Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

Go to laptopvideo2go.com...it has most extensive collection of drivers with modified inf, too.

 

Hi All,
I am looking to buy one of these units and I have a question about the hard drives. Is a special adapter or bracket needed to add a second drive? I searched the thread and found the question has been asked before but with no reply. Thanks in advance.

 

I was at Future Shop looking at the AW110D (bottom of the line AW Series, 1680 x 945, Xbrite-ECO) and the FW285DH (top of the line FW Series, 16.4", 1920 x 1080, Xbrite-FullHD). The screens on both have a diagonal rippled effect that you can see when you move your head from side to side or up and down (with the very bright lights overhead). I touched the AW110D screen and it felt flat, so those rippled diagonal lines must be some sort of coating.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the AW120D (1920 x 1080, Xbrite-FullHD) which would have been nice to compare to the FW285DH since they have the same display specifications (except 18.4" vs. 16.4"). The FW285DH looked good, and the all-black test (having PowerPoint show a black slide) showed absolutely no light bleed at the bottom of the screen. Text was sometimes fine, but sometimes it got a bit too small. When I saw the AW120D earlier, I was happy with its text size while using the computer for quite some time.

The FW285DH has a blu-ray burner, while the AW120D only has a blu-ray reader.

 

I think I'm going to order the AW120D today (1920 x 1080, Xbrite-FullHD). I'm starting to get tired of looking at different notebooks.

xtrykr, I hope your coupon code works for me. Thank you so much for sharing it.

I need to eat some dinner and think about it a little bit more before making the big purchase.

 

Yah, the coupon code should work, if the Sony Style site doesn't take it, let me know, maybe I can find an updated one.

 

Somehow I missed seeing the coupon code...is there one out on the AW now?

 

CJRFD198 will work to get 10% off on orders over $1499. It will only work on pre-configured laptops (will not work on CTO).

 

It said the code was invalid. I tried to buy one of the pre-configured ones without any accessories and nothing else in the cart. Oh well.

 

Well, I finally did it!! Yes, the CJRFD198 coupon worked great at Sony Style Canada. It saved $180.00 on the $1,799.99 AW120D bringing the total before taxes to $1,619.99 ($1,830.59 after taxes). I hope I get a good AW120D without any problems.

Thank you so much xtrykr. By the way, how did you know about the 10% coupon code?

 

Are you in Canada? The coupon code is probably only good for Canadian orders.

 

Whoops! Okay, so I'm a moron. I didn't see that you guys were in Canada!

 

Hmmm, my order didn't say anything about getting the three free blu-ray movies. xtrykr, did your order list the three free blu-ray movies?

 

No, it did not list them, but, if you call them, u can always double-check to make sure you get them. I did that and they confirmed that it would be bundled in the box, and it was

 

U can always go to redflagdeals.com

I posted it earlier, guess pple keep missing it and just copying the coupon codes lolz.

 

why is it that there are no coupons for canadian cto models? kind of stupid.

 

I called Sony Style and they said the bonus Blu-Ray Disc Movie Pack would be included, but the guy didn't know if it would be in the box or delivered separately. Since it's the very same computer as yours, it should come bundled in the box just like it did for you.

 

If it's the same casino royale blu ray I got, then inside will be a ticket to see the new one for free

 

I got to see the film for free too (Somebody I know provided tickets )(works for the cinema)

 

oh neoce! I didnt even open it b/c i already have 3 casino royale blue rays rofl

 

It wasn't mentioned earlier in this thread (I even did a search). Maybe you mentioned it in the FW Series thread or another thread. I have heard about redflagdeals.com, but I only visited the site once a few weeks ago. I'll have to visit the site again and pay much more attention to it.

Thank you so much, xtrykr. By the way, how are you loving your AW120D now that it's almost 10 days old?

 

I like it a lot, I pre-ordered Left4Dead, gonna go home and frag some zombies tonight. I also have CS4 Web Premium loaded on to it, works beautifully with my web development. No crashes thus far.

P.S. if you lose some system tray icons on boot up, its just a bug with Vista, u can fix it through a registry refresh. For instructions go to: ( http://geekswithblogs.net/sdorman/a...aring-system-tray-icons-on-windows-vista.aspx)

BUT, I need to remind myself to test out the HDMI output xD I keep forgetting to xD

Also, an alternative to using the Defrag program in Vista, use this:

http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

It only takes about 15min for it to defrag with the hard drive being 1/3 full. The Vista defrag seems to take forever, not sure why.

