Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

Most colours are fine. However, colours that are close to full saturation in the normal world will be super saturated and luminous on a wide gamut RGB screen, without calibration. Also, applications that don't support colour management and make an assumption about using an sRGB space will have this problem... IE for instance... but not firefox with it's cm plugin.

The profiles that are in this thread (somewhere) aren't too bad, but I found it better to calibrated the screen with a puck. You could do this by eye using adobe gamma, but the puck will always do a better job because the eye is easily deceived by subtle colour differences.

As for angles... it's not bad, but bear in mind that tilting the screen will give you the common gamma shift of most lapops, and close up, the wideness of the screen will mean that it's better viewed at arms length to reduce colour differences.

My old 8500 has less tilt induced shift, but then the colour is no where near as good.

These screens really come into their own when calibrated... the colour and tonal range is very good for a laptop, but you have to remember it's a laptop still.

 

1: i dont want to format my compuer and install 64 bit

2: i did restore c: drive from the "vaio recovery center" ( not complete system)

and this not help me

3: i cant speak with vaio support because in my country we dont have vaio

i'll try to speak with microsot mybe they can help me

thanks alot ! this is to much for me ):

 

Because I was really curious I went to Wikipedia to look up the list of computer manufacturers to see which botique manufacturers could create something similar to the AW series and what it might cost. For starters the only one that even offers BluRay read/write as an OPTION is Vigor and then it's $552-so they might be cheaper on other CTO components than Sony but they nearly triple the price of the BluRay drive over Sony (I would bet Sony sells it at cost or maybe even at a loss so people continue to buy BluRay discs for their notebooks-both the studio movie BluRays and the BluRay R and RE discs.) Even so, to get comparable to an AW puts you in the neighborhood of $4,000 or even more-and not even Vigor has an option for a 16:9 screen.

 

I'm unfamiliar with a puck. Do you mean a puck you hold against the screen for comparison? And is Adobe Gamma included on the US version AW290JFQ, since Adobe Lightroom is not? And for that matter is it even in the CTO?

As for programs that do not use profiles, how many programs do you know of that don't use them? Is there a way to check for this feature? I use Zoom Player Max with ffdshow, CoreAVC, and EVR for most videos and DVDs. I use irfanview for photos. I use PS and Vegas for editing. I use WindowBlinds for UI Skining. How many of these are profile aware to your knowledge?

When you say gamma shift how much are you talking? On my home PVA lcds I can look pretty much at a 178 angle and it still looks very much the same (The colors may be a little darker/or lighter at some angles, but not easy to notice if your not looking for it. On that Gamma test gif that was posted a few posts back my screen does it fine, but at a left or right angle it is Brighter for more steps.) As for the arms length thing, do you mean subtle differences, or annoying like it not being white all the way across on a white screen?

Also what profile is the default on the Laptop?

In terms of carrying it around day to day for classes, with a separate bag for books, how bad would you say that this Laptop would be? Would you recommend a backpack or messenger bag for this beast? (Which would be easier?)


Sorry for the questions, and I'm sorry to say I may have a few more, but this is a big deal, since I've already sent back 3 laptops so far for being to inferior to what I want. I'm a perfectionist as you can see, so these little things bother me, but not if they aren't that noticeable (I can live with that...)

Anyways I am close to getting this laptop, it's either this or the MBP, but I've always disliked the Mac OS (I have it on my iPhone, but on desktops it hasn't impressed me, and the HDD space is very small on there as well.)

 

Briggs and Riley makes a superb computer case on wheels - the BR 260 - which you could also carry via shoulder strap - it has many compartments plus they are so well made all their luggage carries a lifetime warranty - I've had a 28 inch upright for over a year, it has seen extensive use and they have repaired it several times - each time with new parts to make it perform as new - they don't cover asthetic damage, but they do cover everything else - superb build, inline skate wheels and price tag to match the quality (list price on my upright is $529, I believe the BR 260 sells for $399.

 

Who actually needs or uses a BluRay read drive? For those who have one how often (and why) do you use it? I presume the BluRay media are still very expensive?

 

I have a Blu Ray drive in my AW190. I use it very often as it is my secondary Blu Ray player. My main player is a Panasonic BD30 hooked to my home theater in the living room. And since my AW190 screen is 1920 by 1080 ( Full HD ) it displays the movies in excellent detail. And since the AW190 is hooked to a great sounding 2.1 Altec Lansing speaker setup, this makes for a decent mini-theater in the bedroom.

