Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

I don't have Adobe Gamma in my control panel, only Color Manager which seems to be a Microsoft utility for assigning pre-made color profiles to various devices. Guess I'll have to call Sony...

 

There's a serious lack of user created pictures of the AW online. Only one in this topic? Not one notebookreview.com review? I'm especially interested in the difference between the piano black (premium) en normal black. There is a difference right? The non-premium (not the grey one) is plain matte?

 

the back of the screen?

my aw xu/q is glossy black, but the slightly different model in the shop was matte black...

 

This might be a silly question but I don't want to screw things up, where do I install files???? I'm was thinking of using Adobe Gamma and renaming the file???

 

depending on the loader, the profile will either be called by it's filename or it's profile name. Unfortunately when you do an update/adapt of an existing profile, one can remain the same, making selection a bit of guess work.

Profiles are in C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color... i'd get used to the idea of removing the old one into another folder to make sure you are using a new one.

but be aware that if your not going to use a puck that you need to use a profile with the correct phosphor profile for the RGB LED screen, otherwise you will see shonky colour at some point in the gamut.

It's why a puck is best

I'm also finding i have to apply them in the advanced in the color management control panel tab or they wont hold.

 

you have to set the brightness in the power options/power plan section/control panel. that's the only way the brightness value doesn't change when you reload/reboot. it should be set to the first notch from the bottom/left to get 120 luminance.

adobe gamma did not ship with my laptop... nor is it necessary. i believe that adobe gamma shipped only with the euro laptops.

you must use a color profile for the rgb laptops. it will look horrible without it. color profiles were posted earlier.

 

how bout some pics rob

 

Hey guys, I got the standard def video files looking pretty good with some color calibrations. Thanks for the advice.

Is anyone else having problems with the fingerprint reader on the AW190? When I turn on my laptop the finger print reader doesn't work and I get the "Please connect the finger print device" at start up. After logging in using my backup password, my USB mouse wont work and I keep getting the "USB Device not Recognized" error in the tray even with nothing plugged into any USB ports. And just in case you are wondering, I did not downgrade to XP or upgrade to the Windows7 Beta.

 

Yes, I had the same problem EXACTLY - finger sensor, mouse, USB error - EXACTLY. I jumped through a lot of hoops with Sony support, trying system resets back to the earliest one. When that didn't work, I had to do a full system recover. At first that seemed to do nothing. But after shutting the computer down *completely* (rather than restarting/warm boots) for quite a long time then re-booting, the bluetooth mouse came back. Another shutdown and reboot later, the finger sensor came back. It's all been okay for about 4-5 days now. Not exactly encouraging since there seems to be little rhyme or reason for the "fix"...

 

Hey, yeah I did a full recovery when this problem first arose a week ago. But now it is back and it has become extremely frustrating. Sony support has no idea how to fix it and they want me to send the notebook in for repairs even though this is a Vista software issue confirmed by Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941996 but since Vista is pre-installed the hotfix is not compatible.

Very disappointed in Sony.

 

I had the same problem, fingerprint reader, bluetooth, USB ports would only work with memory sticks and not other devices ie Mobile Phone. I carried-out a system restore that didn't work so I then carried out a complete power down, this included removing the battery for at least 30mins. Refitted the battery and power cord, booted up the machine and everything worked. My laptop has been working correctly for over a week now.

 

Thanks for that... I just found that out from Sony support. They are going to look into the screen flicker problem as well and report back, in 2 days. (kudos for solving one problem, but missing the Dell approach already...)

Seems a bit daft to have a card setting, and a button setting for brightness and for power to overide both...

Hope they can solve the flicker, it's lovely apart from that... going to be a wrestle to see if I have to live with that.

What pics do people want to see?

 

Yeah, I'm interested in the difference. Is the (cheaper) matte black like the older Macbook?

http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/nws/MacBookBlack/MacBookBlack1.jpg

Did anybody try Windows 7 on the AW?

