Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Good evening to all,

I am new to this forum, and hope to use it to better educate myself about laptops in general, however I'm currently interested in the Vaio lineup. I'm a student in the graphic communications/design/IT at my University and looking to get a new laptop here soon (not an Apple, I have my own reasons for not liking them). The Vaio FW series appeals to me greatest due to the wide screen display and graphics chip. So, I have a question or two, and am hoping that someone can give me some advice.

Alright, enough with the intro...here's what I am wanting to know:

I am configuring the new FW 390 online, and I don't have a lot of $ to spend, so I have set a limit to $999.99 for a subtotal. Which set-up and config looks best, or should be best?

I am set on the following.......

Everything base, except for a 320GB SATA 5400RPM hard drive and a Bluray-ROM drive.

..OR..

Everything base, except for the Core2Duo p8600, and 320GB 5400RPM hard drive (minus the Bluray)

Note: I am aware of the student discount, also, I can save about 70 bucks by leaving the memory at 2GB and getting 4GB later on off of Newegg for about $35. (not sure why Sony charges so much for RAM...jeeze)

Anyways, I hope I can get some good respones and help. Thanks!

 

I got my FW285J at the beginning of December, and today the touchpad stopped working altogether, and disappeared from Device Manager. I spent 90 minutes online with tech support, trying to reinstall the driver (no good), restoring to earlier system restore points (no good), and now they've got me restoring the hard drive completely to the way it came from the factory, assuring me that will fix it (we'll see).

I haven't done that yet to see if it helps, but given that this issue has seemed to plague SZ users and most of what I've read indicates that the problem might go away for a bit after a complete restore to factory settings but always comes back, I'm skeptical. With the laptop only a month old, I'm willing to try the full reinitialization this once, but I'm not willing to have to reinitialize my laptop and reinstall all my apps and copy back over all my data month after month if the touchpad continues to disappear and stop working month after month.

Anyone have any success at getting Sony to repair/replace the touchpad under warranty rather than just continue to insist this is an isolated problem?

 

Just got my Vaio FW21M and pretty satisfied with it, but one thing bothers me a little. When I watch a BluRay movie fullscreen in cinema-format (thus having black borders above and below), the border below is very grey-ish, while the top bar is black as black can get. Is this normal for the Vaio FW? I had hope for the LCD to be very black, but apparently it isn't, there's a decent amount of light bleed at the bottom

 

That's pretty normal for an FW series screen IMO.

The bleeding is somewhat reduced when you're viewing the the screen as straight on as possible, but it won't eliminate it.

 

My FW190 with XBrite HiColor doesn't have bleeding at the bottom. Yours have bleeding probably because yours come with ECO screen. The ECO screen tends to be more problematic.

 

You forget to say what you are going to use your laptop for. Harddrive is very easy to replace and you can get it cheaper online. As for Blu-ray, you should get the one with XBrite FullHD or XBrite HiColor (for older FW100 series) but that will bump the price by 100 dollars.

 

As far as I can tell, I should've gone with the FW21Z instead of the FW21M to reduce the bleeding and get a faster gpu. Oh well, it'll do for now.

 

Sorry,
Im not going to use this for movies. Rarely. However, Photshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc will be used extensively. Im a graphic communication major. Memory is going to be the biggest factor for me, I think.

 

I have a VGN-FW250J with 4GB memory. Task Manager is now showing 3GB.

What happened to the other 1GB?


Thanks for Replys

Recon Dad

 

The ECO screen is rather pale compare to HiColor or FullHD although I don't know how much difference it would make for graphic design software you mentioned. Leave the RAM at 2GB and if you need more, you can upgrade it easily and cheaply. Blu-ray is unnecessary if you would only watch movies occasionally. I would concentrate on CPU alone and get the fastest you can without breaking the budget.

 

so, a 250 GB HD should be plenty for 4-5 years (which is the time frame I'm looking at), yeah?
Also, I have read somewhere on these boards, that the FW plastic seems to wear fast. Is this going to be a durable notebook to tke with me, in my padded case, a couple times a week to and from my dorm to various places on campus? I am looking at a protective silicon protector film to keep the keyboard and palm rests from wearing, and tearing down.
How hot does this series of laptop get under normal use? on battery and off?

