Sony CW i3/i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

man i hope the 330m option comes soon!

the best buy 520m deal is really good but i think the config i want (540m+4gb+330m) will come out around the same price, depends on how much they charge for the 330m.

im gonna have my money ready for a new laptop probably by friday, i'm praying to the sony gods that they add the option by then, i might end up just getting the 520m instead of the 540m if not... no, i must be patient!

 

What's the difference between a fresh start and no fresh start? I mean, could someone list all the applications that are installed on the computer in spite of a fresh start.

I really want to start cutting down the amount of VAIO applications all cw users have that are inessential.

 

I don't see the 1600x900 resolution screen offered on the customizable CW ath the moment. It has the nVidia 310m and no 330m yet either.

 

I am in too. Where the heck did you see that? It is not available on the customizable version.

 

refer here

 

Does anybody have any idea how the screen looks like in real life? I would rather have an nw over a cw because i'm more used to 15 inch, but the nw for example had poor screen quality (2nd hand info) because its a low budget laptop, and the cw isn't exactly in the high price market either.
The cw looks are something to get used to, but the laptop looks sturdy. If the cooling is decent i'm definitly interested. The current higher prices gaming laptops cost too much anyway, so I think i'll have more 'bang for the buck' from a 1000€ laptop.

 

I am interested in this model only if it had a GT 330M option available. For the price I pay for a Sony and only getting a miserable GT 310M is kinda sad. I hope Sony can give that option, even though Asus and Dell are giving out more powerful ATI Mobility options for the money that makes me think twice to be honest about deciding.

 

Neither sony or dell give decent gpu options. Sony is rather a bussines/multimedia brand and wants us to buy their ps3 and expensive hd tv's if we want to game, and dell wants customers to opt for their alienware line if they want to game.
Those strategies are pushing gamers towards the asus G series which offer a lot more gaming power for an affordable price. The only problem is that the current G series overheat.
Basicly there is not much choice atm for an affordable, though not overheating gaming laptop. Except for those clevo's perhaps, but those looks are totaly not my style.

 

peacebone this issue with best buy is not the notebooks because they sell the same notebooks as many other vedors, the issue is with best buys business practices and policies around selling notebooks. They push all kinds of extra services, warranties, software, acessories that are very expensive and often uncessary. They use pressure tactics to make people who arent tech savy feel like they have to buy these extra items or their new computer wont work properly.

If you want a sony cw I strongly recommend going online and buying the best buy core i520 nvidia 330m 4gb configuration. Its the best config you can buy right now and newegg is selling the same model for $150 more so best buys price is good. Also you cant custom config a cw with that good of options on sony style either.

Hope that helps.

 

Hi, Im going to New York in two weeks time and was hoping to buy this laptop.
Im looking for Sony Vaio CW with either 230M or 330M GPU card. But it seems hard to find one without having to order it before from BestBuy or Sony Style Shop. As Im staying at a hotel for a short while, this isnt optional for me.

Anyone knows where I could get it thats not too far away from Times Square area.

 

On the b2b site, it mention the CW comes with a fingerprint reader?

http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/subcategory/notebooks/performance/cw-series

Seems to have an i7-620 available with 1600x900 resolution.

 

FYI... I just received mine's and it is Marvell Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter though I had a CTO

 

Wow that sucks, guess I'll be switching mine out then. How do you like the 1600x900 screen?

 

Try JR.com. They have a physical location somewhere in NYC I believe.

 

This might be a stupid question but...i just ordered the i5 CW from BestBuy, i wanna make a recovery disk, do a clean install and finally install Microsoft Office, my question is in what order should i do them? Thanks for any help

 

create the recovery disk first, then clean install and install Microsoft Office.

 

Thanks. This won't cause me to lose Microsoft Office if i ever do need to use the Recovery Disk?

 

you would need to reinstall the Microsoft Office since the recovery disk will make your notebook the same as when you received at the first time.
if you want to retain the Microsoft Office and other settings you have done, make a recovery image (e.g. using acronis, norton ghost, etc) after you have clean install and setting it properly.

