What do you think of the NEW Vaio FW?

I tried FW at SonyStyle store and I found that the keyboard is a huge improvement over Sony flat keyboard. I hate the flat keyboard of my SZ. I have been using it for a year and I have never get used to it. I always end up typing more than one key at a time due to the way the keyboard was set up. The new keyboard is a welcome improvement.

 

Sh1t,

I like Sony designs a lot (owned S, A, Picturebook, N, FS, SZ). But recently I switched to Lenovo T61p (with Quadro FX570).
It is pitty that Sony does not want to include an option of mid-range dedicated video cards, cause in a last year I would have bought 5 of them (in a last year I bought 8 notebooks, including 1 sony SZ).

Now a lot of new mainstream Centrino 2 notebooks have quite good video cards (like Lenovo Y730, W500, new MacBooks Pro). So what is wrong with Sony that they can not have a model in US with a proper midrange video?

 

I don't know but the way I see it, Sony's are multimedia laptops and for this purpose even a low-end/ lower mid-range card will suffice.

 

And yet they offer mid range video card for FW series in Europe. Mid range card for FZ series in Europe, Australia, Singapore and Korea. Everywhere but the US

 

don't forgert canada we also get the 3470.

 

I'm about to order the FW and need some advice on a couple things:

1. Is the 7200 rpm hard drive worth it over a 5400 rpm? Will it be noticeably faster or is it a slight difference?

2. Is it easy to upgrade the optical drive sometime later? I've been debating getting the Blu-ray read-only drive but I might just get the DVD if I could easily replace it later.

Thanks for any help.

 

1. You can find 20 different benchmarks here, comparing 7200rpm with 5400rpm HDDs. The Scorpio black is 7200rpm, blue is 5400rpm.



But since you don't know what brand Sony uses it's a bit of a gamble to go for 7200rpm. I would not do it. Better go for the cheapest and pick a good 7200rpm HDD yourself. Or SSD because OCZ Core is cheap.

 

Wow I hadn't even heard of the OCZ Core and just read some reviews... it looks great. I think I'll just get the cheapest 160 gb drive and replace it with a SSD. I'll buy an external enclosure for the 160gb drive and use that for storing files.

Thanks.

 

Have a question..
How do u check which sub-model FW has the HI-colour screen?
Looking at the european models which are the, L, E, M, S and ZU.
The specs don´t say which screen they have...(or am i blind)?
I would assume that the ZU whith HD3650 has the better screen, but also the S and maybee the M?
Anyone who know?

 

I would gate it...

 

I was thinking the exact same thoughts. The two different FWs I played with yesterday were both cool. Certainly not warm, anyway.

 

That's a good idea. I've been trying to figure out how to know which drive(s) the FW has (no luck), but this is a better solution. How difficult is it to change the drive(s)? I've changed noteook RAM, but not drives.

Speaking of RAM... are you guys upping the RAM through Sony? Or are you buying the standard 2GBs (1GBx2) and buying your own 4GBs (2GBx2)?

 

I was bored -- obviously.

 

lol. Its ok to be bored. That looks nice.

 

This seems to become the main FW thread, so I'll post my impressions of the FW here too:

I've seen the FW single lamp and FW double lamp today. The single lamp is just an average good LCD screen, like you may find on one of the better Asus or Acer laptops. I do not think working outdoors will be comfortable because the brightness is to low to overcome the reflection I expect.

The double lamp is noticably brighter, has better contrast and colors look deeper. I am expecting the double lamp to be suitable for working outside.

Comparing the screen to SZ, the SZ is brighter, but the color reproduction of the FW is superior in my opinion. It has similar color reproduction to TZ.

The FW has a nice 'industrial steel' look to it. I would prefer the white lid over the darkgrey lid I think. Keyboard felt excellent, got used to it very quick.

But overall 16.4 inch is not portable enough to me, that's why I am more into 12"-14" laptops.

Funny thing is I did not even think about the 1600*900 resolution, as if someone had already increased the DPI. The screen looked excellent and and no time I felt the letters were too small. Strange.