 

What blu-ray movies you referring to. When I ordered my aw-190 cto back on october 20 there was no reference to free bluray movies .. do you have any info on this? Was that from sonystyle or a coupon or something?
Thanks for any info!

 

The three blu-ray movies are Hitch, Surf's Up, and Casino Royale. More info is available at: http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/se...langId=-1&promotionId=SonyStylePromotion00898

Yes, it's from Sony Style Canada. No coupon is needed.

 

fugazi70, the AW 190 CTO is eligible for the three free blu-ray movies at Sony Style Canada. Just follow the link I provided above.

 

Oh I ordered mine from sony USA and they don't have that offer. On the Canada site do they even sell the non 190 premimum model? All I saw was the premium model and the price is that in US dollars or Canadian dollars? just curious.

 

Good to hear that you're still loving your AW120D after almost 10 days.

I didn't know that Vista could lose some system tray icons on boot up. I'll watch for it when I get my AW120D. Have you run into this problem on your AW120D?

I hadn't heard about the Auslogics Disk Defrag before. I see it's rated very highly at CNET's download.com: http://www.download.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html?cdlPid=10901568. I'm using PerfectDisk 2008 -- also rated very highly at the same site -- on my XP machine now.

Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP is an old Lite version of Diskeeper. Microsoft now maintains Disk Defragmenter in Vista, but I'm not sure if they started with that very old Diskeeper Lite or started from scratch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_Defragmenter_(Windows).

Microsoft doesn't have much experience with disk defragmentation, which is probably why Vista's built-in Disk Defragmenter takes so long compared to other products.

 

Yah, the icons disappear every now and then after I install an app. Again, this is a bug issue with Vista (and XP). So if your battery icon, or volume icon disappears, no need to be worried, its not a virus or something. Just follow the registry instructions to clean it out and it will be fixed.

It has happened to me twice so far, once after installing Office 2007 and once after installing Steam.

As for the disk defrag yah, anything is better than the defrag that comes with Windows, lol. But yeah, Disk Defrag by Auslogics is free

 

In Canada there's the AW190 CTO, but it only comes with the Adobe RGB screen: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=20153&langId=-1&LBomId=8198552921665572505.

The other Canadian models are the AW170C ($3,299.99, Adobe RGB, Xbrite-FullHD display), AW120D ($1,799.99, Xbrite-FullHD), and AW110D ($1,649.99, Xbrite-ECO). All prices are in Canadian dollars.

 

xtrykr, did you check your AW120D's Windows Experience Index scores?

I saw an AW170C at the Sony Style Store yesterday, and if I remember correctly its score was 5.1 with the weakest performer being the CPU (T9400 processor, 2.53GHz). The AW120 with its P8400 processor (2.26GHz) would have a lower score, I guess.

 

nope, my cpu score was 5.2, and the lowest score was the processor, which is a P8400 (score of 5.2). Hard drive is also 5.2 coz its a 5400rpm, a 7200rpm will easily get a 5.9. GPU and Memory are both 5.9 I believe. Not home now, so can't check, but my overall is 5.2 for sure. I sorta knew going in that the processor upgrade wouldn't give that much more significant performance in Windows Vista because in order to get a 5.9 on the Vista experience, u need a quad core, and to my knowledge, no consumer laptop is equipped with quad cores.

 

You're right, I remembered wrong. I went back and the AW170C has a score of 5.4 (with the weakest component being the processor as I mentioned before). The next weakest was the gaming graphics at 5.5 (both the AW170C and the AW120D have the same nVidia 9600M GT GPU with 512 MB VRAM so their scores should be the same). All the other AW170C scores were 5.9. It has two 500 GB, 4200 RPM hard drives in a RAID 0 configuration. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the AW120D's 320 GB 5400 RPM drive.

As you've mentioned before, the AW170C's T9400 (2.53GHz) CPU only makes things slightly faster, yet it costs $200 more on the AW190 CTO than the base P8400 (2.26GHz).

 

Hrm, r u sure yer gpu only scored 5.5? Thought it was 5.9.

 

No, I'm not sure. When I was in the Sony Style Store I didn't write anything down. There were two graphics scores. One was for Aero and it was 5.9 for sure. The other one was called gaming graphics, I believe, and it was 5.5.

 

Ah yer right,

Processor: 5.2
Hard Drive: 5.4
Memory: 5.9
Aero Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.5

 

As for bags, I can verify that it fits in the 17" Cargo bag from sfbags.com that I mentioned earlier. It's not cheap but it looks great and has tons of useful pockets. I got the camel leather one.

