Need some help on an FW-490 purchase!

All right. So, yes, I'm new. You needn't be afraid. I am a very active member on a computer forum and have many posts and know the general rules and such.

Any who, I've asked around on that forum and I've gotten significant help; help enough that I've been able to decide on an FW-490 lappy from Sony. However, none of the members there have personal experience with this laptop, so I'm coming here where people are adequately informed about this model! I'm configuring my own, and I need some questions answered so I can feel confident in my purchase! I'll be a college student come this Fall, so this is why I'm getting the laptop. I'll be bring my custom built desktop with me to college (E8400/6GB RAM/ATI HD3870 512MB/~2TB HDD space) so I'll have that for anything super intensive (like gaming; I'm not planning to do that on this lappy. Possibly light stuff since I think the 4650 could handle it). I'll be using this laptop for student type things; typing documents, using the internet, etc. However, I'll also probably do some photoshopping with it, but that's probably the most intense thing. I'm going into business, and oddly enough, there's no universal laptop I must get (which most Universities do require a specific one). I'm foreseeing a Marketing/Graphic Design minor, and I think that this would have enough power for that (though, I think that we might use campus computers for that; in any case, my desktop can solve that problem too). That's about it as far as usage goes.

I really need a good battery life. That'll be a main concern down below. I've put the items in question at the bottom of the parts/build list.

So, here's what I've got so far:

* 320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm] (I could upgrade this myself, but the savings would be minimal and I wouldn't any use for keeping the 160GB or selling due to warranty restrictions)

* No Fresh Start (which sucks; but I saw a link on here for the uninstall tool for the bloatware. )

* Microsoft® Works (I'll get free Office Student Ed. at my Univ.)

* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology

* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8700 (2.53GHz)

* CD/DVD playback/burning (I can't justify an extra ~$200..if you count increased tax on the price...for the Blu-Ray burner. I can just get one for my desktop when the time comes)

* Black

* 2GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 1GBx2) (I'll upgrade this to 4GB myself).

* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit

From what I read on here and the Sony site, this should come with a free upgrade--yucky, but doable--for Windows 7 correct?

* 16.4" widescreen with XBRITE-FullHD™ LCD technology (1920x1080)

Is this worth it? I keep reading on here about how small the text is, but I usually work at 1024x768 (or something similar; won't be that since this lappy is 16:9), so I won't see that problem right? I mean, you CAN back down the resolution? From what people were saying, it sounded as if they were FIXED at that native res. At any rate, if I don't run at that high of a resolution, will I still see a difference over the ECO screen? And, will I lose battery life due to the dual lamp design of the FullHD? Will the loss in battery life (if so) outweigh the gain in screen viewing quality. I need a screen with enough brightness and contrast!

* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD4650 graphics card with 1GB vRAM-great for games and movies

Obviously, if I get the FullHD screen, I have to go with this. But, if I get the ECO (in regards to the above), can I get by with the 512MB version, or should I still get the 1GB?

* Large Capacity Battery

This is the biggest item in question. I would love for this lappy to last 3.5+ hours doing normal tasks such as typing documents and browsing the net. I won't be watching movies with it unplugged or anything, and certainly won't be gaming unplugged. If anything, I might use photoshop when I'm on the battery alone, but don't factor that in. I'm looking for someone who owns one to let me know how their battery life is on the large cap. one. Sony claims up to 6 hours, but I'd be happy with 4.

Thank you to anyone who reads this book-of-a-post and answers some or all of my questions! It's greatly appreciated!!!

 

Imo if u get hd screen for the sake of hd entertainment u should get the ati hd4650 also. Otherwise you don really need it. Large Capacity for more 150 usd? Are you kidding not recommend it. Since I can charge my lappy everywhere in my college.

 

Graphics design minor? Call the department at your school because THEY may have a laptop or computer requirement.

Remember: the history of digital graphics designers in academic art departments is intimately linked with the Mac platform. Way back in the mid-to-late nineties, PC's just couldn't cut it for high-end color and image manipulation so Mac was in. I ran a Web team back then and I had all my designers work in html and cross-check their work on PCs to be sure that WYSIWYG on both operating systems. But Macs alone were the tools of the graphics designers' trade....

 

Okay, so if I'm not going to be watching Blu-Ray or any type of that kind thing, I don't need the HD screen? Will it look better though? Because from a lot of what I've read on here, people seem to think the color and contrast and brightness are all better on the HD than the ECO, but no one really notes how their battery life is affected. The extra $$ isn't an issue, as this laptop will need to last me at least 2 year. I'll get the best I can for ~$1350 (my budget).

