Sony VAIO FW Review

by Kevin O'Brien

The VAIO FW is a brand new Centrino 2 platform notebook from Sony, offering a much needed facelift, as well as a 16.4" widescreen. What sets this apart from other widescreen notebooks is the aspect ratio of the screen lets movie aficionados enjoy a video without ugly bars above and below the screen. Our full review gives you all the details you need to find out if this notebook is right for you.

Our Sony VAIO FW (vgn-fw198u) specifications:

• Screen: Sony XBRITE-HiColor 16.4" 1600 x 900 display, glossy
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• Operating System:Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (32-bit)
• Memory: 4GB RAM (only 3GB usable)
• Storage: 320GB HDD (5400rpm)
• Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW / BD-R DL
• Wireless: Intel 5100 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 w/ EDR
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 w/ 256MB
• Built-in web camera
• Battery: 4400mAh Li-Ion Battery
• Dimensions: 15.12" x 1.14"-1.45" x 10.27" (38.4cm x 2.9-3.7cm x 26.1cm)
• Weight: 6.83 lbs (3.1kg)
• Retail Price: $2,149

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Build and Design

The fit and finish of the Sony VAIO FW is wonderful, and the overall design is beautiful. The notebook has a streamlined sculpted look, and when opened has a palmrest and keyboard surround that looks like the graceful sloping surface of a car hood. The surface starts out flat, has a small dip, and then gracefully slopes down to the screen hinges. From working day in and day out at a ThinkPad, it is much easier on the eyes to say the least.


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Build quality is excellent, with the overall chassis feeling rigid and sturdy. Although thin at the very edges of the palmrest, you can pick the notebook up from the corner with minimal flex from the chassis. Even the super thin screen shows that quite a bit of effort went into making a durable design, as you are able to man-handle and even punch the back of the LCD panel and no ripples or distortion shows on the display.


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Screen

I have to say that my first impression of the true HD screen format was one of hatred. Another odd format I would have to get used to, and more odd screen designations to remember. I figured it would be just another gimmick ... but then I started to enjoy it. Outside of watching movies, the extra-wide wide screen is great for organizing many tasks on the screen, where a normal widescreen display just starts to feel crowded. Two documents side by side, a webpage next to a document, or even a webpage with my IM buddy list far off to the side. Of course it is nice for movies as well.

Moving past the widescreen experience and onto the LCD quality itself, it was rather disappointing on our review model. On anything but full brightness you could see a tunnel effect where the sides and corners were much darker thand the center of the screen. At full brightness it was more even, and was passed by early on. Not counting the tunneling effect, brightness range was more than adequate. I found the most comfortable setting at home to be 50-60% and 70-80% in the office. Anything above that it strained my vision.

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Colors appeared to be rich, if not slightly over saturated. Contrasted felt washed out, with black levels seemed to be leaning more towards grey/white. Watching a dark movie at high brightness became very distracting, especially with the unevenbacklight.

Viewing angles were better than what I have seen on some notebooks, with a larger sweet spot before colors started to invert or distort. Vertical range had about 45 degrees down and 35 degrees up before colors started to get funky. Horizontal viewing range was flawless besides a mild orange tint at extreme angles.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The "Macbook Style" keyboard on the Sony FW (yes, Sony did it first, but most people recognize this style of keyboard as a "Mac" keyboard) was delightful to type on once you got the hang of finger placement and distances between keys down. Spacing is just slightly off from a standard keyboard, and without the cupped keys, it can be difficult to type on the keyboard without some practice. That said, compared to other keyboard of similar design (Macbook, Macbook Air) the keyboard on the Sony FW was much nicer to type on.

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Key throw distances were about the same as most keyboards, and with each press came a soft click feeling. Support underneath the keyboard was great with little to no flex. It felt as if you could stand on the keyboard without making anything cave inward.

