Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

I am looking for a >17" notebook that should be used as a modest Digital Audio Workstation. The Vaio AW looks awesome. I was wondering if anybody could help me out by running dpclat and reporting the results.

The tool can be found here:
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

My understanding is the system has to ship with two hard drives for it to have the BIOS option for RAID, otherwise it's just missing.

 

here you go. I ran the test while playback of mp3 and with other tasks open, if that matters.

 

Thanks a million. Certainly looks better than what I am getting on my Acer 8930.

 

Wouldn't it be easier to get a budget desktop and extract the data? Or are you just trying to save money on a Sony notebook?

 

well I miss my AR Series, and need that portability.
I thought the AW Series may use the same hardware/similar hardware to the AR Series (the 320GB option might be closer to the AR Series I had, however mine was definitely RAID 0, which made it complicated for Extracting the data on the drives).
I could buy ANOTHER computer specifically for extracting the data from these drives, but I wouldn't know what to look for to re-create the array (my technician friend said something about the RAID Controllers or something?).

Thanks for your help,
Ryan

 

gypsydan thanks for answering.
is there any way to fix this? i heard that putting foam within the bottom compartments sometimes work.

 

I think that probably would work, it is a technique often used by in car entertainment installers when speakers vibrate...the foam would have to be between the speaker and the grill if that is what is vibrating... I know this might sound stupid but maybe you shouldn't play the volume on the maximum settings you could do damage to the speakers... or if it is a particular type of music (i.e. bassy) adjust the settings a little. I'm suprised about this vibrating as I listen to fairly bassy music on the loudest settings with Windows Media Player and I cannot notice it.

 

Is there any other place to get these parts? Sony parts doesn't seem to be shipping to Europe..

 

If you tap firmly along the grille at the top from left to right, you'll hear clearly by the sound returned whether you have any unadhered spots on the grille. The sound will go from a dull thud (barely audible) to a loud tap where the grill hits the casing underneath it. It's this play that causes the rattle. I don't think foam would fix it, removing and readhering the grille properly would, of course that would require the purchase of a new grille first most likely. Also, playing the speakers at maximum volume and with high levels of bass is unlikely to harm anything, due to the built in amp being of such low output anyway.

 

Reading Tenchuu's proposed "fix" to the USB problem makes me want to cry.

I sent in my AW190JAH for RMA back to NewEgg for this very problem, and it's now been 11 days that they've supposedly been "testing" it, with no sign of updates from them. Apparently for no reason other than a USB setting in Vista?

While I did enjoy the 4 days I got to use my AW, this is my 4th Vaio that I've had with issues (1: HDD death, 2: Screen death, 3: WLAN death), so I think I'll stay away from Vaios in the future. And while I've used NewEgg quite a bit, I think I'll avoid buying laptops from them in the future as well, with their supposed "2-3 week testing period before processing an RMA" policy for desktops and laptops. What ever happened to just giving out replacements like other retailers?

Hopefully, I get mine back in a not-too-damaged state so I can just apply the fix that was mentioned, and that will be the end of that.

 

OMG you are right about the grill not being secured down, I can actaully flex the whole grill at the top middle section (where the grill meets the sony logo) with v v v little pressure, how tacky is that! But maybe there is some method in this madness? I still played music on highest volume and cannot hear ANY sound of the speakers physically hitting the grill or see any movement in the grill, however, if I type or touch the grill naturally you can feel vibrations...I feel more vibration in the keys than the grill...this is totally normal though no?

 

Probably too late now but on my old FW170 I had to do a recovery and the disks (2) or one DL restores it to the complete shipped set up including all of the bloatware. It has work perfect since. I am now awaiting my new AW290CTO. I'm just working my way through all of the posts...getting close to current
muzik

 

I feel your pain. The only reason I did not send in my AW after being told to by Sony is that I am working in the Czech Republic and the UK and won't be back in the US until mid-March. Sony Europe does not honor warranty repairs on US-bought machines. Nice.

Anyway, I figured I would just have to live with the annoying USB error message popping up and use the trackpad instead of my Bluetooth Mouse. Then along came Tenchuu. All hail Tenchuu!