-sorry for the many questions, I just want to make sure that it's the right one for me

 

Even if it isn't (enough space for 4-5 yrs) tis very easy to swap drives (including cloning your existing one to the new one) in the FW.

As to your display choices, definitely get the FullHD screen. ...It's shiny...

Cheers,

 

What is the 3dmark06 scores like with the ATI 3650, on the Sony FW?

 

I'm really surprised the so-called ECO screen is that much different than the dual lamp/fullHD one. Normally I do a lot of googling before deciding on such a big purchase, but I guess I was lead a little too much by the Sony marketing machine. Really annoyed that it's supposedly such a big difference

 

If you have a 32-bit OS here is a nice explanation of the problem:
http://blogs.msdn.com/hiltonl/archive/2007/04/13/the-3gb-not-4gb-ram-problem.aspx

 

How is the fw? is it light? is it the same size as a 15 inch pc?

 

16.4", my 15" Thinkpad is taller but there is much more real estate on the FW....if you have a local retailer like Best Buy who sells them it's worth a look.

 

I called Sony on Friday about downgrading my 64-bit Vista to a 32-bit.

The told me that they are sending me a downgrade kit in 3 days for free.

Just wanted to let you guys know if you want to do the same.

Louai

 

Just curious as to why you requested such an option. Are there programs that are not compatible? Is it faster?

I primarily use a Mac and bought this Sony mainly for playing games since my Macbook Pro has a nVidia 8600 GPU prone to meltdown. (no more bootcamp Vista sessions after the first GPU failure). I have 64bit Vista from Sony and haven't seen any problems. Besides isn't 64bit the only way to use all 4GB of RAM in my system?

Cheers,

 

What do each of the buttons do?

I played with them and now the brightness buttons above F5 dont work.

Any FW manuals online?

 

Stock frequencies with an [email protected] and the hd 3650 I get about 3,800 on 3d06.

 

Does the kit include the OS or just the drivers plus utilities?

 

Is there any information if the FW21Z is produced anymore? Some web shops in Finland and Sweden say that the production of it has stopped and some others just keeps on delaying the delivery date...

Sony themselves doesn't seem to know either.

On the Sony Style-website there's a new one, FW31ZJ which has similar specs as the 21Z, is this a replacement??

 

The only obvious benefit of a 64-bit right now is the full 4GB RAM visibility.

64-bit OS can only be faster if the programs themselves are also 64-bit. As of now, most program are 32-bit based and hence you won't feel any difference.

As far as gaming, the processer itself won't make a big difference, it is mostly the Graphics Card, which has nothing to do with the 64-bit configuration.

You might not fall into problems regarding compatibility except if you use some special programs. For example, in my case I using Cisco VPN Client to connect to my work. Since Cisco is not planning on supporting 64-bit Vista, I am good with the 32-bit.

 

I would expect full recovery disc = OS + Drivers + Utilities.

I will let you know when I receive it.

 

Absolutely go cheapest on the hard drive. I upgraded (& downgraded) my FW on Saturday night. Upgraded the 250G 5400 drive to 320G 7200 drive. (& 'downgraded' hah to XP). I'm telling you it's SO easy to put the new drive in (1 screw to open panel, 3 screws to remove cage, 8 screws to remove drive from cage)!!! It's only the second time I opened a machine - I 'practiced' a couple of weeks ago putting a new HDD & DVD in my old (was replaced over the summer) desktop. That's the extext of my hardware experience.

DON'T pay Sony's price for ANY hard drive upgrade! (i put in this drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280)

Nancy

 

Has anyone been able to downgrade to win xp from VGN-FW250j/h? If so how? There are other VGN-FW models that are capable of downgrading, but this model does not seem to be one of them and I am very angry!

Any help would be appreciated.

 

It is very easy. The link in my sig has a guide to changing the HD and installing XP.

 

I just followed the guide here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=335251

and I had no problems. But my model is VGN-FW290C.

what kind of problem are you facing?

 

dang, Sony has updated VGN-FW390 finally! Might be time to upgrade... or not? My gripes with previous FW it was noisy and hot under heavy load, is this still the case?

 

I have a 390.. Just received it a week ago or so..

