VAIO FZ4000 CTO mini review with polished mosaic pics

Since no one has done this yet and I would have loved some pictures, here's my new FZ and a mini review of Penryn, etc.

Specs:
FZ4000 CTO (ordered Jan 15, delivered Feb 22 )
Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4GHz
2GB installed RAM, self upgraded to 3GB
Blu-Ray ROM / DVD burner
160GB 5400 rpm HDD
XBRITE HiColor 15.4" 1280 x 800 screen
nVidia 8400M GT 256MB GPU (+ shared memory of 767MB = 1023MB total)
Windows Vista Home Premium
$1489 from SonyStyle

Penryn:
I am upgrading from a SZ460N which is the premium SZ with T7200 2.0GHz. While I loved the size, weight, and display of this SZ, I can't strongly recommend it. The reasons for this upgrade are because I wanted a larger display for all the onscreen reading I do, a more functional video card that could do some light gaming and I wanted Penryn for less heat and fan noise. I realize that these two systems are entirely different models, but Penryn seems to do the trick. If I have both machines running at the same time, the SZ with Merom is significantly louder and hotter at both idle and high load. The 2.0GHz Merom maxes much quicker than the 2.4GHz Penryn, but I'm sure much of that has to do with clock speed. Unfortunately I can't really comment on battery life as the two systems are not similar. I also have not drained my battery yet as it isn't super important to me. Lastly, I don't know if the "crashing waves" thing was ever fixed or not, but my fan is quiet and steady and hardly ever ramps up. To some people it may not be quiet enough, but from where I'm coming from I love it.

Polished Mosaic:
It's niiiice. Below you'll see many pictures that show that it is really a glossy carbon fiber look finish. Out of the box I was amazed at how hot it looked but a little disappointed that it's glossy. After using it some though it doesn't smudge up as much as I would expect and my hands don't seem to stick to it enough to make it annoying at all. I think it looks way better than the black or white, is useably fine and hopefully shouldn't wear much or get dirty. I'll have to see how scratch resistant the surface is, but I don't really feel like "testing" that.

Display:
Bright, bright, bright. My SZ has the LED display and in comparison, the FZ HiColor has better color tones, and more brightness which was a big surprise. The SZ is very bright as well and does have better white tone but I really thought I would be disappointed here, coming from the LED display, and I am not.

Other stuff:
The keyboard is much more firm and responsive than my SZ even though it's the same layout. HDMI video switching is easy and works well although I quickly threw in a DVD and the video motion was uh, not so good on the HDTV. I compared it with my non-upscaling DVD player and while clarity was about the same, the FZ picture was somewhat choppy and had a darker picture. I don't have a Blu-Ray disc right now so I can't test that. Also, from reading it sounds like only 2 channel sound is transmitted but I can't test that as my TV does not send optical audio out for HDMI in and my receiver does not accept HDMI at this time.

Overall:
I really enjoy it so far. I haven't done any gaming but for installing, de-installing, internet, word processing, iTunes, pictures... it's fast and enjoyable. And about the bloatware, I feel like it was easier to remove than on my SZ. I had major headaches with the bloatware removal on the SZ. Lost optical drive function... lost bluetooth... lost wifi... pita. With this FZ everything came off quickly and I didn't lose any functions. I have not done a clean install on either notebook as I don't feel it's really worth the time and difficulty. So again, very happy with this purchase and I highly recommend it.

Windows Experience Index:
CPU 5.3
RAM 5.0 (same as with 2GB, so maybe I should run it a third time)
GPU 5.9
3D GPU 5.2
HDD 5.1











Gap when lid closed caused by rubber bumpers of Motion Eye camera contacting palm rest before corners. Not a problem in reality, just unexpected.




Full brightness in very bright room. It's hard to get a good picture of the display brightness, but it's very nice.


HDMI connection to Samsung thin tube HDTV (circa 2005). Looks pretty nice but has bad DVD playback due to choppiness.
And I just noticed this... The resolutions aren't matched up as seen by desktop icons chopped off. I guess I should change the FZ resolution for better display on the Samsung. You can also see here how stellar that polished mosaic looks from a distance.


