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

Did any of you guys with Sony VAIO CWs order any sort of warranty?

I don't really think I'll need a warranty. I did drop and simultaneously break my Dell Inspiron laptop (I don't plan on dropping my VAIO CW though ) Not sure if I should consider purchasing a warranty.... I am thus interested in hearing others experience through purchasing from Sony Style (online), etc.

Don't we have 30 days or something limited warranty?

 

Sorry, I haven't bought it yet, but I'm pretty sure it comes with a 1 year warranty? As far as 30 days go, I know that you can return it within 30 days. Other than that, I'm not sure.

I don't plan on spending additional money for warranty either. But then again, you don't regret it until something happens. A few months ago I spilled orange juice all over my keyboard, something I thought only idiots did. Took a long time to wash everything out (thank god that's even possible), but the keys are now a bit slower/stuck down.

 

Check eBay for new keyboards. They're pretty cheap.

 

The refreshed cw will get GT 330m card, so you can wait for it but you will have to shell out anything between $950-$1000 for the combination of an i5+GT330m, may be the combination of i3+GT 330m will cost around $900-$950, i have worked out the above prices by comparing with the current prices given on sonystyle. so if your budget is in the range of $850, the t6600+GT230m is a very good configuration and you will be happy with its performance but if you want the latest and a much better configuration of i5+GT330m and can spend around $1000 then wait for may be another ten days..

 

All CW's have led backlit display right?
The Best Buy website says it doesn't.

 

I was also afraid that it would look girly and very cheap (bad quality plastic) before I got it. But when I got it I was eased, it looks more like an Apple computer, high quality with neat design. The pictures Sony have of the white model on their website does not make it justice.
I wouldn't call it girly, but everyone got different taste right?

 

I bought my CW on launch with the following configuration:

Red Colour, P7450 CPU, GT230M 512mb, 320GB HDD, DVDRW at £699 from John Lewis in London.

The laptop was ok but i immediately noticed an issue with the graphics. After a while some black vertical bars appear on the screen. The graphics become very pixelized and 'dotty'. Games that were running at native resolution looked like 320x240 when motion was involved. I am sending it back for repairs on Wednesday and hopefully it will arrive back good as new. The battery does not fit well in the compartment, the plastic under the DVDRW is very bendable (scared it might break some time), the DAMNED FAN IS ALWAYS ON and of course the graphics issue.

Attached are some images so you can see for yourselves.

Anyone interested in buying my laptop for £600 send me a message.

 

Any BSOD related with the G210M graphics card?

 

Hi, I am also interested in buying a Sony Vaio CW because I am looking
for a small notebook with gaming abilities.
Now that the Arrendales arrive I will wait for the new CW line.
But I have some questions / facts for you.

For everyone wondering about the i3 / i5 thing:
Here, in Germany, the SonyStyle.de shop offers the
i3-330M (2,13GHz), i5-430M (2,26GHz, +40 EUR)
and the i5-520M (2,40GHz, +70 EUR).
At least here, as well i3 and i5 are available and I will go for the i5-430M because I think older software
will benefit from the ability to clock one core higher while not using the 2nd one.

Towards the graphics discussion:
For Germany, there is no option to choose between the cards but
there is an option for a 1600x900 display instead of a 1366x768 one and if you choose this one
the config switches from GeForce 310M 256MB to GeForce 330M 512MB.
Maybe you should ask the hotline about that if you don't see that option.

That's what I can tell you. Now the things I'd like to know from you

A) The Arrendales i3/i5/i7 should have an Intel IGP on the same die with the CPU.
Do you know if it is possible to switch between the NVIDIA and Intel graphics?
That would be awesome to get longer battery life ...

B) I hate all the terms that exist to hide the fact that a display is glossy.
The website says it has an anti-reflection thing but I take it it still means glossy?

C) Do you think 1600x900 is too much for 14"? Increasing font size in Windows
often results in windows being too small for text, buttons being outside the window
and not clickable and such. I don't want to stare at mini-text on one hand
while running 1280x800 for games because the 330M is too slow
but having a 1600x900 display.

D) Do you know if the hand rest in front of the keyboard is glossy as well?

Thanks for your help!
Sebastian

 

Nice find!!!

Changing the screen to the 1600x900 one certainly does change the graphics to the 330m!

Seems like sony's hiding it there.

