Why buy an ebook reader?

One of the benefits that most appeals to me about having an ebook reader is that it means I no longer have to wait several days (or even weeks) for books I order to arrive. When a given book catches my eye, I can buy it on the spot and generally read it in the same amount of time or less that it would have taken for the printed version to arrive in the mail.

This immediacy factor is a major plus for me, and it’s not just limited to the delivery time side of things. Kindle ebooks are often available a week or two before their printed versions hit the shelves, which grants me the ability to read them before they become available in stores.

The Kindle store also allows me to read a free chapter from each book. This is a useful feature that has already spared me several times from buying books that appealed to me at first glance, but which I wasn’t too keen on once I’d actually started reading them (here, as always, the good old expression don’t judge a book by its cover rings true).

Another thing to consider is the wealth of books that are available in electronic format only that you can read on ebook devices. When dealing with such books, an ebook reader becomes a much handier, cheaper, and eco-friendly alternative to printing the book yourself or having it printed by an on-demand service.

Another point regarding ebook readers that I wholeheartedly enjoy is the fact that if I encounter a large article on the web that I’d rather read “offline”, I’m able to save and automatically download it (using a service such as Instapaper or the Klip.me extension for Chrome) to my ebook reader, then read it later at my convenience (sans the reflective glare of my laptop screen).

Lastly, all of these factors have definitely increased the overall amount of reading that I do these days.

Which ebook reader?

Understanding the appeal of ebook readers is easy. The tougher point is figuring out “which one is right for me?”. Personally, I wanted to have access to the Kindle store. As such the two best options for my needs were the Kindle DX and the iPad (which has an app for that). I say Kindle DX, and not regular Kindle, because I also like to read technical books and articles which benefit from the larger screen that the DX packs.

After thoroughly researching numerous ebook readers, I went with the Kindle DX. However, as luck would have it, a couple of months after doing so, a friend gave me a brand new iPad Wifi + 3G as a gift (awesome friend, no?).

This means that I’m now in the (I’m assuming) relatively rare position of owning both of these devices, and as such I’ve been able to draw some interesting comparisons. Granted the following are just my thoughts on the subject, but I hope that they’ll be of value to those who are trying to find the right ebook reader for their own needs and are debating between the Kindle DX and the iPad.

Price

The Kindle DX currently costs a little under $400, whereas the 3G equivalent version of the iPad will run you at least $600. As you can see, the iPad is clearly the more expensive device, particularly if you plan on using a 3G internet plan (I’ll touch on this more later in this piece).

Weight

The Kindle DX weighs 1.13 lb (540 g) versus the iPad’s weight of 1.6 lb (730 g). While neither is going to risk being confused with a feather any time soon, they both relatively light and easy to hold. However, that half a pound difference in weight is something that one notices during periods of extensive use. Please note that the actual weight is a bit higher than these numbers, as you need to factor in the non-negligible weight of a protective case for either device. For the Kindle DX I use the leather cover produced by Amazon, while for the iPad I opted for the Incase Book Jacket. Both are excellent, even though the Incase is bulkier (and arguably offers better protection).

Device size

The Kindle DX sports the following dimensions: 10.4 (h) x 7.2 (w) x 0.38 (d) inches. The iPad on the other hand is 9.56 (h) x 7.47 (w) x 0.5 (d) inches. As you can see the Kindle DX is slightly longer and narrower, as well as quite a bit thinner. In my opinion, this makes it both easier to handle and more ergonomic.

Display

Despite the different geometry of the two devices, both feature a display that is 9.7 inches (diagonally). However, the similarity between the two screens ends here. The Kindle DX totes an E Ink Pearl display that is light grey and is supposed to mimic the feeling of printed paper. It has a 1200 x 824 pixel resolution at 150 ppi, with a 16-level gray scale, and a 10:1 contrast ratio.

Conversely the iPad features a shiny multi-touch, LED-backlit IPS LCD with a resolution of 1024 × 768 pixels, a scratch-resistant coating, and millions of colors.

