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

I ordered early 27th, got an initial shipping date of Nov 27th, followed Dec4th, now its being built with estimated ship date Dec 1st!

Its good people are sharing dates, so one can know when he's expected to have his laptop in 1 piece

 

Just checked, and my status still says "Processing", but the Estimated Ship Date finally shows on this screen and says 12/04/2009. Of course mine is supposed to take an extra day as I added the engraving. I submitted the order at about 6PM EST on Thursday the 26TH.

Unless they're really inept, actual construction time for a unit like this should be under 30-minutes, even if they're building them from scratch by hand. What takes time is burn-in/testing, and all the transfers for testing/packaging/shipping/etc. Does anyone know how long Sony's burn-in/test cycle is?

From the pattern of configurations and back-orders being reported, it looks like they at least start with some standard pre-configured units in each color, swapping out or adding mainly memory and drives as required for the custom orders. The closer you are to one of these standard units, the shorter the estimate. At least that's my educated guess. I haven't visited this particular plant.

Picked up my copies of the Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit upgrade and MS Office Enterprise 2007 from the university yesterday, so I'll be ready when my unit does arrive. Thank goodness for student discounts on software!

Ooo! Just got the update email at 6:30PM, and the order page now reads,"Your VAIO is being built". The Estimated Shipping Date still says 12/4.

 

Well, due to the cheap price im getting mine from the US and send over here to the UK with my Dad, but have to wait 1month or so till i can actually order it. But since i grew up in the US and just moved here 5 yrs ago or so, its more easier for me as i make sooooo many mistakes when im trying to hit the return bar since im used to the long return bar on the US keyboard and i end up hitting the # key , anyways, sorry for ranting on

CW is eligible for 1yr standard in'tl warranty, similar to the SR, and Z series as far as i know but i dont know anyone as of yet or havent read any posts that tells anyones experience with Sony's Int'l warranty, so guess i might be the 1st to try it out , i just wish that if i get ADH that would be applied to Int'l warranty, since Sony and Dell replace you with Newer model laptop if the laptop you bought is not available anymore, or in Sony's case, gives you the most recent refresh which is really good. My uncle has a SZ1 and after 2 yrs when we were moving my little cousin was holding his laptop bag and dropped it behind the truck and when we backed up the laptop was totally ruined and they replaced it with a brand new SZ7 , love sony for that, so im up for ADH if only available with intl warranty

 

FYI, both blu ray drives are now "out of stock"

 

Hey,

One more update...my ship date has been pre-poned from 12/04 to 12/01. Seems weird. Today only i received an email from Sony that my laptop has gone into production. Does it means it has been built and out for delivery...i didnt receive any shipment notification. Also, my card has yet not been charged.

 

Well, today I was informed shipping date moved to Dec 1st, thought its an error but guess what? I just got an email confirmation of the shipment!

 

I have absolutely no idea though which company they are shipping with.. So I have shipment number but not company LOL

 

If it has a Z close to the beginning of the # then its probably UPS. Try this link and see. Type or paste the # in the upper left hand corner then click on Track.
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/index.jsx
Heres the Fed/ex link
http://www.fedex.com/us/

 

Just confirming...Has your credit card been charged? Sony will charge your credit card when the order is shipped.

 

Its only numbers.. Didnt work for DHL, USPS, UPS, FedEx.. all didn't work

 

My credit card had a pending transaction since the moment I placed the order, that is Nov 27th. If its shipped, I would expect to find the payment posted with a date tomorrow in my account

 

anyone else having trouble logging in to sonystyle.com? i'm trying to check my shipping status... when i checked earlier today it said:
Order Status: Shipping Update
Estimated Ship Date: 11/30
today is 12/1... so i'm assuming i will not be seeing my CW anytime soon

 

Hi.Frnds
i'm going To Order SOny vaio CW series....i'm frm india,My uncle will buy fr me from U.S and ship it to me.check my config below...
Processor:T6600
Color:ICYWHITE
HDD:500GB
Ram: 4GB
VRAM:256(512 avail oly fr Royal indigo color )
BD playback..

this is my config...Which processor is best..T6600.or T7450 ..Frnds Please Just me that CW series is a gud one in all Categories..like in Games...Video encoding ...and hw is the battery backup..and overall CW performance...and i like ICY WHITE...does this color is blurd in laptop after fewdays ?
please suggest me

 

raziel2001 your good, you will be receiving your laptop. Argh damn 26th's lol. I'm also from Minnesota haha. Exact same specs too i think as well

 

Yeah, The very same

 

my card is still showing pending transaction. although sony says shipment on 12/1, the status is still processing, i did not notice the status change to "in built" yet.