 

I just ordered the AW290 CTO and received $300 extra off with an extended warranty and two accerories. I was going to get the slipcase anyway and picked the bluetooth mouse. With discounts on the warr. and acc...the AW290 was $1505. (P8700/2GX1/320-7200RPMX2/BD Play). I'll upgrade the moemory myself. I almost went with newegg.com but didn't like their no return option and wanted more harddrive. I just figured for an extra $50 the P8700 was worth it. I had to order sooner or later and figured the new 290 was the way. I had a gray FW and like the finish better than the matt black or the premium black...just my taste. I will probably be asking everyone for help.
muzik

 

Are you saying the AW290 I just ordered(only available in gray) won't have a real 1080x1920 display as listed? Now I'm really confuded. I thought the only choice was between the RGB LED or the standard full HD.
muzik

 

Are you sure about this...

according to the sony style site for the usa:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SYCTOProcess?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921665736378

It looks like the Adobe RGB screen and hence the piano black finish...where did you order from?

 

I also just ordered the AW290. According to the people at the Sony retails store if you get the non-RGB screen in the 1920 x 1080 res. you will get the titanium color. You can only get the black color if you order the premium version with the RGB screen. Here is my CTO:

VGN-AW290 Configure-to-Order
VGN-AW290
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
TV Tuner
WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Standard Battery
Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080)
4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
In stock. Estimated ship date: 01/26/2009.
Bundled savings have been applied.
$1,413.95
3 Year Express Ship Service Plan
DSES3SLPM $168.82

Remember you have to order a service plan plus 2 accessories to get the $300 discount (I ordered the cheapest two)

 

Ah you guys do things differently over the pond, I'm in the UK, here we don't even have the option to configure the machines and they are all shipped with 32bit versions of Vista. Are you sure you won't get a matte black machine, maybe if you CTO this is the only way to get a grey one with a Full HD screen...

 

ok, look at this link, you will see two AW290's one labeled premium and the other not. I was told by Sony sales people in the store that the premium one comes in black and the non-premium comes in gray. Both have the 1920 x 1080 screens with the premium having the Adobe RGB color gamut. When I get mine I will report back on the color just in case it is shipped in black.

https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644576902&parentCategoryId=16154[/URL]

 

I was under the impression that it was always 1080X1920 regardless until I saw this other post here. The AW290 CTO does only come in gray. That has been confirmed by Sony. I ordered online at Sonystyle.com. $2,039 including the computer ($1505) 3year extended warr with accident protection,Sony slip bag, a bluetooth mouse and tax. Got it with 18 mos no payments/no interest financing. P8700/2X320GB-7200 drives single slot 2GB
memory, tuner. I wanted the gray. I have had a HP shiney laptop and never again due to always printing and smudging...They look great when always clean but I don't like always wiping down.

 

Ok this might confirm my theory then, if you CTO you can get it in grey with Full HD. But the thing I posted earlier about the 3 different screens and 3 differing colours is true for the UK models and it seems all the pre-configured models (i.e. not CTO).

Also I said before you cannot customise with sonystyle UK this is true for the AW series, however, there are some other Vaios you can customise in the UK.

 

In case anybody is wondering if they have the Full HD RGB 3-chip LED display with Adobe colour management, there's an easy way to find out for sure! Just go into the monitor properties in the device manager and check the Hardware ID of the display. If it says SNY07FA you have the top model display.

Please post the Hardware ID's you have here, then we'll have a database of exactly what monitor is supplied with each model. See a screenshot below of how to access this information.

 

It's the same for the dual-CCFL LCD. I believe they're both the same panel, just different backlights, so the the firmware reports the same EDID for both.

 

I'm just wondering...how did you configure an AW290 with those parts (+ bundle discount) and only get it for $1413.95? I tried configuring the AW290 with the lowest end parts (no blu-ray), the same service plan as you, and the 2 cheapest accessories (laser mouse & travel case) they offer (to receive the bundle discount) and the price still came out to be $1488.31. Unless you have some coupon or gift card for sonystyle, or possibly ordered from a different sonystyle website (I looked at the US version), I don't think you can even get an AW290 for that cheap. Right now the cheapest AW on sonystyle is the AW190 as far as I know. I'm planning on purchasing the AW190 while it's cheap right now and to take advantage of the bundle, but if you know a way to get the CTO AW290 for that price, please let us in on it...lol

 

Make sure the service plan is at least the 3yr express ship service plan or the 2yr plan with damage protection otherwise it will not work. You should see a $300 credit applied. I tried it yesterday and it worked without any coupons. Just a side note, you can buy two of the travel cases as the cheapest path to satisfying the two accessory requirement - just change the quantity to two on the checkout. If you need more details you can PM me.

