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

They're both the same thing so it doesnt matter

yes it does

well, if you do plan to open it please do a step by step guide on how to do so if you can, it would be greatly appreciated by everyone here, better if it could be done with pictures or video

 

Great forum, have been watching it for a while. Do you have any idea of how the faster hdd is gonna affect performance and battery Life? Thinking of doing the same because hdd is obviously the bottleneck.

 

JellyGeo,
If I understand, you're gonna swap an already installed w7 disk with another one. Well, as long as the W7 is installed on the new disk on the same computer, there shouldn't be any problem, but you can't install a disk on a computer, take it out and put it on another computer because the activation process pair the key to the computer. I may be wrong but this is what I understood.

 

wow ninja2000!

it didn't take long from reception of your CW before disassembling it and doing a fresh install !!!
for comparison purpose, don't forget to take a look at the system as delivered.

good luck (and waiting for the step by step instruction hopefully with photos

 

Are people sure that if you order direct from sony style that you get the Intel 5100 wireless card?

 

100% positive .... other manufacturers like bestbuy sometimes change the parts but 100% if its coming directly from sony.

 

Dont worry, I plan to do a step by step guide. Unfortunately I cannot do a video but I will make the guide as clear as possible.

I will be taking measurements of both the 5400 HDD and the 7200 HDD to see what effect it has on batt life. From my finding with my sxps 16 it was hardly noticable, you get a better saving from turning your screen down a notch.

Another note, they have made the ODD very easy to remove, so for anyone wanting to add a second drive you want need to dismantle the whole laptop.
I used a thinkpad swap bay, it fits fine but will need some mod as the CW's ODD is a strange shape

 

I had been told previously what woodgypsy just said, does anyone know for sure? I can't see myself using this feature in the near future but it would be nice to know if could use it if needed with Home Premium & P8700
cheers!

 

Hi there,

Does anyone order CTO CW today? When I choose the GT 230 upgrade, it says the estimated time to shipment is unknown and does not allow me to add the laptop to cart.

 

I throughally thought buying a laptop through this time. last year when i sent my m1330 back, i decided to go for the HP dv5t without properly researching other laptops. What a mistake that was. The build quality of my DV5t is poor, it has major heat issues and the design is kind of flawed (the plastic coating over the screen has dints and shab marks from the media key chrome bar and from the keyboard :S it's annoying to look at the screen).

I think i've done right this time. i've spent about 6 weeks, and the CW caught my eye from when it was released

I know, CAN'T WAIT C'mon get a jog on sony

 

VT is processor and motherboard dependant isn't it? aA long as you have a processor and motherboard that supports VT and it is enabled in the BIOS then it doesnt really matter which version of windows you use (i used the VT feature on my m1330 with vista home premium ).

I find it highly unlikely that sony would disable it permenantly just because the user ordered home premium and not professional? But then i dont see how they would do this anyway...

I ordered professional anyway, just to have some more features (network backup, remote desktop, xpmode etc)... with adding this i still got my order to be around £700... WHAT A STEAL

 

Hello, I am new here but have been following for a couple of weeks now. I finally placed my order on saturday.
Here is my first question: When I configured my own, the shipment date was Dec 22nd. I configured it with the T6600, blu-ray read, 4gb ram, white with the gt230 video card. Spec'd the same as the $919.99 dollar ready to ship CW. But it was $754.99 to CTO. Figured i could wait 3 weeks for $165 bucks. For curiosity, i configured one this morning the same way, shipment date unknown. When i login to sonystyle, i get a shipment update with a new shipment date of Nov, 30th. Great for me, but do you people think they just swapped it for one of the ready to ship CW's? Not that is matters to me, but it would be nice to get it within a week or two.

 

Before I bought this laptop I had bought a Retail disc of 7 Ultimate with a key. I bought it for my old laptop but that died (gpu failure) before I could install it.

I installed all drivers from sony drivers site and everything is working fine. buttons etc.

 

Placed 2 orders for the CW laptop on the 27th. Bought mine, and then figured could order another for my fiance as she really liked the laptop when we looked at it at Best Buy.