The Rails 3 Tutorial on the iPad

The Kindle DX’s display is visible in sunlight, whereas the iPad’s reflective surface is much harder to see in bright light (it’s akin to using a high-quality, glossy laptop screen in the sun). If you plan on doing a lot of reading outside, you’ll find that the Kindle DX is often a much better option (in fact, Amazon capitalized on this in one of their commercials, and they really do have a point).

As you can see, we’re dealing with two very different displays, each of which is clearly optimized and well designed for (somewhat) different uses.

The Rails 3 Tutorial on the Kindle DX

Battery

The battery life is generally good for both devices. If fully charged, the Kindle DX can last up to 3 weeks with the wireless switched off (and about a week with the wifi on). The iPad’s duration is much harder to estimate, given that it depends heavily on your usage habits and settings. I’ve found that in my case, with fairly intensive usage, a sufficiently bright screen, and push notifications enabled, my battery will last for around 10 hours.

The difference in battery life clearly gives the Kindle DX an edge, yet keep in mind that if you turn off your Kindle DX and don’t use it for a while (e.g., a month), you’ll still have to recharge your battery when you go to use it again.

The iPad doesn’t have this issue, and you’ll usually find the battery charge level to where you left it when you last turned your device off. It’s also worth noting that the iPad lasts about a month in stand-by mode, provided push notifications are disabled.

Kindle DX Vs. iPad for users with special needs

If you are considering which device works best for someone with a limited range of motion, I would suggest trying them both in person. The iPad can turn the page with a single tap of the screen, while the Kindle DX requires a decent push of a button. One great feature that both devices sport is their ability to read text aloud, which is something that may appeal to a broad range of users (as this feature essentially turns any book or document into an audio book).

3G Connection and Internet Surfing

If you buy the 3G model of either the Kindle DX or the iPad, you’ll be able to connect to the internet from virtually anywhere you encouncter 3G reception. The 3G service provided by Amazon is free and is included in the price of the device (and each book that you download). There are no monthly fees associated with operating this device.

The iPad Wifi + 3G accepts a micro-SIM card that allows you to buy a monthly service which charges you based on the data plan you choose (depending on your country, this means an extra $10-50/mo).

While this point may look like a big advantage for the Kindle DX, don’t get too excited about it. The iPad is a stunning device for casual browsing. Its Safari-based browser enables you to visit a substantial percentage of websites without encountering any problems (Flash based websites are a notable exception, however there are dedicated apps if you want to use sites like YouTube).

This blog on the iPad

The Kindle DX’s browsing experience is admittedly experimental and rudimentary at best. If, goodness forbid, you suddenly needed to avail of the internet so as to save your life, you can reach it via the Kindle DX. However for casual web browsing, the DX leaves much to be desired.

This blog on the Kindle DX

I really cannot stress the massive difference in internet capabilities between these two devices enough (definitely a matter of night and day).

Ebook Formats

The iPad can read virtually any type of format, whereas the Kindle DX is limited to PDF, text, and .mobi documents. Amazon can convert PDFs and other documents (though you can also do so yourself with free software programs like the crash-prone Calibre), but the results are usually less than stellar (if layout changes take place during the conversion).

Interestingly, you can request a free conversion of any document by sending an email to your_registered_id@free.kindle.com. In turn you’ll receive an .awz document (essentially a .mobi file) back by email in very little time, and you can also have it delivered directly to your device via 3G for a small fee.

Reading technical PDFs

I personally use my Kindle DX to read technical and scientific books and articles all the time. These are often in PDF format, unless I buy them from the Kindle Store.

The readability of PDFs is generally good, including advanced diagrams and figures. The font may be a bit too small for some users though if the original book or magazine was much larger than the DX’s screen.

With the “native” Amazon files one buys from the Kindle Store, it’s possible to zoom in by simply increasing the font size. If you change the font size, the whole layout will usually readjust accordingly and simply leave fewer lines (of text) on each page. The font range spans from extremely small to extra large, so there’s a comfortable size to be had for most users.

