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My Sony VAIO AR170G Review - Page 2

post #21 of 90
6/25/06 at 2:55pm
Like the processor should be at 2.0Ghz when maxed out, and the speed stepping you can probally get down to 800Mhz.

And then the video graphics card in the Nvidia pannel should be set to either medium (On battery), and or power saving low mode.
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post #22 of 90
7/4/06 at 3:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RE-Amemiya
"paint that sparkles?" I'm not quite sure what that means. Other than the small amount of light leakage at the bottom, i think the screen is fantastic. Extremely bright and clear with great viewing angles. Is anyone else experiencing any light leakage??

I ran a battery test today. I played a movie with the highest brightness setting. The wireless and bluetooth radios were both on as well. I turned off all power saving modes and let it run from 100%. I timed it from the time i pulled the plug to the time the laptop shutdown on its own and i got:

1 hour and 56 minutes.

This test was done with the Extended Battery.

Maybe he was talking about the paint on the cover? It is sort of metallic looking paint, not completely black.

I also have light leakage on mine, called Sony Taiwan, they say it is normal.

This computer cost 4800 USD in Taiwan, and didn't even have the TV tuner. Didn't know that until I bought it, of course, no return policies exists in Taiwan, so I am stuck with it, can only blame myself for not checking the spec. more carefully, duh!
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post #23 of 90
7/5/06 at 8:05pm
I really like the look of this laptop, but the 4200rpm hd is the main repellent.
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post #24 of 90
7/6/06 at 12:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROM777
I really like the look of this laptop, but the 4200rpm hd is the main repellent.
5400rpm can be opted, but it isn't much better. Sony should have offered 7200rpm, especially on a high end NB. And oh, my AR need to be fixed. I tested the recovery utility (as I always do for all computers) and after the recovery, all blu-ray software went missing. Cannot play blu-ray dvd after the recovery.
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post #25 of 90
7/6/06 at 5:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tom2517
Maybe he was talking about the paint on the cover? It is sort of metallic looking paint, not completely black. I also have light leakage on mine, called Sony Taiwan, they say it is normal. This computer cost 4800 USD in Taiwan, and didn't even have the TV tuner. Didn't know that until I bought it, of course, no return policies exists in Taiwan, so I am stuck with it, can only blame myself for not checking the spec. more carefully, duh!
Wait, you bought the AR w/ the Blu-Ray and it didn't come with a TV Tuner?? That's wrong. I didn't even buy the premium Blu-Ray model and mine came with a TV Tuner. Also, i had my AR sent back to have the techs look at the light leakage at the bottom and they called me today telling me that it's normal. He compared it to other AR models and it's the same across the board. Apparently there's nothing they can do. He says if he swaps out the LCD it'll have the same problem. Oh well, guess we'll just have to live with it. It's a little disappointing considering that i bought a VAIO because of the great reputation in regards to the quality of their displays.
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post #26 of 90
7/6/06 at 5:49pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ROM777
I really like the look of this laptop, but the 4200rpm hd is the main repellent.

If you read my review you would see that the two 80GB drives that i got set up in RAID 0 are 5400 rpm drives. Also, hard drives are so cheap these days that upgrading to a 7200 rpm drive at a later date won't be a problem. The best part is having the RAID 0 config available.
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post #27 of 90
7/6/06 at 8:10pm
hello amemiya

thanks for your review and sorry for my poor english i'm french ... just good in germany's world cup ... lol

by the way i plan to buy this notebook (190 or 11s here with double 100g & 5400rpm hd) but i'm afraid about display

do you have any pictures in action to the light leakage (because in the first time you told us in your review that you could live with... ???)

so i don't understand

here i saw some in stores without any kind of trouble on the display ... ???!!! but some of my friends have trouble like nparrett with the same model as yours AR once they got it !
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post #28 of 90
7/7/06 at 8:44am
Somehow Taiwan's version does not include the TV tuner, even though it has the highest price in the world. Even when I go to Sony Japan's VOM (Vaio Owner's Made) and chose every single option, it still wasn't as expensive as Taiwan's version.

TV tuner makes about 500 USD difference, even though Taiwan's version do come with 2.16Ghz, but that is only about 200 USD more than 2.0Ghz version. Not to mention Taiwan's AR is already about 1300 USD more expensive to start with. Funny to say this, but all Sony's VAIO are made by Taiwanese companies.

Even ones that says "Made in Japan", they are still made in China (Taiwanese owned manufacturer), all Sony does is attach some part to it, and they can put on "Made in Japan".


IBM/Lenovo does similar thing in Taiwan as well. A T60p (and only one model to chose from, just like AR) cost about 4800 USD as well. The exact same model list for 3700 USD in US and that does not including discount, shop around, I am sure you can find one close to 3000.

As for the LCD leakage, it is on all AR LCDs I was told.

I hooked up the AR to my Sharp Aquos LCD TV via HDMI (supports full HD), it looks stunning, but it doesn't run smoothly (suppose to be a software problem). I hope windvd makes a patch soon.
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post #29 of 90
7/7/06 at 9:07am

about display

try with vlc ?!


i don't agree about the lcd leakage

i saw here some without any trouble at all



and in my country the ar include the TV tuner (but we have 3 bundle : the hd & full hd ar model does it only)
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post #30 of 90
7/7/06 at 9:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitzuki
hello amemiya

thanks for your review and sorry for my poor english i'm french ... just good in germany's world cup ... lol

by the way i plan to buy this notebook (190 or 11s here with double 100g & 5400rpm hd) but i'm afraid about display

do you have any pictures in action to the light leakage (because in the first time you told us in your review that you could live with... ???)

so i don't understand

here i saw some in stores without any kind of trouble on the display ... ???!!! but some of my friends have trouble like nparrett with the same model as yours AR once they got it !