On another note, anyone with the T9600 processor, have you noticed any heating issues so far. The test comparisons used the P processor which is 25W whereas the t9600 is 35W with higher cache which makes me think that it will generate more heat and drain the battery faster. Any comments on that?

 

Well, if you want to play high-end games, I'd definitely recommend getting the better GT230M GPU, no matter what delay or color option is required.

Also, if there is a chance that you will have to run some software under XP mode because it won't work with Win 7, upgrade to the P8700 2.53GHz processor since this is the lowest priced one that will support the Intel Virtualization Technology. (VT)

Look at my configuration listed below as an example. I'll also be upgrading to Win 7 Ultimate shortly after my unit arrives.

 

so is it heavy with the extended battery? I'm thinking in buying the same computer here is the link http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0320574
it's open box so will cost me 810$+tax but i was thinking in ordering from sony website that way i can get the BD and extended battery and upgrade the CPU to P8700 2.53GHz.... I need some opinions

 

Thanks for the Reply dude
Actually i also gave the Same Config...just askd the opinion abt the 2.20GHz and 2.13Ghz ..Nw GT230M is avail oly in Royal indigo color ..as i love ICYWHITE So much....and i wont play highend games...will play oly FIFA and NFS..so i think GT210 is More enough fr tat...and pls any one can Say more abt this Lappy...i love this a lot

 

It is the same on the SonyStyle.com USA Site, that the GT230 is ONLY listed as available in the Royal Indigo color, so those of you who got/are getting the CW in other colors with the GT230 may soon have a hot commodity on your hands...might be able to sell on Ebay for $3000 Also I noticed that the Blu-Ray Player is no longer available at all in any color!!

 

I suspect that SonyStyle CTO is using pre-configured base units, only adding in certain components to order, and that they have temporarily run out of all but the Royal Indigo units with the GT230M cards installed.

I'm sure they'll have it available for the other colors as soon as they refill their pipeline after this season's rush. Hopefully that won't take too long!

 

Well I just installed a P9500, 7200rpm 500gb in main bay and put the original 5400 320gb in the ODD bay.
I put AC MX-2 on the CPU and GPU.
I have overclocked the GT230M to 600/1320/800
Just currently stressing the system with Furmark and prime and my temps are lower than the P7350. My max temps are:
GT230m: 65c
P9500: 68 and 66

Next I am going to test batt life with the 2 HDD installed

 

Hi,

for logan87, ClCfe and others trying to improve WiFi performance.

Just to clarify the concept of WiFi channels, for the 2.4 GHz band (i.e. 802.11g/b) there are 14 channels but only 3 of them are disjoint (I hope you can see the image file I attached).
These non overlapping channels are 1, 6 and 11. This means in one location, all these 3 channels can be used without interfering each other. Hotspot operators use this to serve a given area with 3 providers.

Channel 11 is often used as the default. Why ? because channels 1 to 8 overlap with amateur radios; but anyway, all the 2.4 GHz spectrum can be interfered by microwaves.
What all this means is that finding the right channel isn't that easy. Choosing channels 9, 10, 12 or 13 will still have interference with channel 11, and so on.
In 5 GHz band, channels are non-overlapping. So it might be better to use 11a or 11n if possible (unless you have devices using only 2.4 GHz, that's where a dual-band, dual radio router comes to help).
I say it might, ... don't laugh ... because I didn't see much difference in throughput. Maybe because I already reached the max throughput of the Intel 5100 WiFi card ?

nalooti

 

I have important question, can i put q9100 processor ? there will be overheating ?

 

also i found from ebay one seller that sells strange cpu's its fake ? P9700 SLGQS( not OEM)

sSpec Number: QLMA(close to OEM)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Core-2-...75QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item27ad1d82ef

 

Thats a good set of upgrades. Do you think the 7.2k HD makes much diff for performance. I find that the standard 5.4k seems a bit sticky at times.

Is 800 the best you can get on the GPU mem. I've hit 600/1320/1100 stable for 2+ hours in MW2.

 

the 7200 has made a massive difference, like you I found the 5400 sluggish but still perfect for movie storage as I rarely use an optical drive. I want an SSD but the price is still prohibitive and I need a fair amount of spave for all my games and apps (at least 150gb)

I havent tried above 800 as that is where system tools stops. Do you use riva tuner or have you modified sys tools to go above 800? and if so can you let me know how?

I was going to undervolt the CPU but I actually havent found a need as the temps are so good and I run in powersaver on battery anyway. With my sxps 16 I have to undervolt to stop it throttling at full load.

