Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

can u make a video of the camera pointing at about 0-15 degrees below the horizon (coz i normally view the laptop downwards, not upwards), which may affect how the lighting is perceived.

 

I would bet my new Z520 that the screen on the left is a CCFL - I am 100% ssure of it

 

That amount of backlight bleed is disappointing and IMHO unacceptable. I'd probably RMA that puppy as defective unless we start seeing the same problem on all. This is supposed to be a high end notebook for photo/video?

 

Small question:
Is that actualy an AW or is it just a CCFL vs LED comparison, and I think its just that.

 

I intend to send mine back, but I'm pretty sure that any replacement I get will be just as bad. The video shown by reed lover is EXACTLY what I see on my laptop and the AW11S and AW11Z have the same dual lamp XbriteFullHD screens.

Has anybody got an AW with a decent xbriteFullHD screen yet?

 

I have to say that the vertical viewing angles for this laptop are also extremely poor. Unless you view head on, the screen changes colour dramatically.

 

If you are referring to my post/video then yes, it is the AW11z.

 

Dont get me wrong, as a desktop replacement it suits my needs very well. I can run several apps, like Nero, Anydvdhd, Outlook, Media player and Firefox together without any problems. I have watched some hi-res x264 movies on it and they look great. Some players hide the bleed better than others, in fact the interdvd program that is shipped with the laptop is probably one of the worst apps I have ever used. VLC player,Media Player classic and Nero Showtime seem to show less of the bleed.

 

Hrm, will see, I am from Canada, so maybe the Canadian one is a bit different? (AW120D)

 

It would be interesting to see if this is a localised problem or not. I doubt it though.

 

Where did you see the AW190CTO in person, a Canadian SonyStyle store?

Two stores in my area had the AW120D on display, a BestBuy and a FutureShop store but the SonyStyle store in the same mall had no AWs.

Yesterday I wrote to a SD card gradient images and brought them to the stores today along with my only Blu-ray to test the AW120D with.
This was before I read about the light leak problem with bottom of the screen and this was the first thing I noticed when I played the Blu-ray movie and the intro faded to black. The bottom part of the screen was much brighter then the rest of screen and was noticeable from all angles and I noticed it in dark scenes in the movie too, other then that the movie played fine.
Both AWs had this problem and looked pretty much the same in the amount of light at the bottom.

What I found odd was that in Paint I filled the program with black and went into full-screen and did not see the light leak problem, there was a thin border in the program however.

The AW did better then I thought it would with the gradient images although it was a bit lacking in the "deep colors" when the red, blue and green graded to black, this I suspect is a common problem with LCDs.

The AW at FutureShop had a Acer 8930 beside it which I thought great, I can test them side-by-side but alas the 8930 did not have a 1920x1080 display.

 

I never said I saw the AW190CTO in person, I just wrote what I saw on the Sony Style Canada website that the CTO comes standard with the Adobe RGB option, and no way to remove it.

I've only seen the 120D and the 190 in person.

Mind you, I didn't test it out with a blu-ray disc, so maybe this problem is really evident on the blu-ray playback?

Also, were any of the displays calibrated? Adjusting the contrast and brightness may make some difference even.

 

I'm quickly losing interest in the Vaio AW due to the "distracting" backlight leak issue. No one has come forth to say that their AW doesn't have a backlight leak issue, so for now let's assume that it's a "common problem". Sony needs to get their arms around this QC (or design) issue or they'll quickly lose sales to the HP HDX18t, ACER 8930, etc.

 

Where did you see the 190? That is the one I want to look at.

Thanks.

We are talking about BB & FS here so I do not think it was calibrated and I did not change the display settings. In my gradient image tests (non-blu-ray) I noticed nothing out of wack however.

 

Is it worth setup up a new thread to ask if people who have bought an AW with the xbriteFullHD/xblack dual lamp screen have a problem with the white light leakage at the bottom of the screen.

If there are any people who actually have a screen without the problem it might establish if this is a design fault rather than a design "feature."