 

My AW120D order from Wednesday night is stuck 'being processed by the shipping department' for almost a full day now. I guess I won't be able to enjoy it over the weekend. Oh well, as long as I get a good one.

 

L4D, 1920x1080, high everything except for shader (medium), no aa, getting 60-120fps. This game runs ahellalot faster than TF2 and looks 10x better!

 

Okay, going by Sony's marketing material/specs section on their support site, the

VGN-AW160J/Q is the FIRST/cheapest of the AWs to have an LED backlight, and it goes for close to $3000.

*********
New thought:

How feasible is to to just throw in your own drive, buy a copy of Vista, and install that on one of these? Are all the drivers you'd need for 32-bit Vista (or XP) easy to grab from Sony, or maybe Intel or whatever?

 

Just in case someone wanted some different scores

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz 5.3
5.3 Determined by lowest subscore

Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB 5.9
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 5.9
Gaming graphics 2287 MB Total available graphics memory 5.5
Primary hard disk 193GB Free (287GB Total) 5.7 (320 7200rpm fujuitsu)

 

New AW on the way... anyone find a suitable backpack yet? I cut out a piece of cardboard the dimensions listed on SONY STYLE and took it to Staples. The Targus XL seems like it would work... tight but would work. Anyone have any experience with this packpack and an AW series VAIO or can anyone suggest ANY backpacks that SUCCESSFULLY work with the AW Series VAIO? Thanks.

 

Does any one know if the non premium AW comes with any color other than the bland grey? Perhaps the glossy black? Thanks in advance.

 

My AW190-CTO Premium is arriving in just a couple of days...so excited! Ordered it Tuesday and it shipped just yesterday. Pretty fast turnaround. Will post my thoughts next week.

Model Number: VGNAW190-CTO

VGN-AW190 Configure-to-Order

Customization Details

* QuickBooks Simple Start
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz) [Regular price $200]
* TV Tuner
* No Engraving
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* Standard Battery
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [Regular price $100]
* XBRITE-FullHD™ (1920x1080) with Adobe RGB color management
* Video Standard
* Photo Premium
* 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
* Microsoft® Works
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 640 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]

ECyde, in terms of your question - only the glossy piano black is available with the premium models (a.k.a. the ones with the Adobe RGB screen) - so unfortunately the only color option available for the non-premium AWs is the titanium grey. I know that, with the FW series, once the 2xx series came out - you were able to choose from multiple colors (White, Titanium Grey, Black)...whereas with the original FW1xx series, you could only get Grey. So maybe this bodes well for the AW2xx series (when it comes out), in terms of color choices...

 

The grey looks really nice though.

Do we know for SURE that the more expensive (black) configure to order model has LED backlighting? I checked the specs, and for sure the preconfigured AW160 and AW170 do, but they're at least $500 more expensive.

 

I ordered mine on October 27th. On the 4th I received an e-mail saying it was being built and that the estimated ship date would be the 7th. As of today it says that it's being built with an estimated ship date of the 7th. Wonder why it's taking so long in light of how quickly your receiving yours.

 

Mine wasn't supposed to ship until October 30th, but with standard shipping it arrived on the 30th. I think they put in some wiggle room on the shipping dates.

 

Yes, we know for sure.

The pre-configured models are at least $500 more expensive than the base AW190 Configure-to-Order model because of their internal specifications...the AW170 comes preconfigured with a 1TB hard drive and Blu-Ray read & write drive, for example...whereas the *base* configuration for the AW190CTO doesn't have those, hence the price difference.

 

I once tried checking to see if the preconfig ones were cheaper, and generally they are. But I have not checked it on the AW model yet.

xtrykr, did your model come with the bilingual keyboard? it says the 120D is biligual, how much do you notice it?

 

It's $500 cheaper AFTER I add in a whole ton of stuff-some of which the preconfigured models don't even have. Not that I'm complaining, but it's weird.

I can't find ANY reference to the preconfigured model actually using LED backlighting, so...
I guess I'd be spending an extra $500 just to be sure.

 

Well if it says it has the Adobe-RGB 1920x1080 screen, then you know it has the LED backlighting.

 

It does say the Adobe thing, but everywhere else it also says LED...sorry, I'm just paranoid with spending that much money.

I'm holding out for Dell here, but if they do nothing much longer, I think I may get this one. I do like Sony!

Hmm...I'm wondering, after I install my own copy of Windows, will I be able to install the Sony Blu Ray player app? Hopefully... (and hopefully I'll find drivers too...)