Laptop: An All-In-One design laptop to consider
Written: Jul 13 '02 (Updated Oct 09 '02)
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Pros: Design, display size, hardware specs, software bundles, multimedia compatibility.
Cons: Weight, speed, battery consumption and recharge time, no play buttons for DVD.
The Bottom Line: Go for it if you can still find one for about $1400. Otherwise, look for the next model. Stick to FX390P.
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| wizguy's Full Review: Sony VAIO FX390 PC Notebook |
Objectives of this review:
This review is created to effectively save readers time and effort by clearly identifying my own personal experience and expressing my opinion in comparison with other well written reviews. Any information that I feel could be referenced to another review or vendor's website will not be included. Recommendation will be offered with specific user type in mind. Please be so kind to comment if you do not find this review very helpful. Thank you.
Although FX390 and FX390P are now discontinued, they are still worth hunting for on Ebay or online stores. I’ve decided to write a review despite of how long ago it was first introduced because I want to establish a pattern of laptop review for my future reference. Note that many new laptop, unlike FX390 and FX390P, now do not have a built-in floppy drive. So ask yourself, do you often deal with situations where you might be working with files on floppy drive?
Latest Update [Added 07/21/02]
FAT32 to NTFS conversion: Caution! One way conversion. In the command prompt window, type: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs (for more info: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/
pro/using/itpro/managing/convertfat.asp) My advice is that you backup and consult an expert before you proceed (not your genius nephew or Aunt Donna).
Acronyms or Conventions:
Sony Vaio PCG-FX370K : FX370K
Sony Vaio PCG-FX390 : FX390
Sony Vaio PCG-FX390P : FX390P
Past experience:
Dell laptitude: simple workhorse that gets the job done.
Toshiba Satellite: cheap as they come, and slower than everyone else.
IBM Thinkpad: expensive as they come, solid like a rock.
Fujitsu: mediocre also known.
Reason of interest:
In March 2002, Field Consultant employee requested for fast and secure laptop that has large display and can burn CD to backup data; I agreed that they should replace their Pentium 133 to meet today’s demand. I wrote down a few requirements and searched first in retail stores then online for laptops that meet the followings in descending priority:
1) Windows XP professional.
2) Intel Processor from 700Mhz up (AMD are great gaming processor).
3) All-In-One design with CDRW/DVD combo drive and floppy drive
4) Network ready/Modem ready
5) At least 15” XGA display
6) At least 128MB SDRAM
7) Price must not exceed $2200 per laptop including extended warranty.
Dell, HP, Sony, IBM, and Toshiba were the top brand names I searched. Dell would have been my top choice but the price of FX390 on ebay and other online shoppings were just too good of a deal. Dell is great in terms of the offer of warranty and optional services, but the price quickly jumped over my budget with the add-on I wanted. HP’s design of their laptops attracted my attention a great deal, but it is such a pain trying to figure out which model has what. Absolutely confusing to me and I had this fear that whatever I picked from HP might not be the most fitting one amongst their numerous array of selections. Dell, HP and IBM have this same dilemma—too many models with so many equivalent option to customize that I could not clearly identify. They also tend to use very vague and ambiguous terms for mystery meat drop-down menu like Dell’s powerhouse, essential, affordable, latest technology, durable standardized, workstation-class, or HP’s mid-range, high performance, essential line, professional line. What a bunch of….. On the other hand, Sony clearly emphasized on visual difference—immediately, you can see FX is all-in-one, GRX is huge with biggest display, NV is FX on steroid, R505 are superslim, and VX or SR are experimental trying to figure out the market. Toshiba was my last resort because I personally think it is inferior in terms of understanding the professional demand.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe Sony’s computers are superficially attractive products that really look way prettier than they are. The only edge that Sony has is its ability to be very focus on concise styles. I knew immediately that FX was my ideal model. I challenge anyone to very clearly and quickly and easily find a model of Dell, HP, or IBM that would be comparable with Sony’s FX.
Fry’s Electronics, Compusa, Bestbuy, Circuit City were the top retail stores I searched. I swear, I could not find one single store to carry a laptop with Windows XP professional preloaded except Sony FX390P (it was a hard find at Fry’s). Obviously, Dell and IBM were not in large retail market.