My dog, mad at me for ignoring him on a saturday.

 

Good review, can't wait to get mine.

 

very nice.

the interesting black finish you called polished mosaic look is cool , I did not know it is like that , I thought it was just boring black plastic or sothing.

Also , your Windows Index score looks very good to me.

 

The options for palmrest/keyboard were white, black, and polished mosaic. The black is very common so that's probably what you've seen before. I searched everywhere for pictures of polished mosaic and they just don't exist, so I thought I would put these up. Glad you like it.

 

Thanks for the pics.

sweet laptop. I like the mosaic alot. now why o why they don't offer a silver keyboard. that would be nice too

 

lol @ the dog picture xD

 

Thanks, Transfer! I've been waiting for some pics Now I know what to choose if/when I order a FZ...

If you don't mind and have time, can you post a simple report of the battery life of your FZ4000CTO? I know the FZ's without Penryn had poor battery life. I'm wondering because I missed the phasing out sale of the FZ290 CTO's and maybe it was right for me to miss it, given nice improvements on the FZ4000.

 

Nice little review. I received my FZ4000 around the same time and I agree with everything you posted. The mosaic looks better than I expected. My experience scores are 4.8 and up, not quite as high as the numbers you posted. Did you do a clean install? I was hopping the battery life would be little better, at the moment I am getting about 1&3/4 hours in power saver mode with constant use.

 

I didn't do a clean install but I've become pretty experienced and effective at removing Sony bloatware. I think I'm getting about the same battery time. I haven't timed exactly, but I was messing around with HDMI and my TV for somewhere over an hour and I was near dead. That was on normal power settings, middle screen brightness, and DVD playing. Not too good, but I don't rely on battery very much anyway.

 

The polished mosaic looks great, would have chosen that if it was available when I ordered.

 

EDIT to review:
DVD playback choppiness fixed by switching to the HDMI display only and closing other open programs. Chopiness occurs with CPU/GPU usage. Contrast and colors are way off but with a lot of messing with settings (60 min +), looks a lot better. It doesn't look like the settings save though for the external source
Still waiting for that first Blu-Ray disc...

 

I have an FZ285u/b with XBrite-HiColor as well...and the colors are OFF: too saturated. If you look at green grass, it is almost flourescent. Compare the HiColor to another monitor and you'll see what I mean.

 

EDIT to review:
For HDMI video output I switched to 1920x1080 successfully and highly enjoyed Blu-Ray on the big screen. No issues once I got contrast adjusted. Default settings output a very dark video source. I watched Hellboy on Blu-Ray and then Rescue Dawn on DVD (on my standalone player, non-upscaling) and the DVD just did not look good anymore. Big difference. Wish I could get a good standalone Blu-Ray player for $200!

More edits: I almost forgot that I did a battery drain the other day. I was on all low power settings including display all the way down and actively using PowerPoint for the whole drain. Total time approximately 2hrs 40 min.

 

What programs would you recommend removing to help fight the bloatware problem?

 

Hi Transfer, thanks for sharing

do you have a standard battery or the high capacity one ?

Does anyone know, if you have the high capacity one, is it true that the laptop will get higher on the LCD end, and hence it doesnt lie flat on the table ?

unlike ibm t41p, the higher capacity will only sticks out to the back but it wont tilt up the laptop from one end

http://www.upgrademaster.com/ibm-c614/ibm-08k8197-92p1102-thinkpad-t40-battery-p26047.html

 

yes the high capacity battery has a bulge on the bottom so the back of the laptop will be a little higher than the front when resting on any flat surface. I've heard that this doesn't really affect the experience, but i'm sure it varies from person to person.

Transfer: during the power drain, was the laptop still functionable? as in could you normally use the laptop on all low settings without strain? i'm seriously thinking about getting the FZ but i don't want to end up with a laptop that performs above expectation but can only last an hour and a half. :|

 

transfer can u please give some suggestions to remove the bloatware. my fz cto should be in sometime next week. anyway im not too experienced with computers so I don't think I should attempt a clean install.
thanks in advance

 

Hi Transfer, I searched a lot on net and finally found some1 who owns the EXACT SAME LAPTOP which I received from Sonystyle 4 days ago, overall I'm happy with the laptop, it is just amazing. I have two major concerns.

