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

Can anyone let me know what the make and model of the Blu-Ray drive installed in the laptops is?

I've ordered one with the DVD drive and am considering upgrading.

Thanks


Martin

 

If anybody is wondering about battery life on the standard battery with power saving settings, it is about 3 hours and 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. I'm actually really pleased with the battery life,

My settings were at the lowest brightness level with occassional browsing, typing up a report and music going to the headphones the entire time. If I didn't have music playing I could probably have it last almost 4 hours. Does anybody know what the large capacity battery gives you?

 

I think the large capacity battery will last almost 6 hours for power saving settings.

 

Do you know if the sony website usually has black friday sales? or is it only for stores?

 

So is this accurate?:

The Best Buy models come with the Atheros wifi card

while

The Sonystyle.com models come with the Intel wifi card?

 

Hi all..first post on CW owner's thread...eyeballing the bestbuy 799 one or the sonystyle 919 one. Does anyone know whether the 919 one with 512mb of GT 230M use DDR 2 or DDR 3 ram? and is it worth the extra $$$$ for the 919 one over the bestbuy 799 one which also has BRD and a bigger HD?

Thanks...

PS: I know sonystyle.com earlier posted v ram as DDR 3 but I can't find that statement now.. and this laptop is DDR 3 system ram but web site put it down as DDR 2 so I dont' really trust what sonystyle.com says....would appreciate anyone that has insight to it...

 

Not 100% sure about the 230m (no idea how to check) but someone else has posted that it does have GDDR3 ram. I would try to verify myself but like I said, I'm clueless. As far as the 919 versus the 799, it depends on what you want. Tje 230m is significantly stronger than the 210, so if you want to play modern games on med/high settings, get the 919 version. Plus you get the choose your color. If you don't game much there is no real reason not to get the Best Buy version.

 

Hi howard911s, if you go here:

http://www.sonystyle.com/campus

You will get a discount of 7% AND free blu-ray for your laptop. So it will be a much better deal than the 919 one.

 

Senor (or anyone else)... I don't really play games but I do some video editing. Will the 230M over the 210M make any sort of difference?

 

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

try this, just download and open, no need to install, it will tell whether your GT 230m is DDR 3 or 2.........if u don't mind...

 

Thanks bro, just saw that, it would seem that for CW series it only gives me 5% discount (deduct from listing price and divided by listing price , exactly 5% off) but Guess I"ll print the 7% page and show them at sony style

By the way I don't see the offer for free blue ray? you are talking about the blue ray drive built in or I get a free blue ray movie??

PS: nevermind! I see what you meant, free upgrade. There is a sonystyle store near my house 20 mins away, Ill just walk in

 

Hey If your gonna walk into the SonyStyle Store to make a purchase, you might try this $200 off trick, which came from Post #54...I know one other person after this was able to get the discount this way as well...unfortunately for me it is about 6 hours to the nearest SonyStyle Store:
------------------------------------------------------------

I pulled the trigger on a CTO at my local SonyStore today. I was able to get $200 off with an ecoupon code. I noticed signs in the store advertising a $100 gift card with any $500-999 purchase, and a $200 gift card on any purchase over $1k. I asked if I could get the $200 card with my CTO purchase. At first they told me no, that it only applied to in-store models. But after a few minutes of checking around, the manager offered the $200 off ecoupon, which was even better than the gift card to me.

I got the P8700/4gb ram/GT230 Nvidia/320gb HDD/Blu-ray/extended battery/Win7 pro w/fresh start for $919.99 after the coupon. I'm curious why they offer Blu-ray on a non-hd screen.

I went in, intending to get red, but fell for the white color instead. The red looks ok, but it's more like lipstick red, and I was expecting it to be more of a burgundy red similar to what's on the other Sony models.

Mine ships 11/2. Can't wait.

 

Hey for folks with GT 230M how is the heat and noise? GT 230m is much more powerful than 210..must put out more heat.......wonder how it affects it

Roger that Scotty, will try it out

 

The 230m is nearly silent and runs really cool. Its stronger than the 210 but its still a mid level card with low power consumption.

 

question time :

the fan of this notebook is always on or when temperature is low is off ?

and

in matrix storage manager utility HD is sata1 or sata2 ?

 

I bought the CW white version from Best Buy with the G210m. I didnt do a lot of research before i went but this laptop just caught my eye, love it.

