FW vs. F - any major improvements?

Between the two series, outside of say the CPU and GPU upgrades that were made, how do these stack up?

In terms of:
- build quality, sturdiness
- LCD quality (1080p vs 1080p)
- heat
- sound/quietness
- on board speakers
- keyboard layout (comfort, since the F looks more cramped)

thanks in advance

 

F has eSATA port, FW doesn't. Useful for external storage but it may not matter if you just use the external storage for backup or play videos.

 

I find the F onboard speakers are better than the FWs. The sound feels like it's being outputted on a wider range. Bass is pretty much standard ie: none. Louder than most, but comparable to the FWs.
The FWs screen, at last check at a sonystyle in Canada, is brighter than the F's. (Yes, I disabled the auto adjust and turned it up to max) I did not notice a color quality difference.

I don't play many games, aside from FSX, which is pretty darn demanding. Gaming on your lap is definitely a nono with either. On a table though, the F is comfortably warm after a hour of FSX. It doesn't warm your hands to the point of sweating. Neither burns your lap or hands during normal use.

At idle, my F's fan is always spinning at what I'd call low. (ie: barely audible unless the room is dead quiet) Sound levels are slightly higher than the FW at idle. At full power, I can't speak about the FW, but my F gets about as loud as a desktop.

As for the build, to me, the F and FW both look very sturdy. Both are mag alloy framed and thus feel plastic-ky but are at the same time very solid and rigid. (Light too!)

The key spacing on the FW and the F are the same to within about half a millimeter. the F's just looks more cramped because of the numpad. The F is a bigger laptop than the FW. (Maybe something you'd like to consider too)

On another note, the F's battery life is essentially crap and a good half hour lower than the FW's. The i7 sips power, but it has 4 mouths!. You'll be lucky to get more than 2h 30 minutes under any circumstances, except just letting it sit idle with the screen dimmed, which I'll bet is what sony did to come up with a 3+ hour battery life rating with a standard battery.

 

thanks for the info! what an awesome 2nd post, holy crap

 

No problem Thanks, I try my best