Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Oh well I'm glad somebody agrees with me. autumnale did you perform your clean Vista install already? Is everything working properly?

 

All you would need to do if pump data quick enough in large amounts to see the difference. Since most people don't that's why the average person won't see the difference. I want to know where did you get the 5% number from because that is significant.

 

As autumnale said, check specialized forums and benchmarks. I'm sorry I don't have the time to search for you now.

 

Yeah, I did. Every works fine as far as I can tell. I haven't had a chance to use the WIFI yet, but I'm sure it works fine.

I don't know if a clean install is all that special though. When I got the laptop, there were 80 threads running. After the clean install and installing all the drivers and stuff, I had 60 threads running. I was expecting 40 threads or something.

I did install antivirus on it though. That wasn't on the laptop originally.

I posted a list of the things you need to get the AV mode buttons working. Just page back a few pages.

It was tricky getting rid of of backup partition, and I'm not entirely sure that I gotten rid of it entirely. Apparently Vista has a 2 GB recovery partition that you can't see anyway. Weird.

EDIT: Activiation for Vista worked fine with the key on the bottom of the laptop. My vanilla Vista install DVD didn't recognize the key though so you'll have to put in the key after you finish installing Vista. I guess they're a bunch of new keys that you need a Vista SP1 DVD to recognize.

It's an OEM license for a laptop so you should have no problem at all reinstalling Vista over and over. It's always the same computer.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

I found this thread thankfully right after I bought my new Sony Vaio FW VGN-FW235D. I must say, what a great machine, the only issue I have is those barrel things, seem kind of flimsy.

Anyways, my real question for this great community is this, and i'm sure it's been answered in here, and I did search and didn't really find any good answers.

What have you guys done in regards to laptop cases? Do you just buy a 17" case and use that? I know Sony makes a neoprene case for the laptop but apparently it doesn't exist in Canada and only in the states, they make every other size, just not the 16.4" FW version for some reason.

What have you guys done? I find it raining a lot recently and it really bothers me to take my laptop with me in those conditions as I don't have a bag that works, or one at all for that matter.

Thanks,
Adam

 

OKAY....just got it in...im still sad that i went the cheap route and went with the XBRITE-ECO...besides the recovery disks, which are in progress. what should i do next, help a newb out...thanks in advance

 

What driver updates are recommended for the FW-245J? There are several but I'm not sure what I REALLY need. Thanks!

 

here is my reply on a previous page about the barrels..

So it seems that Sony is having some quality control Issues.

I am on my forth 285D laptop, and luckily futureshop has a good return policy and exchange laptops for dead pixels.

i received my forth one today, and no wonder people have broken barrels.

this is my original one but it had dead pixels. 3 of them



and this is my new one which is going back ASAP.




THIS is horrible quality control, my first one and this one have been the same!!

this one is just horrible cause u can't open the screen up nicely, and u can hear the barrel slide up and down grinding on it.\


QUALITY control not at the finest.

 

Yeah, mine on both sides are curved slightly inwards, but they are not actually touching the hinges, thankfully. Close, but not quite. I figured they were suppose to be 'perfectly' straight, but apparently some of the manufacturing of these things fails along the lines. In reality they should be more solid.

 

hahaha, thank you but no thank you! by late night computing, do you mean watching p0rn ? i usually use headphones so no problemo there!

 

I knew you would regret it!!!! I said earlier that if you don't order the full hd 1080P, people would regret it...I don't understand why you upgraded the ATI graphics but did not get 1080P.

Here's what you do. Call sony and tell them that you received the laptop...Tell them you selected upgrade video card to ATI Radeon and then you upgraded to 1080P. when you got the laptop, you thought the screen was messed up cuz you were in the sony store and saw the 1080P screen and that's why you ordered 1080P but somehow tell Sony that the order must have gotten messed up due to their website. If you notice that on their website, there is a slight delay...tell them that you CLEARLY selected the 1080P and it must have not taken...tell them that its the stupid sony website with the delay! you swear that you ordered 1080P and you are absolutely incensed that you did not get it and you want a FULL REFUND!