Mine has the T6600 Core 2 Duo @ 2.2ghz
4gb of ddr3 ram
500gb hd
g210m w/ 256mb ddr3

i ran 3dmark06 with all stock settings and got 3250 or so, cant remember. I did a lot of reading on the g210 (g218 chipset) and read that the 254transistor chip runs very cool. I did a little overclocking ( not much mind you ) and managed to increase the memory bandwidth to 15.2 gb/sec and also the texture fill, and pixel fill.

After the tweaks the GPU runs @ 58C in 3d mark @ native resolution to this screen, before it was 53C. I got 3950 3d marks, thats an improvement of 700 3d marks, should help when i try to run crysis at lower specs.

 

sweet!!

my 210m got a 5.3 ( graphics was its lowest ) thats the difference between the g210m and the g230m. It was 4.9 stock and I did a little helping it out, haha.

here are the full results..

processor - 5.7
ram - 5.7
graphics ( windows aero ) - 5.3
gaming graphics - 6.2
hard disk - 5.6

 

I ordered mine today on sonystyle.

Anyone has tried a clean install, please ?

 

I'm purchasing a laptop in the next two months. I'm looking at the VAIO VPC-CW17FX/W from BB. I was wondering if owners could settle a question for me. Most reviews say this model runs cool and VERY quiet. A few reviews, however, say the fan is noisy. Noisy fans and heat are big issues for me. I'd appreciate some responses from current owners, thanks.

 

Electrobuzz I noticed that you purchased your CW with the "Fresh Start", does the laptop still have some Vaio Utilities installed, and I'm assuming the Quick Web still works...anything else included, or is it pretty much the barebones Windows 7 Pro? Anyone else maybe have an answer if you did a CTO with the Fresh Start?

 

@crs68
It only gets warm on the bottom side near the vent, but not hot by any means. You can hold it comfortably on your lap, even when gaming for a long time. Area under palm rest on the right side also heats a little, but _just_ a little.

As for noise, it is very quiet (but not silent), the noise gets a little higher when CPU temperature increases over 50-55C. Higher not necessarily means lauder, you just can hear that the pitch changed because fan is spinning faster.

I even tried to post a video so you can hear it live, but background noises were lauder then the fan and it just made no sense...

 

What is the deal about the display on the CW not being HD? I have been searching for information on this and am finding conflicting information. I am trying to decide between a Dell Studio 15 and the Sony CW. The main hangup I have with the CW is the display as I plan on watching Blu-ray movies on it. Any input would be appreciated.

 

FYI, I just called a couple of SonyStyle stores, and they are all running an instore special right now...it is $150 off on any Vaio, if you add an extended service agreement (online I think I saw the cheapest one was 2 years for $129) and then also adding the purchase of two accessories, which could be a thumb drive or laptop bag or something like that. Not that great of a deal, but hey, if someone was planning on adding the service agreement and accessories anyway, then it might be pretty good.

 

1366 x 768 = 720P = HD. Not full on 1080pHD but 720P is considered HD and they are not misrepresenting...

 

It don't think anyone could tell the difference from 1080P and 720P on a 14 inch screen. Am I correct in that analysis?

 

The laptop is extremely quiet. The fan is only noisy in the sense that it turns on under demanding circumstances and that you can tell its turning on. As mentioned before, its still so light that most ambient noises around you will easily mask the sound. The sound is a complete none issue.

And to Howard, I ran CPUZ and for some reason the memory section of the Graphics tab is greyed out and does not display the type of memory for the 230m. No clue as to why. I can confirm that the ram is DRR3 though, if that matters any.

 

No it would be quite notice still. Resolution differences tend to fade as you move further away from a screen, which obviously is not the case for a laptop. The argument is more that given the smaller size, 1080p is too small for reliable use and most users would have to increase the DPI of icons/text anyways, negating the point of the higher resolution. 1366x768 is still not a great resolution but is more than enough real estate for most general uses.

 

Man i was so close to buying the HP dm3z, then found out about this laptop. Now so torn. This laptop is a little bigger at 14inch, but would most of you that own it still consider it thin/light and portable?

 

After carrying 17 inches gaming laptop around.. this sony is featherweight

 

Yes its much thinner feeling in person that it seems in pictures/dimensions wise. Lots of the "bulk" is just an upward curvature at the back of the laptop. I travel with mine nearly every day so I would consider it portable enough. They have a version at Best Buy if you want to check it out first hand. Don't know much about the dm3z so I can't really do a direct comparison until I look it up (generally don't like HP designs so never did much research).

