[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu on the Vaio S series

[Anton Kanishchev]

Dont want to move you away from it, i probably had a lemon-but this is my
short story of ownership of the s series 15 inch (still have my vaio nw
2009).
I configured a vaio s 15 inch to the brim -essentially top spec, i7, 8gb
ram , best gpu, 256gb ssd(about 220 actually free). Problems started when
it started sounding like a *****ing vacuum cleaner when playing counter
strike- ye the 6 year old game. I was slightly worried- it was on a table
so plenty of cooling. so out of curiosity i put a sound meter to it to see
how loud it is (borrowed a *dt-805 sound * meter from my uni lab) and lo
and behold-60 something decibels at 0.5 meter away from it=roughly an arms
reach. bearing in mind this is a laptop i was immediately worried, my vaio
nw sounds quiter at 80% than the S at 40%, which i use pretty much
everything (small file server, running a vm at the same time, browsing,
coding etc) and it is rarely at less than 80% load. I am not a tech expert
but i was under the impression that sandy bridge is a heck of a lot more
efficent than core 2 duo-my old laptop. so I took it in to the sony store
saying that it is overheating (high 80's on cpu within minute of load) and
what did they do? nothing-they let it sit in their shop for almost 2 weeks
with the excuse of "we will have the engineer look at it."
I wish it was fixed as it is a lovely machine (if it worked). After those 2
weeks i called them and had to bring in my software suite to show them that
it was sounding like a vacuum cleaner (and show them the temperatures). I
realised only then that after 50% load the cpu actually underclocks itself
(i7 2640) to just 800mhz (stock at 2.4 ifaik) --big problem. the y series
(ultraportable) is faster than my s was when both were at full load. Then
the store i went to made a huge fuss that they couldnt refund it because it
is a CTO (online configured model). After almost 3 hours persuading them
(and pointing out to them that I spent a significant ammount of money there
before along with the fact non of this cto non refundable crap is nowhere
to be seen on their terms and conditions) they agreed to give me the
refund. Dont get me wrong, i am not a fanboy of any brand. Having bought 5
laptops from them before this i was expecting high standards. For example
my first nw that i got, the webcam did not function-they gave me a new one
no questions asked, they didnt even check. Now I had to go in to show their
engineer the problem.

Overall i hope not many people had to experience what i had to go through
to bring that vacuum cleaner back (as i didnt get it to browse email...)
but I feel that their support has plummetted downhill.  I spent 900£ + on
that machine , to use it for 3 days, wake up from the fan noise (i let it
do intensive stuff overnight so i dont have to wait), bring it back, let
them have it for 2 weeks, and then spent most of the day convincing the
manager that it is an obvious fault and i dont want to wait any longer for
it to get fixed and i want it refunded.
thats pretty much it. Oh and it is utter bs that it get 8 hours battery
life=maybe 6 with extra slice battery with integrated graphics.

just my 2 cents


On 1 July 2012 23:17, doug livesey <biot023 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi -- has anyone got Ubuntu up & running on a Sony Vaio S series?
> I've read a little bit that suggests there may be difficulties with the
> graphics drivers, which switch between two modes.
> Just wondered, is all -- I was fantasising about a new machine & playing
> with the online configurers, and the Vaio S series looks bloody lovely! :)
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>
>
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