Product: VGNFW390-CTO
Component: None
Component: LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
Component: QuickBooks Simple Start
Component: 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Component: Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
Component: Microsoft® Works
Component: Extended Battery
Component: No Fresh Start™
Component: WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Component: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
Component: No Engraving
Component: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
Component: None
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
Component: Titanium Gray
Component: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Ultimate 64-bit
Component: 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Per Unit Price: $1,729.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $1,729.99
Description: VGN-FW390 Configure-to-Order

My initial impressions are very good. The screen is amazing, and the computer is fast. Upon receiving it, I immediately wiped the drive and put on my own installation of Vista X64. Never even booted into the PC with Sony's installation. Now, here are my gripes:

(1) Tech Support is polite and utterly retarded.
(2) There are no 390 drivers yet for Vista X64 on the Sony website. I had to download 290 drivers and use universal extractor to get around the model check.
(3) I can't get most of the blue function keys to work (except for the audio ones).
(4) I can't get any of the media buttons to work.
(5) The BIOS has no user-configurable options.
(6) For some reason, the Vista photo screensaver is very, very choppy during transitions. I panicked when it occurred to me that the 3650 could be that slow, but then I downloaded the Google screensaver and it's as smooth as can be. I googled around and apparently there is some sort of "reduced power mode" when the screensaver is running..something I can't turn off (thanks, Microsoft).

Besides that, this is a rocking laptop. The HDMI audio/video out is amazing.. piping it out to a Samsung LN52A650 and the resolution is crisp. Now just debating whether it makes sense to buy a bluetooth keyboard for remote control from the couch..

Oh, and one more thing.. the palm rest to the right of the touchpad is right over the hard drive.. rest your palm on there and you hear a very irritating vibration. Took the laptop casing apart and inserted cotton pads (the flat, round ones) between (1) the case and HD cage, and (2) between the cage and the HD. Now the vibration is gone.

Hope this info helps.. and if anyone can help me get those blue buttons working, I think I'll be all set for a no-regrets purchase.

 

You can just use the VGN-FW290 drivers. The components are exactly the same as far as I can tell. It's just an upgrade to a different model number because the processors are all different. The processor doesn't need drivers so...

 

It's not plastic. It's carbon fiber. I thought it was plastic too until the service guy told me that it was carbon fiber. I googled. Apparently he's right. All the plastic parts are actually carbon fiber. Probably not cheap really. Oh except for the media buttons and the keyboard. Those really are plastic.

 

Maybe the cable connecting the touchpad got lose because the tape connecting it to the connector thing fell off. I guess you can get sony to send a tech guy to your house and take your laptop apart to reconnect the touchpad thingy cable for you.

 

Avira, NOD32 and Live Onecare run fine together on one computer.

Norton won't run with another anti-virus though. And I heard that Norton is almost impossible to uninstall too. It's like a virus that hunts down other viruses. Like an AV version of Kate Beckinsale only without the leather.

 

Are there black bars on top and on the bottom of the movie? That's because the movie isn't a 16:9 movie. It's probably a 2:1 aspect ratio movie or something. Most movies nowadays are like 2:1 or 2.5:1 aspect ratio. You really wouldn't want a 2.5:1 ratio screen or even a 2:1 ratio screen. That's like a P series sony laptop.

Some movies are 16:9 though. The idea with a 16:9 laptop is so you can have a 17 inch laptop without all that extra weight that you don't need.

A 16 inch 16:9 laptop would have the same movie viewing area has a 17 inch 16:10 laptop when it comes to 16:9 movies. I know it doesn't make sense, but trust me, that's what happens.

 

When do you guys think the next generation of the FW series will be released?

 

Hi!

First time posting anything! First time buying a laptop too! After following this thread for quite some time now, I bought a vaio FW 290 CTO. The laptop is beautiful! Except... The screws of the lid seem tight so when I close it, sometimes it snaps. Problem is, as someone mentionned, the space between the keys and the screen is insufficient so they come in contact, which is what happened. So now, after only three days of ownership, I can see a scratch on the screen (( Did it happen to anyone else? I'm in Canada, can Sony do something for the scratched screen? I mean, is it covered? Only 3 days!!! Imagine after a full year! Thx guys!

