[quote author=“Wadham”]It’s official - it’s a ‘feature’ of the machine, and apparently all laptops do it.

Like hell they do - my TR doesn’t and neither does my Toshiba.

I’ll be returning the machine shortly to PC World, and maybe get something different.

I tried and tried, but that response is ridiculous.

Thats carzy!  YOu are going to give up on the S.  You’re not going to try swapping it for another one.  To see if its the machine?

I’ve already tried another machine at PC world - same problem, and I swapped the machine just after buyin git because i thougt the fan was faulty, so they’re probably gettiong a bit fed up with me there…

looking at the A series, wonder if that suffers from the same issue..?

[quote author=“Wadham”]I’ve already tried another machine at PC world - same problem, and I swapped the machine just after buyin git because i thougt the fan was faulty, so they’re probably gettiong a bit fed up with me there…

looking at the A series, wonder if that suffers from the same issue..?

Don’t do it.  You are on the right track if you like the 13 inch widescreen.  You don’t have to stay with sony.  I love my TR, but if I was you I would way out all the possiblities. 

Tell me what you want, and maybe I can help

My requirements are simple: Gaming on the move - battery life and a nice screen. My TR is still used for my music and recording duties.

Admittedly the A series looks big - I have a Toshiba which also has similar screen technology with a huge screen which is lovely , but it weighs a bit much! :?

[quote author=“Wadham”]My requirements are simple: Gaming on the move - battery life and a nice screen. My TR is still used for my music and recording duties.

Admittedly the A series looks big - I have a Toshiba which also has similar screen technology with a huge screen which is lovely , but it weighs a bit much! :?

What is the biggest screen you want.  I saw the “S” and I personaly wouldn’t want to go any bigger than that. 

Do you still have your TR?

I love the s series screen - perfect size.

Yes I still have my TR!

[quote author=“Wadham”]I love the s series screen - perfect size.

Yes I still have my TR!

Why don’t you return the “S” and hold on to the TR for a little while. And wait to see if anything unfolds.  It seems like a lot of new notebook lines are coming out and fast.

I was trying to look up something comparable to the S and couldn’t find anything.  But, I bet its coming out really soon… ANd will probably hit us by surprise,

Like the T and P series….

Just my .02

I also love my TR

Wise words Chris - there’s an upgraded version of the S coming out soon in the UK - S2XP - I’ll be interested to see if that exhibits similar behaviour..

Nice to hear….Can’t wait to see if they do someting exciting.  Maybe the moblie 9800 pro???? :ph34r:

Wadham where did u find out about the S2XP?

This is annoying… now I’ve been noticing this stupid problem on my S.  :evil:  They better get their damn engineers on this.  We need to ALL call them and tell them about it.  Flood the phone lines til they get on it.

I have a S18GP, 1.6 centrino, 9200 radeon, 512mb ram model (aussie model), and it doesn’t suffer from this “feature” so far. I only got it 4 days ago, but I ran the battery down to 10% (it’s only had 2 charge cycles), got it charging and ran a few games (doom III, unreal 2004, far cry, all running 1024 x 768). No difference in framerate at all. Didn’t notice any difference in speed in any windows programs either (photoshop, fireworks, etc) In fact the only problem that I have had it’s its other “feature” of the slightly loose battery.

Now thats fascinating.

Do you know how to run a program such as Fraps? you can download it for free from http://www.fraps.com and it shows your framerate in any 3d games.

The definitive way to test for this issue is to load up a game of doom 3 whilst your in a safe area. note the frame rate (fraps displays in the top corner), then plug in the ac adaptor so the battery starts charging and wait for 30 seconds.

I noticed a 50% drop in frames per second, from 45 down to 19.

I’d be really grateful if you could run that test again for me!

Many thanks for your time - if we can definitively prove that some models don’t exhibit this behaviour then it makes our case much stronger.

Now then, explain to me this.

I’ve just swapped the machine over (again), having tried the instore laptop which exhibited the same reduced performance and guess what?

So far it’s fine.

No chugging. No slowdown.

How can this be I wonder?

Also, on comparing the screens of the S type and the A series next to each other, i’m stunned at how much brighter the A screen is, with uniform brightness across the screen. The S-type looks dull in comparison, with serious shadows down the left and right sides.

All this is leading me to write a review of my experiences with my S series - a machine which I love but seems to exhibit some very odd flaws. I’ll be as balanced as I can, and hope to get the review finished next week - would like to see Gr00vy’s review soon too (hint!!)

Ok, I downloaded the Fraps program, and tested again… during doom 3 the Framerate is 42 while the unit is both charging from ~  and when the battery is fully charged…. One thing to note is that on this model the processor only has 1mb cache, and I think the ones you guys are using have the 2mb cache? (Dothan)... so maybe the issue is with the processor????....

I also ran 3d Mark 2003….. I got almost the same scores while the unit was charging and also when I removed the battery and just ran from AC power. Hope this helps…