows Vista Home Premium. I've done a fair bit of research, but am finding it hard to come to a final decision. So now I turn to you, wise MeFi'ites. Can you help? For various reasons, Apple machines aren't an option. I've decided to take the Vista plunge as it has some nice photo editing options I'd like - I'm a current XP user and I want to move on from it. Budget is under €1500.

I am extremely tempted by either the VGN-N31Z/W or the more expensive, slightly less pretty, but better featured VGN-FZ11L. Can anyone give me their thoughts on these two models?

Also, has anyone got any non Sony suggestions?

Acer are my second choice of machine...but I've not been able to play with the ones I'm interested in, only read about them online. I have played with a large 20-inch screen Acer, which was lovely, but are far too large for my liking and beyond my budget. What are the smaller ones like?

I'm not that interested in Dell, I have used some of their newer machines and I'm not all that impressed - they feel sort of clunky when I sit down and use them. The one XPS model I do like has a smaller screen than I want.

Help me make my mind up!

Sony Vaio won't boot. At all.

mu~ha~ha~ha~har — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:59:22 -0800

Sony Vaio VGN-B88GP (OS is XP) won't start. No little lights... just nothing. We've all established anthing Sony is garbage and it would be great if you would note this is not my question. Now what I've read usually indicates ram issues and indicates 2 slots and a reset. I have 1 slot and appears to have no reset? (There's one on the CPU but you'd kinda have to take it out to poke it so we dismissed that?)

The week beforehand any start/restart was a pain. It would just sit on the 'loading your personal XP settings page'. After screwing around with it a bit it would start and everything else would be the same as usual.

And just to be clear when I say there's nothing - there is absolutely nothing!

What the fuck is it's problem?

Should I attempt simple DIY repair on my VAIO laptop?

Martin E. — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:07:34 -0800

The headphone jack in my Sony VAIO laptop is broken. Should I try to fix it myself? Near as I can figure, I've just jostled the headphone plug around too hard while they're plugged in. It acts as though it's not quite making the connection, until I wiggle it about to establish a full connection and then don't touch it.
I've fixed the same problem on electric basses and guitars (just bending the connector further in), and feel reasonably confident opening up other appliances to tinker with them (usually with success). But I've never opened up a laptop before. Go for it, or leave it to a pro?

Free My DVD

ninazer0 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 21:31:29 -0800

I've had it with my Sony Vaio! Is it possible to unlock the DVD drive so that it will play any region? I want to unlock the DVD drive on my Sony Vaio. When I purchase or rent DVD's that work perfectly well on my standard DVD player, quite a few won't work on my laptop because of "region issues" - even when it is in fact the correct region. I can only assume that this is a glitch in the (unsupported) driver. Great one Sony - another fabulous effort.

According to my device manager, the drive is listing as a QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242C. Searching on this brings up masses and masses of useless sites OR adverts for suspicious-sounding "unlock secrets".

Can it be done? If so, how hard is it? How dangerous? Frankly, I'm so sick of the POS machine and Sony's complete lack of support that I wouldn't be too upset it the whole machine melted into a flowing puddle of slag.

Laptops: Apple MacBook Pro versus Sony Vaio/Dell/Toshiba. Please help me choose.

davidinmanhattan — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:32:43 -0800

It's time for a new laptop. I have very strong thoughts on this subject, but I need your help, suggestions, and guidance. I am using a three-year-old Apple PowerBook G4. Previously, I had a Dell Inspiron (home) and an IBM ThinkPad (work.) Truth be told, I found the Windows machines' interface more precise (easier to highlight a portion of a web page or text,) and, well, I could run MS Outlook. (I love Outlook, and miss the drag & drop, email to appointment functions.)

I love the ease of use, everything just works Apple "lifestyle," but I also love formatting my harddrive, and even switching the Windows GUI to Litestep.

And, I have to admit, I am shallow enough to allow my self esteem to be improved when I am working on my shiny, elegant Mac in public. Also, I live in Manhattan, and have 2 Apple stores closeby (one is open 24 hours a day,) and "TekServe," a full-service repair shop that does a great job. Makes repairs and emergencies much easier and faster.