 

It may not be a scratch, just a smudge that looks like a scratch. Use Monster iClean to clean it and next time, use the sheet that comes with it to protect the screen.

 

So true, I keep that insert for all my laptops and in a pinch a clean sheet of paper has worked too. Anything to keep the keys from marking the screen.

Cheers,

 

My 290CTO (also in canada) came shipped with a piece of thin foam that I use to stick between the keys and the screen. It was in place when I opened the laptop so I kept it and have been using it since.

 

Yes, you are my God. I was going to reference your post, as it was my guide to the process. I love you. I didnt't have the link after the reload (oh well).

I do have one device undefined. "Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus". A quick Google indicated a fax modem. Eh... don't care much, but any clue what driver that might be -- I've got a slew of other 'modems' in device manager?

Also, I didn't do the last step for the Battery Care whatever. Can you just reload the Notebook utilities without all that extraction? (I was 'downgrading' on an FW-140E).

Thanks so much for your great directions! The part that caused me the most trouble was creating the slipstreamed XP SP3 disc with the HDD driver -- for some reason I found that confusing (my disc was SP1). I read a bit more on that elsewhere and then followed your directions exactly (until the battery care thingy).

Super JOB!!! I'm so pleased.

 

i just order my fw390 CTO yesterday, here are my specs

* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
* Standard Battery
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive
* Microsoft® Office 2007 Home/Student
* Titanium Gray
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit

* 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)

I can't wait tell i get it, but its on back order so i have to wait awhile

 

Darth Bane, don't know if you've already paid for the computer but if you don't mind downgrading to a 2.40ghz processor Newegg has the 373J/B which has the same features as the one you built and they have it in stock: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117857

I have the 373J/B and it works great!

 

sonystyle.com has a 30 day money back guarantee. they'll even pay for the shipping back. just return it if the scratch is bothering you. I hope you didn't put anything naughty on the hard drive yet.

just tell them that the laptop didn't match the drapes and you just hated everything. :-D

If you did put something personal on your HDD like your social security number:
http://www.heidi.ie/node/6

Use the Department of Defense 7-pass erase. That should be enough. No one is going to go through the trouble to get your social especially since they can just google for it.

If they were really interested in your hard drive, they can always take it apart and use an electron microscope or something. There's nothing you can do about that. That's why the Department of Defense recommends setting the hard drives on fire for proper disposal.

Nothing beats a good hard drive BBQ.

 

They didn't upgrade the GPU. They could have upgraded to the 3670 at least if not the 4650.

 

By the way, for future reference for anyone wanting to buy ANY laptop. NEVER upgrade the ram or the hard drive from the company. If you upgrade the ram and the hard drive yourself, you actually get warranties on the hard drive and the ram. The warranty on the ram is always going to be LIFETIME warranty. The warranty on the hard drive is always going to be at least 3 years. Hard drives that come with laptops or computers NEVER have ANY warranties. The warranty goes through the Original Equipment Manufacturer. Unless you spent the $500 for the extra 3 year warranty... Seriously dude...

On top of that, you'll always have a backup set of ram and hard drive if you ever need to troubleshoot.

Always get the ram and the hard drive from your favorite online retailer. The upgrade on the ram for the Sony VAIO FW requires the removal of A SINGLE SCREW.

Upgrading the hard drive requires the removal of EIGHT SCREWS. Including FOUR SCREWS holding the hard drive to the metal hard drive suspension cage.

It's so simple... Even a CAVEWOMAN CAN DO IT. :-D

 

Thanks for the advice but I'm in Canada and sonystyle here doesn't seem to offer the same return policies concerning custom orders. I think I even saw a restocking fee of about 25%. I'm not sure. Thanks again for all the replies.

 

Well, a 4650 would be nice, but 3670 would be pointless. It's just the 3650 with the exact same chip except clocked higher. You can clock it higher yourself.

 

I have another question. Don't know if it happens to anyone else. I'm wondering if it's hardware issue or a Vista 64 bit issue. The problem is, after a while, I keep losing my wireless connection. I do a diagnostic and it comes back. I have a D-link DIR655 router. Don't think that's the problem though. Do you guys have any idea? Thx