 

does anyone have a captured screenshot of the FW price right after black friday?

i just finally got my credit back but for some reason it only gave me about $140 back total, when the same configuration the day after cyber monday was about $350 off the price I paid. It didn't occur to me that I could make a screenshot, plus I don't think they even factored in the student discount (10%). I'm not sure how they calculated and I'd like to email back.

So yeah, can anyone send me a screenshot please?

 

What do you think the 1080p is for? accounting and word processing!!! :-D

 

well even so, the numbers and letters and columns and rows and the lines look mighty crisper and clearer!!!

 

Have not read the rest of the thread but I don't think this is exactly correct. The reason there will be a price increase is due to new components in their notebooks. Sony will be rolling out new processors early next year; although I have heard that this may be pushed back a bit.

 

Any newer model you would expect a price jump but who really knows how big until we see it. The engadget article didn't specifically point out notebooks so price may not be an issue.

 

I have been using Avira Antivir Premium on two Vaios (latest is a FW) for almost two years now without any glitch

 

From now on I'm an official FW owners club member too.

I finally received my FW290JAB from my signature last night.

P8400 2.26GHz | 4GB DDR2 | 320GB 7200rpm | ATI 3650 | FullHD

I think it's amazing. I love the FullHD screen: gorgeous colour reproduction, good -but not annoying- brightness and generous viewing angles. I was relieved to see I adapted quickly to the huge screen real estate and didn't find the fonts to be too small for my eyes.

The HDD isn't noisy and the fan is whisper quiet. The barrels are fine and don't seem flimsy at all. Everything works fine and quality is great. I'll do some benchmarks and take some pics this weekend. Overall I'm very pleased. I'm one very happy owner.

One quick question: how do I make the recovery discs? I know this bit of info was already posted somewhere in this huge thread but I don't have the necessary amount of time to go back and look for it... or maybe I'm lazy. Thanks in advance.

BTW, I found it curious to see that my FW is Made in USA and not China. Didn't know they're assembling them in NA as well.

 

Congrats! Did you take any pics yet? I wouldn't mind seeing the viewing angles of the FullHD screen.

 

Anyone else order on or before Dec 2nd from SonyStyle and still waiting? I received an email yesterday saying sorry for the delay and they sent me a coupon for free shipping. My estimated ship date remains 2 days ago.

 

Wow I'm really looking forward to seeing some pictures. Also if you can please post some benchs as most reviews found here are for older models.

@Mandrake

That's weird, i've ordered my CTO on Dec 5th and it shipped on Dec 10th (it was estimated to ship on Dec 15th). Perhaps something you ordered is missing from the stock, but I'd recommend you to contact them ASAP.

 

I actually tried contacting them by phone 4 times and never got through after waiting 30 minutes each time. I'll need to try the online chat.

Here is what I ordered. I think it's pretty basic.

Customization Details

* Microsoft® Works
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
* No Fresh Start™
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
* Video Standard
* No Engraving
* Standard 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 T9400 (2.53GHz) [Regular price $300]
* None
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [Regular price $250]
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)

 

Ordered my FW on Monday and it shipped last night (4 days early)! Now I have to wait for it to ship cross country to the east cost, blah. Still no word on the free sony base station coupon code (they didnt include it in my order)

 

Oh well, guess what? We have exactly the same config except mine is White. How much did you pay for it?

 

ahhh that means I'm waiting because I selected black. I paid $1204 before tax, $1280 out the door.

 

oh well I'm jealous. I paid $1299 before tax, $1410 after :/


No student discounts for me though, I'm from Brazil. I shipped the notebook to my sisters house as I'm going to NYC on Dec 27th ;D

 

Unbelievable....another 30 minutes wasted and no answer. The email option on there site doesn't work and the chat doesn't start for another hour. At this point I'm so frustrated I just want to cancel the order.

 

Congrats! - I am still waiting for mine to arrive...

Yeah they assemble the units in San Diego - doesn't really make sense to me as they could drive 15 minutes across the border and make them cheaper in Mexico...but hey it's good by me. San Diego needs the jobs.

