Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

I opened mine up, and there is no 'fixed' second controller. Sony wouldn't need to disable the second controller or remove it from the board, it would simply be a matter of not providing a second sata connector to the drive bay. I'm sure you could open up the pc to get to the mobo, and put in another sata cable, but that would be a bit more work.

The best chance of an easy upgrade would be to have a sata cable from the first HDD to extend to the second HDD. It would be great if a brave soldier could test this theory. I'd love to add a second hdd to my AW.

 

Wait, so it uses a separate RAID controller? or is it onboard?

 

This is another possibility in the same vein, but I suppose we need somebody who actually has an AW equipped with the RAID array to tell us how it's physically set up (?)

Interesting possibility though. Do you think Sony would tell us if we asked

 

xtrykr, how are you enjoying your AW120D on your second night of ownership? Now that I saw an AW120D in person at a Best Buy today, I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one very soon.

Is there any catch with the coupon code you mentioned before (e.g. is it a student discount or something like that)? Is the coupon code only valid at Sony Style Canada or could you use it at a Sony Style retail store too?

 

Hi Night Owl, I've just finished loading up HL2, Portal, TF2, Gears of War, and Civ/Colonization, Adobe CS4 Suite, Office 2007, everything is running real smooth. Loving every moment of it. I also tested the bd player watching Planet Earth last night, runs real nice. I made some slight adjustments with my contrast and brightness, I got my brightness down to 40% and contrast down to 45%, both which are default at 50%. Its not as "blinding" now (this monitor can get REALLY bright).

I uninstalled some of the non-Sony Bloatware (They give u a trial version of Office Home edition, OneCare, and some other stuff). However, I did not remove any of the Sony proprietary software (none of them are loaded into the memory space with the exception of the Bluetooth and the Touchpad sensor app).

Took about 35min to make my recovery disc. I did not reformat my hard drive (the recovery partition only takes up 8gigs, which is nothing really). No crashing. I will probably load PRIME tomorrow and test the ram and cpu thoroughly to make sure they are not defective.

As for the discount codes, I used the following:

CJRFD198 ~ 10% off order over $1499

I checked the retailer, they most they gave me for a discount was $150, which was $20 shy of what Sony Style Online was giving me, and also, they threw in 3 free BDs (Casino Royale, Hitch, and Surf Up).

 

xtrykr, many thanks for the information. I have never owned a Sony computer before, but I have seen and read how some Sony models before came with excessive amounts of bloatware and that kind of scared me. I told my girlfriend that I would probably have to spend hours getting rid of most of the junk. Hmmm, so your computer doesn't sound bad at all (and I can use those hours to enjoy the computer instead

Did your recovery disc just make a copy of your 8 GB recovery partition? The recovery disc and recovery partition will both restore your computer to its brand new state? Is there a Windows Vista installation DVD so you can wipe everything clean?

I didn't hear of PRIME before. Is that Stress Prime 2004, or Prime95?

 

Prime95 for the memory.

This is my first Vaio also, I owned a Lenovo and Dell before that, but those 2 were business laptops (11" and 13"). This is my first desktop replacement laptop.

As for the recovery thing, The Complete Factory Restore files are located on an 8gb partition that is already set when you get your AW. When you first boot up, you will be prompted to finish the Vista installation (give your PC a name, choose language, etc). This will take 5-10min. After 2-3 restarts, you should be loaded into Windows for the first time. In the bottom right hand corner, there is an icon that will tell you to make your recovery disk first. This icon will actually launch the Vaio Recovery Center program (which you can access in Start-> All Programs -> Vaio Recovery Center). It will ask you for 2 x DVD-Rs to burn the recovery files to. Basically, if anything goes wrong, you should be able to simply load the DVDs and it will reset your laptop to factory condition. That being said, the 8gb partition will still remain on your HD. I would leave this alone, as it doesnt really eat up much space, and it does not hinder your performance. The copying/burning should take about 30-45min.

I uninstalled the trial edition of OneCare, and MS Home Trial. I also remove the full version of MS Works. I kept Roxio Easy Media Creator. For my Antivirus, I am using Avira Free Edition (works well with 64-bit Vista).

