2.66GHz Core 2 Quad Q9400
8GB DDR2
Two 500GB hard drives (RAID Level 0)
Blu-ray burner/DVD±RW
Integrated 25.5-inch LCD
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT (512MB)
Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
Most of the TV-focused all-in-ones we've seen so far have been more about potential than performance. All have offered basic Media Center functionality, and some (like HP's TouchSmart), have aimed slightly higher, but to accomplish any serious tasks, you've generally had to look elsewhere. Sony is trying to capture the enthusiast sector of the all-in-one market with its highly appealing high-end VAIO VGC-RT150Y, which has many of the benefits of other do-it-all systems (like its own VAIO VGC-LT29U) at a price we can charitably describe as prohibitive.
First, the good news. The VGC-RT150Y is equally well-designed outside and in and seems poised to fit into any user's lifestyle or décor. The 17.3x26.1x9.3-inch (HWD) unit is solid black and has sharp-angled corners, the embodiment of I-mean-business elegance. The only colors come from the white Sony logo, which glows when the PC is turned on, and the screen itself, an attractive, glossy 25.5-inch expanse. You can place the system on either the desk, using the included stand, or on the wall with the help of the included VESA mounting bracket. The components, too, are unusually serious for an all-in-one: a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 processor, 8GB of DDR2 RAM, two 500GB hard drives in a RAID Level 0 configuration, a Blu-ray burner and DVD±RW combo drive, and 512MB of nVidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics.
The VGC-RT150Y was designed with video editing in mind, so its components are not exactly surprising—nor are the media features that complete the package. Of course, there's a dual-band (ATSC/NTSC) TV tuner for capturing video. The OS is the 64-bit version of Windows Vista Ultimate, providing backup features beyond those included in Home Premium. You get four separate card readers for bringing in content: ExpressCard, CompactFlash, Memory Stick PRO, and SD, all aligned on the display's left edge. Other connectivity options are just as plentiful: four-pin FireWire, USB, external SATA, headphone, microphone, and audio-input jacks, also on the left side; two more USB on the right side; and an A/V input, S-Video, infrared transmitter out, optical out, Ethernet, two more USB, HDMI out, and HDMI in, all on the rear of the unit.
The system allows for easy control over all its functions, most of which you can manage from the right edge of the display. At the top is a power button, and immediately below it is a button that will turn off just the display, leaving the PC on. Below that is the optical drive, and then the HDMI-select button, for choosing to accept input from the HDMI port instead of from the PC. The display menu, arrow keys (which double as touch volume controls), and OK button let you interact with the display's settings as if it were a full-fledged TV. A toggle switch near the bottom of the screen lets you switch off the built-in 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and a button below that lets you connect to your wireless mouse and keyboard (which is equipped with eject, standby, mute and volume, and zoom-in and zoom-out buttons, as well as a shortcut key for starting Windows Media Center and an electrostatic touch pad).
Sony takes things still further with software, offering not just the expected (trial versions of Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft Works, and Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007) and its own proprietary media software (for burning discs, creating movies, and streaming music and other media). You'll also find full versions of Adobe's major consumer editing apps, Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. These packages give you a lot more functionality than just about any free software we've seen and are exactly what someone serious about using the VGC-RT150Y would need.
Running them shouldn't be a problem: While the VGC-RT150Y displayed very good image quality while watching high-definition Blu-ray movies, it also placed consistently near the top in our all-in-one and even media-PC rankings. Usually, only better-equipped—and pricier—PCs can turn in results as good as the VGC-RT150Y’s 11,164 in the 64-bit version of Cinebench 10, 3 minutes and 58 seconds with Windows Media Encoder (WME), 3 minutes in our iTunes conversion test, and 5,242 in Futuremark's PCMark Vantage.
Few other all-in-ones we've seen have even come close. Let’s use our WME test as an example. The only unit to come close to the VAIO VGC-LT29U’s 6 minutes and 16 seconds was the Eurocom L390TP Uno, which took 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The similarly sized HP TouchSmart IQ816 clocked in at 7 minutes and 55 seconds, and the smaller TouchSmart IQ506 needed 8 minutes and 11 seconds. The VGC-RT150Y is not the world's hottest gamer—it eked out a just-playable 27.4 frames per second in our DirectX 9 Company of Heroes test at its native resolution of 1,920x1,200—but at everything else, it excels within its class.
Still: All this costs $3,999.99? That's excessive even by all-in-one standards and is not quite in line with what the system delivers. (The TouchSmart IQ816, by way of comparison, has the same size screen and a Blu-ray reader and comes in at $2,099.) Unless you desperately need or want the Sony brand, you're better off buying an even more powerful desktop and connecting it to an HD-ready monitor of this size or larger—you'll spend less money, even if you go bonkers buying Adobe software, a Blu-ray burner, media-ready input devices, and so on. We love the power and extensibility of the VGC-RT150Y, but we can't blindly recommend getting this computer unless you have money to burn.
Price (at time of review): $3,999.99author : Matthew Murray
No comments:
Post a Comment