The touchpad surface was great, large enough for wide motions and sensitive for smooth sliding without having to adjust any settings. The touchpad buttons were the only drawback, being at the same height as the palmrest, and just barely off the surface of the touchpad. Finding the key without looking down usually ended with tapping the touchpad instead of the button.

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Movie Experience

True HD displays are basically what you have in your living room or TV room if you own an HDTV. 720P or 1080P screens are slightly shorter than what you usually find on a computer. For example on a WUXGA notebook has a resolution of 1920x1200, where as a Full HD 1080P screen is 1920x1080. This has to do with the way most movies are recorded, and in the end thinner or no bars at all showing up during a movie. Below I picked 3 Blu-ray titles from my collection, to give you a good idea of what you might expect to see on this screen format.

• Swordfish (2.40:1): Far from full widescreen, with almost 1 inch bars top and bottom.

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• The Prestige (2.35:1): Very similar to 2.40:1, huge bars.

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• Open Season (1.85:1): Almost fullscreen, just two thin bars top and bottom

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Ports and Features

Port selection on the Sony VAIO FW rates average, and one USB port less of perfection. Users have two video outputs (HDMI and VGA) for easy hookup to external monitors or your home theater HDTV. In some ways the design of the notebook hinders the port layout, as some curved locations which would be prime for an extra USB port end up being too small to work out. The ports and feature selection include the following:

• 10/100/1000 LAN
• Modem
• VGA
• HDMI
• FireWire
• ExpressCard/34
• Memory Stick Reader
• SD-Card Reader
• Headphone/Mic
• 3 USB Ports

Front: Activity Lights, Wireless On/Off, Memory Stick Reader, SD-Card Reader, Headphone/Mic

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Rear: Hinge

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Left: AC Power, Kensington Lock Slot, CPU Exhaust, LAN, Modem, VGA, HDMI, FireWire, ExpressCard/34

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Right: 3 USB, Optical Drive, Power On/Off

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Speakers and Audio

The speakers on the Sony FW were rather anemic. To enjoy a movie or game at normal volume levels meant putting everything to 100%, and still not being at the level you wanted it to be. Getting past volume levels, bass and midrange were entirely lacking, which is very disappointing for a multimedia oriented notebook.

For external audio, the headphone jack worked fine providing clear audio from what I could hear through my Sennheiser HD80 headphones. This option would be preferred over having to listen to the speakers. The third and probably best option for external audio is the HDMI port. The ATI 3470 graphics supported audio out through the HDMI port, and thus worked perfectly for enjoying your favorite movie on the big screen.

Performance

System performance was very good for most tasks not involving 3D graphics. Working with office productivity software, surfing the web, encoding video, or just looking through your iTunes library performed quite well without any lag. The disappointing part was trying to play semi-modern games such as Half-Life 2 or Portal, and getting very poor frame rates. The ATI 3470 graphics didn't really help with much besides offloading video decoding while enjoying a Blu-ray movie. I would have much rather seen a 3650 series graphics card, considering notebooks like the Toshiba A305 which fall into the same price category offer this. To give you a quick example of what the game play was like, here is my average FPS while playing HL2: Episode 2 and Portal.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1360x768, textures on low and most settings disabled): 18-23FPS depending on what scenery you were looking at. Extra characters on screen like enemies or gunfire brought it down even more.

Portal (1360x768, textures on medium and most settings disabled): 40FPS walking around, 28FPS looking through a portal. High action scenes where you are flying through the air slowed down even further into the low 20 range.

While you technically could lower the resolution even more to one of the lower 4:3 settings, you would be looking at a warped screen and really lose any fun while playing. Trying to play at the native 1600x900 was even worse than the scaled down resolution of 1360x768, with frame rate levels dropping by 5 or 10. For a notebook of this size and cost, it is a big letdown with no higher graphics option available.

