VAIO FE screens, XBrite-ECO versus XBrite-HiColor?

The one thing that worries me about a possible FE purchase in the next day or so is the monitor, the only ones I've seen have been the ECO monitors which suck! Can anyone confirm / deny that the HiColor screen option on the FE is the same as the screen quality on the AR? If so, I'm sold.. if not, I'll look elsewhere.

Thanks,

 

if the FE hi-color screen is the same as the one on AR then i wouldn't buy it, lol. i'm not sure if they fix this but... the AR i've seen got some dusty-sparkle to the screen, certainly not nice.

 

Hmm, the one I saw in the store was nothing short of stunning - so I guess they fixed it?

Is that your 5 in the avatar? Nice. My estoril M3 just hit 112k the other day.

 

yeah.. it is the 530i (the sensible size engine one ). the m3 smoke the 5 by a long shot! lol. what year m3 you've got? what is Estoril?

 

I have one of the older ones - 1997, estoril blue only came on the 96-99 M3s (it's really bmw's only light metallic blue ever.) I like. Put out like 265 on the dyno a while back. A manual 530 would be great, the new M roadster looks incredible though.

Anyways back to computers haha - went to the Apple store yesterday after work and I'm totally sold. I can get the 15.4" MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.16ghz for $200 more than the VAIO SZ (it'll actually be the SAME if they honor Apple's $200 student discount.)

I mean, I'll get so much more for my money over the SZ it's not even funny - and the MBP feels soo rock solid, resolution is incredible, as is battery life, interface, and just about everything else. Going up from a 13.3" to a 15.4" display with NO height increase and a 1.6 pound weight increase is amazing. Where is sony's answer to a computer like this?

..just don't want to wait for the special order glossy screen.

 

It sounds like you are making a good call on the Aplle purchase. As for your question where is Sony's response, they are different computers. The SZ's selling point is it size and weight on top of the fact taht it has the power of a larger desk top replacement. If you travel a lot with your computer, that 1.6lbs makes a WORLD of difference. Oh and on my last flight, the Mac user behind me said that my SZ was the first Sony screen she had seen in a few years and was stunned by the picture quality of the DVD play. I see people traveling with beautiful Mac's all the time. They really are nice and the screens do look great, but they are always fighting to shove them in awkward cases and carry huge 17 inch screens. Oh and as an aside I have not met too many Mac fans that like the magnetic power cord plug in. Try using that in an airplane. Sony users would be crying to no end if the magnetic adapter was adopted. Heck they cry about fan noise.

 

I would never underestimate that 1.6-pound difference, it's huge. I have a 4-pound Asus W5F and anything five pounds and above feels gargantuan.

I also think you're glossing over the fact that you'll really miss right-clicking. That's one of the most startling omissions Apple should get over before it can truly be considered a "universal" machine.

 

They still have right click functionality, but you "should" use shortcuts instead.

I understand that everyone in here is defending their SZ - and I'm currently typing this on an SZ right now. It's an impressive computer no doubt, but I can't have buttons rubbing off the vaio logo, plastic panels coming un-snapped, and really random backlighting.

As for the SZ being a different computer than the MBP - I totally understand that, but that wasn't my question. Where's sony's alternative to a computer like the MBP - a portable computer with great resolution. You know, the only laptop sony offers with the same resolution as the Mac is almost TWICE as heavy (AR)? Even then, it's a 17" not a 15.4 so the quality's still better on the mac. Same is true of the 17" mac vs. AR (excluding the ~$3k bluray AR which is a totally different price point.)

I would agree with the negative weight difference if it was a 13.3" computer with the additional weight - like the new C series VAIO (same screen size, a pound heavier.) But the mac offers a much larger screen (with a smaller bezel area too) so dimensionally, the fact that it's the same height as the SZ seems more impressive - as does the weight.

It's all weird to me - till a day ago I had the high end macs figured as being stunningly expensive, to get a faster mac for the same price surprises me.

Oh, and the laptop is going in my camera bag anyways - there's a lens in there that probably weighs as much as the laptop alone so I don't really notice the weight difference haha.

PS: I wish more planes had the power adapters, from what I've seen only a fraction of the flights on like 2 airlines actually use them.

 

You should then also check out the Asus A8Js, which has the same resolution as the MBP in a *14-inch* screen, so I'm sure it looks blazingly sharp. And that lappy fully loaded is about $1600. I'm all for more resolution myself and wish 1440x900 was offered in a 13-inch model!

Yea, power adapters unfortunately are mainly limited to business class. But a few seats in cattle class have them too. Check out Seatguru.com to find them (mainly United I believe).

