Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Anybody check out the new Dell Studio 16 XPS?

16 inch, 1080p, RGB LED display (!) ... come on Sony, give us at least 1080p LED on the FW series

 

Thanks for the quick reply again,

The FW CTO indeed comes with dual memory channel. In fact, you get to choose a configuration (1G X 2, 2G X 1, 2G+1G, 2G+4G).

BTW, when you say "matching sticks", do you mean the same brand?
I do not think this is a MUST as far as the specs are the same

Louai

 

No I mean they have to be the SAME. That's how dual channel ram works. It's like RAID for ram sort of. Instead of sequentially reading all the information from one of the sticks. You read from BOTH at the same time. They don't just have to be the same brand. They have to be from the same batch. Sometimes manufacturers will change the type of memory modules they use in the same "model" of memory. The only way to be sure is to buy a set of 2GBX2 of ram to get 4GB of ram. 2GBX2 DDR2 ram is REALLY cheap though. Like 40 bucks or so. And they're easy to swap out.

 

OMG... The upgrade to 1080 RGB is $250. That's insane. That screen better look like GOLD or something.

 

If you haven't gotten your Configure to Order yet. Here's what you should do. You should get the least amount of ram possible from the CTO and then buy your own set of 2GBX2 ram and put them in yourself. It's a single screw to access the ram. They're really easy to upgrade yourself and fifty billion times cheaper. And the ram you buy will have LIFETIME warranty instead of just the one year warranty or 3 year extended warranty from Sony.

Just keep the old ram around for something like a printer or something that needs extra DDR2 ram or maybe in the future when you get a netbook or something and you need to upgrade the ram from 512megs to 1GB or 2GBs even if the netbook has the slots.

 

Yeah...I've been endlessly tracking the Sony FW until the FW390 came out and then the Dell comes out... and I think I may sway with the Dell...

 

I recently bought a Sony Vaio FW. I found that the Blu-ray ROM (which is a Optiarc BD ROM BC-5500s) is extremely noisy (I am not a very picky person, but the noise is very annoying and even disturbing my video watching.) So, do you think it is possible for me to request Sony to change a new Blu-ray ROM (anyone has such experience?) Also, which Blu-ray ROM is better? (Anyone owns a FW and has a good blu-ray ROM if you can share your experience, that will be great!!). Thanks.

 

No I got it from jr.com.....then found out a day later Newegg had begun selling it too....oh well, I'll just use my credit there to get stuff for the laptop.

I am absolutely loving this computer, the screen is amazing and the more I use Vista the more I'm starting to like it - this computer rocks!

 

Thanks a lot autumnale, that was more than enough.
I already did my order with the minimum amount (2G X 1)

I found an upgrade module for 30$.

Can not wait to have it!!

 

If viewing angles are important you may be disappointed.

 

Really? What's wrong with the viewing angle on the Dell? Aren't these 16 inchers all made by the same company anyways? I mean they're only 6 month old. I can't imagine another company retooling that quickly just because Sony came out with a 16:9 screen and everyone else started panicking cuz they didn't have one.

 

Oh hey. Guess what? The 390 CTOs are out on Sonystyle.com. It looks like the 390s have better processors. Pretty cool stuff.

 

ATI has officially announced the new Mobility Radeon HD 4000 cards:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/01/09/ati.mobility.radeon.hd.4k/

I know people were hoping we'd get these in the FW3xx revision but who knows, we may see them in the FW4xx revision.

 

Does anybody have actually hooked up the SONY FW (config below) via HDMI to a receiver and 1080p PLASMA TV (connection from receiver to plasma tv is also thru HDMI)?

Does this graphics card output the FULL HD (1920X1080)?
And do you get 5.1 sound thru the receiver?

VGN-FW390 Configure-to-Order
VGN-FW390
Customization Details

* None
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-ECO™)
* QuickBooks Simple Start
* 160 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Microsoft® Works
* Standard Battery
* No Fresh Start™
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
* No Engraving
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.20GHz)
* None
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
* Titanium Gray
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 2 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 1GBx2)

 

perhaps but if sony decides to revamp the entire laptop then yes, but I think any stronger video cards will appear in the new future FW successor in the summer or fall, depending if nehalem is delayed or not.

btw with the new dell 16.4 model, I do hope they release special 16.4 cases and laptop covers so I can use it on my fw.

 

What's the best mode to have your computer in? Sleep, hibernate, or shut down? And should you use a surge protector?

 

Yes, the graphics work fine through the receiver, but the HDMI sound is NOT detected. Neither Sony nor Yamaha nor ATI admit fault, but there is a problem, somewhere. Works perfect connected to TV, but I want all my speakers & woofers to work!

