Sony CW i3/i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

That is the model of white I have. The paint job is very much similar to a car's paint job. Very white with a clear coat finish making it super smooth and glossy. Build quality is great, no body or keyboard flex and I find it very comfortable to type on. I like the S series keyboard better but the CW keyboard is fine. If you hate plastic then your not gonna like the CW because its all plastic no metal or composites.

 

I don't want to scare anybody off of the new CW, but...

I ordered one off of Sony's website and I have been having major issues getting the screen to turn on out of sleep mode, hibernate, and when powering up. The system is running fine because I can hear notification sounds, but the screen is all black. If I cycle it through enough sleep modes or do a hard restart, sometimes I can get the screen to start working.

Anybody else having this problem? I googled around and found that this was not an uncommon problem, and that it wasn't specific to Sony or CW's. Sounds like a Windows problem. 'Black Screen of Death' maybe.

I'll be shipping this one back and have already ordered a replacement from BestBuy. If anybody else is experiencing this, please inform.

 

Here's my specs:

i5-540; 4GB DDR3 RAM; 320 GB (7200rpm); NVidia 310M; 1366x768 res

 

Maybe he had power settings set to not optimize performance.

 

Sounds like the plug is loose, where the panel plugs into the mobo. That's just a manufacturing error and shouldn't be VERY common. Your replacement should work fine.

 

thank you!
I'm worried about the plastic though. is it tough plastic? you said no flexing so I guess it is!

 

I have no info about SFIV other than the fact that one of the board users asked someone to run it so I did. The demo looked really good to me in terms of graphic quality and speed.

BTW, SFIV = Street Fighter 4 demo benchmark

 

no, I was not, are you sure you ran it at 1600x900 because when I installed it, it defaulted to 1280 x 720. I'll run it again...mind you I didn't shut background stuff off and empty the system tray or anything of resident programs, just a fresh boot after a modest de-crapifying.

Also, I've found when running 3Dmark on any given day that results can vary up to 500 points for no apparent reason...its not the world's most precise benchmark.

 

that could be a likely explanation as I did not alter any settings...I'll give it a shot and optimize for oomph

 

seems very sturdy to me. I really enjoy the keyboard on this as well and the touchpad is much better than on the HPs with the metal surface..this feels sort of like a lightly textured glass or plastic...very smooth on the fingers but not slick and slippery like on the HP...feels kind of like the glass one on a Macbook to me.

 

Seems like the dreaded vinyl bag deliveries are turning out okay! Have you had some time to play around with it (the computer, not the bag)? Thoughts, impressions? Happy with the build quality, screen, temperature, fan noise? Does your blu ray player make the noise one of the other posters mentioned? Any complaints? Thanks!

 

Ran it at 1360x768 (yes, that was the choice on the benchmark, not 1366) and got a rank of "B" and average FPS of 53.16 though this time I made sure to set performance settings on the machine to maximum performance instead of balanced

 

I re-ran 3DMark 06 after setting the power scheme to high performance: 6129 3DMarks. Well now we know the difference between the balanced power scheme and high performance is about 1000 3DMarks

 

Our CW seems to have survived its plastic bag shipment just fine. I still think its a lame way to ship something this expensive and fragile. If I post a review of it on Best Buy's website, I think I'll mention the packaging you get for the 25-buck shipping charge.

Anyway, I'm very impressed so far with the computer. It is so fast, quiet and cool. When I made the recovery discs and installed MS Office, we couldn't even hear the drive working. The fan is only loud for a few seconds at start-up. I don't have any blu-ray media to try yet.

The screen is bright and very glossy (lots of reflection-you can spy on what's going on behind you). The entire laptop is very shiny; as stated earlier, it's like a car's finish. We have the royal indigo version which is more purple than blue. It is my daughter's laptop and indigo is her favorite color. She likes the shiny aspect, too. If it were mine, I would probably prefer something more matte but the features on it are so great, its a compromise.

The only problem we've experienced is that it randomly restarted once while typing something online this morning. Hopefully it was just a one-time thing.

I'm pretty happy (and relieved) so far.

