Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

I have the same thing happen to my home wireless connection only when I startup the laptop & I am using a NetGear wireless a/b router. After fixing the issue multiple times I found that I have to update the router settings without making any changes, just click OK and then I can connect to the same network, not sure why this happens. My broadcast signal is on too.

 

hi all!
I'm going to buy an FW during sometime next week. (CPU: P8400, GPU: 3470, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD).
My only concern is that the 320 harddrive is 4200rpm, and I think it might bit a bit slow.
I've looked at WD Scorpio Black HD's and thought that I could just replace it when I get the notebook.
So here are my questions:
1) Does replacing the HD void the warranty?
2) How hard is the process. Could I just do a backup disc on with the original HD and then replace the HD's and just boot from the disc or are there some complications involved?

Thanks in advance!

 

Absolutely! I'm a middle-aged cavewoman, with no hardware experience and even I did it!

 

I have a 140E w/upgraded drive & XP Pro SP3 (thanks again, essential). Of course it's scads faster (it was a miserable dog when I bought it, but I had shut down enough of Vista that it worked okay). Start-up 40 seconds, shut-down 15.

My question is as follows: mine came with 3G of memory & integrated graphics (what can I say... never had a laptop & don't game at all). Will I notice any real difference if I get a 4G dual channel memory kit?

In particular...

I don't know what actually contributes to the ability of a computer to properly be able to display digital TV... is it the processor... the memory... the graphics card (in that case I'm in trouble). I'm not a TV watcher, really. I stopped owning an actual TV. I have a tuner card in my desktop and it doesn't work at all well on the digital channels - out of synch, intermittent freezing or just total freeze. It only has a Pentium dual core, 2G (not dual channel) memory, and integrated graphics.

I'm expecting a USB TV tuner from Newegg soon for the FW and between one of the computers, I'm hoping at least one will be watchable after the transition - hopefully the FW.

Anyone out there watch OTA digital TV on their FW?

Do you think it'll work okay? Would the dual-channel kit upgrade help in any way? (processor is P8400 by the way)

My issue is probably not the actual ability to get the signal, I don't believe - I'm within a few miles (in one direction) from most of the local transmission whatevers. I can tune in perfect analog if I fiddle with the rabbit ears a little - same transmission area - I don't bother much. I pick up numerous digital stations.

Since I don't care a lot about TV, I don't need perfection, but watchable would be good for when the impulse strikes.

I'd be really grateful for any responses!

Middle-aged cavewoman...

 

How do I overclock the 3650 to the speed of the 3670?
I have never overclock anything before.
Do I use a ATI driver or a program or go into the BIOS?

 

Hello to all,

I needed a laptop for IT studies and I've decided on getting a Vaio.

I'm about to purchase the FW-390 CTO with the following configurations:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
160 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
DVD±R DL / DVD±RW / DVD-RAM Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)

I'm just wondering if it's worth paying an extra $125 for the 2 Year Express Ship Service Plan?

 

You can use the AMD GPU Clock Tool.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1128/AMD_GPU_Clock_Tool_v0.9.8.html

You need to use ATI catalyst drivers 8.8 or earlier for this to work, the latest ATI catalyst drivers do not allow overclocking.
You should not run your GPU overclocked all the time, just when you are going to be gaming, you also need to make sure you have a good air flow to the vents as an overclocked GPU will get hotter.
(Keep your laptop off your bed!)

 

I got the exact same rig you got. Honestly, I don't notice ANYTHING AT ALL going from 3 gigs to 4 gigs. But the 4 gigs of ram only costs like $40. I put the extra 1 gig stick into my xerox printer, and I have an extra 2 gig stick lying around doing nothing at the moment. I honestly don't see a need for 4 gigs over 3 gigs. I did however notice a difference between having just 2 gigs versus 4 gigs in vista though.

As you may know, Vista preloads software until about 50 percent of the ram is filled up. The more ram you have, the more Vista preloads in the background. If you can afford the extra $40 to $50 dollars, you can just get the 2X2gigs of ram. It'll be dual channel (at the least the ram will be) and it's a gig more. Can't hurt right? It's always nice to have extra DDR2 ram around too. Just in case your computer stops working one day, you can always test if it's just the ram or something.

