Intel’s famous and long-awaited Montevina platform (now officially known as Centrino 2) was just launched around one and a half months ago, on July the 15th, the first products based on it arriving almost at same time with the official announcement. And one of these early implementations of Montevina is the Sony Vaio FW notebook, a 16.4-inch portable computing system that was officially launched back in mid-July and that brought to the market a few very interesting features, mostly related to the design and multimedia playback and less to other activities involving a notebook (such as gaming).
We’re not saying that the FW is not gaming-capable, but the truth of the matter is that it’s mainly designed for those people who want to surf the web, view movies (even in Blu-ray format), or work with various documents and photos… in other words, a complete multimedia and office system, but not exactly the type of machine on which one would run Crysis, for example.
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
Blu-ray Discâ„¢ technology
Flawless picture. Impeccable sound. Blu-ray Disc technology brings the ultimate HD experience wherever you go. Enjoy breathtaking picture quality on a plane, train, or just lying in your bed. The FW also delivers 5.1-channel Dolby Sound Room technology for cinema-quality audio. Once you experience Blu-ray Disc movies2 and concerts on the FW, you’ll see just how good HD can be.
Screen:
Treat your eyes to something new. Enjoy the clarity and brilliance of an available 1080p HD viewing experience wherever you go. Whether you’re viewing a Blu-ray Disc movie, gaming, viewing photos, or just plowing through your workload, this LCD offers breathtaking brightness, color and detail.
Speakers and Audio:
Dolby Sound Room® Audio recreates sound quality reminiscent of a small theater. Built with a 5.1-channel surround sound effect for your headphones, watching a movie with your FW is a truly cinematic experience.
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
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.
Ports and Features:
- 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
Rear: Hinge
Left: AC Power, Kensington LockSlot, CPU Exhaust, LAN, Modem, VGA, HDMI, FireWire, ExpressCard/34
Right: 3 USB, Optical Drive, Power On/Off
Battery life:
The battery is certainly not one of this notebook’s best features as we’ve seen in our tests. Fully charged, it allowed us to perform only four consecutive 3DMark06 tests. According to Sony, the standard battery is capable of a 5-hour lifetime, when the notebook is used for basic applications.
More images:
Tags: LapTop, notebook, sony, Vaio, vgn-fw198u
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