Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

My FW290CTO shipped today, and should arrive on Friday. I can't wait!

 

Congratulation to you

Write some small review here when you receive yours

 

Hi everyone.

I just bought a VGN-FW160, this thing is amazing I'm very pleased with it.
I upgrade from a VGN-TX, which 11" screen was very uncomfortable to read and low performance like any other bussiness laptop. I was looking for a regular 15.4" size laptop then I find the FW series very atractive because it has the size and weight of a 15.4" but better and bigger screen.

Well, the anoying thing was remove all the bloatware, I recommend to use RevoUninstaller, its a very powerful uninstaller, cleans all the remainings in the windows reg.

Then, I try to install Windows XP SP3 and the FW delivers Blazing Fast Performance. However you need Audio drivers from Realtek, Ricoh (Memory Stick and SD), Ethernet drivers from sony doesn't work, you need to extract with Universal Extractor or get it from the provider site. Sony Notebook Utilities are more rich in the XP version. You have the Wireless Switch software to turn on/off beetween WiFi and Bluetooth. Volume/playback controls with OSD, and VAIO Power Manager works perfectly, unfortunately screen bright control is unable. I tried different order to make it work but it is not possible.

Greetings

 

I'm looking at getting a FW290cto from sonystyle.ca (canada). The overview lists the memory being expandable to 8gb. When customizing they only have a 4gb option. (this is with a 64bit OS) I talked to a rep and he thinks they only can exp. to 4gb but he wasn't sure. I was wondering if anybody knows whether the canadian model maxes at 4 or 8?

Not a huge issue as 4 is tons, more curious to see what the case is.

 

You should get it quicker, my FW shipped from san diego on wednesday morning and arrived at my house on friday afternoon, and this was with the laptop going from SD, to memphis, winnipeg, then to vancouver.

 

Have you tried getting another opinion from another sales rep? It's sad, but customer service has a tendency to sometimes be inaccurate and even contradict themselves so try asking someone else from another store. I mean, you said the sales rep "wasn't sure" so I'm guessing a 2nd opinion wouldn't hurt

But as I said before, if the site lists it as being able to go up to 8Gb, then I'm assuming the hardware is at least capable of accommodating 8Gb of RAM(and the software too as it's a 64bit OS). I'm guessing Sony just decided they didn't want to offer an 8Gb option on the CTOs

 

Anyone know if there are more bags, sleeves, and cooler pads available now than when the FW first came out?

 

It won't do me any good anyway, I have to fly to Philadelphia in the morning, and won't get back to Florida until Friday evening... hopefully it will be here waiting for me!

 

BTW I made a Acronis True Image Backup ready to go that contents: Windows XP SP3 and all drivers working OK 30process for the FW Series.

email-me if for rapidshare links.

 

I have always used Windex with a microfiber towel. You do NOT want to use a paper towel or even a regular cotton towel because they can leave fine scratches on the screen, but a microfiber towel works great.

 

SWEET!!! That has to be one h3ll of a big Rapdishare download!

But wait...wouldn't a True image backup already have your XP serial in it? So how would someone swap out your XP serial ID with their own after they install this backup? And I assume you need Acronis to be able to use this?

And one more thing - you said to send an email for the link, but you didn't include an email address and your PM's are disabled. PM me the link if you get a chance. Thanks!

 

You can use pretty much any bag/cooler/sleeve that is designed for a 17" notebook.

 

Im thinking of purchasing a fw290cto, how is the performance of the ati hd 3650 512 vram?
Im gonna need it to run 3ds Max and photoshop/illustrator.

 

Hi

I decided and bought the VGN-FW170J/H, the 160 is not available. IN 15 days I receive my laptop.

 

I just talked to Sony. I found the website kind of confusing, it kept trying to force me into the Eco brite screen with the HD 3650 on an FW 290. But Sony made it clear the Full HD screen is available with the 3650. Also, since I am doing multimedia mostly and not a lot of gaming with this machine, I want a bigger HDD then 320 gb, so they have the 500 gb, but it's crappy and slow which even they admitted at 4200 rpm is ridiculous. Who would order that? So, what I want to know is who has swapped out the drive Sony uses for a faster, bigger one and which one(s) have you put in. Ultimately, I would want the FW 290 with the T9400, and a 500 gig Seagate Barracuda 7200 drive if possible? Thoughts?

