Is the Sony Vaio FW-290 Series worth getting

I was recently visiting the Sony site and was pretty interested in the VGN-FW290 model. I was just wondering if anybody that used or owns this on their opinion. I don't wanna pay so much for this notebook. So if possible please list the pros and cons of this machine. A quick review of this notebook would be great since I can't seem to find any reviews of this exact model online. I am interested in using this to view hi-def movies and for some gaming(don't need to run every single game at max settings though).


Plus, what is the difference between these two options -

1) Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive [add $150.00]
2) Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [add $250.00]

can the first option read and write cd/dvds?

 

Yes. It can.

 

I am also interested in this machine. I want to order one, like tomorrow. The only thing I am on the fence about is the processor. Is it worth it to pay the extra $$ for a faster processor? The most taxing thing I do on a laptop is Second Life. I am hoping the graphics card on this machine is good enough for that.

 

Second Life?? Isn't that that game which Dwight was playing in The Office? :laugh:

 

1) Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive [add $150.00] - reads but does not burn blu ray discs, reads and burns standard cd's and dvd's

2) Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [add $250.00] - reads and burns blu ray, standard cd's and dvd's

Personally I'd prefer the read only drive. I cannot imagine myself putting 15 gigs of data in a CD. I rather use a portable drive where I can easily remove and transfer data at a faster rate.

My roomate bought one of these, it's great for blu ray movies and runs games decently (we played gears of war, devil may cry 4, and dead space all runs smoothly at 1280×720, 720p if you attach it to an HD TV, yes it has an HD port so you can enjoy your blu ray player with your awsome HDTV). When playing movies you can set resolution to 1080p this way it looks way way nice both on your laptop or on your HDTV. Graphics card scales fairly(US version has 512 vram and has better GPU). It does not heat up to much and it is lighter than it looks. A bit pricey though but our company has some discount with sony and we ended up saving 25%. I'm buying a custom one which originally costs $2009 and getting it for $1525.00. Since you mentioned Hi def movies and games and if you need portability this ones perfect for you.

 

the high end one T9600 2.8 is relly expensive and may not be worth its cost. But I ended up getting it for these two reasons:

1. 3 ghz is the way to go for desktop gaming and 2.8 is the closet to it for intel mobile processors.
2. I got a good deal with our corporate discount (26% off).

If you are budget conscious stick with 2.4

 

I ordered mine with P8600 witch is a fairly good processor and consumes around 30% less power than the T series.

 

personally p8600 gives you the best bang for your buck

 

I took delivery of FW290 on 12/23. Died on 12/27. Couldn't recover with REcovery disks
Called customer service spent 2 hours on phone. They sent me new recovery disks (took till 1/7), they didn't work.
Spent 1 hour with service today 1/8. Service repairman will call in a few days. I just received e-mail that parts are not available and no target date for receipt.

Looks like I bought an expensive Brick.

Beware to anyone considering purchasing a sony vaio!!!

 

FYI, Sony has just released FW390. You can get faster CPU with lower price for the new model.