WPrime 32M comparison results

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Sony VAIO FW (Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53GHz)	30.373s
Dell Studio 15 (Core 2 Duo T5750 @ 2.0GHz)	41.246s
HP Pavilion dv5z (Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80 @ 2.1GHz)	39.745s
Dell Vostro 1510 (Core 2 Duo T5670 @ 1.8GHz)	51.875s
Dell Inspiron 1525 (Core 2 Duo T7250 @ 2.0GHz)	43.569s
Dell XPS M1530 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.485s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Sony VAIO NR (Core 2 Duo T5250 @ 1.5GHz)	58.233s
Toshiba Tecra A9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	38.343s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
HP Pavilion dv6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 measures overall notebook performance based on processor, hard drive, operating system, RAM, and graphics (higher scores are better):

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	6,002 PCMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	3,998 PCMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	3,994 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)	3,568 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	4,149 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	5,412 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	4,616 PCMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	3,283 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results for graphics performance (higher scores are better):

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Sony VAIO FW (2.53GHz Intel T9400, ATI Radeon HD 3470)	2,598 3DMarks
Dell Studio 15 (2.0GHz Intel T5750, Intel X3100)	493 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv5z (2.1GHz Turion X2 Ultra ZM-80, ATI Radeon HD 3200)	1,599 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1510 (1.8GHz Intel T5670, Intel X3100)	519 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1525 (2.0GHz Intel T7250, Intel X3100)	545 3DMarks
HP Pavilion dv6500z (2.0GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60, NVIDIA 8400m GS)	1,551 3DMarks
Sony VAIO NR (1.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5250, Intel X3100)	504 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1530 (2.20GHz Intel T7500, Nvidia 8600M GT 256MB)	4,332 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1520 (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA 8600M GT)	2,905 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks

HDTune results:

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Battery Life

Working away from a power outlet was not a fun activity with this configuration that included a 4400mAh battery. In the balanced profile with the screen brightness set to 60%, I squeezed out 2 hours and 39 minutes before the notebook shut itself down. Watching a Blu-ray movie decreased the battery life further, putting me into the range of a movie, with enough time to safely shutdown once the film ended ... figure 2 hours and 10 minutes overall. The one thing I can say though, if you have the option to select the extended battery, get it.

Charging times were slower than what I am accustomed to, taking almost 30 minutes to go from dead up to 15%. Most notebooks would get into the 30-40% range in this amount of time.

Heat and Noise

Temperatures on your lap felt slightly above that of the average Core 2 Duo notebook with dedicated graphics. Some of this might relate to a fairly laid back cooling system that liked to keep the fan off or at very low speeds unless the system was under severe stress. Lap performance would score probably a C-, making my legs sweat after about an hour of surfing the web on the balanced profile. Fan noise at low and high speed was minimal and in a quiet room the notebook would not stand out.

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Conclusion

The VAIO FW is a great step forward for Sony, and a worthy competitor to the Dell Studio 15 or even the Toshiba A305. The design is great, but more importantly the build quality is excellent. It feels solid, with a reasonably firm screen cover and keyboard that feels as if a child could walk across it. Performance was more than adequate in every area except 3D performance, but hopefully Sony decides to offer a higher performing graphics card as an option at a later date. The only real flaw that stood out to me was the screen, with its uneven backlight. Hopefully this is a preproduction unit flaw, and not something that shows up on shipping models.

Pros

• Great design
• Solid build quality
• Extra-Widecreen (neat for movies and more perceived screen real estate)
• Comfortable keyboard once you get used to it

Cons

• Battery life with smaller battery is poor
• LCD backlight unevenness
• Speakers sound rather anemic

 

Here we go again--why does the first paragraph state that there will not be black bars on this laptop's 16:9 display while watching movies? That is absolutely untrue. You cannot display a movie in 1:85 or 2.35:1 format (of which just about all movies are) on a 1.78:1 display and not have at least a little black bar. The only kind of programming that will fit on this laptop's display without black bars is anything that is made for HDTV, which also has a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The statement is just plain wrong.

 

thx for review,but i think that this laptop needs a better video card

 

Just pointing out what Sony claims with this notebook and screen format.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...Id=8198552921644570896&parentCategoryId=16154

First paragraph on the page

 

At least the rest of the review correctly covers the black bar issue.