 

Thought it was a bit odd that just a resolution change cost £110, but now it makes sense i suppose

the cw with core i5 has quite a competitive price. i can get everything in my sig (core i5-540m instead of p8700, 330m instead of 23m, 1600x900) for £850 . i got my CW for £729 but that was after 10% off and free graphics upgrade

it's a bummer the lower-res display cant be configured with the 330m... not sure the benefits of having a higher res weigh out the negatives

i cant answer 3 of your questions, not sure about A) (but like you said, the corei3/i5 do come with them built in... would be a shame if the integrated gpu isnt usuable)

B)the display is glossy. there wasnt an anti-glare offered on the original CW therefore don't count on there being one in t refresh

C)you could increase the DPI of the screen in windows. i've found that with my 1080p tv this helps quite alot, and it does a better job at maintaining the "look" of things than vista and xp did. i think vista and xp always looked unproportional but its not the case with win7 anymore. you could run games at 1366x768 to maintain the pixels from stretching (the 1366x768 is the same as 1600x900 in terms of ratio, so the image wont looked stretched, only slightly blurry i suppose)

D)the palm rest is glossy, unless you go for a matte version from the business section of the sony website (models from the business section arent configurable, and i'm not sure they offer versions with i5, they may still be using core2)

 

Thank you RS4.... I like to hear some feedback about Royal Indigo color ... Likes and dislikes....?

 

Anyone having problems with the screen just going blank all of a sudden (backlight still on) and music stuttering indefinetely. i've had 2 in the last 3 hours and they are really annoying... i don't even get a bluescreen, so windows doesnt report a problem when i restart ym CW

it isn't related to overclocking my GPU is it? i really hope not...

anyone else experienced problems like this?

 

Thnx for upininon. yea i was exagerating xD But i agree with u for what u get on this laptop is an amazing deal for the prize. I think that this baby with the
i5 and GT330M is giving apple's low end macbook pro (1200 bucks) soem huge competition. And 4000 bucks on a laptop O_O"! you could uy like a great computer an an HD tv with suround sound with that . I was looking for a gaming laptop bcause i resently got lots of games for my PC. ( Crysis, dragon origins, halo 2 etc) but i have like the worst laptop xD its 4 years old with AMD turion 64 windows XP and an 800MH prosesing speed with an integrated NIvidia graphics card. Yea try to run crysis on that xD. Another question is "is the i5 gona be replaced by the i9 in a few years? i heard that the i7 could upgrate to the i9 or something, but the i5 would be left in the mediocre section. http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/core_i5 thnx for ur answer

 

i am waiting for GT330m so havent bought it, but i have seen the royal indigo and black colors at sony centre, royal indigo looks blue on website but its purple(violet) in real, black looks pretty much the same as on website, white also looks nice. but then choice of colors is a personal decision and different people like different colors, that is the reason why sony has offered so many colors, just buy the one which you like

 

Happy with my CW but the on-board loudspeakers are limited when viewing videos online.

Looking for a good set of powerful but compact bluetooth speakers - any recommendations? All input appreciated.

 

Can you switch on-the-fly, without re-booting ? Like in the Z-series ?

 

I'd really like to know how this is going to work too... I'd say that it would have to be an on-the-fly solution (Nvidia on mains, Intel on battery perhaps?) since the new CW doesn't include a switch for changing...

It would be a shame to not have the option of changing manually though. Maybe the new intel GMA comes with software program that allows switching... who knows

 

I'm new here and don't know much about computers.

For clarifications, all CW's have led backlit display right?
I'm not sure why the Best Buy website says it doesn't.

Also, what's the Nubo_Icon file that's included in the C drive? Is it safe to delete it from there?

 

the LED display is standard, so whichever model you buy, it will have an LED backlit display

I dont have a Nubo_Icon file in my C drive. It cant be a file that shipped with the CW.

you can rather delete it, or just hide it from showing

 

The new Z-series has 3 positions in their switchable button:

a) Leave it in the speed mode - use external graphics card all the time.
b) Leave it in the "stamina" (battery saving) mode - use built-in graphics on the Intel chip.
c) Auto - when left in this mode, the Z will determine (depending on the load), whether to be in the "speed" mode or the "stamina" mode.

 

I would like to know if the battery drains inself when not in use?

For example when the battery already been charged to 100% then shut it down and unplug the power cord. Leave it without the power cord for 1 or 2 hours, then plug the power cord back.

Does it drain the battery? Mine drops about around 5%.

Is this normal or not on CW? I read on the forum Sony is doing like this but not sure about the cw series.

Please let me know CW users


Thanks

 

mine drops too =[ like about 5-10%

not sure if its suppose to do that

 

Nobody is concerned about the lines on the screen i posted?

 

Hi everyone!
Ok, I've been playing a lot with my laptop since I've received it and so far so good and beautiful as well .
I've got just a small worry. Sometimes, when I leave it go to hibernate mode or close the screen, when I wake it up by switching it on, either the screen freezes or stays black and lately, it came out from hibernate mode then BSOD.
I've read, deep buried in this thread (but unfortunately it's impossible to search this thread), someone having the same problem but resolved it. If you've got any ideas of how, let me know .

F'ail'o

 

Need help here. I just tried a blu-ray movie on my CW laptop. And well its not playing. I have power DVD 9 installed. This is also not the factory HD in their, I changed out the OEM one for another one. Am I missing a file or something for Blu ray playback? I also downloaded and installed that patch for blu-ray players on sony's website but that didn't help. No blu-rays will play, what am I doing wrong???

