Just seen AW in person!

OK, I have just seen AW model in person. My first impression was just how light it was. For an 18.4" laptop, it was pretty light. It was much lighter than AR 17" next to it. The weight of AW without battery was probably about the same with FW 16.4" with battery and I have compared the weight back and forth since the stores I went to have all 3 notebooks on display.

Screen quality was very good. The one I saw was Full-HD screen without Adobe RGB Color Management. The color saturation was identical with the AR next to it that came with HiColor. So, for those of you who still doubt whether Full-HD screen is HiColor, I can assure you that Full-HD is HiColor.

After seeing AW in person, I am actually considering of purchasing it instead of FW. The only problem is the space. The notebook is about 1" longer on the y axis and I have small desk so I don't know if I want notebook that big. The other potential problem is the font. Even with 18.4" screen, having 1920x1080 resolution makes the font quite small. I probably can tolerate it, but this is definitely the smallest font I can live with. Cramming 1920x1080 at a screen smaller than 18.4" is definitely too much.

 

How much thicker is it than the AR? I have been wanting to order the AW but I am still unsure. And what store had the AW? Thanks.

 

Hmm, I didn't pay that much attention with the thickness. I would say that it's probably thinner than AR but I am not so sure. The store I went to was Frys Electronics.

 

Hmm. I was at Frys today actually to see if they had it but they didnt at the one in my area. The sony store here doesnt have the AW yet either.

 

i just bought my AW120J/H at fry's for $1799! lighter than most 17"ers! thinner than most 17"ers! best screen i've seen on a laptop! buy buy buy!

 

Imma have to go check it out at my local frys

 

Vegas sucks! I just called frys (to make sure I didnt miss it when I was there) and the Sony Style store, neither one have tha AW and they have no clue if/when they will receive it.

 

well if you're near anaheim, ca fry's there is loaded. according to the sales guy they got them in last week.

 

Im going to order the CTO one online, I just wanted to see on in person first, but oh well. Its not worth it to go to california to see it lol.

 

I will say the thickness is about the same as AR. It actually could be slightly thinner but not by much. However, AW does weight less as far as the displayed ones at Fry's. The lower grade AW at Fry's actually doesn't have 9600 GT but a 9300. However, higher grade one is with 9600 GT.

 

This notebook doesn't seem so bad. I'm not sure about the battery life though. Some people are saying around 2 hours. I hope they offer an extended battery.

 

Thanks for the insight. I checked out th DPI calculator link you posted the other day. Apparrently, an 18.4" screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 has a DPI of 119, which is tolerable and may actually be easier to read.

Initially, I wanted to get the FW 290 CTO. But the resolution is too big for a 16.4" screen. The AW series isn't that bad. The notebook is slightly larger, but you get the number pad, the HD speakers w/ subwoofer, better quality screen (Adobe RGB) with more screen realstate, dual hard drives, more ports, slightly better graphics card etc. I just think the pros outweigh the cons on this notebook. The size and weight may be the only con. People have been saying that the battery life will be somewhere around 2 hours, which is perfectly fine for a desktop replacement. I'm sure an extended battery will last 3-4 hours on this machine.

It would be a nice touch if one of the hard drives was interchangeable for an additional battery. This would push the battery life even further up. The weight is 7.8lbs I believe, which is great for an 18.4" notebook. Notebooks of this size usually weight 8+ pounds, if not more. This is no doubt a great machine, and suitable for many things.

 

Does anyone know what the battery life will be on the AW series with the extended battery? Thanks.

 

up to 3 hours according to SOny

 

Battery life on an 18" laptop is going to be crap. I don't understand why ppl even consider battery life when purchasing a DTR notebook.

When I bought my 1730, I didn't even inquire about battery life because that's not what the system is for. The battery is more of a UPS than anything else

 

Thanks. 3 hours isn't so bad for a desktop replacement.

Battery life isn't that good for such powerful notebooks. It would be a nice touch if one of the hard drives was interchangeable for an additional battery. This would push the battery life even further up.

 

Now, I'm trying to decide which notebook to get - the AW series or the HP 8730w? Both notebooks are great. Choosing one of them is the hard part...