 

going back to the original question, anyone know if the HiColor screen option on the FE is the same as the screen quality on the AR?

AR uses an IPS screen same as the Thinkpad T60, from what I hear.

EDIT: to clarify, i'm asking if it has the same display type, with wide viewing angles, brightness, contrast, etc. i realize the resolutions are different.

 

Kinda off topic but I just want to say Sony SZ screen does look really really nice.

I have 22 inch Samsung 225BW LCD, 17 Philips LCD, Fujitsu S2110 and SZ. I put all 4 LCD side by side, compare their colours and play some .avi videos "Grey's Anatomy" and SZ screen does stand out.

Samsung is well known for their very nice LCD display but compare with Sony SZ, there is a huge difference. The white looks whiter, the black feels more black, and the red feels alive. The skin tone looks so much more realistic on SZ than my other LCD display.

I think in general, Sony display is a bit better than other companies. I know it's kinda bias coming from someone who loves Sony products.

 

There's plenty of other threads dedicated the SZ.

The reason I revived this thread was because the topic had never been answered and it's pertinant to my own potential purchase.

Again, I'm trying to find out if the HiColor screen available as an option on the FE is the same type of HiColor (IPS) screen that you get with the AR models. Thanks.

 

from my view in sony store, the FE and AR series screen stand out of other models.

 

I have the FE -- and the screen is HI-Color and it's the best laptop screen I've ever used, way over various Dell's, thinkpads, or acer's.

 

how do the ECO screens suck? they are better than any other laptop screen out now, IMO..

i am waiting for my hi-color one, though, but i am just wondering why the ECO sucks? my g/f has the xbrite eco and i love it.. made me want a sony laptop, actually.

 

ECO has a very shallow viewing angle and can't be used for photo editing. The top of the screen is brighter than the bottom, all it is for better battery life. It sucks. FZ has a great screen but 8400GT does not work well with color transitioning and mixing. Photoshop people should pay attention to the problem. The only machine on the market that has everything in power and screen quality is APPLE. Prove me otherwise please.

 

http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/Notebooks/FZSeries&dept=Computers#entertainment

Xbrite-Hicolor is better because it uses two lamps instead of one (i think).

XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology
Developed by the people you trust to deliver amazing flat-panel TVs, Sony's patented XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology delivers razor-sharp details, crisp, bold colors and glare-free viewing - all while conserving battery life. Brightness is evenly distributed across all XBRITE-ECO™ displays, which also feature a special anti-reflective coating to lessen glare and light reflection while reducing eye fatigue when viewing for long periods of time.

XBRITE™ Hi-Color™ LCD technology
By applying engineering techniques from our BRAVIA™ high-definition LCD TVs to our XBRITE-HiColor™ LCD technology, we've created a notebook PC display that reaches an incredible color contrast of 90%. With richer greens and fresher blues than ever before, the VAIO FEpremium notebook with XBRITE-HiColor™ LCD technology reproduces vivid colors and delicate contrasts with uniform brightness. Far superior to the 40-50% color reproduction of most notebook PCs, the VAIO FZ notebook with XBRITE-HiColor LCD technology delivers an incredibly luminous display that reproduces 90% of the color spectrum.

 

Does this mean that I can't use the XBrite-ECO for visually designing a webpage?

 

Sure you can, it just likely won't produce as accurate or high-quality image.

I can also say that the HiColor display on my new AR670 is absolutely stunning. I love it. I don't think I would be happy at all with the ECO display.

 

Ok thanks. The XBrite-ECO doesn't sound so reassuring. If I get the AR610E, I'll see if I can get the HiColor display for it by paying the extra charge. It will probably be worth it.

 

Can you direct me to a link with AR670 with XBRITE-HiColor? I can only find it with the ECO.

(I wrote AR610E below, but I meant AR670. Actually I don't know. There are so many models that I can't keep them appart.)

 

Just go to the SonyStyle.com store and build a AR670 CTO model. You'll see an option for either display, but to get the WUXGA HiColor you must spec a dual-HDD build (for some reason as yet unknown). I got the 2x200GB model.

 

It used to be that xbrite had two backlights, and the eco version had one.

But now with led displays, not sure that would still be the case. Of course, according to the marketing blurbs, they are BOTH just amazingly perfect. Ones just even more perfect than the other lol.


I don't think you can go wrong with a vaio in terms of displays. I'm picky in that respect (i'm currently on an ips flexview panel and have returned toshibas and t-pads for washed out looking displays), and I've never seen a sony display I didn't like. Though haven't looked closely at some of these $500 budget vaios I've seen advertised lately.