Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

Yeah, some of the Level 1 technicians are retards. Retards with PhDs probably.... It's like dude, we know what we're talking about. You're lucky that you were able to at least get it to report bad sectors. Mine just DIED. I think it was a Y2K9 bug in the Hitachi hard drives. I had THREE Hitachi drives die on me the same week. Pretty LOL in retrospect.

 

Here is how you replace the internal bluetooth module. There's a switch on the front of the laptop that turns the bluetooth on or off. I'm guessing that's what the little thing that's connected to the bluetooth module is. Good luck finding which bluetooth module you're supposed to use though. I think it's just generic Intel.

 

I'm guessing you already sent in the laptop and stuff so this is too late, but you should tell them that you took the hard drive out and tested it for errors on another computer and it gave you the same errors or something.

And every time I called support, they had me like reinstall drivers and stuff like that. The last time I was on the phone with Level 1 support for 2 hours. It's pretty sad.

And I can no longer reimage my hard drive with the recovery discs. The recovery discs are like hard drive specific or something. I just downloaded the free imaging program from acronis.

When you get the laptop back for your wife, you should just image the hard drive yourself. It's just a regular sata drive so pop it into your desktop or something and image the EISA image and the the C drive. It might even be worth your while to get all the security updates for Vista and then image the hard drive so you don't have to update Vista every time you reimage.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

 

Geeze! Two days after I order my fw390 I get an email about $330 off a similar one! It would be like getting the same price I paid now but with the addition of a blue ray reader.

Oh well, I guess I wouldnt even use the bd anyway.. and it has a p8600 while what i ordered had a p8700.

Anybody think slaes are suffering at sony?
i ordered an fw, they said it would ship on the 17th, it shipped today. Odd... but im not complaining.

Oh, for randomness' sake, anybody know if the 3650 has any problems running runescape hd?

 

Thanks. I actually did tell them that because I did test the disk in my Thinkpad. I added it as a second disk and ran chkdsk -R. That reported bad sectors, HDtune reported bad sectors and I tried imaging the drive and that reported bad sectors. After telling them all this they said I have a memory issue. It's almost like they could care less what I said.

 

Thank you! You are awesome! I can't believe I got this deal, $975 for a FW with 4GB of RAM, 7200RPM 320GB HD, P8600, Blu Ray burner, and 1080p! Getting my laptop next week!

 

If you make more than 2,000 a month, you sir are making more profit than Sony.

 

Hello all,
I just bought the FW378 that was on sale of 330$ + the student discount
total being 1100.48 with tax but if there will be a FW successor this summer or fall I might as well return this.
Does anyone know when will this come out?!?!?!?

 

Any new refresh will cost you much more. I would be happy with the discount if I were you.

 

I was wondering if anyone who has the sony FW sleeve, VGPAMC7.

How snug is the fit? it is loose at all?

and if possible any photos would be appreciated.

 

Fit is snug, extra utility bag for power supply also has room for mouse. I use to protect the computer when travel and usually place in my backpack or other cases. Does well for that. Traveling/working so can't do a photo. But since designed for the model there is a nice fit and the extra protection works well - have used several times on business trips, still no marks/scratches - so am happy with what I wanted it to accomplish.

 

My understanding is that the 378J/B just came out.

 

Don't know if anyone has posted this or not, but there is a much better driver for the Alps touchpad available. It is v7.2.303.107. I got it from a Toshiba download site:

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....ull&page=1&ID=65296&OSID=26&driverLanguage=42

There are many more configuration options and it feels much smoother. Still not as good as a Synaptics, but close.

 

Mine is not snug and the material is thin compared to the incase sleeve I use on my Macbook Pro 15". The Sony sleeve looks nice but is floppy when trying to put the laptop in.

Cheers,

 

Well, after much deliberation and a final look at the FW and AW next to each other (the Aw makes the Fw look tiny!)
I finally pulled the trigger on the FW21Z
I got it for £1099.95
Hope I made a good choice.......

 

Moving from a HP HDX 20" to something new Sony FW is the top of the list.

Has anyone replaced the standard hard drive with something faster?

And if so did they find out if all SATA HDD and SDD are compatible?

 

hows the ATI 3650 in the FW like for gaming?
and is it GDDR3, DDR3 or something else?

will my laptop(specs) play Starcaft2 on good settings?

how does this do on benchmarks(games,3dmark06) compared to cards like the 9600m GT (GDDR3) and the 3650 GDDR2 256mb version?

 

In regards to this question, I'd just make the point that several FW models have 7200 RPM drives -- seems like the best money would be spent getting a 7200 RPM drive in the first place.

