Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Night Elve: If you couldn't get it from Sony style US, try to go to Ebay. Some people ship internationally and I am sure you can find something cheaper than that price.

 

The VGNFW285DH has the FullHD screen and so does the newegg FW290JAB that I happen to own. I'd say the 290 is the better deal. Go for it and you won't regret it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117832&Tpk=FW290JAB

 

For another 100 bucks get the FW290JAB from newegg. It's infinetely better: FullHD display, 7200rpm HDD, Ati3650.

 

Be aware that FW290JAB has only DVD-RW, not blu-ray. So, not suitable for those interested to have blu-rays support.

 

@ autumnale | kohyeekan

Yeah that's what I hate so much about SONY & Dell Mexico every laptop they offers here are way overpriced.

My only real option would be order one from SONY Mexico or go to McAllen / Laredo and search for one.

But the one that is being offered in Best Buy & CompUSA does not suit my needs, those ones are offered with the Intel Graphic Chipset.

Any idea where I could get this lap, so I can save a few dollars?

 

Is it easy to change the hard drive and RAM in the FW290? I searched the forum and can't find a simple answer to this nor any information on the net regarding the take apart on these systems.

Cheers,

 

Yes, all you have to do is unscrew about 2 screws.

 

Just posting a reply from FedEx to my own post:

Dear ******:

Thank you for contacting FedEx. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience.

Please be advised that it is possible for shipments not to have scans for a couple of days when it has to travel long distance before it arrives at the destination terminal or if the service day is off over the weekend. We regret that due to this, it may take a while for the scans to be uploaded to the FedEx mainframe. However, your delivery is scheduled on December 17 by the end of the day.

Thank you for your patience in this matter, and for shipping with FedEx.

Marycel V.
FedEx Customer Service



If anyone has the same problem now you already know the answer to it

 

are you in the east, I live in pa east coast, it seemed that it was in bloomington, for a good 5-7 days, then was udated to pa, showed up next day. I think it is put on truck in calforina and never gets scan again till if hit the east coast, good luck

 

If i find an internal HD for like 1TB will it work fine in the FW laptop or will it have to be a certain kind of hard drive?

kind of a noob here

 

You need to buy a notebook HD witch is 2.5" thick, not like the PC's internal HD witch is 3.5" thick. As they are smaller, the biggest notebook HD I've seen so far had 500Gb though they were all 5400RPM. I think it's better to go with a 7200RPM one if you're looking for HD-intensive tasks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...escription=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

 

My status finally changed to "Your VAIO is being built". Any luck on your side? They also supposedly upgraded my shipping to overnight. We'll see if that happens.

 

Guys just got mine and it runs real smooth, just wanted to know, what is sony's return policys?

if lets say i see my same laptop for like 400 bucks cheaper in two weeks can i return mine still?

 

Technically they have a price guaranty. Read this
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=331077

and this http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=329174

 

Thanks Mandrake

 

Great, that's what I needed to know. I have a $999 2.26, 2 GB, Blu-Ray, FullHD, 160GB HD, ATI 512 3650 arriving Thursday and want to use a 320GB WD drive I have sitting around and 4GB of HyperX RAM so I wanted to make sure it was easy to upgrade.

Thanks,

 

Although the question was not intended for me but I ordered a black unit on 12/10 and it just entered into "Your VAIO is being built" status as well. I was little worried from few comments regarding stock issues with black unit that I may not see mine for awhile...

 

They must have received a fresh supply of the black cases...I ordered on 12-02.

 

Mine was ordered on the 9th, Black FW290 CTO and it shipped on the 12th. Fedex shows it arriving on the 18th. I looked at the Sony site this morning and you can't even order the black ones with certain options.

Cheers,

 

sonystyle have any deals going on?

 

http://www.dealigg.com/story-SonyStyle-Coupons-Sony-Style-Coupon-Code

 

I don't really want to buy it from BestBuy but they have no interest for 18 months and I don't really want to apply for a Sony card. Ebay, I didn't see any deals on there even with cash back.

 

Bummer, only quick ship models.

 

For ebay, there is a special instruction to get the cash back from microsoft live.com (used to be up to 30%, but only 8% now). I described the instructions in my listing (see below). But well, if you need to financial arrangement and you don't want to apply for new credit card), I think BestBuy is the choice (I don't know whether you can do it in Sony or ebay).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=270318106338

Hope this help....

 

You can return your laptop 30 days from the day your ordered, even after you opened the box. Theoretically, you need only to pay the shipment cost, but I am not very sure whether they will give you the full refund (considering their relative unreliable customer care). Theoretically, you will have price guarantee, but my and others' experience seems that it depends totally on your luck -- who you deal with when you claim the price guarantee. Also, it is extremely hard to get contact with the customer care (and phone number that is always engaged).

