Calling All VAIO FW Owners!

Hi everyone
The basic idea behind this thread is getting the owners of Vaio FW to rate their notebooks, so that the future buyers (including myself) will know if it's a worthy purchase.


So, if you could please take the time to rate the following, on a scale from 1 to 5 (I've written some guidelines for 5, 3 and 1):

[NOTEBOOK]

Model/configuration:
[model]
[CPU]
[RAM]
[GPU]
[display]
[HDD]
[disc drive]
[OS]
[anything else you think should be included]

• Overall speed:

5 - this thing flies!
4
3 - average for a laptop. I've seen faster
2
1 - I can go make some coffee before the FW opens Firefox...
​

• Gaming:

N/A - I don't play games
5 - plays latest games in Full HD with all settings on near-max
4
3 - nothing to complain about
2
1 - Minesweeper lags...
​

• Build quality:

5 - no flex, high quality plastics/metals, etc
4
3 - average. Some flexing, materials used could be better.
2
1 - very poor. Something broke.
​

• Looks/design:

5 - No design flaws, good ergonomics. MacBook Pro owners are jealous
4
3 - OK. Better than most laptops
2
1 - Bad ergonomics. Also, people give me weird looks because of this laptop
​

• Screen:

5 - Awesome. Great color reproduction, and so on. It's so good I'm thinking about selling my 50" LCD (not serious )
4
3 - Pretty good for a laptop.
2
1 - Very poor.
​

• Speakers:

5 - I'm ditching my hi-fi system for this
4
3 - Good enough for a laptop. Music/movies at high volume are OK.
2
1 - Can't do without headphones/external speakers
​

• Touchpad and keyboard:

5 - Very good
4
3 - Well... you can type stuff with the keyboard and point stuff with the touchpad. What else do you need?
2
1 - Can't live without external mouse/keyboard
​

• Portability:

5 - I carry it around everywhere!
4
3 - Not too heavy/ not too big, but you can't compare it to <13" laptops
2
1 - You call a 16" notebook 'portable'?!
​

• Battery life:

How long can it approximately stay unplugged, under normal usage?
[hh:mm]
​

5 - Great, considering the specs
4
3 - OK, but you need a power outlet every now and then
2
1 - I carry a portable generator with me
​

[SOFTWARE]

• Supplied software:

5 - Very useful.
4
3 - It's OK, but I removed some of it because I didn't need it/ was slow
2
1 - Bloatware!! First thing you should do is a clean install of the OS.
​

• Windows 7 Beta/RC users ONLY

How's your experience with Windows 7 on the FW? Any driver issues? Are FN buttons working?
​

[SUPPORT]

• Sony support:

N/A - I didn't need to use Sony Support
5 - great. Quick, helpful and professional.
4
3 - OK. No horror stories, the FW got fixed. Minor complaints.
2
1 - 'You know, I called Sony the other day because my laptop broke, and they still haven't fixed my FW... '
​

OVERALL SATISFACTION:

5 - Love it.
4
3 - Pretty decent.
2
1 - I'm not buying a Sony again.

​

WOULD YOU BUY THE FW AGAIN?

YES, any day.
NO.

​

Other comments on any aspect of the Vaio FW are more than welcome.

Suggestions/tips regarding anything that should be added to the questions above are also welcome.

Looking forward to your ratings!

 

FW190
T9600 2.8GHz 6MB Cache
2Gb RAM
Radeon 3470
1600x900 HiColor
500 GB 7200 RPM
Bluray Burner UJ-220S
Windows XP Pro SP3

Overall speed: 5
Gaming: 2
Build quality: 5
Screen: 5
Speakers: 1 - Can't do without headphones/external speakers
Touchpad and keyboard: 4 - Touchpad buttons should be bigger
Portability: 3
Battery life: Never use it
Supplied software: 1 - Bloatware!! First thing you should do is a clean install of the OS.
Sony support: N/A
OVERALL SATISFACTION: 4 (Perfect except the video card)
WOULD YOU BUY THE FW AGAIN? Only if they offer the one with the same screen I have now (1600x900 HiColor)

 

Would you say the speakers are any worse than most other laptop's speakers? Or is this just a similar complaint you have with laptop speakers in general?

