Vaio FE vs SZ

Which Video card is better:

The SZ

Hybrid Graphic System NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7400 with
TurboCache™ supporting 256MB and Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 224MB dynamically allocated shared (RAM/Video) memory

or the FE

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 224MB dynamically allocated shared (RAM/Video) memory.

Why did sony build such a bad video card into the FE?

Which Sony Vaio is better?

 

The Geforce is much better as in terms of gamming. Integrated Video cards preform very poorly if you are gamming since most leech off of your system memory (RAM) and they don't support fully support T&L and Open GL or Direct 3D.

For notebooks Geforce and Mobility Radeon are the only 2 options for the serious gammers. If you are not doing gamming or 3D rendering, Integrated will get you by just fine.

 

It's not even close, the dedicated card is tons better.

 

Get the go 7400. Its one of the top cards of the market.

 

Ok thanks heh

 

That's assuming that they're actually putting an integrated card in the FE which I am 99% convinced that was among several inaccuracies in the pdf spec sheet on sonystyle.com.

 

Impossible! I could have sworn that at least some FE models have a NVidia GPU of some sort, not all of them have Intel's integrated graphics!

 

Yeah, im pretty sure they wudnt make the FE without the geforce or its just stupid...

 

is it a question?

bananas and kivis? sure 7400...

 

ok........

 

I configured and Ordered my VIAO (which includes GeForce Go 7400)
Sony's VAIO VGN-FE590
Processor Intel Core Duo Processor T2500 (2GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)1 Intel 945PM Chipset Front Side Bus Speed 667MHz
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media
Integrated Wireless LAN Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (802.11a/b/g)4
LCD 15.4 WXGA5 (1280x800) with XBRITE HiColor technology
Hard Drive100GB4 5400rpm SATA
Memory 1GB (512MB x 2) PC2-4200 533MHz DDR2
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
256MB dynamically allocated (RAM/Video) memory
Graphics Interface VGA out w/ Smart Display Sensor
Optical Drive DVD+R DL Write: 4x (max.)DVD+R Double Layer/DVD?RW
Ethernet 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet with RJ-45 interface
Audio Sony Sound Reality - Audio Enhancer Audio Interface
Memory Stick Media Slot Memory Stick Duo media with MagicGate functionality, ExpressCard /34 Slot,
Other Interfaces 4pin i.LINK connector(IEEE 1394)35, 3 USB 2.081 ports, port replicator connector, VGA out
CameraBuilt-in Camera and Microphone
Power Requirements110W+10%
Supplied Accessories
AC adapter (VGP-AC19V11)
Memory Card Adapter (VGP-MCA20)
Large Capacity Battery (VGP-BPL2C)
Weight 6.17 lbs. with standard battery
Measurements 14.41? (W) x 1.02? -1.39? (H) x
I can't wait to get my :sony: duo.

 

I also ordered my FE on jan. 24th... my order status used to say ship date Feb. 2, ...now it has been changed to "SHIP DATE UNKNOWN" and after calling the sony rep i was told it will ship sometime after the 7th... big help.... iam going to keep bugging them till i can get something extra out of them!!!

 

Its being shipped on 12th feb in canada...the FE

 

I dont believe I even started this thread, its pretty da** obvious that geforce is better then Intel....I must have started it to know why FE didnt have a geforce, if the SZ does...but turns out they did.

 

Let us know if you do.

 

Ok i did get something out of them... a longer wait.... called them today and now they say the vaio FE won't ship until after Feb. 15th... @#$%^& SONY ...

 

Yeah, that's what they told me too...did they say why? According to the person I talked to they are wating on the notebook cases...

 

Ummm, the 7400 is much better than the Intel integrated chip. But as discrete GPUs from NVIDIA and ATI go, its pretty crap. Among the mobiel video chips that are much faster are the radeon mobilty X700, Geforce Go 6600, Radeon mobility x800, Geforce Go 6800, Geforce go 6800 ultra, geforce go 7800, geforce go 7800 gtx.

The Go 7400 is a four pipeline chip and its pretty slow, barely adequate for running new games even at low detal settings. I'm disappointed Sony chose this chip. They went to the effort of configuring two chips for battery life reasons. They should have at lelast used the Go 6600 or mobility X700.

 

In a 13.3" laptop? I think not.

 

its a 15.4 laptop, the fe that is

 

Well, I think so. After all, when the original S Series came out, it offered the 9700 mobility, the fastest mobile graphics chip around. That was what, nearly two years ago? I know things have changed and I'm not suggesting that the new generation of high end mobile GPUs like the 7800 gtx go would make sense in the SZ, but the new 7600 go or the radeon x1600 are both mid range mobile GPUs and effectively equivalent to the mobility 9700 that went into the S.

 

So thats a sucky video cad? Even in the FE series? Would it run games like WoW and Battlefield 2?

 

I wouldn't assume anything yet... nobody has had their hands on one... nobody knows how it benchmarks... with the properly upgraded RAM....