1- The Fan noise from the left side of the laptop is annoying, my previous Toshiba was dead quiet but this one is kinda loud, not loud to wake the neighbor but it is there. Can you tell me how is yours?

2-First day I noticed a dead pixel on left bottom of LCD and after 3 days I noticed second dead pixel (less prominent).

I still have 26 days to return the laptop and get a same one with same price but with Bluray burner, instead of Bluray read which I've now. (Price has dropped and 3GB ram is free this time)

Please help me, laptop is good, HDMI, Bluray, 2.4 Ghz processor, Good Screen , Built in Cam and Bluetooth but it is noisy.

Your reply will be highly appreciated. It would be better if you can call me or email me.I really need your suggestion and opinion on this.

 

I'm coming from an SZ460 which I thought had horrible fan noise so this is quiet to me. It's definitely present, but I think it's great. Everyone has different tolerances though. One suggestion I can make is get rid of Vista Sidebar if you are running it. It gets the fan all worked up for some reason. If you don't need super performance, you can also turn on "Ultimate Battery" settings or something like it which bumps everything down a notch including the fan.

I have no dead pixels, sorry to hear you do! I think I would return it just for that if they are easily seen. That will affect any resale value in the future if that concerns you. Good luck!


Update to review:
What is this, April? I guess I'm 2.5 months in or something and no regrets on this purchase. I have Blu-Ray running very well on my HDTV although I had to adjust video playback settings (primarily brightness), manually adjust resolution to 1920x1080, and HDMI only outputs 2.1 sound to my Sony receiver. It makes for a good Blu-Ray option though instead of spending another $400 for a standalone. You can also see a stark difference with DVDs vs Blu-Ray on the FZ display.

I have had ZERO problems with this notebook and it is fast and cool. It is by far the best I've used. I only wish I had Vista Ultimate.

 

Everything worked very well during the drain. I didn't experience any performance loss but GPU demand was pretty low with just PowerPoint going. If you need more than 2.5 hours battery life, definitely get the large capacity battery although it does bump up the rear end as said above.

 

Bloatware removal: Hmm I don't even remember what was originally installed but here's some thoughts.

-Do not remove Roxio CD whatever. It disabled my CD/DVD drive on my old SZ when I uninstalled it.
-Do not mess with any bluetooth, LAN, wireless, or other network related programs, you may regret it.
-Remove anything AOL or Napster
-Remove any trial software unless you plan to use or buy it. Includes Adobe Acrobat, MS Office, Corel Photo, maybe more
-Remove MS Works and get Office 2007 Home and Student (or other)
-Remove any VAIO programs at your own risk. I did not touch anything with VAIO in front of it or SonicStage
-Antivirus: I don't remember if a trial was installed but I think I removed it and purchased Norton on the side.
-Only apply VAIO updates that will actually help your individual user needs. My FZ is running flawlessly so I don't even check updates.


That was really about it I think. I feel like it was an easy bloat removal PC.

 

I don't like the brown pattern around the keyboard, it likes skin of the snake from some horror films. So i prefer the absolutely black keyboard-located side of the older VGN FZ4000 CTO.
Now i'm preparing money for a Sony VAIO FZ4000 CTO (about 1100USD according to the pride at sonystyle.com). So someone can help me ship it from USA to Hanoi, Vietnam. Many thanks!!
[email protected]

 

Hi Transfer,

Thanks for the Review & Wonderful Pictures ... I like the Mosaic also ... but I don't understand why depending on what week you look at the Sony's website the darn thing might or might not be available.

BTW, Transfer ... beautiful Dining Table ... and who does your House-Cleaning .... your pad is "Spotless" ... I am jealous.

Thanks,

G!

 

Thanks. Hope it all helps with decisions.