One thing I did not find very pretty was the speaker area, but I'd get used to it quickly.

 

phil did you think it was incredibly bigger than the standard 15" screens? 15.1" dimension to a usually 14.2" dimension doesn't seem like a big difference.

 

No it did not seem much bigger than 15.4" laptops. Just a bit wider. The 16:9 aspect ratio was easy to spot.

By the way, this video posted by Tomassi gives a good impression of the size of the FW. (FW half way down the video)

 

Thank you very much, Phil. Great input about the HiColor screen. Sounds like that will work out for me...I really wanted the higher contrast. Did you notice much difference in the off-axis viewing for the 2 screens?

 

Actually the FW is exactly the same depth as most 15.4 inchers, which is nice. It's only the width that is more, and only an inch at that.

 

Ahh, great question. It was pretty poor on the Eco screen.

And yes, I too am very happy to hear about the HiColor screen. Sounds like it will be perfect. Bright is good -- very good -- but I think I'd prefer better contrast, deeper blacks, etc.

 

I can't recall which thread I posted this picture in, so I'll post it again. Here's the FW next to the SR (taken with an iPhone, sorry for the bad quality):

 

I did check a couple of times, one thing I noticed was that when viewing from above the singlelamp's colors faded quicker. Horizontal viewing angles on the double lamp seemed very good, as you may notice on the picture. I did not check the horizontal viewing angles on the single lamp.

But I must say I normally don't pay a lot of attention to viewing angles, so my observations may not be 100% accurate. I usually sit straight in front of my laptops

 

It was super-obvious for me on the FW Eco screen. The SR looked perfect whether I stood up, bent down, whatever. The FW Eco screen looked bad when standing up, got better as I bent down, then got worse again when I bent down too far.

The Sony store was very dark, so it made it obvious to see this "fault" of the Eco screen.

 

Yeah interesting shot, the SR does appear brighter.

But what i don't like about the LED of SR what I see on the picture, it shows this white bright light behind the colors that gives colors a bit of 'washed out' look.

I had the same on my SZ and MB Air. I even started a thread about it. ( Link.) Some people agree with me, but many people seem disagree and they see LED screens as the best thing since sliced bread

 

The vertical is what concerns me because when you have it on your lap (or laying on your chest!!) it tends to move backwards and forwards. With an ordinary screen just breathing deep can shift the contrast and color!! Happy to hear the HiColor is better in this respect.

 

I wonder when a proper full review of the FW will be posted? I am wondering about the heat thing under the touchpad this may just be down to one notebook, or that it has just been on all day or something!

I was thinking this but the white variant of the notebook is tickling my fancy, just the fresh white look which I think does it. Just the fact that it might show dirt and be harder to see may be a problem!

P.S I’m loving the personal reviews of the FW atm and its great first impressions, keep up the good work

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "proper", but here's a review:

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/sony-vaio-vgn-fw198u-h.aspx

 

And one by PCMag http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2325561,00.asp

 

At least Sony was smart enough to supply the reviewers with a HiColor screened FW.

From Laptop Mag: "Image quality from the 1600 x 900 panel is stunning. It employs Sony’s Xbrite-HiColor technology, which claims a higher brightness and wider color gamut than run-of-the-mill LCDs, and it shows."

From PC Mag: "Breathtaking 16.4-inch widescreen."


I'm very surprised they don't give the HiColor to all of the SonyStyle stores.

 

In case the HD3650 does become an option, how does it compare to nVidia GPUs? Is it better than the 8600GT?
Also, has anyone tested the sound quality of the speakers?

 

Without actually seeing one, I'd get the white. I don't like the look of black keyboard keys unless the entire keyboard/palmrest area is black too (or very close to black).
I'm interested to know just how good the Hi-Color screen is, and also how good the speakers are. Sony says "Built with a 5.1-channel surround sound effect for your headphones" but doesn't mention the quality of the speakers.

