Sony CW i3/i5/i7 Official Owners Thread

just and fyi for the future, but Newegg IMO is one of the best places to do business on the internet. They typically have great prices and I received excellent customer service from them (they even comped me a NIC once when I ordered the wrong one by mistake and sent me the correct one for free because, as they stated: "I was a longtime loyal customer")

 

I appreciate the feedback. I had heard good things about them, just disappointed now that I may have missed out on the CW that I wanted. I guess the search continues.

 

Just checked for you but J&R is out of stock too:

http://www.jr.com/sony/pe/SON_VPCCW26FXW/

 

Yeah, it missed some things. I have deleted a lot of things and have dropped it down to 68-70 at startup. I deleted the SQL stuff in the Remove Programs. And now every once in a while I get a database error popup. Not sure what those are for but something is still using it.

I have downloaded and burned a dvd with that ISO in the clean install thread. What is that iso from? A trial, beta or full Win 7?

I may do a clean install and keep the recovery partition. But is the disc even needed with the recovery partition? And how do I access it to reinstall win 7?

And will I be able to install the sony Vaio Control Center, as well as anything else like Fn keys, etc...? Are those programs available on the sony site?

Thanks, so far everything is running good with this new laptop.

 

got it last night and love it! the first thing i did was make recovery dvd's, then format the drive including the recovery partition. i like things to be done my way. installed windows 7 x64 ultimate from my flash drive no problem, installed all drivers and up and running. great computer, still getting used to it. the screen is HUGE. i know people thing 14" is small, but I've always preferred small screens, i've gone from 11"->12"->13" and now 14". Never will get a computer over 14", then it's not portable enough for me. The 1600x900 is great! high res all the way, even if my eyes hurt a bit getting used to it. gonna throw in an intel 6200 wifi card as this one doesn't see my N network, probably cause my N network is on 5 ghz band. right now only on G wifi.

i saw someone talking about new egg. newegg is where I buy 95% of my stuff. usually very competitive pricing, great customer service, fast shipping. I actually had a hard time getting myself to purchase the laptop from bestbuy instead of newegg, but the price difference got me.

 

can anyone tell me if the body of the CW is anything like the cheap body of the old CR or is it strong?
how is the flex on the keyboard and the palmrest?

 

the palm rest design is no good IMO. overall is still awesome.

 

I have no complaints with the palm rest. Everything works good for me.

 

Palm rest is fine. Only complaint is the glossy material....but its been covered extensively. If you aren't prepared to keep a microfiber cloth close by, do not buy this laptop because it will always look dirty.

 

Weight isn't the only consideration when in comes to portabiliy. An 11.2" form factor will be infinitely more wieldy than an 14.1" one.

Why is this even being cross matched?

The Alienware is a superb machine for what it's meant to do. A 2nd computer for people who use it on the go A LOT and still would like to game when they're out and about.

The CW is a jack of all trades do it all computer that can perform within 90% of a desktop.

The fact that a laptop marginally bigger in footprint than most netbooks is being compared to the CW says quite a bit about the Alienware.

I mean really?

 

They've been going in and out of stock at best buy.

Inn terms of bang for the buck, it's right at the top of the heap so if you're on the fence, just do it.

 

regarding the glossy palm rest and fingerprints - not really an issue on the white model, they don't show up.

The only slightly flimsy part of my CW is the underside of the optical drive which bends a bit under your fingers when you pick the laptop up. Not really a problem though.

 

Well.. I just purchased a CW27FX/B.. I had an alienware m11x on order, but when I saw this at the same price, higher res screen, way better cpu, and not that much larger.. I had to jump on it!

Its back in stock at best buy right now, so get it at 949 while you can!

 

Anyone know when this laptop will be available in Canada?

 

I had the Royal on backorder but I just canceled it, because as charger71 stated, the black is back in stock. For those still thinking about placing an order, don't forget to go thru bing.com to get 8% ($76) cashback in 60 days.

To get 8%, you have to log into bing and then click the link that shows you all the cashback stores. You'll see 8-15% for bestbuy.com.

