Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

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interestingly enough, mine moves pretty losely if I jossle it a little. I'll definitely keep an eye on how much stress I put on the power cable.

that looks horrible.

 

so the hindge is a problem for everyone? my bro has a FW and hasent even noticed yet, it does move slightly but its holding up good after 8 months (FW11E)

 

Quit wiggling the dang thing, and you won't break it off!!

 

though i wonder what the main cause of damage is of this things were

People tugging on the hinges?

I have been analyzing it all day today, wiggled it a bit, but it seems like a good amount of pressure would be needed to snap off.

there is a metal latch that connects to the barrel where the wires go, and the round hinge seems to be there as a cover while the middle is full opened.

i am gonna go play with a demo at a store and pretend i am putting pressure lol

 

This is ridiculous, so many issues with this laptop. I should have just got a mac. Atleast their lasts.

My Vaio FW's speakers have started malfunctioning. My left speaker sometimes just cuts out for no reason, and I have to tap firmly on the left speaker panel to get it to work again.

Does anything last on this laptop?

 

Sounds like a dry solder joint (a bad contact). You can easily rectify this yourself if you can open it up and expose the connections, in order to re-solder them.

However, you shouldn't HAVE to fix things yourself, it should be well constructed in the first place.

 

Is there any point in getting the full HD screen if I plan on using my HDTV as a monitor most of the time?

 

my full HD screen is horrible. the text is tiny. Is this normal?

 

yep that is normal. u could increase the DPI to make it bigger in the display properties.

but with these high def screens or the 1680x1050 ones the fonts are all small.

i personally like them

 

Hehe, funny story. I just drove to my parents house with my laptop in my suitcase to stay with them a couple of days, and during my trip my Vaio switched on... I dont really know how since all that was in the suitcase was clothing and the Vaio was in its Vaio pouch, so what pressed on the power button?

Anyhow when I picked up the pouch it was pretty hot, not good I thought... then I opened it up to find the Vaio was melting hot and that it had blue screened.

Im letting it cool down as I type, and I believe its returning to normal temperatures. But who knows what damage I could have done during that hour to cause it to blue screen?

 

I find it pretty ironic that on the Sony site they like to put in your face how good their build quality is http://vaio-online.sony.com/prod_info/vaio_quality/index.html, This is my second Vaio in 3 years and the last one's power barrel came off aswell , Thing is though i bought my FW12G in Malaysia (I live in UK), Anyone had any experience with sending non-european models in for service, How did it work out?

 

lol-read the thread bfr you post, ok? i mentioned this very fact only few pages ago even then repeating myself...

 

I doubt your screen is horrible. The size of your text is entirely adjustable.

Simiply right-click on your empty desktop. Chose the "Personalize" option from the menu that pops up. Over on the upper left-hand side of the "Personalization" box that pops up, you'll see this item:

Adjust font size (DPI)

Click that, and either choose the "Larger scale" size it shows you, or click on the "Custom DPI" button, and choose some other size.

Easy as that....

 

Just bought an FW390J .....

should i expect to see a broken power barrel soon?

also, although i got the 7200 rpm drive, the thing takes for ever to boot although i removed some of the bloat ware.....

after reading some of the issues over here, i am thinking about returning it ....

thoughts?

thanks,

 

I own my FW190 for 6 months and never have any problem with the power barrel. Just be gentle.

 

same as-no issue whatsoever-laptop is brilliant for it's price and the quality is very good imho

 

I have adjusted the DPI and even the ATI Radeon settings but it is just SUPER SUPER small. Does anything think that Sony will release a driver update with more resolution options? Also if I was to send mine back for a NON HD screen will my font look like a normal computers?

 

can someone direct me to the link for vista 64 clean install, i've been looking through hundreds of outdated posts and i can't seem to find it.....

also, anyone getting some vibration from the 7200 drive? why did they use hitachi instead of seagate ? much smoother drive IMHO

 

I don't see why you would. I have a first gen FW140D and even though I tested the left barrel and it is wiggly, I left it alone because the more I bother it, the looser it will get. The right barrel (the power button) is very sturdy and there are very slim chances of falling off.

 

Try this one: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=292475

 

thinking to buy vaio fw 390 (customized one).. suddenly got the idea of studio xps 16 with similar configuration. now totally confused. which one should i go for?

 

You're asking what laptop to get in a Sony thread? Of course people will say the Sony FW. By the way, I truthfully say the Sony FW is better.

 

I've used Dell XPS, Lenovo & Sony FW and I'd say Sony FW has the best screen out of all three. Go for Sony FW as their design is much nicer compared to other.

 

any of u guys that have owned this notebook for more then six months............................. have u noticed ur screen dimmer ?

 

any of u guys that have owned this notebook for more then six months............................. have u noticed ur screen dimmer ?

 

Well,. I can only tell you what I did, as I was looking at the same.
Inthe end as you can see from my sig, I went for the sony.
The reasons being
1) the price, XPS 16 is expensive for what it is
2) the screen. My opinion was that the Sony HD screen was better than the XPS 16 HD screen
3) The big one, no Blu ray writer available with the XPS
4) the commenst and concerns regarding how hot the XPS 16 gets and the (possibly perceived) quality concerns and overal robustness of the Studio range

 

What did the Blue Screen say? What was the current power mode?
Was your Vaio Sleeping, Hibernating, or Off?