 

I'm liking this machine quite a bit. Runs very cool and quite, I like the keyboard and my only wish is that it was smaller/lighter/thinner (say 13.3" screen and 4.2 lbs) as I'm the sort of person that thinks a laptop should indeed be a laptop. That being said, from a price/performance/size ratio this thing cannot be beat. I tried out the HP dv model at staples (i5-430m and intel HD graphics for $650) and this thing is head and shoulder more impressive IMO though you have to pay for the added performance.

I am happy with my Sony and have noticed no ill effects from the dreaded bag effect. Still think it is an absolutely stupid way to ship it though.

 

'

Thank you for your thoughts, they're very much appreciated. Have you tried to play a blu ray yet? Did you get the loud noise that "aneftp" reported?

 

i'll be picking up my cw27 from best buy this afternoon, ordered friday, available for pick up today, i'll post my thoughts after running some benchies

 

Is anyone looking at the iPad and wondering why they didnt wait for it?

 

I did not get the Blu-Ray version as I have no interest in Blu-Ray...you'll have to check with some of the others...sorry

 

I'm watching the live blog now, that's partly why I haven't opened the box yet!!

 

like Jobsie said, it fits into the intermediate....between a smartphone and a notebook...and the CW's a notebook :d

 

I don't have a paid version of the software, so its running default everything. However, wouldn't the default settings be the norm for comparison between cards?

 

well, when I've used it in the past I tend to tailor the benchmark to the particular machine. Oftentimes in reviews they will run it at multiple resolutions to get a matrix of results for comparison. I just tend to run things at whatever the native settings of the particular machine are.

 

Can anyone tell me what the voltage of the power supply for the laptop is? Thanks.

 

Is it possible to change 1600x900 resolution on sony CW with i5 processor to 1366 x 768 without any problems? I am thinking buying the version with i5 processor from Bestbuy which has 1600x900 native resolution. However, I think the 1366 x 768 resolution of i3 would be more readable for my eyes.

 

19.5 V is what it says

 

just use large font and icons in Win7...its trivially easy to do. Also, you can zoom in and out with the multitouch pad if you need things bigger. The 1366 panel is crap in comparison to the 1600

 

Does the multitouch pad work out of the box or did you have to download drivers? Is it a good feature? What else can it do? Thanks!

 

thanks a lot. Mine shipped today. hopefully I can get it by friday.
can you compare the touchpad to the ones on the ASUS UL series? Is it matte or glossy finish? the glossy, textured touchpad on the ASUS UL was dreadful... :<

 

worked out of the box though one guy on this forum mentioned that the latest synaptics drivers add even more functionality (similar to what you can do with the Mac) but I haven't tried that. Mind you I've only played with the zoom in Google Chrome (which came preinstalled also...nice touch) and IE, but it worked just fine.

What I can't seem to find is any mention of it in the driver section for the mouse or any way to modify it using some sort of interface program...its just there but there is no obvious way to figure out what it can do other than playing around with it.

 

I have not gotten multitouch to work on mine and sifting through all the software and help that came with the computer I find no mention of it.

 

To adjust the touchpad settings, go to Control Panel> Hardware and Sound> Mouse (Under devices and printers)> Device Settings Tab and Click on 'Settings.'

I do recommend installing the latest Srybe Driver from Synaptics.com, as it increases the functionality exponentially. One cool feature is that you can tap with three fingers and bring up a tablet that you can launch programs from by just drawing a symbol. To bring up Chrome for instance just draw a 'G'.

 

Just got mine.

I'm at work and doing updates, installing stuff. Just a few quick notes.

1. BB shipped it in a bag. Wow. This is almost shocking because the actual Sony box isn't really padded on the inside. The laptop itself is snugly packed but I wouldn't be comfortable at all if it was dropped. Ugh.

2. World of Warcraft runs at max resolution EVERYTHING max very well. Turning shadows down to 1/2 (since this is this next to draw distance is the most taxing effect) makes a huge difference. Frames in Dalaran at that setting are 25-60.

3. The machine is soooo cool. I have a Studio XPS 1340 and it's a blast furnace in comparison.

4. Hands down the best touchpad I've used. This comes from owning 15 notebooks or so over the last decade. The caveat here is that I've never owned a Mac and I hear those are the industry standard.

5. The screen is good if you are looking dead on. The vertical viewing angles however are atrocious. I'm sorry. I'm not going to mince words here. Atrocious.