 

Kevin, why do you think the temperature is so high under the touch pad? This was one of the first things I noticed when I played around with this computer at a local store. What is underneath the touchpad that would make that area hotter than any other area on top of the computer? (according to your measurements the touch pad is even hotter than the area where the processor and heat sink are in the top left corner!)

 

That's where the WiFi card is located ... which produces a fair amount of heat.

 

Nice review! I am a little surprised the screen quality is not what I hoped it would be. Well, made my other purchase even sweeter

 

Thanks for the review.

Could you please indicate the battery voltage and Watt-hour capacity? Amp-hours doesn't tell the whole story since I have seen notebook batteries with 10.8V, 11.1V and 14.4V. What size and rating are the power supply?

I consider the location of all 3 USB ports - next to where most people would place their mouse - to be somewhat inconvenient.

If you place two documents side-by-side on this display, can you read the text?

John

 

Battery is rated at 11.1V

 

Just saw this on Newegg's Back to School sale:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117792&Tpk=34-117-792

Pretty cheap although it doesn't have Blu-ray or the overkill CPU.

 

Currently available cheaper at Best Buy.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...=01&srccode=cii_5766179&cpncode=17-14759944-2

The FW looks like a very decent attempt from Sony for a somewhat cheap multimedia laptop.

 

I was worried that the video card wouldn't perform that great after seeing the 4.6 rating in vista. Hoping sony adds a higher spec card in NA.

 

How does it handle heat if you are doing CPU intesive work? (HD encoding?) Does it get hot and noisy?

 

Was that an ECO screen or a HiColor screen?

 

Kevin,

You state in the review "Contrast felt washed out, with black levels seemed to be leaning more towards grey/white. Watching a dark movie at high brightness became very distracting, especially with the unevenbacklight."

I'm a little confused. You say at high brightness you get poor blacklevels. But is this really so shocking? Anytime you crank an LCD to full brightness and watch a dark movie (particularly on a double-lamp LCD that is as bright as this one) you are going to get washout. Only $8000 Pioneer plasmas have blacklevels that can handle that. Also, you said that 70% brightness is about as much as you could handle without eyestrain. How bright was it set when you observed the poor blacklevels?

Also, you say poor blacklevels "became very distracting, especially with the unevenbacklight". But didn't you say just above that that the uneven backlighting was minimal at high brightness.

Also, your screenshots of the three movies do not show poor blacklevels or uneven backlighting (even in the black bars). They actually look pretty good. Can you please demonstrate the problem with a screenshot from a dark movie? And is this really significantly different than other screens such as Dell XPS LED or Sony SZ LED or even a Sony XBR4 HDTV for that matter?

Many of us had been hoping that this new screen would be gorgeous for photographic work and Blu-ray playback so a little clarification would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Kevin,

Another point of consternation with the review. The temps on the bottom of the case are actually quite low compared to other notebooks...basically the highest being about 94 F. The Dells, HPs, and MacBooks are much higher as I recall.

 

I don't notice it being any warmer than my Dell 1520 , I have the FW139E/H. Picked it up Sunday.

 

It is hard to show a picture of a faintly grey black level next to a bright image, which is why the images of the movie screenshots did not really show this off.

There were actually 2 backlighting problems. One was the tunneling effect which was shown, another was a mixture of washed out black levels which formed uneven sections on the screen. The last problem was not really easy to capture.

Attached are 4 images, two unedited, and two with brightness/contrast adjusted and areas pointed to which show the backlight cutoff points I am referring to. You can kind of see them in the unedited picture, but trying to capture it with a camera was more difficult than seeing it with your own eye in person. The lines go up and own the screen, splitting it into sections roughly 25% of total width.

I didnt bring the FW home with me tonight, but I can take some side by side shots of the notebook up against my Sony KDL-40v3000 and ThinkPad T60 to show the black level differences.