So, I can get the new MacBook Pro (with the Santa Rosa chip!) and run Windows and Outlook, or get a Sony Vaio, or Dell, etc., and run Windows and Outlook.

Do you have any suggestions? Is there a great Windows laptop you would recommend? For something this important (I am a writer, and could not function without a laptop) money is a non-issue.

Or, should I get the new Apple MacBook Pro? I love the idea of an imbedded webcam, and I plan on getting the new iPhone. There are some Mac-based OS X programs (BluePhone Elite, iSync, AcidSearch, iPhoto, LaunchBar, OmniOutliner, etc.) that I love and might miss.

Is the MacBook Pro faster than a similar Windows laptop? How fast, via Parallels, is Windows? I work extremely fast, am a whiz with shortcuts and key-combos. Even with a gig of RAM now, I find myself waiting for my laptop to catch up. Speed is of the utmost importance, and I would install as much RAM as possible.

Thanks for your help and advice!

"A screen",the pittiful cry they heard. Then more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

mu~ha~ha~ha~har — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:52:41 -0800

What is it? Is it possible to repair? Or where on Gods green earth can I get a replacement? Slowly increasing white strip with sporadic coloured lines throughout on my notebook screen. Funnily enough it is more frustrating to look for the answer than it is to just try to ignore it. Ok it was picked up by the screen and too firmly it appears. It started as just a few coloured lines and proceeded to spread inwards then turning white and getting larger slowly but surely.

It is a Sony Vaio VGN-B88GP (PCG-5B3P).

What gives me reason to think it's repairable is that I left it sitting close to the air con. When I came back and the screen flicked back on it was ok. Well I can't be sure completely but from when I was paying attention a good 3/4 of it was back to normal and then began to fade left to right back to white. So there must be hope... perhaps.

Which mini-laptop should I buy?

cashman — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 11:38:20 -0800

Help me pick between a Sony VAIO TX series laptop and a Dell D420. Like some others before me, I'm going nuts looking at laptop specs. I've read a lot of the information here and I've narrowed it down to a couple of models.

Main draw - portability/weight. I'll be carrying it around and using it for document construction mostly (MS Word), powerpoint editing/construction and some surfing here and there.

Mac is unfortunately not an option right now.

Which would you buy with Vista on it - a Sony VAIO TX series (I really like the look of the 11-inch TXN25N) or a Dell Latitude D420 (12.1 inch screen)?

I keep getting told 42,000 rpm (presumably hard drive disk spin) is a problem, but I don't know.

Which one of these laptops should I purchase? If there is some other reasonable alternative that is as light (2-3lbs) and as small (11-12 inch screen) that's worth purchasing, that would be great to know as well.

Thoughts on Vaio desktop?

Saucy Intruder — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 15:18:25 -0800

Anyone out there have anything to say about the new Sony Vaio desktop? It's been a long time since I bought a desktop machine and it's been never since I bought a Sony. I have heard rave reviews of their Vaio laptops but am in the dark on their desktops, and online reviews are scarce. Even sans monitor this seems like a good price for the processor speed, memory, and storage I get, though I wonder if I am overpaying for the Blu-ray drive that has been problematic. Thoughts, before I take the plunge?

Display problems with a Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE

tomcosgrave — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:58:47 -0800

My girlfriend has acquired a second-hand Sony Vaio PCG-C1VE laptop. The OS is Windows XP. Her problem is that she can't get the display out of 640x480. She's looking for display drivers, specifically video drivers and monitor drivers if such things exist - she can't find them anywhere. Has anyone got any ideas?

VAIO shutdown - startup issues

trinarian — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 01:47:51 -0800

Sony VAIO SZ shutdown - startup issues. My friend has a nearly new Sony VAIO SZ13C bought in Shenzhen, China. He recently aquired a portable hard drive for it. Since then his computer locks up on shutdown unless the portable USB HDD is plugged in. There is also a start-up issue where every few boots the internal HDD light doesn't flicker on bootup and the scrolling blue pegs move very slowly on the startup screen.

It will shutdown correctly in safemode.

The only hardware issue we can see in device manager is an IEEE 1394 controller is disabled on startup.