 

The only problem with 7200RPM drives is, although they are quicker, they need more power and generate more heat. I'd be quite happy with 5400RPM in a laptop if you're not forever streaming data from the hard-drive, it's not too slow. - A good trade-off for extending battery times (if using mobile) while also generating less heat ('cuz during the hot days in summer those temperatures can rocket!).

4200RPM, however, is slow.

 

Yep. Of course, many FW models have 5400 RMP drives. Not sure if there are any 4200 RPM drives in the line, but the bottom line remains for me that it's best to get the specification you want when you buy it -- and the FW series indeed gives you choices in these specs.

 

I replaced the standard 120GB 5400 in my FW290 with a Hitachi 320GB 7200. Very easy to replace (3 screws and then the cage) and much faster loading new levels in my games.

Good for most RTS, RPG games; I play Company of Heroes on High / Med settings and AOE3, Civ4, RedAlert3 on High. Would I prefer the 3870 or 4850 or even the 4870x2 mobile chips, sure but for the price, style and weight you can't beat the Sony FW series.

Cheers,

 

I'm new owner of FW290, I got it thru Sony outlet following are spec
FW290 CTO
P8600
2GB RAM,
160GB (5400RPM) HDD
3650 ATI graphics card
Blu-ray Read only
Full-HD LCD
+ 2yrs or exteneded warranty + 8% Tax

All came out to $968 from Sony outlet (computer was $830 + $79 warranty + tax).
Is this good deal ? I'm planning to upgrade RAM and will think about HDD later.

 

Is there a way to create a Windows Vista Installation disc from the hidden partition or recovery discs? I am not talking about restoring to factory, I am talking about a clean install of Windows using the key on the the bottom of the laptop. I have search this entire forum and I have not found anything... some instructions are close to what I am looking for, but not perfect. Maybe there is no way of doing it.

 

Hey,guys!!!

I just bought the FW378J and here is my problem:

I hooked it up to my Sony W4100 LCD via HDMI, however, the audio only comes out of the laptop and not my lcd. Any ideas how i can remedy this?

Thx

 

Simplest solution:
1) Open Playback Devices (right click on the sound icon)
2) Set HDMI as default
3) Start/Restart the media player app. The app (media center for example) will use the default device.

Change the default back to laptop speaker when you are done. Similar procedure applies to bluetooth a2dp.

There may be other ways but this is what I do...

 

Hey Dudes!

There be anybody can help me obtain a FW 390 , customized with following options Not sonystyle.ca, a retailer needed) Location: Toronto,ON,Canada
CPU: intel T9550, 2.66 6MB Cache
RAM: 4GB
Hard Disk: Not any preference
ODD: Bluray Read & Write (bluray writer)
Graphic: ATI HD 3650
LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
Black of tgray

 

Thanks,bro!!!

 

Wow, no one knows?!

 

Just got my FW378J/B today. Got to say its really awesome. Very fast and beautiful screen. I always thought 1080p would be too much but the screen is amazing and much more legible than I thought it would be. I didn't even go to 120dpi like I thought I would. Just one question, the backlight is very even except for the top left corner which is fairly dark over the icons. Just wondering if that is normal or if my screen is faulty. I don't usually notice it but just curious. Awesome purchase, really love the black case too.

 

You can not buy Configure To Order model from retailers. Only Sonystyle sell them.

 

Very good deal. I bought the exact same config in nov and it cost $999 before tax with 1 year of support. I upgraded it to 320 7200 and 4GB of Ram.

Cheers,

 

Hey! So, this laptop looks like a great deal, and I'm planning on getting it for college. I was wondering; how portable is it? I mean, I won't be jumping on flights every weekend, but is it easy enough to get from classroom to classroom?

Thanks!

 

Just fine, if you want a daily resistance workout. i.e., "weightlifting."

7 pounds -- you can get all kinds of smaller notebooks weighing half as much, or less. This thing is an aircraft carrier, in comparison.

Sure, you can lug it around, but this is really on the wrong end of the weight scale when it comes to carrying it around everywhere you go. Of course, the screen is great, and you can get a great-performing machine, but go to the stores and check it against things that weigh half as much.

For me, I sold a teensy little Fujitsu ultraportable that wasn't all that useful for me, and got the FW378J/B because I wouldn't actually be carrying the thing around all that much....

 

Well my FW285 is lighter than my old 15.4" HP from a few years ago - I do travel with it also for both work & pleasure- But this laptop really is closer to a desktop replacement. It's a great machine, but dragging around daily to classes?? - I'd look for something more portable.

 

Guys,

while we are on the weightlifting subject, what are your thoughts on these cases? I think they're puuuuuurrrtyyyy bada$$e$!!!

one is lethearette and one is aluminum. Does anyone have them? pros/cons? Comments/thoughts?