Online stores of each brand, Pricegrabber.com, CDW, PCMall, Ebay were the top online shopping I searched. Eventually, I bought brand new sealed-box of two FX390P online and one FX390 through Ebay. Each about the price of $1400 including shipping and handling. I am taking a chance on no extended warranty and betting that these laptop will last at least 3 years without a problem. FX370K is not a bad choice with Windows 2000 professional edition but you’ll find that the price is roughly the same as FX390 or FX390P and the specs are a little lower.
Key Hardware Specs:
Refer to epinions’ spec list but also note the followings,
http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/office/vaio/notebookmodels/pcg-fx390_specs.shtml
Processor : Mobile Intel Pentium III with SpeedStep
LCD Screen : XGA (1024x768) TFT
Ram Memory : (256x1) expandable to 512 MB. Expand to max by adding 256.
Hard Drive : 30GB (40% & 60% partition)
Graphics : up to 11MB SDRAM (shared)
Optical Drive : combo drive (8x4x24x8).
Sound : Built-in speakers. 3D surround Analog devices AD1881A.
Special Buttons : 3 Programmable Power Keys (PPK) for easy access to key applications
Pointing Device : Electro-Static touch pad with 2 buttons.
Power : 58.5 watts maximum (19.5V DC / AC100-240V)
Optional Accessories:
Port replicator : PCGA-PRFX1 (serial, parallel, monitor, network, 3 usb, 1 PS/2, DC) functions with AC power adapter only.
Additional battery : PCGA-BP71A (Lithium-ion battery)
USB mouse : PCGA-UMS1/A
Carrying case : PCGA-CCF
Notebook backpack : PCGA-CCP1
Additional AC adapter : PCGA-AC19V1
Wireless LAN Access : PCWA-A200
Wireless LAN PC Card : PCWA-C100
Expectations:
Abundant software bundle (particularly for multimedia support), Easy to use recovery CD sets, Trend setting overall design, Acceptable minimum service/warranty, Compatibility with multimedia devices such as digital camera/camcorder,
Anticipations:
Better than any other All-In-One laptop design that will be good for at least 3 years, Seamless integration with Sony and most multimedia devices, Solid DVD playback, User friendly for presentation. Expensive accessories and replacement parts, possible drive failures after two years.
Nice-Touch:
Battery’s pre-charged ready to go.
Quiet soft Keyboard.
Auto dim LCD when used with battery (to conserve battery consumption).
Countdown for convenient buttons (PPK) before execution.
Floppy drive swappable with extra battery.
Display can tilt back completely 180 degrees from the keyboard.
Indicator lights inside and outside for (DC power, battery charge 1 and 2, and hard drive).
Firewire port included (but firewire not included).
3 system recovery CD, 1 driver recovery CD, 2 application recovery CD, 1 MS word 2002 CD.
Surprises: could be major concerns
FX390P had FAT32 as factory default file system even though it’s a XP professional.
Tech support will not help on converting FAT32 to NTFS for the FX390P (not a big problem, I’ll add the command here later) [See above Latest Update section].
No mouse stick.
Weighs 9 lbs with all included accessories plus manuals and recovery CDs.
Weighs 8lbs with AC/DC power cable/video cable/weight saver.
Tiny thin latch that could easily break if not careful (top of LCD display).
No built-in PS/2 port (annoying).
No convenient multimedia display and buttons for playing CD/DVD (disappointing).
No dust flap for the expansion cards slots—only 2 temporary plastics that could easily fall out and be misplaced.
No CD for Windows XP home or professional edition.
Setting up computer: make sure connect to internet
Took 2 minutes to boot the very first time
1) Start: Welcome to Microsoft Windows
2) Time zone: automatically adjust clock for daylight saving time.
3) End User License Agreement: Yes, Accept it.
4) Computer Name: 15 characters or less, no spaces, Description (optional).
5) Internet Connection could not be chosen: control panel/network and Internet connections.