And you never know when you'll pick a cheap netbook off of ebay and put that extra DDR2 to good use.

I can almost guarantee you though... Whatever ram you get will be way better than the OEM ram you got with your laptop. This is true with all laptop companies. They charge a whole bunch for the ram and use the cheapest, crappiest components positive.

The ram in your FW is probably from Qimonda. Qimonda is close to going out of business. Never a good sign. But then again, EVERYBODY is close to going out of business. :'(

Qimonda is a Germany company btw. Don't ask me why they picked Qimonda. No one knows.

And as far as the OTA TV, you'll probably going to need an amplified directional antenna maybe. Not very practical for a laptop. You might get lucky with a few channels but no way you'll get them all without an amplified antenna.

And the digital TV freezing. That means that you've lost the signal intermittently. It's not the computer.

 

Dude, I was just joking. Don't do it. You'll get like 2 more frames per second and burn like twice as much electricity.

 

i had the same problem. different router though. i think i fixed by:
either changing the "Wireless Channel" (should be one of the router settings) or by installing the proper driver that came with the fw (don't use the wireless driver from windows)

 

You must look within yourself for that answer grasshopper. No one can answer that question for you.

You should probably order the ram yourself though. Like get the 2gigs of ram, and buy 4 gigs ram yourself for about $60 to $160 less. I forget how much you save. You can take that money you save and buy the extra service plan. :-D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Description=ddr2 800 laptop&name=4GB (2 x 2GB)

Getting ram yourself means lifetime warranty on your ram. Not that you'll ever need it. If your ram doesn't fail within the first year, you'll get a new laptop before the ram fails.

Get Cas latency 5.

2X2GB of ram is about 45 bucks it looks like. Getting 4GB of ram instead of 2GB of ram from sonystyle CTO is a $100 upgrade. So you'll save about 50 bucks.

It takes the removal of A SINGLE SCREW to change the ram. Just make sure you're not staticky and you'll be fine. It's REALLY easy.

 

I know we were talking about antivirus and stuff. The free Blink Personal from eEye is a great one. It has a vulnerability scan feature that's just invaluable.

It'll list all the vulnerabilities of your computer and it will really open your eyes. Even your completely patched Vista installation will have like TWO HIGH LEVEL vulnerabilities that are still open.

Apparently it'll be patched in Service Pack 2 or something. That's pretty funny. Anyways...

It's a good solution, but every time you install something into the system tray, it'll take like 2 or 3 minutes to start up after your first restart. After the first restart, it goes back to your normal restart time. I'm guessing everytime a new startup item is installed, Blink will do some sort of serious scanning of it. So just be aware that your computer is not broken.

Oh did I mention that it's FREE?

 

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but asking can't hurt: I have a 3470 videocard in my FW, but I would like to get a faster card (3650). Is there ANY way to upgrade this? Or is the only way to get it, sell the laptop and buy a new one (we got only 2 configs here in Belgium and I ordered the wrong one, Sony's not taking it back, bought it in shop and shop doesn't take it back either).

 

I just do a clean installation of Vista Ultimate 32bit to my new FW285DH. I found I can see/use only 2.5GB of the memory even though it has 4GB memory installed.

In normal case, I should see about 3.2GB under the 32bit system. I am not sure if it is reserved by the ATI 3650 graphic card with dedicate 512mb ram. Anyone can give me a answer? Thank you.

 

32-bit Windows (home/workstation) versions see a maximum of 3gb of memory. The 64-bit versions recognize either 8 or 16gb. And yes, memory is shared by the video. You may have 512mb dedicated, but the laptops tend to double itself up with system memory

I'm considering a new laptop myself... looking at VGN-FW390. I always liked how stable Sony's platform was, but thought I could get more the for $$ with another brand. I've had dells and they were very good, but their battery life lacked to say the least.

I'm a multi-media/gaming person. First person shooter (hardly hardcore), and MMOs. I have advanced PC knowledge, but have little experience with Sony's designs. Any suggestions?

 

video card can't be upgraded in this laptop, your only option now is to sell it at a loss and get a new FW.

