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SONY VAIO A190 review

post #1 of 56
6/7/04 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
Just got it... and had to post something!

Screen is the most amazing thing I have seen... I almost like looking at it better than my 32-inch flatscreen Toshiba TV.

For some reason its not as reflective as when I saw XBRITES in Circuit City... maybe because my home environment is not as brightly lit? I have an overhead light on and my kitchen flourescent light is about 12 feet from the screen but neither shows any reflection (only when I turn off the comp do I see reflection).

Keyboard is firm and usable, but I hate the far right keypad keys as Im used to them NOT being there. ALso the keyboard does feel a bit cramped and there is over an inch on BOTH sides of wasted space.

Ill post a full review later just had to say how impressed I was with the screen. My biggest worry was the reflectiveness but not a problem!

Oh yea... poweradapter weighs like 2 pounds and is HUGE.

Any specific questions ask here Ill try and answer them all. See you in like 3 hours!
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post #2 of 56
6/7/04 at 6:30pm
pictures?
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post #3 of 56
6/7/04 at 6:44pm
congrats

i only notice the reflectiveness in ideal lighting conditions w/ lots of light

or if im looking at the screen with 1 solid color

if your playing a game or something i dont notice it
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post #4 of 56
6/7/04 at 6:58pm
Damn that screen is making me jealous, just orderd a Asus W1.
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post #5 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:01pm
you can opt to buy the smaller adapter, which will not work with the AV base.
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post #6 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by exe
you can opt to buy the smaller adapter, which will not work with the AV base.
Is that true? Do you know if you buy the A190 w/out the dock if you get the smaller adapter automatically?

By the way, just saw the A190 at Compusa about an hour ago ... OH MY GOSH. I am absolutely in love with it. The 1920x1200 was sweet, but a little too much, so I kicked it down to 1280 and man, still sharp as ever!

I was planning on getting the 15", but now I am very tempted to get the 17". Best laptop I've every seen hands down.
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post #7 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:40pm
Thread Starter 
64mb radeon 9700
stock settings core 391/ memory 223

3dmark 01 score 10557
3dmark 03 score 2757

couldnt even hear the fan during any of these tests
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post #8 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:43pm
shame that the battery life on those things suck
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post #9 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:47pm
Woot!!
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post #10 of 56
6/7/04 at 7:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbait
shame that the battery life on those things suck
Regarding the battery life.

PLC, when you have the time, could you test out the battery for us. If possible, under different settings? (I know this might not happen for a while, since when one first gets his/her laptop, one cant spend enough time with it )

I am interested in seeing how good it does with wifi off, and the screen brightness set considerably low, but not too low that nothing is seen.

thanks
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post #11 of 56
6/7/04 at 8:19pm
Does it have bluetooth built in?, Is the 80gb hard drive 4200rpm or 5400rpm?
If it does have bluetooth I'm getting one, seeing the resolution at 1280x768 convinced me, it's the first LCD display I've seen that's just as sharp as at it's native resolution, the best of both worlds.
I was at my local CompUSA this morning and two people bought it after seeing it for two minutes.
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post #12 of 56
6/8/04 at 1:07am
Sony has two options for the 80GB drive .... on is 4200RPM and the other 5400RPM. It's on the Sony site and I had confirmation online with their customer service representative.

Playing with the Sony in Compusa, I loved the amount of brightness settings there were. It had like 9 levels to choose from, and even on 1(dark) I didn't even think it was that dark. I'm sure that would save a huge amount of battery time considering that when it was on level 9, it was the brightest screen I've ever laid eyes on.

Still debating between the 17" and 15" ... wish I knew if the 15" was as sharp with a non-native res like the 17".
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post #13 of 56
6/8/04 at 1:33am
PLC do you think it would be possible for you to take a picture of this screen? I am sure that a picture wont do it justice, but the pictures of the ClearView screen on one of the threads looked amazing, and I would like to compare it with the XBrite on the A series.
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post #14 of 56
6/8/04 at 2:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketman
Does it have bluetooth built in?, Is the 80gb hard drive 4200rpm or 5400rpm?
If it does have bluetooth I'm getting one, seeing the resolution at 1280x768 convinced me, it's the first LCD display I've seen that's just as sharp as at it's native resolution, the best of both worlds.
I was at my local CompUSA this morning and two people bought it after seeing it for two minutes.
I checked it out at Fry's, the A190 does have bluetooth in the device manager.
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post #15 of 56
6/8/04 at 2:45am
Thread Starter 
cant do pictures sorry my camera was stolen over Memorial Weekend

I can do a video possibly if anyone has a place for me to upload it

Also using FRAPS to test games it is showing that CERTAIN games do perform better with 128MB VRAM vs. 64MB VRAM... however when you drop texture quality down to medium the scores are pretty even.

