Sony CW i3/i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

I am planning on buying the VPCCW26FX/W i5 version from bestbuy. If I do, it would be my first sony purchase (i'm not a big fan of sony). I have been waiting on some of the asus UL30/80JT models. But so far no one has any real specs. And this sony one fits what I am looking for except for the switchable graphics.

As far the points I have bolded above:

1. I too have this question if it is possible to enable the IGP either through BIOS or software method? Does anyone know if the new NVIDIA Optimus technology would work with the CW? That would be awesome if it could, I would pull the trigger right now.

I don't know much about the Z series (or any sony model for that matter). But this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=342947 they are working on getting drivers working to enable "hybrid" graphics. Is this the same as the CW? Sorry, don't know the specs of the Z. It would be cool if they could take that same idea and make it work for the CW.

3. What is the consensus of the atheros? Does it have bad reception?

5. Power management, I have read some have made (or can make) "profiles" to use either the IGP or the NVIDIA? Is that true and if so how?

Thanks!

 

Yeah Thats true. Its from Indian website

The price is not an issue, and moreover the dell is 2k INR cheaper

However I have read at many forums that sony have lower battery life when compared with dell. Can please somebody throw some light on that.

 

Well, the i5-330m version plays mass effect2 nice and smooth in 720p. Considering wow is a much less graphically intense game, I'm sure it would do fine.

 

i guess u cannot use the optimus tech cos it needs an integrated graphics processor on d motherboard for working. from what i know the cw26 ships with a PM55 motherboard which does not hav integrated graphics as in HM55 which has integrated graphics......

 

I was stuck with the same. But consider this:

DELL: comes with a better motherboard but a real bad Graphics Processor i.e the graphics card and is no match for the sony graphics card. Also the screen with sony is better. Average looks and touch pad.

SONY:Lesser options to customise, better looks(read Much better), good build quality, superb touchpad and keyboard, bad speakers........

if u want to work on graphics then surly go for SONY.......else doent matter much

 

Hands down go with the Sony. You won't regret it.

 

I just received my CW27fx from best buy (royal indigo) and I think I am going to like it. Though the color is very much purple it doesn't bother me and it complements the rest of the systems black color really nicely. The 1600x900 res screen is just the right size to me and the color isn't to shabby. I think the speakers get pretty loud even though they have been panned in a lot of reviews.

I will be doing a clean install of Windows though it seems pretty fast to me. My WEI score is 5.8 like everyone else's due to the hard disk.

The only thing I have found that bugs me is that the keyboard has some flex to it and they put the core i5 sticker on crooked compared to the other stickers

If you are thinking about getting this laptop it is definitely a nice choice. If anyone wants pics I can do that too.

 

My Laptop ships tomorrow! my laptop ships tomorrow! I am so excited. Can anyone tell me if I did ok?

 

Actully just got email! It shipped! WOO HOO WOO HOO WOO HOO

 

Ok, thanks for the information. I may pull the trigger anyways since this Sony CW has everything I am looking for. Most of the others in the 13-14" size have 1366 x 768 screens. I hate computer shopping...there is always something better that comes out right after the purchse.

 

So I couldn't resist and I pulled the plug on the new CW. Also ordered an Intel X-25M 160GB SSD. I am planning on making my own little super computer so I will be dropping in an Intel 6200 wifi card and I will be removing the blu-ray player I have in my current CW and dropping that into the new one.

Has anyone taken apart their CW? If you could post a couple pics of what the internals look like, that would be great. I'd like to see where the wifi card is and such before I go digging in there.

 

Alot of people were upset at the inclusion of the atheros wireless card and that initially had me concerned.

But after 1 month of having my sony I can put my fears to rest. So far the atheros wireless card has been just fine for me. I have an old wireless g network at my house and from day 1 with my sony it has connected effortlessly and I can roam anywhere in my house with no reception problems.(I have a 2 story house and my access point is on the upper floor)

As for the speaker they are underpowered but after playing with hundreds of settings I found out how to greatly increase the sound on them(increases the output of the speakers so much they are no longer an issue with being too weak).

