What do you think of the NEW Vaio FW?

I emailed sonystyle asking why there was no CTO and hi color xbrite in canda, and of course I got no reply, no surprise there. So I went to the sony.ca site and read the press release. Of course there was some additional information there but only 2 laptops on the sonystyle website last night but it was updated to all models today I guess.

the new models are as such:

FW180D - gray - $1699.99
FW170D - white - $1399.99
FW160D - gray - $1349.99
FW140D - business model - $1099.99

the business model is geared towards people with a business, since no blu-ray and vista business.

All the other units come with 4 gig of ram the highest 180D is with the 2.4gig cpu, P8600 and not P8400 as the other 2.

180 and 170 come with 320 hdds at 5400rpm while the 160 is with a 250 at 5400rpm. 170D is with the intergrated video card, the 160 and 180 have the 3470.

Finally the higher end 180D comes with a blu ray burner, at 1699.99 the top model is step, I would not need the blu ray burner and would settle for the 2.4gig cpu and just blu ray, but not CTO on sonystyle.ca for the FW, shame.

 

for recovery discs, look for VAIO Recovery Center. There will be an option to create recovery discs there.

AFAIK only some models have all their drivers out for 64-bit. Seeing as the FW is new, i dont expect drivers to be out until a bit.

 

Maybe you can burn to Bluray Disks or Disk (1)! lol Comming in usfull already!

 

Bestbuy.ca has a FW160DH (I wonder if the H at the end means Hi Color) for the same price as the FW160D on sonystyle.ca... I called Sonystyle and asked if the FW160D was Hi Color and was told that it did, but he didn't sound too confident so...



http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10108936&catid=25253

 

thanks for the info da hool, I emailed sony directly, there was an email at the bottom of the press release and I asked about a few things for clarification. I asked about CTO and whether it would be available in canada for the FW. Next I mentioned the hi color xbrite screen, and then remarked that the LT series has it in sonystyle since it says xbrite hi color. Also asked if the 3650 would be made available in canada as it is available in other countries.

I received a reply almost instantly, but I also said that I contact sonystyle and got no reply from them, not even automated and I was asked what email I used to contact sonystyle.

In a way it is a good thing and a bad thing. Good, because she answered me right away and thanked me for the questions. But bad at the same time since she didn't answer any of the questions and only wanted to know about the sonystyle email. Hopefully I will get a full reply regarding my questions.

I am not sure what the H could stand for, maybe its just something bestbuy has?

 

lol yea it wouldn't even take an entire bluray disk for it. It takes 2 dvds, and apparently took someone 14 CDs. Don't know about the CDs but am pretty sure about the bluray. I did make recovery dvds for a CR and it took 2.

 

dual layer dvds? or single layer?

 

I am doing the recovery DVDs right now. It needs 3 DVDs or 2 DL DVDs, not sure if it gave the option with BR discs.
I will be installing Vista x64 later on this laptop.

 

damn, that's a lot of data if all the space is taken up.

 

the 3rd disc probably isn't full. But it is quite a lot of memory for recovery.

i don't remember if i used dual or single layer to tell you the truth.

 

Sony vaio fw model has been removed from bestbuy.ca ... what the f..., i send e-mail to the customer service and they havent responded yet ... (waiting 2 days)

 

Huh this is odd, I don't know if it was me alone or other people emailing sony, but checking the sonystyle.ca site it appears that the FW has appeared on the site as a Configure to order!

I emailed Candice Hayman, a Public Relations Specialist at Sony Canada regarding the availability of CTO for the FW. I took a screenshot in case it is removed . This was today btw. (maybe it is just a coincidence)

It mentions no date of arrival or even any way to pre-order it but there is some good news still. Basic FW starts at $1,093.99 and it comes with 3 gigs of ram, probably P8400 and of course the 3470. In addition the hicolor screen will be available, so that is great news for me.

here is the link
http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/se...0001&productId=1005446&navigationPath=n100393
(hope it works)

Hopefully I will be checking out the FW in person at the sony store tomorrow.

 

Took some pics today. FW single lamp on the left vs. FW double lamp on the right.

