Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

Crud. It's PROBABLY a false positive, but certainly worth checking out! Trend Micro has a free online scanner that I've used with some success. Avira's free too, and offers better protection than AVG now (plus has less questionable license agreements AFAIK).

 

I cannot speak for all WUXGA panels but both RGB & non-RGB sony AW versions can display 0 to 255 intensity without banding or dithering, you do not have to take my word for it just check it out for yourself.

As for the RGB backlighting neither the Sony manual or the Sony online states you need special software to use the full color gamut, I do not know where this idea comes from.

 

err my bad it was Avira not avg that gave the warning

 

Dang. Well hopefully just a false positive. Anyone else do a full scan with a different utility? Trend Micro's free online one has gotten some stuff for me that symantec/Windows Defender couldn't deal with. But maybe if like a couple other utilities don't trigger on it it's okay? I mean odds are it's fine, but there have been plenty of cases of manufacturers accidentally shipping hardware with malware on it.

 

Well I thought I read a post here where someone gave the example of
IE not being color managed while firefox was color managed, I took that to mean that the adobe screen wasn't being taken advantage of unless the program was color managed. Also I know from reading specs on panels that there doesn't exist a TN panel higher than 6 bits meaning no TN panel including those in the AW can reproduce higher than 65k colors that's a fact. The amazing color reproduction in the AW is from the rgb led screen.

Where can I see the 0-255 intensity test anyways? And does this test prove how many colors a screen can reproduce or
Does it just show how good dithering it does.

Oh and I can confirm for a fact that resolution has nothing to do with color reproduction.

 

Whether the colors are "accurate" would be separate from what the panel can display. The backlighting and all that would be done in hardware, not software.

 

Well the windvd website which is Corel says that some anti-virus definitions are reporting it falsely as a trojan, I have done the scan numerous times and it was only yesterday's definition update that reported it as a virus so you would think it would have caught it on day one. But I will scan it later with Trend Micro and see what it says.

 

I just scanned it with AVAST! (with the latest definitions) and it didn't report any problems. I have installed it, and it seems to be working fine.

 

Arghh - I'm probably being really daft, and am becoming increasingly frustrated!! But I tried to connect the laptop to my HDTV via HDMI cable - had the display environment does not support protected content error (or whatever it was) was going to investigate further tonight - but I have since discovered that I no longer have digital sound output (only stereo speakers) - so haven't even looked at the AV problem. I'm no techie, and have looked everywhere to fix this - all drivers are working and I believe settings are correct - but perhaps someone would assist and confirm what settings should be and whether I might have missed something glaringly obvious?! The laptop is not muted btw!! Please help restore my sanity! TIA

 

In most cases that error is caused when someone is trying to watch a blu-ray disc with both monitors on, only the external display should be on when watching protected content. Another example is a display that has HDMI but not HDCP (confusing I know) and so a blu-ray disc will not display.

When not trying to watch a blu-ray disc both displays should be working ok.

 

Oh, okay. Well in that case it's almost certainlly just the latest virus definitions that caused it. Still won't hurt to scan with something else just to make sure.

 

I cannot speak for this person but I can only assume he was talking about a lookup table (lut) / color profile like Photoshop has for printing.

A display with a true 24-bit output can put on screen a value from 0 to 255 in intensity, for example a greyscale gradient from black (0) to white (255). This is easy to create in a paint program.

What I did to test the AWs was make files with gradients going from black to white, black to blue, black to red, black to green, green to red, etc. & red to white, etc. Saved them in multiple image formats BMP, PNG & TIF, then I put them on a SD card and online, I did the test on a total of four notebooks, one WXGA Acer, two AW WUXGA and one AW RGB WUXGA in different stores.
If a display can do a smooth gradient without dithering and or banding then you are seeing 24-bit, the Acer failed (wished I could of found the WUXGA version) and the AWs passed.

If you need a gradient example I can post one, but I imagine you get what I mean.

I never stated it did because it does not, I just not have not yet come across a WUXGA that has a problem with gradients, including my BenQ WUXGA, perhaps there are. I also have a CRT, a plasma and work with film and TV productions on CRTs so I do know about color accuracy.

