Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

The newest AW update for my AW170 model I could find was the following:

"No Disk" Error Patch 01/09/2009 1.0 432.79 KB


Not sure what a "No Disk" Error is thou.

 

If I were to speculate, I'd say a "no disc error" is an error where the computer claims that no disc is in the drive, even though there is one.

 

I think I'll be ordering a Vaio AW series laptop in the next couple of days, and I'd like to know which of these is a better choice and why? If I get the AW290 I'd upgrede to 4gb myself, and Blueray isn't important to me.... Thanks!

From SonyStyle.com:

VGN-AW290 Configure-to-Order
Customization Details
XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080)
2 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx1)
Microsoft® Works
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
400 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz)
TV Tuner
WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Standard Battery
Windows Live™ OneCare™ 90-Day Trial
DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
VAIO® Bluetooth® Laser Mouse
VAIO® Traveling Case
3 Year Express Ship Service Plan
Bundled savings have been applied
$1,507.85 Shipped
Temporarily out of stock. Estimated ship date: 02/10/2009


From Newegg.com:

VGN-AW190JAH
Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
CPU Type Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz
Screen 18.4"
Memory Size 4GB DDR2
Hard Disk 250GB 7200 rpm
Optical Drive BD Combo
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
Video Memory 512MB
Other Features Fingerprint reader
LCD Features XBRITE-Full HD Technology
Resolution 1920 x 1080
$1,399.99 Shipped

 

Can anyone confirm if NON-Premium AW290 comes with RAID technology or not if there 2 x 320 hard drives ?

Thank you very much!

 

Has anyone had any battery problems? I am on my 2nd battery from Sony, and this one too is now not showing up... I'm getting "no battery detected." I have tried everything, including removing the ISB manager.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

No, I don't have a recovery disk and deleted the hidden partition (I think). I got most drivers from here:

http://www.vaio-link.com/os/vista/64bit/

And I've got the Sony 64-bit Apps from a topic about another Vaio model on this forum (I think the Z series).

Do the Volume buttons still work too? Since I got the Fn+brightness working in 32-bit, but then the Volume buttons stopped working. Which are more important to me.

 

I found a VAIO Control Color Setting 1.2 at vaio-link.com, wonder if it will install on a North American AW?

 

anyone? guys, i really need to know ...almost ordered..

thanks!

 

It should, the only update I've seem before is the graphic card, none of the others, who's going to be the first to try it

 

That's really weird they'd have an NTSC tuner built in and not ATSC. I mean NTSC has less than a month left, if things go as planned (although I guess it would still need that for analog cable support anyway).

A better choice for what? What are you doing with it? It seems to have nice build quality, and the non LED backlit versions seem competitively priced with like HP or something. As a general purpose system with a big screen it seems reasonable, though it might not fit everyone perfectly.

 

For those who need info on the parts to add a second HD to the single HD units these are the sony part numbers and prices:
cable 1-730-230-11 described as M780 SATA HDD2 FPC $82.12
drive caddy X-2320-154-1 described as M780 HDD BRACKET SUB-ASSY $43.03
These are the part numbers for the AW170y/q but they work fine in my AW125j/h. No RAID tho...nothing on my BIOS advanced page. so thats probably not possible without a BIOS reflash and that can be ugly IF you can find it.

Inorder to install these parts you MUST open the case by removing about 25 screws form the bottom and about 3 from the top (under the speaker grill which comes off AFTER removing the bottom screws...so you are looking at a void warranty if sony finds out you did it...if you are clever and don't break anything and keep the original HD you could reverse all this b4 sending it in for service and they'd never know.

I also changed out my p8400 processor for the t9400 from the 170y/q and it works great...did have to do a complete reinstall of windows tho...it apparently picks up the processor type at installation. B4 the reinstall I had BSOD issues. Same warnings about voiding warranty as above! Both are socket P processors so the swap is painless once the case is open...you do have to remove the cooling system...about 3 screws and have some conductive paste available when installing the new chip.