 

Wow, that seems like a pretty big difference. How would you rate the double lamp screen overall? Have you seen any screens from other manufacturers which you felt were better?

 

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. Photographs look really realistic.

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 TZ screen is in a league of it's own. It has higher contrast, brightness and vibrance than FW double lamp.

 

Wow, big difference indeed. Certainly quite a bit brighter. Great comparison shot, Phil.

The HiColor seems to have less glare/reflections than the Eco. Is that true, or is it just due to the lighting in this picture?

 

It's obvious that the left side vaio is set with reduced brightness.

 

thats a great pic. incredible difference between the two screens.

 

One thing that annoys me with the FW, it doesn't have optical audio out (mini-toslink) which means I now have to hope that first the 5.1 and other decoders I use on my machine can output the audio through HDMI in a fashion that my Pioneer amplifier will like. Fingers crossed..

 

No sir. I set both to maximum brightness. What you see is the difference between single and double lamp.

 

I'm not sure. Most of my attention was going to the SR as you may have noticed.

 

Oh, really? Hadn't noticed.

 

Well, I ordered my FW today on SonyStyle.com. I settled on:

Component: Extended Battery
Component: White
Component: Microsoft® Works
Component: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Component: 4 GB DDR2-SDRAM (DDR2-800, 2GBx2)
Component: QuickBooks Simple Start
Component: Intel® Core 2™ Duo Processor P8600 (2.4GHz)
Component: ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3470
Component: LCD 16.4" (XBRITE-HiColor™)
Component: WLAN (802.11a/b/g/n) with integrated Bluetooth® technology
Component: Windows Live OneCare 90-Day Trial
Component: 320 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive [5400 rpm]
Component: Blu-ray Disc™ Reader

Thank you everyone for your help! I'll report back when I receive it.

 

You don't **** around do you? Look at those specs. Enjoy you're new laptop when it comes in!! Looks like it will be an entertainment beast!

Ah wait... what the hell, only 50 bucks for upgrade the ATI card? jerks! Charge 100 on the SR for that one...

 

way to go, enjoy it.

 

>> You don't **** around do you? Look at those specs. Enjoy you're new laptop when it comes in!! Looks like it will be an entertainment beast!

I'm hoping this thing will last me a solid four years like my Fujitsu has, hence the specs.

It totaled at $1,749.99, but I got the three year warranty and tax it ended up costing $2,275.87. Crap. Good thing Sony was offering the 18 month no interest, no payments credit card!

 

Verrry nice... congrats!

 

Did you get the $200 discount when you got the warranty and about $40 worth of accessories?

BTW...congrats on the purchase. Did they assign you a shipping date yet (it may take 24 hrs. for that to show on your order).

 

I have seen two FZs with and without HiColor side by side. I spent quite sometime with them and I did notice that the HiColor does have much less reflection.

From Sony site:
XBRITE-HiColor™ technology
This technology provides more brilliant colors, sharp contrast and crisp graphics - unlike anything you've seen on a notebook. Also featured is a special, anti-reflective coating that lessens glare and light reflection. XBRITE-HiColor™ provides higher color saturation for more true-to-life colors.

 

That is a dramatic difference Phil. Are text and icons crisp and sharp like SZ?

 

love the brightness, but man you need a better camera, or was it an iPhone camera?

 

Congrats to on the purchase NYYankeegirl, looks to be the same as what I will be ordering, but I think I will take the bluray writer as well and no extended battery.. Oddly enough with the Bly-ray writer and same options as yours the price is only 50 bucks more hehe at 1799.00 canadian which seems like a good deal.

 

>>Did you get the $200 discount when you got the warranty and about $40 worth of accessories?

Was that the Back-To-School thing? I ignored that? Should I not have?


My estimated ship date is the 30th.

 

NYYankeeGirl, can you let us know a couple of things about the Extended battery?

1. Does it stick out the back of the laptop (like some Dell extended batteries do) or is it the same size as the regular battery (flush with the laptop)?

2. How long does the Extended battery last?

 

My estimated ship date is the 30th too (and I placed my order on Saturday!!).

