Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

... only if the media wasn't (re)mastered with care. some studios, for certain films, don't invest the time (and money) to conduct a proper transfer for Blu-ray playback. the measure of visual artifacts depends on the quality of the source material and the process by which the transfer was done.

 

indeed. no doubt about that.

 

I don't have any problem with the action, the keys give a decent tactile feel when pressed. But I find the location of the keys unusual. In the case of the "End" key, which is snuggled in with the arrow keys, it really messes me up a lot. Someday, hopefully, I will get used to it, but meanwhile I have to very consciously avoid it. I think the fact that the home position off-center exacerbates the problem, the right hand has no tactile reference point to locate it from side to side.

I've though of trying some sort of modifications to help this, such as colored labels or something else non-destructive, but first I'll wait another month to see if I can train my hands to adjust to Sony's world view.

 

Been looking for a cooling pad, anyone got a suggestion for one you can use on desktop as well as in your lap.

Looked at some I thought would be nice but not very good for actually working on your lap. Also looked at Belkin wave model, but can't tell if it's more looks then cooling.

 

Hi
did u managed to enable advanced menu in bios ?

 

Hi guys, how you all doing!
Not much time too play around with AW, I´m on holidays and enjoying the sunshine.
Quick response for the tokyo owners, ME: no problems with keyboard in fact comfortable and responsive and same with rest pad very wide for hands and comfy and touchpad buttons aren´t all that loud like some people claim. I mean I press my touchpad buttons and my two dogs don´t bark!!! Just kidding! All I´m saying is that these matters are subjective, dont you think? I bet anything that if you get overheating with the cpu, you´ll forget quickly about the keypad and palm rest so on. Don´t take offence it´s just an opinion.

 

Hello everybody!

My 3 year old Dell XPS is on its last legs and needs to be relaced. I am interested in buying a Vaio AW laptop, specifically the AW21ZB. I have some questions that I hope somebody can help me with.

1) How well does the 16:9 ratio screen cope with playing games that use 16:10 or even 4:3 resolutions? Does it stretch the screen or place black bars at the sides?

2) How noisy is the system? My old XPS is pretty noisy, it would be nice to have a quiet laptop or at least one that's quiet when you are using it for something that is not too demanding.

3) I would like to save money by not buying a blu-ray machine and instead connect this laptop to my TV and sound system via the HDMI and s/pdif connections. Does anyone do this to watch blu-rays and listen to music? Does it work well?

4) On Sony's website the specefications for these laptops have a "Memory Comment" stating that "In the case of 4GB, a portion of the system memory over 3GB might not be available to the 32bit operating system". Is this important?


Thanks!

 

4:3 games will have black bars, I am pretty even games a couple of years old will support 1920x1080.

Pretty quiet compared to other computers, the BD/DVD might make some noise.

It works via HDMI but the sound is down sampled (to say Digital Doby + quality) meaning you will not get HD sound like on the newer standalone BD players.

 

That is not good at all. Are you sure that there isn't a way to just pass the raw sound data through the s/pdif port and let an external device decode the signal? I know someone who has a BD player and he had to change the settings to let the HD sound come out the s/pdif port rather than the HDMI

 

All notebooks/laptops have this down sampling issue, many have asked your question and so far no one has an answer other then no.

 

for those interested, I did a raid 0 config and benchmarking of the new Hitachi 5K500.B drives (5400).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4783646&postcount=34

 

oh, and if anybody cares: the raid 0 config can be reset to raid 1 in the raid bios if you were so inclined.

 

A question to the community...

My AW will not stay OFF unless I shut it down. If I either sleep or hibernate it always finds a way to turn itself back on.

Are there known fixes for this?

 

I recently bought a Sony Vaio AW120j/h and have read in some forums that I can upgrade it to 8gb from the stock 4gb, but I have also read that you can't. So I just wanted some clarification that I can or can't upgrade. Also, my Windows Experience Index score for my processor is at 5.2, so even if I was able to upgrade my RAM to 8gb, would it make a difference or should I just not even bother because of the slow processor score? can I upgrade my 2.26 cpu processor only?

And there is a reformat option on my HD by pressing F10 a couple of times, so if I switch it out with a new 7200 HD, will that feature not be there anymore?

 

My CTO AW290 comes with:
Intel Core 2 Duo T9800 at 2.93ghz / 8GB RAM / 640GB Hard drive / NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB Dedicated Video Memory
Powerful beast, and I love it.