In a way the backlight problems remind me of the problems that plagued my previous Sony KDL-40v2500 which had tons of backlighting problems.

EDIT: attached pictures are of a solid "black" screen

 

Yeah...I see what you mean. Capturing it with a camera will be hard but with a little tweak courtesy of Gimp, you can see what Kevin is talking about in the first pic.

To see it for yourself either click the link or attachment below or save the first image( in Kevin's post )to you computer and use photo editing/enhance software like Gimp(Free)...just open the image-duplicate the layer and change the layer mode to 'Multiply'.

http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/7365/kofwaq3.jpg

BTW, thanks for the review.

 

Why is only 3GB of RAM usable? Also, what are the max speeds of the combo BD/DVD burner?

 

The system came with 32bit Vista instead of 64bit, so it can only work with 3GB.

 

Ouch!! Those first 2 photos look pretty dismal. Well, I've got the exact same FW configuration shipping tomorrow from Sony so I'll have to look out for the problem. This could be a deal breaker...I knew I should have gone for something with with an LED backlit display (Dell XPS 1530 comes to mind). Dang.

Thanks, Kevin.

 

From what I've read on others reviews, hicolor screen is really good, so I do hope it's only a problem with the preproduction unit !

From laptopmag :
"Image quality from the 1600 x 900 panel is stunning"

From pcmag
"[...]to incorporate a breathtaking 16.4-inch screen[...]"


TetonWolf, please let us know what you think of the screen when you'll get your FW.

 

doesn't the sony have a brighter screen than the asus?
i didn't think the asus was double lamp

 

wow those screenshots look pretty bad. They remind me of Sharp LCD TVs that suffer from banding... come to think of it, I remember reading about Sony starting to use Sharp panels in their TVs a while ago, though I don't know if they started to do that yet (i think they're still using panels from their S-LCD venture with Samsung). Don't know what they're using in their laptops...

 

wow, I don't remember FZ being so bad with black color. Anyway, I looked black screen of my new laptop and it looks normal, other then small light blead from the bottom.

 

Hopefully this is a preproduction problem.

Funny you mention that. I am pretty sure we may have received seconds from one of those other sources. Chances are fairly good this was a previously reviewed model.

 

Incidentally, the FW is quite a speed demon...the numbers are as good as I can remember for just about any previous mainstream laptop. Congrats on that Sony!!
Now please resist chiming in "but the GPU sux"!! It's plenty good for the intended uses of the machine. If you really gotta play, dial it down to 1024x768.

 

I agree. It's surprising that the reviews are so varied on the screen. I would think Sony would put a good screen on their multimedia notebook which is focused on widescreen movie watching...

Not to imply that this screen was not as described, but I'm hoping this is just the one review unit.

 

why oh why didn't they get a 1920x1080 screen in this system? That is absolutely ridiculous to advertise this system as Full 1080p ready when that is definitely not the case.

 

1080p because it outputs 1080p through HDMI. Duhhh.

 

Most people recognize it that way because most people don't know about the Vaio X505 ( review).

Since you do seem to know, you're giving credit to the wrong company by calling it "Macbook Style keyboard", in my opinion.

 

Kevin, how easy is it to open the hard drive access panel? I remember that the previous FZ, it is not so easy to do so. You have to use something like a credit card to slide it open.

 

This notebook seems to be a step forward for Sony. I personally do not like the design, though I admit I need to see this for myself.
The 16:9 screen needs some perfecting . . . subpar black levels and uneven backlighting are a not ideal for movie watching. As I noted before, I don't like the reduced vertical resolution, though the resolution is certainly much better than the groveling 1280x800 screens that dominate BB/CC.

I'll take what Kevin/NBR says over the people at PCMag or any other mainstream consumer electronics sites. Their reviews are underwhelming, and that's almost a compliment.

 

I'm curious as to why Acer offers a 1920x1080 screen option with their 16" Gemstone 6920 and Sony did not. Alhough the FW has a Blu-Ray burner option and Acer has a read-only drive.