 

all i can think of is that its like a nice matt black... as opposed to a real old style plasticy matt...

in fact the glossy is a bit of a pain, every time you pick the thing up you leave a fingerprint... but it's nice as well.

 

Slight change of topice but still concening the AW11, I've just starting editing my holiday video's shot in AVCHD or m2ts file format. Can anyone here recommend a good editor with intragreated blu-ray burner software.

 

I would agree with this, the old macbook was v v v fingerprinty and no it is not like that...the glossy piano black finish (more expensive AWs) is kind of more like the old macbooks...its the same as the samsung black lcd Tvs and some sony bravia lcds. Personally I do like that finish more but on something I'm going to be touching a fair amount ... the Matte black is more fingerprint resistant I think both have a polished chrome vaio logo you can literally see your face in. The matte finish also matches the "interior" keyboard/screen surround/touch pad area and buttons very nicely.

 

yep, i'd say that was spot on

 

Just thought I'd tell everyone that you can order the bracket and SATA cable for the second hdd bay from sony parts. $83 for the cable and $43 bracket. oh and you have to order the screws as well. I was able to install the cable myself. you have to take the entire bottom cover off the unit and be careful of all the ports on the left side of the machine. you could really mess things up if you're not extra careful. If I had known ahead of time I would have paid the $ up front to have it factory installed...

 

what's the model number for those things, or do you mind linking directly there? thanks

 

Please can somebody tell me if I can do RAID if my unit came with a bios what doesn't have the option. I have two HDDs but no bios config. My model number is the european AW11Z/B. It is the black matt model.

 

Hey everyone,

I'm new to the forums and I thought a few of you might be able to help answers some of my questions. I'm currently looking for a laptop to replace my desktop and it was either going to be between the Sony AW Series or the new MacBook Pros. But I decided that I would go with Sony AW since I thought I was getting more bang for my buck (Apple's way too expensive) and because I like it's multimedia features. So now that there is a price cut on the AW190 (temporarily), since the new AW290s came out, I thought I would take advantage of it. However, I have a few questions about the CTO AW190 and the CTO AW290 (not planning on buying a Premium; budget under $2000). Are there any significant differences between the AW190 and the AW290 other than the fact that the AW290 can be customized with more options and higher-end parts? I ask this because I customized both with the same parts, yet I would be paying a little more than $130 if I were to go with the AW290. Now as far as upgrading the AWs parts on our own, what parts can be upgraded besides the RAM? Let's say I choose the 320gb 7200rpm hhd, is it possible to swap in a 500gb 7200rpm hhd (*when they're available)? Or would I have to purchase an AW with dual hard drives (ex. 500gb-2x250gb hdd)in order to upgrade the hard drive? While I am on the topic of upgrading parts, does anyone know what kind of RAM would be good for the AW? (I plan on just choosing the standard 2gb of RAM with one of the CTO and buying memory separately). And just to get your opinions, now that the AW190/290 have the option of choosing a blu-ray drive read only or read and write, do you thinks its worth upgrading to the read and write option? Yeah yeah, I know it depends what exactly you plan on doing with this computer, but I'm just wondering if it is worth investing in a blu-ray drive that can read and write, for future purposes and when blu-ray becomes more mainstream. I think that's all for now. I apologize if I am asking noobish questions or questions that have been already answered in previous post. I have been reading the posts on this thread, but there are over 100 pages, I thought submitting my own post would answer my questions quicker. But I'm still going to read what was said and also use the search bar to see if I can answer my own questions so I hope you guys don't bash me and say that I'm lazy for not reading what was posted earlier. So if anyone is kind enough to answer my questions, thank you very much, otherwise you guys can just ignore this post. Thanks again!

 

please provide more details to the parts. like links or pictures. anything. thank you so much for finding this!

 

Wow, what a thread! As a previous poster stated, it now takes the better part of a week of casual browsing to get to the last post. Someone should distill all the facts into a FAQ.