6. The inside plastic is matte except for the palm rest which is glossy. Exterior is glossy.

I'm not thrilled about the screen but the value for this laptop is just way too difficult to walk away from. I worked out a deal at my local BB for a stellar deal on an Envy 15". I'll see how I feel with this after a few days before I come to final conclusion.

 

Thank you again for your prompt response. I still haven't opened the box (debating on whether to return it and hold out for the next iteration of Macbook Pros), but it seems that people here, even Mac users, seem to really like this laptop, and even though it's creeping up there into Macland prices, there's a lot of bang for the buck, eh?

 

Order the BB version and be done with it in my opinion. I challenge someone to notice the difference between the top end I5 vs the one in the $949 model. I'd bet the farm they couldn't tell the difference in an A<-->B test. The bang for the buck is just too much.

 

I am sending an i540 back to sony and getting the i520 from BB. I'll let you know if I can find any difference in performance.

 

Thank you for the review. Is this the model with 1600 x 900 screen ?

 

It's the 1600x900 panel.

 

Well, there is no real timeline on Core based Macs and to be honest, this thing would destroy a current maxed out MacBook Pro on any benchmark and at half the price...unless you are married to Macs it seems like a no brainer to me.

 

I read a couple of review about Scrybe and it seems like it had some issues. Is it working reliably for you because I would love the added functionality.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Ah, you too survived the dreaded vinyl bay I remember reading in one of your earlier posts that you were wary about the screen because you didn't like the one you saw on display at Best Buy (with the lower resolution). Would you say this screen is a dramatic improvement, and how does it compare to some of the many notebooks you've owned? Screen quality is very important to me, as I will be using it as a multimedia machine, and most people seem to be pleased with his one. Sorry if this is a bother!

 

Is there much difference between the GT310m and GT330m? How about the Core i3 vs the Core i5? I really want to get this in red and it is only available with the Core i3 and gt310m.

 

Not at all.

Dead on, it's great. Nice and accurate.

Horizontal viewing angles are also fine. It's the vertical viewing angle that's disappointing. Very much so imo. My current laptop is a XPS 1340 with the led screen and standing up, there is almost no loss of color/contrast. On this Sony, if my viewing angle moves up to about 40 degrees and up, you can slowly see the screen quality degrade pretty significantly. Here's the odd thing, when I look at the screen from below, it looks perfectly fine!

It might be a non-issue for some but if you're very nitpicky about a screen it could be a deal-breaker.

I'm going to live with it for a few days and see how I feel.

 

310M is crummy for newer titles. I play Aion so I made sure to get a laptop with 330M or higher. I gave up the ASUS U30Jc (with matte metallic palmrest/lid) for this!
I'm not sure about the processors.

 

I have an Alienware M15X for gaming. This going to be for everything else.

 

lolol

nobody has set my fears to rest about the 1600x900 being too tiney (sigh)
but not to worry, UPS should be here momentarily (do not know WHAT he's doing all day, dang pkg been out "for delivery" since 7:10am and its almost 5PM!!

i will write an earful (eyeful! - so get comfy cuz when i get mine, it'll start with the bag it came in and go thru every painful step up to "the boxing up of it to the shopping back of it- i just know i am going to hate that "gigunda resolution" lol)

Thanx (for nothin') j/k!



Dumm

 

Oh, okay. you're fine then. go for it!
someone posted pictures of the red one. Looks dark and very cool :>

 

The white macbook costs 999$ and comes with intel c2d 2.26ghz, 250gb hard disk, 2GB ram,no blu ray,1280x800screen. the macbook pro 13 inch basic model costs $1200 and comes with the same specs as above except with just 160GB hard disk but it has aluminium body and yes the most important point, both come with an integrated graphics. hope you can compare these configurations with the CW and decide

 

OK. I have terrible vision; extremely nearsighted but mostly corrected with contacts. I admit I did have trouble reading the text while setting the thing up last night. My kids, however, thought I was crazy. We did not change the resolution from 1600x900 because I am not the one who will be using it. If it was mine, I would save the higher resolution for video viewing/game playing or whatever but as far as text goes, it is pretty small for me and I would need to enlarge it.

I agree that the vertical viewing angles are not very good. I found myself trying to adjust the lid/screen as I sat and slouched or stretched. Horizontal does seem good. Once you get it right - straight on, it is awesome.

It really depends on personal needs. It will be interesting to hear your take on it.