 

Really?! I'm surprised at that! Thanks for clarifying. Well back to the drawing board then! Sony don't make it easy in the US do they. In Australia we only have 2 models, the 18.4" 1680x945 (Grey) and the 18.4" 1920x1080 RGB LED backlit model which they call "premium black" and is glossy. The display itself is matte.

Unfortunately, we aren't given the TV tuner option here, so instead I use an external USB HDTV twin tuner, it would have been nice to have it internal though.

Could someone explain how it's possible in some markets to have 3 internal HDD's?! I'm talking about the 2x 64GB SSD in RAID + 500GB 4200rpm drive model, there's only 2 HDD bays aren't there?

 

anyone tried this deal, with the student discount? maybe on the phone or something

 

Check an earlier post I made. My 290CTO was $1505. Thaey take a little off everything purchased to total the $300 off. I got pretty much the same machine as he did but with two 320Gb drives and only 2MB of memory. It was, I think $1749 befor the discount. I bought the slip bag and a blue tooth mouse and three year warr with accident coverage. total with tax was $2029

 

When I go into the AW's bios setup, the Advance page is blank.
I assume there are no advance settings?

 

The USB problem is NOT a Vista problem. Check my thread on this board. On the laptop that went back to Sony (due to screen problems), none of the ports would work even under Linux. USB mouse ALWAYS works in Windows' installation menu, as well as in GPARTED and ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE. It didn't work. So this completely rules out the software "problem".

However, Vista is known to corrupt some INF files, removing which helps with the problem of USB ports not working. Unfortunately this was not the case with Sony, or at least with my laptop.

 

Anyone having trouble with slightly uneven backlighting on their RGB LED display? I thought the backlighting on these displays were supposed to be totally even, with no bleed at all. Mine definitely has some bleed and isn't totally uniform on dark images particularly movies. Also, the contrast ratio seems to be poor too, blacks really aren't all that black, more a hazy grey. Maybe I'm expecting too much from a laptop display?

 

I don't get it, I picked the same parts as you did (P8700 2.53, 4gb ram, 320gb 7200rpm hdd, & blu-ray drive read only), the 3yr express ship service plan (cheapest one) and 2 of the traveling cases and the total still came out to $1592.32. Am I doing something wrong? I don't know you got it for that cheap with the AW290, but I know it's possible with the AW190.

 

I can confirm what asusi is saying. I had configured the AW290 just like the one he got, added the 3 year express ship extended warranty and the 2 Sony cases. That $1413.95 is without tax, which was about another $75.00 for me. And to say another thing, this CTO notebook with the bundled accessories and extended warranty deal not only apllies to the AW series, I also configured a Z series and a SR series notebook and it works as well.

 

Yeah, but even without the tax, when I configure it, it's still a little more that $1500 (including the bundle discount). So I'm still kind of confused because I don't know how one can add those parts to the AW290 and get it for that price. I know that when I configure the AW190, I can get it for that price, if not cheaper.

 

The $1,413.95 is the price NOT including the accessories, service plan and taxes. Did you see the $300 "promotional discount" applied on the checkout screen?

 

Yeah. That is what I meant to say. This was the price for the notebook, not including accessories. My bad. I posted previously at 3:30 in the morning, still kinda out of it after the heartbreaking Eagles loss.

As for that bundle special, I am looking at my Sony Style cart right now and it lists the following :

Subtotal $1939.96
Promotional Discount -$300.00
Tax $77.77
Your Price $1717.73

This is for the AW290 CTO that has the P8600 2.4 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and the 320 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, Blu ray reader, TV tuner, 1920 by 1080 screen, no RGB Adobe stuff.

$76.07 AC Adapter
$21.13 Sony case
$1373.70 AW290 CTO
$169.06 3 year Express Ship Extended Warranty

This is for the SonyStyle U.S.A. website.