Anyway, I just wanted to report that I am a (mostly) satisfied owner of a 190JAH from NewEgg. The $1400 deal was great bang for the buck. Using the process linked earlier in the thread, I was able to extract a clean Vista Home Premium x64 image and separate installers for the additional software. All of the extracted stuff fit perfectly on a DVD+R DL. Vista installation was quick and painless using the linked instructions. I did have to install drivers Wi-Fi, CF, and the fingerprint reader separately, as they did not seem to be included in the Vista image. Now I have a clean Vista install with all hardware working.

I do see a significant amount of light bleed at the bottom of the screen. It is not a huge problem for me, because the worst of it is masked by the task bar. The issue is most noticeable in full-screen video. However, it's not worth the hassle of an RMA on an otherwise great laptop.

I haven't tried new NVidia drivers yet, but I will this weekend.

 

unfortunately i dont think anyone here knows the real diff between the aw190's and the aw290's...

 

secretasianman

did you notice any vibration/fuzzy kind of noises from your speakers when they're near max volume?

 

Hi,

I have a wierd question.

I'm asked to install an OS on a laptop.
On back side I've found only this Model: PCG - 8131m, and on the top it is labeled as AW Serie.

I beleave it is something new, because between pageas indexed by google ther is noting usefull. The wierd thing is that I could't find anything on the official site.

So how is this model called otherwise, i think this is VGN-AW11SR/B, but i'm not shure, i need to know for what model to download drivers.

Thanks.

 

These are some differences between the AW190 and AW290 series.

 

I know you didn't ask me this but just in case you were interested to know, I also own the AW190JAH that was purchased from Newegg. The speakers on my AW190 do not make these noises.

 

same for me. no issues at high volume.

 

Thanks ehosey, I read your post earlier. But the thing is when I configured both models with the same parts, I was still paying more for the AW 290. That's why I asked again if there was any other major differences between the two. I was thinking that maybe the 290 uses different parts that we can't exactly customize/choose ourselves that is contributing to the higher cost.

 

I did the same thing and also realize that the 290 is costing more for the same configuration. I wonder if the display is different? If anyone owns a 290 and has compared it to the 190 maybe they see a difference. I am going to a Sony retail store tomorrow and will ask them although I am not expecting them to know the difference.

 

That would be nice though I do agree that they probably would not know the difference. Like I said, it is very possible that the 290s are manufactured with more expensive parts (not the parts we pick) which make it slightly more expensive than the 190 even when they are configured with the same parts

 

hey thanks for answering. your AW doesnt get any type of weird noises when at max volume? i was told by some geek squad member that the vibration noises were just the nature of the beast, but i didnt think so. i had a friend look at it and he said something was loose inside and to return it. so now i have to wait 2 weeks till i get another back.

 

As previously stated, no vibration or distorted noises coming from the speakers of my AW190. If there is one complaint to be had, it is the fact that when playing blu ray disks to me the sound is not loud enough but everything thing else the volume is good and loud.

 

I wonder-do we know for sure the configureable AW290 premium has an LED backlit screen like the 190?

It's kind of confusing since apparently with the 290, the system can be black but use florescent lighting.

 

Hi everyone, I've been following this thread for some time now, and would I'd like to thank everyone for their input. I bought the Australian top model, the VGN-AW17GU/Q. In Australia, it's supplied with the 32-bit version of Vista Ultimate but unfortunately, no TV tuner or remote. The hard drives supplied are 5400 rpm Toshibas.

My impressions after having owned the AW for about 3 weeks is that's it's a bit on the slow side. I'm disappointed with the boot time, and also the USB transfer speed given my old FZ outclasses this machine in both areas by 100%. WiFi performance is also lousy with the woeful supplied Wifi link 5100AGN card, the 4965AGN in the FZ, again totally outperforms this machine.