I'm going back to school for a 4-year degree, so I wanted a laptop. Either for class or for the online classes I'll be taking. Considering I like to be able to play computer games and want performance in a small package, this computer seemed perfect! Also will be nice to be able to use a laptop more at home, instead of having to sit on my desktop. The desktop is so loud and really heats up our small apartment. Here's what I got:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz)
8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-106
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU
500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional 64bit
Blu-ray Disc™ playback
Large Capacity Battery
Icy White
Fresh Start

Total Price: $1,369.99 + tax w/ free shipping
Estimated ship date at time of order: 12/29/09
Estimated ship date today: 11/30/09

My fiance didn't need anything special, but I did make a few upgrades for her when I configured hers. We probably could have just bought one from Best Buy, but I preferred to custom order. Plus, she wanted the Royal Indigo color.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P7450 (2.13GHz)
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU
500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional 64bit
Blu-ray Disc™ playback
Standard Capacity Battery
Royal Indigo
Fresh Start

Total Price: $884.99 + tax w/ free shipping
Estimated ship date at time of order: 12/08/09
Estimated ship date today: 12/22/09

So my fiance's ship date is now 2 weeks longer,and mine is 1 month less than it said at checkout. I'll keep checking on the ship date. It was different yesterday than it is today. Yesterday it said 11/28/09 for both.

I haven't seen anything posted yet about the Fresh Install option. It makes it seem like this wouldn't come with any bloatware, but I'm sure it still does. Can anyone tell me how much crap is still on it with Fresh Install?

I figure I'll make recovery DVDs of both computers before we touch them. I will also probably make a system image backup using the Windows 7 backup.

I'm considering upgrading the HD in my computer to a 7200 rpm. If I do that I will probably just make a disk image using Ghost or something similar. The biggest thing that almost made me not want to get one of these computers was that a 7200 option wasn't even available. That and the screen resolution is a lot lower than I'm used to. But I think I'll be able to handle it.

I'm thinking about buying a standard battery as a spare. Also, I don't like the fact that the part of the extended battery that sticks out isn't in the middle of the computer. It's more off to one side. Anyone got a link to the standard capacity battery for the CW? I can't seem to find one on the Sony website that says it's compatible. Plus, they all seem too expensive so I'm hoping there's a cheaper one somewhere!

Well, glad I found this website. Maybe someday I can get through all 100+ pages. I will try to remember to take the time to take pictures of mine when I get it, then I'll try to keep following this forum to answer questions for users.

Thanks everyone for your posts! The few that I read before making my purchase really helped!


Logan


EDIT: I forgot to mention this before - Thanks to the great sales this last weekend, I bought Office 2007 Home and Student (a 3 PC Pack) for $65. Can install that on both computers plus have 1 license left. A lot cheaper than buying it with the PC!

 

I've read posts that the CW comes with a wireless N card, but does it work and actually connect at 300 mbps? I have a wireless n usb adapter that says 300, but only connects at 150. It's very disappointing! And yes, my router is broadcasting at 300 mbps.

 

WOW, you really went all out!!! Congrats!! I bought mine on the 26th and it was closer to your Fiance's one. When I was going through the purchase process it said December 4th was the estimated ship date, but when logging into my account on SonyStyle, it doesn't show a ship date, except Nov 26th, which obviously isn't right and showed that my card hadn't been charged yet. So I called Sony and they said that in their system it still shows 12/4 as the ship date...they said it takes approximately 5 days to build the laptop from the date ordered, they also said they don't charge your card until they ship. So we will see if mine ships out Friday or not!

 

This is odd. I ordered mine yesterday. Now when I check it in my account, it says shipping day is today 11-30-09. That has to be a typo or error. It would be nice but I'm assuming that is wrong....

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it did ship out in a day (especially if it's not a CTO). The CW series are selling like hotcakes and it would be reasonable if Sony did increase production to keep up with the demand.

 

What is CTO? I got mine from the Sony store btw..

 

Customize-To-Order. This way you can configure your laptop based on your requirement

 

Oh then mine was CTO. I upgrade almost everything in their...

 

I just talked to someone in SonyStyle USA and they told me that GT230M is sold out. They don't have an estimate for when it's going to be available again.

