Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

After spending quite a bit of time researching this, I believe that the indicator for the screen is the "j" or "y" in the model number. So far every model listed with a "j" that I have seen has the standard fullHD (non led/Adobe rgb display). The black glossy case is also an indicator but I have seen a lot of sites use photos as a "representation" so I wouldn't trust them to accurately represent the product being sold.

 

I just called Sony and the tech told me that EVERY AW model has an LED display and that the difference is the Adobe RGB part.

He couldn't point to someplace online that states that, so I don't know whether to believe him or not.

 

Now THAT would be awesome, if true. Does anyone know how to confirm this? If the entry level model has white LED, you'd think Sony would be using that point in a BIG way in their advertising. On the Sony website, only the Premium RGB model mentions LED. My gut feeling is that the tech is mistaken, but that could explain why the premium and non-premium models that Artimeis saw in the Sony Store side by side looked the same...the wider color gamut of the RGB display probably wouldn't be apparent in the store unless you spent some viewing the same color managed applications on each display (more than just desktop, etc).

Again, I've seen no mention of LED on any other than the 3LED RGB.

 

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

This was borrowed from the specs page on the Sony AW series page. The premium version (Y models) are most definitely the only ones with the premium screen.

I finally made a decision and went with the AW190JAH which is available at newegg.com. I was concerned about it because it seemed like there was so much disappointment about the screen. As much as I would love to have the fancier version I don't have the budget for it. I'm hoping that it will be a much needed improvement for my graphics/photo jobs compared to using my current HP dv9000. I guess I'll find out some time next week!

A friend of mine found a link to a listing of the different models available (pre-configured) and it does not jive with my theory as some of them have the "y" in the model number. Here's a link to the list
http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/multimedia/aw-series

 

Let me know about the AW190JAH, when you get it. I am thinking about it, too. I swear I don't see a huge or any difference between the low-end and high-end AW screen in the sonystyle store, but they are not side by side so I could be off.

 

More confusion...some of the models listed here have x-brite ECO displays. The ECO display isn't even offered on the sonystyle purchase website. If you order a preconfigured model, how do you know what you'll get? Why all of the secrets sony? (or is it just "challenged" translation of the specs to English).

 

The model VGN-AW110J/H on the above model list link and on Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16834117831,N82E16834117800,N82E16834117799 has x-brite ECO display at 1680 x 945 resolution and GeForce 9300M GS rather than 9600M GT, but I don't see that model offered through sonystyle...could be a special entry level build for big box retail stores and such (although I'm not sure who would want it for the price difference, unless someone would buy "off the shelf" without knowing or caring about what's inside).

 

I'm interested in the 190 Premium build to order. My guess is that because it has the word "Premium" in the title and it is piano black that it would have the better screen but I just don't know.

 

The one on newegg is probably a business model.

I haven't checked yet, so if someone wants to go onto sony's business site, you could see if they have that model on there......

 

I have actually seen the AW110 in fry's, I always thought the screen is horrible compare to the AW125 in Bestbuy and the two in the Sonystyle store. Maybe in reality, there are 3 types of screen that Sony is using. Not sure though.

 

Sorry about the late reply guys. I pretty much lost interest in the laptop after seeing it but decided to check out the thread this morning anyways.

I went to the Sony Style store and they only had one AW on display and it did have the glossy black lid and it was all in black. The price was north of $3000 and they even had a white sticker on the top right of the screen that said, "Adobe RGB LED" or something to that effect.

So there really is no way to mistake the screen for something else. I wish I was wrong but the laptop still uses a tn screen with mediocore viewing angles.

 

Unfortunately all notebook computers being manufactured these days use the TN panel. The viewing angle is really irrelevant unless you are planning on viewing the screen from the bottom where it really inverts the colors.

The trick these days is just to find one that has really nice PQ. There are some really nice TN panels on notebook computers that come close to the MVA/PVA panels as far as great PQ and the vibrant colors. One of those that I have found is the Sony Xbrite with HiColor. Im thinking the one now labled FullHD is the same type panel only now they are adding the LED.