Hope this helps y'all!

 

Have you tried to compare HP HDX18 and SONY VAIO AW, with the similar specifications they are about the same price, but there are so many complaints about HP HDX18 on defective volume buttons, touchpads, keyboards. It seems that HP HDX18 has a very bad hardware reliability and nobody gets a HP HDX18 of good quality.

 

I did compare the two, in addition to the things you mentioned I also found the Sony screen to be superior to the HP in both color accuracy and contrast - at least after I calibrated them. Also, I do not like the very glossy screen on the HP.

 

Do you know if Sony will perform the upgrade after the purchase?

 

What was the problem with the gloss? I guess too reflective?

 

Yes, if you are using the laptop in a room with lights you will see strong reflections on the HP.

 

I also compared them directly, and the hp screen was also noticable darker. the whole chassis, the keyboard is of inferior quality. everything flexes and feels like it will last max. 2 years.

 

Questions...

1) Can you install Nvidia's reference drivers or notebook reference drivers through device manager WITHOUT third party hacks (even though it's not supported)? Does this break Blu Ray playback?

2) Can you reinstall from scratch from the backup discs you make (I believe this has been answered in the affirmative-they're bootable).

3) Does the premium AW290 still use an LED backlit screen?

4) Does this vent heat well? Dell's Studio XPS 1640's main (only?) vent actually gets COVERED OVER by the screen when it's open (!)

I'm asking all this stuff, 'cause Sony has a good sale on the 290 right now, and because I'm not sure the XPS 1640 I ordered is working for me. I've had a horrible time trying to get Dell to ship me discs that should have come with it, and so far still can't even test Blu Ray (plus can't force install video drivers without third party mods thanks to the ATi video, etc.) It's also disturbing that the vent gets covered over when the screen is open!

From what I've seen in stores, that's not hard to believe. The AW really feels well put together, and even the florescent screen looks good (and the HP's only have florescent screens).

 

The Point about the vent - that's a good reason to return it.

About the vent on the AW - Sony's website had a 3d view for all models - if it still exists, you can check that.

 

I just received my AW290 also with same screen. Very minimul bleed and love the thing alot already. I had a FW170 and this is really nice. My new 4GB memory upgrade pfrom Newegg should be here soon. I only ordered with two. I have tried both antenna setups and was very dissapointed. After senior tech and flunky techs for two hours it has been decided that Sony goofed and the AW is not compatable with set top boxes at all even though the manual says it is. The problem is with Media Center. You need an IR blaster. I just ordered wone from Tiger that should work. They can't solve the problem and they can't alter Media Center to make it work. It was $29.95 for the new remote and IR blaster. A review said it worked with Vista 64 and Media center. The USB antenna couldn't find a single channel. Everything else has been great!!!!!!

 

For me, I would and did buy from Sony. NO returns at Newegg plus it is an older version. No tuner in egghead but that may not matter for you. I opted for two 320/7200RPM drives but I would prefer one to the slower 400/5400. I have had the 320/5400 before and the faster speed are really noticable to me.
Both are great value...you really can't lose...unless you get a problem unit and can't return it.

 

Hi Guys
Just noticed The new AW's released and ESPECIALLY

-----> VGN-AW21XY/Q <------


AND ON SONY.CO.UK website says it's have 64bit vista .. so there will be solution for installing CF slot Properly Automatic drivers ... is it a chance ?

http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowPro..._cons&pageType=Overview&category=VN+AW+Series

 

Can you get channels with a antenna on something else like a TV? Otherwise I think the problem would be the antenna and where you are putting or pointing it.

 

1 - No, offically Nvidia states the reference drivers are not supported for AWs. You would have to use a hack and it might mess up Blu Ray playback.

2 - Not sure about the 290 but other AWs have a heat vent on the right side and on the bottom. The putting a vent on the bottom is a bit disappointing for me.