 

Mine is also black...let me see what I can find out. These base units may be in short supply...


Edit: They do have stock of the Black base units so I don't know why your order would take more time...

 

I don't want to disappoint you more but normally it takes me about 2 hours to be able to talk to someone in the chat. I always get disconnected

 

Ok their excuse was because it's a CTO it's taking longer....yeah right. They're gonna send me a new estimated ship date and a coupon for the base station.

 

welcome to the club.

aren't all orders over some amount always with free shipping? unless you mean the express shipping was free now, which is a good thing, it is much faster.

CTO do take slightly longer to ship since they have to build it first. depending on when they get the order they will either beging assembling it the same afternoon or next morning, then they ship it the next day afternoon or following day in the morning. west coast should get it within one day if not the same, mid US about 1-2 days, and east cost, 2-3 days, this is the express shipping.

I got my FW shipped on a wed and it came on a friday afternoon.

 

...Or you could be godly lucky like me with shipping.

Ordered on a Wednesday evening, order confirmed, build start Friday evening. Shipped off on Tuesday.

ARRIVES WEDNESDAY MORNING via GROUND SHIPPING? O_O o_o

Total wait time, 6 days. 4 of them business days. I crapped bricks.

 

@ascariss

yes you are right

"In appreciation for your patience, below is a coupon for free expedited shipping on your next order (excluding televisions) through January 31, 2009. So not only will we cover the shipping, but you will get it fast!"

 

update on the free base station coupon code for those who didnt get them with their FW's: emails were sent out today with the code for the free base station and another code for free expedited shipping. I got mine in the mail around 2 today.

 

FYI to all that have ordered an FW with the black top - they are indeed out of stock. My initial info was wrong. I would guess that if your order is not in production you will not be able to get it unless you change to the Titanium or White top.

 

on the black models, is it only the top and keys are black? Is the inside silver?

 

silver, the keys are black.

I attached some photos

 

Did you change yours?

 

Thanks for the pics...anyone have pics of the white case?

 

thx for your info on color, being a 16.4 screen how is the size of the type, I just bought the sr290 13.3, and having trouble viewing it, might return for a fw, thx

 

Working on it but my order was not a standard purchase and this makes it difficult for me to change.

 

Chatting online with them and they are telling me it's impossible to make a change once the order is placed. I would need to cancel and reorder.

 

That is my understanding as well. Problem for me is keeping the same price I had before. It sucks cause I was originally going to buy the titanium one and changed to the black at the last minute. If I had only stuck with my original choice I would have already had my new laptop...DOH

 

The screen size is just fine, I thought I would have had issues becoming used to the smaller screen going from a 19 inch monitor, but it is fine and its fine.

here are some photos of the white top, courtesy of CeeNote

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=287369

 

Oh yeah, the letters and columns definitely look juicier.

Seriously though, anyone thinking about buying the FW should get the 1080 screen. It's really worth it.

 

We were talking about external storage for the FW. And I think you'll probably need it. My 250 GB drive is already full and I've only had the laptop for 2 days....

Buy.com has the 320GB Western Digital Mypassport for 80 bucks if you pay with Paypal. And who doesn't have Paypal?

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...loc/101/206780495.html?adid=17992&dcaid=17992

It's a pretty good deal. It's still twice as expensive as a regular desktop internal drive though. But it runs off the power of only the USB, which is nice. So you just need the drive and the a USB cord. It's like an iPod, only useful.

 

Can the Sony Viao VGN-FW290 rival the video performance of the 15.4 inch Macbook Pro Notebook. I love the display on the Mac. Im talking about with the upgraded video card ATI 3650 and Full HD screen. With this set-up will it rival the performance of the Macbook Pro?

 

The Sony X-Brite screen is fantastic - not sure what the Macbook screen looks like; although the LED display should be pretty good. In terms of gaming, the Macbook's 9600GT will slightly outperform the 3650. But the price of a Macbook is pretty high even by Sony standards.