Just got my FW 490 CTO ordered from Canada and guess what?

hey,

New to the forum but have found the info on here invaluable to helping me purchase my first Vaio. Thanks everyone.

Just got my FW 490 CTO ordered from Sonystyle.ca and the video card is indeed the ATI 4650 as I had hoped. The Canadian Sony Style website incorrectly indicates the card used is the the 4570, and the rep I spoke with was also wrong. Hooray! I'll send a detailed update with my thoughts on the laptop after I've played with it a bit. Here are the specs:

P8700 (2.53 Ghz)
4 GB RAM
320 HD (7200 RPM)
1 GB ATI Mobility 4650
Full HD Screen (1920x1080)
BluRay Player
Fresh Start
Vista 64-Bit Home Premium w/ free upgrade to Windows 7
Large Capacity Battery

 

Nice, useful info for other Canadians looking for purchase a FW CTO.

 

can you "Prt Scrn" on your laptop, then go to "Start > Accessories > Paint" and then on your keyboard "CTRL + V" then save the file as a ".png" and host that .png to imageshack.us or photobucket.com or whatever!

plz~~

I want to see the screen quality

 

I'd be happy too - expect I'm at work and can't hook the laptop online yet. Will do it tonight and post.

 

With regards to the free upgrade to Windows 7, ther sales rep did not seem able to give me a definite answer. I was also unable to find a link on the Sony Style Canada Site.

 

Thank you! I can't wait~

 

This is VERY good news. My only reservation about placing an order was the graphics card.

I just hope Sony sorts out this Windows 7 upgrade situation.

 

grat on your new purchase.
Were you able to apply any coupon?

Now i waiting for the SR to come with a 4650 instead of the 4570.

 

First time posting here and this was the info I was exactly looking for!!! Thanks I'll be putting in my order very very soon!

 

Actually just thought I'd add that in the US Site, http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154
under the Features tab I found that they say that windows 7 will be free to upgrade. I can only assume we SHOULD be getting this too. I think I will follow up with a phone call and badger someone about this!

 

I posted a couple of screen grabs on photobucket. My username is Drev888.

http://s739.photobucket.com/albums/xx40/Drev888/

Loving this laptop so far!

 

ahhhh this is torture!!! how long ago did it take for your Custom order to get to your door? Now i'm really itching to press that "Order Now" button

 

Delivery was pretty fast. I placed the order on June 26th and it shipped from the U.S. on July 1st. Package arrived yesterday, July 6th, in Toronto. That's a week earlier than they indicated when I ordered it, and that was Fed Ex ground shipping, which was free from Sonystyle.ca.

 

I ordered my FW 490 CTO on the 26th too and with the below configuration from sonystyle.com. And Sony folks shipped it to the fedex location on the 1st of July.

I am also worried because my configuration is:

Component: No additional Photo Editing Software
Component: 16.4" widescreen with XBRITE-FullHD™ LCD technology (1920x1080)
Component: No additional Finance Software
Component: 320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm]
Component: Fresh Start
Component: None
Component: Standard Capacity Battery
Component: No additional Anti-Virus and Security Software
Component: WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Component: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4570 graphics card with 1G vRAM-great for games and movies
Component: No Engraving
Component: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)
Component: No additional Video Editing Software
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ playback
Component: Black
Component: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
Component: 4GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)

Just worried that they will ship the 4570 and not the 4650. Keeping my fingers crossed. Should be able to get my hands on it today.

BTW can someone please tell the difference between 4570 and 4650. Is it really going to be big?

 

@Drev888 was your VAIO picked up from SAN DIEGO, CA too??

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html

 

Yup, came from San Diego. I'd be shocked if you didn't get the 4650. I really think it's a mistake on the Canadian website. It was in fact also incorrectly indicated on the US website at one point, and then changed.

 

Yes even I do remember seeing 4650 when they had listed the 490 early on the US sites. I just hope its some kind of a mistake from the sony folks and I do get a 4650.

But technicalities apart in layman terms is 4650 going to have a big impact when compared to the 4570?

 

It's a mistake they will ship you a laptop with 4650 i read somewhere on this website and the guy met the same problem. There no such thing 4570 in fw series. They just have too option 4650 512mb and 4650 1gb

 

Just to update, I managed to get a reply from a sony customer service rep IN WRITING that it is a typo on the Canadian site. All FW490 models come with the 4650, NOT 4570.

Here's a copy of the email:

Dear Valued Customer,



This is a typo on our side.



The component is the exact same as the US .



Should be:



ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4650 graphics card with 1GB vRAM



I am here till 8PM Toronto time you could call me on 1888 289 7669

 

Nice job. It would be unfortunate for Sony if they've lost potential customers because of this stupid typo!

 

It's also unfortunate that although this issue has been raised by MANY potential customers, no one has taken the time to correct the typo.

 

I have just visited the Sony CTO US site again and they seem to have fixed the card option with the 4650 but when you click on more info option the description is still for the 4570 card. lol

 

The Canadian site is still wrong though.

 

Hi. I ordered the FW 490 a couple of days ago from Sony Style canada. I placed the order over the phone, and specifically asked if I would get a free windows 7 upgrade. The sales rep said that I would. However, there was nothing on the order confirmation confirming that this would be the case. What's interesting is that on the website, if you go to computers/custom computers the FW490 is on the right side of the page with an incorrect starting price of $1106.99, and with the Windows 7 logo above the PC. Also, when you press the customize button the starting price pops up as $1531.23! If you go to the Sony Style USA store (link below)

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16154&N=4294966502

there is a windows 7 Learn more aplet which if you click takes you to a "learn about a free upgrade page". When you change the region from the USA to Canada, another page pops up saying "Page Coming Soon. Please check back at a later time". Here is the link to the Sony Canada Windows 7 page:

http://esupport.sony.com/CA/perl/os...1&session_id=717445f03e756f2a337796bd9a3a5111

I have little doubt that Sony will provide a free Windows 7 upgrade. There are also a few other very interesting differences in how the laptops are priced in the USA vs. Canada. In the USA you can actually order the the FW for a starting price of $839.99. Another glaring difference was in the software, where in the USA, they charge an additonal $300.00 for Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, while in canada the additional charge is 48.75. In Canada they configure a much more expensive minimum setup, but seem to include alot more value in software.

 

The starting price is not wrong for sony style canada. That simply means that the price of $1100 is the cheapest possible configuration. Downgrade every option and you'll see.

 

You are correct! Other sites such as Dell have the starting price on the intial customize page. Even Sony USA does it that way. On the USA site, the FW490 shows "starting at 839.99" and when you go to customize, the same price appears with various upgrade options.

BTW I noticed that Sony Style Canada is now showing a screen stating that new custom models are eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade.

 

The site was finally updated today and it now says the graphics card is the ATI 4650.

However, they also raised the price of the FW490 by $200!

Edit: Actually, the system didn't go up $200, but now it's trying to trick you into purchasing Windows Vista Business, which is $187 more. It won't let you choose the home version.

 

Maybe they just bumped it up because they're planning to offer a back-to-school "discount".