 

I choose the 320 7200rpm drive from sony, it is a hitachi drive, HDtune results a few pages back.

you can stick in the seagate, no problems but then heat might be an issue, I have no idea how warm the seagate gets.

as for the cpu, depending on what you will be doing, the extra mhz is not worth the money if you will not be doing cpu intensive things, the P8600 would be plenty fast.

 

hey guys,

about to pull the trigger on a FW285J/H or J/B.

whats your input/preferences on the two between the "titanium gray" and the "black"? what is more classy, professional, and will hold up longer against everyday use?

Also, i just want to make sure, the FW285J (H or B), does have the XBrite Full HD 1920x1080 resolution correct? I want to see how wow i get with this 512mb dedicated ATI 3650 graphics. im a multi-tasker and will be using AutoCAD along with many other apps simultaneously.

Lastly, on my research i saw the FW285J is a P8400 2.26GHz processor with a 7200RPM 320GB HDD, yet the specs on this sheet say its a P8600 2.40GHz processor with a 5400RPM 320HDD:

abt.com/images/products/PDF_Files/vgnfw285jh_specs.pdf [add w w w (dot) before link]

Clarification? Sony doesn't give full specs on the FW285J

Thanks!

 

Wow! That link is more useful than u think. If anyone still doubted the FullHD screen is a HiColor display here's what that official sony spec sheet says:
http://www.abt.com/images/products/PDF_Files/vgnfw285jh_specs.pdf

 

Thanks, but then again, the link I posted shows that the specs of the processor is a T8600 2.4GHz with a 5400RPM 320GB HDD.



Yet when I've been all the website for my purchase (amazon, buy.com, pcnation.com), all of them say that the FW285J is a T8400 2.26GHz with a 7200RPM 320GB HDD.





I just was wondering confirmation of which is its, and what it isnt.

Thanks.

Also, does the FW series have room for me to add a WWAN card (i.e. Verizon's Broadband EDVO WWAN card?) in addition to the WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n card on-board?

Sorry for all the questions, as I just want to be 100% sure of this.

 

there is no T8600 cpu, its P8600

P8600 - 2.4ghz

P8400 - 2.26 ghz

what do you mean onboard? if a express34 WWAN card exists, then yes you can add it via the expresscard slot, if you want to attach it to the motherboard, not sure you can.

 

opps typo*, i meant P8600.

imma go and assume the FW285J is a P8400 w/ 2.26GHz, and that link of the spec sheet is inaccurate.

as for WWAN, i mean an additional Mini-PCI Express port. usually my previous laptops have two Mini-PCI Express.

(1) is for the WLAN, the 802.11 a/b/g/n
(1) is open for a WWAN, such as a Verizon Broadband EVDO WWAN Card

h ttp://i23.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/1d/78/161a_1.JPG

 

Let me also say that Acronis TrueImage Home works with the 64-bit Vista Ultimate loaded.

 

Do all the 1920x1080 screens on the FW have darker areas at the bottom corners of the screen?

I'm wodering if I should exchange my FW while still in the 20 grace period.

That's how my screen looks like with a white image displayed. Go to tinypic then add to the URL: view.php?pic=2lddiqh&s=4 (sorry, they wont let me post a link if I make less than 15 posts).

The image is darker because of the camera but it shows the differences at the bottom corners. Thanks for helping.

 

Pugliesen,

I am doing a lot of photo editing (Photoshop CS3) with my Vaio FW 290 CTO (P9400, 4gb memory, vista 64 bit, ATI 3650 512mb, FullHD) and it works beautifully. It is snappy and can handle a lot of things at once.

I dont have any experience with 3dsmax though.

hope this helps.

 

Photoshop CS3 doesn't use the GPU

 

I think it is normal due to the nature of CCFL (am i correct on the terms?) backlighting. Most of the times, LCD panel with CCFL back lighthing will have some sort of unevenness on the sides. LED lcd panel would do the trick on significantly reducing the unevenness.