With PDFs, this is not the case. The Kindle DX offers zooming, however in this case you zoom in like you do on an image. Furthermore, the DX’s zooming is limited to a portion of the screen. For example, zooming at 150% with the current built-in PDF Viewer, you need to pick either the left or right side of the page and then enlarge the view based on that point of view. As a result, you’re no longer able to see the whole page at glance in many cases. (In other words, PDF zooming is less than desirable when using the Kindle, unless you’re trying to zoom in on a specific image or diagram. Because of this point, I practically never zoom when using my DX.)

The awkward 150% PDF zoom on the Kindle DX (Book: Authoring eBooks)

Generally, if a PDF has an original format that is far larger than the default format for my Kindle DX, I simply opt for a conversion. To be fair, I don’t need to do this often at all, but it’s something I felt was worth pointing out.

PDFs show up fairly well on the iPad and look much as they do when you view them on your laptop (except on a smaller screen). With a pinch-and-release gesture you can zoom in and out, and drag the portion of the page around very interactively.

Zooming wise, the iPad has a clear edge over the Kindle DX.

Reading experience

I find the reading experience to be much nicer, and above all easier on my eyes, when I use the Kindle DX. Portability aside, I don’t see much difference between reading on my laptop screen or reading on the iPad. It’s just an LCD screen, and I don’t find it to be ideal for intensive reading sessions with larger sized material such as a books, magazines, or very long articles.

The concept of interactive books that are available in the App Store is certainly intriguing, but for my reading habits this option doesn’t justify preferring the iPad over the Kindle DX (solely) as a reading device.

Generally speaking I really like the the Unix tools approach which aims to do one one thing and one thing only, excellently. While this approach may not be practical for hardware devices, in the case of the Kindle DX I love that’s it’s pretty much just a dedicated ebook reader that allows me to concentrate on reading, distraction free.

When I’m spending time with the Kindle DX, I don’t feel the urge to check my email or do other activities. When I sit down with it, I read (much as if I was holding a paper book). And that’s plenty good for me.

A typical technical ebook (PDF) on the Kindle DX (Book: Math Better Explained)

Non-reading activities

The Kindle DX offers some non-reading features, like its rudimentary browser and the ability to annotate passages from a book then share them on Twitter – it can even play some basic games like Scrabble (an all-time favorite of my wife and I on the iPad). That said, it’s absolutely not worth considering this device based on those extra features, as they all pale in comparison to what the iPad can do.

The iPad is truly a mobile computing device that’s well suited to perform a myriad of different tasks. It has become my leisure machine, which I use for great apps like Flipboard (to stay up-to-date with other people are reading or twitting). I also use it to play casual games (like the aforementioned Scrabble), and I turn to it during times when I don’t need to be hyper-productive, and can instead focus on casually browsing or checking and replying to my email. Other uses that come to mind are watching movies on the go, checking the stats of my sites – and yes, even reading, which I usually do through the browser or Reeder (my favorite feed reader).

Conclusion (and a few last thoughts on which device to buy)

To summarize, selecting between the Kindle DX and the iPad may not be the easiest of decisions for many buyers. The choice really comes down to what you want to do with your reader. If you simply want a reading device, and can live with the fact that it won’t do much else, then picking the Kindle DX is the way to go (it’s cheaper and it boasts a significantly better reading display).

Both of these devices are terrific though. Honestly, it’s not a matter of one being flat out better than the other, each has it’s pros and cons, as outlined in this article. Personally, I almost always end up doing serious reading with the Kindle DX, and casual surfing and lightweight productivity tasks on the iPad (this arrangement, while admittedly an expensive one, works well for me).

Interestingly, the limited scope of the Kindle DX may be a blessing in disguise, as it means you won’t encounter as many distractions (such as games, having a beautiful web experience at your fingertips, and other alluring distractions that come part and parcel with the iPad).

If, on the other hand, you want a device that makes reading on the go possible and still grants you most of the great features of a laptop (with an interactive user experience), then go with the iPad (I highly doubt you’ll regret it).

