Sony has always been on the cutting edge in design engineering, especially in the ultraportable space where the Sony VAIO LifeStyle PC and the VAIO VGN-Z590
thrive with their trendy designs. As you move to larger systems,
however, Sony appears to have hit a lull. The FW390's matte
cover—available in White, Titanium, or Black—is too plain when set
against the Dell Studio XPS 16's leather design, the embedded patterns of the HP HDX16t, and the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (SD Slot)'s "Unibody" aluminum frame. Even the Gateway MC7803u,
which costs half as much, has a more forward-thinking design. And
although the FW390 (6.3 pounds) is lighter than the HP HDX16t (6.8
pounds) and the Dell 16 (6.9 pounds), systems like the MacBook Pro
15-inch (5.3 pounds) and the Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 (5.5 pounds) squish it to the middle of the pack.
The 16-inch widescreen is a boon for video and photo editors—not for
its size, but for using the highest resolution available:
1,920-by-1,080. This makes working with multiple applications a joy and
offers livelier colors, while keeping its weight reasonable for
frequent travel. By comparison, the MC7803u tops out at 1,366-by-768
and the MacBook Pro 15-inch at 1,440-by-900. The FW390 is not the only
one to offer a 1080p resolution, though: Both the Dell 16 and HP HDX16t
have these resolutions available in their arsenal. The full-size
keyboard is practically identical to that of the MacBook Pro in that
both use a "chiclet"-style tiled-key format. Although the keyboard can
accommodate touch typists, the FW390 lacks aesthetic touches, like the
illuminated keyboards found in both the Apple MacBook Pro and the Dell
16.
From
a features standpoint, the FW390 as configured here is very
competitive, but it comes at a price. The 128GB SSD (solid-state drive)
is a $630 luxury that's unjustifiable unless you have money to throw
away; a 250GB (5,400-rpm) spinning drive would be a wiser selection. No
matter which configuration you choose, though, Sony is now throwing in
a Blu-ray reader, which will allow you to watch the latest
high-definition movies on the laptop's 1080p screen, or stream them to
a bigger LCD using the built-in HDMI-out port. This free upgrade
(there's also a DVD burner option) doesn't include Blu-ray–burning
capabilities, though. The three USB ports are all situated on the
right-hand side, which isn't ideal when some of your external
peripherals are sitting to your left. Otherwise, there's a FireWire
port for importing videos from camcorders, and separate memory-card
slots for both Memory Stick and SecureDigital (SD) formats.
You can also save money by picking the right processor. While very
speedy for encoding videos and rendering high-resolution photos, this
configuration's 2.66-GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 processor is overkill,
and it's a battery guzzler because of its high (35W) wattage rating. A
P8600 (2.4-GHz) processor is an energy-efficient yet speedy alternative
and will save you an additional $200. What's more, when paired with 4GB
of DDR3 memory, the FW390 is a serious contender. Because of a fast
processor and the SSD, the FW390 dominated in PCMark Vantage across the
board and broke the 6,000 mark in CineBench R10. It came in second to
the HP HDX16t in video encoding and Photoshop CS4 tests, which is
admirable as well. As for gaming, the ATI Mobility 3650 demonstrated on
tests that it's not as much of a force as the graphics cards of the
Dell 16 and the HP HDX16t, but gaming scores were respectable.
Battery life, however, suffered for two reasons: One, the 49-Wh battery
is too small for a system of this size, when systems like the Apple
15-inch (SD Slot) and the Dell 16 are including 73-Wh and 85-Wh
batteries, respectively. Two, the speedy processor and graphics card
are both heat-yielding and power-guzzling parts that had an adverse
affect on battery life. As a result, MobileMark 2007 tests reported a
score of 2 hours 33 minutes, the second lowest battery-life score,
after the HP HDX16t's (2:08).
Once you eliminate the SSD and downgrade to a more energy-efficient
processor, the Sony VAIO VGN-FW390 is a very respectable media center
at a little over $1,100. Even so, it's hard to stay afloat when others
in its class can do the same thing for less money and with better
designs. This 16-inch media center needs to improve on looks and
features, and while adding pricey parts may be good for its scores on
performance tests, it doesn't benefit its overall rating.