Coupla quick questions about FW-465

Greetings - I finally sold my albatross H-P dv4z - so now I have some money for my first Sony. The PX here has the FW-465 - and I played with one for a while today (beautiful LCD). Questions though - does anyone know if the Radeon 4650 installed by Sony uses DDR2 or DDR3 ram? Another question is about the FW series in general - do they include a restore DVD set or are you expected to burn the restore DVD's from the recovery partition like (cheap-skate) H-P? Last question - is the LCD LED backlit or CCFL?? Any other comments - good or bad - will be appreciated. I'm hoping to drive back to Ramstein tomorrow to get one (they are selling quickly) if your/NBR comments are good. TIA!!

 

. Radeon 4650 DDR2 or DDR3 - tough one

. Sony in general expects you to burn your own recovery disks at the beginning.

. If the specs do not mention LED, than it is CCFL by default.

cheers ...

 

Okay, here's just about everything you can know about the American J/B model (since most things at PX's are shipped in from the States, right?).

Here's the support page where you can get the full specs documents, drivers, etc. (just put in the search the letters of the FW465 if the one at the PX is not this model since there are about five configs of the 465):
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VGNFW465JB&LOC=3

And here's Notebookcheck on the graphics card:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-4650.13883.0.html

In short, since the 4000 series of the ATI cards can use ordinary DDR2 and DDR3 AND since the FW series uses DDR2 for RAM, my guess is that it's DDR2. The FW390 series had the ATI HD3650 card with GDDR3 but the 4650 is a much better card even with DDR2 dedicated memory.

These preconfigured models of the P series Intel processors usually have ECO screens which are one-lamp CCFLs. (FullHD is the dual-lamp CCFL) But since you have seen the screen and know it will meet your needs, no need to worry further, actually. Believe me, a Sony CCFL is far superior to most of the Dell LEDs; Sony whites are white while Dell whites are blue!

Yeah, we have to make our own recovery disks but there are instructions on how to do it.

Sounds to me like you should go get your FW while they last!

Good luck!

 

HD 4650 is ddr3. They not send the recover discs with Vaio, you must make it urself. About the screen derrida is correct.

 

Can you confirm for us with a link from Sony somewhere?

cheers ...

 

The Sonystyle rep told me that u can just ask em. I am not sure if i am correct

 

I think maybe this time a sales rep may be correct. But to be sure, email the question to [email protected] and ask them.

Here's why I'm thinking it is possible that the notebook uses GDDR3: Notebookcheck reviewed the European model with the same video card but only 512MB memory and it was GDDR3 ( http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/sony-vaio-vgn-fw41-e-h-933/1) so it is a possibility that the 1GB memory is also GDDR3.

But email Sony to be sure. Calling SonyStyle isn't as sure an idea because at [email protected], they'll forward it to a tech if they aren't 100% sure. The sales reps have far too many models and options to keep straight and they're operating off less explicit specs than the techs are.

 

Thank-you one and all for your responses and detailed input. I have decided get the FW-465 - after one final check of the LCD at the PX (NotebookCheck found the LCD to be un-evenly lit in their review of a similar model). I did check out a couple of other options last night. I like Dell's and checked the reviews and pricing on the XPS-16 - but putting a BlueRay on a similarly equipped one would cost too much and the standard LCD has too low of a resolution. I also checked/priced an H-P HDX-16 with the same results - plus both the Dell and H-P's are glossy finger-print magnets. I will get around the 32-bit/64-bit issue (just brought up in another thread) by replacing the factory HDD before it is initialized - and doing a clean install of 32-bit from an Anytime Upgrade DVD - then imaging the 64-bit partition from the factory drive back onto a second partition and setting it up as a dual-booter. Thanks again!!
Edited to add - there is also a $100 mail-in rebate on the FW-465J/B until September 30th...

 

Do tell us if YOU thought that the FW465's LCD was unevenly-lit, especially in comparison with other models you saw at the PX alongside it.

I ask this because a Sony Level II tech told me that European and American screens on Sonys are not alike -- so the experience of the American screens may be quite different. I don't know of another Website that reviews models with brightness and contrast levels the way Notebookcheck does, unfortunately. And some of the things that seem to be appearing there (much darker Sony dual-lit screens with a bit more contrast) sound strange to me....

 

Derrida - I've had it for most of the day now - got the FW-465J/B. I like it alot - great machine - Thanks for all of your input. The LCD has some very slightly darker areas at both the lower left and lower right corners - nothing of any consequence at all though. I ran GPU-Z and sure enough the 1-GB ATI 4650 is DDR3. I pulled the HDD before it was initialized -then imaged the boot partition onto another drive in order to keep a clean drive for later use (used Ghost 8 - which breaks the boot manager - my trusty 32-bit Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD repaired the boot manager). The system is absolutely spotless - not a smudge or scratch or anything out of place - I'm impressed! The lid itself is grey and appears to be metal - very nice and very rigid. Plus it qualifies for a $100 rebate - so should they pay it - I'm going to get a 12-cell battery for it - the Egg has them for just a little over $200. Thanks to all again ...

 

Shhhh. Don't let Sony know you pulled the HDD; they might void your warranty for that.

As for those slight gray corners, even the dual-lamp FW190 HiColor has those, and the FullHD on an FW390 was so much darker than the HiColor that you weren't comforted by the slightly more even brightness of the corners!

Do let us know what the backlight looks like in the dark of night. Curious as to how (un)even it all looks then....

Oh, and the lid is supposed to be magnesium. And DDR3 and not GDDR3, eh?

And greetings to Heidelberg! One of my best friends is a professor there....

 

Aye - Grasshopper - Regarding the 4650 - I can only report what GPU-Z reports - and alas it said "DDR3" ... ... got your humor though. Heidelberg - well actually I'm in Schwetzingen - but we have HD plates - has had a wonderfully cool summer so far. The temperature dropped to 54/55 degrees a couple of times since this past THUR. I'm afraid to let the Sony boot in the dark - if I see any inconsistencies then I'll have an anxiety attack. Now I just need some more BlueRay's... Oh - the PX (which is usually not a good place to buy a laptop - until today, I haven't bought a lappie there since 2003) had an 18-inch Sony enternainment notebook - I didn't notice the model number but I did notice that it was easy to tell that the FW-465 had a brighter LCD. I've also been paying close attention to the actual LCD frames - and the Dell 1737, all of the H-P's and two of the Toshiba's had fairly cheap frames on the side. All but the Sony's were fairly easy to squeeze just a little bit and deform - which put ripples in the LCD's. All in all - I'm still very impressed - I'm surprised that Sony has escaped my attention all of these years - but they have finally started putting some decent graphics cards in their systems.

 

That's fascinating what you say about the 18" Sony's screen being less bright than the FW's. The 18" is likely the AW and I wondered about its non-RGB LED screen, the "regular" FullHD one. Very interesting, indeed. Your ECO outshone (literally) a FullHD! This does indeed "shed light" on the issue of the variability of the characteristics of the Eco and the FullHD. They do indeed seem to be model and possibly country/factory dependent!

Yes, I believe I've been in your Heidelbergian dorf as well. (Okay people, DDR are the initials of the former East Germany and GDDR would be a kind-of German unification joke ;-)).

Don't be afraid of your Sony in the dark. In fact, the saturation on Sony screens looks even better in the higher contrast environment of a dark room. Basically, Sony screens on the FW have been far better than anything I have seen on a Dell Studio 15. And if you asked any Best Buy or Staples in the States what computers were returned the most last year, well, you saved yourself the trouble by passing up a Studio!

Enjoy!