 

Thanks...I know it's not officially supported, but like under XP it's trivial to force the reference driver to install through the device manager (you just point it at the INF file in the folder the drivers create). But...I've tried and tried doing that with ATi's GPUs, and it doesn't work...but I'm not 100% sure it's because it's ATi, it could be that it's Vista (but I don't think so).

Good...side makes much more sense. I actually posted pictures of the 1640's vent. It's wacky-it's really large, but gets almost completley covered over by the screen when it's open!

 

I made a mistake, it has a left side vent, not right.

 

Anyone with the sony aw 190 and playing wow what temperatures are you getting? And what cpu temp monitor are you using? with sisoft sandra I am getting 65-70 C and with hwmonitor.exe i get around 60ish cpu and 72 for gpu temps.

Sound high or normal? I swear my fan was louder before but it doesn't seem as loud as when I first got it.

 

Yes, Same works for AW with 64 bit vista. I did it earlier and when I tried to play a BD the system crashed but after installing the Blu-Ray update from sony, the new reference drivers from NVidia installed without problem. Though their website says vaio's are not supported.

-Jeet

 

daes SONY VAIO AW has a fingerprint reader and a remote control?

 

Oh wow, so you didn't even have to install through the device manager? You just double clicked the downloaded file and they just installed right on there? (And actually did update, not just fail and not tell you about it )

If so, I'm ordering this guy for 98% sure. I guess I should have started with this system instead of the Dell, since that's been a colossal failure :-/

Thanks so much for your feedback!

 

I think it can vary depending on the model. Possibly to get the remote you need to order a model with a TV tuner? It looks like a nice, full seized remote similar to Sony's TV and Playstation 3 remotes, from the pictures.

 

Hi - I am interested in the AW - but noriced that in the UK there might be new models on the way.

Stock due week commencing 23rd February.

The NEW Sony VAIO AW21ZB, part of the amazing AW series, is the ultimate laptop for big-screen multimedia entertainment with a colossal 18.4” high resolution display and a Blu-ray Disc™ drive.

Experience the world’s first Full HD 18.4” laptop screen with Full Adobe RGB colour scan and 3LED backlight. You can now create, edit and enjoy your own HD experience.

Featuring lightning fast Intel® Core™2 Duo T9950 processor combine with 564GB of hard disc capacity and 4GB RAM the VAIO AW21ZB is an extreme performer perfect for those who refuse to compromise.

Throw in a Webcam and Bluetooth and you have the perfect Laptop all packed into a beautifully styled Sony VAIO chassis.
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 Dual-Core
RAM - 4 GB (installed) 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive - 564 GB
Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Screen - 18.4 in TFT active matrix 1920 x 1080
Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM
Bluetooth - No

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Sony_VAIO_AW21ZB_Laptop_VGNAW21ZB/version.asp?PID=1210

does any one knwo more about these?

 

Hey Wolfpup,
the install was through device manager (and selecting the inf file from driver folder) and so a force install. I was alluding to the same method that you mentioned in your post, I didn't meant the usual default install. Sorry for the confusion.

-Jeet

 

Oh, okay. Well still, it worked! (And didn't break Blu Ray! )

I honestly thought I was going to be able to do the same on an ATi part, but you can't.

You may have said this already, but were you using the Notebook or 'regular' reference drivers from Nvidia? Probably both work!

At any rate, thanks for your help!

Now I just have to make up my mind (again )

 

The AW has a fingerprint reader.

 

Wolfpup did you eventually buy the AW? If not what you holding out for? (I have been too for a while)

 

Nope, I ended up buying a Studio XPS 1640, 'cause it was probably $500ish cheaper...only mine has a physical defect, and I've also been trying to get them them to give me Blu Ray playback software So far I've been shipped everything BUT something that'll play back Blu Ray. (Three separate driver discs that I don't need, so far! ) It's just been kind of scary, and between that and the defect, I've decided to ship it back while I still can.
Also, it turns out you CAN'T force ATi's drivers to install on their mobile hardware (without resorting to third party stuff), unlike Nvidia's drivers on the AW. Oh, and also, the system's main vent gets covered over by the screen when it's in the open position. The CPU temps under load go up over 20 degrees Celcius, unless you close the screen most of the way or stick the edge off of your desk Honestly the whole experience was worse than I'm making it sound.