 

UPS Just tried to deliver my laptop but I've had to go to work today

Hopefully I can work from home tomorrow when they redeliver!

 

It's a pity that the CW doesn't have options to buy with 7200. I would have certainly traded a smaller 7200 over a larger 5400.

I use system tools. Once you select your overclock and quit, it asks if you want to use these settings during boot. Select yes. Now if you go to your ntune profile directory (can't give you specifics at the moment cos I'm at work) you'll find a file with a name like osbootpf.nsu. Edit this file and change the max value 816 to something larger. Save and reboot.

I've clocked my P7450 to 2.6Ghz, by raising FSB to 266 to 333. Absolutely stable after hours of prime95 reaching a fairly toasty 68c. If I undervolt whilst overclocked, I've been stable at 64c. Thats the same temp as stock P7450.

Even with all this overclocking, the lappy is still cool on the underside

 

congrats on the upgrade. I had a problem opening mine. I got stuck at what I think is the power cable in the memory module bay. I unscrewed everything but this was the only thing left that was stopping the base from coming off.

Any advice on this? What's your 3dmark06 score at now?

 

I'd like to buy a cordless optical mouse (Bluetooth) but sony models are too expensive.

Can any Bluetooth mouse work with the CW ? Any advice on a brand/model ?

thanks

 

Hi Mickbt26, that cable just pulss off. There should be a black strap on it, grab the strap firmly and pull up. There is also a screw to the left of the ram, took me a few seconds to notice it!

Will run 3dmark06 now and update.

CWL999, thanks a lot, will take a look after 3dmark run. Might give setfsb a shot, would be nice to get my 2.6ghz cpu upto 3ghz

 

I am currently using a Dell bluetooth mouse (its a rebranded logitech, works very well and cost me £10)

 

I found a t9600 for £170 on eBay so I think I'll buy that one and install it.

 

ok well stock 3dmark was 5600
Now with P9500 and 230m @ 600/1320/800 I get:
7156!
SM2 - 3083
SM3 - 2901
CPU- 2297

Also Mickbt26, that is a 35watt tdp cpu, you may want to look at a P series. £170 seems quite expensive, I picked up my p9500 (2.53ghz and 6mb cache) for £140 months ago

 

I ordered my CW on 11/26, and as of 2 days ago my ship date was set for 12/3 and it said my Vaio is being built. It still says it's being built, but my ship date was changed to 12/1! What? Maybe their using a 2008 Calendar or something!! It also doesn't show that my card has been charged yet.

 

Don't worry about it, UPS tried to delivery my laptop today and Sony still haven't charged my card!

 

Hi, can you link page from where u bought it or Mickbt26 link please. Because on ebay i found just fakes do not know about china versions.

 

I was lucky enough to get mine from a private UK auction. I would buy one of the Chinese CPU's if they have plenty of positive feedback.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Core-2-...75QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCPUs?hash=item27ad1d82ef

So strange, it look like home made processor i don't want to buy such interesting looking processor even its working properly.

 

By any chance did anyone buy the Vaio CW Laptop Keyboard Skin? If so, how is it? I'm thinking about getting one...

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666036655

 

Thanks, I'll keep a watchful eye for the UPS guy!

 

also our sony is capable with Intel Core i7-720QM Clarksfield ? its 45nm.

 

I had it in my watch list but Ive just looked to get you the link and it has ended.

Good advice ninja2000 thanks. I'll get a p series processor
when I find one

 

Just out of curiosity... Aren't you voiding the warranty agreement if you change the processor and hard drive? It seems the warranty allows you to only upgrade the RAM and nothing else, am i right?

 

How long did it take, since Sony told you it was shipped until UPS tried to deliver it?

Also.. From where did you get the UPS tracking number? Because the one Sony sent me on mail is only numbers, no letters.. While I expect a UPS tracking number to have atleast that Z letter somewhere in the beginning

 

I'm sure if ninja2000 needed to use the warranty, he'll return things as they were stock

 

How powerful a CPU are you looking for? I have a spare P8600 2.4ghz which I bought before finding the P9500

BTW, I noticed the VT became available when I installed my CPU I now have XP mode.

 

Exactly

I have upgraded every laptop I have ever owned. Only one has had a hardware fault develop. I returned my laptop to stock, it was repaired and then I put my goodies back in again.

 

Well I'm in the UK, I got an email yesterday about 6pm with tracking information saying the laptop had shipped and they tried to deliver it this morning - Just wish I could have been in to collect it! The tracking number was in the email they sent me....