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Hands-On Video: Sony’s VAIO FW Series
July 14th, 2008 by Joanna Stern 
Boy, did we miss you, Sony notebooks. It’s been awhile since a Sony VAIO laptop hit our offices, so we were all open-arms when Sony’s VAIO FW Series arrived last week. Sporting Intel’s new Centrino 2 or Montevina platform, we spent the week putting the FW Series through the paces. Check out our full review of the system here.
But we also suggest you click the play button below to see a video of the FW Series in action. The system is the first to sport a 16.4-inch display (between the more-standard 15.4-inch 17-inch displays) and it has a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather than the 16:10 ratio on most other systems. The result is a sweet viewing experience, especially with our unit’s built-in Blu-ray player.
I forgot to mention the price in the video. Our review configuration costs $2,099.
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18 Responses to “Hands-On Video: Sony’s VAIO FW Series”
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July 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
The video is not playing on both firefox and ie.. pls fix it . Thanks
July 14th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
All fixed. Thanks!
July 14th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Thanks alot! Your resposne was blazing fast!
July 15th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Hmm… This laptop looks very intriguing. I was very close to ordering a CR for college and sacrificing graphics performance. I have a pretty specific budget of under $1500, and I could get this FW with everything I want for that much (T9400 processor, 3gb RAM, upgraded graphics). Only drawback is the estimated shipping date, all I found on Sony’s website was that it is “Shipping in early August”.
Does anyone have more information on this than “early August”?
July 19th, 2008 at 1:42 am
I ordered the configured FW version yesterday. I went with the white VAIO; packed with 2.53 GHz, 3 GB RAM, XBRITE HI-COLOR display, 160 Hard Drive. The jump from 3 GB to 4 GB RAM was $100 more, which did not make sense to me. 2.8 GHz even costs a lot more. But above all, it has the perfect “16.4″ inch screen. I always found 15 to be a little small, and 17 to be too big and heavy. The sweetest part is, by using my corporate discounts, I only ended up paying $1410.00 which includes tax and of course free shipping. That is way better than paying $1570.00 for the above configuration from Sony.com. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. By the way, GREAT REVIEW JOANNA. Thanks.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Muhtady, where did you buy it, plz tell me,
July 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Is the casing material for this laptop magnesium? I have an older sony laptop with the magnesium casing and it’s stood up to amazing amounts of abuse compared to a cheap plastic HP laptop I have
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 am
I ordered it at http://www.Sony.com. Since the FW model has not hit the market yet, you have to pre-order it through Sony’s website. The website also has 12 month financing and you also get a $100 Sony gift card for future purchases. They will ship the laptop first week of August. It is well worth the wait….
July 24th, 2008 at 1:24 am
what is “installation option”?? if i choose “none”, does my laptop work?? and when will they bring it to you Muhtady ??
July 25th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
I’m very intrigued by the Sony FW series. How would you say it compares to a MacBook Pro?
July 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
omggg, i so want to order it, but i cant because they dont ship it to estonia…
July 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
What are the max speeds of the BD/DVD writer combo??
July 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I brought this laptop recently . Overall it is really nice . I have one question though , when ever I am trying to open you tube video trying to maximize that , it is not showing up in the screen . Instead showing while screen with black diagonal bar ,
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:14 am
I faced the YouTube dilemma as well, it’s due to the new screen ratio. Fortunately, there is a very easy fix. Just right click on the YouTube video and disable “hardware acceleration”
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 am
you know i like ur demo, i want to buy more laptop like what u have..where i can buy it?,is there available here in Philippines?,so i could try ur nice Laptop..how much is the price?, even though its expensive i will buy it no matter what is it..tnx gud am NELFI
November 9th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I’ve recently got a VAIO FW140. It’s a great laptop, the only thing I will have to complain about is the uneven screen (dark at top, light at bottom), and a light white glare at the botton when seeing dark ambient movies.
January 29th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Hey there guys,
I am so confused as I am trying to choose between a Dell and a Sony FW. Thanx for all the responses – I came across this site,http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4524 have a read through, could explain your problem Ursula.
And what is the sound like guys?
They mention that its pretty low, like has to be on 100% and even still then its too soft.
(P.S not sure if its against any rules if I post the link – so if it is…then Soz!)
June 13th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I ordered my Vaio on the 8th of june dreading the estimated ship date of the 17th triped me out when my door bell rang yesterday the 12th and it was at my door already! i had just checked my order status that same morning and it still said the 17th. Could not be more satisfied with how quickly my order got expedited, even though the order status was not accurate, it was in my favor!