My FW CTO is shipping today

I placed my FW CTO order on Sunday, and it was showing as "Temporarily out of stock". The estimated ship date is 08/12 (which I hope doesn't get delayed..fingers crossed).

 

This sucks. Haven't gotten a shipping confirmation yet, and I just got off the phone with a clueless CSR, who didn't tell me jack **** on when it's going to ship. Sigh!

I wish I had patience. I just keep on thinking of all the work I'm going to have to do like uninstalling Vista and Sony bloatware, coupled with downloading all new installation files.

Does anyone know where exactly it's shipping out of? If it's west coast, it should take a few days, east coat it'd be here tomorrow.

 

Well my FW just arrived 30 min ago. First impressions:

Nicely packaged -- the computer was nice and secure in the box.

When I first picked up the computer I noticed there was a ridiculous amount flex on the bottom where the blue ray drive is.. really bothers me.

I think the sound quality of the speakers is excellent for a notebook. Much better than the Fujitsu A series I'm comparing it too.

The BD-ROM is a Matsh!ta UJ-120.

The hard drive is a Hitachi Travelstar 5k250
(I just got the 160gb since I'll be putting in a solid state drive)

I'm a bit underwhelmed by the HiColor display. The fujitsu 450 nit screen on the A series seems brighter and more vibrant.

 

It ships out of San Diego. I'm in Florida and mine left Monday evening and is due Friday. So you can expect 4 business days or less to NYC.

When did you order? What was your estimated ship date? When did status change to "Your VAIO is being built"?

 

Wow... bummer.

What about the vertical viewing angle? Good, bad, ???

 

450 nit is REALLY bright!! I wouldn't expect the HiColor to be more than 350 -- LED backlit displays are usually about 350 and they are more than bright enough. At least it's not 200 like Lenovo screens.

How are black levels and contrast? Is text crisp or fuzzy? At full brightness does it look like cr@p (all washed out) or does image get better?

 

Viewing angles aren't that great vertically but good horizontally. Text seems crisp and contrast is good. At full brightness (using the catalyst control center) the blacks turn grey and its a bit washed out. With the brightnesss lowered everything looks very good however. I just watched a blu ray movie (BBC Planet Earth) and with the brightness adjusted just right it was quite nice.

I used the dolby sound room software to increase the bass and the sound was even better than before... I guess my expectations for sound quality on laptops were low so this was a nice surpise.

A couple other notes.. I didn't like the texture of the touchpad at first because my finger seemed to stick to it a little bit, but I'm used to it now. Also, although I ordered the standard battery they gave me the extended one so thats a nice bonus.

 

Yikes. That's not good.

Really? Interesting.

 

What are all the specs of the laptop and if you got the dedicated Ati HD3470, what kind of memory does it use, DDR2, or GDDR3?

I assume you got a CTO FW, where is it made?

 

2.26 ghz, 3gb ram, HD3470. I don't know how to check the memory type on the video card... can you tell me how?

It's a CTO and they are made in San Diego.

 

I am about to order my CTO FW right now and its saying est. ship date is 8/13, I hope it ships on or before then though. I wonder whats causing all the delays

 

They always estimate 5-7 days to build it. It should ship 2 days after your order status changes from "Processing" to "Your VAIO is being built". They'll send you an email when they start building it...so figure 2 days after that email.

 

"I wonder whats causing all the delays"

Demand from all of us goofs wanting super cool new toys!

 

they built mine in a day!! mine got shipped...now to patiently wait for fedex man.

 

Mine is currently in a fedex facility in Sacramento.

I wonder if they are driving to SF tonight to give it to me?!?!?!

 

lol at 1 in morning someone comes knocking at your door. You open the door and its a dedicated fedex man asking for your signature. lol

 

LOL...well, Sony and FedEx are actually well-run companies...

I think they really care about me and my desires!

I stay up late anyway so I'll be a waitin'!

 

Sweet! I just placed my order. Thanks for the info. I remember the last time i did this in January 2006 when i ordered my fs745p/h, the WAIT was killing me. I cant wait for my FW to get delivered, my current vaio is burning(exaggerating) my hands as i type this.


lol @ verseau

 

Oh really. I was merely asking because a member in the Sony Vaio Z thread stated that CTOs Sonys are made in China and assembled in the States, while the preconfigured ones are made in Japan.

Anyways, as for checking the memory type. I don't know how it is in Vista and for the different video card but from my computer, right click on the desktop and click on ATI Catalyst Control Center. Then, on the left side, under Information Center, click on Graphic Hardware. Scroll down and it should be listed there.

 

Well, yeah it's just assembled in the US... The parts are probably made in various countries.

The graphcs hardware screen just says 1535mb hypermemory. Under system information it just says 256mb physical memory.

 

the 1535 hypermemory is the max memory the card is allowed to use (extra memory coming from your RAM) while 256mb is dedicated memory for the graphics card.

Most sony parts are made in japan.

 

Mine is enroute, but won't get to NYC until the 11th. Ugh. Another week!

P.S. Hinduemperior, it looks like we configured the same laptop. You have good taste

 

FedEx dropped it off at my Mom's house about an hour ago...so


after work I'm going over to get it!!

 

NYYankeeGirl, i agree i think we have splendid taste. cheers to hoping it gets to the city before the 11th. My dorm mate, who's in the city right now, is getting this on the 8th, so i'm hoping mine somehow gets here by then too. lol.

 

Does anyone know whats going on at Sony? I ordered my fw cto on the 6th with an estimated ship date of the 13th. I have called several times and anytime i call theyll say its being built(which has been forever) and then theyll tell me it would be shipped within the next 48hrs. Is there anyone else who is in this situation?

 

If you go to sonystyle now, you will realize almost all CTO memory and hard drive parts are OUT of stock. Still praying for ATI 3650 in the US, I will give Sony a month (lol) or until next time FW is on sale.

 

Wow! I hope I dont get screwed. They were all in stock when I placed my order. Hopefully that wont be what is delaying my laptop, they shouldnt be selling what they dont have.