Regarding your FW:
1. Are you satisfied with the other parts? eg: build quality, dead pixel, temperature (idle or running intensive games), etc.

If yes, I would not return the lappy to Sony. You will get more trouble later as they will prop open your laptop and such. I heard a lot of nightmare stories about that.

 

I noticed that the Full HD screen on my FW 290 also has a fair amount of uneven backlighting on the panel when viewing a totally blank screen when the power management kicks in. Not sure whether that is normal or whether anyone else has that issue. Otherwise, the screen looks great during normal viewing.

 

is there a difference between:

XBRITE-Hi Color
and
XBRITE-Full HD

 

XBrite-Hi Color have a 1600x900 resolution
and
XBrite-Full HD have a 1920x1080 resolution

 

elude there is no difference except resolution, depending on what model

the hi color version on the older FWs came only in 1600x900

where as the new FullHD is Hi-Color and only comes in 1920x1090 resolution.

my fws backlighting is pretty good, nowhere as bad as others have mentioned and almost minimal bleeding at the top and bottom, I don't even notice it anymore, didn't at first, until I looked closely.

 

I was wondering if mine was broken because of the slightly darker corners but I see it might be normal.

I'm programming on it so I need to type and to see text and graphics. I didn't adjust the DPI and I can stand that screen at native resolution / default fonts for more than 10 hours daily. The keyboard works very well, not too many buttons but for me, everything is at the right place. I'm missing a lot less keystrokes than with previous HP products.
I use it for work and for entertainment. It's supposed to be my main rig.

Also the ATI 3650 plays Call of Duty 4 at full 1920x1080 with minimum 25 fps and around 30 fps average. I tried a HP HDX 18 with an Nvidia 9600GT and COD4 was playing at 45 fps average. The FW is more than I need in terms of graphics power. I'm not into extreme gamming with laptops, I have a desktop for that.

The average build quality for the price is great.

Things that are not so great but that I don't care about are:

- USB Ports are on the right. My mouse is on the right side plus if you have a wire going from the USB to the back of the computer when you open the DVD tray the USB wire get's in his way.
I plan to buy an USB hub with a slim wire and a small USB plug. That would be plugged into the right USB port, and it will have the wire running under the laptop to the right.

- The Sony restore DVDs don't work with another Hard Drive, if booting with the DVD and trying to restoring the drive. From Windows they don't work either if you want to install Sony software. I have put a Seagate 7200.3 so I had to install everything by hand including extracting the Sony software by hand (Movie story, etc.). I have my own Vista Ultimate as the laptop comes with Home Premium.
I didn't try the drivers from the DVD because I used the website to download. They might work from the restore DVD.

When I replaced the Hard Drive with the original Hitachi 7K320 and the restore worked. I tested the whole process to make sure my restore DVDs are correct and it completed with the original Hard Drive in.

- The Battery is only OK but I guess there is a reason (either me running too many things or because of the graphics card). I'm ok with that since 95% of the time I'm using the power outlet. What I run on my laptop is: SQL Server, Outlook, my programming stuff, using the wireless network for my work, 1-2 Internet Explorers all the time, working with files and I pull out 1h50 minutes hours until it hibernates. All that with High Power settings, screen at full brightness, wireless/Bluetooth on.
I guess that if I close the wireless/Bluetooth, I dim the screen to 30% and I put it on power saver I'll get more out of that battery.

Besides that, it's a nice laptop with professional looks, more professional looking than HP that is. I tried the HP HDX 18 with the same resolution in an 18" package and I couldn't stand the screen for more than 2 hours without a headache. Maybe it's their "Infinity" screen cover distorting the image or maybe it's me...

I was surprised how good looking the Full HD screen is on the FW. It was not hurting my eyes Even if it came in a smaller package than the HP HDX 18.

I never tried Sony Vaio before and I'm pleasantly surprised.

I'm still contemplating going to the Sony store to see another FW in action and see if the dark screen corners are there.

 

can we turn off the bluetooth on this model?

 

The Bluetooth can be turned off by the wireless switch on the front of the laptop (this will switch off the wireless too).
To turn off only the Bluetooth you have to use software. I use Vaio Smart Network to turn BT off.