So...I'm back to the systems I was looking at before. :laugh:

The good thing is the AW290 is cheaper now than the 190 was when I was looking at it last, and I assume the premium version still comes with that LED backlighting.

I wish the AW had a 9800 series GPU, and/or officially allowed you to install Nvidia's drivers, but even still it SEEMS like a better bet (I hope!)

 

wow i was so close to being in your position. it was between the AW and that dell, but after hearing all those bad reviews and problems with the dell, I'm just thinkin now about going with the FW or the AW, not sure yet.

 

I'm glad I got the chance to read through this thread. I have been researching the new Vaio Aw-290 online for 4 days and then found this thread. I was a bit discouraged at first after reading some complaints about the new Vaio AW series here then realized that there weren't any serious issues from people who got the AW-290..., just other models. I remember one post stating that there didn't seem to be anyone complaining about the U.S. models. I decided it would be best if I got a hands on with the model myself so I went to a Sony Style store and tested it out. I already have an SSD drive that I wanted to put in it but was told that I would not be able to install my own hard drive because if I didn't order a model that already had their 3 drive set up and got a single hd instead, the mother board may be different and not have an open space for me to put in additional drives. That didn't sound right to me but oh well. I decided to get the 640GB 7200rpm drive set up and just forget about the whole SSD deal for now. I am going to sell the SSD drive I already had. I am really looking forward to getting this laptop and taking advantage of the RGB screen for my photo editing. Now my buddies with theeir Mac Book Pros can get off my case about there being no equivalent to their monitors in the portable PC world. Don't get me wrong those are amazing laptops as well, but this Vaio looks like it would fit me well. If I discover anything interesting about my machine I will be sure to share with you guys. This was my first post, sorry it's so long. Here are the specs of the computer on it's way to me:

Product: VGNAW290-CTO

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9800 (2.93GHz)
TV Tuner
No Engraving
WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Extended Battery
Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080) with Adobe® RGB color management
8 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
640 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

 

Close up I found I could hear the fan when under high load, but after I attached externals and put it a few feet away and I cannot hear anything.

 

By under high load, were were you running the CPUs at 100% for quite a while? If so, that's fantastic! That probably means the cooling system is really good (well, at least if the temperatures weren't horrible while doing this!)

One of the issues I have with this XPS 1640 I'm sending back is the system's main vent gets covered over by the screen when the screen is in the open position (!). With the CPUs under 100% load for a bit, the temps get up to 84 degrees Celsius or around there, and it gets fairly loud (although still not much different from my desktop...not THAT terrible).

With the vent more or less unobscured, the temps eventually drop down to 64ish degrees under full load-basically it runs 20 degrees (Celcius) hotter than it should, just because of a stupid vent design.

It would be awesome if the AW can handle 100% load without much issue (particularly since I'll almost always be using it to run Folding @ Home and/or play games.

Oh no, now I'll probably get the Premium 290 and be horrified by it before you've gotten anything too

I'm slightly worried (again) that the Premium 290 really does have an LED backlight like the 190 :-/ Wish the configuration pages would just say!

If you don't care about that, I think the regular florescent lit models of the FW and AW are probably about the same price (maybe actually cheaper?) as Dell's 1640, only they have (IMO vastly preferable) Nvidia graphics, and statistically at least should be a bit more reliable.

Were you wanting to use that SSD in addition to a 7200RPM drive? If so, it sounds like your system is shipping with two drives. I'm not 100% sure, but I guess you could create the backup discs, swap one of those drives for your SSD, and turn off RAID 0 and then reinstall to one of the drives from the backup discs you created.

