Official Sony VAIO AW Series 18.4" Owners thread

[p.laver]

p.laver, let us know what Sony UK say about that.

I'm still waiting for Sony UK support/desigh team to get back to me, I have spoken with a guy at my local Sony centre he's confirmed all AW series will have a 1.3 HDMI port but couldn't confirm if the HDMI will allow Hi-Def audio. He did say Hi Def audio through optical would be OK, as we all know that's not true, optical can't handle the higher audio bit rates. I've managed to find a contact at Dolby who knows all about the 'Dolby Home Theatre' used in the AW series laptop, I'll be talking to her on Monday, she was out of the office yesterday. I hope I can confirm what audio formats the AW series can handle later next week.

[meansizzler]

lol I'm sorry but the TZ does NOT have 180 degree viewing angles because it is a TN screen meaning it has poor viewing angles and mediocore color reproduction and thus it is not even close to being a photo editors dream. All current TN panels are 6 bit! That alone makes them poor for accurate color reproduction. Does the TZ have better than average viewing angles? Yeah probably, and by laptop standards the screen is probably really nice. I don't think you realize what 180 degrees viewing angles really look and what 100% adobe rgb color reproduction mean. Once you see a screen like that your jaw will drop. I haven't seen the Sony AW but I have seen an IPS screen with 100% adobe rgb color reproduction and its simply amazing and thats why I'm excited to see if this screen can live up to those expectations.

I never said the viewing angle was 180 degrees, but it will eat spit and poop over the sony FW screen which is a washed out piece of garbage, and i'm going by that for the AW screen, I mean if the FW screen was bad that can't blame me for expecting the worse for AW...

Do you even own a TZ?, no consumer lcd tv whatever size and res can match that display, your talking 1360*768 on a 11.1" LED display, HD video will look better on that than the 1920*1080 AW as the res is to high, displaying hd video at native res shows up all the noise and grain, it's like when you take a picture when viewing it at full res looks grainy and pixelated but lower the res and it looks much more better...

Of course the 1920*1080 is better for photos and DTP or work related stuff as your have more work room but for entertainment purposes it does not cut it...

I sit at about 45 degrees to my tz display and see no colour change, looks exactly the same, the horizontal viewing angle is great, the vertical one is ok better than most notebooks, but the colour reproduction and brightness and contrast ratio and black levels are out of this world...

Until I see the AW in person I can't comment but I don't have high expectations...

What I'd like to see is a TZ, TT, Z, Z *1600*900* , AW all side by side...

[happyprozak]

I never said the viewing angle was 180 degrees, but it will eat spit and poop over the sony FW screen which is a washed out piece of garbage, and i'm going by that for the AW screen, I mean if the FW screen was bad that can't blame me for expecting the worse for AW...

Do you even own a TZ?, no consumer lcd tv whatever size and res can match that display, your talking 1360*768 on a 11.1" LED display, HD video will look better on that than the 1920*1080 AW as the res is to high, displaying hd video at native res shows up all the noise and grain, it's like when you take a picture when viewing it at full res looks grainy and pixelated but lower the res and it looks much more better...

Of course the 1920*1080 is better for photos and DTP or work related stuff as your have more work room but for entertainment purposes it does not cut it...

I sit at about 45 degrees to my tz display and see no colour change, looks exactly the same, the horizontal viewing angle is great, the vertical one is ok better than most notebooks, but the colour reproduction and brightness and contrast ratio and black levels are out of this world...

Until I see the AW in person I can't comment but I don't have high expectations...

What I'd like to see is a TZ, TT, Z, Z *1600*900* , AW all side by side...

No I don't own a TZ but I've seen one in person. You know nothing about screens if you think your 11" TZ screen is better than any consumer tv screen, that's just a ridiculous statement. You do realize that your TZ has a TN screen right? You also realize that all top end tvs use technology that is years ahead of TN too right? You also realize that your screen is only 6 bit color while LCD tvs are now at 10 bit color right?

Sounds to me like you invested a lot of money in your laptop and you chose it over a real tv and you feel the need to convince yourself you made the right choice. Obviously there are trade offs, mainly portability but stop lieing to yourself and realize that laptop screens are way behind the technology curve. All the major lcd manufacturers are putting their best technology in tvs, laptop screens are on the back burner.

Also, theres not a ton of information on the ADOBE RGB LED AW SCREEN but one reviewer claimed 180 degree viewing angles, and given that it can reproduce 100% of the Adobe RGB color gamut it is most likely an IPS screen and certainly not a TN screen. Go wiki "adobe rgb color gamut" to inform yourself a bit more on what that means.

As for resolution, yes you are right that the smaller you make a picture the better it may 'seem' to appear. What you don't understand is that all of the new blu-ray release movies are going to run at 1080p, the native resolution of the AW laptop. "Native resolution" means you're NOT making a "small picture bigger".

Watch that on your 11" lower resolution laptop and what that means is that you're making a big picture smaller and in the process you probably will hide certain defects inherent in a movie, especially on older movie but you're ALSO going to lose detail because your throwing out information.

Also as for "grain" I hope you realize that several movies have grain in them on purpose to create a certain look to the movie.

Lastly, look the TZ is an amazing laptop and the portability is amazing and for a laptop screen it is very nice, but consumer tvs, blu-ray, and apparently this new adobe rgb aw screen (please note I'm referring to a very specific screen not to be confused with a standard AW or any FW screen) are on a whole different level.

[Elite Cataphract]

Honestly, the TZ series is a waste of money. If your going to be spending a lot of money, the AW series is a much better choice. You get more performance and spend less money in comparison.

[happyprozak]

Honestly, the TZ series is a waste of money. If your going to be spending a lot of money, the AW series is a much better choice. You get more performance and spend less money in comparison.

Notebook mistake #1 "Size doesn't matter".

You try carrying a 8.8lb laptop all over campus and that TZ is gonna start looking real good, let's not start with battery life either because the TZ puts the AW to shame.

We are talking about two VERY different laptops here. If you don't need to carry your laptop around a lot AND you don't need more than 2 hours of battery life then the AW makes more sense. I already have a laptop that is easy to carry around, I'm looking at something that's still portable but more of a beast, hence why I'm looking at the AW.

[meansizzler]

I'm looking at something that's still portable but more of a beast, hence why I'm looking at the AW.

Then you want to go for the z series..

[happyprozak]

Then you want to go for the z series..

No I want to go for the AW series, it's more powerful with a much better screen for less money and I don't need something as portable as the Z series. I'm only occasionaly going to move this notebook around and when I do it won't be carried much.

[p.laver]

Has anyone here (UK Based) seen one these babies in the flesh.

[dampfnudel]

I called the Sonystyle store in the Garden State Plaza mall (NJ) today and was told that they just got the AW in stock with one on display with the RGB screen. Just in case you're nearby & interested in the AW.

[happyprozak]

I called the Sonystyle store in the Garden State Plaza mall (NJ) today and was told that they just got the AW in stock with one on display with the RGB screen. Just in case you're nearby & interested in the AW.

I called the Sony store in Costa Mesa in Californiaon Sunday and I was told they would be recieving the AW today but that they didn't know which models they would be recieving. I didn't get a chance to call today, but either way I'm going to wait a few more weeks. Apple's new notebooks should be coming in a week and Dell's new xps line is rumored to come out November, both of which have been rumored to carry adobe rgb screens. Costa Mesa mall has both a sony store and an apple store so I can check them out by doing a little walking.