AW / FW decision

Any ideas on when/if the AW is going to get a refresh, like the FW recently did? I'm trying to decide between the AW & FW here and the ATI 4650 graphics card in the FW seems better, but the AW 18.4" screen is really nice for architectural and photoshop work-I don't really do any gaming. It looks like you can get the same specs on the two series of machines except for the TV tuner and CF card in the 18.4". Portability & weight aren't too much of an issue for me, I'm more interested in getting the right computer that will work for me for the next few years.

Anyone else with the same dilemna? Any comments/help would be appreciated.

 

I was in the same quandary. I ended up getting the FW simply because when I went to the Sony store I realized how huge the AW actually is. I needed to be able to take my lappy to and fro work and on holidays and be able to fit it in my normal bag. The AW would have been great but it was just too big. To bad we can't have 'transformers' like laptops huh

 

I would have switched to AW had it came with 4870x2. If I am going to sacrifice weight and portability, it better compensates with screaming fast video card.

 

There is no way you could fit such a card in a reasonably thin notebook, whether it be Sony or Apple.

 

4650 won't make any difference for you if you're not gaming, and even then, the improvements would be relatively small.

 

In 5 years, you would be able to fit a card equivalent to 4870x2 in a MacBook Air

 

I went with the AW for two main reasons: two 2.5" hdd bays, and the 9600M. I know the 9600M is nothing great for gaming, but it is essential for Adobe CS4, which needs an nVidia card to enable its CUDA-based interface improvements. It should probably also go without saying that if that's your line of work, the RGB-LED display is also a huge bonus.

I got the Japan summer refresh model (AW92), have no problems aside from there being a distinct lack of any 18.4" cases. There aren't too many changes; just a bump up to T9900 max, a 512GB SSD option, and an updated 3x3 MIMO WiFi adapter.

 

Thanks for advice so far everyone. It looks like I'll stick in the AW line then. is it worth the extra $150 to go from the P8800 processor with 3mb cache to the T9600 processor with 6mb cache?

 

It's not clear that you can get the RGB LED screen in the States anymore. Interesting to see that the Japanese still have that option.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...52921665912555&categoryId=8198552921644576902 only indicates FullHD.

 

If I were you, I'd get a Macbook Pro 17. I know it's more expensive, but after all my VAIO experiences I probably won't be buying Sony again. Sorry VAIO fans.

 

Please tell us more about your VAIO experiences with Sony -- and specifically, also, about those backlighting issues which Sony agreed to correct.

Seriously, in my experiences with Sony, it is the American tech support which has been the least responsive, helpful, etc. (something about the condescension of the American "super-geek" complex, perhaps). My suggestion is to enlist the upper levels of Sony customer service to help navigate the waters of tech support service.

These days, defective hardware is par for the course in every manufacturer's products. It's what happens after you identify that issue which makes all the difference. After all, Sony does have a [email protected] specifically set up to help adjudicate those situations which drive a customer to desperation....

 

I only called Sony customer service once and the guy who I talked with was really nice. I wanted to ask about an extension on the warranty since I had my FW twice in the past 2 months (and my laptop was in service for a total of 1 month out of the 11 that I owned it) and my warranty is about to expire in August, so he gave me a code that extended my warranty by 90 days on my whole laptop.

 

Exactly. Customer service at Sony: the life-savers of the corporation!

 

It does help a bit (mainly due to the step up from 2.66ghz to 2.80ghz), but I don't think sticking with the P8800 would "ruin" the laptop. I think it will come down to how much you're willing to spend, and if you think you might get greater value out of spending that $150 elsewhere (such as a color calibrator, a larger hard drive, other accessories, etc).

My personal opinion: your apps might not need 6mb of cache right now, but that could change next year. And since laptops are substantially harder to upgrade, it may be worth it to "future-proof" it as much as you can, within reason.

 

It seems like larger hard drives are easier & cheaper to add down the road along with RAM, so maybe if there is extra money in the budget I should stick it in the processor? Is the 320gb 7200rpm hard drive the best value to get started?

Does anyone buy Office pre-loaded from Sony on their laptop, or do they get it from a 3rd party vendor?