I tweaked my VAIO battery optimization settings. I am using Super Battery Care for my battery to ensure maximum life expectancy on the battery. Since this is a desktop replace, I usually have the battery detached from my laptop when plugged in with the AC adapter, this ensures that the battery does not get recharged repeatedly, and unnecessarily (repeated recharges without full discharge will decrease the total capacity of the battery, even though it is a lithium).

Other bits and pieces: A full charged battery will yield about 1.5-2 hours of continuous PC use (surfing, downloading, email checking, some light office work). This was done with the screen dimmed to about 60%, and the wireless card set to medium performance. If you run everything on high, it is very likely you will only be able to squeeze 1-1.5 hours on the battery. Obviously, playing a full feature BD movie is not recommended when just using the battery. Hehe.

 

Does 64-bit Vista support older 32-bit applications fairly well? I guess for some applications -- like antivirus, as mentioned -- you must use the 64-bit version.

 

I just whatever is the default one on Avira's website.

As for 32-bit apps, they should all work, but no support for 16-bit apps.

 

Some programs won't install as they use 16-bit installers even though they're 32-bit programs. And Gametap isn't fully 64-bit compatible yet (Some games don't work yet I guess...at least last time I checked a few months back)

If given the choice I'm planning on going with the 32-bit version. Also I've heard of some registry issues with the 64-bit one, entries getting duplicated multiple times and things.

 

Professionally speaking, I'm an artist (animator and photographer) and I think the screen is great. My desktop is always set to black and I never notice the light leak. I did run a black solid full screen and notice a bit at the bottom but it is never a problem when I'm working. I've had mine for almost a week now (AW190JAH) and I'm quite pleased.

I did a color calibration (Gretag MacBeth/X-Rite i1) and it was pretty accurate without the calibration except for the brightness-the brightness is off the charts. I run several different 3d apps, which I have not installed yet. I've really had the most problem migrating to Vista (64-bit). I had been using XP Media Center and everything was running ok so I didn't bother to switch. Installation has been a headache. It took a while to get my colorimeter recognized, etc. More specialty problems than mainstream ones though. There are really only two things that bug me: the clicky touchpad buttons and all of the crap that's installed on it! A lot of wasted space in my opinion.

One thing I am glad about is the silvery grey case. My previous computer had the piano black and it did not stand up-always looked like it had fingerprints on it, showed every little scratch. And I'm fairly protective of my equipment/gadgets.

The other plus is that the money I saved by not getting the premium model will more than pay for my Adobe CS4 upgrade.

 

Hey, just wondering, how did u get the Adobe RGB screen with the grey case?

 

In Canada, the preconfigured models only have 64-bit Vista (AW170C has 64-bit Vista Ultimate, while both the AW120D and AW110D have 64-bit Vista Home Premium). Only the AW190 CTO model lets you choose 32-bit Vista Business or 64-bit Vista Home Premium or 64-bit Vista Ultimate. Unfortunately, because the AW190 CTO only comes with the Adobe RGB display, its minimum price with 32-bit Vista Business is $2573.99. Hmmm, the website says 32-bit Vista Business costs $50 more over 64-bit Home Premium), but they actually charge you $100 more when you click on the Vista Business radio button.

 

Hmmm, with any RAM selection for the AW190 CTO with 32-bit Vista Business, the Sony Style website says, ' This option is not available with Windows Vista® Business 32-bit.' So no RAM order is accepted with 32-bit Vista Business. There are obviously some problems with the Sony Style Canada website.

 

I'd take Home Premium 64-bit over Business 32-bit anyday. Sure, you need the 4gb of ram to run 64-bit, but it does run real smooth. The only thing that is really missing is the RDP client on the Home version, but I use VNC anyways, so its no biggie.

 

I didn't get the "Adobe RGB" premium screen. I got the standard model from newegg.

 

Vista 32-bit and 64-bit use about the same amount of resource ram wise. The major difference is that 32-bit could only use 3gig of maximum no matter what, while in theory, 64-bit could use almost unlimited.

 

According to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), 64-bit Vista Home Premium has maximum RAM limit of 16 GB. 64-bit Vista Home Basic is 8 GB. The 64-bit versions of Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate all have an upper limit of 128 GB.

 

I am planning on getting the AW190CTO with the smallest/cheapest HD and then put in 2 5400rpm 500GB ones.
Question: Do you need a special bracket to install the second one?