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The IBM Toronto Software Lab periodically runs webinars on information management related topics, which are called DB2 Chat with the Lab. These tend to be highly informative sessions, which wrap up with a Q&A time that enables attendees to openly ask questions on the subjects that were discussed during the talks. Best of all, these sessions are absolutely free to the general public and anybody is welcome to attend.

The next DB2 Chat with the Lab is a particularly important one, because it deals with a subject that is reshaping our industry and is likely to change the way IT business is done. I’m talking of course about Cloud Computing, a flexible technology that makes computational resources available on-demand, at a pay as you go rate, and ready to scale right from the get-go.

When: March 25, 1:00-2:30 PM Eastern / 12:00 PM Central / 10:00 AM Pacific. Please mark your calendar.

What: DB2 and Cloud Computing; a 1.5 hour session that will cover the following topics:

• Introduce Cloud Computing, its benefits, and IBM’s Cloud strategy.
• Cover usage scenarios for running DB2 in a Cloud.
• Describe various Cloud deployment options for DB2, and touches on the subject of Amazon EC2.
• Hear from business partners leveraging Clouds for DB2-based solutions.

Who: There will be several prominent speakers on the bill. Sal Vella (VP Development – Data Servers & Data Warehousing, IBM) will get the ball rolling, followed by Leon Katsnelson (Program Director of Data Management Portfolio, IBM), and Rav Ahuja (Senior Product Manager – Data Management, IBM). Next up will be some of IBM’s business partners, including Mike Oliver (CTO, Corent), Scott Chate (Dir. of Products, Corent) and finally Uri Budnik (Director of Business Development, RightScale).

How: Register here and you’ll receive all the details you need to be able to dial in for the call. At a later stage you’ll also receive an email containing details about how to join the web conference so that you can follow along with the presentation.

You don’t have to be an analyst or manager to join this call. On the contrary, we’d love to see more developers partecipate and getting involved. Even if you are not interested in DB2 per se, you will probably learn something new or find the information that’s being presented interesting.

And if you happen to be at IDUG on May 12, you can attend the session E03 “DB2 in the Cloud”, presented by the aforementioned Leon Katsnelson, if you want to continue learning about our Cloud Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS) efforts.

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Unfortunately, with that resolution on a 16.4″ screen the text appears very small. For some people this won’t be a problem, while for others it could cause headaches or undo eye strain. In this post, I’ll discuss a few approaches to help you with this, including how to enable reduced resolution for your Sony Vaio FW (in my case Sony Vaio VNG-FW285D/H), despite the fact that the installed driver (for the ATI Radeon HD 3650) doesn’t allow you to do this.

1st approach: Keep the full-hd resolution, but increase the font size on your system. On Vista you can do so by right clicking on your desktop, selecting Personalize, and then Adjust font size (DPI) on the left column of the Personalize appearance and sounds window that appears. The 120 DPI option should be sufficient, but you can always increase it even more. You will need to restart your machine to see these effects applied. The only downside to this is that some programs will look slightly weird.

2nd approach: As soon as you attach your laptop to an HDTV through an HDMI cable, all the available resolutions will be unlocked, thus enabling you to set a resolution that matches your own TV. This gives you the opportunity to set the resolution for your laptop’s LCD however you wish. Unfortunately the next time you restart, if the HDMI cable is disconnected, you will be back to the three default resolutions. The workaround would be to hibernate or put your laptop to sleep, but on Windows you will be forced sooner or later to restart, and having to attach the TV every time you need to restart is a real pain.