 

I can not find a T6400 at 2.2GHz on any website, including Intel. Could that be a mistake in Sony's FW390 specs.?

 

My dad has an FW290, and the AV Mode button will not respond when the machine is off. It only works when the machine is on.

The instructions clearly state that it can be utilized when the machine is off. The ability to enter an AV playback mode that doesn't require a computer to boot into its OS is a pretty common feature nowadays on just about all laptops, so I'm liable to think that this machine is defective.

Does anyone else who owns an FW290 have the same problem with the AV Mode button?

 

The BD-RW in my 285 is very quiet, and is Panasonic.

 

I didn't even know what that button was for. How do you engage it to play movies directly w/o loading windows?

 

If you press the AV Mode button while the machine is off, it should enter the playback mode automatically.

My dad's doesn't, which is my cause for concern. He really likes the feature, and since it doesn't seem to be working on his, he's considering returning the machine. I'm just seeing if it's a rare defect or common across the entire model line.

 

I was looking at the information for the hard drive (320 GB 7200 rpm) I received with my FW290CTO, and I am wondering about the SATA interface speed. The drive is identified as: Hitachi HTS723232L9SA60. I looked it up on the Hitachi website, and the datasheet seems to indicate that it has a SATA 1 (1.5 Gb/s) interface, indicated by the SA in the drive code. (See datasheet here: http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/03E516A3C41738C78625743B005AD957/$file/TS7K320_DS.pdf) I am wondering if I will see a significant performance increase if I replace the drive with a Seagate or Western Digital drive that has a SATA II (3.0 GB/s) interface, and does the VAIO FW have a SATA drive controller that supports SATA II (I would think so, but would like to confirm).

 

I just downloaded and installed the Windows 7 Beta on my sacrificial computer, and I have to say that it's soooo much faster than Vista. It may be worth your while to wait on purchasing an FW until after July. That's when Microsoft is supposed to give you a free Windows 7 update when you purchase a new computer.

Seriously, even on this crap machine, Windows 7 runs like fifty times faster.

If you don't wait, an upgrade Windows 7 OEM license will probably cost you like 200 bucks and a retail Windows 7 Retail license will probably cost you like 325 or so. That's pretty insane for just an operation system.

It's still better than the cost of Mac OS X though. No one should pay $1000 for an operating system. That's how much Mac OS X costs when you factor in the marked-up cost of Apple hardware.

 

Are the fuzzy things on the screen went it's dark while watching a blu-ray just unused pixels?

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx

Someone should install it and tell us if the drivers work.

 

What fuzzy things? It probably means that the screen isn't actually black but a bunch of shades of really dark gray.

 

So far doesn't seem to work on mine. I will keep trying and let you know.

Cheers,

 

i installed windows 7 build 7000 the other day and yup, all the drivers just work. just incase i did set them to vista compatibility.

 

Doesn't work on mine either. Are you absolutely sure it was supposed to work? I don't have the battery in mine. I'm guessing you need the battery in or something? If you think about it, in order for that button to work, you'd have to be constantly consuming power. Not to mention the fact that the optical drive would need to be on constant standby. Are you sure you want it to work?

 

I was excited for this feature too, but unfortunately the fw doesn't have it. The wording on the sonystyle site is slightly misleading..... "Go straight to watching a movie, playing music, or viewing photos with a push of a button." What they mean is when you're in windows you can go straight to viewing, watching, or listening to different media without having to open different applications. Pressing the AV button simply launches sony's media program which is similar to "windows media center". I think they used to have the "instant on" feature on some of their old models, but it doesn't seem to exist anymore. All of the newer models have the same misleading wording.

I'm gonna guess that sony doesn't have an "instant on" AV feature because all of their laptop models now have blu-ray players. It all has to do with digital rights management (DRM).

All laptops with "instant on" use a small Linux partition that boots up when you press an "AV" or "media" button. They all have basic media viewers for pictures, music and movies. The reason Linux is used is because it is light weight and boots quickly. But Linux is an open source operating system. "Open source" is frowned upon by heavy supporters of DRM like sony (they basically invented blu-ray, and support technologies like hdmi as a way to control copying of digital content). Short story long, there is currently no way to play blu-ray discs on a Linux OS (except for a sony PS3, which uses Linux as its OS....oh the irony).

 

Mine is fw290cto. I do not think it would work. I read the help/manual and no where it says about the button work when computer is off.

 

The FW AV Mode "instant on" feature is no longer supported with FW but I don't think it has anything to do with Blu-ray.
My FZ 4000 which comes with Blu-ray drive has "instant on" feature. My FW 190 which also comes with the same drive doesn't.

