Difference between the FW 190 and the new FW 200 Models

1) Besides the upgrade options, like the higher end video card, are there any differences to the machine itself that make the 200 line better than the 190s? I remember when the FW first came out, weren't the 3 USB ports on the right, now they are on the left ... is that new to the 200 line?

2) The FW 190 has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 with 256MB vRAM
and the FW 200 line has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM. How big of a difference is there between these two if your not a gamer? If you use Adobe Photoshop somewhat, and watch movies, is the 3470 plenty, or does it still lack?

My main problem is that I want a Hi-Color screen, which I can only get in a FW190 so I'm trying to figure out the other negatives with the FW190 as opposed to the 200s.

Thanks

 

The 200 has Optiarc Blu-ray Burner/Reader. I can burn Blu-ray and DVD+DL faster than Matsh1ta drive from 100 series. All ports layout are identical with the 100 series. The motherboard is identical except that they replace the video card.

It doesn't make any difference unless you are a professional 3D designer that uses software like 3D Studio. Photoshop does not use 3D accelerator. It uses your CPU for performance. If you take a look at 3470 spec at ATI site, its Blu-ray capabilities is identical with 3650. So, 3470 is plenty for watching movies.

I have said this in numerous threads, FW200 series come with HiColor. They just renamed it as Full-HD because it has full 1080p resolution. How do I know this for sure? I have seen Full-HD side by side with AR HiColor. The color saturation and reproduction of both screens are identical.

Just remember that if you choose the Full-HD, you are going have to live with small fonts. You may increase the DPI or lower the resolution but that won't solve all your issues. DPI scaling with Vista is not perfect. Lowering the resolution would make your fonts and icons look ugly.

BTW, Sony is in the process of phasing out FW190. They have just slashed the base price by $150. If you want it, order it now before they pull the plug.

 

Thanks for the info ... yea I have read that the Full-HD is Hi Color on these forums, but I want a native 1600x900 with Hi-Color. I just think 1920x1080 is going to make text too small on a 16.4" screen. I guess I won't know for sure until I see one in person, but I run 1920x1200 on a 24" monitor now, and it's about perfect, I can't imagine 1920x1080 on a 16.4" screen, and I don't really want to have to just select a lower rez, I like running the native because everything is so crisp.

I hope the new 200s are on display at BB soon with the 1920x1080, I really want to see that in person, it would make the choice much easier.

Also, I wasn't planning on ordering the Blu-ray right now, but is the ROM drives easily swappable if I wanted to buy a Blu-ray drive later, or are they slot loaded or something meaning you are stuck with what you order?

 

If BB has AR with 1920x1200, you can just use it now for comparison. AR with 1920x1200 has 133.19 DPI. FW with 1920x1080 has 134.32 DPI. So, they are very close.

Or you can approximate just how small the fonts would be by following this thread. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=297550

I would think that Blu-ray is easily swappable. The only problem I could think of is the bezel. FW bezel is not a perfect rectangular. So, if you just put the standard bezel, it may look funny. You can remove the old bezel and put it with your new drive but I don't know how to do that safely.

 

I am a little confused by this talk of the 190/200 series.

in the UK, we have the FW11 series.
the FW11ZU has the Radeon Hd 3650 Graphics card and T9400 CPU
and the FW11S, the 11M and the 11L have the radeon HD3470 Graphics card and P8400 chip
Does this mean the 11ZU is a 200 and the rest 190's or are they all 190's??

 

No, FW11ZU was released at the same time as FW100 series. Sony had just decided to release 3650 for the Europeans market at the time.

You guys European are very lucky that you have 3650 from the very beginning. And it comes with XBrite HiColor (Double Lamp) at 1600 too. So, I guess the only way I get FW with 3650 and HiColor 1600 is by ordering from Europe with FW11 ZU model.

 

Correct, European customers have been treated better regarding the graphic card but they still got a 300GB 4200rpm with the top model! (FW11ZU).

The new FW21ZU seems to correct this, giving 500GB harddisk, while still having the Hi-color 1600x900 LCD an ATI 3650.
Unfortunately, Sony didn't annouce when the newer FW21 version will be available in Europe.I hope not until November.

 

Unlike video card, which can not be upgraded, upgrading hard drive is very easy. No biggie.

 

You are right.

It would be just nice if Sony offered a better harddisk out of the box at least for the top model.
Preliminary specs, indicate that the new top model (FW21ZU) will have 500GB, i hope the 5400rpm version.The same specs indicate that the 3650 will have only 256MB. Let's hope it's a typo because the American FW200 version has 512MB.

Nevertheless, this new model is close to perfect in this category.
Only regret: Sony could have added a second HDD given the dimensions of this notebook. Asus did this with the G50 that is a 15,6 notebook, so i am confident that Sony could have done this with the larger FW.
Having the space for a 2nd HDD is very useful because you can combine a SDD for performance with a 500GB HDD for storage space.

I think you can never have the perfect laptop.