I think Sony did this because they don't want to hurt sales of their 17" AR series.

 

I purchased the FW a week ago, and I'm afraid I regret it. I wanted to cover some things that weren't covered in the review, to prevent anyone else from buying this machine too hastily...

This laptop is all the more frustrating for what it could have been. The screen is incredible, and the aspect ratio isn't all hype - I really did find it more convenient in day to day use, and incredible for movies.

The keyboard is wonderful. The trackpad is too - it has soft feel that doesn't stick to your fingers like the HP trackpads do.

This machine could have been perfect, if not for one serious design flaw and a couple of chintzy cost saving measures.

The big issue is the lid. There are only two rubber balls (in the corners) to seperate the lid from the wristpad when the lid is closed. Almost all other machines with screens this wide have at least 3 (and usually 4) rubber balls, and there's a good reason for that. With only two tiny rubber balls in the corners, the top of the lid rubs against the wristpad when it is closed.

Since (inexplicably) only the outside of the computer is magnesium, the cheap silver finish over plastic on the inside has rubbed off AFTER LESS THAN A WEEK of light use.

That's right. I've used this machine lightly for less than a week, and already there are dull scratches and discoloration all along the wristpad wherever the lid touches it. Ridiculous. Now, despite many strengths, I want to take it back. It looks friggin cheap.

A couple of other issues too. The power brick is ridiculously large. Much bigger than the one that used to power my HP 17" machine. Like big enough to power a 1950's soviet refrigerator big. You should definitely take a look at it in the store before you buy. Though the computer itself doesn't weigh more than at 15" inch model, the brick probably adds 3 pounds.

Also, the mouse buttons are loud. Like, bother other people in the coffeehouse loud. You can work around it by tapping the pad instead, but it's a pain.

Finally, the cd rom drive rattles like an old truck when in use.

It makes me mad. This machine is probably about $25 worth of components away from perfect. But to save that $25, Sony turned a five-star machine into a 3-star machine. Shoot. An extra .50 cents worth of rubber feet would've gained it a star.

For anyone who purchases this computer, I strongly suggest gluing a couple of extra rubber balls to the top BEFORE you damage the finish.

 

I recommend getting a screen protector like this for any laptop. It's necessary even if they have 4 rubber balls.

 

That's an interesting point and not mentioned in the review specs. What is the size and rating of the PSU (and weight if you can find some scales)? I always give the travel weight (computer + PSU + power cables) in my reviews. Sony are capable of producing some small and light PSUs (I was impressed with the PSU for my Sony G11) while Zepto provided a 90W PSU for a notebook with itengrated graphics. It simplifies their inventory. Maybe Sony doesn't think that FW owners will want to move their computer around.

John

 

System weight / Weight with AC adapter 6.2/7.0 pounds

according to http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/sony-vaio-vgn-fw140/4505-3121_7-33088924.html

video wich includes the ac adapter - http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-on-video-sonys-vaio-fw-series

I have to choose new notebook soon and unfortunately I don't see any alternatives=(. Maybe it's because I get used to 16.1 inch my previous sony vaio with resolution 1440х1050... But I need hi-res screen + montevina + weight under 7lbs.

BTW, FW has some more very important fails like audio jacks in front - how can i use it like a desktop replacement? will have to buy Bluetooth gadget for speakers. ALL usb ports on the right - i'm not left-handed and for sure i will use mouse. The decision is VX nano logitech. How can turn on my printer or external hard drive? Of course the problem can be shooted by purchasing right-angeled usb A to A cable. But why do they make so many stupid things if this notebook aims to be a desktop replacement somehow.

sorry for my eng.=(

 

The power brick is actually small for its power output, and under the size of the Dell 90W power brick in overall volume and weight. I think some of you might be trying to compare it against smaller bricks with lower wattage ratings for models with integrated graphics.