 

In my older FW160D vaio, I can see 3GB memory with ATI 3450 graphic card (256 dedicate memory), and that consider normal. Now my new FW285DH show only 2.5GB usable memory, which is pretty strange to me. Anyone know how to release those memory / fix it?

 

I just downloaded itunes but when i put a cd in it doesn't show up. Anyone else have this problem? I deleted itunes and then installed it again but i got the same problem. Then i used the disc that came with my ipod that registers the ipod and also installs itunes. But still no luck. Is this something that happens with sony laptop? I checked all the settings too. This blows.

 

You probably told Vista to "do nothing" when you insert a music CD at some point. Just going into control panel and under "hardware and sound" there should be a "play CDs or other media automatically."

Under audio CD, pick open itunes or whatevers. And why on earth would you use itunes to listen to your music CD anyways?

Incidentally, you can also tell Vista to INSTALL A VIRUS when you insert a CD. That's how that new virus that was on the news recently works. Infected about 12 million computers so far the last I heard. That's a lot of computers.... It uses autorun to install a virus whenever someone sticks in a USB stick or any sort of USB mass storage device.

 

I have to say that Sony's customer service in the United States ain't that bad. They replaced my hard drive. And they replaced my LCD screen that had dead pixels on it.

I would've liked it if the screen didn't have dead pixels in the first place though. I can still smell the cologne of the service technician that came to replace the LCD screen. Eewww. Who the hell wears the whole bottle anyways?

Anyways, the LCD screen is a SHARP in case anyone is wondering.

It's a SHARP LQ164M1LA4A WXGA++ 1920 x 1080 screen.

http://www.screentekinc.com/Sharp-LQ164M1LA4A.shtml

http://www.lcds4less.com/sharp-laptop-lcd-screens/lq164m1la4a.shtml

By the way, the technician showed me how much Sony charges them if they don't return the defective LCD. The charge is $605.

$605... That's like more than half the cost of my laptop.

 

nice info, sharp makes some good lcd screens, so I am not suprised why the lcd on the fw looks good.

 

Well if you're into gaming, the NVIDIA 9600M GT or whatevers you'd get standard with the HP HDX 16T is a lot better than the 3650 you'd get with Sony. If you're patient enough, HP has a sale of those things every like 3 or 4 months where you can get a whole bunch of good stuff for like $800 bucks. I'm talking blu-ray, 45nm processor and the works. The problem is that they just had that sale about 2 weeks or so ago and you just missed it.

I don't really trust the reliability of nvidia mobile graphics though even though they ARE faster and better. I'm sure you've heard about how nVidia hid the problems they had with lead soldering that was failing in their mobile graphics chips for a whole year and a half before informing investors in July of 2008. A whole two months before the Great Crash of 2008. Now they're getting sued by stock holders for withholding information. The SEC would probably file charges as well if they weren't already punished enough by the stock holders.

Long story short, I just don't trust nVidia. But for mobile gaming, they're still way better than ATi. That is until the 4xxx series of mobile ATi cards come out. The 4xxx series will have like 5 times the stream processors of the 3xxx series that we have now and run at the same power levels. They'll probably cost a little bit more, but it'll be worth it.

Right now, the Sony VAIO FWs aren't as competitive as they were during the 2 weeks before Christmas when they were massively discounted.

I think your best bet is to wait until the end of March when Sony is sure to have a sale to at least try to improve their 4th quarter balance sheets. Sony's fiscal year ends in March instead of December like normal people.

About the Vista 64 being able to handle more ram....

You'll only be able to see 4GB of ram if you have Vista 64. The maximum you'll see with Vista 32 is 3GB of ram because you need the other 1GB for addressing of other stuff.

But Vista Home Premium can only see a maximum of 4GB of ram. To see more than 4GB of ram, you'll need Vista Business or Vista Ultimate.

Also, Windows 7 is about to come out in like 2 weeks or something ridiculous like that so I don't think it's the best time to buy a computer right now. You should wait until Windows 7 is available or when they start handing out the free upgrade to Windows 7 coupons before you decide to buy a new laptop.

