VAIO P, now with more Windows 7
By Paul Miller 
posted January 10th 2009 7:40PM
posted January 10th 2009 7:40PM
- It boots fast! Not that Vista was that bad on the boot front, but we're pretty happy with this.
- No Aero. That's to be expected, but the lack of transparency and visual effects makes the OS look quite a bit different than most of the screenshots out there.
- It's very responsive. To be honest, a lot of that could be from the fact that this is a clean install, minus all the crap Sony loads on. Still, we're very happy for the start menu to pop open instantly, windows to redraw like God intended... it's pretty great.
- Browsing is 100% better. Internet Explorer pops open in a flash, and pages load in times nearly on comparison with "real" computers. Also, scrolling is ultra smooth, whereas with Vista it was stuttery all the way down.
- There's a lot more to explore. We've just scratched the surface, but we love what we've seen so far.
Update 2: for those who've asked: yes, the webcam works, and no, we haven't had any luck getting Aero up and running, though we have the video drivers loaded -- we're not saying it's impossible, in fact, it's likely very possible, since plenty of other similarly specced netbooks can pull it off, but it's just not happening for us just yet.
Did the P's built in Verizon connection still work after the reboot as well or did that software need to be reinstalled?
be ready to uninstall windows7 in august when microsoft wants you to pay for it
It is a very cool product and after holding one of these in your hands, you will not want to give it back to the person who gave it to you. Definitely a "puppy dog" you will not want to give back!
But...I have some reservations about:
Didn't you just void your Sony warranty by changing your OS from an official Sony OS which was created by the superior Sony technicians? Is that Sony's version of Windows? If not, you might have just voided your Sony warranty.
In fact, when I purchased a Sony previously and deleted all of my crapware from the computer, I was told my Sony warranty was null and void...can you imagine how they will drop a load when you tell them you have a different OS than the one that was shipped with the unit?
If I were you, I would not call Mary from Mumbai at Sony tech support to tell her what you have done or you can kiss the warranty goodbye!
The product is very cool, however and who needs the Sony warranty anyway?
And if Mary from Mumbai gets testy with you over the phone, just invite her out to dinner on a date...take her to Ruth's Chris...she will be your friend forever!
you will not void the warranty by putting your own OS on it, you will just not get any software support. you will get all factory warranty for all the hardware
Likewise, did the hot buttons such as the screen magnifier still work after the upgrade? I am considering putting Win7 on my P but don't have much time to fool with reloading drivers, utilities, etc and praying it works, thanks.
Just loaded it on my Acer Aspire One and it works great...... Aero's working on my Acer.
beautiful display! That thing is nice, but what it REALLY needs is a fully resolution-independent/vector user interface so you can flawlessly expand the text and GUI controls.
UI scaling is mediocre at best on VISTA and OSX, and is really bad in XP. I have a 17" 1920x1200 screen and have font/DPI scaling turned on in XP and there are many older apps whose interfaces get screwy with it turned on... Certain dialogs have text or GUI controls hidden out of view or overlapping.. major PITA!
Why no Aero? even my eee 901 runs aero fine on windows 7
nice video! put a usb mouse please!!!
I had to run all my driver installs for 7 under Vista compatibility mode, you might wanna give that a shot.
Those keys are terrible! I'm having nightmarish flashbacks of duds like the Sinclair ZX and the IBM PC Jr. Can anyone actually touch type with those things?
I tried out the Vaio P at the Sony store today, and honestly, the keys aren't as small or as bad as you'd think. It takes some getting used to, for sure, but I'd say after about 20-30 minutes of use, you won't have too much trouble with it.
But if it does bother you, just add a USB keyboard. Done.
Just speculating but I wonder if Aero doesn't work due to the extra screen resolution of the P
Aero Glass does work on the Sony Vaio P. You just need to install the proper drivers and re-run the Windows Aero Performance Test. Both Vista and 7 can use Aero Glass.
Wait, am I misunderstanding, or were you able to upgrade to win7 without having to go through any complicated processes to tell the computer to boot from a thumb drive or anything?
Yes, you are able to install Windows 7 onto the Sony Vaio P via a USB flash drive. However, it needs to be at least 4 GB in size. (I tried a 2 GB drive, and the .ISO wouldn't fit.)
Note that with the Sony Vaio P specifically, you need to first alter the BIOS settings before it will recognize the USB drive. On startup, press and hold F2. You will be in the BIOS settings. First, enable "external drive" as a booting option. Then, highlight "external drive" in the list of boot devices and move it to the top of the list. Upon saving your changes and restarting, the flash drive will immediately be recognized and begin Windows Setup. When you are done, you can go back into the BIOS settings if you want and disable all boot devices other than the internal drive.
how much HD space did it take up?
i'm trying to install it on an HP mini 1010nr and it's being a bit pissy
aero didnt work on my computer when i installed windows 7 but when i went into c:\windows\resources\themes and clicked on aero.theme it worked...or it might have been aero.msstyles...but try it