 

Well you're losing me with what you are saying. All laptops displays are 6 bit with the exception of a few tablet pcs which use IPS screens. In the past a few PC manufacturers used IPS screens in their laptops but no one currently uses them. Therefore no current laptops can do true 24 bit color. I'm not exactly sure what your test proved other than the lower resolution screens you tested weren't doing a very good job of dithering.

Maybe you don't believe me but 6 bit TN panels can only do 18 bit color. 18 bit color can do thousands of colors while 24 bit color can do millions. Look up TN panel technology.

All AW screens can only do 18 bit color, but the RGB Led back lighting increases the number of colors it can reproduce. I have no idea how the AW treats the backlighting in various programs though.

 

Well i forgot the website but there is a virus checker online that allows you to send the file and they scan it with all known virus checkers and 6 reported it was a virus and 30 didn't. So I fairly sure its just a fluke. I just added it to the exception list.

 

Hello ,

I have a question for you guys, I bought an SONY AW11Z and I have the known problem with only 3GB ...what should I do ? If I will install Windows Vista professional or other operating system I will be able to see al 4GB of ram ?

Thanks in advance!

 

That's not a problem-if you have a 32-bit OS with 4GB installed, it can only use around 3GB (plus or minus a few hundred MB). It still works fine, and a 64-bit OS takes up more space, so even though your system "sees" a bit more RAM, it also USES a bit more RAM, making it pretty much a wash for 4GB.

If you really wanted to though you could buy an OEM copy of 64-bit Vista for around $100, format the hard drive, and reinstall...assuming you can find drivers for everything, etc. It's not remotely worth doing that though in my opinion. Right now I'd actually rather run a 32-bit version of Windows.

Also note that ALL main versions of Vista have both a 32 and 64-bit version, Business edition included (Business being the equivalent of XP Professional, more or less).

 

Hi guys,
after reading/re-reading this entire post, I finally pulled the trigger and got the Aw190JAH from Newegg... I wish I had the budget for the LED version but oh well...

I have a question about compatible backpacks. I have found two potential ones in Amazon but I am not sure if they will fit.

http://www.amazon.com/Wenger-GA-731...ckpack/dp/B000WQCYDI/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

or

http://www.amazon.com/PEGASUS-Swiss...ckpack/dp/B000FQ8E3Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Do you guys have experience with either bag? If so, will the AW fit?

 

good topic - has anyone found alternatives to the official sony aw bag for 150 €? since the aw isn't the only 18.4" notebook, I still hope for other (cheaper) offers for a decent bag.

 

You would sure think like Targus and Swiss Gear would start putting out bags for $200. I'd think the Sony bad is fine, but...it's $200! I just want something functional.

 

yeah, the sony bag is fine, in fact it looks even pretty stylish from the photographs - yet I only need a somehow stiff bag to carry my notebook around. and 17" bags don't seem to fit.

 

I will bother you with some questions, I just bought the aw and I have some strange things here.

It seems that the quality of the screen it not so good or something is wrongly set on my vaio. What I observed is that the gradient from the background picture is not so fine?! and I don't know why because on my old laptop it looks better!

A strange thing is the "Generic PnP Monitor" from Display Settings and also the "Sony Vaio profile....." from Colour Management menu. I was expecting to see as default the Adobe RGB.

Also when I first opened first Adobe Elements I received a message that was saying that my monitor and my colour management is not yet correctly configured.

Should I set also something else ?

 

Don't worry I will not bother with you again, you only seem interested in arguing then finding out for yourself. Consider yourself on ignore mode.

 

Do you mean the blue sand "Vaio" in it? I opened up that wallpaper on my computer with a CRT monitor in photoshop and that grain is imbedded throughout the image, only a gaussain blur in photoshop could remove it.

As for Generic PnP, that's what I have and I suspect every AW has. I am unsure where you found Sony Vaio profile, under Device Profile I have sRGB IEC61966-2.1, if thats of any help.

 

Nice one laptodd. You claim to work with professional equipment and then when I show you that you don't know what you're talking about you resort to ignoring. This post is for everyone else so they know you can't be relied on for correct information.

