New Vaio F Model

I would classify it as "it is not that important" with the applications that are in place TODAY. But I would think that any of the upcoming applications will focus on taking advantage of the multi-core multi-threading capabilities of these newer generation processors and thus if I were in the market today, I would probably go with one of these higher-end processors - even if I am not a gamer.

 

Really, I would like to know too.

 

I will wait until they release the signature serie of this F11. I dont like the available color options.


However, no offence but I really can't make the decision between these laptops with the following specs. Any advices


SONY F11 $1999 - (without TAX)
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit
Intel® Core™ i7-820QM processor (1.73GHz)
16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080)
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 330M GPU (1GB VRAM)
Fresh Start No additional Office Software
4GB (2GBx2) DDR3-SDRAM-1333, Upgradable to 8GB
500GB 7200rpm
Blu-ray Disc™ player
Keyboard Backlight
Large Capacity Battery
3 Years Warranty


New Lenovo W510 $2060 (without Tax)

Intel Quad Core Processor i7 820QM (1.73GHz 1066MHz 8MBL3)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
15.6-inch machine with option 1920x1080 RG-ph LED FHD (95% Gamut 270 NIT) and Multi Touch Screen
NVIDIA NVS 5100m Discrete Graphics 1GB DDR3 with Intel Advanced Management Technology
4 GB 1333MHz SODIMM Memory, upgradable to 16GB
500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Multi Recorder Optical Drive (12.7mm)
9 cell Li-Ion Battery
newest Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300
USB 3.0 support
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable


HP ENVY 15 Specifications $ 2,045 without Tax

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
4GB DDR3 System Memory upgradable to 16GB
500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Graphics card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5830
15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920x1080)


I like Sony but its GPU NVD 330, limited only 8GB of Ram upgradable and the inferior Wireless Adapter only supporting transfer rate up to 300 mbps make me hesitating buying one.

I like the Spec of Lenovo, (See the bold text) such as 1920x1080 RG-ph LED FHD (95% Gamut 270 NIT) and Multi Touch Screen (This feature is awesome with this price ),USB 3.0, Up to 16GB, Newest Intel wireless adapter supporting 450mbps. These future seem to be more future proof to me. More importanly it is about the same price as Sony's

The only reason holding me back from this laptop is I have never used any Lenovo or IBM laptop before and I had a wonderful time with Sony's laptop



The same story goes to HP's as well. With the same price, but better GPU, upto 16GB upgradable. However, It seems to have a heat and throttle issue

I'm dying making the decision. I'm Software Engineer. My daily jobs require very powerful computers. And I want my new laptop to be future proof for at least 4 years. Any advices

 

It's a dual lamp CCFL screen, but don't worry about it, it's very high quality.

The only real advantage LED would have over it is lower power consumption. (besides being more environment friendly)

 

Really, I'm not sure if I can go back to that screen. I 'm using my new iMac 27 Back lit LED screen with IPS Technology and I really love it

 

@tigereat:

As you are saying, HP is already out of the picture. I have an HP at work and I cannot recommend it. Keyboard is not that good and it gets hot.

As for specs, I think 8GB will be more than sufficient for the coming years. It's really a lot of memory. Multi-touch is relatively new technology for laptops so I would expect both hardware (build quality/durability) issues and software issues with that.

I would go for the compromise of going on the safe side by choosing a brand you know with proven technology inside and not make the adventurous choice with Lenovo. Also, the reviews for the F showed that it does not get that hot and the keyboard is really got. Things you will appreciate if you use it a lot.

Another advantage I see of the VAIO is that you can have one with a blu-ray writer. That is really essential for backups.

So, my completely unbiased opinion is to get the Vaio, unless memory constraints are leading.

 

That is a good question and only you can answer that. What I have seen in the past is that Sony is very conservative in speccing out their machines. If you look at individual features and compare those with what is available with the competition, you can pick off a few that are lower specced in the Vaio.

