Sony Vaio VGN-FW21

Hi there,

I am from the UK and interested in buying the Sony Vaio VGN-FW21 from PC World UK. I have few noobie questions. I am very interested in it's blu ray capabilities and I have a Sony 40V200 LCD TV. So I was obviously thinking of hooking the laptop up to it via HDMI. In the PC World shop I noticed the laptop had a sticker saying "Full HD 1080" support. My first question is, when I hook the laptop upto the TV, can I set the resolution to 1920x1080 - will the laptop support this? Also, my TV is only 1080i, what would happen if I was watching a blu ray movie and set the resolution on the laptop to 1080p? How good is the laptop at playing blu ray movie, any stutter? And finally, are there any remote controls I can buy for it?

I would grately appreciate any help on my questions.

Many Thanks,

 

I would recommend not buying any sony computer from personal experience. I have had mine for over year or so and it has been nothing but trouble.

First, my model the sony vgn-sz340p causes electrical shocks when you have it plugged in and charging when you touch it in the wrong place.

Second, my graphics card is made by NVIDIA and is currently one of the cards that is so called "defect" and sony will do nothing about it.

It has been nothing but trouble trying to get support and help from sony. I would really suggest getting a laptop from another computer because my personal experience with there laptops has been nothing but trouble

Oh yea, out of the 14 months I have had my laptop sony has been trying to "fix" my laptop for about 4,5 months. Either it did not work or it was being fixed in their shops.

 

Hi blizz3010,

Thanks for your feedback, is interesting to hear about these problems. I have found in my research that lots of people seem to generally have better expieriences than you with Sony. The graphics card supplied with the model I am interested in is ATI. So what do you mean by "defect"? Are there any laptops of similar specs to the one I am interested in that you can recommend?

Cheers,

 

What are the specs? What is the graphic card? As far as I know, Sony FW should be able to support the full 1080p resolution as long as you have a small graphic card (like HD 3470). If you have only GMA 4500MHD, you might have problems (it is rather disputable for some people seem to have problems, but since I don't own one and never tried it myself, I don't know).

 

Ok, because I can't post links yet (not enough post count), I will try copying some of the more "important specs":

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T5800 (2 GHz and 800 MHz FSB)

250 GB Serial ATA 5400 rpm hard disk drive

3 GB DDR2-800 SDRAM

16.4" WXGA++ (1600 x 900) Widescreen X-black LCD screen

ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470 graphics processing unit with Total Available Graphics Memory of approx. 1400 MB and dedicated GDDR3 Video Memory of 256 MB

 

Of every brand you are going to find some unhappy customers.

Don't worry about the FW. It has received a lot of praise and if I was in the market for a 16.4" notebook FW would be on top of my list.

ATI is unaffected by the defects (Nvidia 8xxx isn't.)

 

Thnks PhilFlow,

Is anyone able to shed a more light on my HDMI to HDTV question?

 

I have own a Sony Vaio FW21Z for 2 weeks . It supports full HD resolution.
But, No remote control is provided.
The color and brightness of the LCD display (16.4 inch) is the best one in its class (i.e. comparing to HP HDX16 or ASUS L50VN-AK005C).
I have tested the FW21Z at the shop where I bought it with a Blue Ray Film.
I was really impressed! it delivered super sharp images, perfect illumination and perfect contrast. No stutter at all. The image quality was very good by far comparing to HP HDX16 ( HDX16 was also available at the same shop. I had the chance to test the same blue ray film on both notebooks)
I have not had a chance to test it at home with Blue Ray Film on Full HD TV by using HDMI interface.
But, I have tested it by using the following config. The results was also very good and impressive.
"DVD Film : Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was played on Samsung LE40F86 Full HD TV via HDMI interface.

The FW21Z has a slow and cheap Fujitsu hard disk with 4200 rpm.
I will have it replaced by a faster hard disk ( 5400 rpm from Hitachi or WD) at an official Sony partner. I would not recommend a 7200 rpm hard disk due to it will be very noisy.
This is the only weak point of FW21Z.
By the way, only FW21Z supports Full HD resolution from FW series. All other models in 11 or 21 series support only 1600 x 900.

 

That's natively, on it's own screen obviously.
If you output to a HDTV with a HDMI lead, it will support Full HD if the TV does.

 

Are you sure a good 7200 rpm drive is very noisy? I am thinking of getting the FW too but with the 7200 rpm and was under the impression that it isn't any different in sound from the 5400 rpm?

 

You will possibly here a difference in complete silence but other than that, it would appear the same. Also, I would upgrade the HD myself. Honestly its not a hard job what so ever and no point paying over the odds at a tech shop for such a simple procedure
Sony produce high quality laptops but in my experience, their after sales support has been awfull. Its simply illustrated by the lack of action Sony are taking with the faulty Nvidia gpus (don't worry, FW isn't affected ).

 

Don't forget that Sony DVD drives will NOT convert to multi region due to the Matsu ROM drives which are currently unhackable, so by buying this laptop you will be stuck with the expensive/less extras Region 2 discs only and allowing Sony to rip you off.
Its a portable laptop yet you can only play one world region disc just to make profits for Sony.
Don't buy their products.

 

This person is interested in the FW which isn't meant to be a portable laptop. The DVD issue is far a minority to the other things this laptop excells at. Sony produce excellent laptops, just there customer services are poor.............in my case's anyway.

 

my DVD drive is a pioneer one oddly enough.

 

Of course its a portable laptop! that really is not a logical statement from you there.
Laptops by their very nature of portability are so.
If you want a machine for desktop use then buy a desktop.

 

That view is incredibly general.

As you already know, some laptops are designed to be more portable than others. You don't buy a 16" 3.1Kg laptop if you plan to travel every day.....do you?

Most electrical 'machine's' are cheaper abroad than in europe so DVD's aren't alone.