VGN-AR: Difference between revisions
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[https://download.vaiolibrary.com/manuals/vgn-ar/vgn-ar_opticalinstructions.pdf Sony VAIO VGN-AR Optical Disk Drive Instructions] | [https://download.vaiolibrary.com/manuals/vgn-ar/vgn-ar_opticalinstructions.pdf Sony VAIO VGN-AR Optical Disk Drive Instructions] | ||
[https://download.vaiolibrary.com/manuals/vgn-ar/vgn-ar_teardownguide.pdf Sony VAIO VGN-AR Teardown Guide] | |||
[https://download.vaiolibrary.com/manuals/vgn-ar/vgn-ar_accessoriesguide.pdf Sony VAIO VGN-AR Accessories Guide Fall 2007] | [https://download.vaiolibrary.com/manuals/vgn-ar/vgn-ar_accessoriesguide.pdf Sony VAIO VGN-AR Accessories Guide Fall 2007] | ||
Revision as of 11:58, 4 August 2022
This page is WIP
Overview
The Sony VAIO VGN-AR Series, released in 2006, was designed to tackle the desktop replacement segment. It replaced the Sony VAIO VGN-AX series. As usual for these Laptops from Sony, the VGN-AR was equipped with powerfull hardware and many multimedia features, which makes it a high-end Laptop.
At launch the Full-Spec VGN-AR was even offered with a BlueRay RW optical drive. The desktop replacement was offered with a 17" 16:10 screen, which could be had in either 1440x900 or 1920x1200 resolutions. The former being WXGA+ and the latter being WUXGA. This made for a stunning experience watching movies and videos. Something that Sony complemented with an optional ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner, making for an excelent multimedia device.
With a range of Core 2 Duos, Core Duos and a Pentium Dual Core to choose from, as well as the choice between NVIDIAs GeForce 7600 Go, 8400m GT and 8600m GT, the VGN-AR had a lot to offer in therms of performance, making image and video editing, as well as gaming no problem for the Sony. Sadly performance was hindered by only 2GB of memory on most models. This performance comes at a cost. With its size of ... and weight in between 3,8 and 4,1 kg, the VGN-AR is quite heavy. Another negative is the small battery life between 1.5 and 3 hours. This is fine for a desktop replacement, but considered low for a laptop. The speakers, for such an expensive laptop, costing 3499€ for the most expensive variant, are also not very good.
What the VGN-AR lacks in battery life, it surely makes up in connectivity. Featuring a PCMCIA TypeII, ExpressCard/54, SD Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, MagicGate, i.LINK 4-pin, HDMI, VGA, S-VIdeo out, Modem and Ethernet and 3x 2.0 USB connectors. Besides the BlueRay-RW drive, the VGN-AR was also offered with a BlueRay-R and a DVD+-R/DVD+-RW/DVD-RAM Drive on the lower spec models. A webcam was also included on all models.
In addition to the choice between Windows XP Professional and several Windows Vista versions, the VGN-AR came with a plethora of multimedia software, such as Adobe Fotoshop, Adobe Reader, Adobe Standart, Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office 2007.
The VGN-AR was superceded by the Sony VAIO VGN-AW series.
Detailed Specs
Processor: Intel Pentium D T2370 / Intel Core (2) Duo T2500, T2500, T5450, T7100, T7200, T7250, T7300, T7700, T8100, T8300, T9300
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8400m GT, 8600m GT / NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600
Display: 17.1" 16:10 1440 x 900 WXGA+ / 1920 x 1200 WUXGA
RAM: 2x SO-DIMM DD2 (upgradable to 4GB)
Storage: 2,5" Serial-ATA HDD
OS: Windows XP Professional / Windows Vista Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
Weight: 3,8kg - 4,1kg
2006 MSRP: 900€ - 3499€
Problems
The VGN-AR models equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce 8400m GT and 8600m GT all have a very unfourtunate problem. The NVIDIA 8 series of GPUs are known for their 100% failure rate because of a manufacturing problem from NVIDIA, and the VGA-AR is not an exception to that. All NVIDIA 8 series chips on every single VGN-AR is affected by this problem. VGN-AR models quipped with the NVIDIA GeForce 7600 Go are not affected by this problem.
Symptoms of this problem are :
- black screen when turning on the device (device is not booting up, it has not passed the power-on self-test)
- artifacts on the display
- not being able to successfully install GPU drivers
- unable to boot into the operating system
There is no real permanent solution to this problem. One temporary solution would be a reflow (see our upcoming reflow guide), one more permanent but still temporary solution is a reball or chip replacement. However, all of these methods requires a precise hot air station, BGA No-Clean flux, and some experience (practicing on a junk board is a good start).
Daily Usage Today
Thanks to its high-end hardware of the time, most VGN-AR models are still quite usable today. Casual tasks such as webbrowsing and textediting, are no problems for the large desktop replacement. Playing games from the time and modern 2D games should also be possible. Though modern 3D games will either not run at all, or run badly.
Resources
Sony VAIO VGN-AR Startup Guide
Sony VAIO VGN-AR Recovery Guide
Sony VAIO VGN-AR Troubleshooting Guide
Sony VAIO VGN-AR BlueRay Disc Guide
Sony VAIO VGN-AR Optical Disk Drive Instructions
Sony VAIO VGN-AR Teardown Guide
Downloads
Follow our guides to download and install drivers.
Sources
Sony, SpecsPro, NotebookCheck, icecat and wikipedia
Pictures: NotebookCheck