I'm not 100% sure if that works though, as it may be the backup discs you create would still be expecting RAID 0 (at least be running drivers for it) and maybe expecting the same amount of hard drive space? Seems like it would probably work though(?)

Flash drives aren't automatically as good as mechanical hard drives though. Most of the MLC drives (except for Intel's) have pretty questionable performance and reliability. Although I guess one of the Maximum PC editors is playing around with the idea of using one of these junky flash drives for its read speed, and trying to get most of the stuff that has to write onto a regular drive. (Just to see what would happen, I guess.)

 

AW is not a gaming machine but I have sometimes left a game running while I got up to do something which I never did with other comptuers.

 

640GB HD is actually 2x 320GB 7200rpm - at least it says so on SonyStyle website... And I'm pretty sure that if Sony indeed have the RGB-LED screen, AW290 Premium is the one that has it. I'm not so sure though if stating that screen has an AdobeRGB color management, automatically means that it has RGB-LED backlighting... I've never seen Sony officially confirmed what technology they used for that screen, besides of saying its LED. All reviewers state it's RGB-LED, but it could be regular "white" LED as well...

 

In the order process it only stated that there were multiple drives with the 2x128GB SSD & 500GB (4200 rpm) selection. Everything else on the AW-290 selections simply showed what I thought was single drive selections but I read the details below that I overlooked before. I selected 640GB. You could be right and it is the 2 x320GB. I had just wanted to use my own SSD for the operating system to load faster but after doing some more research there isn't a huge benefit. I thought that what made the screen special was the fact that there were actual RGB LED lights and not just white like the Mac Book Pros.

 

This is the premium 290, right? If so supposedly it uses RGB LED backlighting, otherwise it's regular florescent. I'm just nervous because on their web site it doesn't actually specify that for some reason...it actually makes no mention of the lighting technology at all, which is kind of weird and scary, sort of.

If it says it's 640GB at 720 RPM it has to be two 320GB drives. There's supposedly a 500GB 7200 RPM drive that's either just now becoming available to OEMs, or will be soon or something, but otherwise 320GB drives are as large as it gets for 7200RPM (and even that blows me away because they topped out at 200GB last year, and that was hard to find and relatively pricey! )

 

Yes i did choose thye AW-290 Premium. You answered my question about the hard drive and that makes sense that it would be two drives. I just have to see where they have some documentation on the RGB LED screen. I just want to know how it differs from the LED displays of the Mac Book Pro or if it is the same design.

 

It's supposed to be like red green and blue LEDs instead of just white LEDs-supposedly that somehow makes the color better still. I don't really understand why, but I know the very most expensive hardware has that instead of white ones. Personally I think the white ones still look amazing compared to a normal florescent light though!

I'm just worried that it's really LED at all, given that Sony never actually says that anywhere when you order, or on the page for it

 

It's definitely an LED display. It says so in the specifications tab;



* 18.4" Screen
* 1920 x 1080 Resolution
* XBRITE-FullHD™ Technology
* Adobe RGB Color Correction and LED backlight technology available on glossy piano black option


Also there are a few reviews online that mention it as being LED but they never state if it's white LED or not just that it's borrowing from the Sony Bravia technology.

 

Thanks! Well, that's good, although like with the 190 my paranoia makes me wonder if 'available' means it's not really on all of them

Hmm...and I see there's a new cheaper Asus n80 model that has LED lighting too. It's $1000 cheaper (though I don't trust Asus as much as Sony obviously, plus at best the GPU is a bit slower thanks to slower RAM).

 

In theory, RGB-LED gives you wider gamut and allows you to calibrate the white point just by changing light ratios between three LEDs, instead of using LCD matrix, but I'm not sure if any hardware calibrator can communicate with a driver responsible for that (beside of not being sure if such a driver really exist )