Sony @ CES - The Vaio FS
By Peter Rojas 
posted Jan 7th 2005 7:58PM
posted Jan 7th 2005 7:58PM
You know we're a sucker for a sleek-looking lightweight laptop, and so of course we had to snap a pic of Sony's new Vaio FS laptop, which was also announced the other day in Japan as the Vaio Type F. Not sure whether there are any substantive differences between the two lines yet, but we know for sure that the FS that's coming out here has a 15.4-inch widescreen display, support for Intel's new Sonoma chipset (ups the frontside bus speed to 533MHz and adds DDR2 RAM and PCI Express to the mix). Should retail for about $1,600 when it comes out.
These are going to be first out of the gate with the GeForce Go 6200. Nice.
Doom 3 at 60fps.
anyone got a link to the specs?
If you go to Sony's press release announcing the FS notebook, it says that it is Centrino-based, not Sonoma. Also, a pretty underwhelming 1280x800 resolution for a 15.4 inch screen. Check it out here,
http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/5501
Found the specs to the two FS models, VGN-FS550 and VGN-FS550P.
http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/lc/vaio//pdfs/FS550P_Spec.pdf
http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/lc/vaio//pdfs/FS550P_Spec.pdf
Based on the specs listing the bus speed as 533MHz, it appears to be a Sonoma chipset but uses integrated Intel graphics. Way to cut corners, Sony.
#4, Sonoma is a processor in the Centrino line of Processors. Also, that's the average resolution for a 15.4 widescreen laptop.
I just wish that Sony starts making tablet pc
People...do your homework...
Sonoma is the codename for the new version of Centrino..."Centrino" (and "Sonoma") are not physical products. Rather, they are a specific combination of products which (together) make up a "Centrino" system.
Take a 533FSB Pentium M processor, 802.11a/b/g wireless, and the 915 processor and you have "Centrino"...If you lack any of these, the system IS NOT Centrino.
The FS series Sony notebooks are definitely "Sonoma" based PCs. The 1280x800 XBrite 15.4" widescreen looks absolutely amazing in person. Between the 533MHz FSB, the DDR2 memory and the Pentium M processor with 2MB L2 cache - the FS series is rather speedy by most standards. The Intel 915G chipset's integrated graphics are DirectX 9 capable and Avalon ready. Had Sony chosen to add in an ATI Radeon graphics chip with at least 128MB DDR dedicated memory, they would have been able to blow away any competition that came down the pipe. As it stands now, as long as you're not a die-hard gamer with extremely high-end graphical requirements, the FS series will more than suit your needs. It's future-proof right out of the box. I can say all of this with confidence - because I am writing these comments on a Sony VAIO VGN-FS550 right at this moment. : )
Extremely nice notebook. Go get one, you won't be sorry!
I just bought this computer FS 500 fully loaded - First of all the memory (according to the website) is DDR 333 based not DDR2 533 Mhz as claimed by some people on this blog. Secondly, the 1280x800 is not enough for a 15.4' screen. Many manufacturers from Dell to HP offer higher resolutions. Great potential bu very disapointed by Sony cutting corners with this notebook. This one is going back.
Seems to be a battery problem with some of the FS laptops - once you take the battery out and put it back on - it doesnt charge or work properly. I know cause I've had 2 replacements already!
can you help me decide between hp4000 and sony fs740. same price and specs.
someone please help me decide between hp4000 and fs740
The FS-570 is the best laptop I have ever used and it has heaps of performance as you would expect from a Vaio machine. Checked out the macs first but this one caught my eye. The Xbrite screen is fantastic.The only thing that lets them down is Sony support..It sucks.
After purchasing a copy of "GPU Gems 2", I was looking for a reasonably priced laptop which had a GeForce 6 series GPU on which I could do some programming. By chance, I got a good deal on a nearly new FS285M (returned coz of HDD fault).
The build quality is excellent and the X-black screen is the best I have ever seen. The GeForce Go 6200 gives an admirable performance with its 32Mb local and 96Mb shared memory architecture. In fact, it is faster than its desktop counterpart. Although the Vaio FS-series doesn't come with DDR2 memory as standard, I don't this matters too much. As laptop HDDs are quite slow, I would prefer to have 1Gb of DDR than 512Mb of the more expensive DDR2. I know some people think Sony have a tendency to skimp a bit, but overall I think this model is well-balanced.