VGN-AW
Overview
The Sony VAIO VGN-AW Series is a range of mid to very high-end desktop replacemement laptops released by Sony in 2008. They were mostly intended for media consumption, and for home use, as well as creative work for higher-end models.
Lower-end AW models featured a titanium gray plastic case, and higher-end models features a magnificent mat black case, while the top-end models featured a black case with glossy lid (called Premium Piano Black), with a very premium-feeling rubbery palmrest.
Lower-end models had no subwoofer, and a reasonably good CCFL 1680x945 display, while higher-end models had a 1920x1080 panel with CCFL (high-end), or LED (top-spec) backlight technlogy. The LED models were highly praised for their excellent picture quality, color reproduction, and overall sharpness, and were mostly marketed to professionals, for picture or video editing.
The AW Series was offered with a choice of Penryn Intel Core 2 Duos, as well as a NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS for the lower-end models, and a 9600M GT for the higher-end ones. They have support for up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM!
Higher-end models also had special features than lower-end models didn't have, like a CF reader, Vista Ultimate, and SSD storage. Top-spec AWs included a Dual-SSD setup running in RAID.
Detailed Specs
Processor: Penryn Intel Core 2 Duo (not soldered)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS (256MB) or NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512MB)
Chipset: Intel PM45 Express
Memory: DDR2, not soldered, 2 slots, max 8GB
Display: 18.4" 1680x945 CCFL, 1920x1080 dual CCFL, or 1920x1080 LED Sony X-black LCD
Storage: 2x SATA, top-spec models: Dual-SSDs (1x slot occupied, one SATA slot free)
Weight: 3.7 to 4kg
MSRP: around 1100€ to 3600€
Daily Usage Today
The AW is still very usable today for modern tasks like text editing, media consumption (which is still better than on most non-OLED laptops from today, only on 1080p LED models), and very light gaming (9600M GT). Lower-end models are still usable, but you won't have an experience quite as good as you would have on higher-end ones.
Top-end AWs can be very pricey, popping up on eBay extremely rarely, and costing upwards of 1000€. Lower-end models can be found for significantly cheaper, but are still pretty rare.
Resources
This section is in WIP.
Downloads
Sony VAIO VGN-AW Recovery Discs
You can bypass the model checks of these discs by using SVRP.