Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Just tried this laptop in the store today, fell in love with it.

Anyone here have the ECO screen? I'd like to hear opinions on it and possibly see some pics please.

The Full HD is over my budget.

 

ECO screen color is "cooler" for lack of better world. Full-HD is better for watching movies (better color reproduction). But Full-HD has the disadvantage of cramping higher resolution, making everything too small to read. For my eyes at least.

 

I've heard the lighting on the ECO is uneven, is that true? (By that I mean, bright at center, darker towards corners).

 

hahaha, LOL! mostly the latter! This aint like the tech support forum you'd most likely have to look elsewhere for that...If you find a good vaio tech support forum, let me know!

 

The FW190 with Hi-Color which is similar to Full-HD but with lower resolution, has a similar problem http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4524 but it could be that the reviewer got a bad screen since mine doesn't have that problem.

Mine still has uniformity problem but only visible if the screen turned to black without any picture whatsoever.

 

You know what, I think you're on to something with the "LED Light" thing....yeah that's probably what it is...also have you seen the macbook pro batteries? its like the size of a calculator? anyhow, I love apple's workmanship and chicness but def. dislike mac's user unfriendliness and their pricing...I will never buy a mac and I told my GF that she was making a $2500 mistake but a man cannot tell a woman not to buy something that they have their heart set on, know what I am screamin?

http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/d... Duo T7500 2.2GHz Notebook-Notebook Computers

I ended up purchasing this in lieu of FW for $800. Let me know what you guys think...I got it at one of the online computer outlets. The customer returned it and I bought it as is. I said fock it...part of it was because someone was giving it to me as a gift and I only had to shell out $150 or so for it....No Blueray, No HDMI, no Full HD but I saved some money and also it was more practical since in the future, I will need to travel w/ me 5 days/week. I really tried talking myself into FW and I did but in the end, this one made more sense.

I probably will end up buying an FW in the future though!

 

Sounds like he's got a hard on for Sony though just like the rest of us!

 

yeah but how practical is this? how often do you find your self locked in a quiet room to listen to lcd hum? sounds creeeepy!

 

hahahahah, LOLOLOL....stick to my ear to the screen! LOLOLOL...that's funny. Glue your eyeballzzz to the monitor and you will notice a missing pixel, dog gone it!

Hey I can understand him though! you know like when you buy a new car, etc...you try to look for something that is wrong...just to convince yourself that nothing is wrong and it is normal that it makes noises....

 

Oh great, you gave him the HDD idea now...he's gonna lock himself in the quite room for another day! feel sorry for his wife n kids..they won't see him for another day!

 

Don, Hilarious bro!!! Its alright man....I understand! Hahaha, that is some funny shiznit..."I already put my ears to the screen but only at ruler length"...LOLOLOLOL....

Hey, I understand why you are doing it though! We need thorough people like you around to report on stuff. keep on keepin on! Don't let it keep you up at night though!

 

So you gather that the Hitachi HDD's run smoother and better than the Fujitsu's? that's good to know...

 

Uhhhh, I'd be very Pi$$ed if that happened to me...I'd call the support and complain right away

 

Ha, ha. Yeah. I like Sony's. Actually I'm the type that likes getting a new laptop every year or two. I bought a Toshiba a few years ago and I didn't like it. I got one of those big Q machines they had and it was just so heavy I gave it to my wife and then the screen went bad. It was under warranty and then it broke (same thing) a few months later and the warranty expired.

Anyone know what a motherboard should cost to replace for the Sony that broke? It's probably worth it to replace it on the AR570 machine. It's just that I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina and electronic parts are expensive. The Sony store quoted u$s 1300 to change out the motherboard and fix the problem. They also said it would take up to 60 days. What would it cost in the USA for a motherboard for a Sony AR570?

I'm impressed with Sony Style. They said they shipped the unit I bought out yesterday so I'll pick it up once I hit the USA in a few days.

 

Hey autumn, you're kinda zzzexy with all this techhie information, huh? are you a IT person?

 

and smart too!

