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Craig's Review of the Sony VGN-S360 Sub-Notebook - Page 2

post #21 of 107
3/7/05 at 4:35pm
Wow I really wish I got one of these when I was buying a laptop. I might just sell my 3790 for one of these. Nice and small yet packs a wallet... Its not the size that matters after all

Seriously though this thing could probably fit anywhere and I could whip it out during class or what not and start typing away etc.

Although I do love the 15.4 inch widescreen I am using right now...
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post #22 of 107
3/8/05 at 12:25am
Size does matter, anyone who says otherwise is just trying to spare your feelings.

Seriously, one thing to bear in mind is that while it is small and light it is still a widescreen and just as wide as your average 15" notebook. That being said, it still fits on most desks and you can get 5 hours with max brightness when you use the extended battery.
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post #23 of 107
3/8/05 at 12:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
wow...I just noticed 5k posts...I need a life

Sub-Notebook is an industry term for the smaller notebooks...it seems they're either getting bigger (I hear there is a 19" LCD for a laptop coming!) or smaller these days, not optimizing the normal 15" designs.
19"!!! The ULTIMATE DESKTOP REPLACEMENT

Advertising Campaign

"With a 19" screen the new :insert company here: laptop is the first TRUE desktop replacement weighing in very close to an actual desktop!"
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post #24 of 107
3/8/05 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
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post #25 of 107
3/12/05 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gato
You can adjust the fan usage through the built-in Power Meter application (in the "Vaio power management" tab). The factory default is "5 - performance", which allows it to expel the most amount of heat. "1" is quiet. I have it at "2". The fan's now much quieter. Since the S360 runs much cooler than all the laptops I tried in the showroom (HP DV1170, PowerBook), I think it's fairly harmless to set the fan at the quieter end of the spectrum. Once you do that, the fan is NOT an issue at all. The machine overall probably will run quieter than other laptops you've seen.
I've had a couple Vaio S laptops, including the S360 I'm typing this on, and the VAIO Power Management cpu fan control doesn't do a thing. The fan will always come on when the cpu temp reaches 40c (regardless of fan setting) and will continue to get louder the more cpu intensive you get.

BTW, the laptop almost always runs above 40c, not a bad thing at all, so in turn the fan is always on...quite annoying! Why keep an annoying laptop with the fan on 90% of the time, b/c it's a damn sweet piece of kit and I've gotten used to the noise.

What....who....what was that you said

P.S. Maybe underclocking the 9700M would keep the fan from coming on?

P.S.S. Those 3dmark01 scores look dismal. I get 10k+ easy.
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post #26 of 107
3/12/05 at 6:09pm
Thread Starter 
With what drivers? I'm using the latest Omegas.
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post #27 of 107
3/12/05 at 7:08pm
Yeah, 7000 or so does seem low. I hit around 10300 using Omega 5.1's
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post #28 of 107
3/12/05 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 


I'll get around to running the benchmark again later...I only took one pass at it and may have been unplugged.

Painting guest rooms is fun! >:-< NOHT!
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post #29 of 107
3/13/05 at 2:54am
Yep, unplugged or cpu set to adaptive. I forgot all about that, even adaptive won't give you full performance.
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post #30 of 107
3/13/05 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
Is the "Adaptive" setting in Power Management?
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post #31 of 107
3/13/05 at 3:47pm
I just got one of the VGN-S360 Saterday

Me Likey alot

will run 3dmark when I get a chance
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post #32 of 107
3/13/05 at 7:27pm
3Dmark 2001 SE got 10,053
3Dmark 2003 got 2613

all stock, no drivers updated
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post #33 of 107
3/14/05 at 1:48pm
Yes, adaptive is also in VAIO Power Management right above the cpu fan setting.
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post #34 of 107
3/15/05 at 12:09am
Thread Starter 
Thanks NG,

Now I just need to reinstall 2001SE :-/ I didn't plan on using it for more than one pass for the benchmark.

*sigh*
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post #35 of 107
3/23/05 at 3:46pm

s360 & s380 Xbrite

Hey folks,

Anyone notice that the s360 doesn't seem as bright or as clear as either the a690 or fs570? I was wondering if this same issue exists on the s380.

Thanks,
EWB
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post #36 of 107
3/24/05 at 10:42am
I found the FS to be too bright, making everything seem very washed out.
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post #37 of 107
3/29/05 at 1:30am
Hi!
Craig? do you have any 3DMark05 score by any chance???
Thanks in advance
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post #38 of 107
3/29/05 at 2:27am
Thread Starter 
No I'm sorry man I didn't run 05 Probably would be in line with the Acer Ferrari scores.
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post #39 of 107
3/29/05 at 4:27am
Hi,
I too just got an S360. I tried playing HaloPC, but the performance isn't really that great. Sometimes the frame rate drops into the low teens. So I thought about upgrading the video drivers.

How does one go about upgrading the video drivers? Are there any special procedures or software? Do your recommend ATI's Catalyst drivers, or Omegas? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I'm a FOOL! I was playing Halo with the notebook unplugged. I plugged it into AC power and rebooted. Halo gained 20 - 25 fps! The game is now quite playable with an average in-game fps of 40 @ 800x600. I guess the power saving software reduced the CPU/GPU speeds to save the battery?
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post #40 of 107
3/29/05 at 10:55am
Thread Starter 
Yep...you can turn that off in the video settings tho NRP. It eats up battery power but give you full juice till it dies.
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