Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

It's true, you have upto the end of the original warranty to purchase an extended warranty.

Of course these rules can change anytime, so before you buy ask to make sure.

 

If price is not a factor, then ignore this post. If so, I think you can save a good deal of money getting 2.4GHz processor rather than a 2.8GHz. I'm not sure if the .4 GHz difference in speed is proportional to the $350 price difference.

Also, someone correct me if i'm wrong, you can always upgrade memory later when it's a lot cheaper to do so and on your own. Because, currently, the price difference between 4 GB and 8 GB at Sony is $500.

In total, that's $850 you can save on the price of your configured laptop. Anyway, that's just my $.02.

 

I just ordered my FW-290 yesterday on Sony Style. Apparently their seems to be a discount on certain components, such as processor speed, Hard drives, and bluray/dvd player stuff.. Saved me over $100 but total still came out over 1600

 

Wohoo! Finally pulled the trigger yesterday. I got a total of $475 discount!

My specs:

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz)
Memory : DDR 2 800 4 Gb
Hard Drive: 320 Gb 7200 RPM Hard drive
Video Card: ATI Radeon 3650 HD
Screen : Xbrite FullHD
Optical Drive: Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
Wireless: WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Color : Black

Discounts:
Blu Ray Drive - $150 off
Processor P9400 - $150 off
Bundle accessories discount - $200 off (I only need to add $24 neoprene case (this is the cheapest accessories that I can add) and they discount the whole package..so I ended up saving $175 - not bad at all!)

Total order: $1,299 + $24 (case)

Just in case if you want to know how I got my discounts:

The sales rep gave me the idea for the bundle accessories discount. Just ask them when you called and they will give it to you. He originally gave me $100 student discount but then I asked if he could knock off another $100 (I told him I would get it anyway if I apply Sony Card). He asked his manager and foula! he gave the bundle discount.
**bundle accessories discount originally not available for CTO models. Just ask and they will give you one even if you are ordering CTO.

 

How do you get the student discount? do you need to submit something? does the person paying for it have to be a student? I wanted to put it under my mom's card so i'm not sure how this works

 

According to the terms, you have to be a student in order to use the student discount (Sony Campus Program). For some reason, their website did not respond to student discount even after I registered as a student. Best best is to call Sony and talk to sales rep directly. You will get maximum discount that way. **they did not ask whether i am a student or not yesterday**

 

I was wondering about this as well. I don't have any real need or desire for a Blu-Ray drive at the moment... but it is tempting with the current sale. I would need a drive to burn CDs and DVDs though. Does anybody have any information about the write speed of the "Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive" compared to the "DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive"?

Is it just a no-brainer to take the Blu-Ray upgrade?

 

I have yet to make use of my laptop's Blue-Ray capabilities but it gives me peace of mind knowing my laptop can read them in case I happen to stumble upon a Blue-Ray movie. Blue-Ray burners OTOH are total overkill for most people at this moment.

 

Did you order it?

 

I'm curious. Is there any direct comparison between the older 1600x900 HiColour screen and the new FullHD display? How are they side by side? Is the new FullHD screen better or worse (contrast, colour reproduction, viewing angles)?

Is the new FullHD still a double lamp display? I knew the HiColour was almost perfect and I did see one at a local store and was very impressed. The resolution seemed too big for my liking so the FullHD can only be worse in this respect, but I'm only interested in the main quality differences between the 2.

Which one is better? And is there any chance to order a new FW with a HiColour or has it been completely discontinued?

I'm closer and closer to pulling the trigger and I gotta know everything about the screen. The gorgeous display was one of the main reasons I wanted an FW, now I'm puzzled if I should still choose the FW or go smaller and get a T400 with LED.

 

I am ordering a notebook from Sony but I am not sure what the option for "Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive" has. Can it burn regular cd/dvd's? If so what the speeds are? or is this drive strictly for watching bluray/cd/dvd? ... I know that the "BLU-RAY read and write drive" can do it all but is an extra $150 for writing blurays at 2x speed, so i'm def not gonna be getting that.. I just wanna make sure i can still burn cd's and dvd's even with the Bluray Read Only Drive... Sony has great customer service but their tech support seems to know just as much as I do or even less... so any help would be great thanks!

 

I was having doubts about FullHD as well before i ordered my FW. I waited until they have it in my local sony store and saw it with my own eyes. Now, I can confirm that FullHD is as bright as the Hi-color. It is DEFINITELY a lot better than the Xbrite-Eco. I You can definitely see the difference side by side. If you can stand the 1920x1080 (small texts) resolution, then you can rest assured that you will be amazed with Sony's FullHD screen.

My FW should arrive next week. I will post some comparison pics with Hi-color (on Sony FZ).