On the up side, the LED backlit display is the best I've ever seen on a notebook and is definitely the strong point of the package, although I find it has a very narrow sweet spot and colours shift quickly both horizontally and vertically as I move off axis.

Overall I'm happy, it's a lot of laptop for the amount of money I paid for it.

 

You have defragmented and cleaned up your harddrive?

 

Yes. To do the tests I performed a factory restore on both machines, and brought both machines up to date with Windows Update and Sony Update, then defragged. No tweaking, no extra software both just bog standard. I was shocked by the FZ's superior performance.

 

OK.
Well, factory restores can be very messed up (somehow)

Apart form defragmenting, did you defragment boot files?
Let them idle over night?

 

mine's being picked up tomorrow by sony support for them to look at the flickering...

fingers very crossed about the flickering just not ending up to being one of those 'features'...

agree about the narrow angle, my dell 8500 shifts the screen in one go, rather than a band. However the colour range and depth isn't as good. And I think the problem is exagerated by the width of the screen. At arms length and beyond the angle is diminished...

Laptops are still a way off being something you'd want to do colour retouching or even tonal changes on images, but they are getting a better with colours.

Shame a lot of options are glossy...

 

OK, y'all. I am here with some salvation for all of you with USB issues. This will also solve the blue screen problem with "USB DRIVER" somethingsomething. It's the same issue.

Backstory/rage (answer listed below if you want to skip): I originally ordered an AW190CTO in early December. It arrived with no working USB devices. After terrible customer service, I returned it to Sony, who said they'd ship me a new one. I'm not going to get into this, but the end result was Sony held my money for over a month, never shipped me a replacement unit, and I ended up talking to over fifteen different people at their headquarters before I finally got to someone competent that could do something for me and didn't accidentally hang up on me. I'm extremely patient with techs, so this was absurd. I ended up getting the AW120J instead because it was the only one they could ship to me immediately (six weeks after I received the original). Exact same issues. I almost threw it against the wall, but finally figured out the problem. I will never, ever buy a Sony again, which is saying a lot since I was a total Sony fanboy up until this atrocious customer service experience. Great engineers, idiots in customer support. I like the AW120, but the 4500 RPM HD is louder than the 7200, and no TV, etc, is annoying. I see almost no differences between the 2.26 ghz processor and the 2.53. As an aside, a coaster near the side vent is a great place to warm your coffee.

SOLUTION:

FYI this is NOT a Sony problem. It's a VISTA problem, and none of the bloody Sony techs know anything about it. Feel free to educate them.

The immediate solution is simple. Completely turn off your machine, unplug it. Let it sit 30 minutes (maybe less, just give it that long if it doesn't work the first time you try it after 30 seconds or so). Plug it back in, turn it on. The fingerprint scanner, etc, should be working again.

FINAL SOLUTION: Not the one you're thinking of. Anyways, right click on the battery icon at the bottom right. Choose Battery Options. Click on Edit Plan Settings for the plan you're using. On the next screen, click on "Change advanced power settings." You should now be on the Power Options screen. There are a bunch of tabs, and one of them will be the innocuous "USB settings." Click on that. This my friends, ohohoho, THIS is where the problem is. You will see "USB selective suspend setting" and options for battery and plugged in. DISABLE IT. DISABLE IT, rip it out, burn it, exorcise it from your system, just get rid of that hellish little setting. Since I've done that, I've had no problems with that feature at all. Everything USB runs smoothly. Now, if I'd only figured that out with the AW190CTO, I'd have been a happy camper for months now.

WHY THIS HAPPENS:
Essentially Vista pops stuff into sleep mode and then forgets to take them out of it. Complete shutdown sometimes knocks everything back in place, but since this function isn't particularly useful, particularly with internally wired USB devices, just kill it.

I hope this helps y'all out, so you don't have to go through Sony support. Death. Kill!

