Official Sony SB/SA/SC/SD Series Owners' Thread

[jabbok]

I just ordered a few hours ago, was given November 7th shipping date. The only customization I did was asking for a 7200rpm hard disk, the free promo upgrade to Windows 7 Pro, and the clean "head start" configuration, to be shipped to the US East Coast.

3 weeks ago -- so it can't have been the Thailand HDD situation yet, I'm assuming? That's the reason I placed my order now rather than waiting for some holiday season promo -- retail HDD prices have already shot up through the roof, and there are different estimates for how long manufacturers' HDD stocks would last (some say November, some say end of year) -- hard to know when availability and pricing would have been hit.

I asked the sales guy about getting the 7200rpm harddrive in the SA system but he said it creates too much heat so they only offer the SSD or the 5400rpm drives. I guess if the drives are going to increase in price I will have to make a decision fairly soon, I was waiting to see if there would be any promotions in Canada or free upgrades.

[hircus]

I asked the sales guy about getting the 7200rpm harddrive in the SA system but he said it creates too much heat so they only offer the SSD or the 5400rpm drives. I guess if the drives are going to increase in price I will have to make a decision fairly soon, I was waiting to see if there would be any promotions in Canada or free upgrades.

I really wonder where Sony got their sales reps, at times! The 7200 rpm upgrade is a $20 CTO option on Sony's own website...

I'm a bit glad I waited until this week, really; the previous round of promotion on Sony Style USA offers discounts on upgrades to the SA that I didn't need (if memory serves, on SSDs and the i7). Happy with my free W7Pro upgrade!

[jabbok]

I really wonder where Sony got their sales reps, at times! The 7200 rpm upgrade is a $20 CTO option on Sony's own website...

I'm a bit glad I waited until this week, really; the previous round of promotion on Sony Style USA offers discounts on upgrades to the SA that I didn't need (if memory serves, on SSDs and the i7). Happy with my free W7Pro upgrade!

I am in canada on our website they don't offer the 7200rpm drives and there aren't any promotions for us, the same notebook from the US site is about $200.00 cheaper then in Canada

[jeremyshaw]

He's not lying about the heat, however. I had a SC, and it had a 7200RPM drive in there... hot running. 5400RPM in my SA is much better. Still waiting on good SSD deal before biting, however.

I am looking at purchasing the VPCSA390S system in Canada with the core
i5 2520M cpu can you upgrade the cpu later or is it soldered onto the mainboard?

Anyone from Canada have experience with the tech support? Are they easy to deal with and usually how long is it to get your system back from a repair?

Soldered, is the MOST likely. Noone has actually taken a look, yet (I stopped myself, before removing the mainboard, because there are an inordinate about of delicate cables and ribbons crisscrossing about it).

[jeremyshaw]

EDIT:double post

[hircus]

He's not lying about the heat, however. I had a SC, and it had a 7200RPM drive in there... hot running. 5400RPM in my SA is much better. Still waiting on good SSD deal before biting, however.

Uh oh. I was hoping that faster drive -> less time taken for swapping and loading programs -> more idle time should balance out any extra heat/noise produced.

The internals of the SA and SC are otherwise identical, I'm assuming (apart from the LCD)?

[jeremyshaw]

Uh oh. I was hoping that faster drive -> less time taken for swapping and loading programs -> more idle time should balance out any extra heat/noise produced.

The internals of the SA and SC are otherwise identical, I'm assuming (apart from the LCD)?

The SA has a HD6630m, too, vs the SC's HD6470m.

HDD normally spin down after a few minutes, so faster completion doesn't make it run cooler. IMO, a 7200RPM drive isn't going to make enough of a difference unless if you are looking for one. A SSD is the best performance difference you can find to date

[x92_fermi]

I asked the sales guy about getting the 7200rpm harddrive in the SA system but he said it creates too much heat so they only offer the SSD or the 5400rpm drives. I guess if the drives are going to increase in price I will have to make a decision fairly soon, I was waiting to see if there would be any promotions in Canada or free upgrades.

Use SONYVIP when you purchase.
Anyway, the status of my SB is still "processing", and it has been 4 days. I don't think it can be shipped on Nov 2nd like they stated.

[jabbok]

Use SONYVIP when you purchase.
Anyway, the status of my SB is still "processing", and it has been 4 days. I don't think it can be shipped on Nov 2nd like they stated.

I didnt see anything like that on their website do I have to call in?

[x92_fermi]

Nope, just put that in the eCoupon when you check out.