Official VAIO FW Series Owners Thread

I just ordered the FW-490:JFT model. I went to check it out at Best Buy today, and the chocolate brown is nothing like the title. It has metallic flakes on it, really nice and its more of a dark red wine than chocolate color...

 

Click here, and read all about it (after selecting your shipment destination country)

 

Hmm. SO this might be a bit of a problem when trying to get the upgrade? Even though we should be able to get the upgrade anyways since we bought from a sony dealership

 

Where Best Buy? Their Website shows no FWs at all and Google only shows that FW490JFT model coming up on Sony Style....

 

I live in Austin Texas, just walked to the computer section and they had one to test out on the floor. It was the lower end model with only a 2.0ghz cpu but everything else was the same one it.

If you want to try to save some time you can always call your local BB and ask if they have any on the floor yet

 

Thanks for the tip. Interesting that a store floor would have it before its Website.

BTW I doubt a lower end model has the FullHD and 6GB of RAM. But anyway. Good to know Best Buy is a place to check this out....

 

...we should be able to get the upgrade anyways since we bought from a sony dealership

Somebody has to pay Microsoft something extra for the piece of paper. It's supposed to entice buyers to snag a PC now, rather than wait for the new OS to become available. I kind of doubt Sony is going to have trouble moving these nice "bang for the buck" units. If you check out the upgrade site, you'll see some of the older hardware being offered with the free upgrade option...

Oh hell, I'm just blathering. Read this!

Your Vaio Model VGNFW465JB is eligable for the Windows 7 Upgrade Kit
Sony is pleased to offer owners of qualified VAIO® computers a free* upgrade package to make it easier to upgrade to Windows® 7.

The Upgrade Kit:

* Provides everything you need; drivers, applications and a copy of the Windows® 7 operating system

* Includes detailed step-by-step instructions to upgrade your computer to Windows® 7


This offer applies to qualified models purchased between June 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010. Proof of purchase is required.​

Last night, at about 12:30AM, that same link to Sony showed about 6 older models to pick from. What a surprise when I clicked it today!

 

correct, it only had 4gb of ram
it also only had the 512mb ati GPU.

It was priced at $1199 if I can recall, so def targeting a lower budget customer

one of the guys working there told me the body was "a bit different" from the older FW models, but I never saw the older models so it was pretty useless knowledge for me

 

I'm praying that they fixed the hinge and added a clearcoat of paint to protect the palmrest!

 

How would you compare this laptop to a Dell SXPS 1640? The main difference I see is DDR3, RGBLED, and 256GB SSD.

Anyone know how the build quality compares?

 

Can anyone tell me if the extra large battery sticks out from the system at all, or is it the same size as the smaller capacity one?

 

Sticks out at the bottom, making the back of the laptop raised.

 

Well I have teh 350 series. I'm glad i didn't wait to buy the 490. All i see that i would do differnt is teh Video. the CPU in the 350's are just fine. I might buy the new video card and put in this laptop though

 

Wow, for less than a two week wait, for the same money, you could have had a faster CPU, faster GPU, and free upgrade to Windows 7. That would haunt me every time I powered it up for as long as I owned it.

 

I got it 200 dollars cheaper. I bought it off ebay.

 

That should help relieve the sting. Truth be told, that was a hairy two week wait for me. I was certain the new units would be sold out before I could get one delivered in time. That, or the price would jump up quite a bit, etc. My luck usually runs that way. But, as it turned out, this is the best deal I've gotten since Sears price matched online retailers!

 

So i'm starting to get angry. It's been more than a day and J&R still has yet to ship/leave the warehouse. It said it should take 1-2 days and i only live a freaking state over so it shouldn't take this long. I was expecting to get it before monday but that's not going to happen.

 

hi, first time poster here

I'm a high school grad going to college in the fall, and the fw495J/B looks like the perfect laptop for me, except for the price...

now I know I know that it's already a fantastic deal in the first place, but is there any way to bring the price down some more to nudge the parents for a purchase?

just so you know, neither really like online shopping so the JR.com rebate probably won't work. Also, just a few days ago, I've stopped by the local best buy and sears and they don't carry the newer 49X FW's so I'm not entirely sure if Ornery's price match thing could work for me.

help?

