Swapping Video Cards for FE

I ordered a customized VGN-FE890 from Sonystyle.com with the XBRITE-Hi monitory & GeForce Go 7600. After placing the order, I found out from Sony Customer Rep that the casing will indeed be white. I don't like white laptops and after spending so much for a custom ordered notebook, I wanted to cancel the order. Unfortunately, since I had custom engraving, Sony was unable to cancel the order. Fortunately, my sister was willing to buy the white FE from me.

I'm considering ordering another FE890, but this time, with the GeForce 7400 w/ Eco in Charcoal Gray. My sister definitely won't take advantage of a 7600 video card. Would it be possible to swap GeForce Go Video Cards between the two FE's?

 

You would probably have to swap the motherboards as well since the GPU is probably soldered directly on to it...not to mention void both warranties. But yes, it should be possible.

 

The Sony reps are often wrong. Have you seen the computer yet? I'd wait. In Europe this model has a white camera and a gray camera but only gray bodies. Unless it was manufacturing itself that told you it would be white, I wouldn't tend to believe them. You can see other recent posts where people have been told one thing about this and then told another by the next rep they talked to.

Read this thread for details:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=101728

 

Thanks for the info..

Well, I haven't received the new FE yet from Sonystyle, but they've already provided a FedEx tracking# so it's on the way from San Diego.

I spoke with a Customer Service rep from SonyStyle and she sounded pretty thorough in her research. She actually went through contacting the production department to find out what parts were used to build the build my notebook. In her investigation, she confirmed that the unit was indeed white. (White casing as well as keyboard). She agreed that the product description was misleading (white camera + body).

Apparently, in Europe, color and styles for certain models are slightly different than those in the US. I did a search and came upon this little blog about the FE and the GeForce 7600.

http://laptoping.com/sony-vaio-vgn-fe790.htm

I think if the FE is built with the 7600 video card, then it will come in white... but I'll confirm once I receive the unit.

Sammy

 

Interesting.

(I had to throw an L onto the end of that link to make it work:
http://laptoping.com/sony-vaio-vgn-fe790.html)

The confusion was one of the main reasons I bought the Asus G1 instead. I really like the look of the FE screen, but I would not want a white one and I would not want an eco-brite monitor when I could have the hi-color. I couldn't be sure of getting a gray hi-color so I gave up.

Extremely bad marketing on Sony's part. With the first phone call someone made to sales asking about the color issue, someone should have physically walked to manufacturing, got the right info, and handed it to the web department with a get-it-done-now order.

For it to be days later and people still don't know what they are getting is a sign of really sloppy business practices. I choose to avoid Sony.