 

Jarvcity,
yes, you can burn regular cd/dvds with Blu Ray only drive. To be sure, you can call Sony (Sales) and ask them about it. As for the speed, I dont have the information. Blu ray RW is not worth the price at this point IMHO. Definitely get the blu ray drive.

 

Hi everyone, after anything else happens, sorry for my english...

Im looking for a new laptop and a few weeks ago i noticed the existence of the VAIO FW SERIES... it was just love at first sight

Actually I live in Mexico, but im at this forum to ask some question before I ask at Sonystyle...

1) Do you think its possible for me to buy the laptop at Sonystyle US and then send it directly to Mexico??

2) If the answer to the first question is YES do you think i could apply for any discount??

Im trying to buy this laptop there at the US because here in Mexico everything like this is EXTREMELY (maybe not extremely but the difference can be easily see) expensive .

Im a student and i really can buy it here in Mexico but the problem is that the cheapest FW laptop at the US that has the lowest specs is at double price here in Mexico... with all that money i cant get a much better one in the US

The last laptop I bought and that I actually use is a Toshiba that i bought less than a year and a half ago and now its making me go crazy!!! Its a total pice of . This one was bought mmm i dont remember the place but I bought it on my vacations at California

I really dont know if on the coming vacations im going to visit my family at California so this is why im asking here...

If i cant order it directly from sonystyle i would have to ask someone of my family if they can receive it and send it directly to me, obviously it would be better i can receive it directly from sony...

Oh! this is the customized FW im trying to order...

VGN-FW290 Configure-to-Order
VGN-FW290
Customization Details

* Microsoft® Works
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™
* No Fresh Start™
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
* Video Standard
* No Engraving
* Large Battery
* QuickBooks Simple Start
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz) [Regular price $600]
* None
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive [Regular price $150]
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Titanium Gray
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)


Sorry for my HUGE post, hope you are not going sleepy with all this

If you dont understand something from my english let me know

 

I live in the Dominican Republic, and as in Mexico, prices here are way higher than in the US. What I did was wait until someone I trusted had a trip to the US and then ordered the laptop to have it delivered in his hotel to bring here. The reason for this is that if you have the laptop shipped to your country, they might tax it highly in customs. If someone you know takes it to you, you'd avoid the tax, which is the main reason why electronics are so expensive in our countries. At least that was the case for me.

 

Im debating on whether to get the sager np2096 or vaio fw290. My question is what is the 3dmark06 score of the vaio w/ the 3650. The sager with the 9600gt ddr2 roughly gets 4000

 

I am pretty sure that the FW, given the same spec except for the 9600GT DDR2, would have lower score compare to sager. ATI 3650 HD, although in the same class with 9600GT, still lacks the oomph. 9600 GT has faster core and rendering if i am not wrong.

 

I have the FW290 and am looking for a good backpack. I'm toggling between the:

Slappa Velocity Pro Spyder
SwissGear Ibex

Anyone with an FW and one of these backpacks comment on thier experience? Also, photos of the laptop in the bag would be REALLY helpful!

Thanks.

 

Hey guys.

Sorry about this, but the search function is not working for me.
My friend is considering a sony vaio fw 290, but he wants to know if the HD 3650 is DDR2 or DDR3? And does it utilise the full 512mb or can it only go up to 256mb (128 bit)? Thanks.

 

It's DDR3
and It has 512MB

 

I've called sonystyle in the US before to see if they'd ship to Canada. I was told they'd only ship to US addresses, and the billing address (for credit card orders) has to match the shipping address.

 

Hi - I am having that same prolem with my FW170D. I tried the link that you used, but it is not available. Could you PLEASE tell me how you fixed yours?

 

Well I pulled the trigger and got the FW290. Unfortunately the ship date is november 13th and that is taking a bit longer than I thought. But I was told it will be shippe from san diego so I should get it faster than if it were coming from the east coast.

 

I ordered mine on Sunday and it just arrived today even though it was scheduled to ship on the 11th. I guess Sony must not be very busy with laptop orders. The full HD screen is absolutely stunning. The text is a bit small but not as bad as I though it would be. Going to increase the font size through the windows classic advanced appearance (not by dpi scaling) to make things a little larger. I had a Dell XPS M1530 earlier this year which I returned because of the poor Samsung screen and horrible speaker/sound quality. The FW 290 is truly so much better in overall quality.

 

I am not sure of your location but I am in canada and well I doubt they will ship it this weekend. Interesting enough the 290 is out of stock on sonystyle.ca

 

I ordered mine on 11/2, manufactured 11/4, shipped 11/5, schedule delivery 11/8. (estimate is 11/11).

You will get yours faster

 

I just got the email that they have begun production on it. the email states this

Shipping confirmation will be sent via e-mail as soon as your product is shipped. Manufacturing time typically takes 5-7 business days.

5-7 days is a bit long to build a computer

 

Hi everyone, another question.