 

Maybe they don't work on saturday/sunday? Or at least don't ship stuff on weekends.

 

Inukami, it's likely being drop shipped from one of several warehouses across the country. If one of them is near you, it could still make it, but Monday is pretty optimistic.

Blahtacular, the rebate is from Sony, so it will work no matter where you get it from, as will the Windows 7 upgrade. Micro Center has a couple in stock near me, but they'll go VERY quickly. Their price is $50.00 higher, but they offer a $100.00 Micro Center Rebate still good till the 28th. You may be able to have that rebate AND Sony's. That warms up the deal a bit, eh?

If you can convince your parents you actually "need" the specs of the FW 465, you're 90% there, because any similarly configured machine of Dell, Toshiba, Gateway or anyone else, will cost at least a couple hundred more.

 

I read on the site that saturday/sunday do not count as "business" days so I'm assuming it ships monday at the earliest.

 

aw , they couldn't of shipped it on friday?

Also it's not just that but they charged me already!!!! And the website says they didn't ship anything yet and only do when they charge. -_-

 

Probably not, depending on maybe what time you ordered it. Still, they say it'll be shipped within "1-2" business days, which means earliest would have been Saturday. I remember seeing an option for "Saturday" delivery, but it costs about 90 extra bucks. Not worth it unless you seriously need the laptop ASAP.

 

Sony VAIO(R) VGN-FW465J/B 16.4" Notebook - Black now $1,129.99 with free shipping at Buy.Com.

 

Hi everyone, sorry for the noobish question. I just placed an order for a FW490 with a T9600 2.8GHz processor and 4 gigs of ram among other things. My question is whether the FW model or this model with this processor will take DDR3 ram? If it is possible, then this will definitely give FW owners the ability to upgrade in the future.

 

Will the FW4650 be able handle the upcoming FFXIV (Final Fantasy 14 online) or should look at a straight gaming notbook? FFXIV will most likey be the only game I play on a notebook.

 

It plays crysis at 30 FPS on ultra. Of course you need dual core 2.53ghz or higher, at least 4GB ram, 1GB version of 4650 video card.

So yes it i'll play FF pretty well. It plays Aion on 30+ at max settings

 

The FW uses DDR2 memory, and thus it won't take DDR3. DDR3 RAM doesn't work with a DDR2 slot, and it won't even fit in the first place.

 

the fw 490 cto in sonystyle just "corrected" the graphic card with a 4650 instead of 4570,

of course in the more info tab it stills mentions 4570...

 

Well the CS rep said it would be corrected sunday and for sure he was right !
I just don't unstand it takes 3 days after talking to them about the mistake it takes so long for a website fix how hard could it be LOL

 

yeah, i agree, i mean it's a super-dooper mega electronics corp. i believe they must have 1 or two people who know how to handle a pc and fix that. lol,
anyway now that i am sure it's a 4650 i 'll put it on my schedule to buy a fw,

If only the fwcto would be available in white color again, anyone knows anything?

 

I'm really angry D=

J&R charged me the $1149.99 on the 26th or 27th and on that day till today they did not ship. Their policy is: we do not charge until item is shipped. I have not received any confirmation status or at the tracking order page saying that it shipped.

I feel like filing a complaint =(

It's not a big deal that they charged me but that they COULD of shipped it when i placed my order, not doing so and charging me is what im getting mad at.

 

My first post. I think I would love a new FW, but the strong consensus on this forum seems to be that it would be foolish to buy it without getting the HD 1920x1080 resolution. My problem? I'm getting old and need bigger fonts than young people. Am I right that the sharper the resolution, the smaller the fonts?

 

1080p is a waste of money so i don't know where you got the idea that it was better. The fonts will be smaller and with a 16.4 inch screen it is terrible to have such a high resolution. I wouldn't try that unless i had like a 20+ inch monitor where i have more space(and if i did that, buy a 20+ inch monitor, what would be the point of having 1080p on the 16.4 screen when you can display it on the monitor).

