Buying a new laptop/notebook - Is the Sony Viao VPCYB3V1E/G.CEK, AMD platform 64 or 32 bit? i know OS is 32 bit but i need 64 bit

[Reikisue]

Hi All,

RE: Sony Viao - VPCYB3V1E/G.CEK query

I'm looking to get a new laptop/notebook - 11.6 wide screen - mostly for showing my photos off (in good bright colour), looking at youtube clips etc and doing some admin/accounts work here and there. I am however a creature of habit and know that i will fill any storage space available and will also want to put on software (supporting my camera etc), video/photo editing suite etc and use the internet. So i need a laptop/notebook that's at least 2-4GB in memory as i will tax it over the course of time! and i want to have 320-500 GB of hard drive! lol

I found the Sony Viao in the sony centre today at £429 but the spec i saw said OS was 32bit but a friend said it was the bit in relation to the platform that i need to be looking at and its that that needs to be 64 bit as a) thats the way the computer world is moving and b) my main PC is 64 bit - so i need to ensure they are both compatible when sharing software etc.

Has anyone tried this new one as its only been out for a couple of weeks? Are there any drawbacks with it? Should i be waiting for anything else about to come out? as i need to spend my money wisely....

Are there any other small laptops/notebooks anyone recommends that would suit me? (you can PM me if its appropriate/possible)?

Kind regards

Sue

[Reikisue]

Just to add a bit more here - on the Dixons website it says the Sony viao VPCYB3V1E is 'windows... 64 bit' but the Sony Centre Sony Viao model number had /G.CEK at the end of the same number and this said '32 bit'.... just to add to the confusion.

Doe anyone know for sure what the correct one is?

Sue

[hansimon5]

I bought this netbook two weeks ago in Austria. Windows 7 is 32bit edition. Hardware is 64bit platform (Brazos). With 4 GB of ram it doesn't make much sense to run a 64bit OS. 32 bit Windows 7 is using 3,5 GB of ram.

Display has very good brightness, Keyboard is comfortable for medium sized hands (chicklet keys).

Performance is for all normal work very good, boot time as well.

I used brazos tweaker to reduce cpu voltage and now I get about 3.5 - 4 hours for normal work before recharging.

Positiva:

+ Quality seems to be good

+ Bright and clear display

+ good Keyboard

+ fast

+ large HD (500 GB)

+ Battery Life good

+ HD Videos play well (also via HDMI onTV ), little CPU utilization

+ quiet

+ HDMI

Negativa:

- no USB 3

- no eSata

- Touchpads keys rather noisy

- vertical viewing angle rather limited

- speakers rather poor 

- Windows 7 only  32bit

- only one Partition as shipped (500 GB!)

Summary: After two weeks experience I'm rather happy with this netbook.

[Vaiophiliac]

Hi,

I wanted to use this laptop to install a specific 64 bit (only) Windows application, however I was surprised when I realised that it comes with 32 bit Windows, although the hardware looks to be 64 bit compatible.

Anyone has been able to install 64 bit Windows 7 on one of these? Are typical drivers available for 64 bit OS?

Thanks,

JC.

[hansimon5]

Hi,

Unfortunately I have no experience with Win 7 64 bit installation on this laptop. There are no Sony 64 bit drivers available. But I found two messages, where users have successfully installed Win 7 64 bit on this device. See http://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/Meinungen/2971441.html  and  http://www.idealo.de/preisvergleich/Meinungen/2971441.html. These messages are in german language.

I would suspect that the AMD chipset and graphic drivers are available for 64 bit from the AMD site.

Greetings

HS

[TubaMagna · Accepted solution]

Might be a bit late, But i have installed windows 7 proffesional 64bit on my sony VPCYB3V1E/S It works like a treat, I have also put 8GB of ram in which it supports fully. It uses around 512mb of the ram for the graphics.

Regards

Jonathan

[Hwalker1]

I bought a Sony Viao 64 bit with a 17 inch screen. The machine works OK on windows 7, but the display is rubbish. The writing is so small it is only usable on the web when text can be zoomed up to size. Due to the way the screen is designed, if you reduce the resolution, all you get is a smaller window which just makes things worse. I have had about 30 computers over the last 40 years. This is the most expensive, at over £900. It only takes 8 meg of ram and cannot be expanded, and it is possibly the worst bit of kit I have ever purchased. No wonder Sony is opting out of the marketplace. Not a minute too soon.