 

The viewing angles are an important parameter of picture quality. TN technology usually doesn't offer good uniformity across the screen and its technical specifications are "right" only when looked from a direct viewing angle. Beyond their limited viewing angles, the picture gets distorted and lacks of color saturation and contrast, which is virtually poor picture quality and is one of the reasons why they aren't used in high-end monitors and photographers avoid them.

Advertising TN panels as " perfect for the designer or photographer who demands precision" is just plain wrong, that's the problem here. Otherwise, the average person probably won't have any serious issues with "better" TN screens, besides justifying the price premium which in the case with notebooks may not be worth it.

Anyway, read reviews that provide more details about the screens but do keep in mind that people's opinions will vary depending on their experiences/familiarity/expectations, so don't take them as gospels, and if possible, check the screens out in person so you can decide whether it's worth it for you or not.

Good luck everyone.

 

Problem is the majority of reviews give little info on notebook screens other then the size of it. Depending on were you live it can be hard to find a retailer that has quality laptops on display.
For most people it is not that important but for me it is since I want to use it to show off film work to clients and having at the least a decent color space is needed.

 

The problem for me is that there isn't a Sony Style store anywhere near me and none of the Best Buy's here carry it. I wish I could see it before I buy, but probably won't be able to (No Fry's, either).

 

Probably gonna go with the 190 Premium and build it to my tastes. Anyone wanna buy a mint 17" Macbook Pro?

 

Has anyone actually received their AW yet? If so, can someone post their impressions, experiences, etc. A couple of photos and "mini-review" would be great too. I haven't seen any good reviews out on the base system...they're all focused on the tricked out nearly $4K 3LED RGB version w/SSDs etc. Thanks.

 

Bunch of noobie questions:

What is the best/cheapest legal way (not the fell off a truck/ebay way) to get an AW. Are there any coupon codes (like with HP and Dell). Did anyone try to get the educational discount to see if it applies for the AW? I do have an .edu email address. I know that there is a Sony credit card $150 bonus.

My plan is to buy the CTO with the regular screen, 2.53GHz CPU, BD writer, 4 year warranty and then put in my own hard drives and memory. Is it easy to put in a second hard drive or do you need a special bracket for that (like with HP HDX18)?
What laptop backpacks are people using with it?
Has anyone been able to install a hackintosh version?

 

Just ordered one from Sony Style. I went with the 190 Premium. The specs: 2.5ghz, 4gb ram, dual 320gb 7200 drives, blue ray reader, Adobe RGB screen, piano black color, etc.

Ship date estimate is 10/30. I hope it doesn't take that long. Once it finally gets here I'll take some pics and do a review.

 

Nice specs. Congrats on your new MB Pro killer!

 

It's funny you say that since I'm selling my 17" Macbook Pro to help pay for this. It's on Ebay right now if anyone is interested.

 

is there a CTO for AW?

 

Configure to order AW190 Premium (LED) and AW190:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...ategoryId=16154&XID=O:sony aw:dg_vinb_gglsrch

 

ah, but no canadian CTO?

 

I've just had my AW11s delivered. It's sitting under my office desk at the moment, so I'll have to wait till I get home to open it. I had to settle for the 2.26ghz option (Mid-range screen, not ECO and not RGB) as the 2.53ghz would have cost me an extra £300GBP! (insurance replacement).

Anyway, as my AW has just one 400GB HD, and I have a spare 250gb HD from my trashed NR21Z, does anybody know if I could add this to my system as some configurations seem to have two HD's (and an SSD for that matter!).

Also, has anybody found a bag for this monster. Sony do one messenger style bag, but it is way too dull!

 

The thing is, nowhere does that configuration thing say it has an LED backlight. Surely they would bother telling you?

I'm really interested in this notebook-decent GPU, LED backlight (if you can guess the right model...), Blu Ray, and I do like Sony...

Some other questions, does this come with a clean OS CD like Dell and Gateway give? If not, does it at least have a restore CD?

