Sony's 16.4-inch VAIO FW laptop gets previewed
By Darren Murph 
posted July 28th 2008 6:25AM
posted July 28th 2008 6:25AM
Update: CNET has a full review of the unit.
posted July 28th 2008 6:25AM
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looks great but gonna be expensive as all vaio's are
I dunno about that, i got my FZ vaio with blu-ray, 2GB of RAM, 200GB HDD, Nvidia 8400M, etc, all for £699, which, being the UK, is cheap
You got me there Jamma that is a pretty good deal especially with the bluray and all that.
Was it refurbished, or did you buy it off someone? Cuz either of those don't count.
@ Ellianth
Neither, it was brand new, off a proper UK retailer called CCL Computers.
The only slight negative with the deal is that the CPU is only 2.0GHz, but since it's an Core 2 Duo, it doesn't matter too much
According to the cnet article, their test version was $1150 and base configurations start around $1000. Say...250-350 for BR? Even going up to $500 for BR still puts this in the palatable range, but that figure would likely turn people off to BR, so it's probably lower.
Dan Ackerman at CNET (guy who reviewed this laptop) is fuckin stupid...he says the procesor wasnt impressive (or slower) as compared to earlier processors from intel
this guy compared the FW (with P8400 2.26GHz proc with integrated graphics card 3GB ram) with the likes of asus, hp and gateway which either had T9300 processor (which is 2.5GHz and has 6mb cache with a dedicated graphics card & 4gb/3gb ram) or had a dedicated video memory graphics card (with T8300 2.4GHz proc)...this would obviously result in the sony being slower
yes the new proc has 1066MHz of FSB but still the other configurations(800MHz) will obviously outdo it
this guy should fuckin look at the specs before comparing
Base model FW11E is £799 P8400 3gb ram 250gb hdd dvdrw
FW11L is £849 same spec but with Blu-ray combo and 2gb ram
FW11M is £949 i think (can't quite remember) adds 4gb ram
FW11S is £1199 adds 300gb and BD writer
FW11ZU is £1299 has faster P9400 proc and Radeon 3650
Fairly good value in the lower specs for Centrino 2 and Blu-ray they are also fairly slim and don't feel too heavy, the screen is awesome quality.
@Vidit:
Yeah, he isn't the smartest monkey on fire. He actually said that the EEE was a better deal than the Wind because it was just a little bit faster due to the SSD... not considering the fact that the Wind is 100 dollars CHEAPER and has more HD space, not to mention better built with a better keyboard.
My advice, steer clear of CNET for most reviews.
With more ram, (3Gb is not usual on laptops)
it sure is faster.
Oh wow... that IS beautiful.
If you want something the size of a Texas dinner platter on your lap. It's HUGE!
looks like a Apple MacBook Air - just bigger (and with more power)
In what way, beyond the fact that it has a keyboard and screen? Frankly, it looks a lot like a lot of laptops, let alone the MacBook Air.
looks like a Sony Laptop - just bigger (and with more power)
Seriously dude, this is a pretty typical look for Sony. Apple didn't invent the wheel, they just overcharged for it.
nice shape, but why do they always keep the trackpad so small...would be very nice to have a larger one.
That's what she said!
Nooooooooooooooooooooo you don't want a large trackpad, you'd never har the end of it from the mactards!!
Beautiful on my planet is only what works beautifully.
BTW on my planet there are only laptops. Not hot chicks.
That keyboard profile looks verrry familliar to me...
You're right, it looks exactly like the Sony X505 from over 4 years ago!
You mean like all the other sony laptops? Including the ones that came out before the macbook? :)
Your comment was similar to what Stevie Wonder says everytime he touches a piano...
"i cant see!"
The Macbook air looks like the Sony, seriously why does everyone think Apple were the first to use that keyboard style?
I like the styling, most of Sony's new range kind of look like they took a Vaio TZ series and expanded it to fit even more stuff in to.
I have a Vaio FZ31Z - exactly similar specs (except screen of 15.4). and includes a Blue Ray RW.
I didnt like the Keyboard that much comapred to my previou still running great Vaio FS series.
Out of 4 GB (MAX RAM) you cannot use more than 3 GB in these Laptops as 1 GB is reserved for internal and thats the drawback! Vista is bit slow though it shows a fairly large performance index and Vista runs faster on my old FS 1.73 Ghz 2 GB system :-) well now I demoted both the laptops to XP.
Looks nice, but I don't like the trend with these ultra wide screens that they are introducing. Vertical space is reduced below what I consider "acceptable" and this for the shake of Film Industry!!!
Oh come on people.... let Film Industry change their aspect ratio... not PCs!
I've been thinking about this - we "see" in widescreen (i.e. without moving our eye we see more side-to-side than we do top-to-bottom) so it's no coincidence that this is the way things are going - the cinema industry had just led the way on providing this immersive experience of using a good amount of our visual field.
What I think there should be agreement on, though, is the fairly narrow gap between 16:9 and 16:10 for screen sizes so that my laptop and TV have the same res. And I'd also like to see a TV manufacturers produce a 2.35:1 TV so that movies can be played full screen without the big black bars. Unfortunately, 2.35:1 would make for stupid sized laptops so it's not going to work as a universal standard.
Just think of it as a little more room at the sides. ;)
Now if they could just get a 9650M GS in that. It would make my next laptop choice easy.
you mean the faulty nvidia chips??
Tip of the hat to Sony, strong lineup.
Note to laptop manufacturers:
Once you finally start shipping laptops without crapware installed on them, can you go one stage further and stop slapping stickers all over the place? Contrary to what you might think, they are not the equivalent of "go faster stripes" and they ruin what your talented designers have worked for.
Thanks.
I couldn't have said it better myself
my fingers always hurt after getting a new laptop from the incessant picking at the lame stickers.
Hint: once you have them off, a cleaner called Goo Gone takes the sticker glue right off (available at most hardware stores...in Canada at least).
goo gone has helped me out so many times. it seems like everything I have bought with the exception of the samsung yp-p2 has had some shitty hard to remove sitcker on it that leaves that residue.
or if you go to your friends place and see their computers still have the original stickers on them like 8 months later . . . infuriating. they are all black and shitty around the edges and for some reason when I offer to take them off they'll say something like "oh I dont know" or "I dont really think about it"
fools
do u realize how massive FAIL you are?
I didn't know the 3470 could get 2600 points in 3dmark06
or 3670?
I just saw this laptop at BestBuy last night. It is very nice, but i still like the m1530 better.
Title should read: "Sony Vaio gets Aired."
If I have to explain that, you're clearly not an Apple fanboy :)
wtf
Too bad their computers are difficult to work with, especially their drivers and support. I can vouch for this with my ongoing Help Desk job at Penn State, sure the laptop may be neat, but Im wary of one that has such poor support. And btw, I don't like Macs if you were wondering.
:)
esupport.sony.com - I work as a campus tech as well, and Sony's driver support is better than anyone else. Go to that website, type in the laptop model, and voila.
FIRST! to downvote you.
Combine one part Air, one part MacBook Pro, and one part Vaio. Blend until nice consistent mixture. Pour into 16" baking dish and heat at 1000 degrees for approximately 2-4 months. Enjoy!
Why does everyone coming along think that his is similar to the Macbooks? Seriously have you not been watching the computer industry for more then 2 years?
No man I haven't. I've only been watching the computer industry for the past 15-20 minutes.
It was a joke.
Could have fooled me.