Vaio FW owners: please vote and share some much neede info.

I'm considering the FW, along with a couple other options, like the DV2z and the Studio 14z (I know the formfactors are quite different, but each type would afford me with some important advantages. It's more the trade off between size/portability, battery life, screen resolution, and GPU throughput.

Each of these have very good traits, but each also seems to have issues that I may find troublesome in the future. For the DV2, it was the fan-noise and possible heat; for the Studio 14z, it was the soldered on RAM and only a single slot for DIMM and limited expandability. For the FW, my biggest hang-up would have to be the rumours / reports of the barrel style hinge coming loose.

If you could let me know of any information that I should know about the hinges on the FW before I make my decision, and vote here.

Thanks a lot.
--HB

 

Mine feels very sturdy and it doesn't seem like it will fall off anytime soon. However, when I move my fingers across, it is ever so slightly misaligned since I can feel a slight "bump" (voted for the second option).

My FW is in for repairs now but when I get it back, I will inspect it more carefully.

 

Mine is very slightly off alignment, but solid. Have traveled with the laptop twice on trans-pacific flights and numerous trips where I'm at - still solid, no issues.

 

Mine is perfect in every way, however I have only had my FW for about 5 days.

 

My 9 month old FW is perfect. No problem at all with the build quality. The screen feels very sturdy, unlike my previous FZ that I had to return. No problem with the hinge. No gap in the chassis that can see. It is very tight. So, physically it is perfect.

 

Thanks a lot everyone for the comments and votes so far; please keep the votes coming, hopefully me and others who are looking at the FW490 will get a better idea to make an informed decision soon.

Does anyone know of strategies in maintaining / transporting the laptop to minimize the risk of that fragile part breaking off? I mean if there are safer ways to transport the FW in a book-bag with a laptop compartment?

P.S.
Rest in Peace, Michael;
The billions around the globe will miss your unequalled talent and how you moved the world.

 

I've had problems with both hinge barrels on mine. I keep putting off sending my laptop in for repairs because I'd hate to be without my computer for even a few days.

First I had the right side power button one detach and it's hanging on by the cord. On the ac adapter side the barrel is still attached but the connection of the adapter plug has loosened and it can't keep a stable electrical connection. If I move the laptop a little bit and the cord is wiggled, the connection can go out competely.

I probably have more hours of use on my FW than just about anybody because I got it right when it first came out, and I use it throughout the day working at home.

By the way, pretty much everything else about the computer has worked great.

 

Sorry to hear what happened to your laptop. Did sony say that everything would be covered under the standard warranty?

By the way, I just talked to two Sony reps about the Video card in the new FW490. The ready to ship models will have the Radeon HD4650 built in; but for now the CTO orders will only have the HD4570 available, which is considerably less suitable for gaming (only 25-35% of the throughput of the 4650, depends on the exact clock, but still considerably better than 3450).

For the CTO model, the HD4650 is likely to be available sometime in the future, although I don't know when that would be exactly. All this directly from chat with two different representatives, both giving the exact same info.

 

After reading the other thread and the sony rep's chat there, I contacted a sony agent for a third time today. Here's the chat:

 

My first vaio fw 490 has a wobbly power barrel where you plug it in within 2 weeks of owning it. I returned it for a new one and this one seems much more sturdy. I have been scared less about it breaking off having read so many cases on the internet about how fragile these hinges are (what was sony thinking!). I think in most cases it can be super glued back has anyone tried that got a broken hinge?

 

VAIO servicer here...we've done a few repairs on these but not anymore than any other model. Find most of the problems are from abuse...same as with the TT series (similar hinge config)...my personal FW is in tip-top shape (but I take good care of it).

 

any other vulnerabilities in the FW we should look out for that you frequently repair alot?

 

Wait a second. "Abuse", you say? So a faulty hinge design which can't take ordinary use is called "abuse" when something goes wrong?

Fascinating.....

 

Thanks guys for all the replies and votes; please keep them coming.

This laptop is so perfect, in terms of performance/price, size/weight, features, graphics, and linux compability. It runs much cooler than the Dell SXPS 16; is lighter and seems to have higher build quality than the HDX series; and does not have Macbook Pro 's failing Geforece 9600GT cards.

If it didn't have this potential issue with the barrel design, I would have bought it about a month ago; but as of now I'm still vascillating.

 

i'm in the exact same position as you. however, i was also considering a couple of Asus', have you checked any of them out? for example, the n51vn?

also i am continually following this thread for the info on the hinge barrels. thanks for setting it up!

 

Get the FW and see how the model you receive looks.

The problem with this survey is that it lumps together all FWs from different refreshes (FW1 through FW4), from all countries, all factory productions and lots, etc.

Having seen a friend's FW1 and FW3 side by side, there are distinct differences. Each refresh is tweaking things a bit. The FullHD screen is a teeny bit different in dimensions from the HiColor, for example; the brightness of the FullHD is less than the HiColor on European reviews. The hinges are sometimes tight and perfect but have been known to be a bit less than perfect -- the design will likely improve in the next refresh as well.

So, for all the reasons mentioned in the postings about the superiority of the FW over its competition, get one and use the exchange period to return it if, by any chance, you don't get a tight barrel.

In other words, something easily fixable, even if it does occur, is a far better risk than something that is always going to be a problem (the MBP's GPU, for example, or Dell's blue cast on screens where white is never white, etc.).

 

Yesterday my hinge (AC) just got loose. I was watching TV, when suddendly I heard a "snap" sound from my FW. Then I notice the hinge problem.

I Fix it today, I just drop some epoxic glue (Kola loka) then I add some baking soda this makes the glue gets more solid like rock.

Now is OK, hinge repair was successful.

 

Unfortunately, that's becoming the standard answer when a company wants to blame their bad engineering on the end user. It is an absolutely abhorrent design. I have made this repair for my daughter's computer, who uses this machine for college. She originally took this back to Best Buy who quoted her $400 to fix it. Huh?

If you are sitting on the fence on purchasing this machine, I say keep looking. The two most important items on the computer, the power connector and the on/off switch, are a disaster waiting to happen.

 

The hinge on my FW has become progressively loose.

 

Sony fixed my problem