It also restarts OK with that controller turned back on, Rising Anti-Virus auto-protect turned off.

Mandatory: HELP! line.

Sony Vaio Desktop Wierdness

spyke23 — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 08:25:30 -0800

Sony Vaio Desktop Wierdness: My Sony Vaio Desktop has started to bleep and the illuminated logo on the front flashes for no apparent reason. Any ideas why? The model is PCV-RS222, and my google-fu is not coming up with anything, neither is there anything in the manual. It will start flahing and beeping, then stop again. it is damned irritating. Any insight gratefully recieved

Where to find a Sony VAIO battery?

luneray — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:57:35 -0800

where can you find a battery for a Sony VAIO for less than $140? I'm posting this on behalf of my friend in Pittsburgh.

"My laptop needs a new battery. Specifically, my Sony VAIO PCG-V505BX needs a battery that apparently costs $140 plus shipping and handling if I order it from Sony. I'd like to see if I can't get it cheaper elsewhere. So I turn to you all for advice: who is a reliable retailer to get a Sony laptop battery from, other than Sony? Also, the laptop is now going on three years old, so I'm having trouble finding batteries for it at, say, Circuit City.com or the like."

How can I shut off the auto-click feature of the touchpad on my Sony Vaio?

DyRE — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 18:39:01 -0800

How can I shut off the auto-click feature of the touchpad on my Sony Vaio (model PCG-GRT170, if that helps)? I'm assuming this is called auto-click. It's not tapping (which is where tapping on the touchpad acts the same as clicking the left button). I can turn tapping off and it still does this. It's a function where if I move the cursor somewhere, the computer reacts as though I've also clicked there, even though I haven't. I can't seem to find a way to disable this in the mouse options. Google turns up some people with similar problems but no real solutions.

Computer Trouble; Like a Valentine's Gift from a Bitter Ex Named Nemesis

Firas — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 10:40:18 -0800

Dear crafty gnomes of Mefi, riddle me this: my laptop (Vaio PCG-FRV27) just had a fit and died. What may the problem be? Basically, I cleared cache and pressed ctrl+t in Firefox, and everything just froze—even the cursor was unresponsive. Upon turning it off and on, I saw a Sony/Vaio intro animation, then it got stuck on a blank black screen. So I tried with an Ubuntu LiveCD; same thing—animation (so not a graphics chip problem?), the optical drive spins, and we're stuck at blank screen. Which leads me to wonder:

a) What could be wrong?
b) If, as intuition suggests, the hard drive died, will my precious years of documents, email, and other stuff ever be recoverable?
c) What kind of maintainance costs may I be looking at? I suspect they'll be obnoxious enough that getting a low end hand-me-down from ebay might be better (I just browse/write essays/use email/write php & html+css).
d) Are there web based ftp/sftp/ssh (just for file transfer) clients, because I'm apparently indefinitely relegated to locked-down public computers?
e) More existentially, where does one go to shriek at The Fates that a particular mischief of theirs is absurdly untimely, ridiculously unfair, upsets many plans, and shall absolutely not be countenanced?

Thanks. And yes, I'll be backing up religiously in the future :(

Laptop repair in NYC?

Vidiot — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:00:47 -0800

Laptop repair in NYC? The fan on my Vaio died last night. Anyone have experience with a decent notebook repair shop in NYC?

Sony meddling when writing a DVD with a VAIO?

jwhittlestone — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 04:33:35 -0800

DVD writing on a VAIO Filter: I have a Sony Vaio A417M and I can't seem to figure out how to write a DVD using any software apart from the one Sony provide. I had a vaio before and it was only possible to write a DVD using Sony supplied software "DVD drag and drop" Is it really Sony meddling? I have tried two versions of Nero 6.x, Roxio 7.5, Alcohol (to burn a DVD image) and ULEAD dvd movie studio (v3 i think) All encounter a non-descript error when they begin to write to the disc.

I suspect Sony are not allowing other software to use the DVD writer to prevent piracy a la ATRAC, but I'm no pirate!

Did anyone come across anything like this and how did you get around it?

My specs -
XP SP2 - installed by VAIO link
Current Firmware of DVD