It's an awful time for Microsoft to screw over its hardware partners right now. People are always not buying computers and now Microsoft is saying that an operating system that doesn't suck is just around the corner. It's pretty much a disaster. I'm guessing PC sales will be HALVED by the news that Windows 7 is around the corner just because Vista is so gosh darn maligned.

So unless you can afford the extra $350 to get a retail copy of Windows 7 later on, I wouldn't buy a new laptop right now. You only need an OEM copy of Windows 7 though. Single computer license for a laptop. A retail license is much more useful though.

If you buy and install Windows 7 upgrade, you surrender the license of the Windows you have now. Just be aware of that.

EDIT:
I just checked. They ARE as competitive as they are during the Christmas season now. You can get P8600, blu-ray, 3650, and 1080p LCD with 2GB ram and the smallest hard drive for $1025 in the US on sonystyle.com

That's very competitive. You should get that configuration and upgrade the ram and hard drive yourself. If you're going to upgrade the CPU, go for the T series processors. They have 6 megs of L2 cache. And you'll get your money's worth. Getting those T series processors retail is REALLY expensive. Those T series processors cost at least $500 retail and maybe even $600. Intel sells them to Original Equipment Manufacturers for like $50 so you can get them from Sony cheap. Only an extra $250 or so.

 

Windows 7 Beta will be available until mid February 2009. the next milestone will likely be a Release Candidate in the spring. the gold version (available at retail and OEMs) of Windows 7 is scheduled for release during the latter half of 2009.

 

has anyone purchased the high capacity VGP-BPL13 battery for the FW? Whats the capacity difference (in terms of hours) compared to the standard battery, and is it worth the $220+ ?

 

Yeah like July of 2009. That's like 2 weeks away. Besides, it doesn't matter when it'll be released. The fact that it's going to be released at all means that you shouldn't waste money on Vista. I mean what are you going to do be doing with a Vista PC once Windows 7 is out?

 

I'll be waiting for my two free copies of Windows 7 to replace the crap (Vista) that I wiped out on both PCs purchased last year to install XP.

I won't be holding my breath, but I won't buy it.

If for some reason, I was thinking about buying (but didn't have to right now), I'd be waiting for 7.

 

i do not and will not have such a configuration. i'm still on XP and see no reason to change; the NT 5.1 kernel has been quite stable.

 

It's not working. Itunes won't play/show cds. I use itunes because of my ipod.

 

I purchased a FW 290 JRB from SonyStyle with the following specs:

P8600 2.4 Mhz Processor
500 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
4GB Memory
Blu Ray RW Drive
Full HD Screen
ATI 3650 Video Card with 512 M

I use my computer for:

Web surfing 35%
Photo editing 30%
Video editing 25%
Watch Blu Ray movies 10%



I would like to upgrade to make my computer faster. I would like to upgrade the slow 4200 RPM hard drive.

1. What is the best choice for replacement? I would like a fast drive that does not make a lot of noise and is very reliable. Is the WD 320 GB Scorpio Black (7200) my best choice or is the larger WD 500 GB Scorpio Blue (5400) a better compromise?

I would also like to increase the installed memory. I have 4 GB installed. The FW has 2 memory compartments.

2. Do I have to install matched pairs 2 X 4GB or can I leave 1 2 GB stick in one slot and add a 4 GB stick in the other slot? What specs should I look for in the new memory? Any recommendations?

I have Vista Home Premium 64 Bit installed.

3. Do I need to upgrade to Vista Ultimate to take advantage of memory greater than 4 GB of memory? If so, what other advantages does Ultimate have over Home Premium?

 

Yeah exactly. If one doesn't have a dire need for a laptop right now, I would wait for Windows 7 to come out, too.

How come you get free copies of Windows 7? I'm jealous. Those retail licenses for Windows 7 Ultimate are going to be like $350 a pop. That's just like printing money.

 

Do you mean it won't auto play the CD, or it won't play the CD at all (as in it doesn't even see the CD)? If it doesn't play the CD at all, doesn't see the CD at all or if you can't see the CD in Explorer, you probably have a really big problem. It means your drive is dead.

Either that or your CD is really dirty. Or that the CD has scratches on the inner ring of the CD.

If you can get the CD to play, but it's just not autoplaying:

If it's not autoplaying the CD, it's the setting in iTunes. Oh man, you're going to make me install iTunes aren't you...