Under the control panel > sound I modifiy the properties on my speakers. Then click on the "Enhancements" tab. Check "virtual surround", "Loudness Equalization", and most importantly "Equalizer". Then choose a setting in the drop down. Youll notice quite a big difference in speaker output as you go through each different setting. I chose "Rock" because it offered the best balance of loudness, bass, and trebble; but there are others the sound good as well.

Once you take the time to set up your speakers you will notice a huge difference and then be much happier with the sound output.

 

Yup.. I got the i5-540 version tho, the upgrade to the i7 costs a lot for that 0.13ghz and some more L3 Cache...

btw if anyone is wondering the shipping from sony canada actually went much faster than the estimated date here..

they were supposed to ship today... but they shipped the 11th and they tried to deliver at my door this morning.. I'm gonna have it tmrw.

 

Some of you might remember how I posted pictures of my red CW290X near the beginning of this thread (I got it the day it came out). I was happy with it until the sound stopped working. I tried all of the troubleshooting steps I could, and I also called Sony, and after reinstalling Windows 7, the laptop still would not even detect the sound card. This started happening about a week after receiving it, so I am very disappointed. A Sony repair person is coming tomorrow to replace the sound card, but I am still annoyed that a brand-new laptop would have these issues.

Furthermore, the day before yesterday and yesterday I got a blue screen, and Windows 7 said that it was a device/driver issue. Why do I have a feeling it's related to the sound card?

I'm not trying to scare anyone off from buying this laptop, as it is a great piece of equipment, but it may have just been my unit that had a defective sound card. Has anyone else had similar issues?

 

I'm searching for the perfect laptop, and seem to have fallen in love with the Sony CW. I'm coming from a Macbook, and like how similar in style the Sony is. The keyboard is great, tried it at my local best buy. I'm a big computer nerd, and really looking to trade up. I love OSX and my Mac, but don't love the newest mac's or their price point. I'll probably at some point try to hackintosh the computer, but realize that won't be until the new tech in the sony is more mature ,and drivers are available. Until then, it's windows 7. I'm really searching for the best deal for price performance. Here's what I found.

Sony VPCCW22FX - i3 330m, nVidia 330m, 4gb ram, 500gb hd, 1366x768
Price - $899 - $135 bing cash back (circuit city / tiger direct) = $764

Sony VPCCW26FX - i5 520m, nVidia 330m, 4gb ram, 500gb hd, 1600x900
Price - $899 + ~$75 tax + $15 shipping - $45 bing (best buy) = $944

So the difference is around $180. I'd love the i5 and better screen, but $180 is a lot of dough for me to cough up. Esp. since i'm selling my macbook which i'll get about $600 for, so the difference is $164 to $344.

What i'm asking is, is the i5 really worth the money (plus it's out of stock now, might have to go for the blu-ray model which is $50 more)? What about the screen? I've always gotten top of the line computers, with lower processor models, since frankly, I find the ram and graphics card makes a bigger difference than an incremental upgrade in processor speed. I picked these two models as I really want the nVidia 330m, and can care less about blu-ray. Any guidance would be great.

I use the computer for everything from basic microsoft office work, to light gaming, to watching 1080p movies in MKV, h.264 format. Mostly though, I'm just using firefox, doing nothing of great importance...but I can always notice when it's slow. I guess when HW accelerated flash comes out, the browser will run faster.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Ordered my CW last week

i5 520m
4GB Ram
320GB hdd (plan on putting SSD in)
Bluray player
1600x900 screen

In white too, can't wait! just need to decide what SSD to buy for it

3 week wait!

 

Go back about 20 pages or so and I have everything pulled apart for you Or just search my name.

mkiegal: Go for the i5 hands down. Sell something if you must! The screen ALONE is worth an extra $100 IMO. The i3 -> i5 is well worth $80 as well. I'm telling you right now you will regret going for the i3 over the i5. Make a promise to not eat out for a month or two...Or ditch the girlfriend for a few weeks... You also get the BluRay player too.

