Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

So the model on New Egg comes with a Hi-color screen, right? Does it come with a warranty? How much does it cost?

Are there any online resellers that are any good?
(I checked Portable One. Most of their notebooks are preconfigured. You can only change the hard drive and RAM).

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117780

 

Newegg is nearly perfect. ZipZoomFly, Buy.com and Amazon are also very good.

 

Hey guys what was that promotional $100 off code? and why can't i find a place to put it on sonystyle.ca? i just did it the other day, and i would like to show the guy from the store i'm buying it to see if he'll hive me something else, or match that... and i'm going to tell him about the extended batteries. if he won't do anything for me i'll just tell him i'll order it online, lol he's on commission so hopefully he'll do something for me...

 

so i just got my fw 140 today and i must say this machine is insane going from my 4 year old desktop its so nice to be able to run multiple programs at once lol

 

So, I did a bit of gaming on my FW today and these are the results I came up with:

Unreal Tournament 2004
- all settings maxxed, forced 1600x900 resolution, 30 to 45 fps (fully playable, even when there are 32 players blasting on screen)

Trackmania Nations Forever
- Custom settings (around medium, if anyone is interested in the specifics, I can copy them here), 1360X768 resolution, 32 fps avg (fully playable)

NFS: Most Wanted
- 1024x768 (no AA, custom settings, again around medium), low 30s fps, fully playable but since no widescreen resolution was detected, I uninstalled it

Unreal Tournament 3 Demo
- 1280x768 resolution
- both settings set at 2 out of 5 (low)
- mid 20s to low 30s fps (somewhat playable but not bothersome)
(will install the full version, hoping it would be better optimized)

 

Must realy suck not having the HD3650 option in the US

 

Hi there, out of interest why does it seem that no one buys from the Sonystyle website with the ability to configure the laptop?

 

Cause the Newegg and other stores buy like 20 laptops and get them cheaper meanign they can sell them cheaper. Atleast thats what i think. + you dont have to wait a week for it to be made.

 

Hey guys, I've been interested in purchasing the FW11M model and since I've been reading so much about the screen, I wonder is anyone knows what is the one that 11M is carrying... SonyStyle says WXGA++ (1600x900) and I wonder if this is the ECO one or the Hi-Color one... My guess is the first of course...

Price tag on the model here is 1150 euros (1700 USD) and I consider this a fair price... I'd like to know if you recommend it even with the standard screen instead of HP Compaq 8510p (1000E/1500 USD) or Lenovo R61i(1070E/1600 USD)... I really care for the screen and build quality...

P.S: Why did they have to place all 3 USB ports on the right, I will never know...

Thanx.

 

Price. I saved close to $300 by buying from Newegg instead of SonyStyle.

Good question. I'm not happy about it either.

 

Review of the Sony VGN-FW11M here:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Sony-Vaio-VGN-FW11M-Notebook.10735.0.html

 

Well this is far from good....

 

hey guys, just bought mine from futurshop yesterday, even though its loade with bloatware it still flies, beautifull machine and styling, the regular eco screen doesn't bother me too much, however i do notice the uneven lighting.

One question, i did a quick google search, downgrading to XP, is it even possible? I have XP32&64 and Vista64, but can't find any documentation for any updates.

Scariest thing is i put in a Xp64 bootable install cd and it tells me that there is no hard drive this is going to be diffuclt to downgrade isn't it ?

 

I thought the laptop supported SD cards?

from sonystyle:
One Secure Digital (SD™ memory card) media slot

from the review:

any idea why the site mentions it and none on the laptop?

As for the review, it seems as if sony decided to skip on the build quality on the device and went for cheaper materials in order to maximize profit.

 

I was thinking the same thing. There's a SD media slot right under the MS Pro one. Either that model doesn't include one or they didn't see it.

 

Isn't the FW made with a magnesium alloy case?

 

While this is def true, you can still get a good deal through sonystyle. Due to their recent sale on upgrades I put together an FW with the HiColor screen, Radeon 3470, P8400, blu ray read only drive, 320gb HD, and 4gb RAM for $1450 (before tax). Because I ordered over the phone and told them I could save 4% by ordering through ebates, they offered to take 50 bucks off, bringing the laptop down to 1400, 1520 after tax. I also was approved for the Sony visa, which will give another 150 off, so total price is around $1370. If I ordered the $1200 model from New Egg I would have to pay $1300 due to tax, although they do offer free three day shipping. So essentially for 70 extra dollars I got the Blu ray drive, an extra gig of ram, and a bigger HD, although I did get a lower CPU (the New Egg one comes with the P8600 which offers a negligible performance boost). So all in all I think that's a pretty sweet deal considering all you get.