Go into Edit -> Preferences -> General Tab -> When you insert a CD -> START PLAYING THE CD

On default iTunes sets that setting to "import the CD" when you insert the CD. If you've already imported the CD, obviously the CD won't import again. Since iTunes plays the songs on the CD when you import them, you probably thought that the CD was autoplaying when you inserted the CD the first time.

So confirm that when you insert the CD, the Vista autorun will open up iTunes. Then confirm that iTunes itself is set to play the CD when you insert a CD.

Let me know if this fixes your problems.

 

1) I personally like:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=477
( WD3200BJKT )

Make sure it's BJKT (Fall sensor)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001FBJJQ4/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=2624884941&ref=pd_sl_42jjoei20q_e

Although any 2.5 inch 7200 rpm drive with fall sensor will do. You don't have to pick a particular company. Western Digital returns RMAed drives with remanufactured/recertified drives instead of new drives so... I mean I'm sure they work fine, but I don't want anybody else's cooties on my hard drive you know.

2) You don't have to install matching pairs, but if you go over 4GB, just know that you'll need Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. Vista Business is pretty lame. No Media Center. And if you go over 2.5GB, you'll need to install a 64 Bit operating system.

3) Yes.
Vista Ultimate has a lot of computer management software that wasn't included in Vista Home Premium. Stuff like setting up Samba so that it'll work with Mac OS X Tiger computers. Ultimate also has hard drive encryption although it's not a very good hard drive encryption.

That's about all the things that are useful with Ultimate for me personally.

Ultimate also has remote access, but Home Premium has it too. I think you just can't initiate remote access.

Incidentally you should disable the ability to receive remote access.

Control Panel -> System & Maintenance -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> Find Remote Access Connection Manager -> And set Startup Type to Disable instead of Manual.

That's one less way your computer becomes a zombie.

4) I thought there was a four. Guess not...

EDIT: By the way, for photo and video editing, you might see a benefit to having 8GB of ram. Especially since photos in RAW format are HUGE and I'm sure photoshop can use that extra ram.

It probably wouldn't have hurt to have gotten a T series processor. The P series use less electricity, but that's because they have 3 megs of L2 cache instead of the 6 megs of L2 cache on the T series processors. Cache is just memory that's on the chip die and runs at the speed of the processor.

I'm not sure how photoshop uses cache. It depends on how it was written as a program. I'm not even sure you'd see an improvement with more cache. You'd have to search for benchmarks for your particular program and someone testing processors with different cache.

It's probably not worth the hassle to return your laptop just to get a T series processor. Unless you're in the US and you ordered with Sonystyle.com and they let you return the laptop without any extra charges.

3 megs of cache should be fine though. And the P series has a Thermal Design Power that's 10 watts lower than the T series. That'll probably buy you like an extra 10 to 15 minutes of battery life.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xKSpW3q0GY&feature=related

Man, look at how many screws you have to remove just to upgrade the memory on the Acer Aspire One.

My guess that they made the memory really hard to upgrade so they can charge people an extra $50 for more for like just a GB of ram.

Can't blame them for trying. Actually I can.

It really makes you appreciate Sony and how you just have to remove ONE SCREW.

 

could you upgrade a FW from 4gbs of RAM to 8, since its an option online, i don't plan on doing this because i don't see the real need for 8gbs of ram, for me anyways

 

I am looking for a notebook that should be used as a modest Digital Audio Workstation. The Vaio FW looks good. I was wondering if anybody could help me out by running dpclat and reporting the results.

The tool can be found here:
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

 

Please, hepl me with one problem. I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FW11E and - maybe it's my fault, because of some settings I made (but how can I find them?/) - my battery doesn't charge . It stays at 50% , even if laptop is on and pluged in or it's off it doesn't charge battery(the battery led is off).

 

looking at the specs, i saw this: Estimated Battery Life: Up to 6 hours (standard capacity battery) .

is that true?

 

Did your screen have dead-pixels from the beginning or they appeared later?

'This is a high-gloss screen. You can expect sharper images, better contrast, and a wider viewing angle. ' High-gloss screen?

