Congratulations VAIO! Me proud to be an owner.

Vaio SR user here! Has been very reliable ever since (which laptop isn't reliable anyway, hahaha!). Most importantly, it has met my expectations for a laptop. First it has the specifications (of course price is still expensive but it has come down a lot). Second its footprint is pretty small for a 13". Its LCD lid is thin and the entire weight is just 1.9kg (approx.). Even lighter than Macbook.

I was in the same position, choosing between the SR or the Macbook. I picked the SR because the LED backlit LCD screen is better. The color is a lot more contrasty (I think its a signature of Sony screens) than Macbook which tends to look washed out. Second, the SR is very cool during operation. Rarely it'll hit more than 44 Deg C. Operation is very silent too.

The Macbook however has a very attractive design and the construction is rock solid. However, I don't find any ventilation fans or holes on it so I guess it relies on the aluminum body for heat spreading. As a result, the underside is very hot to touch. Also I have heard a lot of bad things about Nvidia's IC packaging problems. So I decided that any laptop from now on should be ATI equipped. I know it doesn't happen on all Nvidia's products, but just to be sure.

I have been using the earliest model of SR (SR13GN) for a few months now and it has been going strong! Yes the Macbook Aluminum does have an LED backlit screen but its color is somewhat washed out. Its not as bright as well (and I was sure the settings were maxed). If you set the Macbook and Pro together, you'll see the difference. Put the SR next to it and you will see that the SR is just better.

I bought mine from Midvalley and the freebies weren't as much as it was a new model release. I did get a USB key though and some irrelevant accessories.

Yeah, a piece of 2GB DDR2 SODIMM is only around RM75-85 so its very cheap to do it yourself. Installation can be done on the spot and you get to test it before leaving/paying. Getting from Apple/Sony is just not within logic.

Regarding the Macbook Pro, yes... they usually place it far far away. Just take a glance and remember it and then move on to the other. You'll see the difference which is quite obvious. Unless you have some friends who happen to have both.

Its actually 3.5GB. So the remaining 512MB will not be used as Windows 32bit cannot address it. As a result, it will be redundant. However, the integrated graphics core (to a certain extend the external graphics core) uses some of those RAM. Remember than ATI HD3470 and the likes (Nvidia Turbocache) uses main memory to boost its total RAM in addition to the dedicated graphics RAM within the card. So if you use 4GB (3.5GB effective), that means you get 3GB for your Windows (assuming graphics only takes 512MB). If you use 3GB of RAM, minus the RAM shared by the graphics, you may only get well below 3GB of RAM for Windows.

Of course you can always edit the driver string to not use/share your main RAM. There's also another reason we use 2+2=4GB of RAM. Symmetric dual-channel. Of course asymmetric dual-channel is supported but we know what goes on from there.

The only thing we can do is to make the machine as light-weighted as possible (in terms of software in background) and put in lots of RAM. The rest is your graphics and CPU, something that is not easily/readily changed.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Apr 20 2009, 01:36 PM

Actually Dell's pricing for RAM also more expensive than getting your own. I guess only Dell can afford to allow customizations on customer level since they're basically controlling their own supply chain. Sony on the other than has a lot more products than just laptops so its better go standardize its products.

New variants within the same series or family is around 1 time per every quarter. The SR series is a good example. SR1x, then SR2x and now SR3x in less than a year. I believe FW is similar too. Nothing on CS though. The difference between these variants are very minor revision of the specification. Nothing to pull hair about.

A complete new model change however is around 1-2 years, somewhere around 18 months. An example would be the SZ series to SR series, FJ to FW series and C to CR and then CS series.

Last August? August 2008 was the launch of the first SR, the 12G and 13GN variants. The launch of the SR was parallel to the PC Fair 2008 and was also to usher the phase-off of the last variant of the SZ-series. By November-December 2008, we had the SR2x liao. Just recently around March 2009 we had the SR3x variants.

Again, no major change. Here are the list of changes from SR1x to SR3x

SR1x - SR2x
- All major specifications remained the same
- Graphic card was upgraded from ATI 3470 128MB to 256MB
- Addition of the HDMI connector which was missing on the first SR-series
- Addition of the Intel 5100 WIFI card (The release of the Intel generation 5 cards were delayed so the first SR didn't have them but used the Atheros)
- Gained full Centrino 2 certification

SR2x - SR3x
- CPU was upgraded from Core 2 Duo P8400 (2.26GHz) to P8600 (2.40GHz)
- RAM size was upgraded from 2GB to 3GB (not sure)
- HDD size was upgraded from 250GB to 320GB

If you look at the above, the changes are very minimal and more like keeping SR models up to date. In my opinion probably as the months go by, production costs and Sony's average costs including lowering costs of component get lower. So Sony uses these savings in updating the components and keeping the price point of RM5488, etc.

Most important for all SR owners is the overall characteristic of SR remains the same. Some of these upgrades can be done by ourselves anyway.

I think the Z was a new line in the Ultra Portable range but still remaining the 13.3" form factor. Its essential to bring VAIO's business range to the slightly more affordable level (where most customers can pay). So they had to split the SZ product level to cover the lower (SR) and higher (Z) range of that product level. Thats how they can bring down the price of business class VAIO to RM4-5k while still maintain product flagship (one with top specifications and technology innovation) among other brands within the same range.

That give VAIO more room to compete by covering all of these market levels.

No lar bro. The context of we here are WE as consumer. Not the other we from Sony's perspective. Make no mistake ya!

This post has been edited by davidmak: Apr 22 2009, 10:27 PM

Yeah, but I felt Sony should also introduce higher resolution for SR 13.3" cause 1280x800 is so not 2009. The resolution has been standard since a long long time ago! Even the FW has a higher resolution than standard. Other competitors also have more dense screens for 13 and 14" LCD offerings.

Yeah it would be great if they could upgrade the HD3470 to HD3650 or 46xx and then trickle down the HD3470 to the entry SR model. I think some models of the SR in the US and other parts of the world have a higher end ATI graphics.

Unfortunately, Sony traditionally sticks with a graphics model for the entire product cycle. But that can change though. By the way, bringing the HD3470 to the RM4488 SR could increase its price so we don't want that to happen.

But Geforce 9400 would be a complete chipset change from Intel to Nvidia. I don't remember Geforce 9400 comes as a standalone graphics. The Geforce 9300 is. Actually these solutions are comparable to ATI's similar offerings. But its good that Sony is taking ATI this time since we having hearing a lot of doubts about the Nvidia solution.

Guess it'll take another product generation before swapping to the next chip.

I was told last time that you have a 3-month period to get the extended warranty. The extended warranty can be bought from North Point opposite Midvalley. There's a customer service center there. They will need to inspect your laptop before allowing you an extension.

Its usually the branding alone. The brand signifies classiness among others so when you stamp the VAIO brand on any materials, it gets expensive.

My opinion is to not get the leather pouch. There are better aftermarket products that is even similar with the VAIO branded one. I suggest saving some bucks.

Yeah come to think of it, the dimension of the P is a bit strange. Its very wide like a lady's clutch bag. The product is so niche so it'll take sometime before sellers offer them.

Usually VAIO maintain same price point one, only the specifications get updated. Very seldom they increase price.

Yeah, I've used their warranty service before at North Point, Midvalley. Recently I've just sent my Vaio SR in due to abnormal battery drain. Nothing much was done except doing battery load test. The battery was deemed fine and they wanted me to give it another try before escalating to a higher level specialized on supporting Vaio products.