The barrel, or hinge (where the power button and adaptor hole is on the other side of it), is it sturdy? I've heard cases where it's extremely loose, and even broken over a small period of time.

 

Hi

I live in Ecuador and have two options for a FW the 140 and the 160, I`m not sure is only 100 US of diference, and is the Bluray player. For 200 US more is the fw170

Thanks in advance

 

awesomnesssssssss

 

I am sorry, i was not too clear with your pricing. As far as I know, you should get bluray drive (not blu ray RW drive) if you want your laptop to be future proof. If you have HDTV, you can connect your laptop and watch bluray movies as well. If I were you, I will definitely get the version with bluray drive ($100 difference I think is worth the price..IMHO). Regular blu ray player will cost you approximately around $300-$400.

**Bluray drive can also read/write cd/dvd.

 

Although I agree about getting the blu-ray player since for the price sony is offering it, it is much cheaper than a stand alone player. But then the 1600x900 screen on the fw (depending on model) would not be able to show give you the full HD exprience, but the ability to hook it up to a LCD hdtv via hdmi should be a nice treat.

I decided not to get one since we already have the S350 from sony.

 

Thanks, the fw140 cost 1299 and the fw160 1399, here in a good place normaly the model cost almost the double

 

Hmm I just checked, I think the 160 comes with the ati card, which I would def get if you plan on doing any sort of gaming on it.

 

Did you hear it from me? Because it happened to me a three weeks ago. I sent it to sony and they are going to fix it as it is under warranty. Talk about a crappy build. I thought it was a sturdy system. It is quite sturdy, but the two hinges are extreme weak points on the casing. If you plan on traveling with it (which i highly do not recommend) Make sure you keep those two hinges protected and out of contact with anything else!!

I took it to school, but now i know it is not good to travel with regularly especially since i take the bus. Therefore, i'm buying an ASUS Eee PC for school in a few days. I dont know what im gonna do with the Vaio yet.

 

I just bought a sony vaio fw290 cto with 4gb, 250gb, and 2.4 core duo processor P8600.

The battery as advertised on the sony site where I bought it should last "up to 5.5" hours, but when i charge it all the way and have no programs running it says it only has 2 hours and 24 minutes. I called customer service and after telling hte guy that the battery model number on teh back says BPS13/S he told me that batter is only 2 up to 3 hours.
Did I just totally get ripped off?

Should I return it? Can I return it...if I've been using it now for 4 days, installed other stuff and uninstalled some stuff? the return policy insert says I have to pay for shipping (I probably have to do insured shipping) and that I am responsible for any damage in shipping, "may be" charged a restocking fee, and "damage or missing part" fees also may be charged. Has anyone ever returned to sony.com? It says nothing about exchanges. Does anyone know if I can exchange it for ...you know, the battery I paid for?

Secondly does anyone know what happens to the extended warranty (which I paid a lot for) if I try to return or exchange the machine?

and lastly, I ordered the core duo 2.4 P8600 processor, and the sticker on the outside of the machine is a centrino 2 sticker, not the core 2 duo sticker as seen on the intel site. Should I take that as an indication that they swapped out my ordered processor for a lesser version as well?


thank you in advance

 

the P8600 is a core 2 duo cpu, centrino 2 is the entire package from intel, cpu, chipset and wireless card.

what kind of drive did u get? 7200rpm or 5400rpm? what about screen? 1600x900 or 1920x1080? 4500HD card or ati card?

all these things have affect on battery life and some will lower it by a considerable amount.

btw did you check to see that you have the battery set to 100% charge? or 90% it might be set to lower default number.

 

first of all thank you for replying.
and thanks, I had no idea about the intel package.
the drive is 5400rpm, the screen is 1600x900, and the card is the standard "Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with Intel® Clear Video Technology"

yes I did check the battery setting. Strangely enough, changing the battery setting from 80% to 100% did not increase the time the battery said I had.

so is this normal?

thank you

 

So you ordered the FW290? configure to order? if so what did you configure in it?

the sonystyle website claims this
12. Actual battery life may vary based on product settings, usage patterns and environmental conditions. Battery life will be shorter with models equipped with Instant Mode features.

the up to 5.5 hours is on the VGNFW235DH accordings to sonys site, and that comes with the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5800, but I don't think the CPU will have such a drastic effect on battery power since it can be powered down a bit.

have you tried undervolting the cpu to increase battery life?

again not sure what the problem might be, maybe battery is shot or has problems, perhaps too many things are running on your pc, vista wise, or something is turned on that is draining power.

 

yes I did the fw290 configure to order. I got 250GB hard drive, 4 gb, intel core 2 duo processor speed 2.4 P8600...and everything else standard.

what is undervolting the cpu? how do I do that?