Hello mitzuki. honestly, i don't know what nparrett is referring to when he says the screen sparkles. The only problem i have with the display is the light leakage coming from the bottom edge of the LCD as shown in the picture i put up in the review. The light leakge is only visible with black or dark backgrounds. Or if you're really sensitive like me when it comes to these types of things, you can notice it slightly in games as well (FarCry and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter). I should be getting my laptop back from Sony today, so i can take more pictures of the screen in case you're worried about the quality of the display.
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post #31 of 90
7/7/06 at 9:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitzuki
try with vlc ?!


i don't agree about the lcd leakage

i saw here some without any trouble at all



and in my country the ar include the TV tuner (but we have 3 bundle : the hd & full hd ar model does it only)

But did you do the light leakage test using a completely black background to confirm that there is positively no light leakage? You can't see any light leakage during normal usage, like in windows.
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post #32 of 90
7/7/06 at 9:32am
yes with black background, dark pictures and movie

and no problem, no leackage

i'have very good eyes and i'm graduate in design art and used to have many different display
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post #33 of 90
7/7/06 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RE-Amemiya
Hello mitzuki. honestly, i don't know what nparrett is referring to when he says the screen sparkles. The only problem i have with the display is the light leakage coming from the bottom edge of the LCD as shown in the picture i put up in the review. The light leakge is only visible with black or dark backgrounds. Or if you're really sensitive like me when it comes to these types of things, you can notice it slightly in games as well (FarCry and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter). I should be getting my laptop back from Sony today, so i can take more pictures of the screen in case you're worried about the quality of the display.
thanks yes i'm like you and i'm very sensitive about the quality of the display so i will apprecied your pics also i understand the nparrett's feedback ... because i saw it too it's like bad lay down film/coating on the display but sony does for improve the quality of the display ... black more black, etc. ... it's a new generation concerning Xblack process but some ar's display are worst with it (or if you have your eyes on it)
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post #34 of 90
7/7/06 at 1:32pm
Well, you guys are lucky. Sony Taiwan does not cover LCD for AR series. They say it's a very expensive LCD so it was all tested/checked before coming out of the factory, so unless the LCD does not work, they do not fix or replace it, no matter the reason, ie. leakage, bad pixels....
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post #35 of 90
7/7/06 at 7:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mitzuki
thanks

yes i'm like you and i'm very sensitive about the quality of the display so i will apprecied your pics

also i understand the nparrett's feedback ... because i saw it too

it's like bad lay down film/coating on the display but sony does for improve the quality of the display ... black more black, etc. ... it's a new generation concerning Xblack process

but some ar's display are worst with it (or if you have your eyes on it)

Looks like we are looking at complete different displays, are there 2 manufactures for this? The one I saw, can't speak for the blackness,
but the white is not white.. get yourself one of the previous A-series
and you will understand how bad the "new generation" becomes..
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post #36 of 90
7/8/06 at 2:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RE-Amemiya
If you read my review you would see that the two 80GB drives that i got set up in RAID 0 are 5400 rpm drives. Also, hard drives are so cheap these days that upgrading to a 7200 rpm drive at a later date won't be a problem. The best part is having the RAID 0 config available.
it happens w/ every laptop man. it really is not the manufactoring problem. its when they design the laptop the engineers need to make certainty about the light leakage problem cuz again its the lcd inverter problem. maybe when they use different batch of lcd's or inverters, some lucky ones strike. but majority its all up to the development team to make sure there is no leakage.


awesome laptop man and awesome pics
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post #37 of 90
7/8/06 at 5:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dude321
Looks like we are looking at complete different displays, are there 2 manufactures for this? The one I saw, can't speak for the blackness, but the white is not white.. get yourself one of the previous A-series and you will understand how bad the "new generation" becomes..
Dude it's for that i don't understand some feedback about the new ar ... because i already compared the last A vs AR but the AR won ... with the black more black & the white more white and with less leackage sorry seems to have many different quality of the AR ... and some of my friends got the worst too so i'm lost ...
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post #38 of 90
7/8/06 at 10:16am
I don't know about the A-series, but Sony's notebook used to be made by Asus. But since Asus is trying to push their own brand, Sony has moved its orders to Quanta computer.

Both are top tier OEM for notebooks in Taiwan (but productions are in China).
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post #39 of 90
7/8/06 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 
well i went to the local sonystyle store and looked at the display AR190G model they had on the floor. I put the Windows XP screen saver up and i noticed the same amount of light leakage found in my display. Perhaps the US and the EU models have different problems. Maybe someone from the EU with the AR can take some pics and compare them with the ones i take. Unfortunately Sony didn't ship out my laptop till yesterday, so i won't get it until Monday. But once i get it back i'll take some more pictures.
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post #40 of 90
7/8/06 at 3:01pm
asus works for apple now


yes maybe we have different more or less problems here ?!

the thing is we have a dvbt & analog tv tuner and pal not ntsc + different keyboard

so for that we do not have the same, maybe it's meaning an another process too

and we have the more expensive ar here with the ar11s

3000€ in sonystyle's france


but like you it's still a big lottery to get one perfect ... it's a shame
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