Sony brick (no AC cord attached): 14oz
Dell brick (no AC cord attached): 14.5oz

EDIT: Both are 90W (the sony is technically 91.65W)

 

Janders4, could you post a picture or two?

I had a problem w/ the mouse buttons too. Not the sound, but the stiffness. My other laptops are just much easier to click.

Is it possible to set the trackpad up to right-click by tapping on it, or using 2 fingers, or whatever?

 

Oh, that doesn't look bad at all.

Anyone know if it would be possible to use the Dell 'slim' adapter with the FW?

 

Regarding the AC adapter, I'm comparing it to the 90 watt adapter I used to power my 17" HP. Though not much (if any) heavier, it is about 25% larger, and the cord is only about 6 six feet, which is almost always just a little too short. I've attached a picture for comparison. It's too big to fit in the ac adapter pocket of my 17" laptop computer bag. Maybe not as big as some of the other manufacturers, but it's still way bigger than I think it needs to be. Look at the size of the apple adapters some time...

Regarding the scratches, I've posted a pic of those as well, but I took it with my camera phone and you can barely see them. Though not too noticeable yet, I've only had the machine a week, and the scratches come from 3 trips to the coffeeshop when it was closed in my bag. Don't suspect it will age well.

The big issue was the lid, and if you take precautionary steps that might not be a problem for other people. It just seems silly not to include enough rubber feet on something that costs over a grand...

p.s. apparently you can't attatch pictures on this site (only link to pictures online elsewhere), so no pics...

 

It's under additional options and then attach files.

 

Please keep us posted, TetonWolf.

 

Been using the FW139E about a week now, here is some of my thoughts.

Good:
1. The big screen is pretty nice for normal use
2. nice design, looks modern
3. good keyboard and track pad
4. performance is good (got a dell xps m1710 before this don't really feel much difference, can handle WoW at 1600x900 pretty well)

Bad
1. some problem with the 16:9 ratio (old games don't support it, like warcart3:tft only can play with 1024x768 max, can't play youtube with fullscreen, it will just go black)
2. although it looks nice, I do feel little cheap with mostly plastic
3. usb and cdrom all on the wrong side, they really should move both to the left hand side, front headphone might cost some problem too
4. the speaker is really not that great

Although not perfect, think it is still a decent buy for casual gamer.

 

Hmmmm, my FZ has two rubber foots around motion eye camera, aside from ones on corners. And headphone jacks are on side (high quality ones, too) - palmrests are holding up better, as well (lots of magnesium, yay). Combined with weak GPU in US/Japan, It is unfortunate that they took few steps back from FZ - especially since it still is quite small/lightweight machine (in size/weight of ASUS's 15.4 models) for the screen size you get.

 

FWIW my FW11E has little black rubber feet on either side of the Motion Eye as well as ones in the corners of the lid. No sign of any marking but I haven't had it a week yet.

Although everybody says the GPU (3470) is poor, all the games I've tried so far run silky smooth at 1600x900 on default setttings (and I've got a 8800 GTX in my desktop so I know what decent performance looks like), I was expecting the worst with the GPU based on comments but I've been pleasantly surprised.

The FW runs way cooler than the FE21M it is replacing which I have opened up and cleaned in the last month.

 

ff7892001, you said that youtube videos cannot be played in full screen.

I am planning to configure-to-order and buy the FW with x-brite hicolor and the ati graphics card. I researched on the net abt this youtube issue. It is happening with other monitors (probably all high-end ones) too. From what I gathered, people have reported this to be related to the ati graphics card....might be that coupled with the high resolution. but there's a solution to that.

it seems that if u right-click on the video (in small-screen not fullscreen), go into the flash settings and remove the tick-mark on the 'hardware acceleration' box, the problem does get resolved.

can anyone facing this problem try that and post reply here? it will be really appreciated as I watch a lot of fullscreen youtube. Thats going to influence my decision heavily. In your reply, please mention if the video becomes choppy after that. I hope not...with the fast graphics on this, that wud be a shame.

thx in advance