However, I personally like the entire package that a "Vaio" provides me. Very good and proven features, all of whom are much better tested to work as a team (than say the competitors) within the product and of course the slicker designs overall. If you go through the Singaporean site, where they held discussions with the Vaio designers, you can see the amount of effort that goes into the smaller design aspects like even the cooling fan designs etc., something that the bare specs don't provide.

My work laptop is an HP/Compaq 8710W with a 1920x1200 screen etc and I love it. But if given a choice, I would swap it with a Vaio in a heartbeat.

 

I'm an average computer user, some spreadsheets, some video editing, download some movies/music. Is there anything wrong with the video card or wireless adaptors throughput that I should note?

Thanks.

 

Are you sure? I haven't read anything about dual lamp on VAIO F series.

 

What site do you mean? Do you have a link?

Edit: Just found it: http://www.sony.com.sg/microsite/vaio/about/index.html
Interesting stuff!

 

Found a place with UK prices, but can't see the full specs

http://www.rstcomputers.com/webstor...odes=4&manf=SONY&GroupRelation=340401&Color=1

 

Exactly. And quoting from one of the interviews on their design philosophy:

---------
A sense of completeness, not an assemblage of parts. That is what we have been working towards with VAIO. With VAIO Z, top technologies are condensed in every possible place to achieve that sense of completeness. We had hoped to come this far with VAIO TZ, but that was impossible with the technology available at the time. Our experience through trial and error is what has made VAIO Z blossom. However, this technology is extremely precise. The keyboard is made with such intricate molding that just one alteration would have made it impossible.

One part that best exemplifies the unified design is the keyboard panel. It is made from aluminum, which is not necessarily the best material for lightening the weight of the machine. It's heavy. This marks a turn in the opposite direction from making a lighter notebook.

Keyboard panel design supervisor Manabu Watanabe explains why aluminum was used.

It wouldn't be VAIO if it sacrificed design just to stay lightweight. VAIO Z employs a unified design from the palm rests to the keyboard frame. We felt that the sense of style offered by aluminum was absolutely necessary to achieve this design.


However, making the palm rests from aluminum required a lot of trial and error. At first, the design team told us to make the mold using extrusion (creating a mold by pushing aluminum through a die). The intention was to effectively process both edges of the keyboard panel. However, the technology for extruding this size is extremely challenging at this time.

We created several 1/4 sized keyboard panels and put them through a series of tests. As a result, we decided to mold the keyboard not through extrusion, but through expressing (making the mold by pressing both sides). The request to use extrusion was originally a desire to make the edges look better. By conducting tests, we found that expressing could produce satisfactory edges and also helped make it lighter. In doing so, we found the best balance between design and strength.


Some very "VAIO-esque" care has also been taken for the bottom of the notebook, which is usually not even seen. It is made from carbon, which offers both lightness and toughness. The difficult thing about using carbon is bending it. Carbon does not stretch, making bending it a challenge. The bottom of VAIO Z features two places in which the carbon was bent, and hidden therein is some of that VAIO expertise.

-----------

Bottomline, many of the laptops from competitors is what I would call as "an assemblage of parts" as mentioned above, than a harmonized total blank-sheet design like the Sony Vaios.

 

I'm like you. Found a nice little gadget/adapter that helps for just this thing.

http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=5482

 

We can only imagine what the Dell design philosphy would be like. I think that would be focussed totally on reuse of parts across laptops, and optimization of the production process and reducing costs. (although I can imagine they are also really good at that at Sony).

What I think was initeresting is the statement that they first decided on a boxier shape for the TZ and even got the go-ahead for production and then changed it later because they were not satisfied with it. It is difficult to imagine something like that happening in another company. It must have been very costly to change design at such a late stage and it would have been almost impossible to provide a clear business case for that. It almost makes me want to work there.

 

When will this be available in Canada, anyone seen anything?