 

Use EPP, get 10% discount, better than bing.com cashback. I am still waiting for US Sonystyle CTO to offer the GT 330m and the higher resolution...damn

 

EPP? I take it to mean you are suggesting I order it from sonystyle. But as you stated, they don't have this configuration. So if you want the 330m & better screen you must buy from Best Buy right now. And the 8% back from Bing.com makes this a great deal $950-76 (bing)-20 (bb rewards) = $854.

 

It is still in-stock. I ordered from local Sony store for free shipping from Sonystyle.ca, and even though it says Geforce G211M video card on the site and in your order they send out G310M instead. My CW290 looks really nice.

 

Have any VPCCW27FX owners been able to find a good deal on a second battery, either the 6 cell (VGP-BPS21A) or 9 cell (VPG-BPL21)?

I don't mind buying a generic version. I just can't stomach the prices at sonystyle.com

 

The 6cell is 50 or 60 bucks. Some other poster bought one. I forget the place though .

There's just no alternative right now for the 9 cell though? I'd kill for a reasonably priced one but $200-$250 bucks is just too much for me..

 

Thanks for the reply. I saw a post from Dummbunny 1 month ago who said she bought a 6 cell from laptopbatterystore.com. But I called them but they said they don't have a battery that will replace the VGP-BPS21A (6 cell) or VGP-BPL21 (9 cell).

So I'm still open for suggestions on a place to buy a generic battery.

 

Did your laptop come with a bilingual keyboard or US style keyboard? I'm looking to buy one from sonystyle.ca too, but I would rather have a US style keyboard

 

This may seem dumb, but how do I get the trial version of Office 2007 to activate?

I believe it said it came with a trial version. It became dysfunctional after the "25 uses" or something. Or is that the trial?

Help ASAP!! I don't want to go through the uninstall + reinstall hassle of my desktop Office version.

PS - There was an icon on the desktop that said "Microsoft Office 60 Day Trial - Online" but that links to a Office 2007 Pro download. Can't we just enter a trial key for the software already installed?

 

Hi guys,

My brother received my laptop a few days ago and when he tested it, everything teseted okay. But he noticed one thing: he said the computer would emit a tiny, high-pitched sound at times. He's guessing it's the fan making the tiny noise. Is this normal?

Somehow, I think I read someone commenting on the same thing somewhere in this thread and I tried to read back to find it but I can't seem to find it...

I hope someone can help me out here. Thanks in advance!

 

OMG my CW has been out for delivery all day. It's taking soo long!

 

I saw the black CW27 available at Best Buy this morning... I hesitated because I was still stuck on getting the white one. I had it in my cart and everything. I got distracted with work for an hour and by the time I decided to go ahead and get it, my cart was emptied for me and the status was "sold out online" again. I was frustrated for a bit but then I remembered some things that leads to the questions I'm going to ask next......

1) There seems to be a general attitude that the Atheros card isn't that great and an Intel Wireless N card is better. I had a problem with my wireless going out intermittently on my old HP laptop after a while and I refuse to go through that mess again.

Sooooo, has anyone successfully swap out the wireless card in this laptop? Can it even be done? Is it worth it/cost effective to do?

2) I want to put in an SSD in maybe later this year, depending on prices. Has anyone done this yet? Would there be a problem having one put in later?

Again, TIA

 

just get the office 2010 beta if you are cool with trailware...

 

I have had zero issues with the atheros card...in fact it locks onto my D-Link DGL-4300 faster than any other laptop in my house and works fine at work too...seriously, zero problems with this.

 

I've been waiting on the white one and want it so bad! I'm ready to order but it hasn't changed from Sold Out.

Anyone have any idea if they will re-stock pretty soon?

 

If you're looking at BB, you need to check early in the week. That's when new shipments come in as far as I'm aware.

 

Well ladies and gentlemen...my VPCCW26FX/W finally arrived today and I already completed my mods

It took me about 15 minutes to swap out the Blu-ray drive from my old CW into the new one and add the Intel 6200 and Intel SSD.

Just finished my clean install...this thing is incredibly fast

I'm in love

 

Hmm one thing I'm definitely not a fan of are the temperatures. The old CWs run WAY cooler. My new one doesn't get overly hot or anything, but the temps are a good 10 degrees higher at idle. I wonder why?

