Does Vaio FZ190 w/Blu-ray CTO have magnesium speaker grill and other questions?

About a week or so ago, I was at my local CompUSA. They have a whole section of the store dedicated to Sony products (mainly laptops) which I think is fun. The day I went in, they JUST got the Sony Vaio FZ 180 w/Blu-ray and next to it was the FZ 140. The FZ 180 had a magnesium metal like plate where the speakers and A/V buttons are. The FZ 140 did not have this. Premium vs. standard features.

Anyway, does ANYONE know if the FZ 190 w/Blu-ray CTO laptops have this premium magnesium metal finish instead of the standard finish?

Additionally, since both premium and standard FZ's were side by side, I checked several things out:

1.) The FZ 180 w/Blu-ray is a warm system, more so on the bottom, and the FZ 140 is not as warm.

2.) Didn't hear any high pitched sounds out of either system.

3.) Didn't hear any fan issues.

I additionally checked with Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry's Electronics with these 3 said above observations and all pretty much apply to every store's FZ laptops.

Personally, I am holding off buying one for the time being because I believe and often true for me, that once something new comes out, it has issues, but give it time with the manufactures and things start to work better than initially launched. Not to mention, SP1 beta for Vista is due sometime this month from some information I have read off of several websites. SP1 beta is focused more on issues than features from what I have read.

Can anyone seriously recommend the Sony Vaio FZ 190 w/Blu-ray CTO though, despite all this NON-STOP hate talk toward Sony? I would really like to know...

Also, I have seen pictures on this forum of the Sony Vaio FZ CTO unboxed, are there any more...? I keep getting the nagging feeling that a.) CTO laptops are rushed jobs over standard retail versions thus a worse build quality and b.) How they survive and how they are packaged since they are CTO laptops and not your standard retail pretty boxed version.

I might add, does ANYONE with a FZ CTO laptop have the laptop stamped on the bottom "Made in USA", "Made in China", etc... and what the differing quality is between different build plants?

Where does the FZ CTO laptop ship FROM, and how is the laptop packaged over the retail version?

When Sony builds your BRAND NEW FZ CTO laptop, do they ever in any case use used parts from another laptop returned back to them for some reason or all 100% brand new parts for all brand new CTO laptops?

ANY help is grateful.

P.S. I have been noticing Sony updating the Sony Vaio FZ series webpages, so things are still "in the works" and changes to the laptops could come up.

 

what you saw at those retail stores are pretty consistent with what I saw.

the pictures on one of the threads was exactly how I got my CTO FZ. My laptop says made in USA with foreign components. There aren't any problems that other people have mention that I have not already fixed so my FZ is technically working perfectly as far as the system itself is concerned. But vista compatibility is an issue for me right now, but not enough to make me not want to stay away from it. the packaging on the CTO is "less quality" compared to retail but it came in one piece without any scratches. Or at least I can't find any.

my FZ does get rather warm after around 2 hours of so of gaming, but at that point it reaches a maximum. As far as this FZ I have is concerned everything should be brand new. I don't know if they do the return thing you mention or not.

 

The FZ 190 w/Blu-ray CTO laptops have magnesium alloy grills and av buttons. The FZ190 notebook does get warm at the bottom comared to the lower end FZ models due to the dedicated 8400M GT GPU. I have an FZ190 CTO with bluray and haven't experienced any problems with it - no high pitched noises or strange fan noises.

I would recommend this notebook to someone that is looking for:
-good performance
-beautiful display
-light weight
-sleek design
-good build materials - magnesium alloy rather than cheap plastic

My unit is made in the USA and was shipped from San Diego. The packaging was very minimal (good for environment ) however my unit did not have any sctratches or dents. I got three free bluray movies and a bd-re disc included in the box which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. I don't think that the build quality of this unit differs from any other units that sony manufacturers.

All parts in the any new notebooks are in new condition and not refurbished in any way. However, units that are sent for repairs may have "used" parts put in. This is common with many computer companies.

Hope this helps.

 

Just curious--those of you who are saying you don't have any fan issues--what exactly does your fan sound like? I sent one back already because of the fan, and now I recieved another one today and the fan makes almost the same sound, just not quite as bad.