Wow! 375 cd/m² Brightness. That's a lot.

 

I don't really know. I wasn't looking for them in the beginning like I should've been. They were in the top left corner near the icons for the recycling bin and the other programs so I may have just not noticed them. The pixels are so tiny, it's really hard to see them unless you pop open an all white screen.

They're not supposed to show up after. They're supposed to be dead from the factory so...

 

only in your dreams. it's like 6 hours in SLEEP mode probably. Probably around 4 hours on the extended battery give or take if you're lucky. they always lie about the battery life on laptop computers.

it's better to look at the watt hours or the milliamp hours of the battery and see how much it is.

the standard battery is 4400mAh. I don't know how much the extended battery is.

 

You'll need Vista Business 64 Bits or Vista Ultimate 64 Bits to run 8GBs of ram, but yeah you can get 2X4GB of ram. But they costs like $675 as opposed to $45 for 2X2GB ram so...

If you need 16GB of ram, build your own desktop. Or buy a server motherboard or something. There's that Intel skull thingy. They're probably a lot cheaper now that Nehalem is out.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule/DDR2/~200-pin SODIMM~/list.html

 

Firewall ratings:

http://www.matousec.com/projects/firewall-challenge/results.php

 

You have probably activated the battery care function in the VAIO Control Center which limits the charge level of the battery. Launch VAIO Control Center, from there choose Power Management, Battery Charge Functions. If you see the checkbox for Enable Battery Care Function checked, then you have it active. By clicking the Advanced button you can control the battery care behaviour. "Super Care" charges only to 50% capacity.

 

Hi all, I have an FW11M which I formatted when I bought it, put on vista ultimate and after a weekend of fiddling, got all of the devices detected with correct drivers installed. Anyway, now I would like to update the graphics drivers to the new ATI 9.1 catalysts except that every time I try, I run the setup, it appears as though it is working and then says installation complete...however, it changes nothing. Device manager still reports the old driver version and the catalyst control centre does not run. Any ideas?

The FW11M has the Radeon HD3470, link:

http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowPro..._cons&pageType=Overview&category=VN+FW+Series)

 

Man. I tried another cd and it worked on itunes. The two cds that i tried were the same kind and maybe they were corrupt or something. That's a relief. Thanks autumn though for downloading itunes if you did.

The hinge thing still bothers me a bit. I don't know. It's fine as ling as it works but i'm the ocd type.

 

You can align the hinges yourself. You know that right? It's like 15 screws total. I just did a mental count. The media key metal thingy comes right off to reveal the speakers. The hinge screws are two each hinge underneath the speakers. And two more total on the bottom. So 6 heavy duty wide screws holding the hinges together. Someone at the CTO factory probably was just in a hurry and didn't align the hinge just perfectly before they screwed it on.

 

Hey guys, the LCD screen on my FW cracked. Actually, shattered is more like it.

If anyone has experience with a cracked screen, please go HERE. Thanks.

 

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/151801

If you like the FW, but want a more powerful graphics card. Remember that the $500 off coupon won't stack with the "instant discount" so you'll have to pay attention what the "non-discounted" price is.

The price ends up being a little bit more expensive than the FW, but you get the nVidia 9600, which is just a little bit better. But it's because it's clocked higher and uses more electricity mostly.

 

Hi All,

I just received my new Vaio FW390 CTO 2 days back....and I am pretty happy with it except for a few things that I noticed.
1. The panel below the Optical drive is very flimsy. Its like if you lift the laptop with one hand from that side, it feels like you might just break that panel.
2. Also, there is a significant gap between where the black panel ends and the optical drive door's black edge starts. You can see the metallic frame very clearly. Is that normal?
3. I have a FullHD screen, and the only resolutions I see in the display settings are 1920x1080, 1024x768, 800x600
How can I get additional resolutions?

Thanks a lot for helping out.

 

Unsure which model I saw.

But the other day I went to HHGreg and they had an FW on display for 700+ dollars.

2.26
3gb ram
250gb hdd
ati 3470 graphics
16.4 inch
windows vista flavor

for 700+ dollars, is this win? or should I just take the plunge into MSI GT725 and wait forever for it to be released?