Sony Vaio VA1 Desktop PC Review
After Microsoft brought in the concept of Media Centre, there has been a relentless effort among all desktop manufacturers to develop a PC that should be a part of the living room. This idea of Media Centre has introduced a new type of Desktop PC known as Media Centre PC. Sony’s effort to create Media Centre-compliant PC originated as Sony Vaio VA1 which is more of an entertainment system and less Desktop PC. This plug and play system can not only integrate with the living room but its sleek finish can very well coincide with other electronic devices in your living area.
Design:
Sony Vaio VA1Desktop Computer is built-into shining plastic material and comes with 20 inch flat pane, X-black LCD monitor. Having all its components enclosed at the back, Sony Vaio VA1 has a simplistic but lustrous look. The system is complete with Wireless QWERTY touch pad type keyboard, wireless optical mouse and remote control. This ideal Media Centre system also comes with Reality Audio Line featuring DVB-T with Direct Stream Digital (DSD).
However, due to the shape, Sony VAIO VA1 is not easily upgradeable.
Inside the PC:
Using double lamp technology, Sony VAIO VA1 Desktop PC is designed on 2.8GHz Intel processor with 250GB SATA hard disk and 1GB RAM. With built-in stereo system and ‘Motion Eye‘ Digital Camera with 0.37 Image sensors Sony VAIO VA1 houses DVD rewriter, memory card reader.
This Sony Vaio VA1 All-in-one Media Centre PC also powered by Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology, which includes NVIDIA GeForce and NVIDIA Turbo Cache graphic cards.
Features:
The best part of this media centre PC is its LCD display. With sharp colour output it displays black in rich black format and white in the brightest form of white offering greater refinement and transparency. Apart from the lustrous screen, Sony Vaio VA1VGC-VA1PC is well stocked with TV tuner card (Freeview) for recording and watching any digital TV programmes. To facilitate networking support Sony Vaio VA1 provides built-in modem with Wi-Fi wireless network card which is ready to plug in to the network without extra download and installation.
Performance:
If you are planning for a high performance system this is not what you are looking for. The performance is not of vital importance with Sony Vaio VA1. Since it is not meant for real-time computation, but serves the purpose if you look at it purely as an entertainment machine. Though not upgradeable it offers wide range of features for the price you pay. But you may consider little planning in terms of the space usage, this system may easily use up all your hard drive leaving you zero storage space within a few months.
But Sony Vaio VA1 2.8 GHz processor Desktop PC comes with attractive editing software from Adobe to satisfy your creative pursuits. Using Windows Media Centre you can easily edit your images, audio and video files from the supplied remote control. To enhance your media experience, the Sony Vaio VA1 box is also bundled with wide range of tools from Sony that easily streams any video, photos, and music.
Technical Specifications, Features of Sony Vaio VA1 Desktop PC
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Model Name | Sony VAIO VA1 |
| Display | LCD |
| Display screen size | 20 inches |
| Dimensions ( H x W x D) | 466 x 571x 256 mm |
| Hard drive Capacity | Up to 300 GB |
| Optical drive | DVD-RW (+R double layer) - IDE |
| Graphics hardware | ATI Mobility Radeon with 700 Hyper Memory up to 256MB |
| Memory | Installed RAM: 1 GB expandable up to 2 GB with 4 x 184 Pin DIMMs DDR2 SDRAM with 533 MHz memory slots |
| Processor | Intel Pentium D Core 2 Duo with Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology |
| Processor speed | 820 / 2.8 GHz |
| Audio | Sound card integrated Sound Output High Definition (5.1 chl) |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 |
| Mouse | Wireless Optical Mouse |
| Keyboard | Wireless Built-in touch pad |
| I/O ports | 4 Hi-Speed 2.0 USB and 4 PIN USB Type A ( 4 in front ) ports / 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) port / 1 headphones port / 1 microphone port / 1 miniphone port /1 composite video/audio port 1 TV antenna / 1 video - S-video input / 1 audio - line-In / 1 audio - SPDIF input TOSLINK 1 Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45 port 1 phone line - RJ-11 port 1 Infrared Port Header |
| Software | Microsoft Works Sony SonicStage Adobe Photoshop Elements Sony Click to DVD Adobe Acrobat Elements Sony DVgate Plus Sony SonicStage Mastering Studio VAIO Edit Components, Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition (Trial) WinDVD for VAIO Adobe Premiere Elements VAIO Recovery Utility Roxio DigitalMedia SE Utimaco SafeGuard Easy (Trial) Norton Internet Security AntiSpyware Edition |
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Sony Vaio Media Centre -I cannot scan picture or receive sound from Virgin Box though it has worked before, and all cabling seems correct. It cannot locate Microsoft Messenger though running. It says that it does not recognise location, though entered. It cannot accept third digit of channel of TV. It cannot play radio either. This is what my experience with Sony Vaio.