As for the battery goes, I'd just really like to have decent battery life. My friend has a 17" Vaio and she gets like an hour . That's why I'm wanting the large capacity (I'm not sure if it's a true extended or not; I could find any pictures. From what I understand it's a 9 cell?). If people can give me a really good reason why I shouldn't, then I won't, but I don't want to be regretting it later. Also, it's only an extra $100 to upgrade to the large one, not $150.

Nope. I just called after taking your advice, and there is no requirement. I absolutely hate Macs, so I won't be getting Mac laptop. They girl I talked to said that they have a Mac lab, so if anything is Mac-specific, I can use that. But believe me, I think that if we were doing anything real intensive or specific, we'd probably have to get a required laptop.


Thanks guys! Let me know..

 

Can you go to a retail store (Best Buy, or a SonyStyle store) to see either of the screens? Probably they'll only have the Eco but that would be what you need to see.

This is Sony of super-television and display fame --- none of their screens is likely to ever be truly awful. I think on a thread asking about the Eco and gaming you'll find a posting or three by me and a few by Phil where the specs from notebookjournal.de on each of the screens are given. Maybe that would help.

The bigger issue for many people is the resolution. I think one can get used to the higher resolution of the FullHD but some people just hate the smaller type and have apopleptic fits using the zoom feature to compensate. But the extra real estate, as the saying goes can come in handy.

The way that screen technology is changing, in two years you will likely want something far more gorgeous than what is out right now on the market and the extra money might come in handy now as a student. So, go see the Eco in retail; if it doesn't bother you that it's a bit less saturated and has the lower 1600 x 900 resolution (text size of 1400 x 900 on a 15" screen) which is about 25% smaller than the FullHD (you zoom the FullHD to 125% to get the same size as the native resolution of the Eco), you can probably tweak the graphics to get things deep, deep, deep in color and be happy as can be with your purchase. After all, you're going to become a Photoshop wizard so you'll be able to get the best from that ATI HD4650.

Remember: No one has the brightness and contrast specs out on the FullHD in the FW4 series, only the Eco and the FullHD in the FW3 -- and from Europe at that. We're all, pardon the pun, taking shots in the dark here as we describe these screens. What they see in Europe is not, Sony tells me, necessarily what you get in the States.

Good luck!

 

Ahh! Thank you so much Derrida. If I could rep you a thousand I would

I do intend to go to my local bestbuy (local is like an hour away ) and see if I can see any of them there. As for the resolution, like I said, I'll be setting it to somewhere around 1024x768 or slightly higher thereabouts because I just can't stand small res's (even the ECO would be too small I think at native res.). So for me it comes down to whether or not the HD looks better than the ECO in terms of brightness/contrast/etc but like you said, there aren't really any specs out about it. I'll definitely take what you guys have said into consideration. Thank you!

If anyone has any comments on the battery life of the standard and large cap. batteries, that'd still be appreciated. I know that Sony's specs aren't going to be truth in real life use.

 

The larger FW battery adds almost a pound to the weight of the machine BUT it also elevates the back of the computer at the hinge which helps in cooling the machine on a lap board.

Here's where you will want to play with the machine at Best Buy: To get more life from the battery, you need to do things like dim the screen and use special power settings -- just go to the Vaio Control Center and play around and see what you can tolerate. This is where the brightness of the screen does come in handy (pace all those who believe in contrast as an absolute).

If you really and truly will be living most of the time on battery, go for the larger one because I had the feeling it was at least 50% longer in life than the regular one. But if you get clever about where you sit in a classroom and all (near walls with outlets, of course), and have the power brick with you anyway (because you never know, right?), then you'll be grateful NOT to have that extra pound to carry around of the larger battery.

 

Thanks again Derrida. I'll be ordering the bigger battery. Not so much worried worried about class-room use as I am about around campus use and coffee shops and other places where outlets aren't accessible; or even just for in the car use, too. I truly appreciate all of your help. You've helped make this Sony purchase a pleasant. With that said, though, I'm glad I'm done looking for laptops. It's a lot of work. I run a computer business, but have usually only dealt with desktops (occasional laptop needing a RAM upgrade or virus deleted), so this was educational too haha. Thanks again.