As for the media cost, I get my Blu Ray movies from a Netflix subscription or I buy them costing between $18.00 and $25.00.

 

Yeah, I was thinking maybe they meant Blu Ray WRITER? That I can see, but having a drive that can read it is mandatory for me now.

 

Yes, in fact BluRay prices are dropping to be comparable to the same release on DVD or just a few dollars more in most cases. Recordable BluRay can be bought for as little as five dollars a disc for cheaper brands when purchased in multi disc packaging.

 

"A puck" is a colorimeter (or spectraphotometer) - an external device that reads screen colors and allows to create a custom profile.

Adobe Gamma is a piece of software that allows you to "calibrate" your screen by eye showing a couple of test images - it's not accurate and rather useless. What is included is not Adobe Gamma, but five custom profiles created for that screen with external calibrator. The problem is that those profiles are used by color aware applications to display photos etc., but often not for interface elements. Some calibrators (eg. Spyder) use its own software to change system interface colors and a profile working in conjunction.
BTW, Lightroom is included with all RGB-LED notebooks AFAIK. There was not even an option to get rid of it and lower the price.

PS is the only one I know for sure is color aware. I don't know about Vegas, but it could be fully color managed as well. The rest of software you listed is NOT. Irfan View is "half" color managed - it can read the profile from a photo, but it's assuming that your screen is sRGB, so colors are seriously oversaturated on any wide gamut screen. The only photo viewers I know that are fully color aware are ACDSee Pro, Adobe Bridge and Fast Picture Viewer (most of popular free viewers like FastStone or XnView are "half" color managed). Default Vista viewer is color aware in windowed mode, but its slideshow/full screen mode is not managed.
As for video players, you can usually get acceptable results just by lowering the saturation and changing contrast or gamma settings inside a player or in GPU driver preferences for video. It's not critical for me, so I don't really care that much.
The only internet browsers that are color aware are Firefox3 and Safari, so if you use something else you'll have to switch to one of these...

It is a TN panel, so there is just a little shift when you look at it from left to right and significant shift from bottom to top. If you compare it to PVA or IPS screen you will be disappointed but for a TN it's not bad at all.

It's not a matter of not being white, but there are subtle shifts in colors in normal working distances, but I'm usually much closer to my screen than arms length.

Mine was set to something like "VAIO display profile_22834_03_D65" as far as I remember...

Hmm... I think messenger bag would be better - it could be too big to have it on your back and feel comfortable... But I didn't try, so I'm just guessing...

 

Sorry I did mean writer - who actually does write BluRay discs?

 

I fix My Problem At last !

all you need to do is to go C:\windows\system32

and look this file BtwVdpCapFilter.dll

and rename it for exsample: BtwVdpCapFilter1.dll (add 1 )

thanks to someone from "dreamweaverforum.info"

here is message :


Re: Flash content that utilizes webcam crashes browser

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have talked to Sony about this and we have reached a workaround.

it involves a file called BtwVdpCapFilter.dll (it is a bluetooth profile that
essentially allows people to share their webcam across bluetooth BUT no one
uses this) and it is what is crashing when you access the webcam thru
IE/Firefox/Opera.

So go to C:\windows\system32 and rename it to anything for example
BtwVdpCapFilter1.dll and everything should be fine. Sony said they will be
releasing a patch for this.

Enjoy!

 

There are many reasons to write BluRay discs. Imagine your entire music collection of say 6,000 to 10,000 songs on one disc. Or every episode of a long running TV series -or two. Or all of the Bond films with plenty of room left to spare. Not to mention data and many other uses. Plus the prices are now comparable per GB with DVD in regards to multi disc packs from the cheaper vendors like Verbatim and Memorex-with Panasonic already having dropped prices and Sony certain to do so soon. Plus Sony still sells MiniDiscs so BluRay will never be going away-it will only get better with 100 GB discs on the way, 400 GB discs in the development stage and plans for discs storing up to 1 Terrabyte in the planning stage (multi layers at 25 GB per layer). (Actually, recalculating in my head BluRay is more expensive per GB than DVD but the difference is not enough to matter to anyone who owns or is considering owning a computer in the price neighborhood of any of these AWs.) (3 Panasonic 50 GB BluRays at $79.99 (Fry's Electronics) equals roughly fifty cents per GB versus approximately a dollar each for multipacks of DVDs or right around twenty to twenty five cents per GB.)