3rd approach: This is the real solution to the problem in my opinion. You need to patch the ATI drivers to unlock further resolutions and options for your display. This is done in a few simple steps, the process is considered safe and I have done it on my brand new laptop. That said, proceed at your own risk. I do not accept any responsibility for any issues or damage that doing this may cause, however unlikely such problems are to happen:

1. Download the driver for your video card (in my case HD 3650) from the ATI support site. In my case the file name was 9-1_vista64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_
   74234.exe.
2. Doubleclick on that downloaded file and follow the initial wizard. This will extract the contents of the driver to a folder such as C:\ATI\SUPPORT\9-1_vista64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_74234. That installer will also automatically execute the extracted Setup.exe, opening up a Catalyst Install Manager. Shut it down, and do not proceed with the installation. First we need to patch the driver.
3. Download, install and run DH Mobility Modder.NET. This program will let you browse for the folder where your driver was extracted to (e.g., C:\ATI\SUPPORT\9-1_vista64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_74234), and by clicking on “Modify” the driver will be patched.
4. Finally, you can execute the Setup.exe file within C:\ATI\SUPPORT\9-1_vista64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_74234\Driver and proceed with the installation. After restarting, you should be able to select from among the many available resolutions as shown in the figure below.

At 1360×768 the image will appear softer (or less crisp) than at the native resolution of 1920×1080, but this is common and it’s still perfectly usable. If you pick a resolution with a aspect ratio that’s different than the ultra-wide screen (16:9), by default you will see two black bands on the sides of the screen. These are there in order to maintain the proper aspect ratio of the chosen resolution. Of course, this sensible default can be changed if you really wish to do so; just go in the ATI Catalyst Control Center under Display Manager -> Display Properties.

With your new resolutions enabled, you should now be able to switch from an “easy on the eyes” resolution to a stunning full-hd one for your entertainment needs whenever you want.

4th approach: Use Linux for you day-to-day work, and Windows for watching movies. Ubuntu supports many intermediate resolutions, including 1360×768, which preserves the 16:9 aspect ratio (again, at this reduced resolution the image will appear softer).

I’ve personally started using a combination of the first, third and fourth approaches. My main reasons for publishing this is that the third approach gives you the freedom to choose your resolution at will, as with most any other laptop.

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My requirements

• My main operating system needs to be Ubuntu, so most components should work with Linux.
• A relatively fast machine for development. It should be able to handle Aptana Studio, NetBeans and even Visual Studio occasionally (without breaking a sweat).
• An entertainment laptop. I want to be able to watch hi-definition movies from the comfort of my bed at night. To do this a large, wide screen, high resolution, and a Blue-Ray reader were paramount.
• It needed to be able to facilitate backups for several gigabytes of data, which means it needed to have a combo drive that’s able to burn DVDs.
• Sturdy overall construction.
• Look sleek and be relatively ergonomic.
• It had to be affordable (my budget was roughly $1500/1600 CND).

My choice

Believe it or not, there weren’t too many available choices that were able to satisfy my requirements and my budget. For a while I had a crush on the Dell XPS 16, but unfortunately the Full HD option and the Blue-Ray/DVD Burner combo jacked the cost up several hundred dollars over my budget. This model is also well known for its tendency to become extremely hot (e.g., 115° F) while on your lap, and after the problems with heat that my old MacBook Pro had, I decided that this model was definitely a no-go.

After researching numerous models, I finally came across the perfect match: the Sony Vaio VGN-FW285D/H for $1600 CND (listed price $1650 CND). The exact model names and configurations change from country to country, and even in Canada, several lower end models exist (and there’s also a “configure to order” option which ends up being slightly more expensive spec-by-spec).

The titanium gray model I purchased has the following specifications:

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400, 2.26GHz FSB 1066MHz, 3MB L2 Cache
• 4GB RAM PC2-6400 (2GBx2) (Max 4GB)
• 320GB SATA disk (7200RPM)
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 with 512MB dedicated VRAM (incorrectly listed as 256MB on the Canadian site)
• 16.4″ Screen, XBRITE-Full HD (1920 x 1080), HDMI and VGA out with Smart Display Sensor
• Blue-Ray Burner (Burns CDs, DVDs, and BDs, including dual layer)
• Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1

And of course it comes with the usual yadda-yadda: 1.3MPix Motion Eye camera, Dolby Sound (pretty good), a bunch of media cards readers, 3 USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port (IEEE 1394), Gigabit Ethernet, modem, Bluetooth, etcetera. If you are purchasing this laptop in the States, you can get the same model on Amazon.com for only $1295.

