topic Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks in PCs & Accessories

General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 18:06:12 GMT

I am not sure if this is the correct section in the forum for this but as it deals with notebooks I thought it the most fitting. With reference to Notebooks only. I see from various posters on the forum that a lot of customers appear to be unhappy with performance, noisy fans, and VRAM definitions/setup. Why would a company with Sony¿s reputation build machines that run like a dog. Being honest given today¿s technology a P4 processor coupled with 512MB of RAM and hard-drive speeds increasing should perform reasonably well. I mean we can send probes to Mars why can¿t we make mobile fans quiet and only to activate when the processor is in need of cooling?. It appears that fans in some of the notebooks run continuously. As far as VRAM is concerned we can choose 32,64 or 128MB at the sacrifice of main memory as it is shared. Apparently you lose performance dependant upon the amount of VRAM you choose. But nobody has stated how much performance is lost?. Finally to end my ranting after much trawling of the forum and helpful assistance from Kee-Lo and Rich912 to name a few why don¿t Sony tell you how to change fan noise, VRAM and performance factors without the need continually ask the same question on the forum.

Does anyone know the answer to this and my previous questions? JD76

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

seb21__ — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:47:52 GMT

The CPU

Some Users here are using a Desktop CPU. For example a Pentium 4 or a Pentium 4 mobile. The critical temperature for a P4 is approx 72 degrees. But the normal temperature is approx 50 degrees for a VAIO laptop. A game is a extrem stress for the CPU. The highest CPU temperature on my VAIO was approx 73 degrees.

I have noticed that the fan starts by approx 45 degrees. The result is, the fan of a VAIO laptop with desktop CPU runs every time.

The RAM

Yeah, I agree. The RAM in a VAIO Computer is not the fastest. But the other site is, the system runs relative stably. I've had never problems with the RAM in my VAIO, since two years.

The VRAM

A own VRAM is ever better. If you have shared memory, the graphics-card use the system RAM. The result is a slow graphic because the system RAM is too slow. And if you use a shared graphic-card with maybe 32MB RAM you have only 480MB system RAM. That is normal.

And I think you don't buy a VAIO, because the VAIO is fast. You buy a VAIO, because a VAIO has a cool design.

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

kee-lo_ — Sat, 12 Mar 2005 20:14:53 GMT

Always glad to hear people find the posts helpful JD.

You're right though, they don't do enough to explain to customers how they can make their VAIOs faster, how they cna adapt them for different jobs and how the best way to keep them clean and as good as when they first got them.

Hopefully they'll soon see people are not happy.

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:05:35 GMT

Thanks Seb21 and Ke-loo as always. Why do manufacturers put desk top cpu's into laptops. Surely the principle of design is different. I don't think compaines like HP/Compaq put desk top cpu's into their laptops. Are these systems not supposed to be designed from the ground up. How do I know if I have a desk top CPU in my machine? Also I noticed that you know the temp of your processor how can I find this out? Is 480MB RAM sufficient for XP-SP2 or should I upgrade to 1GB? Also can you confirm that I must upgrade by using 2x512MB sims, I cannot just put 1x512MB sim in to bring my machine up to 768?

Thanks Jd76

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 10:07:40 GMT

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

seb21__ — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 11:08:26 GMT

Why do manufacturers put desk top cpu's into laptops

It's a question of money, of time, and what do you do with your Laptop. I've bought my PCG-FR315S for two years ago. I have payed 1599¿.

2,66GHz, 512MB, 60GB harddisk,...

Today you can buy a VAIO for 1599¿ with an Pentium M with 1,7GHz, 512MB RAM, 100GB harddisk, and a graphicscard with own RAM.
For example the VGN FS115Z.
Or your can buy a ugly ALDI laptop with similar specs, but much cheaper.

 Also I noticed that you know the temp of your processor how can I find this out?

look at this site

It's no problem to use RAM with different size in a VAIO. But I would use RAM from the same manufacturer.
And yes, 512MB is the minimum fo Win XP. I have 480 because my graphicscard use 32 of them. 1GB is nice, but do you need this? I need this not really. But I think if I would have 1GB Ram.......mmh, not yet. Maybe I upgrate the RAM later.:smileycool:

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 11:43:12 GMT

Thanks Seb21 I think I understand, but my K315M is still a current model retailing for just under £1000, thought they would have stuch a mobile processor in it. I'll check out the link you quoted. I think when I meant upgrade my RAM do you know if you can have a 512MB and 256MB sim coexist with each other or must I upgrade with 2x512MB sims?..cheers JD

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

seb21__ — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 11:54:14 GMT

I would look into the laptop (manual ) or use Everest Home Edition .

Your laptop use 2X256MB, mmh.. I have never tryed to change one of them with an 512MB RAM modul. But I think that is not a problem. But you must use RAM with the same specs (I mean the same RAM timing)

I have heard Crucial is good.

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:05:18 GMT

cheers Seb I'll have a look, yes Crucial is good I have purchased from them before. do you know when you look at system properties you can tell the speed of the processor. say 3.06MHZ there a figure in the right hand side of this xx.y mhz do you know what this relates to?

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

seb21__ — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:36:05 GMT

That is the multiplicator of the CPU.

You say you have 3,06GHz? I think that is a Northwood Pentium 4.
This CPU has a frontside bus of 133MHz. The multiplicator is 23.
133MHz X 23 is approx 3,06GHz

I have the same CPU with a multiplicator of 20. That makes approx 2,66GHz.

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

kee-lo_ — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:36:26 GMT

Why do manufacturers put desk top cpu's into laptops.

I don't know, for power hungry users, but there's a consequance, you have to clean it on a regular basis, too hot to sit on your lap, and often the CPU doesn't run to it's full because it gets too hot.

Nick Pan wrote a great thread on this, you can find the link on my info site.

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

aray420608045 — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 09:59:13 GMT

Cheers Kee-lo I'll check out your link, I assume there is a way of taking your Vaio safely apart for fan cleaning? That's the problem being new to the forum I am probably asking similar questions to the 100's of other newbies. Probably a need to a FAQ section but I realise this takes time to develop. But thanks for being very helpful. JD

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

Eugenepang — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:45:56 GMT

hmm funny so far i havent heard the sound of fan on my vaio., i check out the temp and tis between 52-60++ .. on my old vaio the fan start as soon as i turn it on..

Re: General observation on Vaio notebooks

kee-lo_ — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:53:05 GMT

If I had access to VAIOs I would write a guide for each one.