6) Ready to register with Sony electronics and Microsoft: 90 days operating system and pre-installed software phone support, 1 year hardware telephone support, lifetime websupport (means nothing), 90 days limited hardware extended to 1 year. So, yes and yes
a. Name, address, email.
b. How you learn, what made decision, when bought, where, decision made by, title, job function, business, employees, network type.
c. Future information.
d. Unable to connect: skip
e. Setup connection to internet: yes, help me connect to the internet
f. Use my existing internet account with another service provider: already have account.
g. Username, password, ISP local dialup number, obtain IP automatically DHCP, obtain DNS automatically DHCP.
h. User Names
i. Finish
7) Computer restarts: 30 seconds
8) Prompts to choose user: 30 seconds to desktop
9) Warning of low battery: power profile changes automatically when AC adapter is connected or disconnected.
10) Automatic internet connection will not work for AOL. Setup AOL via the icon for 6.0 version and takes about 2 minutes to install and setup.
Outcome:
Simply put, FX390 and FX390P gave me no headache. The battery consumption is really 1.5 to 2 hours instead of 3 to 3.5 if you’re working and doing multimedia thing. Extra battery is a wise investment. Properly configure the power settings is advised (suspend/standby time). Sony always include many nice little applications that are more for fun than business. The bundling of PC-cillin 2000 for virus protection and Vaio Support Agent remain to be determined later if they actually served their purpose. The quality of the LCD display is very good with no detectable flaw. The sound quality is subpar, but so are most other laptops. I am puzzled by the application that burns files for the CDRW drive--I will check it out and add more information later. For now, I think it’s done via Microsoft’s operating system without a 3rd party software. I will be using a benchmark software to further test the performance of this laptop, but for now, it does not appear to be all that fast as 1.0Ghz should be (more like 700 to 900). Anyway, Pentium III is nothing to parade about to begin with. There are user guides for the laptop and the operating system, but they are stingy on things like CDRW/DVD, multimedia devices, and bundle applications.
Noteworthy Software Bundles:
1) Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere 6 LE and Acrobat 5.0: Solid video editing application.
2) ArcSoft PhotoPrinter 2000 Pro: very convenient to quickly arrange photos for printing.
3) Dvgate: Nice proprietary Sony application to work with Digital video.
4) InterVideo WinDVD: Acceptable DVD player. Not very impressive but works.
5) Movieshaker: Cute simple none-linear editing application for home movie.
6) PictureGear 5.1: Excellent photo manager application that can do panoramic stitching piece of cake.
7) SonicStage: Fancy music manager application.
8) Quicken 2002: Personal financial manager application.
Gaming Performance:
You can play just fine but forget about intense action game and online action game. What do you expect from 11MB shared graphic memory? The action would appear frame like not smooth, and the display is not bright enough anyway. It’s good mostly for photos and videos.
Strength:
Good looks, good bargain, good compatibility with other Sony multimedia devices.
Weakness:
Battery consumption, speed, lack of multimedia buttons like HP and IBM, weight, and no support for Windows XP Professional edition of NTFS.
One more thing, none of the Bundled Sony proprietory software applications could be installed on another computer because the process will be terminated once it determined the computer is not a Sony Vaio. It would be great if that could be hacked-I mean Sony does not sell those applications separately (except Picturegear). [Added 08/02/02]
Conclusion:
If you could, buy the FX390P with the Windows XP professional edition. This laptop will be outdated in no time because the processor speed is reaching 2.0Ghz and over very soon. However, you need to ask yourself just exactly how fast does your laptop have to be in order for you to perform. My point of view is that even Pentium III 500 would be acceptable but why pay the same amount for lower spec? In other words, if you find that the newer laptops with much faster processor and better hardware specs for roughly about the same price ($1400), then by all means, go for it. I am not impressed by super slim laptops of any maker because of all the separate accessories you need to buy and take with you—you could easily misplace them or forget to take with you. Can you imagine traveling to another state and found out that you forgot your CD drive or port replicator a few hours before your meeting or presentation?
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1399.99
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: over 1000
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
wizguy
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Location: St Paul, MN
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
33 year old who does wood carving, ballroom/square/line dancing, ER volunteering, multimedia authoring, diving.
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