 

speakers probably nothing to be excited about

 

Thanks, superhob. That is important information that I needed to know. I type so much that any hot area of the keyboard is a factor for me.

 

You might wanna feel it yourself. A few others that felt it (including me) didn't notice it being warm.

 

According to a review:
"The similarly spec’d HP dv7 delivered better graphics scores than the Sony VAIO FW and costs $200 less."

The GPU is the only thing that is keeping me from buying this notebook. When will the HD3650 be offered as an option?

 

Let's read the entire paragraph, shall we?:

"If you can ignore those come-ons and focus on the clarity of that gorgeous 16.4-inch screen and the performance of the Centrino 2 platform, you won’t be disappointed. The similarly spec’d HP dv7 delivered better graphics scores than the Sony VAIO FW and costs $200 less. But the VAIO FW may be just right for buyers that need a big-screen desktop replacement notebook that will actually see some travel time."

 

you probably mentioned that 100 times! I tell you one thing no one knows and the answer is probably don't count on it. Similar story with FZ...

I personally also wished that it had a faster graphics card in otherwise beatiful laptop, but that didn't stop me from ordering one. For gaming you can buy cheapo desktop that will out perform even a several thousand dollars high end gaming laptop.

 

I didn't mean to be repetitive...This notebook is incredible. The GPU is the only set-back for people planning on using this notebook for quite a long time.

 

You live in Europe you should be able to be a FW model with the 3650. Spain and the UK have it already.

 

And by the way the dv7 weighs more, is made of plastic, and will burn(GPU issues + crappy cooling system). But it does use a faster GPU.

If you seriously want a gaming notebook and don't care about the weight or look, go get a Sager. the FW was meant as a multimedia notebook, and it does extremely well for that purpose. If you look at the GPU guide the ATI 3450/3470 is rated as the very good midlevel notebook card. More importantly for sony and those who want a multimedia notebook, it supports a lot of hd encoding and DivX 10.1.

 

Uggggg--Leeeee.......

 

well as i said.....if you don't care about the looks. Yea i wasn't kidding, lol.

 

most serious gamers don't care about looks anyway... one of the reasons why Sager doesn't try to compete in terms of looks, but offers the best best performance on a budget.

http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/images/8660/

 

not really all on a budget, but eh. seriously it looks like a thick rectangle or to be more precise, a think blank rectangular prism. lol.

i'd take the FW over that anyday, probably cuz im not a serious gamer and wouldn't like to carry that back n forth every day only for it to last an hr long. lol, that would be a bad backbreaking experience.

 

I wouldn't say that all Sager notebooks are ugly. They're just too thick! Performance comes at a cost...The prices for the hardware you're getting are decent though.

Anyway, I prefer the Sony FW series' styling and looks. It's a nicely balanced notebook. I was just hoping for a better GPU.

By any chance, has anyone seen the new media bar UI on the FW series? It looks amazing...

 

yes it does. It looks awesome.

If the 8600 GS FZ was available in your country then its'll very, very probable that the 3650 FW will be available there.

 

anyone think we'll need an external cooler for the FW?

 

No I don't believe so. If it does get hot just use undervolting. It cools down the system while increasing battery life and keeping the same performance.

I'd use undervolting anyway, even if it does not get hot.

 

what is undervolting?

I'm still holding out on a purchase waiting until the FWs appear at the stores so I can check them out in person. Also holding out for a better video card, mainly the one that is available in europe, the 3650, if that was available here, I'd buy it not questions asked.

what are the chances of custom orders from europe? assuming there is such a place and they ship internationally.

 

"Undervolting is a process which reduces the excess "voltage" given to the CPU using a software. This is widely used as a cooling solution and in my opinion more effective than any other cooling solution available (thermal paste, cooling pad, etc) at NO cost. Results can vary from 5c up to 20c drop in temperature, most will achieve an average of 10c."
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

I 100% agree with flipfire, the writer of the guide.

Where do you live?
Notenbook.de may deliver FW with custom harddrive options.