I must say that they do weigh 6LB. so it won't help the portability any but man, I really really like the cases.

C'mon, lemme hear ya ***Harry Caray Voice***, on one, on two, on tre...


http://www.matias.ca/laptoparmor/la1217u/index.php

http://www.matias.ca/laptoparmor/la1417a/index.php

 

well I'm not too much into cases-they DO look the part tho
btw. I've just came across a link somewhere around that new CCC is avail for download if anyone's interested

 

pardon my brilliance. what does CCC stand for? around here, it stands for City College of Chicago but my brilliance tells me that you ain't talkin bout no city community college. By the way, I have some niiiiice<borat voice>
XXX available for download, wink wink!

 

On the system config there is a startup item called AML by sony, can i disable it. what does it do?

also the ISB utility?

 

ati CCC is ati catalyst control centre

 

Can someone comment on the differences between:

- a P8600 (2.40GHz) processor with 3MB cache (25W power consumption)

vs.

- a T9550 (2.66GHz) processor with 6 MB cache (35W power consumption)

in terms of battery life and performance on the FW series.

Is the $200 difference worth the extra performance? Is the battery life going to be reduced significantly with a T9550?

Also which one would you recommend:

- the BD Writer - (being made by M A T S H I T A with known reliability issues and slow speed)

vs.

- the BD Read Only drive (being made by Optiarc with better speed and NEC reliability)

Thanks!

 

For me personally, I think this is a no brainer for me...2.4 and 2.66 is a big enough of difference maker in my opinion where yes, I'd def. upgrade. although I would like to pay only $150 more. If I had to choose 9xout of 10, I choose perf. over batt. life. any day. How often do you actually work or use computer where you're not near a outlet? Also, what is the battery life diff. with P8600 vs. T9550? 15-20 min? I think the perf. out weighs the batt life...just my opinion

 

unless you do cpu intensive apps, or play games (RTS mainly) then it MAY be worth it as its maybe a 5% gain is cpu power.
otherwise, its more expensive, makes more heat and you wont see the difference in performance at all.

 

guys, who makes OEM Sony Vaio Memory(RAM)??? what memory did you upgrade with? and please don't say Corsair!

 

my touchpad dont work with windows 7 x64 version
how can i setup to use as windows 7 x86 version?

 

Sounds like you aren't much of a "brainer" if you think that a 5% increase in performance warrants a $200 price increase, and at the expense of extra heat and worse battery life.

Just my opinion...

 

The 2.4 vs. 2.66 processor speed difference is 9.8%, but this is for both cores, so depending on what you are doing it could amount to up to 20% speed increase.

I asked the question due to the more important difference - the double amount of cache (6mb) on the T9550, which would result in a dramatic performance increase in CPU intensive operations like video editing, calculations, gaming etc.

Both processors use the 45nm technology, which makes them very energy efficient. It is also very interesting that according to Intel's specs, the P8600 voltage range is wider (1.00V-1.250V), than the voltage range of the T9550 (1.050V-1.212V).

Is it possible that the faster speed and the larger cache of the T9550 will actually make it run cooler and use less energy than the P8600 when doing cpu intensive operations?

Surely for casual browsing and word-processing tasks, the P8600 will do just fine and probably will be a little bit cooler and more energy efficient, but if you want to do something extra, the T9550 will be a better choice...

 

there is no way a 20% power increase between the p8600 and p9550.
its more like 5-10% overall.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html
according to that, on 3dmark06 (cpu intensive program and uses both cores) , there is a 5.4% different in performance between the p8600 and t9400.

there was no data for the t9550, but the t9400 is very similar, only about .11 ghz speed difference (both 6mb cache, 1066mhz)

so its about a 5% increase which you wont realise in anything but cpu intensive things.

it wont even affects games that much FPS games like cod4 etc wont see a diffence as they use the gpu. very little differnce like 2-3 frames on games like CnC3, starcraft 2 and other newish rts games.



anyway, for a 5% difference you wont see most of the time, i wouldnt lose battery life, make more heat and pay that much more money.
if you want to spend $200, go for a SSD, it will increase loading times a LOT in everything.

 

Owais, you read my mind. No need for me to even reply further.

 

hi im thinking of getting this laptop

Intel® Core(TM)2 Duo 2.66 GHz
320 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
4 GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Blu-ray Disc(TM) Combo-drive
16.4" LCD, 1920x1080 + webcam
ATI MobilityRadeonHD3650 512MB
Vista® Home Premium - (64 bit)

do u think it is a good choice etc

 

depends what you will use it for.