Ill post full review tomorrow night... all this testing is hard!
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post #16 of 56
6/8/04 at 3:39am
Sorry to hear about your camera. I do hope someone can host the video for you... and thanks for all of the trouble you are going through just to get us a review



Also, what games are you testing?
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post #17 of 56
6/8/04 at 4:47am
Thread Starter 
Ok here goes:
Sandra specs...

SiSoftware Sandra

System
Host Name : VALUED-30F75E57
User : PLC
Domain : VALUED-30F75E57

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
Speed : 1.70GHz
Performance Rating : PR2034 (estimated)
Type : Mobile
L2 On-board Cache : 2MB ECC Synchronous ATC (8-way, 64 byte line size)

Mainboard
Bus(es) : AGP PCI PCMCIA CardBus USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
MP Support : No
MP APIC : No
System BIOS : American Megatrends Inc. R0030F1
System : Sony Corporation VGN-A190(UC)
Total Memory : 1023MB DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : Sony Corp 82855PM Odem Host-Hub Interface Bridge
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 100MHz (400MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 1024MB DDR-SDRAM
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 166MHz (332MHz data rate)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Sony Notebook LCD (1920x1200)
Adapter : ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700
Adapter : MOBILITY RADEON 9200

Physical Storage Devices
Hard Disk : MemoryStick or MemoryStickPro Device
Hard Disk : HITACHI_DK23FA-80
Hard Disk : USB 2.0 Storage Device USB Device
CD-ROM/DVD : SONY DVD RW DW-U55A

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C : 14.0GB (1.9GB, 14% Free) (NTFS)
Hard Disk (D : 55.5GB (55.5GB, 100% Free) (NTFS)
Removable Drive (E : N/A
CD-ROM/DVD (F : N/A
Plcsmt (G : 74.5GB (13.9GB, 19% Free) (NTFS)

Peripherals
Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 2 COM / 0 LPT
USB Controller/Hub : NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C2
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C4
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB Universal Host Controller - 24C7
USB Controller/Hub : Intel(R) 82801DB/DBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Mass Storage Device
FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
PCMCIA/CardBus Controller : Generic CardBus Controller
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : Alps Wide Pointing-device for VAIO
Mouse : Microsoft USB IntelliMouse
Human Interface : Sony Notebook Control Device
Human Interface : Sony Programmable I/O Control Device
Human Interface : Microsoft USB IntelliMouse

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : Realtek AC'97 Audio

Communication Device(s)
Device : CXT AC-Link Modem for Intel

Printers and Faxes
Model : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer

Power Management
AC Line Status : On-Line
Battery No 1 : 100%

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Home (Win32 x86) 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 1)

Network Services
Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connection
Adapter : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection

Performance Tips
Warning 100 : Large memory sizes should be made of Registered/Buffered memory.
Tip 101 : Large memory sizes should be made of ECC/Parity memory.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.



BUILD:
This machine is solid. I would rank its build quality as high if not higher than HP nc6000 I had before. Both are much higher quality than the G556 from Ishop. I like percentages so I would say 100% better build. Keyboard is responsive and non flexing (held together by 2 screws). This machine looks and feels like a solidly made work of art.

KEYBOARD:
Bad layout and seems alot of wasted space. Typing feels cramped. Righthand SHIFT key is smaller than lefthand. Far right key column is keypad buttons which is also annoying (i like my backspace and enter buttons to be the edge) Otherwise works flawlessly, can handle up to 3 buttons at a time simultaneously pressed good for gaming. No flexing. No missed keys. Solid feel. Equal to HP nc6000 keyboard and 9999999% better than the G556.