 

WOW man thank you so much for these pictures!!

I was looking for something like that online cause I'm gonna upgrade a couple components in my new CW and I wanted to look at something before I go digging around in there. Thanks again.

Would you (or anyone) happen to know what will happen if I drop my current Sony CW blu-ray drive into a non blu-ray Sony CW? It should just recognize the new blu-ray drive and install the drivers accordingly right?

 

Well it will be SATA, so no issues. I didn't install any drivers from Sony. Windows 7 did all the monkey work. You won't have any problems.

 

FOr 180$ you get the superior 1600x900 resolution (I really wish it was available here in Canada) and an incredibly fast cpu.. I'd definitely get it...

It actually depends of your use of the machine, if you don't need the resolution nor the speed, don't spend your money on something you don't need...

 

If I understand correctly, this guy replaced his dvd drive for an additional hdd (or ssd) bay?

This deserves a thread by itself..

Please someone make a guide for how to replace your dvd drive with a hdd/ssd

 

Thanks! I'd give you more rep if I could

 

If the power and SATA port are the same place, you can, but obviously you now have a big hole on that side where the player used to be unless you can make some sort of cover.

 

Hello everyone, a new owner (as soon as UPS delivers it tomorrow) of Indigo Blue CW with 1600x900, 330M, and Blu-Ray drive, from Best Buy online.

I have been looking for an under $1k hi-res 14-15" laptop for couple of weeks, and stumbled upon the 1600x900 screen version of CW while looking up the basic CW model found at the store. Never would've thought that Best Buy sells hi-res screens!

Anyway, I have couple of questions - how much bulk does the extended battery add? I want to get an extra battery, and don't know if it is worth splurging for the big one... Also, has anybody put a 7,200rpm drive, and noticed a big speed difference? Even more importantly, did it increase the fan noise and/or heat?

Thanks!

Polbit

 

Can't answer the question about the extended battery as I don't have one but I do have a Seagate 500GB 7200RPM HDD in my CW. It is faster than the 5400RPM HDDs but how significant the speed increase is depends on your interpretation. Personally, I don't find it to be a BIG speed improvement but it's certainly a bit faster. And the temperature is only 1-2 degrees hotter and there is no fan noise.

 

Hmm, the i5 is tempting, but really, the extra resolution is what's really drawing me to the higher model. I've been stuck at 1280x800 on a 13" and would kill for some extra pixels. You think if I get the model with blu-ray I can sell the drive on ebay? Is it removable? I haven't used a cd/dvd/blu-ray drive on a laptop in ages. I have an external dvd drive for when I need it, but in reality, I do almost everything by flash drive and network. If I could sell that blu-ray, I'd feel better about the pricing. Hmm. Anyone know the model number of the blu-ray in the cw27's? Also, anyone know of a cover for the hole that would be left in the dvd slot?

 

It would looks like this, not my picture though, credit to electrobuzz

 

I believe it has the potential to, from reading around it appears that the IGP needs to be the one connected to the video outputs (there is an IGP packaged in the i3's/i5's). Optimus seems to work by allowing the IGP to do the everyday stuff and then having the dedicated card turn on when needed. The dedicated card does the processing and then forwards that to the IGP which then displays it (so both need to be on when the dedicated card is being used). I don't know whether the CW's are wired so that the IGP is connected to the outputs and I can't seem to get an answer out of Sony, perhaps if they got more requests they'd eventually feel the need to give a satisfactory answer?

 

That is some great info over there!
However, the chipset in CW, PM55, does not support IGP..
The new HM55/57 does. PM55 is solely meant for the 'older' i7 quads.
Nobody seems to realise this but why did Sony use the PM55 for the new i5?!
damnit.

 

As far as I know the PM55 can support the IGP's, it just doesn't support intel's implementation of switchable graphics. So as far as Intel are concerned you can use the IGP or a dedicated part. Since Nvidia's solution is a software solution though I think it should work, if the IGP is connected to the outputs.