In addition, after researching what it would cost to build something like an AW through a botique dealer (and you really can't) the price of the AW 290 premium model is a bargain.

 

I do, the samething was said to me when I built my first desktop PC back in 1998 with a cd burners people said why do I need one of them. They were just coming out and very expensive within 12/18 everyone wanted them, they same will happen with Blu-ray. You need early adopters otherwise nothing will move forward.

 

Plus the AW 290 with BluRay is a VAST improvement over Sony's very first BluRay recordable laptop and I think the price is quite a bit less too by a thousand dollars or two if I'm not mistaken. Now really is the opportune time to adopt the format with the AW's being such superb machines.

 

That isn't quite right. PS Lightroom is included in all CTO premium AW290s, but it is NOT on the AW290JFQ (which is a preconfig premium model).

 

The rewritable BD disks make economic sense since you can use them over and over again. The non-rewritable BD disks are still too pricy right now for me thou.

 

Thanks. Very helpful - definitely worth an extra hundred bucks then

 

The write once BluRays have a high failure rate compared to DVDs from what I've read so I'd avoid them altogether and only buy the rewritables.

 

not yet, but maybe in a year or so I'm glad to have a built-in bluray burner.

 

Ok, so I just went into a local Sony Style store because they offer the AW Premium on display. It look awesome...it's just a question of whether I can afford to go premium. I was considering the HP HDX 18 and was able to view the HDX and AW (non-premium) side-by-side at a Fry's. The AW body just looks so much nicer. I was leaning toward the HDX, but when I saw it up close, I really did not like the "fluid" graffiti all over it -- not elegant.

I really want to put a smaller SSD (perhaps an Intel) as my primary drive and use a larger 7200rpm disk for data. Has anyone done that here on the AW? I have read many people do this on the HDX. This is the reason I don't know if I want to go premium, because I would be blowing a lot of my budget on the screen and then not really have the funds for an SSD.

I like the FW also. But even the Sony store did not have a FullHD version on display (only the ECO). So I have yet to see the FullHD FW in person. The issue there is the glossy screen. One of the big selling points for me on the AW premium is the matte screen. I currently have an old Dell Inspiron 6000D with a 1920 matte screen.

Thanks.

 

That's what sold me was watching segments of the Dark Knight BluRay on their preconfigured AW premium at Sony Style and why I made sure I got the premium after realizing there is a difference in screen technology between premium and non premium-the FW was also in consideration but I wanted the larger screen since square inch wise the screen on the AW is probably about 50% larger than the FW so the extra money is worth it plus it's a much better computer. Not to mention the LED screen which is only on the AW290 or AW190 premium. The HP that you mention with the 18.4 inch screen was also on my radar and I think some people were able to get it for a thousand dollars a few months ago at Best Buy during a short sale on the thing but build quality and no BluRay writer made me unconsider it. For the record the most inexpensive computer with a BluRay player I've seen thus far is an FW on sale now at Best Buy for $899 and the most inexpensive with a BluRay writer is an FW on the J&R website for $1149.

 

There are tons of AW models-that is definitely not the premium that's an AW220 which lacks the LED screen and I doubt it records to BluRay looks like playback only. Also that website is designed to look like it has something to do with Sony-they do NOT-it's an Amazon company-what a surprise considering all the negative things starting to come to light regarding Amazon's business practices (this is especially true with computers and also with charging people for items they never bought once they have credit card information months later and ripping off sellers by blocking their accounts and refusing to pay for items sellers sold they have collected for - this happened to a girlfriend of mine and many, many other people - easily verified by visiting ripoffreport.com - never, ever buy a computer from that viaousadirect website or any other Amazon vendor-looking at the other models on that same page one can get a far better deal at the Sony Style website (the AW 270YQ is flat out cheaper at Sony Style.) In fact, I would bet they ship those computers with less than the promised configurations-this is the focus of a number of the computer complaints against Amazon. Jeff Bezos (Amazon founder) is a sleaze.

 

Can someone tell us ( those who have this "usb device not recognized" fingerprint error) what can we do about this problem as sony is no help at all? thanks.

