OK Deal - Sony PCG-SR7K Vaio laptop

[foo]

Got the one with the DVD drive today. The screen quality is excellent! I felt comfortable enough watching a movie on it. The DVD drive operates with or without a power adapter. The disappointing thing is that it drops from 8X to 2X if you don't use the power adapter. At 2X, the movie is jerky, but the sound remains good. I was hoping I could use it to watch movies while traveling, but the jerkiness is a bit annoying. My main reason for getting it was the size and it definitely delivers in that respect.

I agree with zuffy that the overall feel is not as sturdy as the Thinkpad. The cover doesn't even close tightly. It needs two latches instead of the one.

It worked fine with my old PCMCIA 3Com 3C589B NIC. Drivers were included with Win2K, so I didn't even have to load anything. I got right onto the network with no problems. Once on the network, I had access to shared resources - floppy and CD drives and printers, so the lack of these on the laptop posed no problem.

 

[zuffy]

foo,

isn't there an option to enable 8X for the DVD w/o the ac adapter? I know you can disable Intel's Speedstep Technology to retain the maximum CPU freq. w/o ac adapter.

 

[ybingo]

egghead is down as we speak

 

[jrw558]

Be Careful SR7K
My neighbor's recent purchase of the Sony SR7K from buy.com turns out to be a refurb!!! There is no indication in the ads or the packaging of the unit. Everything says NEW.... until you go to register it with Sony.

Their reply..." you can't register this unit, it belongs to ....". We can't give rebates on refurbs.

...still waiting for a reply from buy.com. Makes me look pretty bad.

 

[zuffy]

jrw558,

Can you clarify how your neighbor register the laptop (is it via the Sony dial-in registration during the setup or maybe via online)?

 

[jrw558]

Dial in registration where he actually conversed with a live person.

 

[zuffy]

That really sucks. Hope buy.com will give your neighbor a real brand new one.

 

[foo]

zuffy,

I don't see anything to make it operate at 8X when not using the power adapter. It seems to be a fixed hardware thing. I'll try any ideas you may have.

 

[zuffy]

foo,

Open the PowerPanel and edit the DVD profile. Check all the options and see if there's an option to maintain max performance for the DVD. I don't know how helpfull this is but worth a try.

 

[foo]

zuffy,

Already checked that. No DVD settings. Tried max CPU Performance, but it didn't help. Oh well... still love the laptop though.

 

[hanybanoub]

Hey foo, zuffy, bipin

How's it going with this great laptop?

I played with one at compusa and it did feel hot on the wrist pad where of course you'd have your palm most of the time, and so I ask you, is this really bothersome? Can you even put this laptop on your lap and use it comfortably?

Also, if you guys could tell us how're your feeling with this laptop as you continue to use it over time. What do you notice that you like/dislike/annoy you? It'd help us make up our minds.

I didn't see this on your link bipin (maybe I'm more blind that I thought), and so I'll ask again.
Last question I promise (for now ), does the magic gate slot only accept the magic gate memory sticks or does it also take the regular blue ones? The reason I ask is that I use the blue memory sticks (and have a few of them) with their digital voice recorder (to record lectures in my courses and then burn onto CD). It'd also be great if it did, that way swaping files between computers wouldn't be such a big deal (without going on the network that is). Any ideas?

Thanks again guys...your input and info is greatly appreciated

 

[hanybanoub]

ttt for everyone to see and comment on

 

[zuffy]

After using it on a daily basic, I have say that the laptop is too warm for my lap... maybe it's because I disable the Intel Speedstep Technology (run @ 600MHz instead of 500MHz in battery mode). So far, I haven't regret the purchase (of course when the bill arrived it hurted my wallet) except that I didn't get the package with the DVD-ROM. Guess I was 1-2 weeks late. Another thing, the laptop is too fragile... I don't feel confident that it will operate if it was dropped or smack into a wall accidently. My co-worker has the ultra slim Sharp laptop (don't know what model but very lite and silver.. similiar to the Vaio) and when he dropped the laptop the display was gone.

The Vaio will accept the regular blue MS and the Magic Gate MS.

 

[foo]

The wrist pad never gets hot enough to bother me. The bottom of the unit is where the heat seems more intense, and even there, it has not bothered me. (I don't typically lay in on my lap though.) I've noticed that when running on battery power, it's only warm to the touch.

I've found the keyboard, with the lack of dedicated PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End keys to be annoying. But the overall size still makes it a great laptop for me.

I've tried the blue memory sticks and they work. I was able to read the files through Windows Explorer.

 

[hanybanoub]

Thanks so much guys you're great

I'm sure I'll think of even more questions

If you have any other thoughts to share with us, please post it here for all to see.

Many thanks

 

[adsouthpaw]

What software are you guys using to play DVDs, perhaps that is where your jerkyness problem comes from? I've used many different software players and find many to use much more CPU power than others. The best for me seems to be Intervideo's WinDVD. Hope this helps.

 

[zuffy]

I think the laptop gets hot depending on how you use the laptop and what freq. the CPU is running at.