 

Well as it turns out the Frys near me does have the AW120j/h. I went there again today on lunch and they had it. Its a nice computer, I am pretty certain that I will be getting the AW CTO.

 

People have been saying that its pretty light and thin for its size.

 

I just talked to a sales associate, and this is what they said about the screen: "The Full HD screen has a higher resolution and it is going to give you better colors than the Hi Color screen."

This is not very clear though. So there's an Eco and Hi-color display. What kind of display is the Xbrite-FullHD?

 

I didnt see one but does anyone know if the laptop locks when closed? Also is the Geforce 9600 in the AW ddr2 or ddr3?

 

The 9600 Gt graphics card is definitely 512MB DDR3. As for whether or not the notebook locks when closed - this is something you should check with Sony.

 

How do you know that is ddr3? It comes in both varieties according to Nvidia's website.

 

Based on the CNet published benchmarks...it has to be DDR3, it is even slightly faster than HDX18 from HP with DDR3 rams.

 

Thank you. I might try calling sony just to confirm.

 

I went on the Sony Style website, found the AW series, clicked on specifications, and it clearly says DDR3 for the video card.

 

Does anyone know what the battery life will be with the extended battery? Thanks.

 

Can you give me a link? I have searched and searched and it doesnt say anywhere. All it says is-

Processor : NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT GPU with Total Available Graphics Memory of 2280MB (max.)10

Video RAM : 512MB dedicated video RAM

 

From Sonystyle.com-

The AW Series includes a standard battery which offers an estimated battery life from 1.0 on up to 2.5 hours*. The large capacity battery increases the battery life to a range of 1.5 up to 3.5 hours*. *Actual battery life may vary upon usage patterns, product settings, battery and environmental conditions.

 

Actually, I had a chat with a sales representative. They told me that the graphics card is in fact DDR3.

 

I was asking for the battery life, because when I checked the website, they only give ranges, which are not always true.

I was asking what the battery life is going to be with normal, balanced usage. I'm sure the extended battery will offer an hour more compared to the standard battery.

 

The people who have seen this notebook in person - do you have any pictures? Thanks.

 

Photo gallery link top right handside http://vaio.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProductCategory.action?site=voe_en_GB_cons&category=VN+AW+Series

 

Those pictures are nice. I meant live photos. Some people have already visited a store and saw the notebook in person.

 

Do you have a frys in your area? You could go see it yourself

 

Unfortunately, no. There is a Sony store nearby, which I recently visited. They don't have the AW series on display, or the newer FW models for that matter.

 

Has anyone seen this notebook with the RGB backlighting? And does anyone know what kind of panel technology is in the notebook? IPS or TN?

 

Anyone knows what is J/H, Y/Q, Y/H, J/Q standing for ?

 

Amazon.com has some AW laptops listed but they don't list which ones have the adobe rgb screen! That's the biggest feature on these laptops. Hopefully they clear things up.

 

Saw the laptop in person at Fry's Electronics in Wilsonville, OR tonight. One word goes with this notebook, BUY! Blu-ray playback was very smooth, port selection good, responsive system with touch media controls. Everything I saw I liked, so much so, I got butterflies playing with it. Just simply amazing guys. The one thing I did not like was, just as the AR had rubber covers for ports, the AW had one rubber cover over the networking ports. Personally I don't like the rubber/plastic port covers, but it does look clean. The notebook is indeed a tad lighter than the AR, more durable and very solid, no rippling effects on the screen when pressed on the display panel behind. This notebook rocks. Great job Sony! Screw the Dell Studio 17, I'm getting this.

 

I think the studio line from dell would be a bad comparison. Try the new precision M6400 - that would be more fair, I think....

Just have to wait until Dell releases the RGB LED option for the M6400 (and M4400).

 

Well, the AW in piano black (not silver) is the only model to have the RGB LED screen.

So, as long as the photos are correct, you can tell on amazon. Also check the pricing - the ones with rediculous price tags are the ones with the RGB screen

 

Right, the silver model does not have the RGB LED screen and not all the piano black models have this display either.Only some of them.So be careful.

The ridiculous price tags are due to the SSD drives.It is the SSD's that drive the price that high not the screen.