Can you reinstall WITHOUT RAID (without buying a new copy of Vista)? Or for that matter, reinstall the 32-bit version of Vista? I don't want RAID 0, doubly so on a laptop!

Does this have a user replaceable hard drive? My understanding is a lot of Sony systems don't, but I'm not clear on that-I'm used to most brands being easily replaceable.

 

I would (almost) bet my new AW that there are is no clean install cd to be had. How would sony make any money from including those trial editions that they are peddling to us? In fact the chances of getting any cd/dvd at all are pretty **** slim to zero. It is very easy however to make your own restore dvd's, and I advise that you do so straight away.

I don't know how to disable RAID, but I don't think installing a new/different version of Vista would have anything to do with it.

The hard drive on the last three sony's that I have had have been replaceable, and I fully expect this one to be as well. My question is whether or not there are 2 sata interfaces on ALL AW's to enable me to install a second hard drive (mine only has one hdd installed at the moment).

 

Okay, so it does at least let you make restore DVDs? Do you know if they end up "clean", or I guess mucked up with trial ware?

And do you know if you can choose how to partition/set up the hard drive if you do a restore? I want to get rid of RAID 0 and just have a normal setup.

That's good to know, thanks!

If Dell doesn't get it in gear here...

 

The VGC-RT is an awesome piece of kit, but the AW is so much better looking!
And its portable. I hope they put an option for the AW later on to have nVidia SLi 1GB VRAM in it, because that along with the new 3.2GHz INTEL mobile processor as options a little way down the line would just kick everything else off the planet.

 

Hey, wait...the main CTO page for the 'premium' did have 'LED' along with the display description, but Sony has removed it recently from the description. ***? I did find the following in the "specifications" section, which is a PDF under the 'processor' pulldown menu:

Display
Screen Size: 18.4"
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Technology: Adobe RGB Color Correction (only available
on glossy piano black)
Back Light Technology: LED
XBRITE-FullHD™ Technology: Yes

Odd that they would purposely edit the description on the main page to delete 'LED'...

 

Well, I just put in an order for an AW120D from Sony Canada. I used the 10% off coupon code CJRFD198, so it came to 1819.99 with taxes and all. The only thing I might upgrade on this thing is the hard drive (320gb/5400rpm), to a 7200rpm one or maybe a SSD when they get cheaper. I looked at the screen of the Adobe RGB and the regular FullHD one, and I can tell you that the difference is negligible under normal productivity usage. The only thing that it will help out on is in Photoshopping or Graphic Design for print as the Adobe RGB is calibrated to be much more accurate, but realistically, when you view a Blu-ray on it, no perceivable difference at all!

I have been tidder tottering between the T9500 processor over the P8400 processor, checked a lot of benchmarks, and pretty much, it comes to about a 2-3% gain on the T9500 processor over the P8400 on CPU requirements. In terms of REAL world applications when you throw the GPU into the mix, hd, memory, etc, the differences are less than 1%, so to me, the extra $$$ is not warranted for the higher clocked and larger cache processor.

All in all, I am very excited, I just hope I can find a nice bag for this though. I wish Hlaska made a 19" bag for this

Furthermore, I hope I don't get any dead pixels or defective parts on arrival of the product :S

 

Yeah, my biggest worry is about dead pixels.

As for bags, the one I got from SF Bags for my 17" Macbook Pro might work. Sony says the AW's width is 17.2" and this bag is 18" wide.

Go to sfbags.com and under the Bags category select the Cargo model.

It's not cheap, but it's a beautiful bag with lots of pockets.

 

This is straight from the Sony Style website:


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

 

Actually, would a 17" laptop bag work?

 

My AW arrived yesterday. It's model AW190JAH, P8600,
4GB RAM, 250GB 7200 RPM hard drive, BD Combo. It was 1599.99 at newegg plus $17 s/h. I also purchased through ebates so I saved another $30 or so.
If you'd like to sign up with ebates, I can send you a link if you pm and you'll get $5 and so will I! Anyway,

I've not had a whole lot of time to do the fun stuff on it only because I've been working but I can provide my first impressions. I would like to add that I'm giving you my opinion as a designer so I am not an expert on hardware or technology but a user of graphics intensive programs like Photoshop, After Effects, Lightwave, Cinema 4D, etc.