 

Has anyone here connected there new AW to a AV receiver that's capable of decoding Hi Def Audio Sound tracks via HDMI in bitstream and not LPCM.

According the Dolby web site the 'Dolby Home Theatre' will playback the following sound tracks
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD

I would interested to know if the AW will do the above because Sony AR series downgraded HD audio to 2 channel stereo via HDMI and only allowed Dolby Digital via optical

 

Hello:
I was wondering if anybody has any coupon codes for the AW CTO (USA)?
Thanks.

 

I am so jealous of anyone who has the AW11Q/U.

I wann it!

 

Yes, I picked up an AW11ZU/Q from Sony Style in the UK last Friday. I am very, very pleased with the machine. My previous laptop was a Levono R series (about 2.5 years old and heavily used) and this VAIO totally blows the Levono away...

For a living I own my own laboratory equipment business and sometimes have to editing lots of images for manuals and marketing material. I also working with CAD a lot and have a secondary consulting business where I am out at customers sites needing to work from my laptop. I was looking a for a single laptop unit that could meet all of my needs and move me away from being split between a laptop and a desktop unit (for 'heavy duty' processor/screen intensive stuff).

The 3LED screen is utter perfection and I can't see any light leakage as referred to in some earlier posts. The unit is ultra quick and looks great.

Let me know if you have specific questions and I will do my best to answer...

 

Billy, I got a couple of questions post 270 is the first "Has anyone here connected there new AW to a AV receiver that's capable of decoding Hi Def Audio Sound tracks via HDMI in bitstream and not LPCM.

According the Dolby web site the 'Dolby Home Theatre' will playback the following sound tracks
Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD

I would interested to know if the AW will do the above because Sony AR series downgraded HD audio to 2 channel stereo via HDMI and only allowed Dolby Digital via optical"

Secondly can you confiirm if the HDMI port is 1.3 and not 1.2

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

p.laver!

Yes, I will investigate on both points tomorrow evening, UK time (I need to go to bed now - I have a 5:30am start tomorrow ).

I will probably need some directions from you on how to establish answering your question re: decoding high def audio...

Bill.

 

No worries, I'm in the UK as well

 

Is it the AW11XU/Q or the AW11Z that you have?

I have sent my AW11S (basically the AW11Z with slower processor) back and I'm awaiting an engineer's report on the bleeding screen. I did look again at the XU/Q, with that LED screen, but a bump of £1300 is far too salty for me! I'm pleased that you've got a nice screen (and slightly envious), because with a good screen the AW series laptop is absolutely superb.

 

snarff,

It is the top end 'Q' spec AW.

This screen is excellent. I cant see any bleeding of light around the screen...

Bill.

 

snarff, I have just got back from demoing VGN-AW11M and couldn't see any screen bleed, I played Casino Royal with black bars top and bottom and there wasn't any bleed at all, the only issue was a very small white line at the top of the bottom black bar this could only be seen if the brightness at MAX level.

Billy Bunter, is there a control panel for the 'Dolby Home Theatre'

 

What configuration are people going for? Has anyone tried the solid state drive? Would it be possible to later self install a bigger or faster drive if one buys the cheapest iteration?

 

My 190 Premium will arrive today. I'll report back later.

 

i've seen both premium and 120 hd models at sonystyle in new york, and like somebody said here there is no really difference b/w screens.

 

But why? Does that mean the cheaper one really has LED backlighting? Or does it mean neither does? From Sony's (ever changing) info on their site, it's impossible to know maybe.

And can you reinstall Windows on to a NEW hard drive that's NOT in a RAID configuration?

 

I'd like to try and clear up some confusion here. I spent a Saturday driving around town so I could look at the differences between the VGN-AW170Y/Q (Premium) and the VGN-AW120(110)J/H. There is a big difference between the screen on the Premium model and the other AW Series models. The biggest two differences are that the Premuim models have a matte screen. The others don't. From what I was told by two sources at Sony, the only model that has the LED lighting is the Premium model.

The VGN-AW190 (titanium gray) is not the Premium model and would, I'm suspecting, use the same screen as the 120.

Hope this helps.

 

I don't know...my VGN-AW190JAH from Newegg is matte screen just like the AW170 in the sonystyle store. Btw, all AW110 are label eco screen and they are bad.