 

Yeah, that's big sorry for Sony. I spent so many hours on the phone trying to resolve same issue up to restoring laptop to the original factory state and it was no luck. I ended up with suggestion to send it for the repair. I went to the sony store and those guy couldn't figure what the problem was neither so they sent it to the repair center. It took me almost one month to get my laptop back but when I received it I found the inclosed paper that nothing wrong was with the computer and that they didn't find anything. also their customer service supervisor let me know that he don't care about whatever happened. When I got it back It was no error though. almost two moths later I am having same problem. I am speechless now as I don't know who to ask for this problem because sony is no help at all. No more sony. never.

 

There's a simple fix on this thread but I don't remember exactly what but if you search for it you'll find the topic-as I recall it has something to do with ignoring a certain message about whether or not the device is wireless-something like that.

 

Wait a minute-it sounds like you're not talking about Amazon at all, you're talking about people selling stuff THROUGH Amazon as they would through eBay or whatever. I seriously doubt that "Vaiousa.com" has anything more to do with Amazon than it does with Sony. From the looks of it (without visiting the site, which I won't do even with noscript installed!) it's pretty questionable, given they don't even list any contact info.

 

It says at the bottom the website is an Amazon company and is not afiliated with Sony-I only read a few complaints at ripoff report (there are tons) and they complain about Amazon directly as in their computer resellers they partner with-the report I read was a customer who was upset to find his machine came in a poorly packaged and obviously not Sony box and that it could not handle BluRay as promised and the processor was not right, either - sounded like a refurbished computer that had been advertised as new - this is directly Amazon's fault as this is the reseller listed on the website.

Equally disturbing was a report from another person with limited income who had purchased something from Amazon about a year ago and was now being charged with a 250 dollar purchase they never made and sounded like Amazon had deliberately charged their card. In the case of my girlfriend, she sold thousands of dollars worth of books through Amazon. Then they collect and keep the money first by blocking the seller's account so they can't sell (TONS of reports of this) and again in the case of my girlfriend they tried to legitimize it by charging her for products she never bought thus keeping the money. Many other people have complained of this.

All of this is Amazon's fault and it appears Amazon is deliberately trying to accumulate as much money through fraud as possible and my best guess is they are preparing for some sort of reorganization and trying to keep as much money as possible from anybody they can get it from - it's very dishonest and stuff is going on behind those walls most people don't know about-yet. I know I will never buy anything from Amazon ever again and thankfully they don't have my current card information.

 

This all sounds like issues with Amazon's eBay like features. I seriously seriously doubt this 'vaiousa' has anything to do with Amazon. You can't even reach their site right now, and why wouldn't it be registered to Amazon (and why would it exist to begin with, given that Amazon sells computers?)

I mean some of those reports may well be correct in terms of Amazon's third party stuff, but it just means you shouldn't deal with third party stuff unless you're reasonably confident in the company.

 

I was just there-here's what it says at the bottom:

Viaousa.com is not affiliated with Sony. Viaousa.com is an Amazon associate

So they're not directly afiliated with Amazon but there is a connection there. If anybody really wanted to know if Amazon is promoting this company, they could likely find the vendor information at Amazon's website.

 

That just means they're selling junk through Amazon. It's no different from eBay

 

Still I'm concerned about ever doing business with Amazon in any way ever again after what happened to my friend and thousands more (interesting blog that linked from ripoff report: amazonstolemymoney.blogspot.com . And if you look at Amazon's computers they usually use a specified third party sales agent acting for Amazon. Which is true of most of their more expensive items. Whether or not viaousa.com is an actual Amazon partner should be able to be discerned there.

I also looked up Sony Style at ripoff report and they only have one complaint listed there-a guy who bought a HDTV that he thought was completely black but was white in back which was a decorating issue so that's a fairly minor issue with a company as large as Sony Style. That was reassuring because they owe me $300 since I already paid for the warranty special on the non premium AW290 I ordered before and canceled and then was charged another $300 for the warranty on the AW290 premium when I purchased just a few days ago. That gives me even more confidence Sony Style will refund that $300 even if the warranty is actually sold by a different company, which I don't know.

Of course there are tons of complaints about Sony itself but most of the ones I saw were confused people and Sony dealers not the actual company refusing to make good on promises.