My first thought was that it is impressive. The viewing angle is so much better than what I had before (HP Pavillion dv9000) purchase just about 2 years ago. My only negative thought so far has been the "clickiness" of the touchpad buttons. They are pretty noisy and have a hard click. This could be a good thing in the long run because it may stand up better. My previous notebooks had more of a softness that I think increased with time so maybe this will help. The screen is very bright and rich. When it first comes on there is a slight glow at the bottom edge of the display which has not been noticeable to me while using the notebook. I feel some colors are a little "hot" and feel that the display will benefit from color calibrating which I'm hoping to do this weekend. Also, I like the spacing in the keypad.

After making the commitment to buy I got worried that I made the wrong decision not getting the premium model but I really couldn't afford it anyway. Now that I have received it I don't regret my decision. I would not have been happy with the piano black model. My HP was piano black and I would prefer to never have that glossy look again as it does not stand up well. I am very protective of all of my equipment and it showed every little mark. I'm quite please with the metallic grey cover and touchpad deck..

If there's anything specific you'd like to know let me know.

Beth

 

I got my AW11S yesterday, which is a UK model incorporating the dual lamp screen (in between the ECO screen and the premium RGB screen.

2.26ghz
4gb ram
9600m GT 512mb gddr3
400gb Hard Disk (4200rpm!!)
X-brite dual lamp screen
BluRay Reader/Writer
CF card reader (EXCELLENT!)
Loads of bloatware, which I have to spend time removing (Rubbish)

I was very disappointed with the white light bleeding into the screen at the bottom. It did improve a little after being on for a few hours, but it is still noticable when there is an area of pure black at the bottom of the panel (eg, when viewing a widescreen movie with top and bottom black bars). I have two 15.4" vaios with the standard ECO screen and the white bleed is not as prominent on either laptop, so I'm a bit p!$$ed off tbh.

Apart from that, it's a lovely laptop. It is matte black (really nice, and much preferred to the nasty shiny black as featured on so many HPs and big Toshibas) with a sharp, clean silver trim around the edge. The screen is crisp and bright. It runs cool on my lap (I tried 3dmark06 twice with a score of about 5200). It's quiet. It was a bit slow to start until I realised that it was running in optimised mode AND was downloading and installing Mcafee Suite AND 26 windows updates in the backround. Duh! I switched it to performance mode and waited for the downloads to finish and it was much sparkier. My other vaio was a 2.1ghz/3gb/5200rpm/8400MGT laptop, so I don't expect any real improvement in performance.

I opened up the bottom to find that there is a space for a second HDD, but it looks as though the sata interface for a second HDD is NOT provided which is a real shame (anybody who can tell me any different?). The battery is the same size as my other vaios, although a slightly different shape. The AC adaptor is also slightly different to my 15.4" vaio's, which is a shame because I liked having an adaptor in the office and living room.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do about the screen, as it's a real disappointment...

 

Yeah, very odd. If it really does have it, they need to put that up...it will lose them sales.

And it really says "available"...who knows what that means. If they're not explicitly putting a major selling point on the configuration pages, I'd think that's fishy...

 

Check this out...the spec sheet for the base model AW190 (not the premium model) on the SonyStyle config page http://www.sonystyle.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/pdf/VGN-AW190_CTO_spec.pdf has the backlight technology listed as LED. There is no mention of CCFL, dual lamps, etc. Unless a typo or false advertising, that would lead me to believe that ALL AW models have LED backlighting (which agrees with what a Sony tech person told someone here earlier). Would that mean that the standard model has white LED and the premium model has 3RGB LED plus calibration software or that ALL have the 3RGB LED and only the premium model has the calibration software? If you read it closely, it states that the Adobe RGB Color CORRECTION is only available on the premium model (doesn't say anything about the LED backlight being only available on the premium model). Typo? Bad translation? Come on Sony, why all of the secrets!!

