The new Sony Vaio FW with Centrino 2 technology is well designed notebook, both technologically and visually, it is very robust and has all amenities that you need.
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Every company in known universe and its brother have or plans to have a Centrino 2-based notebook. Sony is exception, so take a look at its Vaio FW series.
The first thing you shall notice is 16.4-inch screen in XBRITE Technology. The resolution is 1600 x 900, so it ideal for 16:9 movies. The burden of graphics and picture lies on ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 chip with 256MB of memory. The heart of new Sony is Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and you can choose 2.26Ghz or 2.80Ghz model. Those are good processors and when coupled with Centrino 2 technology you certainly get a fine machine. For easier breathing, Core 2 uses 4GB RAM, and it happily runs Windows Vista operating system. That means that you have 3GB on your disposal, for our favourite operating system have no idea what to do with 4th gigabyte.
All your movies and data will find warm home on a 320GB hard disk drive which rotates on 5400 rpm. Not that is the fastest disk in space, but it is fast. The optical drive is here, too, and obligatory wireless connection 802.11a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 2.0. Built-in camera will come handy for a remote business meeting, and that is powered with 4400mAh Li-Ion Battery. The new Sony Vaio FW weights 3.1 kg, so it is in the range with similar notebooks: it's not too heavy, but it is not for carrying around every day.
Sony's designers did a very, very good job. Vaio FW is a nice computer, it looks more like a piece of art than piece of high technology. It is very stylish, and it is safe to say that it is a computer and a fashion statement in one case. It is full of unexpected lines, but after just few second you will see that every line and every detail is here for a reason. The notebook is robust, and it can be used on the road with no worries. I didn't tried "ThinkPad test", fall from the table, but it seems that Vaio FW would survive that.
Notebook's display is very important for those who work long hours, and here are two things that need to be notice. Firstly, I don't like 16:9 screen ratio. However, it is just my opinion, that ratio can be very useful not just for watching movies, but for everyday work, too. Secondly, the lightness is different on different parts of the screen. While brightness is ok, I'd rate picture quality 3 on the scale from 1 to 5. Colours are over saturated which is good for movies and presentation, but not any kind of graphic or prepress work. Viewing angles are good, better than on some other well-known notebooks, so you won't be nailed to your chair all day long.
The keyboard is good, you can type very easily, but some will need a short period of adjustment to a different type of a keyboard. It the keyboard looks familiar to you that's because you saw it on some Apple models. All in all, very good keyboard.
The new Sony Vaio FW with Centrino 2 technology is well designed notebook, both technologically and visually, it is very robust and has all amenities that you need. If you need new notebook take a look, and if not - take a look. Maybe you do need a new one. ■