SCREEN:
What more can I say about it. AMAZING. In terms of brightness I would have to say 200% better than HP and G556. Colorwise 200% better. Viewing angles 100% better. Uniform lighting (no hot spots). Yes there is reflection. Usually it is bad from a direct light source like a overhead lamp or flourescent light.. but the surrounding white walls do not reflect in the screen as badly as the light source itself. You have to position your comp so that no direct light source is reflected... not so hard since it is a laptop. However I do wish they would make a filter so that we can put it on and get reduced quality (probably similar to normal LCD screens) but no reflection for those times we are in a multiple lightsource environment and reflections are impossible to avoid. My native reso 1920 x 1200 and I set all my fonts and icons to LARGE and cleartype smoothing. Looks great!

NOISE:
WHat noise? No fan noise. No HDD noise. I know the fan is working cause I can feel hot air when I put my hand in the back. DVD sometimes spins noisy if not seated perfectly. Same as HP nc6000 and 9999999% better than G556 when under full CPU load.

DVD caddy:
Solid as a rock. Well positioned in a small recess. Much more solid than the G556 200% better. I would say 100% better than the nc6000.

3D PERFORMANCE:
This was my main reason for testing.
64mb radeon 9700
stock settings core 391/ memory 223

3dmark 01 score 10557
3dmark 03 score 2757
no overclocking yet

(G556 is 1.7 pentium M/1GB ram/7200rpm HDD/128MB Radeon 9700 same clock speeds/Omega drivers)

FARCRY 1024x768 VERY HIGH textures
Sony 64MB 18.17 fps
G556 128MB 27.05 fps

FARCRY 1024x768 MEDIUM textures
Sony 64MB 36.93 fps
G556 128MB 38.62 fps

KOTOR 1024x768 HIGH textures
Sony 64MB 29.69 fps
G556 128MB 23.21 fps

KOTOR 1024x768 MEDIUM textures
Sony 64MB 29.68 fps
G556 128MB 23.32 fps

Dark Age Camelot 1024x768
Sony 64MB 33.88 fps
G556 128MB 34.54 fps

The FARCRY really uses textures to the max. You can see how the fps is lower. The KOTOR and DAOC games seem to be more processor dependent to have reverse scores like that. Either case, the 64MB seems adequate for todays games. If you start running into low fps than drop the texture quality 1 step. I really couldnt tell a difference between FARCRY VERY HIGH and MEDIUM except for the dynamic lighting shadows. Plants, terrain, effects, people all looked the same.

BLUETOOTH:
I have no idea sorry. Im sure you can order it but I bought the pre-made package for speed of delivery. Besides cant you just plug in a USB Bluetooth adapter if they dont have it built in?

BATTERY LIFE:
will update later check back

CONCLUSIONS:
If I wanted a DTR this would be it. No creaking cases like DELL, outstanding performance except for the sluggish HDD. Weighs less than 9pds without adapter. But I am waiting for the S series which should have all the same components but smaller size... it should perform the same however which makes me a happy camper!
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post #18 of 56
6/8/04 at 4:54am
PLC thanks!

Wow, you said you would post it tomorrow night, and I didnt expect it today, close to 1 in the morning!

Great review, loved the way you can compare it to other notebooks.

Regarding the bluetooth, yes you can always just buy a dongle.

About the fan, does it run loud when playing an intensive game such as FarCry?

Finally, about the keyboard, I know you dont have a camera right now, but if and when you do get your hands on one, could you please take a picture of the keyboard to see this bad layout that you speak of?

Once again, nice review, and thanks... I will be waiting for that battery test.



BTW no dead pixels?
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post #19 of 56
6/8/04 at 5:28am
Hey great review, this is also a laptop I have been considering.

I would also look at how many people have viewed this thread there seems to be a lot of interest in this particular laptop myself included.

I really have my hats off to guys like you (and gals!) who take time even when getting your brand new laptop and post reviews/information for everyone else searching around.

Why I love these forums!


Keep up anymore info you can give regarding the A190!
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post #20 of 56
6/8/04 at 6:11am
Hello,

just a quick one to see if someone can help me with this laptop: is there a slot for a second battery? because if there was it would be really great and it could benefit of the Centrino processor in such a high spec machine.

Hope you can help me
have a great day wherever youare
ciao

Gio
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