Sony FW and CS series, which one should I purchase?

I am very new to Laptops.I've decided on purchasing a HP dv5t for my wife and a Sony FW / CS for myself. I am having a hard time picking between the two. Which one is better all around for the money.

If you know of any deals please let me know also

Keep in mind.
The will be mainly for homeuse
Gaming
Schoolwork.

 

I think the CS is 2" smaller than the FW?

If you don't bring it around much/travel with it, the FW is a great choice.

It has the capacity for 1920x1080 resolution and the 16" widescreen display is great for media/games.

 

Iam leaning towards the FW because its a little bigger then the CS and it looks beautiful

 

As long as portability isn't a big issue for you go for the FW.

 

If you will be doing some gaming, then the FW would be a better choice and if you are not planning on moving it around a lot, then the FW is even a better case there as well.

I've taken the FW to uni on many occasions, with the charger and the weight it not heavy at all and actually much lighter than I thought it would be.

the actual weight is 2.92 kg, the ac adapter is 369g, so total weight is still under 3.5 kg which is not bad.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Iam going to frys to check it out in person.

 

Great discounts starting today if you plan on buying. Hint: Take a look at the slickdeals forum for even bigger discounts.


VGN-FW290 Configure-to-Order
VGN-FW290
Customization Details

* Microsoft® Works
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
* No Fresh Start™
* 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm] [Regular price $150]
* Video Standard
* No Engraving
* Standard Battery
* QuickBooks Simple Start
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz) [Regular price $300]
* None
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [Regular price $250]
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 3 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GB+1GB) [Regular price $50]

w/ tax and shipping $1232.51

I think my wife would be very happy with this config.

 

I configured the same system above and it's 1399$. What am I doing wrong?

 

I just placed my order. I know this is over kill for what my wife needs but I couldn't pass up the deal. To get a discount either register through the Sony campus site or using the code posted on the slickdeals forum. I'm pretty sure the rules here won't let me post it on this forum.

Your order contains the following item(s):
Product: VGNFW290-CTO
Component: Microsoft® Works
Component: LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™)
Component: No Fresh Start™
Component: 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [7200 rpm] [Regular price $150]
Component: Video Standard
Component: No Engraving
Component: Standard Battery
Component: QuickBooks Simple Start
Component: WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Component: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
Component: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz) [Regular price $300]
Component: None
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Read and Write Drive [Regular price $250]
Component: Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
Component: Black
Component: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
Component: 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2) [Regular price $100]
Per Unit Price: $1,204.99
Quantity: 1
Total Price: $1,204.99
Description: VGN-FW290 Configure-to-Order
Ship Method: Standard
Estimated Ship Date: 12/10/2008

 

The Campus site is for students only?

 

Students, Faculty and Staff. I happen to be part of the IT department for a College so I'm staff and this discount is not advertised to us. I would be shocked if they checked. I used the other discount since it was a little bit better.

 

Whoa. I ordered an FW-CTO with almost the exact same specs (only difference was I got a Blu-ray read-only drive) on Black Friday through SonyStyle, and the only discounts I ended up getting was $200 off from the Black Friday code, and the student discount credit ($89). My subtotal came out to $1,414.99. Needless to say I feel a bit ripped off.

My order is still "Processing"...should I call and go through the hassle of cancelling (or returning, if it's too late) and then re-ordering?

 

Have you priced one out with the student discount?

 

It only gives the student discount on one computer purchase per year (at least that's what the program fine print says), but I think it gave me another discount again.

The subtotal before I added to the cart was 1249.99, but it lowered to 1187.49 before giving me an additional $100 discount, so it came down to $1189.96.

I'll paste the details here.

* Microsoft® Works
* LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-FullHD™
* No Fresh Start™
* 250 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm] [Regular price $50]
* Video Standard
* No Engraving
* Standard Battery
* QuickBooks Simple Start
* WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
* ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3650 with 512MB vRAM
* Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T9400 (2.53GHz) [Regular price $300]
* None
* Blu-ray Disc™ Read Only Drive [Regular price $150]
* Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
* Black
* Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium 64-bit
* 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2) [Regular price $100]

"Subtotal: $1,187.49
Promotional Discount: -$100.00

Tax: $102.47
Shipping: INCLUDED
Your Price: $1,189.96"


The one I ordered for black friday (same specs as above) costed me a subtotal of $1,414.99, which became $1,545.87.

So if I re-ordered and returned the black friday one, I'd save $355.91.

Even if I have to pay to ship the first one back, it'd still be worth it, right?

 

yes. shipping back only cost 20-30$ max. $355 is totally worth it. If it hasn't shipped yet or if you didn't get an email saying it's being built, you could call and cancel your order. Go for it.

 

Wow that would give you the option to go to a Blu-Ray burner and still have change left over.

 

Ok, will call them. they did send me an order confirmation but it says "Processing". Does that mean it's being built already, or does it refer to the billing stuff?

On top of this....I have to juggle credit card charges because the return policy at sonystyle.com states that it can take up to 90 days (or two billing cycles) to credit my account, so I'm planning to use an old account i haven't touched in a while. But this means I have to call Capital one and order a replacement card.

how long do you think these savings will last? I need to wait for the card to come in the mail and then activate it.

Also, if it's too late to cancel my previous order, I have to deal with shipping and hope that the first FW doesn't get damaged during return shipping. Such a hassle...

 

Ok, quick update. It wasn't convenient for me to call this afternoon so I tried the chat function (which finally worked after 15 minutes). I spoke to a CSR named Janet who seemed very polite, apologetic and helpful, despite some of the horror stories here in the forum about Sony's customer support.

Anyway, she did 2 things for me (or at least she said she would), one was put in a cancellation request, but she said that the chances of it being approved was slim since my VAIO was almost on its way to being produced. Next thing was what she called a "price accommodation", where she would submit the same configuration FW with the current promotions for a request, and if that request were approved (takes 1-2 business days), they would credit me the difference.

I forgot to ask when the credit would appear. Also, she didn't specify which action she would take first, and i didn't ask her to do them in any specific order because I couldn't decide what would be more efficient.

Ideally, I'm hoping that she did the price accommodation first, because that would save me time and money on having to ship it back if it can't be canceled at all. But she did mention that I have the last resort option of returning it.