I DO have another problem I need help with, though. The media keys above the keyboard randomly stop working for me. Just shut off. And I'll be using them regularly, a push every few minutes (I'm taking notes from audio) and suddenly POOF, no response, no lighting up, they just stop working. Any ideas?

 

Confirmed, I found this setting a few days ago after doing a full shutdown to resolve my USB issue. Adjust the power settings mentioned above and it should never happen again!

On a side note, has anyone tried the Windows 7 Beta with the AW190?

 

No I didn't Detlev, in fact I'm not sure how I'd do that. I would have thought that's a part of the Windows defrag. In all fairness though, neither machine had this done, and still the FZ was substantially faster.

FZ specs: 2.1 GHz/800 FSB, 2GB, 200GB 5400rpm single drive.

Startup results:
AW: 95 secs to desktop, 5 mins to HDD idle.
FZ: 50 secs to desktop, 4 mins to HDD idle. (Nearly twice as fast initially)

Both of course loaded with the same startup rubbish and Sony crapware. I do take your point about system restores being messy, however even the original factory supplied install was slow, hence why I did some controlled testing.

 

Does anybody find that they hit the space bar and once in a while it doesn't produce a space? It's been driving me nuts, and I finally figured out what's going on with my AW. If I hit the space bar in the lower right hand corner, it depresses, but generates no key. I can reproduce it consistently, but I was wondering if it's just my system or if it's a design flaw.

Anybody else? Try depressing the space bar on the lowest edge of the lower right hard corner. For me, the failure zone is about a centimeter wide.

 

I can confirm this, both on the left and right lower edge, although the failure zone is wider on the right.

In addition, azong mentioned rattling of the speakers at high volume, I can also confirm that. It's actually the black speaker grille rattling against the casing, and not the speakers themselves. Press gently with eight fingertips even spaced along the grille toward the top, and the rattling/buzzing will stop. The grille is not adhered all the way along the top edge, and therefore all AW's should have this issue, although many people won't notice.

 

Unbelievable that with so many people experiencing the USB issue that Sony is unaware of the fix. Thanks tenchuu!

 

What's the best way to get the spare parts for the second hard-drive bay (preferably in Europe)?

 

Can the wireless card be upgraded to a 5300?

 

I certainly hope so! The 5100 is just awful and Sony should be shot for supplying such rubbish in their "flagship" model. At wholesale, the 5300 card costs only $10 more than a 5100. Crazy huh!

There should be no problems in upgrading the actual card, it will fit and drivers are readily available. The problem you'll have however is that the low spec 5100 has only 2 antennas, whereas the 5300 has 3. You can bet Sony will have supplied only the 2 antennas in the screen, so a third will need to be fitted for the 5300 to perform as it should. I haven't verified this, but Sony aren't known for supplying anything they don't need to, just ask any single HDD AW owner who doesn't have the required SATA cable for a second drive.

I'll be doing this upgrade soon, so I'll post on how I go. I can't stand this 5100 any longer. My old FZ's 4965AGN could reliably maintain 54mbps on 1 bar of signal, the 5100 at the same distance is lucky to maintain 5.5, with 1 and 2mbps more common, that's when it can connect at all.

 

Hey All,
I'm not sure if this has been covered in any of the threads yet, but can anyone tell me if the AW Series' harddrives are raided?

I had an AR Series until a few months ago - a friend of mine managed to spill a drink over the keyboard, it soaked through to the mobo etc. and it was basically irreparable.
Anyway, the insurance company I was with gave us a cheque for approx. the price of the laptop, after they reviewed it and said it was a major problem they were unable to fix. I kept my harddrives which were RAID 0 (striped), and didn't trust them with data recovery.

So, I was thinking, if I can save the HDD's for the AW Series and just slot them in, would it work that way? Or would the array be different or whatnot?
I only have a limited knowledge of the technical side to computing, so, I wouldn't have a clue once I got the laptop, and wouldnt want to stick my screwdriver in places and void the warranty

thanks, Ryan