 

CTO no longer available to purchase at Sony Style is the message posted when trying to add to cart. Edit : If configuring with the GT230M card.

 

Thank God I got mine yesterday...

 

Same here. Ordered mine over the phone last night and the ship date is 12/22/09.

Icy white
Win 7 Home Premium
P8700
320GB
GT230M
4GB RAM
Large capacity battery
Blu-ray playback
2 year express ship warranty
$1057.23 all together.

 

okay, I'm torn between CW16 and BenQ S42, anyone with little push here?
CW16, P8700, GT230M GDDR3, cost $1200
BenQ S42, P8700, 9600M GT GDDR3, cost $800
here I only could get pre-configured machine, and no coupon available
looking forward to replace my acer

 

pretty sure anyone that ordered from sat til now, should be not charged if you have the gt230m. and unless u got special purple. and orders are done by when they are received.

also on that 2 year warranty, does that work in the US? or nah? thanks

I ordered a CW on Friday Night and still no charge on card, and its just sitting at processing.

Also: It's always been about color and the GT230 changing the shipping date from what I saw on Thursday. And I talked to them on the phone and she was going through the options with me since she knew I wanted something fast and not wait forever for the white one because that was the first one that was ordered alot.

Just know, Purple/blue is the least popular color. I noticed it on Thursday. Phone confirmed it on Friday.

 

I did a clean install of Windows 7 - on a different HDD - on my CW but I could not find the Splashtop/Quick Web software on the Sony support site. I searched NBR and could not find a link to the download - but Mr. Google found this link: ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/VAIO/Updates/EP0000207216.exe

This download (100+ megs) is actually for the NW series, but works perfectly on the CW. It installs Version 1.1.4.4 -Thanks to onleger on Splashtop.Uservoice for the link. I apologize if this has been posted here earlier but I couldn't find it ... Now if I could just find a copy of the DVD player and burner!!

 

I don't think there is a problem with supply on GT230m GPUs or that anything is backordered, it is likely just problems with their website. Twice in the last few weeks I've had the website say that the CW or the GT230m was backordered, and both times I did a chat session with a Sony Agent and they said it is just a problem with the Site, then later that day was able to configure it without any problems...

To confirm, just a minute ago I went onto SonyStyle and it let me do a CTO for the CW, with the following config (see below) and it let me add it to my cart with no problems or errors...it does show a estimated ship date of 12/29..whoa, that's long time!!!!

RAM: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
Battery: Standard Capacity Battery (VGP-BPS13)
Disc Drive: Blu-ray Disc™ playback
CPU: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU (512MB VRAM)
OS: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional 64bit
Hard Drive: 500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)

 

Lemme Guess the color and watch my power. Purple. try picking the other colors.

But yeah it was funny watching the date change and stuff on Friday with colors and graphic cards.... it went like 12/25, 12/15 and something else or something but this was on Friday.

 

That's the exact specifications I want and it's only possible with Royal Indigo. Anything else is not available. But I still hope that it is because of their website. Fingers crossed.

 

Product: US-VPCCW190X-LBOM
Component: No additional Photo Editing Software
Component: No Fresh Start
Component: Microsoft® Works
Component: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066 (Reg. price $20.00)
Component: No additional Finance Software
Component: Standard Capacity Battery (VGP-BPS13)
Component: Norton Internet Security™ 2009 (30 Day Trial)
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ playback (Reg. Price $70.00)
Component: No Engraving
Component: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz) (Reg. price $150.00)
Component: No additional Video Editing Software
Component: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU (512MB VRAM) (Reg. price $50.00)
Component: Royal Indigo [VAIO Signature Collection]
Component: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit
Component: 500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm) (Reg. price $60.00)
Per Unit Price: $816.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $816.99
Description: VPCCW190X Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Standard
Estimated Ship Date: 12/08/2009

 

Already told here

 

When i look at US prices, i figure out what it would be in £, and then realise that sony really does screw the united kingdom over:

USA GT 230m $50
UK GT 230m £50
USA 4GB RAM $20
UK 4GB RAM £20

What a con, the £ doesnt equal the Dollar sony... Sort it out Though it's a bit late now... Ive ordered and waiting

 

We get robbed for everything. Might be cheaper to import the same spec model from the US than buy it from Sony's site

 

Mine still shows a ship date for today I ordered it yesterday and its a CTO. I know its a mistake but I can always dream

 

I ordered my laptop from SonyStyle.com on Friday night (12/27/09). When I made the order, the estimated ship date was 12/8/09. Had I gone with the GT210M my order would have shipped on 12/4/09. I've heard some people in this thread talk about their shipping dates being LATE December... is it possible that my laptop will also not ship until then?