 

My AW120D just left the Sony Warehouse and is en route to my place. I hope to receive it sometime mid-next week. So far, the light leakage problem is most prominent when playing Blu-Rays. If that is the case, I'm not too picky about it because I won't really be doing too much Blu-ray viewing on it. I purchased it more along the lines for web development, surfing, and some light gaming. The screen estate is real nice, which is one of the factors for me purchasing it, will let you guys know what it all about when i recieve it.

 

Okay, I just looked at the two pics u posted, and the AW more resembles the one on the right than anything. Please note that any TN panel will bleed like that when playing anything using Windows Media Player. Why? Simple. Because when in Windows Media player, the backdrop (black bars on the top and bottom) are not absolutely black, they're actually a shade of gray! I test this on my Samsung 19" 940BW too, same thing happened. This is why the bleeding looks so much more evident when playing movies than when doing Photoshopping or other stuff!

 

I'm a tech so I've seen tons of laptops in my day. I can't remember one laptop that didn't have at least some kind of light leakage. My current laptop, a 17" Macbook Pro, certainly has it.

 

I agree, my brother has the 2006 MBP and a 2008 MB (just got it last week), and both have bleeding just as bad if not as worse as the AW. The only difference is Apple was smart by using a gradient wallpaper and a clear bar at the bottom of their OS (very smart indeed) to hide the problem.

As HoosierInFL says, this is not restricted to just laptop panels, it affects all desktop TN panels as well: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1893627

 

I was using the default Blu-ray player in full-screen without borders.

 

I took my laptop into the sony shop today to ask their opinion. They were a bit cagey, but agreed that they hadn't seen a sony screen as bad as mine before. They did say that they don't have any dual lamp AW laptops, so don't know if it's inherent in the series. They did have a dual lamp FW series laptop, which they looked at, and it was light years ahead of my AW, so based on the 16.4" FW, my AW sucked sweat.

I know that all screens leak to some extent, but neither of my two 15.4" vaios anywhere near this bad. I went around the mall and looked at some 17" laptops, and none of the qosmios were as bad (hell, they are ugly laptops though!!). The HP 17" screens weren't as bad either. I also looked at the Macbook pros (new versions) and they were considerably better than my AW. There was some leakage from the bottom on all of them, but it wasn't perceptible unless you really looked for it.

Btw, playing blu-ray disks has nothing to do with light bleeding at the bottom of the screen. I don't have any blu-ray disks!

 

I just got my AW-190JAH. The screen does have backlight leak. I don't think mine is as serious as the two picture posted. However, if I remember correctly, my vaio FE series has the same thing when it is new. Also, I cannot stand the maximum brightness anyway, so I usually tone down the brightness, and less leak.

Now, to the performance, the only game I am playing is Warhammer online. I have it maxed, and it runs smoothly without any CTD problem. It did get a little hot at the heat sink area.

P.S. The HP 17 inch screens has to be the worse one because it has little contrast and very dim screen for some unknown reason.

 

Sorry my mistake, it is the VGNAW170C I want to take a look at.

 

Thats good to hear.

 

Can anyone here post some links for any reviews. I am very keen on getting this laptop but can't find any comprehensive reviews.

 

If you search this thread, you'll find a review, although it is for the rgb version. Although I'm going to send mine back due to an unsatisfactory screen, I have been using it a fair bit to try out autocad, 3d studio max 2009 and photoshop. I have to say that the wide screen and 1920x1080 resolution is absolutely fantastic.

In autocad, I can have side palletes open permanently, and still have enough room for the working screen. There is also tons of horizontal real-estate for tool buttons. The same goes for 3d studio, which runs smoothly and renders as fast as I'd expect for the processor.

Photoshop, which is familiar to more users, is now less cluttered and palettes can now be left fully open and side-by-side images can be accommodated much more conveniently. It's no giant workstation monitor by any means, but I think it's about as big as a laptop can really get before being a permanent desktop. Productivity-wise, this laptop is fantastic. I haven't played any games yet, but the 3d demos in 3dmark06 looked amazing.