If you call in the order, you can get a $200 promotion if you order the 3-yr warranty and 2 accessories (just order a $20 stylus and a $20 laptop sleeve). The net discount will then be $160 + tax savings (for NYC that will save you another $15) so you save $175. You don't need to "beg" for this...they mention the deal on the order page but don't give any details. You get it only if you call. You'll need to cancel your existing order (very easy to do) and since they didn't charge you anything yet you won't need to deal with waiting for authorization to drop off your credit card. Call them and go over the order with a CSR very carefully ticking off all your options and ask for the promotion. It's super easy...I've done it several times already in the past 10 days!!

 

Great! Thanks! The website really didn't market the promotion clearly.


RE: Extended Battery - I have no idea about how it looks physically. It says on their website it goes up to 8 hours.

 

Well I just saw the FW at the store, the dude had to unpackage it lol since it wasn't even open. I had to show him where you stuck the ac adapter and where to turn it on, shame, would have thought they knew at least some info. Anyways, first thoughts:

the 200 gig drive is uber slow, not what I expected, def need the 5400rpm one. the 2.26ghz, 4 gig of ram, ati card (3470) and 200gig drive got a 4.6 on the vista thingy, and that isn't bad, perhaps it will be better with a faster cpu.

Size, it is big, but not massive, a bit heavy but still light enough. Build quality was great, and the eco brite screen wasn't that fantastic, the colours didn't seem rich enough for me, so def need hi color screen there.

He told me to order the CTO instore claiming it will get here faster, but somehow I don't think it will, and he just wanted comission.

 

lol force him to give you a 100 dollar promotional break........then it'll be worth in on both sides.

 

The 4.6 Vista thingy is due to the graphics card score I'll bet. Actually that's not too shabby...the ubiquitous Nvidia 8400m in previous gen laptops only gets a 4.0 or so. Since Vista "calculates" the score by taking the lowest of 5 scores (CPU, memory, disk, 2D graphics, 3D graphics), you can boost 4 of them to 10,000 if you want and the Vista thingy will still be 4.6. PCMark05 is a good gauge of overall system performance. I'll provide a bunch of useful benchmarks to you folks when I get my FW (after removing bloatware and optimizing disk of course).

 

I won't be gaming much, at least not gpu intensive games.

I wouldn't mind if you made a quick tutorial about bloatware removal on the FW, I know there is a thread for general bloatware, but I wouldn't mind one for the FW specifically.

 

I'll certainly note any non-obvious things that I do to clean it up. I try to be somewhat conservative though. I usually only remove stuff I absolutely have no interest in. Also I may not be spending hours removing gobs of unused registry bloat. One thing I found which can dramatically improve system performance and keep the system optimized is a defrag tool called Diskeeper Pro Premier (the cheapo home edition is worthless).

 

Sony vaio fw available on bestbuy.ca

 

Anyone know if the FW160DH at Bestbuy.ca is Hi-Color? I'm going down there today to check it out and possibly buy one. Is there any way to tell by looking at the demo model? (I'd rather be 100% sure than trust an ignorant Bestbuy sales rep).

 

I doubt it.

I'd like to know this too...

 

Really cannot wait to get my own FW; hopefully going to buy one next month. For those in the UK Play.com have started selling three of the FW (E, S and the ZU). However I am waiting for the M model to be easily available here. So far I have only seen John Lewis stocking the M model.

 

In response to the Extended Battery from a few pages ago:

the battery is external to an extent, like most VAIOS. I canceled the extended battery after I found this out.

 

Does that mean it sticks out from the laptop?

 

Yes, the CSR said it was like a 10 inch magic marker sticking out of the laptop. Type in "VAIO extended battery" on Google image search and you'll see what I mean.

Also, I just found out the REAL ship dates on the FW: August 4th. They're going to start assembling them on the 30th and shipping on the 4th. The CSR just got an e-mail about it as I was speaking to him.

He also told me to "tell my friends" to call him to buy the laptop. I don't know if he wants me posting his direct number on the internet, but if you really want to speak to a good CSR, private message me and I'll give you his number.

 

I have recently received my new FW notebook. user opinion coming shortly. Stay tuned..

 

Yeah! Will you post them here in this thread?