My budget was increase to $1500, and my mom wanted me to get a warranty; Sony had a good deal on their back to school special. I was able to get the 2 year accidental damage warranty plus two accessories (I chose the cheapest 2 carrying bags) for $165. So that wasn't bad at all, considering the 2 year warranty by itself is usually $250!

Anywho, I did end up getting the HD screen. My mom said I should since it seemed like better quality and she'll end up with the laptop down the road anyways. I'll be doing an in-depth review for everyone when I get it so that hopefully I can make others' lives easier since I couldn't find anything on the FW-490. I also got the 320GB 7200RPM drive since it wasn't much more than upgrading myself would have cost. In total, it came to $1440 with all the above stuff and tax included. An equal HP machine (their HDX6t) with equal components would have cost around $1300 with tax but included no warranty so the choice was easy.

 

Looking forward to your comments on the model!

 

I just got mine yesterday. Let's me tell u something. If you look for gaming machine don go with 1080p because when u max the resolution on gaming the laptop's gpu cannot handle the game in 1080p which cause ur fps unstable it on my world of warcraft though. But when u scale the resolution down the game graphic will get ugly... But I must say this 1080p look awesome when it come to hd movies... Plus the machine get warm quickly need a cooling for it. I wish this machine have better graphic card so it can handle hd gaming as well. But i love my machine.

 

I believe other threads indicated that, in general, the lower resolution screen performs better with gaming on the FW2 and FW3 and now we know that even the better card on FW4 doesn't help with the higher resolution screen.

But if, as I believe our thread starter indicated, it won't be used for gaming but for text and graphic design work, the higher resolution is probably the better investment.

Good luck!

 

Yup. More graphics work on this thing and document work than anything else. But, as I mentioned, I probably won't run at that high resolution anyways. I'll probably back it down for the sake of my poor eyes . So if I do run games, it won't be at that high native res. I simply got that screen for the high quality. And, just in case I'll use it for HD playback in the future, it's nice to have it now than to upgrade to a whole new laptop again!

Thanks!

 

Wait, you're going to lower the resolution because you don't like hi-res screens? So why would you buy a FullHD screen......?

 

He don want hd screen. he will use the normal eco xbrite one. It's still beautiful though.

 

I understood that he knows that he is getting the higher resolution screen because he has multiple uses in mind. Higher res for video watching and graphics work, zooming for text work and reading. (I certainly hope he knows that changing the native resolution on the screen itself is not a good idea -- just keep the native and zoom.) Gaming will be on a different computer.

Did I get that right? ;-)

 

Out of everyone that's said something, I think Derrida has it covered. I'm getting the HD screen because of two reasons. A) It's dual lamp and from what I've read, has a better quality (better contrast, brightness, etc). And B) Because I'd rather get the best now, then regret it later down the road and have to buy a new lappy.

I'll be using it for photoshop sometimes, so that's also a reason I got the HD screen. I'll be plugged in most likely when I'm using PS, so the HD screen's dual lamps won't affect battery life there. When I'm just in class typing and browsing, I can dim the screen significantly so that the battery doesn't drain. There will be no gaming on this laptop. If there is, it'll be plugged in and not at the native resolution. And yes, I do know that anything but the native res. won't look that great, but I've done it on EVERY SCREEN I OWN. I have multiple monitors in my house for the custom desktops I've built and though their native resolutions are high, I set them all at 1024x768 because it's my family and I are used to. I'll just have to play around with the res on the laptop and see what a happy medium is. I'll report back and let everyone know the skinny.

 

Crazy guy.
If you lower resolution on LCD - you loose contrast (VERY BAD). So if you have Full HD and lower it even to 1600 - your screen will look about 50% worse (image quality and contrast wise).
If anyone is doing any graphic design or photo manipulation - NOT using NATIVE resolution on LCD is suicide
Can't you just increase DPI? Then everything will look fine (high contrast), except few windows icons and some images...That is still way better than having all screen blurred.
I hate when people are screwing up with their eyes without understanding what they are doing...

 

Yes, alenas is right about abandoning the native resolution. But you know, try things at the native FullHD resolution for a week. After a while, you don't really feel it's impossible. And for those moments when you need a bigger block of text, there's always the zoom feature!

 

Like I mentioned, I run all of my LCD screens in my house (3) at 1024x768. I know what I'm missing, but it causes less strain on my eyes when I can see everything on the screen at a decent size. I'll try it both ways and see what I like better.

I'll let you know what I figure out. I'm not too worried about it.