 

Ok well I am getting 1GB ram so that shouldnt be a problem.

 

Oh Gahd. More system RAM is not going to help your graphics performance with a chip like the Go 7400. People should be aware of the following fact (and it is a fact):

It's a low end discrete mobile video chip.

Only the 7300 comes below it in NVIDIA@s latest range and that's the same chip with slightly lower clockspeeds. As I have stated, the list of mobile chips currently available from NVIDIA or ATI which are much faster include: Radeon mobility X700, Geforce Go 6600, Radeon mobility x800, geforce go 7600, Geforce Go 6800, Geforce go 6800 ultra, geforce go 7800, geforce go 7800 gtx.

As for chips that are slower, well nvidia is still making the super-crappy go 6200 and some low clocked radeon mobility x300s will be quite a bit slower, and of course NV's go 7300 will be a little slower.

But we uncategorically do not need to wait for benchmark results to know that any notebook with the 7400 in it going to have distinctly mediocre graphics performance. It's a four pipe chip with unexciting clockspeeds and slow memory on a 128-bit bus. There's no getting round those facts.

 

It'll run WoW just fine, so long aas you have 1GB of system memory (WoW has low graphic performance demands but relatively high system performance demands).

It will run Battlefield 2, but you'll need to set the resolution very low and turn alomst all the details off to get it running really smoothly. It will be ugly, but it will run.

 

Anybody get any updated information concerning delivery of their respective FE machines?

 

That's strange. It ran on my bro's Radeon 9600XT just fine and it's supposed to be a tad slower than the GeForce Go 7400.

 

According to SonyStyle Canada.
"The anticipated date of arrival is Feb 13, 2006"

 

Sony rep told me yesterday that FE machines would begin shipping today well its after midnight so actually yesterday the 7th. So has anyone received a shipping notification? I was also told that although i ordered mine on the very first day pre-ordering was available, that i was quite far down the list so mine will not ship till the beginning of next week...

 

The Sony Style page - canadian version.... Although there are different specs is a lot more helpful... much more intuitive... prettier and has hell of a lot better pictures than the American website...

www.sony.ca

 

better pics do not really do anything good...sonystyle.ca might have the worst and fewest products list all around the world...Just look at the Accessories pages...and when I finally decided to buy a TX...it was discontinued? sony i hate you

anyway, they are doing better lately

 

I wasn't speaking about what content they had available to purchase... I was talking about the machines they do have are much better represented and featured... You can learn more about the machine your getting... The american site is just ....boring...


On another note...

I found these on the japanese website... Iam thinking it is the corresponding Japanese FE model... Or not it could be an old model i don't know... All i know is that it looks beautiful... and I want one!!!

 

yes, it is a F series model...FT

FTV...a little bit silly named...
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/Products/FT1/

sometimes i was happy for myself being able to read a little bit japanese

 

I should have ordered an Apple MacBook Pro... Apple has upgraded all orders to the next level of processors... 1.6ghz machines are now 1.83ghz... and 1.83ghz machines are now 2.0ghz machines no extra cost to customers... sony could learn a little... or a lot from Apple.... I ordered my vaio FE on Jan. 24th... and there is still no definite date when i will get it.... and as yet no compensation for their crappy customer service...

 

I picked up an SZ the other day at CompUSA. I have to say, I'm impressed with the graphics. Doom3 @1024x768, medium detail, is flawless. it may be near the bottom of the line of nvidia chips, but it is no slouch, especially in a small laptop. It is perfectly fine for casual 3d gaming. If you are a hardcore graphigs junkie, then no, it will not be sufficient. But if you want to just kill some time playing some games when you are away from your gaming PC, then this chip does a great job. I'm trying to find my CD key so I can try out B&W2...

 

so with what i've read here...then

this article i guess is trash?

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2757

because thats what i was basing pretty much everything off as far as GPU's go and its got the 7400 up there in the mainstream with the x1400 and the x600, which some one claimed earlier it was -way- below ...

as far as i'm concerned the 7400 is a good chip, and it is offered in the FE, just only on sonystyle's website...(from what i can find)

but i've got a source that tells me its only 64 megs of dedicated and the rest is barrowed from the system ram ... i cant confirm this though.

 

Has anyone noticed that when using headphones with the FE the sound doesn't get very loud... Or is it just me?

 

Same thing with the SZ. I got a SoundBlaster pcmcia card and life is better!

 

Do you happen to have a link or anything to the specific card you purchased? ...assuming you bought it online!

 

lol well I wont have to worry about that, I bought Bose Companion 3 and it has a remote jack in the remote controller so audio wont be a problem with me anytime soon.

Now as for the video card...does it really suck that much?

 

Thats a good question... i noticed some of the SZ's getting about 1800-1900 3D scores... and the FE usually around 1600-1700.. can anyone shed some light on why this might be happening?

 

Ermmm Higher resolution in the FE which means more pixels to render? (just a guess)

 

I think the resolution is the same

 

Newegg!

$70.00 after rebate is a great price for this card.