 

I ordered it with only 310M as it was the only option... The max it supports is 1366 x 768

 

If you use JR.com, you might get some cash back with bing.com

 

Is the Atheros wireless card really gonna be that bad?

 

FYI for those who ordered the CW from BestBuy. I ordered mine Sunday morning and used regular shipping. They gave me an estimated delivery date of 1/25 - 1/27. I checked my order this morning and it already has left the warehouse and is in transit. UPS tracking says it will be delivered on 1/21.

Not to shabby.

Cant wait to get this baby in and play with it.

 

What puzzle me is the fact Bestbuy has the Nvidia 330m w/ 1600x900 CW laptop for under $1000.00.

Buy.com, JR.com and even newegg has it for over 1050.00.

Sonystyle don't even offer that configuration at all. wierd.

 

I buy their extended warranty before with the Washer & Dryer and TV in the past, pretty good.

 

It used to be a good deal but now they upped the prices on them and changed the 3 repair get a new one policy. No longer worth it.

 

just got mine from the ups man few minutes ago. Let you guys know what wireless comes with the 330m as soon as i find out.

edit: AR9285 wireless. will have to see if its possible to switch to intel.

 

Is the keyboard backlit?

 

the screen on this is awesome i was a little worried ordering without seeing it in person but now my fears are put to rest.

no

 

What sort of warranty / accidental damage coverage did they offer (if any)?

I think the bestbuy deal is great, but I definitely want a 3 year warranty.

 

Sad the CW does not support Intel Wireless Display Networking

http://www.intel.com/consumer/products/technology/wirelessdisplay.htm

 

http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_VPCCW22FXP/

Just ordered the Sony VAIO® VPCCW22FX/P 14" Notebook PC - Pink
Intel Core i3-330M 2.13 GHz / 4GB RAM / 500GB Hard Drive / DVD±R/RW / GeForce GT G330M / 802.11N / Bluetooth / Webcam / HDMI / Windows 7 Home Premium

for $899 free shipping


it's my 11 & 10 year old nieces Christmas gift but I told them to wait because I wanted to see what new laptops was coming out after CES.

1 love video games and the other just wanted it to be pink! I think the GT 330M should be good enough to play any new game that comes out in the next year that she would want to play.


Sony and Dell was the only choices to get a pink laptop and none of the new Dell laptops had a good GPU that I could find.

 

I ordered mine on Sunday night. Got shipping confirmation order late this afternoon. UPS site says its processing and will deliver by Friday Jan 22nd.

I did standard shipping.

I called BB customer service. Laptop is being shipping from warehouse in Ohio. I live in Florida. So really it's being airmailed on Wednesday and arrive by Friday.

Signature is required per UPS website.

 

They offered the standard 2 year best buy warranty (does not include accidental damage) for $179.99 but I passed on it. They mentioned in the warranty terms that a accidental coverage policy was available but I never saw it offered on the website.

 

Yeah looks like only laptops with intel wireless adapters support that and the cw has an atheros wireless card.

That sucks.

 

Thanks for the support. My computer doesn't run like I expected it to. The loading time it requires to get to the desktop is bad compared to my Dell XPS 410 (December 2006). I'm hoping to optimize my computer as soon as I get some time to - perform a clean install, etc.

I would have performed a clean install myself if this computer had came with recovery discs, etc. However, I'm less inclined to, even though there are alternatives to needing those recovery discs -- i.e. getting Widows 7 iso image instructions provided by xgx2007 -- however, I'm afraid to act until there are some success stories of people performing a clean install on the newer model cws.

 

Ah, interesting.

I assume it is the same as buying it from sony.


Well, if this deal holds out long enough, I will definitely be picking one up.

 

What do you guys think are the chances of the CW at Bestbuy going up in price? I have my eye on the one for $899 w/ i5 & 330m, but I don't quite have enough money at the moment..