 

Dell Studio 17 and Dell Precision 6400 notebooks also come with the LG RGB-LED type display as an option. I just received one and the picture quality is great. My question is do you know who the manufacturer is of the Sony RGB-LED display?

 

I just went all in:

Product: VGNAW190-CTO
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)
Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080) with Adobe RGB color management
8 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2) [Regular price $700]
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Ultimate 64-bit
628 GB (Dual 64GB Solid State Drives with a 500GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [4200rpm])

Delivery is supposedly just after xmas. Will let you know how it goes...

 

Guys - Both of you are right in your arguments.

Happyprozak is right when he says all TN panels are 6 bit and hence cannot display millions of colors and it is a fact that these days almost all laptop LCDs are TN panels.

Laptodd5 is also right in saying that he didn't observe any dithering in his test images on AW becasue there isn't any (atleast none that can be detected by human eye). The trick behind this is the type of coating that they do on the panel and the glossy screen - yes that XBRITE-FULLHD is not just a marketing gimmick, it works.
But ultimately its a TN panel and hence cannot maintain the same color levels when viewed from wider angles(with the exception of RGB LCD). If you want to test just change your vertical angle by pushing the laptop screen towards 180 degree with horizontal. pretty soon the colors loose intensity and ultimately turn negative. That is the main difference between TN panels and IPS panels.
AW premium model uses RGB LEDs as backlight and as LEDs are small, more of these can be used to provide backlight compares to 1 or 2 CCFLs and moreover I suspect Sony has some nifty software which allows these LEDs to be controlled in response to what the screen is currently displaying hence the wider color reproduction and viewing angles.

Lets keep the interaction flowing instead of ignoring.

Cheers,
-J

 

I decided to get this from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Targus-TXL617-17-Notebook-Backpack/dp/B0001EMM10/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

It seems to fit the HDX 18" based on one of the reviewers...so I am hoping it will also be a fit for the AW. Will let you guys know when I get it.

 

It's here!!

took delivery of my aw11xu with rgb screen yesterday, the box was crushed when i opened the delivery bag... waited to long to send it back so kept hold of it... turns out they pack the laptop inside hanging in the centre of the box surrounded by eggcrate type cardboard, which leaves big gaps so anything pressing against the box would crush into the airvoid, hope this is what happened rather than being thrown around on delivery!!...

looks gorgeous with piano black lid and chrome spot details... works well nice and fast, seems to work straight out of the box which is nice.

been running it on a metal stand with fans underside to keep it cool.... picked up the stand the other day...

does anyone else use one/recommend the use to cool the laptop down if its on all day.. feel compelled to use it all the time as its new but am i just being over protective..?

it does get hot on the lefthand side, guess the graphics card and cpu etc is all over this side as the underside rightside is stonecold..?

Unsure if im a fan of the rgb screen yet... often to much colour makes me alittle queasy... turned the nvidia settings down for now..

someone mentioned there was calibration software included on the laptop..?

i cant find any sofar... is it vaio or adobe software, and if there isnt any should i download some to get the screen set up properly...?

led lit screen it appears very 3d with things popping out at you, way to bright for me though initally so as i said turned it down..

seems quite textured as a way to describe the look.. though after parting with all my cash.. will need to see a dual lamp xblack screen again to compare before im happy ive made the right choice.. does everyone else love the led backlit screen compared to the duallamp ??


screen flickers slightly every now and again... hoping its some of the colour management vaio stuff kicking in rather than a fault from the damaged box!!

not played with lightroom 2 yet so off to fire it up

need to get an extended warranty.. been told i have 28 days... will probably get the vaio + 1 or +2 any thoughts on these..??

Thanks to all in advance for any replies

Andy

 

DOH! Did you guys see the big announcment that Nvidia's got Notebook drivers now? Awesome news...but they don't work on Sony or Leveno...just those two brands! AAARGH!

 

Hi Andy,

I don't believe there's color calibration software in at least my AW190 Premium...you should go out there and buy a color calibrator like SpyderPro3...you'll notice that after you calibrate, everything will like as it should. No more blown out yellows or reds especially.