Interestingly, I had considered the new top of the range FW21z series laptop which has the same resolutionas the AW, but on a 16.4" screen. I think that this may have been a disaster as the text size on the AW is just about as small as I'd like to get.

If I could get the AW with a decent screen I'd buy TWO! (well, maybe not)

 

I have an FE31h and it doesn't leak at all. It is an ECO screen though.

 

Yeah, god its not that great...
Whats a TN?

 

Well, I placed my order last Friday (24th of October) in the evening, and miraculously, I just got word that its ready for pick-up at the nearest Purolator depot already. Geez, thats not even 1 business day and I got it. Can't wait to get back home and check it out

 

I envy you guys who owns an AW with a nice GPU!

I'd love to have one of these babys anyways... too bad it's €2200 over here..


There should've been one with the 9800GT(X), better batterytime and as thinn as possible though, then i'd do anything to get my hands on one, even sell my car haha

 

So we still don't know which units have LED backlighting?

I got to see one at American this weekend-a "low end" one I think that was grey, and I assume used CCFL. The system is sort of biggish, but really in a good way. Keyboard seemed nice (in theory I hate chicklet keyboards, but then it's not hard to do a keyboard better than a typical laptop!) Screen seemed nice, all around just seemed nice.

And no question this 18.4" screen is getting in to territory where it's actually useful for using it as a primary display even.

Very nice. I would have bought that model then and there if it had LED backlighting...which it might for all I really know.

 

What is a primary display?
I only use my 13,3" Vaio
(No desktop) and am fine with it....

 

Yeah, the 18.4" provides ample room for designing and development stuff. Any smaller, and you'll need to hook up a separate LCD to it.

 

I wonder where companies will go next with laptop screen sizes?
I know that HP and a few others have 20.1" models, but surely no bigger.
Then they just become portable desktops as opposed to "lap"tops, surely. Even 20"s on my lap is too much.
I'd love to see Sony suddenly turn around next year when Intel launch their 3.2GHz Quad Core processors with a 20.1", 9800M GTX x 3 SLi, Gamers beast.
No-one, absolutely NO ONE would see that coming.

 

Just got my AW120D, opened it and loving it. Yes, there is a slight light bleed at the bottom BUT, its very washed out, mine is definitely no where near as pronounced as the 2 pictures posted earlier in this thread.

The DVD/BD Rom is working real well.

One thing though, 96dpi on an 18.4" takes some time to get use to :S (coming from a 19" running 1440x900).

 

SonyStyle Canada updated their website today for the AW Series computers. Now under all three models (VGNAW170C, VGNAW120D, and VGNAW110D) there is a Customize button for each. If you click on any one of these three Customize buttons, it will take you to the "VGN-AW190 Configure-to-Order" website. The only choice of display is the Adobe RGB display.

 

Just ran Half-Life 2 at 1920x1080, 2xAA, Max Settings, getting 60-70fps with scenes with more than 6 characters, and over 100fps in screens with just environment.

Going to install Gears of War tomorrow and give it a run for its money.

 

the CTO option became available last week I believe, thursday or friday, it appeared on the page when you click computers, AW190CTO, along with the CS190CTO.

 

The addition of an RGB display bumps up the cost by $1000 though, which is better than the 1200GBP jump here in the uk! The non-customised version of the AW120D has an XbriteFullHD screen and not an RGB screen. When you click on customise, as you say, the price jumps from $1799.99 to $3033.99. You also get a TV tuner for that though

It appears to me that in all regions (Europe, US and Canada) there is a big jump in price between the xbriteFullHD and RGB screens.

 

To me, the price is not warranted at all. I'm not a photographer or professional graphic designer, so its not really that important to me. But it may be different with those that are those 2 occupations.

 

For thos who customize, what configuration are you choosing in terms of processor and hard drive? Which is better for example a 1TB 4200 rpm or a smaller drive at 7200? Has anyone gone after (or sees the need for ) the 8GB RAM option - can that ever be worth 600 USD?