 

Model/configuration:
- VGN-FW140D
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 2.26GHz
- 3GB SDRAM
- ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD3470 256MB
- 1600x900 XBRITE-ECO™
- 250GB HDD @ 5400rpm
- DVD +/- R DL / DVD +/- RW / DVD-RAM Drive
- Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit


* Overall speed: 4

* Gaming: 3

* Build quality: 3

* Looks/design: 4

* Screen: 4

* Speakers: 3

* Touchpad and keyboard: 4

* Portability: 3

* Battery life: 3 (about an hour and a half on 50% charge)


[SOFTWARE]

* Supplied software: 2


[SUPPORT]

* Sony support: 3


OVERALL SATISFACTION: 3.5

WOULD YOU BUY THE FW AGAIN? Yes (but I think I'd get extended warranty)

 

FW390
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz) 3MB L2 Cache
4Gb RAM
ATI Mobility HD Radeon 3650
1920x1080 FullHD
500 GB 7200 RPM
Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit

Overall speed: [4] - Very fast for a laptop this price and with all the extras

Gaming: [3] - Ok for games like Battlefield, not good with CoD 4

Build quality: [4] - Love the design just hate that its plastic and not metal

Screen: [5] - Excellent in 1080p, Great output also with HDMI

Speakers: [3] - Not good with a lot of Bass or very loud

Touchpad, keyboard: [4] - Keyboard is great, I wish touchpad was different.

Portability: [3] - Little to big for college or frequent travel

Battery life: [3] - 1-2 hours of surfing web and listening to music.

Supplied software: [1] - Crap, it come loaded with junk

Sony support: [1] - Read Below

Overall Satisfaction [4] - I love it but wanted some things different, but u cant get everything the way u want it.

WOULD YOU BUY THE FW AGAIN? If they had a better graphics card.


The reason i said about sony support: I purchased my FW 2 weeks before they introduced the new ones, first off they never told me there was a new one coming out, they could have at least hinted. Second i called them up nicely and just asked if i could get the free windows 7 upgrade like the FW's just released, i told them i could return it but i didn't want to because i already had tons of applications and data, all i wanted was a free upgrade. They said no and i told them i would return it but they still didn't care, So unfortunately i will not receive the free windows 7 upgrade, i don't feel like going through the hassle of returning it and reinstalling everything for a $50 upgrade.

 

I just purchased my new FW465J so I cant give it a fair assesment yet. But one thing I notice was the touchpad clicking was loud. My AW touchpad was a little more quieter than this one..

 

FW290CTO
P8600 2.4ghz
3 gigs of ram
ATI 3650 512MB
FullHD
320 HD 7200rpm
DVD drive
Vista SP1 (soon to be SP2)
Canadian model but shipped from san diego

Overall speed: 5

Gaming: 3
(Although I do not really game much except older games like simcity 4, and the odd strategy game from before 2007)

Build Quality: 3

Looks/design: 4 (still looks more upscale than a mac )

Screen: 4

Speakers: 2

Touchpad and keyboard: 4
(but I use a logitech nano VX mostly)

Portability: 2.75

Battery Life: 3

Supplied software: 3

Sony support: N/A

OVERALL SATISFACTION: 4

WOULD YOU BUY THE FW AGAIN: Yes I would, but I would want Sony to redesign the barrels on the side and make it more along the lines of the z and SR. Plus a much better video card which should have been added at the start of production, not during the refresh ffs.

Love the hdmi out, I use it all the time with my hdtv to watch movies.

 

VGN-FW290 Cto

Display : LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™
Graphics : ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
Processor : Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz) 6MB Cache
Memory : 8 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 4GBx2)
Hard Drive : 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Optical Disc Drive : Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive
Battery: Large Capacity
Operating System : Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 64-bit

Overall speed: 5
Gaming: 2
Build quality: 4
Screen: 5
Speakers: 2 Definitely needs to be hooked up to external speakers
Touchpad and keyboard: 5 - Spaced keyboard is great for typing
Portability: 3
Battery life: 5 Excellent with the high capacity battery
Supplied software: 1 - Comes pre-loaded with junk. Clean install of the OS is a must.

 

Botchy I am curious how much time does the high capacity battery give you? since some people said it was only 2.5 hours. true?

 

Instead of 'calling all FW owners'.... why not name your thread something that matches your objective?

Please rate your Sony FW for future owners​

 

I am getting close to 4hrs on "balanced mode"

 

I'm glad to see all your ratings Keep them coming!

This might be a good idea. I'll do that if more people agree on it.


Looks like all of you don't like the FW's gaming performance. How about the 4-series users? I'm quite sure the HD4650 should be good enough for moderate gaming, but I'll be happy to hear your opinions.

 

oh wow, nice, that is quite a good figure there, I was expecting lower. thanks for the information.

 

Very few people have FW400s at this point; the graphics should be vastly improved from the previous models. I might be getting one soon, still waiting for the right color options though.