I love the RGB LED screen - every time I go into a store and see the non-Premium FullHD screen, I feel more validated about my splurge for the RGB screen. I think I just really like the matte screen (as opposed to the glossy for the FullHD screen) - and I also work in the visual effects industry so my eyes are very sensitive to accurate color reproduction.

In terms of the flickering you're encountering -- does it occur constantly? Or just as Vista boots up / shuts down? If you look at a post I had a few weeks ago, I had encountered major flickering on my screen - and it was determined to be a manufacturing defect in my screen. I had to send it back to Sony and they replaced my LCD screen. All is working fine now for me.

 

the calibration software pre-installed is called Adobe RGB.

 

Hi Jonshih,

Thanks for the reply, i did a search following on from nons post and found adobe gamma software hidden away on the laptop... fired that up and it is a calibration wizard.... followed it and it looks alot better/fresher..

Definately something intriguing about the rgb screen, guess it will take a while to get used to and adjust after expecting the highgloss look of the dual lamp screen.

Once set i dont seem to able to then go back and use the nvidia control panel from the graphics card to then change things contrast etc afterwards without it going miles out of sync... does the brightness/contrast etc have to be set in the rgb profile rather than using the nvidia control panel??

I notice there is a vaio colour management running within the vaio settings, and its set to auto so maybe conflicting with the other screen setups..?

The flicker is very occasional once/twice an hr... more of an adjustment than a full screen flicker which is why im hoping its one or other of the auto colour settings tweaking things rather than a problem developing with the screen!......

Any thoughts on using/needing to use fan coolers..?

Have you got an extended warranty??

What part of the visual effects industry do you work in..? I have always had an interest in that area, VFX etc would like to learn Maya in the future..

Many Thanks

Andy

 

Hey Andy,

So I'm not at my notebook right now, but I'm wondering exactly what the Adobe Gamma software really does?

The color calibrators I use all require a separate peripheral that measure the light and colors emitting for your actual display...and then the software takes those readings and creates an accurate color profile based on the results.

You can then take that color profile file (*.icn) and push it through various applications (like Firefox 3, Photoshop, etc.).

The key with these particular calibrators is to always keep your Nvidia and windows color settings set to their defaults.

I'd pay closer attention to your flicker ... if it's happening regularly, then it may be a defective screen and you should send it back sooner than later.

As for fan coolers, I don't use them, but I do use these cool trinkets called "Cold Feet" that prop my notebook above my desk so that air can circulate underneath it...they don't make extra noise and they were cheap, so I like them.

hxxp://www.bluelounge.com/coolfeet.php

I'm not really a fan of extended warranties, so no, I did not get one. I've had a Sony SZ notebook for over 2 years and it has never needed any kind of service - I love it to death. So, despite my bad luck with my first AW190's LCD screen, I still trust Sony...and since I'm leaving my AW on my desk and will be continuing to use my SZ for travel, there aren't many chances for my AW to get damaged.

I work in feature film animation - in lighting.

Cheers,
jon

 

I am thinking of getting an AW, but have read a couple of people saying the blu-ray drive is a bit noisy, can anyone with one say that when you watch a blu-ray movie on the laptop if the drive is noticeable or not, as I suspect that its not an issue?

 

My AW's blu-ray drive isn't noisy at all. And I'm coming from a Vaio SZ that made a TON of noise whenever a CD or DVD was in the optical drive...I even had to download extra software to control the spinning speed because the noise from that notebook was unbearable to me.

Adding on to that, the AW is seriously the quietest notebook computer I've ever seen or had...and I've owned Thinkpads, a couple of Dells, and an HP. I'm very impressed with how quiet it is!

 

Jonshih, have you Folded on it or gamed or anything that pushes it hard? How does it do under those conditions?

Dang, I was going to order this yesterday and then those new Nvidia drivers came out that don't support Sony!

 

Re: Nvidia drivers -

From what I understand (from reading other posts) - Sony has these special NVidia drivers because it needs to be able to automatically turn off Windows Aero whenever you launch a Blu-ray movie from WinDVD or whatever DVD software you're using? Is that right? I remember a bunch of people saying that when they installed the generic NVidia drivers to replace the Sony ones, their systems blue-screened or crashed when they tried playing Blu-ray discs.