 

ive had my cw for maybe a month now. lovee it. just curious, how come the menu bar automatically became this nasty baby blue, as opposed to the semi transparent black i had previously set it too. i tried personalization, but it wont revert back to the original color i had it.

 

i would also like an answer to mcub's question, but to help ya out, you can change it back by just picking a theme from vaio, thats what I did to get it back to black instead of the weird light teal.

It also happened (the color change of the Taskbar) after I did a safe boot and rebooted.

 

First, have you tried different Blu-Ray discs? I understand that Sony can sometimes be difficult about playing some "protected" material on their computers. Second, are you trying to display the movie on the computer or on the laptop? If you are trying to output a 1080p signal to an HD TV through the HDMI port, you have to turn off the laptop display first, otherwise you get a message that you can't play the material on the Vaio. It's not smart enough to tell you why it won't play it. Use the Fn-F7 keys to bring up the display options, and select "Projector only". If you are trying to play it only on the laptop screen, what resolution are you trying to play it in?

Of course, it's always possible that you didn't get all of the correct drivers and application software reloaded. I STILL haven't seen a definitive procedure posted here for a proper clean install, a comprehensive list of what files are doing what, and which order they need to be installed in. If my past experience with my Dell laptops is anything to go by, installation sequence can be critical.

 

i did. it stays that color.

 

Blu-Ray playback isn't the same as DVD playback in that you need a special Blu-Ray playing software like ArcSoft Total Media Theater or PowerDVD. Both of those are BD ready. Without that, you can't play them period. The reason is that Blu-Ray uses AACS encryption and is technically more "copy-proof".

 

if anyone is interested in the fall clearances on the website you can buy the sony vaio with the old processors....

 

Does anyone notice when using the splashtop browser, that the mouse pad is extremely sensitive, and often you can't click on things using the pad, you have to use the buttons. There are no menus to adjust the settings... maybe sony will have an update to fix this soon enough.

 

CW is not available to order on the fall clearance... anymore..CW CTO is displayed but you cannot add to the cart at the end...!

 

Is anyone able to see how fast the fan is spinning ? with which soft ?


I tried Speedfan without success and read on another forum that it may have a privilege problem when accessing the sensors and so far I found no workaround.

thanks
nalooti

 

I looked today and I was able to buy it...

 

I looked today and I was able to buy it

 

Can you provide the link that you used to buy the system on fall clearance...

 

Actually I went through it and it looks like the only available color is in pink

https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wc...52921665977150&categoryId=8198552921644675497

 

@Spylex:

I had this same exact problem, plus really bad temporal dithering shimmer on any color that was near half brightness. You could see both show up in full force on the gray background of the Win7 default Start menu.

Fortunately I bought it at Fry's and after showing the returns guy the difference between mine and the display model I got it replaced. They even let me swap it out for a /R instead of the /B fingerprint magnet I originally bought. I've only had a few minutes to play with the new one, but right away I can tell that the LCD is much better.

FWIW, Sony obfuscates the EDID read back from the LCD, so it's impossible to tell who the OEM was on the panel without taking the screen apart.

 

oh my life... sony updated the cw series... i want i7 proc + gt 330... sigh.... stuck with my older config

 

I prefer my old one. I like 1366x768

 

I'm so angry that I just bought a CW 2 months ago. I'm seriously considering selling this one and going for the i5 + 330M + 1600x900 options when they're available.

 

hey guys, i was wondering if i could get my splashtop web (quick web) function back after my clean install? thx..

 

...Kinda sucks a lot, don't it?

Me? I figured Sony would be coming out with with newer, better CWs (or FWs for that matter!), but I wanted something to play with over the Winter break, before school started. Also, I'm coming from a few, horrible, XP commercials so playing on this thing is like... playing on Pandora compared to my crippled XP laptop.

But dang does that (finally) backlit FW and i5/i7 CW look tasty... :\

 

was going to hold out and wait but the refresh doesn't seem to amaze me too much so just opted to buy the previous version from Future Shop (canadian store) for the CW-Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 4GB + Blu Ray for 999.99 (canadian)!

 

From general internet browsing I get an average discharge rate of like -19,800 mW, resulting in a max life of like 2 hours 10 - just from using the internet.

I have the 2.5Ghz P8700 duo core, 4GB RAM.

Can someone please tell me if this is normal/weird and what they tend to get from general browsing:

 

For general browsing with a Wi-Fi connection, mostly email and general web-pages without major graphics or videos, I'm averaging closer to three hours, sometimes a little more. As soon as I get into heavy graphics, things start to heat up a bit, and battery life goes down to closer to two hours or so.

It all depends on how much load is on the CPU and GPU when browsing. Anything that calls for heavy drive access, the hard drive or DVD drive, is also going to cut into battery life.

 

i swear sommats wrong with my battery, i dont even get 2.5 hours -.-