 

What I know is the PM55 chipset lacks this ->
Intel® Flexible Display Interface: "An innovative path for two independently controlled channels of integrated graphics display data to be transported to the mobile Intel® 5 Series Chipset."

But we will wait and see.. It will be awesome if it can support IGP thru some sort of driver/bios update.

 

That's the million dollar question. I wish I could get AMIBCP for aptio and at least look at the BIOS menus to see if there is even an option to turn the IGP on.

Sony really deserves a slap in the face for using the pm55 with a i5 and not the hm55.

 

The i3 probably has plenty of processing power, what the i5 has is the turbo technology so it can ramp up in response to demand\thermal load. I don't know how much battery life difference it really make though. I'd decide mainly on the resolution of the screen.

 

Anyone find a cheap extended battery for this? I'd really like to get 5 hours or so on a single charge (enough for trips to HI from CA). $250 bucks is just mind-boggling though!

 

For what it's worth it appears other manufacturers are going the same route.

The Envy owners aren't too pleased they they're not getting switchable graphics in their I5's either.

 

I wonder why it is taking Sony soo long to offer a revised CW via CTO to match up what is being offered by Bestbuy.

 

Yeah, I don't think the ebay sellers from china have had a chance to make an extended sony cw battery yet. I tried searching and couldn't find one.

I may buy an original Sony CW laptop battery (at least that's what it shows on ebay pictures) for around $78 with free shipping. That way I can carry the spare regular battery on the plane. The battery looks legit. It has the Sony logo on it and the sale says "original sony battery". Either way, there's no way I am going to pay $200/250 for a laptop battery.

 

As some people have mentioned. The blu ray CW offered by Bestbuy might have been a limited time promotion only Bestbuy.com was selling. Because newegg and others have the same laptop on sale for $1130 while best buy was selling for $950.

Looks like the Jet Black model is sold out. The Royal indigo is backordered and the non-blu ray model that bestbuy.com is selling is out of stock.

So best buy might have had a some special pricing agreement with Sony. Once the initial batch is sold out, it's sold out. People comparison shop all over the internet. That bestbuy.com price was a very aggressive initial price for a new core i5 processor.

 

some people were wondering about how mass effect 2 plays:

it runs really well, i have the core clock at 600. and it seems to only dip to low 30s during really intense fights. walking around normally 50-60 , but smoke effects kill it, down into the 20s sometimes.

 

Below is a screen shot of the Blu-ray drive in Device Manager. Hope it helps....

 

need more info.. what resolution, what in game settings? is it i5 with 330m?

 

everything is on except dynamic shadows, 3 cinematic lights, NO AA, 1360x768. yes its i5 520m with 330m, after an hour of play the hottest the gpu got was 61c

those fps numbers were only what i noticed for an hour of play though(just got fraps), could be different in other parts of the game

 

I was playing everything on high 1600x900 perfectly fine.

 

ahh interesting. thats just the settings it gave me

 

Hey after registering my CW with Sony they sent me a 20% off coupon. I tested last night and it works on batteries. I was also able to use it on my SonyStyle EPP login which gives me 10% off. So I was able to get the extended life battery for $198 after tax and shipping (that is if I decided to purchase). Anyone think this is worth it or should I look elsewhere for a larger discount?

 

How did the new drivers do?

 

I tried the same driver from laptopvideo2go on my 310M card... it works fine.. I did not test to see if I had any improvements.

 

I've been playing with the i5-520 and 330m @720p and its been buttery smooth. I have native 900p, so not native resolution. This is at stock settings too. People have been getting an extra 1000 3d marks by OC'ing the gpu.

 

For some reason I am only getting 6.2k 3dmark2006 at the same settings instead of 7k. I am running in Performance mode so it doesn't make sense...

I'll try rolling back the drivers and see if it fixes it. Until I can find out for sure, I suggest you guys all hold on for driver updates.

 

Sony USA store online now has CTO available. EST ship is 3/2.