 

This case is only 16.5 inches wide...won't work with the AW which is 17.2" I'm still looking a good roller for my new AW. Has anyone one that fits for sure?
muzik

 

Just wanted to give a quick update, on my faulty AW. Almost a month later, I finally got my AW back from Sony repair. They stated that they had to replace the motherboard in the work order. It now doesn't freeze No problems yet, crossing fingers.

The strange thing is Winsows logs the same WMI error every single time the machine boots up. has anyone figured out why we get this error on the AW?
------------------------------
Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.
--------------------------------

 

Same with my RGB LED display, it's not the best display, just from what I can tell the best notebook display.
I use external displays myself.

 

Hi, Does anybody know whether the AW190 (available -newegg or sonystyle) has a magnesium or plastic casing?
Also does the model sold at newegg come with a TV tuner? (the site does not list it, but spec sheet off sony site says included)

 

I see what you mean now...you did add the service plan and the 2 accessories to receive the promotional discount, but the price of the computer alone is $1413.95, excluding the service plan and the 2 accessories, as well as tax. My bad, it's just that your other post made it seem like you bought everything for only $1413.95, which is why I was very surprised that one could get it for that cheap and thinking that it was impossible. Now I know that that is the price of the computer itself after the discount...stupid me...lol

By the way Asusi, have you every seen the titanium grey at a sony store or anywhere else? I just wanna know your opinion on how it looks cuz I saw an AW290 Premium the other day at a Sony Store, but there was no grey. The glossy piano black looks sick, not olny is it glossy, but it's kinda sparkly in the light, however prone to fingerprints and smudges. I kinda like the grey cuz I like how the black keys offset the grey. Just wondering, cuz I was either thinking to configure the AW190 before Sony takes it off site or possibly looking at the prebuilt AW235 since it comes in black.

 

Not surprising, the Sony store I went to had the premium black version but not the titanium. They had some other laptop they showed me they claimed was similar. It is strange that Sony doesn't display the non-premium version in the stores. I am expecting my AW in the mail in about a week and will let you know how it looks. More important than the case color, I wanted to see what the screen looks like.

 

Grr...sony support say the engineers can't see any flickering!

this could be turning pearshaped...

 

Thanks...is it possible for you to post hq pictures of it? I don't think anyone has ever posted pics of their AW. I dunno...but I think everyone would appreciate it.

BTW, when you ordered it, when did it ship and how long is it supposed to take (on average) to receive it? (I guess it depends on where you live, but how long for you...Thanks!)

 

I have a titanium FW model. I am upgrading to the AW in titanium also. I think it looks the best of all of the colors. I had a glossy HP and if you ever lift the lid, you can't avoid fingerprints. It also scratches easier. If the AW is the same style case it will have the magnesium lid and a strong plastic body. After almost 9o days with the FW I have no problems, scratches or marks of any kind. I looked for the titanium gray.
Phil/muzik

 

Could you explain in detail what you mean by flickering? I get two things happening on mine that could be described as flickering. One is a very fast colour hue change occasionally, and the other is a super fast constant flicker which is the PWM control of the LED's for dimming, noticed worse in the top left corner. Not sure if either of these are what you mean.

I'd love to have been able to get the magnesium lid, I had this on my FZ, and as you say no fingerprints or scratches. I have the premium black now, due to it being the only choice available here, and I agree it's high maintenance and easily scratched.

 

That's the one... 60% of the time, it's not a hue, but a fraction of a section dim by about 25%, 25% of the time it's a hue change to red, and the rest it's to green.

It's a bit annoying...

The problem is though that the engineers "can't see it"... yet everyone else that's seen "my new wonderful laptop"(TM) has..."did it just flicker?" comments etc.

Now either the engineers are pants, or they are ignoring it, or they aren't used to looking at a screen to this degree, or they don't care... and then I have the problem of, it either being a fault, or being within "working tolerances"... and then I have the problem of being charged if "no fault found".

I don't think i'm being too fussy on a £2000 top of the line sony laptop, expressly marketed for it's 'high-end' screen... but perhaps this is a characteristic of LED (other brands seem to have problems here and there)... or it is a fault...

Dunno...at the moment this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth...

 

I wonder if your flickering problem is just another defective Nvidia Card problem.

 

why, is that what they do? I thought they just slowed.