 

Thanks for very useful advices. I agreed that 8GB of RAM will be enough for comming years. However, Another its drawback is the Wireless Adapter. based on the rewiews, F11 is equipped with Atheros b/g/n supporting transfer speed between network only up to 300mbps compared to the newest Intel Wireless Adapter 6300 supporting up to 450Mbps. I set up my home network and use it for streaming some huge files among my computers a lot. So I need the decent speed of transferring. More imposrtantly, according to the reviews, F11's transferring speed is kind of slow.

Anyway, THank for your advice about the HP laptop, at least I can get rid of one option

How about comparing the screen quality between Lenovo's (15.6-inch machine with option 1920x1080 RG-ph LED FHD (95% Gamut 270 NIT))and Sony's (16.4" VAIO Premium Display (1920x1080))? Which one is better in Photo Tasks (like accurate color)?

Thanks

 

Not 100% but since it was never mentioned it's a LED screen it's highly likely that it's a CCFL screen.

Better not buy a laptop in that case. No laptop will match that screen.

 

Ahh yeah it's here so they got there
Core i7 ... New vaio F ...
And soon will be here Vaio A with highest core i7 and later on core i8 ..i9

 

I assume it has a CCFL screen, too. I only wonder whether it has a dual lamp screen or not. I don't think it has one.

 

Core i9 is already on the horizon (6 cores). Expect that first in servers and desktops. I would expect the current 45nm Core i7 to be succeeded by 32nm Core i7 (Intel's tick-tock schedule) in laptops. Lower TDPs en higher clockrates.

 

From what I gather there's a base screen 1600*900 and a premium 1920*1080.

Choices for 16.4" screens are limited so it's quite likely it's the same as the before with FW: 1600*900 ECO screen is simgle lamp and Hi Color screen is dual lamp.

But the matte option is new. And it's interesting Notebookjournal speaks of 100% RGB color space.

 

Specifically, 100% Adobe-RGB color space, whose gamut is wider than the s-RGB color space. But not as wide as the prophoto RGB.

I will be doing quite a bit of image editing (RAW editing) on this computer and will check out how accurate are the colors.

 

Is that 'Vaio Full HD Premium screen' the same one as in the European FW51 serie? They have a FullHD screen with '100% color trueness'.

 

I am wondering if this new matte screen is similar to the one on the current Z model?? It is rather nice...

 

I see that the F series has only 2 USB ports. But for most of my purposes I require a minimum of 3. Can the eSATA port be used as USB port , I mean do the USB cables fit into eSATA ?

 

I chatted with a gentleman in Sony customer care today. He said that the F-series screen is technically a hybrid of Gloss and Matte finish.

 

You can get a USB hub for a few EURs/USDs so 2 USBs should not be a problem. I would be surprised if you can plug a USB connector into an eSATA port although there are adapters allowing you to connect your USB hard disk to an eSATA port.

 

Please Do, I would like to know if it's better than RGB LED of Dell screen.

Also, Compare to the Lenovo's screen too "15.6-inch machine with option 1920x1080 RG-ph LED FHD (95% Gamut 270 NIT) and Multi Touch Screen
"

Can we say 100% RGB color space of Sony is better than 95% Gamut 270 NIT of Lenovo? (100% > 95%)

I guess not

 

I just got an email update from sonystyle stating that the "production of my customized Vaio computer has begun". Can't be long now !

 

I'll be ordering mine on Monday! (I just cancelled my order for the XPS 1645). In the meantime here's a short video on youtube. No voiceover, just raw footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miC8fYSyjV4

 

Play Street Fighter 4 on F11 equipped with GPU NVD GT330 at FULL HD resolution and get about 43 FPS is good ? How many FPS is required to be considered a Good GPU

I never play games on my laptop so I dont know but I would like to know if it is powerful enough for my software jobs.