 

I just got my AW laptop, i wonder if any one has these problems:
1) is your hard drive very noisy? with all the clicking sound
2) is the bottom of the screen seems brighter?
3) also when i calibrate it with spyder2, the color is off and dead...

someone please help,
especially the calibration question

thanks

 

Check in device manager to see if the computer is set to wake up when an external mouse is moved or the key board is touched. Sometimes just walking by the laptop will jiggle the mouse enough to move it.

 

I also recently purchased the AW and my hard drive was also very loud (scratching, clicking sound). I returned the first one and the second one had the exact same sounds so I am not sure if this is just how the drive is.

The problem now is that my dvd drive vibrates excessively when I try to burn the back up disks. I am afraid this one is going to have to be returned as well!

 

can anyone who has taken their AW apart tell me where the wifi card is?? I have mine apart and unless it is under the motherboard or I am blind I do not see it.

 

One question because I´ve got the same rig as yours except for 4gb memory, what score do you get on windows experience? Thanks.

 

ask bad boy wi fi is under keyboard nex to fingerprint

 

it's vary i changed cpu and that win score changed even cpu and hdd and rams ...
now i have cpu 6.5 ram 6.5 hdd 5.7
i ordered 7200 rpm hdd and score will go up

 

Do you schedule tasks? If not the following will prevent scheduled tasks from waking up the AW, but you have to use regedit:

HKLM--> System--> ControlSet001--> Control--> Power--> PowerSettings--> 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20--> BD3B718A-0680-4D9D-8AB2-E1D2B4AC806D

(easiest way to get there is probably to just search for "BD3B718A-0680-4D9D-8AB2-E1D2B4AC806D")

in that main folder, I set Attributes to 0

opening the tree for that main folder, you'll find the subfolders "0", "1", and "DefaultPowerSchemeValues". this folder also has subfolders. open the tree to reveal them. there will be 3 additional folders. maybe more, depending on how many power schemes you have set up on your machine.

In each subfolder, you'll find "ACSettingIndex" and "DCSettingIndex". for no wake when on battery power, change the value for DCSettingIndex to 0 in each folder.

setting it to 0 in each folder ensures that no matter what power profile you're using the machine RTC will be disabled.

If you want to also apply this to AC power (plugged into wall), just reset ACSettingIndex to 0 in all the same folders you changed the DC values in.

Of course be careful when using regedit.

 

Lowest subscore 5.8. - data transfer ...

 

Hey guys. I got an AW last month, and I have not been able to find a fix for the internet problem I have. When I connect it to the linksys wireless router at my apartment or my parents house, it basically eliminates the connection, so no other comps or devices have internet. So my new nice portable laptop has to be hooked up with an ethernet cables.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Any and all help is appreciated.

 

sounds like a problem with the router, not the computer. update the router firmware or get a new router.

 

Thanks, Laptodd5, the scheduled tasks were indeed the culprit waking my machine up all the time. I didn't even realize there were so many secheduled tasks, from Sony, Microsoft, and Apple mostly.

Rather than make the global setting in the registry I just went through all the tasks to find the ones that were allowed to wake up the machine and I disallowed them from that. It seemed to work, my machine slept through the night last night.

Thanks again for the pointer.

 

I remember posting that fix (not staying asleep). Glad that post is still helping people.

 

hello,

im trying to upgrade my 2.26 ghz cpu processor.
i know i have a Intel PM45 Express motherboard, so my question was:

are there any recommendations on what kind of processor i should get?

and if so,

is it a do-it-yourself kind of job?

Thanks

 

djbootea
buy T9900 ..

 

ehhhh...

if you have to ask whether or not it's a DIY job, it probably isn't for you.

have you ever upgraded a CPU before? If not, chances are HIGH that you'll f it up and fry your CPU in the process. Do not recommend you experiment on this laptop. Not for your first try. this is not like upgrading ram on a hdd.

Refer to guide here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4673133&postcount=1791

 

Okay, I've searched the thread for awhile now...so now I'm just going to have to ask:

Where is the 3rd Hard Drive bay?

I know it was discussed at some point in here, but I just can't find it to save my life. Thanks, guys.

Edit: NM, found it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4682006&postcount=1845

 

Im thinking about getting an VAIOAW230 J/H or VAIOAW235. Both of these laptops cost about the same ($1599 - $1699). The only difference I belive is the fact that one have a Blu-Ray drive and the other one have BluRay R/W. Is it really necessary to have a bluray RW. Also Ive seen I guess older model AW where the model number starts in 120 or 190. Is there any difference between the model numbers. Im basically trying to get more bang for the buck whether its an older AW or the new models. My price range is about $1600

 

Can someone comment on the nois eof their hard drive in the Vaio AW. Do you have any scratching or clicking sounds coming from it. I have recieved two laptops and each produce the same sound. I am just wondering if I should try for a third or if this is normal?