What I like about this computer

There are many things that appeal to me about this laptop:

• Performance: Talk about a fast laptop! Faster than my previous MacBook Pro. There are speedier processors on the market, but the P8400 is plenty quick as far as I can tell. This Vaio is also very snappy thanks to its large 7200rpm hard drive – something that I really appreciate as a developer and photography enthusiast. Despite Vista being Vista, it’s a very fast computer which boots up in a few seconds and can run heavy IDEs no questions asked. On Ubuntu (more on this later) it’s extremely fast. Finally, not being a heavy gamer, I find the ATI HD 3650 with 512MB VRAM more than adequate for everything I need to do.
• Full HD Screen: I find the screen on this laptop to be spectacular. Colors are crisp and vivid, with excellent antiglare control. The view angle is remarkable too, you could easily seat four people around the laptop and they would all see a nice, crisp picture. It’s ideal for presentations and demos when a projector isn’t on hand. The 16:9 aspect ratio is amazing for watching movies, and very useful when trying to have more than one window open on the screen simultaneously. My wife and I watched a blue-ray movie on it and were both blown away by how awesome the whole full-hd experience (on this laptop) was. As I switched from the notebook to a desktop that’s hooked up to a Samsung SyncMaster 275t, the external monitor felt dull all of a sudden.
• Blue-Ray burner: This is overkill – good overkill, that is. I would have been happy with a Blue-Ray reader and a DVD writer, but the presence of a Blue-Ray recorder really makes this laptop shine. Yes, blank Blue-Ray media is still expensive, but prices are coming down, and the ability to backup 25 or 50GB on a single disk is an extremely welcome bonus.
• Cool and quiet: Despite the size and processing power, this laptop is definitely on the quiet side and I must say that even under stress, it remains relatively cool. The heat exhaust is on the left side, so you can safely place the laptop on your lap or on a table, without experiencing a huge deal of heat or having it shut down like some laptops are prone to doing.
• Construction and Ergonomics: I find the notebook to be very well constructed. It’s sturdy and feels very solid, though it doesn’t feel quite as solid as a unibody MacBook Pro. I believe the lid chassis is made of metal, while the rest is constructed from durable plastic. The area where your wrists rest is made of plastic but almost feels like aluminium. There is also a slight slope between the touchpad and keyboard that makes typing very comfortable. Overall, despite the large screen, this laptop is not cumbersome, and it definitely packs a sleek, modern design which is likely to appeal to many. It sits comfortably on my laps and isn’t particularly heavy either. Sure, it’s not an ultra-portable sized computer, but considering its 16.4″ screen, I think it’s still fairly easy to tote around. The keyboard is Mac-like, even though to be fair, this style of keyboard (wherein the keys are neatly separated from each other) was first adopted by Sony and later implemented by Apple. The touchpad is nice too with very smooth scrolling (always a plus).
• Reliable wi-fi: So far the wi-fi connection seems to be working very reliably. It has been connected with full signal since the first moment I provided credentials to my wireless network, and the speed appears to be great. Other laptops I’ve tried in my house have been far less reliable.
• Compatible with Linux: More on this topic below.
• HDMI Output: Having a single HDMI output (for both audio and video) made connecting the laptop to my HDTV a breeze.
• Free Blue-Ray movies: In Canada the laptop came with three Blue-Ray movies. This isn’t a big selling point, but it’s a nice bonus. In my case, I received Casino Royale, Hitch, and Surf’s Up.

