Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

[dantedante]

I had the same seriously SLOW problem exactly as you describe when my 1-month old AW was "new" (I think that might be a joke;-D) Removing all that bloatware (trialware, promotional junk) & turning off the many unnecessary Windows Vista SERVICES that were automatically starting up each time Windows started (autoruns) made all the difference. Among the dozen or more apps I found useless &/or troublesome was Windows OneCare (which includes Windows Defender); removed every speck of it. I use other security apps instead including NO Windows Firewall. But your preferences may be different. Additionally, I prefer (from Microsoft by SysInternals) Autoruns & Process Explorer (replaces Task Mgr). Vista was not the problem since a while back I experienced the same slowness on several new XP machines. Just realized, Vista's been out about 2-1/2 years now; noticing it's NOT problematic as it was in the beginning.

This system has been lightening-quick ever since. Good luck to you!

PS: Your english was easy to understand, good job!

Thanks man!!!! i have deleted some applications but reading your post i need help. can u write a list of services to stop (and how to ) and usseles apps?

Thanks again, really.

PS1: u know how to put (assign) more memory to the graphic card?
PS2: my english suckssss LOL

[nons_]

btw, the "vaio sz spacebar fix" to that someone posted a youtube-link in this thread works if you "modify" it to the AW spacebar. the spacebars of SZ and AW have a bit different dimensions, but the same mechanics. basically the paper has to be smaller. I fixed my spacebar in terms of not responding!

about the temperature issue, i dont understand. of course there's some heat, and on the left there's the fan so the hot air leaves the case there ... but apart from that, my AW stays cool even under hours of full power usage. the case itself doesn't heat up or anything. maybe that's cause I have a P series cpu, I dont know.

[ajreynol]

space bar fix? there's something wrong with the space bar?

[laptodd5]

Costco product specialist & their tech support (in FL) each informed me that Costco had sold a huuuuge # of this model (forgot the actual # but recall that it was impressive). Given that fact, it's really but a relative few of us who got minor factory-related problems--or problems due to Sony's lower quality external materials (case construction). That this model was discontinued, IMHO, has no bearing on the model itself but that computer mfgrs come out with "new" models about every 3 mos anymore (aggressive Intel marketing strategy).

Maybe for that model the case construction is of lower quality but before I bought my AW I tried 3 out instore and like the AW170 I bought I found the case construction to be quite solid. I have had mine for 5 months and nothing has chipped, flaked or fallen off.

I am not a cheerleader for Sony, it's just I did not hear of these kind of complaints before Costco customers started posting here.

Ok... exactly how "hot" are we talking?

Hot when underload, hotter then other similar notebooks? I quess no. It does blow hot air out though and it's keyboard is too warm for me.

[real-eyes]

And, of course, the cycles are likely planned at least a year or so in advance -- with each of the three-month cycle changes on the drawing board for execution.

Y'ad think that with the world economy in the shape it's in they'd cut costs by doing the refreshes slightly less frequently (since consumers aren't likely to upgrade as quickly) -- but no. All they really do is inspire us to turn in the computers to the Costcos out there and trade-up every ninety days!

And we wonder why the economy is in the mess it is, eh?

Here here (& amen;-) How screwy this scenario has become... planned obsolescence, disposable electronics, etc. amidst a global economic depression. Hey, just thought of an addition to the Zoo Tycoon / Amusement Park Tycoon series... why not ComputerCo Tycoon! Anyway, point well taken. Now back to the AWs

[real-eyes]

[QUOTE=laptodd5;5001688]Maybe for that model the case construction is of lower quality but before I bought my AW I tried 3 out instore and like the AW170 I bought I found the case construction to be quite solid. I have had mine for 5 months and nothing has chipped, flaked or fallen off.

I am not a cheerleader for Sony, it's just I did not hear of these kind of complaints before Costco customers started posting here.



You suppose there's a difference in the AW160 & 170 cases? I haven't seen all the models in person to inspect them, yet I figured they're all the same build w/ different configurations (display type, RAM, HDD/SSD, ODD, 2 spkrs or 4, matte or shiny top, gray or black). Are the materials in the bottom half of your 170 easily flexible, too---and is your chrome-looking trim not made of a rigid, durable metal or similar material? The silver coating on my lower shiny metal-looking trim just began flaking/peeling off---& I haven't event taken this outside yet in almost 6 wks of ownership. Of course, I really really want it to be stronger, more durable, long-lasting. So, honestly I'd like to know if there is a difference from the 160 to the 170, 180, 190 (ditto for the 200 series). Thanx.