 

i've reinstalled w7 with a not sony recovery version
but now fan is always on not noisy but ON
i've installed sony management and sony driver ..but probably not all

can you help me to quiet fan ?
thanks

 

DM3Z

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/hps-probook-5310m-and-pavilion-dm3-keep-thin-and-light-cheap/

 

Maybe check the BIOS to see if there is a setting in there...otherwise wouldn't know...I don't own a CW at this point.

 

So did you decide which laptop you're gonna purchase yet? For me the CW is still at the top of my list...that darn DM3 touchpad I just can't get past to consider the DM3, I might do it if it had a different touchpad...then there is the heat issues

 

Mine shipped

 

Cool, how did you configure it, what color and all that?

 

Does anyone here have the extended battery? Does it make it awkward to lug around, seems to stick out a ways.

 

So have we figured out what configuration (in the US) gets the Intel 5100 card that supports the 5GHz N? I know the BB one is Atheros. I returned my BB one to get a more powerful CTO and want to figure out what to order to get the 5100.

 

I purchased both and took the DM3 back within a few days - it got so warm ,on the left front, under a heavy load that it was uncomfortable to use. I tried two DM3's and both had this problem.
I kept the SONY and do not regret it - it is proving to be one of the best laptops I have used in a while - and it is as other have pointed out - very quiet and cooler than most other laptops.

 

no one can help me ?

 

Do any locale outlets sell the lower power CPUs? the P models if I remember correctly.

 

DAMN.just talked to the sonystyle store in Glendale CA store... right now they will honor

1) 7% off student discount
2) another 50 bucks off

so for the 919 model that would roughly make it 805 dollars + tax

that's with 512 mb GT 230 card and Blue ray drive.......destroys the BB 799 one..

only thing stopping me is that DM3 has 5 hours real world usage with wireless on and surfing.....compare with the said config of CW probably just 2.5 hours.

 

So do the sony stores actually carry different configs? or do they just have the same ones best buy does.

And I wonder if you can undervolt/underclock the system to extend battery life when you are not doing any too demanding.

 

Nope sony store has at least 3 config, the one i'm looking at is the 919 dollars with T6600 4 GB ddr 3 , Blue ray drive , bluetooth and GT 230m video card. then get the aforementioned discount

 

Don't think so, I've been looking around and haven't seen one...seems like almost no "retail" laptops in the under $1000 price range have the P series Intel Processors...I think because most of the general public in this category wouldn't know the difference, and the T series are cheaper, but can still be touted as "Dual Core". I want the P series because it has virtualization capabilities, where the T6600 and below don't, but of course the lower power consumption is nice as well.

 

enroute to Sonystyle store...will report back.

 

That actually doesn't sound like that great of a discount, about the same price you can get online at sonystyle.com assuming the hard drive is 320gb. The total online is $807.49 before tax (that's with the Student Discount ( http://www.sonystyle.com/campus). The nice thing online is you can pick the Signature Color (royal indigo), which I happen to like. I think the stores don't carry that color, but many folks might not like purple Also online you can pick Win 7 Pro ($50 more) and do the "Fresh Start", so they won't install any Bloatware.

CTO @ $807.49:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6600 (2.20GHz)
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit
Royal Indigo [VAIO Signature Collection]
320GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT230M GPU (512MB VRAM)
Blu-ray Disc™ playback
(Reg. Price $70.00)
No Fresh Start
Microsoft® Works
No additional Finance Software
Norton Internet Security™ 2009 (30 Day Trial)

 

The CW gets more than 2.5 from my experience unless you are doing nothing but watching video. Having looked up the dm3z, the CW and dm3 series are meant for two different things. The HP is aimed at mobility and battery life. It does not play games nor is it particularly strong performance wise. The CW is more a mutlimedia laptop that is small enough/gets enough battery life to still be mobile. Looking at the review, based off their 3dmark06, the CW is roughly 5 times more powerful than the HP for gaming purposes (1150 vs 5600). Which one you want is based on if you really need the battery life and size of the HP versus if you need the GPU/processor power of the Sony. Luckily you can go to a bestbuy and they should have both laptops on display for the eyeball test (though both are slightly weaker versions of what you are looking for, the chassis is the same).

Also note that the Sony does have a larger battery you can buy for battery life concerns.

 

This person said they got close to 3 1/2 hours...I believe they have a T6600/GT230...