 

Yeah although I hate mac and Im not a geek that gets hardon from just reading specs(therefore, I test it out myself first)...I have to see it and feel it through my own. Through my own eyes, I don't care what the pixels were or the specs were, the macbook pros more than held their own is all I am saying. If one is Full HD 1080p and the other is eco brite and if I went to the store and looked at it side by side and saw that eco brite looks better, I am going to get the eco brite that looked better to me despite the 1080P spec on the other one. But that's just moiii.

 

what bag dude?

 

to me, eco screen is foggy and junk(like any cheap lcd tv's out there) compared to full hd and worth the $150 or whatever it is....Get the FullHD

 

Most people would say that to save the money and just buy a new unit. In today's world, to me, i'd rather have a less spec'd out brand new pc for $800 than to spend $800 on a motherboard.

 

I wonder what Sony support will say since he was trying to play a movie downloaded from a torrent...

 

Sorry, yesterday the link worked. Let´s try again.

It´s this one



Thanks

 

From a complete functionality point I prefer my Macbook Pro (especially as it relates to work and personal creativity functions), however, since I do like to game when I travel I wanted a portable gaming solution that could also play my growing Blu-ray movie collection. Now I've never paid the full price for a MBP, preferring refurb or used, however, even those cost more than I paid for this very capable and reasonably stylish FW290. I will most likely not purchase another Mac laptop unless they come out with a system that has the specs I want. I am not as particular as some with regard to screen quality. While my 1440x900 LED MBP screen is very bright and colorful, the Sony screen is more than adequate for my gaming needs.

If I had to choose, I believe the FW290 is more than enough for most users (unless you just have to have a Mac).

Cheers,

 

OMG you people. Just get the New Micron/Intel 34nm Solid State Drive in the second quarter of 2009. Those things have a write rate of 200 megs per second and a read rate of 200 megs per second and it's DEFINITELY whisper quiet.

I'm guessing a 512GB one will cost like 350 bucks or so. It's perfectly reasonable for what you get.

If you really can't wait that long, Toshiba has a 512GB solid state drive that's coming out in the first quarter of 2009 that has comparable stats.

Man, I feel sorry for all the dumbasses who paid $1000 to get a 256GB solid state drive from Apple just 6 months ago.

Okay, not that sorry. O

By the way, I think it's 34nm. I might be 32nm. *Shrug*

 

Haha, no. I just had the same stuttering problem on my Powerbook G4. On anything with H264, it's really, REALLY noticeable. In fact, I can't play ANY HD content on my Powerbook G4. Not even uncompressed 1080 content.

RISC processors and HD content don't mix very well. Unless you have one of those PowerPC supercomputers...

That's why I decided not to get another Apple and get the VAIO FW instead. It plays 1080p content just fine. At least it should. It does on mine.

 

hey..

well Its weird but my Fujitsu that i had in them before were fairly loud.

u could hear / feel the vibration on it.. i believe a few pages back someone had asked a question if they drive was loud or made some noise.

but this hitachi i have now is quiet... i took both apart the laptops and the HDD's had the same specs....i guess its like comparing Western Digitals, Seagates and Samsung everyone has a preference.

 

hahahah, well its true if this was a 500$ laptop i wouldn't care if it was buzzing or humming, but 1649.99 + 13% taxes up here, is costly.

Though i have an LG r500, and a HP dv6755 from work, and both their LCD's sound fine, no humming.

I got my buddy to test his DHX 16 HP and he said it's silent....

Not sure would could be making Sony's display HUM/Buz at Low levels,

I wonder if i went to the stores and put my ear up to the LCD's if the Customer Reps would laugh

 

An FW could range from $900 to $2000. It doesn't matter what you paid for the FW since they're all made the same and have the same build quality, you're just paying extra for the different internal parts.

 

I wouldn't say they are all made the same, I had a total of five, and three had different hard drives, the one i didn't even bothering turn it up since the barrels looked F'ked up huge. and two out of the five had normal looking barrels.

and sure price is what you put in it. and because I didn't customize this got it from Futureshop, i am going to be nit picky cause of the price i paid.

 

Of course each laptop is going to be different but I'm saying the manufacturing process is the same for all FWs. In this case, the fact that you paid more for better specs does not ensure that you will get a better quality laptop than the person who paid only 1000 for his for a lower spec-ed one.