 

As of right now all the colors are back instock at BB better hurry I was wondering if anyone knew can show me a link to decrapify my comptuer. It would be a lot faster! thnx

 

Do these intel wireless cards also support bluetooth, or do you lose that functionality when replacing the atheros card? I've been looking at their technical specs and I don't see any mention of bluetooth.

I'm pretty sure bluetooth is integrated into the wireless card, i could be wrong though.

 

1.) I have had no issues with the atheros card. It connects quick and I get good signal with my Dlink DIR-655 router.

I believe the problem some have may be the router itself. For example, my parents have an older Linksys WRTG router. That thing is constantly dropping connections. They have a few HP laptops and I believe they have the atheros cards. I installed DDWRT firmware on their router and it seemed to fixed that problem.

I believe they get shipments in on Thursdays. Last week that is when I ordered the white one because it was back in stock online.

And as of this writing, 2/25/10 @ 8:50am eastern US. The VPCCW26FX/W is back in stock. As are the black and the blue/violet CW's.

Get them because tomorrow they will be out OOS again. I got mine two days ago on 2/23, shipped from Ohio to FL.

 

Just ordered the $950 black model. Just hope I can deal with the fingerprints its bound to have.

 

Screw the fingerprints, I love mine, but I don't really care if it looks pretty or not. I hope the invisibleshield people come out with a covering for the cw laptop, that should help with finger prints and scratches, im paranoid about scratches.

 

When I ordered a week ago I was so excited it came back in stock I forgot to do the Bing cash back. I imagine it is too late to do something? Oh well...

 

This sounds interesting. Any more info on it?

 

Runs hot in terms of the CPU/GPU or runs hot in terms of the case itself?

 

Here: http://www.zagg.com/hotgadgets/index.php

There is an option once u select type and brand for a model "Sony Vaio CW"

Maybe if enough people request it they'll come up with one for the cw. They have em out for some other laptops.

I'm sure you've seen these types of videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3xAJW8n6qI

From how it looks like on other laptops, it does not cover the screen, but every part of the laptop almost like a clear thin protective layer.

Heres some sample sony products they made a shield for:
http://www.zagg.com/invisibleshield/laptop/sony

You can see that the "invisibleshields" normally cover the back and the palm rest.

Haven't seen a screen protector though.

 

Thanks to checking my iTouch early this morning (its been my pseudo laptop for web surfing), and seeing burninggamer13's post (rep given), THIS time, I didn't miss ordering.

I went back and forth between the white and black laptop until I finally decided..... I got the black one.... not because of the blu-ray, but because in the end, it was more practical for my long term usage. Plus, I also saw a youtube yesterday of someone's black CW and I really loved it! I'll probably be one of the few ladies with a black one, but black is sexy...

Oh, I forgot to go through bing.com since I was rushing out of bed to my desktop to hurry and order, but given what I was going to originally spend on a laptop, I won't think about it too much.

I should have it on Mon or Tues according to BB... can't wait!

 

Sorry if this has been asked, wasnt really able to track it down - does the 330M use GDDR3 memory or DDR3? GPU-Z should tell you.

 

It's too late unfortunately.

 

Can anyone with the CW27 try to burn using a DVD-R+ disc?

 

It used GDDR3

 

Man I am so ready to get this CTO configuration. The only thing holding me back from it at the moment is CTO doesn't offer the 330M video and 1600 x 900 resolution BB version has...damn!

Would also be nice if they offer i7-620M as an option too.

EPP Price 1,331 .99

 

I have the BB VPCCW27FX and have had nothing but trouble with the battery quickly discharging while the system is completely off and also showing inaccurate battery readings. Still had the same issues after a clean reinstall.

Just letting others know about this before they jump on the bandwagon.

Thanks,
GR

 

This has been discussed as much as the moon landing.

 

Is there a way to back up the drivers that come with the laptop? I will be do doing a fresh install the moment I unbox this thing however I remember a few pages back people complaining about drivers for the touchpad and such.