There doesn't seem to be any mention of "instant on" feature from Sony FW help menu. All it says that the AV Mode button launches VAIO Launcher for selecting the desired software but it doesn't say that you can do it when the computer is off. The FZ help menu does say that you can do it when the computer is off. So, it seems that Sony discontinue "instant on" feature from FW for some other reason.

 

Well it's when it's dark. I think it's like this with all hd outputs. I just want to make sure there is nothing wrong. I'd like to see a blu-ray blu-ray movie on another computer just to make sure. I guess i could go to sonystyle store and show them a movie on my mine and then see what they think.

 

Can you play blu-ray movies with "instant on" in your FZ? If you can you lucked out, because it shouldn't be possible according to sony. The FZ specs say "A/V Instant Mode not available with Bluray option." My guess is Sony added blu-ray support to the later FZ models and just disabled the existing A/V instant on feature. But because the FW and most of the other new sony models come pretty much standard with blu-ray, sony just dropped the instant on feature completely.

 

No, I can't. And I don't think it's possible since Blu-ray requirement is much more demanding than DVD. So, the laptop has to be fully alive to play Blu-ray.

 

Does anyone else know what i'm talking about. When watching a blu-ray there are little fuzzy things mostly when the screen is drak. Are these unused pixels?

 

You need to take a picture or something and add it as an attachment

 

*Not sanctioned by Sony*
*I'm not responsible for any damage that might result from your being a retard*

Here's something that may help you decide if you want to get a FW or not. Switching out a hard drive is like 50 billion times easier than on a Macbook I think.

 

Is that one of those self repair guides that sony send to consumers who decide to repair a part themselves if it is easy enough? I know it exists since it is on sony's youtube channel, they send out all the parts and tools that you need to replace a defective part, if it can be done at home.

 

Definitely easier than replacing the drive on the Macbook Pro (with the exception of the latest 15" models, which have a simple access hatch). All other models require two different miniature screwdrivers, the removal of countless screws, removal of the top cover/keyboard and a delicate ribbon cable assembly. Not something the causal user will want to do.

The Macbook has always had a simple HD replacement method, though the FW HD replacement is ever easier.

Cheers,

 

I don't know if that would come up on a camera. Not at least with the one o have.

btw. Does the 290 read and write dual layer dvds or just write?

 

Read & Write

Cheers,

 

I was curious because the spec says DVD+R DL Write and DVD-R DL write. It doesn't say read.

 

If it can write it, it'll be able to read it. All DVD burners can read DLs really. That's because regular dvds are DVD-5, but not one has been using regular dvds in over 200 years. At least as far as movies are concerned. They're all using DVD-9, which is DL. Reading and writing dual layer dvds have been pretty standard now for a while. They don't even makes ones that don't read and write dual layers anymore really.

All this is useless anyways. Single layer Blu-ray media costs just a little bit more than dual layer DVD media. You might as well go with the single layer blu-ray media if you have the blu-ray burner. But if you're going to go with that, you might as well buy an external hard drive since the cost per GB is better for the hard drive.

Just use regular DVD-Rs and DVD+Rs unless you have a specific application that REQUIRES dual layer DVDs. Like the Call of Duty 4 installation DVD, which is a dual layer DVD. It's cheaper than paying activation $15 for the replacement DVD when you can buy a new game with an extra license for $39.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a2yXJBt7D_DQ&refer=japan

Sony is posting big losses for this year. I'm guessing the cheap prices for TVs and laptops and other stuff really cut into their profits. That and the uber strong yen versus the dollar.

This is not good for anyone wanting to buy a FW before March 31st since that means that Sony will be less likely to have any major price cuts that would further cut into their profits. That kind of sucks. Hope you got your FW in time.

Look at the bright side, you might get an FW with a 4000 series ATi card or something. Those things have like 5 to 6 times the number of stream processors as the 3000 series that we all have now and it draws less power. I'm sure they'll be available by summer at the very latest so that's some consolation if you didn't get an FW on the cheap.

 

It would be beneficial to know the release dates and when the 4000 series cards are coming out... this is partially what's holding me back from getting a FW390 or Dell 1640 right now because of these new ATi cards.

However if you keep waiting for the next upgrade, you'll never get anything.

 

I don't know about a 4000 series card into the FW, my guess is that maybe a new video card when the new FW successor comes out? I don't recall if the FZ ever got a different video than with the one that it launched with. The reason that the FW got the 3650 is because it came with this car in europe.

 

Well after some time waiting for Dell and the new line eventually I got tired and bought a FW290 CTO in December 31.

Glad I did, because the new Dell Studio XPS 16 well I didn't like it and I build a very nice FW with less money.

Cheers.

 

Hey Autumn, where did you get that? Im looking for something similar but for Other Vaio models, specifically SZ...very helpful!