 

It might, given that Newegg, J&R, and other places are approx 100 - 150 price higher

 

Dang it! I'm currently trying to sell my custom built desktop, but I dunno how long it will take me to find someone willing to buy >_< And if it takes too long and the price goes up, I'm going to have to kick myself for not scrounging up money to buy it now..

 

you should bare in mind that the F series GT 330m has a slower 1GB DDR3 graphics memory when compared to the CW which has a faster 512 MB GDDR3 memory, so unless you need all that graphics memory the CW graphics performance will be better than F series. refer the following link from notebookcheck.net -


http://www.notebookcheck.net/How-much-graphic-memory-makes-sense.2558.0.html

 

Glad I waited for the i3/i5 processors to come out. Anyone know when the Gt330m Gfx card will come out for the CTO? Hopefully they will add a SSD drive that is the true thing that needs to come out for this laptop... Anyone know if they will be doing this in the near future???????? I would gladly dish out an extra 200 +/- for a SSD drive although I'm not very picky.

To whoever asked , no the keyboard is not backlit unfortunately..

Someone said they took out the quick WEB button...... anyone know if that's true?

 

im very jealous the i3's and stuff are out, only got the duo core, hopefully it will last 2 years.

 

I'm in the same position as you with my 3 month custom built gaming desktop, I lost interest in pc gaming and I prefer gaming on my Xbox 360. I'm currently selling my pc on craigslist, if I don't get any interested buyers I will be selling it on ebay for a $300 to $400 loss. I know that I'm going to make a profit when I sell my Samsung 2233RZ monitor that Samsung gave me as replacement when my Samsung 2033sw monitor died out a month ago.

I decided to order the CW with the i5 cpu, Nvidia 330 video card, jet black color at Best Buy with my Best Buy credit card so I can use their 18 months with no interest plan, before the rumored price increase. What ever I earn from the sell on my pc and monitor I will put it towards payment on my Best Buy credit card.

 

I just ordered the CW with the i5 cpu, Nvidia 330 video card, jet black at Best Buy. Now I have to try to sell my 3 month old custom built pc, which was a mistake for me to buy, because I lost interest in pc gaming last year and I prefer gaming on my Xbox 360.

 

I have the retail version of Windows 7 installed in my custom built desktop (currently I'm selling) and I'm going to to a complete format on the HDD. I wondering if its ok to use the Windows 7 retail dvd to do a clean install on my CW that will arrive late this week or early next week

 

I have yet to find 1 game that won't run smoothly on a 230M so a 330M you can run every game out there... maybe Crysis on high will be a tad slow.. big deal...

 

Personally I don't think it's worth it to use an extended warranty depending on the credit card you use. Most credit card "extend your warranty for an extra year" provided you save your original receipt, save a PDF file of the manufactuer's warranty (you can find it on Sony's website very easily).

When my laptop motherboard blew a year ago, I saved everything. I just went to Best Buy geek squad. They said it would cost me $450 to replace motherboard. I called up Visa Warranty. They had me fill out one piece of paper and fax back copies of my original receipt and the repair estimate and copy of the manufacturer's warranty.

I just paid the $450 myself. 10 days later, I got a check from Visa Warranty for $450 to reimbuse me. The warranty is free!.

Plus if you have AMEX, they will give you 90 days accidental protection for free in addition to the 1 additional year of warranty.

 

I'm going thru the AmEx claim process now - my Asus netbook is having major problems, so this will be the test for me as this is my first ever claim with an extended warranty thru a credit card. All my paper work was faxed in on the 8th and they said 2 weeks for a decision. Crossing my fingers.

The Sony CW is on my short list, along with the Lenovo u450p and Dell Studio XPS 16. Hoping AMEX can decide soon as I'm getting itchy to buy something else. I just hope the $949 price on best buy sticks around for a little bit longer.

Have you guys found any reviews yet with the new i3-i5 CPU's and new video cards?

 

Two words: Credit Card

Buy now, pay never......its the American way!!!

j/k

 

After several talks with Sony directly they gave no indication of every having the 330m option on CTO. They basically said they have no idea of if/when it will happen so I said screw it and bought a bestbuy.com config before they jack up the price.