Partial testing on the Sony FZ140

Hi, I was at circuit city today, testing out a laptop that I am REALLY thinking about buying. I am going to be video editing on it, so I opened up windows movie maker and used some video clips that were already on the computer to mess around a little. It was blazing fast. So then, I made a really long movie, and started to 'publish' or export it. then, I opened windows media center, started a movie, still fast. Then I minimized that and opened excel, still fast.

Now, that's all good and dandy, but I really want to test it. The video editor I use is much more complex than windows movie maker (I use Sony Vegas 7.0), and I want to make sure it will be fast enough to use that without problems. Is there some little program I can bring on a flash drive, upload it to the laptop, and run it to find out some sort of benchmark??? I could then bring it back to the forums here and find out what you all think.

If you can help, I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks alot,
oh, and btw, I'm planning on writing a full review once I buy it, if I buy it. but, in the meantime, can anyone tell me whether or not this laptop is fast enough for video editing?

thanks
-AJ

 

This is one of the few notebooks I've narrowed my list down to. I was hoping you could tell me what you thought of the DISPLAY on it, as that was my main concern. I know it's only WXGA (1280x800)... so did everything look too close together and big, or was it spaced out enough and "zoomed" back far enough if you know what I'm trying to say? Oh, and how about the keyboard/touchpad/mouse buttons as well as the overall style and build? Just give us your breakdown! Thanks man!

 

^ I saw the FZ yesterday also. WXGA looks fine on a 15" screen. Has plenty of space, nothing is scrunched together or anything. The keyboard was pretty standard, nothing special, but wasn't bad either.

 

I picked up an FZ140E/B at Circuit City a few days ago for $1149, and overall I'm quite pleased, especially for the money. I hesitated on the Best Buy offer, which was $1199 for the FZ145, which went back up in price. From what I can tell, the only difference in the two is that the FZ140 has the 200GB drive, at 4200 RPM, while the FZ145 has a 160GB drive at 5200 RPM.


Pros:
- Thin and light - suprisingly so.
- Excellent built quality
- Crisp, bright screen (ECO)
- Attractive design. Even with the black keyboard, in person it looks nicer than in the photos.
- Fast, especially once you remove the bloatware and run windows update
- Good battery life. I was looking at the Thinkpad T61, as well as the HP 2500T, and the VAIO has the best battery life of the lot. In power save mode (which still has excellent performance, likely due to the Santa Rosa), the stock battery goes over three hours. I've not fully drained it yet, but would expect at this rate, 3-4 hours can be expected.
-Low heat. In fact, it runs surprisingly cool and silent. Good job, Sony.
- Excellent trackpad. Very sensitive, with good tactile feedback.

Cons:
- WXGA display - I would prefer greater density on a 15 inch. That being said, it's probably the best WXGA display on the market, and looks absolutely stunning. I almost don't notice that it's only WXGA, except when doing a lot of multi-window work.
- 4200 RPM hard drive. First, I need to say, it's not bad, and it's massive. After doing a little research, it seems that the only notebook drives of this size are 4200 RPM, so it is the current standard. The specs are roughly the same as the 5200's, and it appears Apple is using a 200GB 4200 RPM in their new MacBook Pros. Apparently, the increased density helps with the drive speed, as more info is passing across the heads, even at lower RPM's. My sense of it so far is that it's slower than my desktop 7200's, but not bad at all. Vista boots quickly.
- No bluetooth. Come on, notebook makers, just throw it in. Sheesh.
- Keyboard. Again, not bad, and I adjusted to the flat keys pretty quickly. But I would prefer more curve for touch typing.

Overall, I'm pleased with the notebook. Even more so than I originally expected. At $1149, an excellent deal, and cheap for a Sony of this quality.

 

Excellent post, dmray! I've been watching for more feedback on the FZ, and have also been thinking about a Thinkpad T61 (or the T61p which is supposedly coming soon). The Thinkpad's have some nice specs, but are a little homely looking. They have a dedicated following though.

For the FZ, I'm leaning towards a custom build so I can get the better video card, hi-color lcd, bluetooth, and either Vista Business or Ultimate. I like the idea of the A/V Instant Mode, but it doesn't look like it plays mp3's, which really limits it's value to me (I don't even play audio cd's anymore).

Your post touched on a lot of things of interest, such as the build quality, weight, noise, etc. That pushes me more in the direction of the FZ. I only wish I could take advantage of the retail special pricing, but still get the added features offered from Sony directly.

Thanks again for the post - feel free to follow up with additional thoughts as you use it. Enjoy the machine!

 

nice review dmray!

it cleared up many of my questions about it!

 

Nice review dmray. I ordered my FZ190 with blu-ray a couple of weeks ago and waiting for it to arrive. I am going to swap out the 80gb 5400 rpm harddrive (standard in the FZ190) for a 160gb 7200 rpm Seagate Monentus hard drive. I'll just use the old hard drive as an external portable storage unit. It is too bad that sony does not have bluetooth in any FZ models other than the FZ190. They really should have it standard on all new notebooks. I'm glad to hear that the battery life is between 3-4hrs. What were the settings (brightness, wifi, etc) to achieve that battery life? I'm wondering how much lower it will be with the 8400M GT GPU.

Congrats on the purchase!

 

Hey dmray, thanks alot, that really helps me with my decision. unfortunately, the price at circuit city went up to $1350 before I could buy. Now my dad is thinking about waiting until the end of the summer to buy, do you guys think this is worth it? will the price go down much? (Hopefully under $1000)?

 

hm, i too am thinking of purchasing this notebook and your post really cleared up a lot of things for me. Although I am pretty disappointed that Sony VAIO FZ series have lowered their Ram Speed.