Questions for FW users

I own a Z570 and it's great. We're looking at the FW for our graphic designer.

Something thin/light with a large "really good" screen. Does the FW fit in that category? If it was a 15.4" screen we probably would of already ordered it.

Their BZ line doesn't have the HDMI port and the FW is more appealing.

Considering a T500, E6500, or LG R500, I'm not sure if the FW competes with those or not?

How is the 16.4" FW to use on your lap, at a table, to carry and travel office to car, car to home, is it heavy/bulky feeling or just right.

For me the 13" notebooks work great, the guys want the same handling, feel, wieght as that in a larger 15/16"screen ... that's hard to do. Although the FW seems thin/light for what it is? Or what other Sony would suit him?

 

Well, I guess it's all relative to what you're used to. This FW is about half as heavy as my old 17" Fujitsu, so I'm happy with the weight. It's also thinner, so it fits in my backpack, whereas my Fujitsu was too big. It's a fine weight to carry around. I'm not too crazy about the keyboard style. That's taking some getting used to. Also there's no keypad, I really miss that for entering coordinates in Flash and Photoshop. All in all though, I'm happy with my upgrade.

 

I do graphics design and the FW has an excellent screen for that. However, my FW died after three days use. I am hoping to get a replacement.

 

I think you should go with the FW. And since its for graphic design, make sure you get the hi-color screen. The FW is a really amazing laptop.

 

Compared to my old 15" laptop my 16.4" FW is slightly wider, shorter and thinner, weightwise they are about the same. All in all, I'd say my FW has a slight egde in mobility because of the "widescreen" form factor...

 

I suppose it depends on if your designer likes working wide or tall.

For those who prefer wide, the FW is a sweet machine. For tall, though, you max out at 900px. I haven't noticed much of an impact moving from my 1680x1050 home laptop, but I quite prefer my dual 16x12s at work, along with the ability to rotate one tall. And I would have loved to put my hands on a 17" MacBook Pro with the 1920x1200 screen, but that is a budget killer.

So its definitely a great screen in terms of quality, but graphic designers love their screen real estate, so it really is a trade off.

As for sheer size of the thing, even though it is relatively easy to travel with, big books like this are not the type you pull out on a plane or bus ride. Too wide, too tall. So if he is going to be traveling a lot, I would go with something smaller that he can dock into a larger screen when not.

 

FW seems to have a great mix of portability and performance. Sitting here in Otis college of art and design i'm getting alot of praise for this machine. Lots of graphic designers love it with its great screen and screen space. Their only qualm is that its not a "MAC" ...dang apple fanatic hippies lol jk.