(this is my first laptop, can you tell )

what I find really alarming is the customer service guy telling me that this model of battery only goes up to 3 hours whereas it is advertised as up to 5.5, and then on another page it is advertised as 6 hours, either way it's a far cry from 3 hours max.

 

The BPS13/S is the normal standard battery on the Vaio FW which is the one you got. Are you saying you payed for the extended battery but they sent you a standard battery? Could you provide a link to the advertisement page that had the info?

 

No he was saying that the site said he could get up to 6 hours of battery life, but he didn't get that amount of battery life. When he called customer service to ask, the guy at the other end told him that battery has a 2-3hour capacity, which differs from what the site told him.

Obviously, he knows(at least from what he told me) that he probably can't get the 6 hours of battery life as those are in optimal conditions, but he found it odd that customer service told him the max capacity was 2-3 hours when the site advertised it as 6 hours at best.

 

yeah i was just asking for link to the page. I found it here: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154

It says 6 hours for the standard battery which is wrong entirely unless i'm missing something too. Is it possible to get 6 hours with the standard battery? because the max i've been able to achieve is also 2.5 hours as well.

Do you get 6 hours of max battery?

 

Very true. It is the best of both worlds if you opt for both FullHD screen (1920x1080) and blu ray drive.

I just received my FW290 with fullHD and bluray drive. The screen will blow you off..it is crisp, sharp, bright, ....etc etc. You wont regret it.

 

Thanks, In will use for use with office, Internet, almost nothing of games, this model has the ECO screen is the E/H, the one which has ATI is the FE/H currently I use a acer aspire travelmate 4220

 

To answer past questions about blu ray drive cd/dvd write capability :

My vaio : FW290 CTO with blu-ray drive (NOT blu-ray RW drive)

Device: Optiarc BC-5500S (as seen in Vista's device manager)

Optiarc is made by NEC and Sony. In 2007, Sony bought the rest 49% of the joint venture with NEC. Now it called Sony Optiarc.

Here is the spec along with the writing/read speed:
http://www.nextag.com/SONY-BC-5500S-2x-615156620/prices-html?nxtg=9fa0a1c0519-03F811A3D5C3B320

Hope this clear and answer the confusion about how fast the blu ray drive write cd/dvd.

 

Well in general, a notebook's battery life varies between 2h to 4h, depending on your use of it. The 6 hours advertised on Sony's website are under optimal conditions(probably no programs running and maybe even screen turned off). It isn't uncommon for companies to simply open a device, leave it on and see how long it goes before shutting itself down and then call that the battery life, since that is technically correct.

Obviously, you as a consumer should know this, which is why they always put a small clause under that statement somewhere saying something like "Actual battery life may vary upon usage patterns, product settings, battery and environmental conditions", which basically makes them safe from any type of fraudulent data report.

Now the problem isn't really that he's not getting the 6h. The problem is that tech support specifically told him the battery in his Vaio had a 2-3h capacity, which obviously differs from the info on the site.

Heck, even on sonystyle, the info differs. Some pages on the Vaio FW state the "up to 5.5h", while other pages states "between 1h and 3.5h"

 

the battery life depends on each of the laptop's power requirements, with the FW's varying from 86W to 110W + 10% mind you it is not +/- 10% lol.

Once i get my 290, I will do a battery test on it.

 

thank you all for your replies. I called customer service again as melody suggested, and this time the woman told me that this battery has a 1 hour up to 2 hour life! So I told her that as I bought it from sony.com, what I agreed to buy as advertised says up to 5.5 hours battery life. She got on the internet and followed me through the site to the page(s) where sony says what the battery life is on the fw. She said I should call back in the morning and talk to the dept that deals with batteries to ask them why my battery is not performing as advertised. I'm sure you are all right and they will probably tell me that is under "optimum" conditions.
Still I think I will, as someone suggested, ask to have the battery exchanged for another one. I am new to laptops entirely, but I thought that if I don't have any programs running (which yes is obviously not how I would use the computer) then the battery life ought to be more than 2 hours and 20 some minutes.

As I was looking to do the CTO I never saw the battery life estimate on the preconfigured ones, but it is strange that those are the ones with the hd screen and the more expensive graphics, and yet without either of those I am getting the same battery life.

I would definitely be happy with being able to get 4 hours out of it. I assumed that if it says up to 5.5 hours, then if I am just using like a word progrmam I should at least be able to get like 4 hours, or 3.5 out of it. But it is true that I am entirely new to this.

If anyone has a fw290 without the optional screen and graphics upgrades I would be very interested to know what kind of battery life you are getting out of it.

thank you


o something else I find weird, is that I get the same battery life if I have a bunch of browser tabs open to different sites, and 4 of those tabs have videos in them (one playing and the others loading), as when I have no programs running.

 

Can someone please tell me the 3dmark06 score of the Vaio with the ati 3650hd