 

Thanks mlist84,

From the sounds of it almost everyone is happy with the quality and service of ordering a custom laptop from sony.

Is there anything i should know before ordering one?...does fresh start make a big difference?

 

i just got it today,

where is Vaio Smart Network located?



Edit:

Can you only use the HDMI as a external display only to watch Bluray movies?

 

Anyone know how long it takes sonystyle.ca (canada) to get CTO's back in stock after they run out?

 

nope, you can use it as a normal monitor and duplicate the desktop or make it an extension of the desktop on the laptop. used to talk to family back in europe over skype, was fantastic.

Depends, for example once I order my 290 cto, that same day, it went out of stock, and it took about 3 days before it was back in stock.

 

My FW11M has also uneven backlighting, lighter at the bottom, darker at the top, clearly visible on dark backgrounds. But note that this is a WXGA++ (1600x900) ECO screen.

Whatever your screen, I strongly advise you to use the ADOBE GAMMA utility found in the CP. It did improve contrast substantially on an otherwise average ECO screen.

 

oh sorry i meant, that when i tried to play a bluray via hdmi to my LCD 42inch tv it woudln't work.

It says cannot played specified content.

that was using windvd i dunno what it means , my tv is hdcp capable so i dont know what the issue is.

 

This is interesting. Some people can make it works and some dont. I would really love to know what is causing the problem. Anyone can do some diagnostics?

 

I don't know if it came with my machine because I installed a clean Vista on it. I got my Vaio Smart Network from an UK support site. I can't post the link but if you search for EP0000157361.exe on Google the first link that shows should be them. The page should show "VAIO Smart Network Update 2.0 - 2.0.1.07170". After installing either switch your Wireless OFF then ON for the program to appear or restart your computer.
Please note that I don't know if it works on your computer as I don't even know if it came with mine originally. Do a restore point before installing and have your restore DVDs created.

 

yeh i would love this too, i really dont want to return the notebook but this is annoying

 

Maybe it's the HDCP revision supported by the TV?

 

Had a Fujitsu s7211 and HP dv6609tx. Both had really good fitting batteries that did not budge even with quite a bit of force. Tested Vaio CR, SR series though and found that the batteries could be jiggled in the slots even when locked in. Recently went down to test FW because of some posts in this thread that mentioned a loose batt. True enough the battery jiggles in the slot. Not as bad as CR series but enough to put me off it.

Interestingly the Assembled in Japan Z and SZ models were very good in build while all the CS, CR, SR and FW seris which are assembled in China were mediocre in build.

Thanks for all the advice though, I think I'll be getting a HP Compaq 6930p business model.

 

i've done some research and others seem to have the same problems
sony, hp etc etc, i wonder what it could be

maybe windvd?

maybe the laptop

hdmi works fine and displays well until u play the bluray

 

I ordred a FW from sonystyle and it came a few days ago. I absolutely love it so far - wonderful machine.

One rather silly question. Is it me or are some images reduced in size on the screen? I'm sure it's just a visual illusion due to the size of the screen, but I'm used to viewing images on a 15" and I'm sure the very same images look significantly smaller on the FW screen. Is it a resolution thing or am I going mad?

 

Loose battery? not here, never had issues with my battery.

the build quality on the FW is amazing, doesn't feel cheap and plastic-like when compared to other brands.

Infact, places that build many products and have experience in building these products show a trend of higher build quality than moving production to a more upscale country that has no experience in building the product.

 

Hi

Do you know the difference between the FW170 and the Fw270

Thanks

 

I mentioned earlier in the thread that my power button barrel was loose... I just looked at it more closely and I can see that a plastic piece broke and it's just being held on by the wire. The plastic piece seems very weak so I think a lot of people are going to be having problems with this. I saw one reviewer on Newegg who had the barrels on both sides break already.

Does anyone have an idea of how long a repair would take if I send it back?

 

ugh! dont be saying that i am going to end up returning it if i see this again lol.

Though i did notice on my right barrel where the half circle green is, that the spacing is kind of weird.

its got me worried a bit