The problems you've had with your FWs are just bad luck. You could have had those problems regardless of what you spent on the FW. I also bought my low-end FW from Future Shop and other than a slightly loose dvd drive, the unit is rock solid and I only paid 1000 for it. I got lucky and didn't receive a bad unit.

 

I just bought a FW and my AC adapter does nothing! Laptop is dead and I can't use it! Going back to BestBuy.

 

Oh i know i know, but i mean i wouldn't complain if i bought a laptop for 500bucks any model, i would complain over 1000 bucks, u would think the manufacturing in general would be better.

 

When do you think Sony will have a LED backlit screen for the FW?

Also, do you think Sony will add an eSata connection to the FW?

 

Should Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 run perfectly on with a HD 3650 512 gaming card?

 

I am soooooooo upset! Today I received this e-mail...

Anyone else receive the same? I called Sony (of course it took over an hour to get to someone), and they told me they canceled it because they ran out of TITANIUM GRAY LIDS!!! Are they kidding me!? Choose a different color or put my order on hold, DON'T CANCEL IT!!!

Really hating Sony right now...

 

When I move the laptop when it's on or I move/shake the display lid the image on the screen flickers a little. It's like an instant wave of some sort, the display doesn't go completely black or anything. Otherwise I saw no flicker. Is this normal?

 

Please Please Please don't buy the ECO screen, or you will be absolutely sorry!

It has terrible viewing angles (vertical AND horizontal - forget about watching a Blue Ray movie with a friend) and uneven lighting (lighter at the bottom, darker at the top). To top it all, it lacks contrast, even for modest tasks like reading web pages or doing word processing.

Sony, of all brands, should be ashamed to sell such a screen with the FW line.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Can't afford the HD one anyway, and the res is too much, so I won't be getting an FW.

 

You were willing to pay 1000$ for an FW but you can't afford 100$ more so you're giving up and buy something else? Strecth a little and go for the FW IMO.

 

Do you see it happening more when you go side to side or up and down?

I tried it and didn't see any flickering but if you rock it up and down far enough you start seeing the inverted screen affect you get with TN screens.

 

It only happens if I shake the laptop or the lid itself. Maybe the battery is moving a little and has that effect?

 

do the vaios use the seagate or hitachi as oem HDD?

 

Believe me sister, I ain't no mac lover here either and would never pay up for one but you've got to give credit where its due...

 

do it and take a pic and there's your million dollar avatar right there! ask the store manager to dim the lights to give that "creepier" effect!

 

I think it’s all a matter of perspective. You generally get what you are paying for. And with the lower end FW series laptops you are getting a lot for your money, even with the infamous Eco screen. Granted it’s far from perfect, but in comparison to other screens in the same price bracket, it really doesn’t fair too bad. The visual real estate of 1600 x 900 is great, especially if you are used to working with a larger display. I have a 22inch widescreen on my other system and it has a very similar look and feel, only on a smaller scale. It was one of the biggest selling points for me.

I recently bought the FW11E which was the bottom of the range here in the UK and I paid less than £600 for it, which is about half the price of the higher spec models. In terms of functionality I get most of the benefits at a fraction of the cost.

The screen itself, as others have said, can look a little washed out and lack vibrancy ‘in comparison’ to the dual lamp version. But this can be improved considerably by adjusting the display settings using the Catalyst control center, or adobe gamma which can be found in control panel. The viewing angle isn’t the best, but if you take a couple of seconds to find the ‘sweet spot’, it’s more than adequate.

At the end of the day it’s a matter of preference. I didn't think I'd be able to get a laptop of this quality for the money I spent on it. I'm happy with my purcase and have no desire to take it back and upgrade any time soon

 

So future shop is like the paris hilton of laptop dealers? they sell "loose" stuff?

 

Grammar error Fixed!

 

I'd call them up and talk to them as long as i need to until they give me something for free or some kinda credit for all the hassle! I hate when companies do this...they take the order on stuff that they don't have to sell!

 

sorry to hear that....but if you need to lighten up, just remember the good olllld wiseman saying..."don't hate da playa, hate da game"

 

I 69th this notion!