Official Sony Vaio CW Core 2 Duo Series Owner's Thread

AFIAK, G210 is 16shader-4ROP-8TMU-64bit bus design, whereas GT230 is 48Shader-8ROP-16TMU-128bit design. So, GT230 should be more than twice faster than GT210 in GPU intensive operations.

In general, if you are not getting GT230 model, I'd recommend SR over CW.

 

I was planning to buy a Sony Vaio CW with Geforce GT230m 512mb vram, but since the shipping date was not suitable for me, I changed it to G210m 256mb vram. Will I be able to upgrade my graphics card to GT230m after sometime??

 

Unfortunately no. Most notebooks graphics card are non-upgradeable.

 

Guys, do you have to have Win7 Professional to be able to use VT? (even if you have a VT capable processor)

 

No, I think you are getting confused with W7's windows XP mode.

There are plenty of other VT programs that will work on any OS

 

No one has responded to my question about the Vaio battery drain problem - so I have to assume it's still present on the CW Series. I hope this isn't the case and I'm sorry to hear if it is ... The CW appears to be, otherwise, a very nice system and I'm looking for another 14" laptop. I've also considered a Dell Studio 14z but the lack of a DVD drive and (apparently) loose battery issues have turned me off on it.

 

Why don't you just get one of these CWs, they are on sale and have a GT230 in them...sale ends today...

 

I haven't read anything about this type of "battery drain issue when Idle" happening on a CW on this forum...I am not a cw owner yet...

Can someone help out our German friend with this question?

Here is his original Question...

Let me confirm the description of the issue...so you're saying that when your old Sony laptop sat idle overnight the battery would drain to much? Is that when in Standby or Hibernate? In Standby I think 10% to 15% drain might be somewhat normal. Were you running Windows XP on that previous Sony laptop? From what I've read Windows 7 does better with Power Management than does Windows XP and even Windows Vista, maybe things will be better on the CW, if for no other reason, but because it is running Windows 7. On my Dell Studio 14z (returned it too Dell because the hdmi/display ports didn't work) it was running Windows Vista, and I can tell you one of the first things I noticed is that I could leave the laptop sitting overnight on battery power and when starting it back up again the next morning, I noticed that the power drain on the battery was definitely improved over how it was with my old Dell Inspiron running Windows XP.

Hope you find the right laptop fit for you!

 

scotty - Thank-you for your quick response! Actually - the FW465 that I had for a few days would drain it's battery 10 - 15% or more, overnight, when it was completely shutdown. I could understand the battery drain if it was on Standby. It was pretty frustrating - and it wouldn't have been such a big deal if the drain-and-recharge issue wouldn't eventually wear the battery out more quickly. Otherwise the FW465 was a really nice system with a beautiful LCD - and it was an order of magnitude more solidly built than the CW's that I have examined here in the past two weeks. Thanks again!

 

Oh so you mean it was shut off, and then it would still drain the battery?

 

+1

Think about the additional cost in terms of the expected lifetime of your purchase. It's pennies per month. Get a P8700 and the 230M, you won't regret it!

 

scotty - Yes, and that was my beef (well - figuratively speaking ) with the FW465. The circuitry on the mobo drained approx 15% overnight when the system was shut completely down. It would probably zero the battery (I didn't keep it long enough to find out!) over the span of a week - and completely draining lithium batteries is supposedly not good for them at all...

 

Anyone with any comments/recommendations on which VT program i should get if i ever require to use the VT feature??
Microsoft's Virtual PC and XP mode are for Win7 Pro only yes?

 

Question regarding my SDHC (high capacity) memory card of 4GB. My current Sony Vaio SZ of almost 4 yrs isnt compatible with it after I upgraded my camera to one that uses such as card, coming from a memory pro duo. Im assuming it will be compatible with the CW. what you think?

Also, I often play Microsoft Flight Simulator X on my Vaio, works ok with some slowness (when adding live weather , and increased traffic) however thats with XP. Will I be able to install FSX on the CW with Windows 7? Normal Windows 7 mode without the swtiching of XP mode which I read about but sounds a little confusing.
I'm leaning towards the CW but will need to take a look at local bestbuy first, then I'll be doing the customizing and searching for any e-coupons as well.

 

I use this:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...02-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en
There are plenty of others though.

 

hmm this is interesting to know. Any CW owners try this out to see if their batteries drain even if the system is shutdown? This can be an issue with many, including me

 

I've been charged for my custom UK order so I don't think they wait to dispatch to do this.


Martin

 

Does anyone know if Sony are having any deals for the CW for black friday, or any deals in general?

US only please.

 

Same in Italy. Ordered today (which is Sunday...) and billed almost immediately on card! Estimated shipment 5 or 6 weeks!

By the way here in Italy I had not some options to choose from:

• T4300 and T9600 Cpu
• 250GB and 400GB HD
• 2GB, 6GB, 8GB Ram
• Fresh start
• Engraving
• Large battery
• Definite estimate day (only range of weeks needed)

 

Also this is probably a stupid question but is non ground shipping available?

