HomeSpeakersSony VAIO VGN-FW373J/B 16.4-Inch Laptop - Black |
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 Questionable build and a questionable warranty!! Mar 10, 2010
Whilst beautiful, the materials used in the construction of this machine are questionable. Within mere months of ownership you will note that the wrist pad, which consumes a large surface area of the machine, will scratch and scuff away leaving black plastic underneath. The reason being is that the outer skin comprises of VERY cheap plastic and NOT magnesium, carbon fibre, steel or any other rhetoric quoted by Sony. The screen will also probably fail (check Google).
To top this off ALL Sony Vaio F and FW series machines carry a limited 1 year warranty. Limited meaning that if you buy a machine in the USA, THE WARRANTY WILL BE INVALID OUTSIDE OF THE USA.
WARNING: Do not buy this machine if you require a durable laptop (i.e. one that will last longer than 36months)
WARNING: Do not buy this machine if you are a traveller as it will not be repaired when it fails.
WARNING: Do not buy this machine if you are a non-US resident as it will not be repaired when it fails.
If you require the above, purchase a HP as these machines enjoy a worldwide warranty.
Wish I'd spent twice the money on the Macbook Pro Jan 03, 2010
I bought this because of the blu-ray player, and because of the fairly advanced video card (I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop a lot) 8 months ago. Within 3 weeks, the blu-ray player had stopped working due to a software "AACS key" issue. It took Sony over 4 months to provide updated software on their support site.
Running Vista, this machine is slower than a 3-year-old Pentium 5 notebook I'd replaced.
I upgraded to Vista to solve the speed problem, and that works for me as an OS. It took only 2-1/2 months for Sony to issue compatible softward for the blu-ray player. However, Sony has failed to issue Windows 7-compatible drivers for many of the components--e.g., the video card, which means that you don't get hi-def out of the blu-ray player, and that you get the "blue screen of death" crash fairly often. (Windows 7 reports the crash as being due to the video driver.)
Sony Support is awful. I have tried to do one last re-install of Windows 7 to see if I could resolve all the outstanding issues with the computer, and their servers have been down or impaired for days, making it impossible to download drivers from their sites. Chat with tech support on any of these issues has proven useless.
My sister had a Sony laptop for years and never had any problem with it. I've had nothing but problems with this one and regret the purchase. Caveat emptor.
 Good for Casual Users, bad for Technical Users Oct 05, 2009
I won't repeat specifications - they're all listed and as advertised and as others have reviewed.
On the plus side:
* Good specifications and nice design for the price. Effectively a Mac package for a lower price.
* Windows 7 (beta) installed and ran well - without even having to reload all the special Sony drivers.
* The keyboard has a good feel and is suitable for fast, efficient, comfortable typing.
* Has firewire. Yes, this is in the specs, but while most laptops used to have this, they don't all nowadays.
and this came in handy when downloading some video from a Sony DV camcorder.
On the negative side:
* While the P8600 cpu has VT / hardware virtualization Sony has disabled it - astonishing as it sounds.
VT isn't needed for consumer use, but it is needed for certain technical uses (such as the improved virtual machine software use or the special XP mode emulation available in Windows 7)
It seems to be the case that Sony did that in order to secure a lower price for the hardware. You canNOT re-enable it by BIOS. I've found a site that claims to have a hack / firmware workaround - but i haven't tested it yet.
* You canNOT use both the HDMI and VGA outputs at the same time. I chose the Sony in the hope that I could attach two external monitors (while disabling the on-screen monitor - I've never seen on-board + two externals) My previous Acer could do this trick which is great when using the laptop in desktop mode. Like the Acer, this Sony has ATI video and AMI BIOS. and the ATI Radeon is certainly capable of two externals. Again Sony seems to have disabled this (or not gone to the trouble of wiring it correctly) I first realized this when I saw (in person) that the VGA and HDMI ports are so close
that you can't fit both simultaneously. I hack-sawed the VGA connector so they would both fit, but the BIOS still doesn't allow it.
* There are just 3 USB ports (I knew this when I bought it, but it is still irritating) and they badly positioned. All three are
together towards the front right and they're too close (Some combinations of USB connectors will not fit side by side) . Two on either side is a minimum these days.
* No E-SATA ( yes that's listed, but also still irritating)
* The memory stick reader does not accept my camera's XD memory cards (no problem with SD and the others listed)
* I sometimes use the on-board keyboard even though I connect an external one, but the computer does not maintain a separate num-lock state for each. The external is always on numlock so whenever i press U,I,O, etc on the on-board they come out as numbers. Actually, most laptops do this, but i did have a one before which kept them separate.
There's plenty of room on the laptop for Sony to have added a numeric keypad (even while leaving the well spaced main keyboard) but they chose not to.
* Despite the specifications, it's no screamer nor major improvement over my previous Core duo T2500 from several years ago. Though I suppose it's the same as any currently, similarly spec'ed machine and there's probably not many dramatically faster laptops available at this time.
While they make fine 'consumer' user laptops, as a technical user I would try to avoid a Sony in the future and would look harder at the Acer and ASUS line-ups.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great laptop!! I always buy Sony. Jun 13, 2009
I am very happy with my new Sony Vaio (VGN-FW373J/H). The only problem I have been having is some companies haven't bothered to update their drivers. Epson is one example. I have a scanner that works perfectly with Windpws XP, but now I can't use it on the my new laptop because they haven't made a new driver for Vista 64bit. Lame Epson! Very lame! This is not a Microsoft or Sony problem so I am not blaming them in any way. But, I just wanted to make people aware that some companies aren't updating their drivers which means you will have to buy new hardware when you switch to Vista.
Our second Vaio, and no turning back! Jun 12, 2009
Vaio has come light years from our first, purchased in 2000. It lasted almost 9 years with very few problems along the way but finally had insufficient memory for our current needs. This VGN-FW373J is beautifully designed, fast, light, and includes many user friendly keyboard features. We have been amazed watching movie DVD's (high definition, making our flat screen TV less appealing since we can't take that to bed) and streaming other online programs. We give it a top rating and will buy another soon.
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