 

I was going by that notebookcheck review, but some of their comments are just weak

notebookcheck = fail

a creaking sound would suck, if true.

I would have thought a closure hatch would be common sense.

notebookcheck = fail x2

didn't ceenote get them to work? I recall seeing them in his thread. they did get PCMark 05to work, and got different results from ceenote as well,

PCMark 05
4865 points

vs CeeNotes of 5104

then they tackled temperature and found no problems

so either they are wrong, or people are exaggerating their temps on their own laptops.

overall they give it an 81% which is good but I was hoping for higher. The workmanship is mediocre according to them. They had the single lamp not dual lamp, so I can see hi-color is a must.

It is weird that people on here are praising the laptop while the review gives it some bad aspects and has no sd card slot which is mentioned on the sony site.

 

Not really, if you go look at a FW in the store, the only obvious magnesium alloy is the back cover of the monitor. The inlay surface and the bottom of the laptop all look like plastic; however, maybe the new magnesium alloy look like plastic.

I don't agree with the review on the build quality. It looks pretty good to me in person. The only think I agreed with the review is the ATI3470. If the ATI3650 is available for you, it is a definite upgrade to get.

 

the SD card port is right under the memorystick port.

as for build quality the only thing that looks like plastic is the bottom of the case with all the removable covers.

Temps are not high on my machine so i don't know why kevin gave it a C or was bothered by it.

 

And, not insignificantly, with Sonystyle you have 30 days to return it for full refund...no questions asked. Newegg has an ironclad no return/no refund policy on laptops...no exceptions. That is why I will never buy a laptop from Newegg (and they sell used stuff as new too).

 

Well, with a small investment to upgrade to 2.5Ghz CPU and 7200 RPM drive, I got a PCMark05 of 6300...nearly 50% greater than the reviewed system. That is not an insignificant performance boost.

 

Teton were you the one who gave the $100 discont promo code? if you did, what was it again?

 

I highly doubt they sell used stuff as new. Anyway, my FW should be here from Newegg any minute now. I'll see the condition of it shortly.

 

It's here...

 

Wow... the screen is blindingly bright!

 

I got 3DMark06 and PCMark Vantage working with no problems.

Btw, my mysterious unknown device seemed to be the camera because now I've installed the ArcSoft application for it and it disappeared. Although now I've got another problem. I've synced my smartphone with the FW via bluetooth (that also works, yay! ) and two "Bluetooth Peripheral Device" have popped up in the Other devices menu in the Device Manager. They keep asking for drivers but I can't seem to find the right ones. I've tried some Anycom and Broadcom drivers, but they don't work. Help?

 

Congratulations! Could you post pictures of the computer, especially the screen and the hard drive cover (to see if what was stated in another thread is correct). Thanks.

 

Good news... it appears to have a Pioneer DVD-RW drive, not a Matsh!ita. Yeah!

 

Bad news... it appears to have a Fujitsu 250gb 5400rpm hard drive. But it's supposed to have a 200gb 7200rpm hard drive.

 

Can anyone with the bluray drive check what brand it is? thanks.

 

I told people how to get a $100 discount on phone orders by telling the Sonystyle sales person that you can get a 4% discount ordering online via eBates. There was no promo code. This was US Sonystyle...not sure if this would work in Canada but it's worth a try.

 

Mine is Optiarc BD ROM BC-5500A.

Oh and, almost forgot, congrats on the buy, SoundsGood.

 

Don't doubt it. It happened to me with a graphics cards. They get back RMAs, stick them in a system to see if they are ok, and put them back on the shelf if they look new. I got another guys bad card 2 weeks after he returned it. I know because mine did the identical thing that his did (he posted a review about what happened)....it shut the power supply down after running for a few hours...obviously an intermittent short in the board. And I could tell the board was not factory fresh. I've had this happen with Buy.com also. And forums are full of stories about online resellers doing this.