 

I re ordered the titanium...no chance for me getting the black case. There won't be any more black cases until they update with FW with new processors, so grats on getting that one. My "new" order is still in processing but I should be able to get it this week...I hope.

 

Why is there so much animosity towards Best Buy? They are always helpful and I have received good customer service at each one I have been too.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would love the dedicated graphics. I might think different if the cash back was 30%.

 

Think if the video quality stunk with the integrated video and Blu-Ray I could return it to BestBuy saying it was defective so I wasn't charged a 15% restocking fee?

 

Haha, sp4, from how high the price I set, you know that I really like this laptop... Well, I think the specs are just right, and everything is good, only the bad experience with Sony really cause me to sway whether to keep it. So, put in ebay with a very high price and haha, let others decide

Anyway, you can try this one from ebay and it is cheaper than bestbuy (no tax) and you got the ATI. (If you can find a way to fund the purchase). Also, you can still get the 8% from microsoft by following the steps outlined in my listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Sony-Vaio-V...286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2|65:15|39:1|240:1318

Hope this helps

 

I really doubt this....

 

haha, no I personally don't. Bestbuy is nice, only that I need to pay tax and the price is normally higher than other places and there is a 15% restocking fee. Other than that, well, bestbuy is really nice.

 

Where's the hdd located in FW290 model and do i have to take the whole thing apart to get to it?

 

Hello everyone! =D

First post in this thread... just ordered my FW290 CTO...

Intel P8600 2.40 GHz, 2 GB memory, ATI 3650, 160 GB 5400rpm, Full-HD, BD-ROM, Titanium Gray case... got the free LocationFree Base Station as well.

I did some shopping around and have already ordered my 4GB memory kit and 320GB 7200rpm HDD...

Total cost for me: $1237.15

So excited, can't wait for it to come...

 

I might be wrong, but I think you need to take a few screws out before you can access your HDD. I don't think it is extremely difficult. There should you some online guide in this forum. Try to search it and you should be able to get it.

 

ok so i just got my fw290 today specs: p8600/ full-hd/ ati 3650/ 250gb @5400rpm/ bd-rom/ 3gb memory........ so does anyone else have slow startup? like it takes me more than 3 minutes for the computer to fully boot up and i was talkn with tech support and we tried disabln all startup and non windows services still no luck.. i already deleted most of the bloatware prior to this and even restored the whole c drive yet its still sloww..

 

i got my replacement 285... i have really bad luck honestly

5 dead pixels all red right across the screen in the middle
all an inch apart

sonyhas dropped the ball on this laptop

 

Just got it and i love almost everything about it but the forums online like this one arent as easy to read as my old crappy laptop.

Why are forums and certain sites very weird?

Even Yahoo seems like only half a page with borders all around

And what about DPI, do you leave it at 90 or 120?

 

From my Fedex tracking site it shows that my FW is actually going to arrive a day early! This is amazing, I cant wait. Has anyone who's gotten one set up and used their base station yet?

 

LOL. That's exactly what I did... Mine came out to be about $10 more (tax difference?).

 

imageshack.us/my.php?image=sdsdcg3.jpg

Refering to the attach picture. I noticed there been different on the design below the hdd area. Is that a new fw model?

 

the program vaio care actually kept track the startup time, my system with your same config average boot is 3 min 8 sec

 

If you want to have faster startup time, you might want to do clean installation (without those bloatwares). Just go to the sticky under Sony Forums and you should find a few good threads that explain how you can do it in details...

 

Did you have any problems keeping you discounts?

 

It's because of the huge native resolution of your display. I assume you have the FullHD screen. Most sites are optimized for smaller screen resolutions but you can zoom webpages without any trouble. The standard dpi is fine for my eyes, but you can increase yours if you think the fonts are too small by your standards.

So the black cased FWs are like some sort of special edition/collector's item right now?

 

Well after all my b*tchin and whining about Sony CS they actually came through this time. My order yesterday went from building to shipped. So I'm getting this today:
Customization Details

* Microsoft® Works
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
* No Fresh Start™
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
* VGN-FW290(2411)
* 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)

for $1204. They took 2 weeks to ship but at least they are shipping it overnight to me for free. Then they went ahead and sent me the base station coupon and that has free expedited shipping also and is due to ship tomorrow. TY Sony! Now I just hope the experience with the new notebook is a positive one from here on out.

Once I get it if anyone wants to see pics or comparisons with my Thinkpad I'll be happy to do it.

 

Congrats! I hope you'll get it very soon. yeah, please do post pics.

BTW, sorry for not yet posting the promised pics and benchmarks but I have a busy time at work before the holiday.

 

WHAT?!

I paid 1,099 and i have a a 2.4 and a 250GB harddrive, how you get this price?

 

What is Zoom?