 

My fan speed still varies, but it seems like less than before. Maybe I've just gotten used to it, or maybe the fan controller has a "learning" feature, but it it doesn't seem anywhere near as annoying now as it did 3 weeks ago. So I'd encourage you to live with it for a couple weeks before sending it back.

And BTW, mine is now going back because of a bad display backlight. They initially wanted to repair it, but I also have a dead pixel (red all the time) that showed up yesterday. So I insisted on returning it and getting a new one. They authorized it, but I have to ship mine back by the 18th and the new CTO isn't due to be shipped until the 19th. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they beat their build/ship estimate.

 

It spite of the problems I've had, and Sony customer service has been the worst ever on the face of the planet, the product itself is still fantastic. Until one of the backlights went and the red pixel showed up, using the laptop was a joy. (Keyboard takes some getting used to, though)

I have to wonder just how much "building" they actually do at the CTO center. If you look closely, the only options you have on a 190 that are "built in" are the processor speed and whether you get the high color or the eco screen. Everything else is software or stuff that easily pops in and out, like memory and drives. So they could easily have a stash of prebuilt chassis with each combo of processor and screen, and then pop the memory and drive in for each order.

 

GoSensGo, how would you describe how Sony packages the CTO FZ 190 laptop since you mentioned it was good for the environment and minimal..?

Is it packaged and protected by styrofoam, shrink-wrapped to cardboard, etc... retail vs. CTO. Any info on packaging methods between the FZ retail ones and the FZ CTO ones would be awesome, perhaps in detail..?

One thing Sony and their customers say is that the FZ has a better chassis because of durable material, but, I found when doing a pressure test on all retail location FZ's LCD back panel, it made ripples in the screen, just like all the other manufacturers laptops. What's the deal with that? Is Sony lying?

Is this supposedly more durable material really durable, because it doesn't feel any more durable than anything else I have tested in stores.

Forgive me for asking a stupid question, because I don't know, but is the chassis of the laptop the exterior, interior, or both of the laptop design, since Sony claims it uses durable materials for the chassis?

Thanks.

 

Forgot to add. Does the heat coming form the FZ laptop, be it warm or hot, damage the laptop internally and/or externally? When I went to my local stores, they felt warm - hot, and I don't know if that heat is capable of melting the plastic...

Does the heat ratio differ between what FZ laptop you get, like one with the integrated Intel graphics vs. Nvidia graphics, Blu-ray vs. no Blu-ray, Higher CPU vs. Lower CPU?

 

cardboard box in cardboard box. with plastic and such to secure the system/manual inside the box. no fancy designs whatsoever on the box, just a plain ol' box inside a bigger shipping box.

I don't think the heat is high enough to do damage. It does differ from the spec of your FZ though. blu-ray wouldn't make a difference, but higher cpu, nvidia, and higher hdd would affect heat. CPU I though wouldn't affect it greatly.

I wouldn't try to damage my FZ to test its durability so I can't say anything about that.

in terms of the fan noise I can barely hear my FZ unless I get at least within 2 meters or so and concentrate. If there is any side noise around theres no way I can hear it.

 

I was actually pretty impressed with the heat on the FZ190 (2.2ghz cpu, 8400MGT, 160GB HDD, 2gb ram)--I sat it on my lap and ran the Vista Experience Indexing twice, then I did the same thing with my Mom's work laptop Core 2 Duo (Non-SR) at 1.66ghz, 1gb ram, integrated graphics, 80gb HDD and noticed only a very slight increase in heat. The palmrests do get warm, but it's not any worse than the much lower spec laptop. The bottom is SLIGHTLY hotter, honestly it was difficult to tell the difference. I'd say temperatures are definately safe--but I haven't done any gaming yet.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the heat. As I mentioned earlier, it is not hotter than what my old Inspiron 5150 could accomplish. The latter also had the habit of cranking its fan up as if it was trying to lift off the table. The FZ fan seems to do its job as I noticed that objects lying close on the table, such as a watch or metal fountain pen get warmed quite a bit. Even when running a demanding program for hours I did not have the impression that the notebook heated up extensively. Rather it reaches equilibrium after a few minutes after which the temperature does not vary much. Once the CPU is not taxed as much any more it also slowly cools down.