 

yeap..eco screen is the worst one in AW..120 model had the same matte screen as premium one in the sonystyle .. like i said i didnt see any difference.. i spent about 1 hour to compare these screens..

 

That's strange because the 120 I looked at (Fry's) showed reflections but the 190 (Sony Store) didn't.

 

Are you guys comparing US models, Canadian Models or UK Models? They all have different names.

 

Just ran 3dmark06 at 1280x1024, no AA, Optimal Filtering, scored 5180 on the Overall, with a cpu score of 2068.

Same thing but at 1920x1080: 4009 Overall, 2032 cpu.

Same thing but at 1024x768: 6368 Overall, 2044 cpu.

Same thing but at 1280x768: 5822 Overall, 2032 cpu.

Idle GPU temps: 35-41C, Load temps: 48-51C.

I am running the p8400, 4gb pc6400, and the 9600gt 512, Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

The following processes were active while I did the test:

Name PID Memory Usage
3DMark06.exe 3872 71 MB
acrotray.exe 3172 5 MB
audiodg.exe 1068 22 MB
avgnt.exe 4004 2 MB
avguard.exe 1776 13 MB
btwdins.exe 380 5 MB
conime.exe 2808 5 MB
csrss.exe 696 8 MB
csrss.exe 760 19 MB
dllhost.exe 4992 8 MB
dllhost.exe 3852 9 MB
dwm.exe 2144 7 MB
EvtEng.exe 1192 13 MB
explorer.exe 2528 71 MB
ISBMgr.exe 3916 7 MB
iviRegMgr.exe 2128 4 MB
jusched.exe 3968 5 MB
LauncApp.exe 4648 116 KB
lsass.exe 812 3 MB
lsm.exe 820 5 MB
mobsync.exe 4500 9 MB
MSASCui.exe 3356 20 MB
nvvsvc.exe 124 4 MB
PresentationFontCache.exe 1392 26 MB
psqltray.exe 3936 19 MB
RegSrvc.exe 2212 5 MB
RTKAUDIOSERVICE.EXE 1252 4 MB
rundll32.exe 1364 8 MB
rundll32.exe 3428 7 MB
sched.exe 2024 2 MB
SearchFilterHost.exe 3768 6 MB
SearchIndexer.exe 2680 102 MB
SearchProtocolHost.exe 2772 12 MB
services.exe 800 8 MB
SLsvc.exe 1096 12 MB
smss.exe 616 1012 KB
splwow64.exe 4712 5 MB
SPMgr.exe 3720 5 MB
SPMService.exe 2380 48 MB
spoolsv.exe 2000 13 MB
svchost.exe 960 8 MB
svchost.exe 384 10 MB
svchost.exe 448 38 MB
svchost.exe 672 18 MB
svchost.exe 684 161 MB
svchost.exe 948 62 MB
svchost.exe 1136 16 MB
svchost.exe 1812 20 MB
svchost.exe 1156 21 MB
svchost.exe 1788 6 MB
svchost.exe 2172 6 MB
svchost.exe 2272 9 MB
svchost.exe 2644 3 MB
SynTPEnh.exe 3412 10 MB
SynTPHelper.exe 3440 3 MB
System 4 12 MB
System Idle Process 0 24 KB
taskeng.exe 2556 7 MB
taskeng.exe 1712 15 MB
taskeng.exe 3296 17 MB
unsecapp.exe 3088 6 MB
upeksvr.exe 1456 35 MB
usnsvc.exe 4180 5 MB
VAIOUpdt.exe 3340 8 MB
VESMgr.exe 4876 14 MB
VESMgrSub.exe 5060 14 MB
wininit.exe 740 5 MB
winlogon.exe 1220 7 MB
wlanext.exe 1924 13 MB
WmiPrvSE.exe 2872 8 MB
WmiPrvSE.exe 4200 7 MB
WUDFHost.exe 2724 7 MB
XAudio64.exe 2972 3 MB

 

Are those good scores? How do they compare to those of other comparable notebooks?

 

I think they're real good scores considering I'm running on Vista 64. Plus, judging from the list of process I was running, I had only 60% memory free to run 3dmark06. Not saying that slimming down on the processes will make any major improvements (maybe 10-20 points), but yeah, compared to the other laptops out there running with a 9600m gt, its definitely above average.

 

American models.

 

What are the specs of your machine?