 

Anyone have a phone number for Newegg?

I gotta ask them about this hard drive thing.

 

What about the weaker plastic on palmrest being reported in some reviews? How does the palmrest feel to those who have the FW? Thanks.

Gary

 

Run HDTune and let's see how it performs. It may be just fine...who knows. Hey, maybe you can get Newegg to swap you with an Hitachi 7K200....tell them you'll return the laptop if they don't!!!

....on second thought the 7K200 runs hot and loud...get the WD 320 7200 Scorpion Black.

 

(800) 390-1119

 

Palmrests are absolutely not a problem. The only thing that bothers me so far is the touchpad buttons...they are flimsy and loud. All in all tthough this is an amazingly fantastic computer. I haven't had a single hardware or software problem yet (other than funky touchpad buttons). Particularly, the HiColor screen is a feat of engineering...my pro-level photography looks exquisite...colors are exact, dynamic range is superb with full shadow detail, precise highlight detail, and crisp contrast. Makes every other screen I've used for my photography pale in comparison. And of course, Blu-rays look incredible.

 

I will be buying the Sony FW series very soon. However, I can't help but notice that the notebook models in Europe have a better graphics card (HD3650).

Can I purchase this graphics card separately and replace the original one (HD3470) with it? It should be compatible. These notebooks are nearly identical.

Maybe I can change the hard drive with a WD 320 7200RPM Scorpian Black at the same time!

 

no, since the gpu is soldered onto the motherboard, if you replaced the motherboard with the entire gpu perhaps, but that would be serverly time consuming and chances are if you don't know what you are doing, you could break the laptop.

Stroj, thanks for the info, just checked it out on the site
http://www.sonynec-optiarc.eu/en/exhibits/slim-line-drives/bc-5500a

Soneone wanted to know why the burn speed for DVD DL was 4.0x when the drive from Matsh!ta only had 2.4x DVD DL burn. Plus I am glad it is a sony product going into the laptop and not some other brand

Hopefully it is a good drive.

 

Thanks Jay,

Wonderful to hear minus touchpad buttons of ocurse. Did you do a clean install of Vista or just uninstall junk that you did not want and thanks. I have thought about clean install but wish I could just use some utilities I have and just manually uninstall junk.

Gary

 

Thanks for letting me know.
Is there a website where I can order a European model and get it shipped to the U.S.?

 

I just removed/deleted some of the junk like Quickbooks, AOL, Office Trial Version, MS Works. I did not remove/delete anything that said Sony or VAIO. I kept Roxio, WinDVD, and ArcSoft for the webcam (of course). I use Diskkeeper to keep the hardrive defragged in the background. I think the performance is stellar. And I've got 40% of a 7200 rpm 320GB drive full already with MS Office Pro 2007, Adobe CS3 Web Premium (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Illustrator, Acrobat Pro, etc.), iTunes with 8GB music, 50GB of photos, Adobe Lightroom 2.0, Logitech Harmony Remote, SiSoftware Sandra Lite, Windows Livee Messenger, and Virtual CD 9. I will likely remove Windows Live OneCare shortly and replace it with Kaspersky, Norton, or McAfee. I only put on one low-tech game so far but will install a few action shooters shortly.


I thought about doing a clean install but I'd rather actually use the laptop instead of re-engineer it for the next few months. Know what I mean?

 

Do I ever know what you mean and now you have given me the encouragement the following when I get my FW.

1. Make Recovery DVDs.
2. Partition the drive posssibly like I have always done and place normal data on one partition and my photos on another and my Web site (local copy) on another
3. Tweak and update Windows Vista and use those Color settings you gave and thanks a lot for that.
4. Uninstall bloatware.
5. Install my needed programs.
6. Install a virtualization program when all is done like Shadow Defender or DeepFreeze to protect my system drive from changing when rebooting - keeps it clean and defragmented every time I reboot.

How does that strategy sound and thanks. of course, I will do images of the drive as I go through to make sure I have backups.

Gary

 

I ended up doing just this... check your PM for contact information.

 

Sounds like a great plan. I'm not too familiar with the virtualization stuff. Something new to look into.

 

Believe it or not, I am STILL on the phone with Sony. It's been well over an hour...

 

What are you on the phone for? I thought you ordered.