I don't wanna wait more than 5 days for mine : [

Also how does L4D run on it, if anyone has tried? 230M ofcourse.

 

Did a quick compare of the keyboards between CW and MBP 13 at Best Buy today, CW was more comfortable. MBP was good too, but compared to CW, it felt soft when typed, thereby reducing the typing speed.

 

Those are really good deals. No Blu-Ray, but that's a small sacrifice to make for $200 lower price. Ordered mine CTO last week and am patiently waiting for the Nov 24th ship date -- is it just me or does this new model seem like the hottest ticket in town?? They're sold out everywhere and flying off the shelves as fast as they can restock them. Is it always this way with a new laptop model is released? I'm the desktop type and always build my own, haven't bought a laptop in years, but needed one now for travel, work, & school and I'm actually really excited about this one (even though it's not 1/3 the computer my desktop is, it's still a fun new toy hehe). I shopped around quite a bit and didn't find anything else that came close to meeting the size/portability vs power criteria I was looking for. I guess maybe everybody felt that way, and that's why they're backlogged so badly?

 

going to be picking up one of these at best buy this week and will be swapping in an 80GB intel SSD. has anyone else tried replacing the HD in the CW?

 

Even though JR.com was sold out, it still let me put the order in. Does anyone know if they'll still honor the sale price when they have stock again?

One other thing, how much does the battery weight? I went to Best Buy today to check out the CW before I put my order order in and was surprised how light it was, then I noticed it didn't have a battery.


Edit: How do I change my username on this forum?

 

Really?!? Do these sales guys have no clue or just outright lie? It gives you no faith in them. I wonder if he was giving me BS about my laptop in production queue too?

 

Just got payment cleared email for order placed on wednesday:

We expect your VAIO order to be shipped to you between 24.11.2009 and 01.12.2009

Thats much better than the 4-5 weeks the site told me when ordering

 

Hi, first of all thank you everyone for having such friendly and informative community.

I live in Iran and unfortunately I can't customize my notebook online so I have to buy the pre-assembled models. I want this computer as my desktop PC replacement which I use for everything from the daily stuff to software programming (need a great processor) and I'm not a gamer and the most I want from my graphic card is to watch and edit movies or run Photoshop CS4 smoothly.

These are the options I've come to:
* CW 1Kgx: P9600 (2.8) | gt210m (256mb) | Win7 Pro | ~$1670
* CW 1Jgx: P8700 (2.53) | gt210m (256mb) | Win7 Pro | ~ $1450
* CW 1Nfx: P9600 (2.8) | gt230m (512mb) | Win7 Home | ~$1750
* CW 1LFX: P8700 (2.53) | gt230m (512mb) | Win7 Home | ~$1400

I'm leaning towards the 1Jgx because of the Win7 Pro and the price tag. Did I make the right choice? Will this configuration meet my needs?

Footnote: the prices are higher than the ones on Sony website due to tax and shipment payment added in my country

Thank you very much in advance

 

Yep, just got the same email but with 17-24th dates (guessing cos I choose 3gb ram to reduce the leadtime)

 

If you are definately not gaming then I think you made a good choice. The 210m will be great for photoshop and it will give you better battery life and run cooler than the 230m.

The P8700 is a good mobile CPU (i ordered a P7450 but have a P9500 to swap it out with that is very similar to your P8700) and also has the 25w TDP to give you decent battery life.

 

Thank you very much

 

dear "sony users",
many people in this forum have recommended this sony CW 14" for me when i asked for a lightweight, portable, durable, cost-effective yet powerful laptop (specially for video encoding and multi-tasking).
the only thing i am thinking about sony laptop is its RELIABILITY. please don't get me wrong (never used sony lappie before), however, some of my friends reported a typical disappointment with sony laptops which is known as "sony clock". many people claim that sony vaio tends to die after couple of years.

i would like to get an honest opinion about it. thanks.

 

Hello CW users,

can anybody confirm that the GT230m of the CW is downclocked?
I can see on http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-230M.17646.0.html core:450 MHz/memory:680MHz instead of 500/800 !

Thx

 

Yes, there has been numerous screenshots of GPUZ from owners and they are all at the 450/680 clocks. That said I am sure you can clock it to stock levels and beyond with nvidia system tools if you wanted but this would increase the systems heat internally and externally (this may or may not bother you but is probably why sony chose the clocks.)

 

Help / advice for a relative novice.

I had planned to purchase CW VPCCW1S1E with following config

Operating system Genuine Windows (R) 7 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7450
Memory Size 4GB MB
Memory Type DDR SDRAM (2X2GB)
Hard Drive Capacity 320 GB
Graphics Card Type Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
Graphics Memory 512MB dedicated MB

Then today I seen this at a slightly higher cost

Sony VGN-SR31M with this config

Windows Vista

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P8600 Processor Speed (GHz) 2.4

L2 Cache (MB) 3

Frontside Bus (MHz)
1066

Memory (GB) 4

Memory Speed (MHz) 800

Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM (2x2GB)

Hard Drive Capacity (GB) 320

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470

Total available graphics memory of Approx. 1530MB* with dedicated GDDR3 Video Memory of 256MB

I have read this whole thread from the start and I realise you guys like your gaming. I dont play any games - I just want a really fast machine for day to day usage. The second option above has a higher rated processor and has a free Win 7 upgrade offered by Sony.