 

The 7200rpm will give u better performance. In terms of processors, get the p8400 for the best bang out of your buck, or the top T6500 for best performance. Anything in between, the performance improvement is negligible, even with the doubled cache on the T models. You gotta remember that these processors are dual cores, not quad cores. As for RAM, its up to you, 4gb is standard, I haven't tried 8gb. The thing is, the ram will be running at 800mhz, instead of 1033mhz.

 

The specifications for the AW120D at SonyStyle Canada say the maximum RAM is 4GB. But the AW190 CTO model allows you to choose up to 8GB (only $50 more than 4GB). Does this mean that the AW120D can only be bought with 4GB of RAM, but later you could upgrade the RAM yourself to 8GB?

Somebody mentioned that the BD-ROM is very noisy (I can't find that post right now). Has anyone else experienced this too?

Is text quite small/hard to read on the 1920 x 1080 display?

 

Night Owl, the 18.4" is about the same as a 19" desktop lcd. The only thing that you will have some difficulty adjusting to is the size of the icons, as they are slightly smaller, but the text is totally readable and clear.

You can put 8gb in any of the AWs, the mobo is the same across all lines. You just need to buy 4gb sodimms. Unforutnatley, there is no CTO based on the AW120.

The BD-rom is slightly audible, definitely nothing compared to my brother MBP and MB. However, the sound comes from the vibration of the unit. If you lift it up, there is no sound. So if you got a good laptop cooler underneath it shouldnt make any sounds.

 

So we STILL don't know which ones have LED backlighting?

 

Only the Adobe RGB. But not that big of a diff.

 

xtrykr, thanks for the information. Actually, I am using a 19" desktop LCD (BenQ FP937s) but its resolution is 1280 x 1024 with very readable and sharp text. Thank you for your first-hand experience with your AW120D.

No Sony Style stores in the Toronto area have any AW series computers yet, but I was finally able to find a Best Buy today that has one. They had a 120D and 110D side by side so I could really compare the two displays. The colours of the 120D looked much better (stronger and richer) to me and both were at 50% brightness and 50% contrast. On both, I used the trick that somebody posted of using PowerPoint to view a totally black slide. The 110D (Xbrite ECO, 1680 x 945) had very bad light bleeding with much of the screen looking light blue in many places from many different angles. I had to be away from the computer with the screen angled down to almost eliminate the problem. The AW120D (Xbrite-FullHD, 1920 x 1080) had very minimal light bleeding along the very bottom and it didn't change from any angle (until almost closing it). Text on the AW110D was very nice, while text on the AW120D was a little smaller, but still readable and clear.

I was wondering about the 8GB RAM limit because the high-end AW units do allow two hard drives, but as somebody here pointed out their AW did not provide a second connector for another SATA drive. OK, it's good to know that all AW units can be upgraded to 8GB in the future (even though Sony mistakenly says that the AW170C, AW120D, and AW110D units have a maximum of 4GB).

Yes, unfortunately there is no CTO for the AW120 as I would definitely like to double the RAM to 8GB for only $50 more, add a BD read/write drive for another $100, and probably add the TV tuner for another $100 too. That would be my ideal configuration, I think.

 

It's strange that sony do this. I also have a vaio FE31h, which according to the sony spec sheet will take a maximum of 2gb ram. In fact, the machine can accommodate up to 4gb!

 

I think that is the configuration the smart money buys, unfortunately, Sony was cunning enough to have us surrender that option for either the AW120D (which is still a great deal regardless) or the almost double the sticker tag AW170C. Luckily, RAM and HD can be upgraded on a DIY-basis. The only thing that the 170C has that the 120D can't is the Adobe RGB screen and the Piano Black Finish, which imo, doesn't really amount to much other than sentimental value.

As for the secondary connector for the SATA, I am pretty sure that its the actual ribbon/cable that is missing, not that the option is not available. I may be wrong, but given that both the mobos are the same on all AWs, I don't see how it can be magically be disabled and removed from the silicon board, as this would drive up manufacturing and assembly costs for Sony.

 

Hence their footnotes that those are Marketing Specs. xD