 

There are almost 500 Sony computers listed at Amazon's website. I only looked at maybe ten of the highest priced ones. Tiger Direct and LC Way were easily found as two names who are Amazon vendors direct from Amazon's website. LC Way is the company the consumer who complained about his supposedly brand new Sony computer that couldn't handle Bluray, was poorly packaged and had the wrong BIOS and processor wrote about. They also handle a very oddly configured non premium AW290 that sells for $2199 both at Amazon and at Viaousa.com I am sure LC Way and Viaousa.com are one and the same. Tiger Direct appears to be a Florida based electronics retailer.

 

That's not Amazon. You have to make sure you're buying from Amazon and you won't have problems.

I mean I don't like that it's littered with all this 3rd party junk (although in some cases they're reputable companies) but you can't generalize to Amazon from issues with third parties.

 

I realize it's not Amazon but it is sold through Amazon - it's on their retail website when you search for Amazon products of that type and most people aren't savvy enough to notice the little sold through mention on the side and a lot of other people who do notice it will think nothing of it-everything else on the page says Amazon and its their website.

 

I had this issue over christmas while I was in Oz, All I did was a total power down, this includes removing the battery for at least 30 mins. Once I had refitted the battery and powered back up the USB and fingerprint reader issue was fixed. I did explain all this Sony support (UK) in a detailed email and I did get a reply that doesn't mean the information was passed on or logged,

 

I don't want to harp on a dead issue, but out of curiosity I searched ripoffreport.com to see what kind of issues people were having with various computer companies-I didn't research nearly all of them but what I found is surprising and in some cases, alarmimg: Sony Style (only one report-a customer who purchased a Viao HDTV he thought was black both front and back that wasn't Sony offered to fix by returning as long as the buyer paid shipping cost so this is very minor), Sony upwards of 250 complaints (but that's hardly surprising for a huge company like this and some of the people are not very bright and others have major difficulty with English), Dell-942 complaints Alienware-53 complaints! That's a huge number for a barely known company! Apple-unknown because when you search for Apple you get all businesses that have to do with Apple I didn't really research any others although I did a brief serach for Hewlett Packard and found a lot of complaints as one would except with a large company.

HOWEVER there are a number of issues of illegality regarding LC Way also known as Viaousa.com that is listed in Amazon's own website on several of their computers as a third party reseller that are very serious-they include the following: claiming to be an authorized Sony dealer when they in fact are not, OPENING up Sony computers and replacing parts with cheaper generic and underperforming parts (one reader complained of a 300 GB hard drive when he paid for a 700 GB hard drive and processor was also switched), selling used computers as new. They also try to persuade E-Bay bidders to buy off E-Bay under the pretense of a better deal to avoid negative feedback and thus still being allowed to sell on E-Bay. Very serious allegations.

Keep in mind only a small percentage of actual victims of these companies are knowledgeable enough to file a report at ripoff report, contact the better business bureau, attorney generals office, etc.

The bottom line is it looks like if you're wanting to buy a Sony computer buy it through the Sony Style website, their retail store or a TRUSTED authorized Sony dealer.

 

Had the same problem yesterday. Apprantely it's caused by static, I did put my AW on the rug the night before.

To fix it remove the battery and the AC power and leave for around 10 mins. I left mine for longer as I went out.

 

I will be seeing this laptop hopefully in about 3 weeks, when I go to Atlanta (where they have a Sony Style Store)

Also when looking around I found another high end laptop that has promise, just Curious:

How does the ThinkPad W700 (200 and 400 nit compared, and also the Color corrected one) screen compare to the LED screen?

Would it be worth looking into the ThinkPad, or is the Sony is better for me? (Compare to my last posts)

I'm hoping the Sony is worth the few problems (hopefully less than I've heard) you have to put up with, but the ThinkPad has a built-in color corrector (but it is out of my price range for that: over $4200.) The Sony is affordable, so I probably will go with it, but as I said, I'd like to see what you think of the thinkpad just in case...

Also is the ThinkPad Matte?

Thanks. ^-^

edit: Also what are you feelings on the quality of the Dell XPS Studio 16, RGBLED 1920x1080 (Glossy) Screen? (I skipped over it because it was glossy, and I want Matte definately, but I'd still like to hear your opinion.)

 

I filed my own ripoff report against Amazon associate viaousa.com also known as LC Way after reading the reports on the company. I strongly suspect the person who posted the price for the AW290 here was the owner of that so-called company looking to drum up sales of his bogus and used products-do not buy anything from viaousa.com they have no affiliation with Sony and are known to sell used products as new and remove high quality components and replace them with substandard or non working components. Guy also sounds like a typical sleaze-his name is difficult to read, let alone pronounce which in itself means nothing until you combine it with the criminal activities.