 

The larger the resolution, the smaller the font. You can always manipulate them with the changing of the display DPI to fit your eyes need. That is what I do with mine.

cheers ...

 

Are those ugly stickers in the right corner easy to remove, and without leaving sticky stuff on the surface?

 

yeah but why would you want to? that takes away the legitimacy of the laptop.

 

I just thinks it looks so cheap and doesn't belong on the otherwise very smooth design
And another question:
How old is this FW product series, and how often does Sony renew it?
I'm very interested in buying a FW, but if there's something new very close to being released, I'll perhaps wait

 

Hah, this is what I've been waiting for a couple weeks now. You get Windows 7 free, the newer graphics processor, Sony rebate, and a darn fair price to start with. Sheesh!

I've got a Sony DSC-F707 camera purchased in 2002. Tens of thousands of pictures taken with it, and it's still going strong. I'll put that camera and lens up against any point & shoot coming out today. It's still got all its stickers on it. If they bother you that much, a hair drier will help lift 'em off in no time, with no residue. Peel slowly.

 

i believe this is the latest version of the FW, which became available to the US sometime last week for "pre-order." Plus, the price for it is pretty good right now (buy.com is your best bet if you like a non-costumed one).

 

I took the stickers off. It was easy to do. It looks much cleaner. I just stuck them on the bottom in case I needed them later.

 

OK, Hendra, you got me researching those screens and notebookjournal.de reviewed both the FW11 and the FW31 (the 190 and 390 of Europe) and guess what? The HiColor is NOT the same as the FullHD. Who'd a thunk it?

The brightness is much higher on the earlier model but contrast might be a bit better on the FW3 (not clear they calculated it correctly in the reviews) and anyway, measuring contrast is tricky and comparisons are often misleading, so there's a lot of room for error in that measurement. Not so in the measurement of brightness.

I mean, wow! -- the HiColor is an average of 80 cd2/m brighter than the FullHD:
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/sony-vaio-vgn-fw11zu-619
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/notebook-review-sony-vaio-fw31zj-860


So, you are indeed onto something.... Bring back HiColor, Sony!

 

I managed to scratch my laptop when taking the stickers off *facepalm* I have to live with it until I get a new laptop.

 

Well I'm up there in the middle-age bracket, wear bifocals and can read the screen without my glasses - crisp, clear and vibrant - wish my work computer was the same... Suggest you go look at one in person to see it. The font size etc is really a matter of personal choice. The 1920x1080 does provide lots of extra screen real estate for say Excel files, multiple files open and side-by-side etc. Best Bet: go see one and decide then.

 

In a user review on this site I read that the drivers sony has on its website are compatible only with the supplied OEM version of Windows (with all the bloatware). Is that really the case?

 

What it says is that the supplied drivers work "only" (in case you need Sony Support) with the delivered/stated OS version. You can remove the "bloatwares" as you see fit.

cheers ...

 

I finally decided to go w/ Vaio Fw and just ordered the FW-495 model. = )

Core 2 Duo Processor P8700
6GB (1x4GB, 1x2GB) RAM
500GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
Blu-ray Burner
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 Graphics
16.4" Widescreen Display 1920x1200
Integrated Camera and MicrophoneBluetooth 2.1+EDR802.11a/b/g/n Wi-F

Its a good deal ?

 

Sorry, I don't exactly understand it. I want a full clean install of my own retail copy, and not the version supplied with the notebook. The reviews says 'They informed me that the user is not able to properly use the VAIO without OEM Vista, because the driver only recognizes the OEM Vista version'. But you're saying it should work?

 

Its a good deal ?

Man, even if I'm using someone else's money, I try to do better than that! Nearly doubled the cost for a slightly faster CPU, slower HDD, 2GB more RAM, and Blue-ray burner. Only you would know if it's truly worth it.

 

there's a thread on how to install the sony drivers I believe you have to download them and change the name so you could recconize the drivers while your installing them, if i'm wrong here please someone jump in!, what I'd like is someone download them put them in a thread for all of us to just load the drivers