VGN-FW139E/H - Discontinued ?

I picked this up last week and love it.

I went to show someone what I had and noticed the SonyStyle store
says this laptop is no longer available for purchase ..

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665461483

I have 3 days left to return it and am wondering if I should .....


Anyone have any ideas ?

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ny+fw&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1213046783513

Best Buy is still offering this model BUT they raised the price $150 from what I paid for it. It is still a lot of computer for the price, and Sony may have decided to only sell higher priced units and let retail stores like BB have this model.

 

I believe the very first units were those with Atheros wireless cards (because Intel cards weren't available yet). Maybe Sony have changed the model description for the later units with Intel wireless?

 

The FW139E/H and another model are now retail-only (newegg, best buy, etc.).

I also own an FW139E/H

 

They also only created them to last for the short time between the announcement and when they could get the official Centrino 2 models into stock out there. So while there may be a few stragglers at a few retail stores, the model is done, and now we get all of the regular FW140's from now on.

 

So based on everyones experience with Sony, am I smarter returning
this one and getting the 140's ?

I have 2 days left to return it.

UDFlyer

 

It is possible that they've run out due to high demand and the models listed by the OP will probably come back once they are restocked. I find it hard to believe that sony would make a specific model number and only keep it for such a short time (less than a month!).

 

If you love it, why return it?

 

The reason to return it would be if Sony stopped making it under 1 month I worry about future parts etc for self fixing.

Seems to be a lemon design/model.

 

It is not^

Don't worry; the ONLY difference is the Atheros Wifi. Which is just as good as the Intel (some Atheros are known to be better than Intel, only at the price of 3 or 4 Watts).

I saw keep the FW139E/H model. You will probably save more money with it then the Centrino 2 models.

 

you won't have any trouble getting parts, it's just a different configuration.

It's not a lemon, they just decided to make it a retail-only product. Not a big deal at all. I would definitely keep it.

 

It was never meant to be a configuration that would be produced for long, just a temporary model to get an SR and an FW on the street and in peoples hands after they had been delayed so long anyways due to the Intel snafu with the Montevina chipset.

So no lemon there at all, just a conscious choice to get you an FW or SR as quick as they could.

 

well apart from the fact that athreos might even be better than the intel chip.. one thing is for sure that if all other SR's and FW's use intel chips, there might not many driver updates for the athreos chip.. compared to the other models..

 

Or if you want updates for the card you just go to Atheros website.

 

Exactly. I love my 139E/H... No way would I pay more just for the Intel 5100. A bit more for the 5300 perhaps, but the Atheros should be just as good as the 5100.

Certainly not something to be worried about. I doubt too many other people will get their paws on an FW with specs this nice for under $1k.

 

Atheros vs Intel

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=53519