[real-eyes]

btw, the "vaio sz spacebar fix" to that someone posted a youtube-link in this thread works if you "modify" it to the AW spacebar. the spacebars of SZ and AW have a bit different dimensions, but the same mechanics. basically the paper has to be smaller. I fixed my spacebar in terms of not responding!

about the temperature issue, i dont understand. of course there's some heat, and on the left there's the fan so the hot air leaves the case there ... but apart from that, my AW stays cool even under hours of full power usage. the case itself doesn't heat up or anything. maybe that's cause I have a P series cpu, I dont know.

Bravo! Somebody finally performed that YouTube video fix on an AW. AND it worked, yay! Ok, now I'm not feeling as scared @ breaking the whole spacebar when only the right edge of mine is dead, enough to be really annoying but still usable.

Ditto for me re Heat... I run it @ full power all the time, too. Fan sure works well at quietly blowing heat out of the system & the vent is sufficiently large for the job. Sometimes the very bottom of left side gets hot (not warm) but no problem detected here.

Hard to gauge "hot" w/out providing some data on temp / usage / conditions.

[real-eyes]

Thanks man!!!! i have deleted some applications but reading your post i need help. can u write a list of services to stop (and how to ) and usseles apps?

Thanks again, really.

PS1: u know how to put (assign) more memory to the graphic card?
PS2: my english suckssss LOL

Would need to see a list of what apps you're running (task mgr), and services that are listed in your Administrative Tools > Services that start up "Automatic" or "Automatic (delayed)." For those services that aren't required at boot up but can be activated manually when you launch dependent apps, those can be changed to "Manual" startup. My system arrived w/ over 90 processes running automatically but I only use 60 or so. Verrry few services have I Disabled (not used or pose a security risk). Plus, as said, I uninstalled all the trialware & AOL junk I'll never be interested in, including MS Office Trial, Windows OneCare Trial & more---but that's purely up to you.

Don't know what model AW you have or how much RAM installed. You have an Nvidia 9600 graphics card but are short on vRAM? Hmmnn;-) How about just buying more system RAM? (if your model AW accepts 8 GBs & you have less than that now). I'm NO expert but I don't think it's possible to allocate more memory to gfx card (it already has 512 MB dedicated gfx memory & can also use something like 1700 additional MBs of your system memory. So I can't help you beyond that---but I do know how to increase virtual memory (system, page file). There's also Vista READY BOOST.

Can someone more PC-savvy than me advise on this part???

PS; Nothing at all wrong w/ the english in your post...you did just fine. Might want to check my english though;-)

[aviray]

The P series CPU is the same as the T except the P has 3 MB cache, the T has 6 MB cache.

What a non sense. Educate yourself first then write
For notebook users very important difference- lower power consumption of P, at a higher price though.
http://www.intel.com/products/proces...ifications.htm

[tbNB]

Fixing the non-responsive space bar

Ok, the space bar right-hand side bugged me one too many times, so I took the plunge and followed the youtube video I found and posted back a few days, and did the fix. I found that 2 layers of double sided tape folded over did the trick nicely. Now when I press on the right front corner of the spacebar, it registers every time. Before, it would not register at all.

Just pay attention to how the key came out so you can put it back in the same way.

When you pull the key out, you are lifting the front edge.

When you put the key back, rotate the longer metal piece out a bit and slide the hooks under the metal guides on the rear of the keyboard first, then lower the key and press down gently and you'll hear clicks as the black plastic lifters click into the metal rods on the key.

If one side of the key is too high, you may have pulled the metal guide off of the guides in the key itself. Just remove the key again and make sure the metal bars are seated into the plastic tabs on the key itself and try putting the key back onto the keyboard again.

I had to redo mine the first time for that problem and a second time because of a rattle that appeared only on the right side. I had 3 layers and backed off to 2 and perhaps that fixed the rattle or it was something else.

Anyway, hats off to the youtube author for posting the video titled "How to fix the VAIO SZ spacebar".