As for pushing the AW hard - I'm not much of gamer, but I did try burning a couple of Blu-rays the other day with Roxio MyDVD software (with the Blu-Ray add-on). In that case, encoding the video to put onto the Blu-ray was an arduous task...but I think that's because of the software and not necessarily the computer itself -- when I read the message boards for Roxio, everyone was reporting slowness. The software takes up 99% of the processing power when it encodes, and also about 3.2 GB of my RAM. I was sad that it was so CPU-intensive!

Other than that, I don't really plan on pushing the AW that hard, so I'm probably not the person to ask..

I do mostly photo editing and not video editing - and I feel like video editing would push it much harder.

 

Crud...is that why? Those are specialized drivers doing that? I'd think...it's that just a flaw with like an immature Blu Ray playback program? Like hopefully future versions would work fine with Aero, or maybe you can just manually switch to basic mode before launching it?

Darn...I don't know what to do. I'm not real comfortable buying this anymore when it doesn't accept Nvidia's drivers when practically everyone else does.

 

Yeah I agree - it's annoying that Sony won't accept NVidia's drivers..

One of the big negatives of Sony computers is, of course, the bloatware - but also the lack of flexibility (always need to use some sort of proprietary drivers for things that should be generic - and also their crippling of the system's BIOS)...

But whenever I weigh pros vs cons of other notebooks, the only other notebook that come out on top for me is the Thinkpad - and when it comes to a desktop replacement, Lenovo doesn't really have any. HP's are butt-ugly to me with the chrome and glossy keyboards that reflect light directly into your eyes. And I've had bad luck with Dells.

 

I don't fold but play games on my AW, it does not get hot on the upside at all. not even warm. the fan noise is really quiet. of course the computer is not totally silent, but it never gets loud or hot. and I too use it nearly 24/7.

btw, I am using actual nvidia drivers from laptopvideo2go.com which offer better functions (like getting rid of the overscan on my HDTV), and have not encountered any problems. I did not yet play a Blu-Ray disc tho.

PS: I called the calibration software wrong above, it's called Adobe Gamme, not Adobe RGB

 

I'd even consider HP-not that I trust their hardware reliability-but they don't offer the 16 and 18" notebooks with LED backlighting, so they're out for me.

That sounds good...I'd just be installing Nvidia's reference drivers though, not using any third party stuff. I do need BLu Ray to work too though. I mean that's one of my requirements for a new system (on the Macbook Pro or Asus n80nv I'd have to add an external drive).

 

laptopvideo2go.com offers non-modified original nvidia drivers. I dont wanna use 3rd party stuff either

 

Well I mean you can just force Nvidia's regular reference drivers to install on notebooks, and that seems to work fine...but apparently not with Blu Ray playback for some reason? I'm assuming that's just with that program...I don't get it.

*sigh* I don't know what to do

EDIT: I Mean with an Asus or Macbook Pro I'll have to add an external BLu Ray drive...which I assume wouldn't have issues with Vista's Aero, or else the included software would tell Vista to switch or tell you to, or something, so I don't get why Sony can't just do the same thing. Dang, Amazon has this right now at a decent price, but I just don't know if I can buy it when Nvidia can directly support the other two notebooks I'm looking at

 

Hello guyz

I just bought Sony Vaio AW120J/H for $1850(waiting it to arrive)

questions.

1- Any1 has the laptop, if yes, what do u think about?

2- What is the maximum Ram for it. in sony website they say 8,but all other websites say 4!

3- Is the laptop worth it(money)?

4-Is it good for gaming?

5- any problem with hooking hdmi to a tv?

and it seems so many ppl are annoyed with th AW series?!

Thanx in advance.

 

no, you can't. that's why laptopvideo2go.com exists.

 

Yes you can-I've done it. You just do it through the device manager. I really don't know why people do it with third party files. Honestly I wouldn't consider this if I had to resort to third party stuff :-/

 

lol, just ignore me

 

there's no 3rd party stuff involved in the drivers I linked, but anyways, I dont want to argue about that. you can just look at the site and read.

 

I'm not sure what you're saying-I don't want to deal with a third party at all. Other laptops work fine with Nvidia's reference drivers if you force them to install...so if Sony's really can't, I need to know