Wots your thoughts ? In fact if I could get the CW spec with a smaller screen I would go for it as I usually connect the laptop to a 24" monitor at home

I thought I was settled until I seen this option

Thanks for any input/

 

Since there is no switchable or hybrid graphics, and assuming you are just doing regular office typing or web browsing, how much of a difference do you see in battery life between the 210m and 230m graphics cards?

Any input would be appreciated.

 

I'm not sure your gonna find an answer in this forum to your question, being that the Vaio CW just came out in October 09 and from what I've seen by reading the posts on here, many, if not most are first time Sony owners. Personally I have never owned a Sony (looking to buy a CW soon), I've only owned Dell's and HP's...I still have my old Dell Inspiron (4100) Pentium 3 laptop, it is still alive and kicking after nearly 8 years, have only had to replace the hard drive.

I have never heard of a "Sony Clock", but I'd sure like to know about it if there is any truth to it!!

You might ask the question in this forum, being that it has been going since 2008:

Official VAIO SR Series Owners Thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=272669

 

Consumer reports ranks Sony as a laptop brand to be more reliable then dell and hp. But the differences are close enough between brands that its seems mostly meaningless. Safe to say every brand has a lemon and a bad story.

 

I have a SONY VAIO SZ for about 3 1/2 years now. NEVER had any major problems, (pretty much only one after I installed a Creative works program, which I restored to a date point prior). Im looking at the CW now just as an upgrade, since 3 1/2 years ago an 80GB Hard drive was good to have, unlike nowadays they are in the 320 to 500GB range. It runs well still, slow at some points, although I tend to have various chat programs open, itunes, internet explorer. Only one bad thing I might say is the battery life. Dont know what the advertised battery life for my SZ was, but I'm lucky if I get an hour and a half, this being my third battery. But for a sleek laptop most comparable to a macbook pro. I still want another sony.

 

Re-asking some stuff that was missed.

Does sony have a faster shipping options?

I would liketo get my laptop within 5 days.

Also has anyone tried Left4dead on it?

Thanks

 

There are no shipping options when you checkout at SonyStyle.com, so my guess would be no.

But you may get faster options when you buy at Best Buy or J&R

 

Maybe if I do my custom order over phone? They don't sell the model I want on shelves anywhere.

 

You might want to check out the Vaio CWs available on Sony's Business side of their Website, maybe they would offer faster shipping options:

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/performance/cw-series

 

Has anyone tried this? The fact that the GPU is downclocked kinda makes me not so sure if I want this anymore.

 

Mine hasnt arrived yet but will get it shortly.

TBH though even downclocked its one of the most powerful 14" laptops available. Also add a decent keyboard, good battery life and its cool running. I cant find a better performing laptop for the price

 

I game however, and for that a powerful GPU is needed.

I am interested in a laptop with a powerful GPU and low res so I can game natively.

 

Got the exact same email today. Very pleased.

 

I will try as soon as I receive my CW (it will be shipped tomorrow).
Given the low heat dissipation of the GT230m I hope I 'll be able to reclock it to stock levels.

 

so 230M is worth upgrading w/o killing the battery life?

 

Just wanted to chime in, I had jumped around alot on what PC I wanted to purchase, I ended up buying an FW spec'd to the gills but when it got delayed (Nebula-Backorder) I cancelled and since I get a discount at Best Buy I bought the CW.

The Best Buy model had me a bit scared, it's only the G210M, and I had heard some people saying how horrible the card is, but to be honest, I feel like I should defend it. I played WoW at maximum settings without a problem, and I did get a chance to try the L4D 2 demo and while I couldn't test frame rates, on medium settings at native resolution it seemed to be 35-40fps. Overall I'm extremely happy, but I wasn't looking for a powerhouse since I have an iMac for all that. I just saw alot of ragging on the card, and while it's no GTX260 it's definitely not Intel GMA950 either.

Also, random great thing, the touchpad iPod scrolly feature is absolutely awesome. Like I literally can't comprehend how no one else has done this before, it feels so fluid and natural I can't imagine living without it now.

 

I also game however and it all depends on what you are willing to accept. The 230m will play all the game I currently play at decent setting (DOW2, LFD2, TF2, COD WAW) The slight downclock will not cripple the card that much.

I am currently using an sxps 16 with ati 4670 which is much more powerful but I cannot stand the heat it produces, the touchpad and trackpad get crazy hot, so much so its uncomfortable. Therefore this cool running CW is a much better trade off as far as I am concerned.

From your posts I dont think you will be happy with a 230m let alone a slightly downclocked 230m so maybe you should look at a dedicated gaming laptop (ie clevo/asus g52/60 etc) They have a 260m which would allow much better frame rates but at the expense of mobility/battery life/heat


On a different note, does anyone know who Sony use to ship custom laptops to the UK?