What I dislike about this laptop

It is hard to find negative things to say about the FW285D/H, especially if you consider the wealth of features and its affordable price tag. But I’m going to nitpick a bit, so as to make the review more informative:

• The high resolution implies that fonts tend to be on the smaller side of things. This, depending on the user, can be a pro or a con, but be aware of it beforehand if you tend to like your font size on the hefty side.
• On Windows the current drivers seem to only offer the spectacular 1920×1080 resolution and two other very low resolutions. I don’t see intermediary resolutions like 1366×768, which would make the font larger for whenever you don’t need that extra bit of space on the screen. Update: I have blogged about a solution for this here.
• A fair number of Sony software/utilities are preinstalled on the system. There is also a trial version of Microsoft Office and Windows Live OneCare, which I uninstalled and replaced with the home version of Avast instead.
• Media for Windows Vista (or a recovery DVD) is not provided. The user is expected to burn their own recovery DVDs (3 regular DVDs or 2 double layers) through a Sony utility. These are copied from an EISA hidden partition (10.2GB) which can be deleted afterwards. To delete the partition you will need diskpart, as explained here.
• The Canadian version came with a keyboard that has both English and French labels. The bi-lingual layout is slightly different than a regular US keyboard, so it takes a little while to get your mind used to having keys like this if you want touch type at full speed. Of course, if you are a French Canadian (or anyone else who types French), you’ll enjoy the bilingual nature of the keyboard. If you purchase the laptop from the States, you won’t encounter the dual language keyboard, of course.
• Sony disables Intel VT support on most Vaios (I think it’s unbelievably stupid of them). This means that if you were to use a virtualization program like vmware, you’d obtain a 20/30% slower VM. This is not a huge deal for me (I run my VMs on a Quad-Core desktop) but it’s definitely something that has the potential to be annoying and which seems to be in place for no good reason (and, lastly, may or not be a deal breaker for you). I believe it can be enabled by patching a BIOS ROM dump, but it’s the kind of tinkering I’m not personally eager to do on the first day after my laptop purchase, especially since this point doesn’t really affect me. Should I develop an actual need for this, I will look into it and report my findings in this blog.

Linux compatibility

On my laptop I have Vista and Ubuntu in dual boot. Ubuntu compatibility was very important to me because I intend to use Ubuntu as my main OS (particularly for development) and only use Vista when needed – or for entertainment purposes (e.g., playing Blue-Ray movies). The great news is that everything worked out of the box with Ubuntu 8.10 x64. And I mean everything that I could possibly test. Video, audio, wireless connection, bluetooth, hibernating, putting the laptop to sleep, you name it. Everything worked out of the box, which speaks volumes for both the compatibility of the Sony Vaio FW Series and the progress level of Ubuntu as a desktop operating system.

If you buy this laptop, and plan to dual boot Ubuntu, you can save yourself a lot of headaches by paritioning your hard drive during the Ubuntu installation, from a live CD. You could use the hidden partition that you deleted as a swap partition, reduce the size of the Windows boot partition, and with all the free space left over create a partition for Ubuntu or add an extra Windows partition and an Ubuntu one. For example, I have a 60GB Windows Vista partition, a 190GB “media” NTFS partition which is accessed by both Windows and Linux, and then about 45GB allocated for Ubuntu. The first partition on the disk, which replaces the unallocated space created by deleting the EISA hidden partition, is a swap partition. Yes, with 4GB of RAM, I didn’t need such a big swap partition, but I had the free space all in one place and decided to go for it.

A word of caution for dual booters who are planning on having the Windows Vista partition as their second partition. You need to edit your menu.lst to change the Vista section from root (hd0, 0) to root (hd0, 1). This correctly indicates where to find Vista when you select Windows from GRUB at boot time. If you don’t go through this step, you may face an Error 12: Invalid Disk Requested or similar messages.

Conclusion

The final verdict is more than positive. This is a very solid laptop with amazing features, for a reasonable price. Unless your budget is significantly larger than mine or your requirements wildly different, I think that the Sony Vaio FW Series won’t leave you disappointed. In particular, if you are looking for a development and entertainment laptop that will work with Ubuntu Linux, without any hassle, then this could be the answer for you, provided that the lack of virtualization is not a major issue (or you are willing to figure out how to enable it).

If you own this computer or end up buying it as well, definitely feel free to share your thoughts on it in the comment section.

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