 

I configured a new F model on Sony Campus which totaled 1609.99, It seems like the same configuration is available in the prebuilt F11JFX/B for 1453.49. Why would the CTO be so much more and is it better to get the CTO? The specs are :
500GB HD 7200 RPM
6GB sdram
1920x 1080 screen
Blue ray player/ burner
backlit keyboard
Thanks

 

I think your CPU is 720QM right, I configured mine with 820QM which cost more.

 

As far I can see on the video, the Full-HD premium display on the F notebook is the same one as the Full-HD screen on the FW5* in Europe (the one with 100% color trueness).

 

Interestingly, the credit card transaction of the laptop followed by a very small transaction at amazon triggered some security mechanism at mastercard blocking new transactions. They are now working on unblocking it. At least the laptop payment is still ok.

 

Is it true that the F notebook comes with a 100 watt power supply? Could this machine be throttled?

 

The word better is subjective. It depends on what you mean with the word better.

To some people the brighter screen is better, to some it's about contrast, to some it's about color accuracy, some care more about color space, while others care most about even illumination. What is better can be different to anyone.

Dell RGB has a very wide color space, while there are many complaints about color accuracy.

As far as I know the FW5 screen is the same as the FW4 screen.

But according to Notebookjournal the Premium screen is matte. While the FW has a glossy screen.

 

Yes, I did configure it with the 720QM, I just wanted to know if the prebuilt model would be just as good as a custom made. After 2 Dell desktops which both crashed twice, it will be nice to have something that works!

 

Speaking of screens, take a look at what Sony is developing: the flex OLED laptop concept:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXA9EyKCq_8&NR=1

Happy New Year!

 

I think notebookjournal made a fault. The VAIO F on the Youtube Video has a Core i7 CPU. In Europe all Sony F models with Core i7 have the VAIO Premium display by default. And in the US the only Full-HD display that comes with the F is the VAIO Premium display. They don't sell the non-premium/normal Full-HD screen.

So this must be the VAIO Display Premium screen that you can see on the video. The contrast/color space looks very the same as the European FW5*. The screen also looks less bright then the FW5*, but it seems to have better 'even illumination'.

 

Derrida, if you want to speculate about the screen on the new F now is the time

Rumors are going for matte options and 100% RGB Color space.

But to be honest, it looks like it's the same old again.

Yes I think so too. It's still a glossy screen, just not as reflective as other screens.

PS. Each sample can have a different illumination distribution.

 

No it comes with 150 W AC Adapter.

 

Full specs and UK prices here, quad or dual core? Can't make my mind up!

The i5 starts at £760 and the i7 @ £1029.

https://www.sonystyle.co.uk/SonyStyle/VAIO-Laptop-PCs/F-Series-16-4/?config=x&csint=14003041

 

Does anyone know whether Intel VT is enabled on the F series?

According to the link below it should be enabled if Windows 7 is to support XP mode:

http://www.virtualization.info/2009/08/sony-explains-why-it-disabled-intel-vt.html

 

Is there any information about sony downclocking the gpu like the fw series used to offer both 500 as 1000 mb version of the ati hd 4650?

This model looks very slick but if they give downlcocked gpu's (which are already weak compared to the ones the asus G series are offering for example) with their lower priced models, they will force me on buying another brand like they did in 2007.

 

I found it myself on the US site of sony in the user manual

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VPCF114FX/H&region_id=1

From the manual

The terminology is still a bit vague as they don't say it is or should be available, but still it is hopeful that the manual explicitly mentions it.

 

Thank you! I think I'll go ahead and order one of these soon. I had seen them long ago but forgot all about them. I've also looked into wireless USB hubs but they don't seem to work very well from all that I've read..........

 

Any ideas if the F will be available in the U.S. with i5 and the Full HD premium display? That would be a perfect system for me... I'm a bit worried about the i7 heat and i7 battery life, hoping i5 would be an improvement in these areas.

 

Sony provided BIOS update that supports virtualization for all FW notebooks. F is a replacement of FW. I see no reason why would Sony not want to enable it for the F Series.

 

Thanks! That's a relief!