 

Respect for what you've chosen
but really, the HDD is cr*p ain't it? and yeah-mats BD is a bit of a pain with the region coding... tell me this though-have you any issue with playing some of the BD? Few of mine wouldn't work on the FW even though PS3 handled them with no issues... all BD iI have where bought in Europe, same as the FW... is it down to the player software? I use powerdvd 8...

 

I just got myself a vaio fw-52jb. It's a japanese model with 320gb 7200rpm Toshiba MK3254GSY hard drive. When hard drive is idle, it makes a very annoying high pitched sound. I'm pretty sure it comes from the hard drive, because when I do something which requires hd activity the noise seems to disappear. Does anyone have similar issue? Do you think I should return this to the store? Everything else is perfect otherwise.

 

I'd suggest you find a unit that comes with a Hitachi drive. You can hardly notice any noise from the drive during idle time.

 

No, not yet, though all my BD discs are either European region or Region free.
I am using Power DVD 8 HD Version 8.0.2217.50 and Arc soft Total media extreme

 

say folks, what do you guys use to clean the black matte lid on your FW's?

 

OMG I am going to go crazy with the cr*p HD. The font and text size is just way to small for anyones eyes and even when I modify everything it still looks "OFF" then my itunes is too small and its just a big pain. I am thinking of sending mine back for the regular screen.

 

I just cannot agree.
I have macular degeneration in one of my eyes yet I have no problems whatsoever with the font. True, I have raised it to 120 DPI but its much clearer to read than a standard screen and I have no problems whatsoever with ITunes. It looks great.

 

So your telling me that even when you put the DPI to 120 that the text size on web pages and itunes is BIGGER than a regular screen that lets say
1600*900?

 

I cant remember what the blue screen said, because usually I cant decode what its trying to say, usually just lists dlls and memory addresses. But I know the current power mode at the time was most likely "power management off" and it was "off" in my bag.

 

calling the screen cr*p just because you're unable to set it correctly isn't very fair to the fw... the hd screen is amazing.period.
Again-very quick guide-when you change DPI=> select custom and tick XP scalling so fonts won't appear blurry anywhere, if icons appear to small or have any issues with font in internet browser-hold ctrl and use mouse scroll to change the size. hope this helps.

 

Does this problem occur with the non-HD screen as well?

 

well its not just the FW screen, my old lg when i first got a high res Screen the fonts were tiny, but that is with all high res screens.

 

I posted this a while back, but I never got a response. I was thinking because it ended up being the last post on a page, so maybe people who know the answer missed it. I will try posting it once more.

Can anyone answer?

 

Checking off the XP scaling option box is a good advice. If you're running IE8, it will automatically set the page zoom to match the higher DPI setting.

 

So no one has noticed their brightness not as bright? maybe i am the only one since i got to test both a new and mine side by side.

 

my screen is brighter than all hell but then again I have the FullHD Screen

 

oh man dont get me wrong. lol it's bright i have the FULLHD as well.. but

my neighbour just bought the same model as me, and i was setting it up for him..

and i put our notebooks side by side same pages same everything at full brightness..

and his was more brighter than might, and i have had it only for two months!!!!! almost three i think.


Does your fw 390 Buzz when u turn down the brightness? the LCD buzzes according to brightness

 

I think he is in his right to call it crap. Changing DPI doesnt always solve text problems, many applications dont support custom DPI changing. Such as I-tunes, as I believe was mentioned.

I really think 1920x1080 is far too high resolution for a simple 16" screen. Seriously, not everyone enjoys squinting just to read text. It suits some people who wanna go "YAY my screen is really high resolution I can fit more windows on screen", but apart from that its stupid in a laptop, since whenever you want to game for instance you will have to set your resolution to the native (1920x1080) lest you want it to look like , and thats going to take a hit on performance, a large hit on laptop cards. Id rather a lower resolution where I can see fonts and game at relatively good settings then the alternative.

 

No, read it again.
What I said and I stick with this, is that the HD screen is CLEARER than my other desktop/laptops with the lower resolution screens.

The font is sharper than even bigger fonts on lower resolution screens and is to my eyes, easier to read. I certainly don't need to squint, perhaps those of you complaing about this need to have some time away from the computer screens and get a real girlfriend instead of a virtual one!

I don't use ANY laptop for gaming, can't see the reasoning, I use Windows media player for music, iTunes is crap, and has too many ed Steve Jobs controls on it.
iTunes is only used for transferring tunes onto my iTouch, because of Job's obsession with controlling every bit of his products use, he should work for Sony!

 

I've been thinking about getting an FW but all this talk about small font sizes has me really worried. If I connect the laptop to my HDTV via HDMI, will the font sizes still be really small on my HDTV?

 

hey guys,

just wanted to ask if anyone has used the sgp leather skin for their fw?

any other custom skins that will fit?

also, does anyone know if i can get the invisible shield applied for me anywhere in the UK?

i don't think i could do a good job myself..

 

Hello,

I've got a mate who has just uninstalled Windows Vista and replaced it with Windows Vista Ultimate after having a problem with a virus called Component Privacy!

After having done so, i now have no wireless network! I was told by a Techguy at PC World to just download the driver from the Sony website under support! Only problem is, which one?

http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons

Help would be most appreciated! Many thanks, Michael!

 

No,
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