 

I have the AW120D, p8400 2.26ghz core 2 duo 3mb cache, 4gb pc6400 ddr2 sodimm, 320hd (5400rpm), 9600m gt 512MB DDR3, Vista Home Premium 64-bit

 

I've been working long hours lately, so I haven't had too much time with my 190 Premium. My impressions so far is that it is "okay," which concerns me since I paid $3,000 for it. Main specs: 2.5ghz, 4gb, 2x320gb 7200rpm, blue ray, 9600gt, Adobe screen.

My main concern at the moment is graphic performance. I don't play many games, but I do play World of Warcraft once in awhile. I am very disappointed with this machines performance in this game. I came from a 17" Macbook Pro with an 8600GT 256mb card to this one with a 9600GT with 512mb card. They both run near identical resolutions. So far, the performance is worse on the Sony. On the Macbook Pro, I could crank all the settings to max and play the game smooth. On the Sony AW the screen jerks - even when running in a straight line. I am using the video driver from the Sony website that was released on the 15th of this month. If I have to reduce the game settings to play it on this machine I will be extremely disappointed.

As far as the screen is concerned, it has the Adobe RGB version. As a computer tech, I have seen countless LCD's in my time and I can say that this one is the best I have ever used. The colors are amazing and the text is very crisp and clear.

On the subject of backlight leakage, if I put a solid black Powerpoint slide on the screen, the entire screen has a very soft white glow. It is very even and doesn't seem to affect anything.

I like the keyboard and the notebook doesn't seem as heavy as you would think. I am somewhat irked at the 6 stickers placed on the fancy palm rest.

More info when I have more time with it.

 

I've helped the WoW stutter problem a bit. I completely uninstalled the Nvidia display drivers, rebooted, and reinstalled them. The game is much smoother now. It still stutters every now and then, but the improvement is large.

 

Newly found serious discounts over at the Sonystyle CTO page:
On the AW190, upgrade to the T9400 processor for $50 and the Blu-ray burner at no charge.
Need a coupon in a bad way! ;-) Anyone?

 

1440x900 resolution on the MBP is incomparable to a 1920x1080 resolution running on any machine. It's quite a significant jump, as yer skipping 1680x1050. Did you try running WOW at 1440x900 on the AW? If not, you should, it would blow the MBP out of the water. As a repost of my 3dmark06 scores:

Just ran 3dmark06 at 1280x1024, no AA, Optimal Filtering, scored 5180 on the Overall, with a cpu score of 2068.

Same thing but at 1920x1080: 4009 Overall, 2032 cpu.

Same thing but at 1024x768: 6368 Overall, 2044 cpu.

Same thing but at 1280x768: 5822 Overall, 2032 cpu.

I'd say 1440x900 is comparable to a 1280x1024 letter box. The mbp 17" with the 8600gt scores about 4000 points on it at 1440x900, while my base AW scores about 1100 points more on it. Yours should be able to do about 5-6% better than mine because of the faster cpu thats equipped on the AW190 premium.

As for the stickers, you can peel them off, if you have trouble with it, just get a damp cloth with soap and rub it off gently.

 

From the various comments relating to screens on the AW, it seems to me that the following applies (my opinion only, of course).

The base ECO/x-black screen is generally acceptable and is evenly lit. It isn't as bright as the other two screen types and has a slightly matte appearance in comparison (although the surface is glossy).

The mid range x-briteFullHD/xblack dual-lamp screen is brighter, but appears to have backlight leakage at the bottom of the screen to varying degrees. Mine is appallingly bad, but others have reported leakage from bad to acceptable. Nobody with this screen has said that it is very even as far as I know.

The top range screen seems to get excellent comments relating to colour fidelity and even lighting, and is the only AW series screen to have a matte surface, rather than the gloss of the others. This is the LED/Adobe RGB screen. It costs about 1000 pounds/dollars more than the mid-range screen.

All screens appear to be sharp. As I mentioned before, my mid-range-screen AW is being checked by an engineer, and I wait with baited breath for their verdict. FWIW If I'd had a second choice, I would have gone for the cheaper ECO/xblack standard screen because the lighting is more even. Of course, if money was no object, the LED screen would be mine

 

My Macbook Pro 17" ran at 1920x1200. Virtually identical resolution to the AW. The 1440x900 has nothing to do with my situation.