Sony Vaio FW480J/T first look

In a growing field of Blu-ray-playing laptops, it's important to take note of Sony, who created the Blu-ray format in the first place. The company's Vaio laptops, particularly its higher-end lines, tend to be specifically oriented toward media playback.

The last model from Sony's FW line we reviewed, the Vaio FW351J/H, cost $949 and came with less-than-impressive graphics, but had an attractive aesthetic and good Blu-ray playback on a large 16.4-inch screen. The FW480J/T costs a bit more money--$1,199--but it offers improvements to the processor and graphics. If you expected something more affordable, because Sony does make you pay for the improvements--there are Blu-ray equipped Vaios available for less money, such as the sub-$900 15-inch NW180.

Like the Vaio FW351J/H, the Vaio FW480J/T has an elegant, sleek style to it that's reminiscent of Apple's design work with the MacBooks. While the previous FW we reviewed came in a metallic gray color, this model has an all-black interior, with an attractive Chocolate Brown color on the outside. The materials inside and out are mostly plastic, but the layout and construction have a formal high-end look to them. Sony's style tends to lean toward minimalist chic, and this Vaio fits right into that mold, and the slightly updated look is an overall improvement.

The raised keyboard is similar to the VGN-FW351J/H, and is wide and comfortable. The touch pad--which has a smooth feel and clicky, flush buttons beneath--is good too. Some still prefer keys with more of a traditional feel and travel, but we've always liked this flat-key style, also found on everything from MacBooks to Acer's new Timeline series to and many newer Netbooks.

Above the keyboard are a set of physical buttons for media playback and volume control, but these are not backlit touch-sensitive buttons, as found on many multimedia machines. The media playback buttons include a shortcut key that acts as a mute button by default, and an AV Mode button that brings up a PlayStation 3-style media bar browser as an alternative to Windows Media Center. While the media control buttons are responsive, they're all identically shaped and not backlit, which is unfortunate--in dimly lit viewing conditions, it's hard to feel for the right controls.

The speakers lie in a bar above the keyboard and under the screen, and their exposure gives them good sound quality--although they're not the loudest or best speakers we've heard, they're more than adequate--although perhaps not for gathering a group around the screen for a Blu-ray movie.

Built into the screen's hinge are the AC charging port on one side and a glowing power button on the other. There's also an LED ring around the hinge that changes color when charging/charged and pulses when sleeping. This is one of the few touches of color on an otherwise austere Vaio.

Sony Vaio laptops have been known to pile on the preinstalled garbageware, creating an uncomfortably cluttered laptop that must be cleaned out before being used. The FW480J/T, thankfully, didn't have this problem. Included software such as the song-recommendation program MusicBox are fun additions, and certainly aren't intrusive. Sony also includes Vaio Movie Story and Media, which are proprietary video editing and media management programs.

The 16.4-inch screen which Sony touts as being "ultra-widescreen" has a 1,600x900-pixel native resolution, which is a 16x9 aspect ratio. That's lower than some 16-inch laptops such as the Dell Studio XPS 16. While its size is great for movie watching, this model's resolution--like the previous FW351J/H model--aren't true 1080p resolution, making Blu-ray watching a compromised experience. You could always watch the Blu-ray on an external HDTV using the built-in HDMI port, but we wish that this Vaio had increased resolution (there are Vaio laptops available with 1080p, but not this retail-specific fixed-configuration version).

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Sony
• Vaio
• FW480J/T
• first
• look

[EpiDemic117]

sony has done that style keyboard long before apple has.

[toonygamer2004]

Uhh--what does this guy mean, "plays pretty good movies"<--?

It has a flippin ATI 4650.

It can decode hd, and blu-ray movies

like it's nobody's business..

Your trippin big guy. :)

[Jogonam]

mine has 6gb ram

[raducracan]

Can you tell me some sites where i can buy a notebook like this , but cheaper...help plzzz

[advancedwarfighter07]

I think the power button is cheesy, geeky, and anoying. Who wants a bright green light glowing so big. There should be settings to turn that off.

[CoralineVoorhees]

Awesome sauce. I just picked this up at Best Buy today. Gotta wait till Christmas though. :( Can't wait!

[raybrizs]

yesssssssss i have one !!

[skater8369]

is there a ethernet cable port???

[targeterminated]

just awesome! i have one. Sony are the best!!!11

[n70643]

i just got mine and it is awesome

[toonygamer2004]

I checked their website, and you can get it for $870 bucks with the same ATI GPU.

That price for a great CPU as well.

Freaken good price :)

Though, RAM runs on DDR2 :\

downside...