 

You are likely correct - all his other posts have been directing people to this website and another to buy computers.

 

Yikes, nice catch

 

Regarding the hard drives bracket things to add a secondary drive. Where would I be able to find and purchase one of those brackets to install a secondary drive?

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

You can find them on the Sony service site. Go to www.sonystyle.com and click on "support".

On the next page type in your VAIO AW series model number (VGN-AW190JAH, for example).

On the following page click on "Buy parts" under "Repair and parts".

Click on the link to the Sony Parts & Accessories Store (servicesales.sel.sony.com) and there you'll get a list of parts specific to your VAIO model.

Or just copy the text below and replace the "VGNAW190JAH" for the character string that corresponds to your VAIO model.

http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ec...hOperation=modelSearch&searchText=VGNAW190JAH

I found the drive caddy right there but not the cable as cited. I sent a request for info. on that site so the minute I get a response I shall share it with you.

 

By the way... those looking for great prices on AW models should check out Newegg.com. I bought my VAIO VGN-AW190JAH there for $1,399.

Now I don't know what the "premium" that's so talked-about here offers, but the 190JAH's specs are:

CPU - Intel 2.4GHz P8600 Core 2 Duo w/3MB L2 cache and 1066MHz FSB
RAM - 4GB
HDD - 250GB @ 7200RPM
ODD - Blue Ray (BD read-only)
LCD - XBRITE Full HD (1080p)
VRAM - 512MB nVidia GeForce 9600M GT

Plus the rest of the bells and whistles (fingerprint reader, web cam, wireless, etc.).

The 190JAH's price has gone up $300 since I bought it on Jan. 16th. Newegg is now offering yet another model, the 290JAH which has a 2.66GHZ Intel T9550 Core 2 Duo processor w/6MB L2 cache and 1066MHz FSB, a 320GB HDD @ 7200RPM, and the rest of the goodies save for the Blue-Ray drive (it has a dual-layer DVD burner instead, of course). All this for $1,549.99. Not a bad price either.

I didn't care much about the BD drive so I might as well have gotten the 290JAH instead of the 190JAH considering the larger HDD, the slightly faster processor and the FSB. But then again, the 290JAH wasn't available yet at the time.

I'm very happy with my 190JAH anyways, so I can't complain.

I hope some of you find this info of use.

 

Does Sony not believe in coupons for CTO VAIOs? I really want a Premium AW CTO, but the $2400 is killing me. Even 10% would make a difference!!!

 

I do not seem to be able to find out this information anywhere.
Could someone tell me what the power wattage is of the charger unit?
Can you use it on board an aircraft? or is the wattage requirement too high?

TIA

 

What is the cheapest way to get LED screen AW (black, not grey)? Could it be possible to remove normal screen from AW and replace it with LED screen (I can't buy LED model with right keyboard)?

 

Sony offers discounts on the AW series in three ways:

A ten percent student discount good for students, parents purchasing notebooks for students, etc. Probably easy to get even if you're not really a student

$300 discounts are offered in two ways and these promotions are only good for a limited amount of time-usually one or the other is on the Sony Style website but sometimes neither one is so you need to check often.

$300 off the purchase of a two year or three year warranty or three year warranty with damage protection with the purchase of two VIAO accessories (printers and printing cartridges count, but recordable and studio BluRay discs do not)-this promotion is in effect at the present time
$300 off on upgraded components

You can not combine the discounts.

 

The education discount is about 7% on the AW290JFQ and AW235J/B. You cannot get the discount applied to a CTO computer.

The education discount will combine with the current $300 bundle offer.

There is a new promotion for free Vaio services on all purchases made by March 31, 2009. Basically you get a "tune-up" after 1 year (I assume you connect with their tech support and they take control of your computer to run diagnostics...I'm guessing the more tech savvy customers won't bother to take advantage of this service). They also offer free track-back which amounts to giving you a sticker for your laptop. If it is lost/stolen then recovered, they ship it back to you (sounds pretty useless to me).

Finally, you can always call in and negotiate a lower price. I got the impression the phone sales guys are in competition with the website (they don't get a commission if you buy it on-line) so they will try to beat whatever deal you an get on-line. If you don't care so much about the extended warranty and bundled accessories, this is a good time to call and leverage the $300 bundle for a lower price.