Thanks

 

no. my drives are dead-silent.

if you hear clicking sounds, you need to download and run a diagnostic on it. those are abnormal and dangerous sounds. be sure to have a backup of anything you're making/saving on the machine.

 

What type of drives are reffering too? The AW can come with all sorts of drives.

Unless you plan are burning more then 9.5GB to a disk it's not necessary to have a Blu-ray RW.

 

Blue-ray R/W is not needed. I realized that after buying my AW with Blu-ray R/W.
See the point is when you buy a Blue-Ray disc for writing you are essentially paying ~$1.00/GB for storage capacity compared to that when you buy those USB external drives you pay ~$0.20/gb.
You can create all the HD files or movies in Bluray disc image format, copy those to an external drive and use a freeware disc mount software to view those.
I doubt if the older versions (those starting with AW 1..) are available I saw one in costco recently but its better to go with the newer models.

-J

 

That's what I tried first but a RTC (real time clock) schedule event keeps waking up my AW at 3:00am and I could not figure out how to stop it.
Were you able to cancel any RTC (real time clock) schedule events?

 

yo...BD is awesome...if you're going to use it. if you're not, pass. that simple.

 

I just upgraded my cpu and while its not a breeze it by no mean impossible either. Take your time, make sure you keep track of your screws and you should do fine. If I can do it, anyone can do it

 

I apologize if some of these questions have already been asked and answered... but I had a few questions about the two different AW290's (premium and non-premium) currently offered through Sony's website. I tried calling Sony's sales support hotline, but I got a different answer to each question every time I called.

1. (a) do both AW290's have the same LED-backlit LCD display? (b) is the only difference between the displays a software one... namely, Adobe RGB color management software?

2. (a) can the RAID on the premium AW290 be disabled so that I can use two drives independently? (b) can the RAID be changed from RAID 0 to RAID 1? (c) is it possible to set up a RAID on the non-premium AW290?

Thanks a lot.

 

quick question,

if i just bought 8 gigs of ram (2x4gb), would the p8400 be able to handle the RAM and be productive? or would it be better to just buy a new processor and keep the stock 4gbs?

 

How well does the AW handle CS4 Master Suite?

 

AFAIK only the premium has LED Backlighting. Both have XBrite-FullHD screens but the standard uses CCFL backlighting. There used to be a dual lamp CCFL option as well, but I don't know if it is still available.

You can disable RAID 0 and run the disks independently if you want to. I've been told you can run them in RAID 1 as well but haven't tried this. Sony doesn't provide the necessary cabling or caddy for a second hard drive in their single drive AWs, so make sure to buy a dual drive equipped one if you want that option. You can buy the extra parts to put in a second drive after market, but they're pricey.

SonyStyle offers the standard AW with RAID options so I presume you can do raid on them.

 

I run Photoshop CS4, not the whole suite. The Sony AW runs it better than anything I've tried. I have the OS and applications on SSD, that helps a lot also. Also Dreamweaver, Lightroom.

With the T9800 at 2.93 GHz (and it's 6MB cache), and SSD, the apps start the fastest of any machine I've seen including my quad-core desktop machine (no SSD). At the moment I have 6GB ram, seems to be enough for now. I'm on Vista U64.

Also, the Sony screen with the very bright 1920x1024 and Adobe RGB color gamut is more than ideal for Photoshop.

 

where did you get that 1920*1024 think 1920*1080 no?

 

Well heres the one that I plan on getting either the 235/or 230. I know the 235 have the bluray r/w on it.
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VGN-AW230J-18-4-Inch-Processor-Blu-ray/dp/B001MS6NM8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1241118808&sr=1-2

 

Bball2004 my drives are dead silent too! The whole rig is nearly silent. I agree with ajreynol, if you hear things be aware!But don´t panic either!

 

honestly? unless you're running 3D animation or CAD, 8GB of memory is a waste.

I'd put one stick in your AW, and the other stick in some other laptop you have.

8GB is overkill for 99% of computer users.

 

Thanks Guys,

I am well within the return period so I will be returning this one for another again...this is a serious pain though as I have to spend another three or four hours setting up the replacement.

Thanks again.