 

Weird, we REALLY need this clarified, as that makes the AW even more appealing to me, if I can get one for over $1000 cheaper than I think I can. They REALLY need to clarify it, and I'm pretty sure other stuff explicitly says CCFL for the lower models.

But geez, <$2000 for something with a good LED backlit screen, Blu Ray, and a decent GPU...

Granted the better screen would be better, but...it's Sony, how bad can it be?

 

No, its not an LED. The Canadian AW190CTO comes with the Adobe RGB with no option to remove it. (This is for Sony Canada btw). I checked it in real person, there is no perceivable difference between the 2 screens except that the palette in PS is more accurate than that on the non Adobe RGB equipped one. Both have the slight light bleeding at the bottom, but this is minimal and is like that with any other laptop screen.

 

There are 3 screens for AW - XBRITE-ECO with low resolution, XBRITE-FullHD and XBRITE-FullHD w/ RGB - right? I've seen AW ECO at JR store and I didnt like it at all. I hope XBRITE-FullHD is gonna be much better.

 

Since Sony's press releases confirm that the RGB version (premium) uses 3RGB LED (Bravia technology) and this makes at least two people here now that have seen the premium model and base AW190 w/ FullHD display "side by side" and noticed "no perceivable difference", wouldn't that lead one to think that the base AW190 w/FullHD display uses LED backlight as well? In other words, two "identical" (except for backlight) displays side by side,wouldn't the LED backlight be very apparent compared to CCFL? (whiter, brighter, etc.) Is there any way for those that now have the non-premium FullHD version to determine if their backlight is LED vs. CCFL such as an "instant on" look rather than the "warm up" look of a lamp display when first turned on?

 

CCFL laptop displays aren't like lamp-based DLP or LCOS sets. They don't have a warm-up or anything like that - they have the same brightness upon starting the system as an LED backlit display would have.

What you can look for, however, is light bleed at the top or bottom upon boot (usually bottom). Bleed is more distinct on a CCFL display as it tends to stay at the bottom. LED bleed will have a more "all 4 corners" type bleed to it.

All in all, it is hard to tell the difference between displays at a store, so unless someone wants to crack open their lcd to put this puppy to bed and finally find out which screen the non-piano black finish 190 has then we may never know!

 

I have an XbriteFullHD screen (equivalent to Xblack dual lamp). Light bleeds like crazy from the bottom of the screen. I've taken some photo's but it's difficult to get a faithful exposure. These seem to give a reasonable impression of the problem. The actual screen is somewhere between the two-NOT "pure" black by any stretch of the imagination, rather an uneven grey. Trouble is that it is so subjective...

 

Dang, okay so that's the "middle" screen...so basically we only know for sure that a single, over $3000 model has LED backlighting, and we don't know about the configure to order models (even the more expensive one)?

 

I've had my AW for about 3 weeks now (preordered in Sept) and overall I am very happy with it. However a couple of things irritate me:
The light bleed at the bottom of the screen is very noticeable and is very distracting.
If I want to watch Blu-Ray on my TV I have to select fn+ F7 to select my TV screen only as the viewer. The laptop screen is blank at this point. This means that I have to look at my TV screen (which is about 15 foot from where I keep my laptop) to select the Intervideo DVD/BD program. I know I could move my laptop nearer my TV but given I have a 15ft HDMI 1.3 cable it shouldnt be necessary. This makes the whole process unecessarily awkward. Any other setting allows the desktop to be seen on my TV but any video "greyed" out.
The speakers, though a massive improvement on my old FZ, vibrate quite a lot and they are still too quiet.

I have the aw11z model.

 

Is this a common problem?

 

wow, the bleeding on the bottom of that AW of yours is real bad, the one I saw at the store was no where near that bad!!!

 

Not ideal but I took a quick video with my phone and uploaded it to photobucket.

I cant post a link as I havent made 15 posts!!

 

add the h-t-t-p-:-/-/ to the following link without the dashes to view: smg.photobucket.com/albums/v619/reedlover/?action=view&current=screenbleed.flv