Here's my specs...:

US-VPCCW190X-LBOM
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066 (Reg. price $20.00)
Blu-ray Disc™ playback (Reg. Price $70.00)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz) (Reg. price $150.00)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU (512MB VRAM) (Reg. price $50.00)
Icy White
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm) (Reg. price $10.00)

 

Does that mean pink is selling more than purple? Wow. So there's demand for pink laptop, after all.

 

Yeah I think so before getting back ordered, funny I read a review with the pink one. looked pretty clean.

but yeah I'm also worried I won't get my CW till late Dec but what can you do. nothing really and just hope.

You can tell if you're order got pushed back by the order status says something like : Shipping update

and for some reason the estimate date for the purple one is now 12/29/2009. I hope it's wrong and not all the colors as well. Damn gt230m.

 

When I ordered Friday the 230m gpu changed the ship date from 12/7 to 12/29. Which is okay, I'm not in a hurry for it. I suppose everyone is ordering the 230m gpu and they are running out of it.

 

Great that is exactly what mine says "Shipping Update" then it says 11-30-09

 

Bummer, I just confirmed, when trying to add the Jet Black one to my cart it says, "No longer available for purchase at SonyStyle.com"...I would say this laptop has been a big hit! Hope it comes back available soon!

 

Estimated ship date: 01/05/2010 hehe

* Model Number: VPCCW190X CTO
* Temporarily out of stock. Estimated ship date: 01/05/2010.

got it by doing purple added to cart lol. how long can you go? hehe

 

I ordered on 11/26/2009, and the confirmation email I received the shipment date is showed as 12/04/2009. Until yesterday 11/29/2009, the online status showed shipment date as 11/27/2009. Today the online status of shipment date is changed, and showing as 12/04/2009.

Now for the folks who received the shipment, I want to know the following

1). when the current status of "processing" is changed
2). does sony sends an automatic email about the status of order.

I have made the purchase with following options:

4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
Blu-ray Disc™ playback
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU (512MB VRAM)
Royal Indigo [VAIO Signature Collection]
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)

 

If ordering off of Sonystyle.com doesn't work anytime soon, you might try a local Sony Style Store or you can still order from NewEgg.com and JR.com which both have CW's Pre-configured with the GT230m and a T6600 or P7450 in Black, Red, White and Pink.

 

Cool, thanks for mentioning that, I also ordered mine on 11/26 and I just checked my account on SonyStyle.com and it also now lists a shipping date of 12/03, one day earlier than before!!! I hope that date is correct!!!!!!!

 

i think they sold them all finally since now the purple one is Estimated Ship Date Shipping Date is unknown with the other ones.

Also I ordered on 11/29. Ship date was for 11/29 but changed to 11/30
Status: Processing

Order Status: Shipping update

Estimated Ship Date: 11/30/2009

 

For Windows 7 XP mode specifically , yes it does matter the version as Microsoft does not offer XP Mode for any version of Windows 7 except those I posted, Professional, Ulimate, and Enterprise.
As to other versions of VT, such as VMware,and even Microsoft VPC, sure go ahead and install on any version you like.

Yes, to run Windows 7 XP mode specifically, you need either Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise and a cpu (such as the P8700 or the T9600) that support VT.

 

I prefer cw, graphics better (same performance as 9700gt or 8600sli). overall its good quality build from sony. But i payed for cw 845$, 900+$ with p8700 (when configured) chose with t6600 not bad cpu but not good as p8700 . And also benq lucks ugly.

 

So you definately save, but you get a US keyboard and if you have any issues you are in trouble.

Neil.