The Sony Vaio VGX-XL100 is the latest home cinema endeavour by the world's leading electronics company. First of all, the VGX-XL100 is actually one of the best Media Centre PCs on the market and would be more than adequate for the average consumer who wants a space saving, all-in-one media ... Read review
Advantages: Stunning to look at and fits in with most home cinema systems Disadvantages: Hardware could be better and quite expensive
The Sony Vaio VGX-XL100 is the latest home cinema endeavour by the world's leading electronics company. First of all, the VGX-XL100 is actually one of the best Media Centre PCs on the market and would be more than adequate for the average consumer who wants a space saving, all-in-one media solution. It comes with a P4 D 2.8 GHz processor, 1Gb of DDR2 ram, 250Gb hard drive, a GeForce 6600 graphics card and a built in free view TV card. This impressive ... ...price, albeit without the stunning Sony case, which, to people concerned about cosmetics and worried wives alike may be worth the extra money.
Now we come to the downsides, the VGX-XL100 comes not with an instruction manual, but an instruction sheet. A two sided A2 sheet with pretty illustrations is all you get to set up your media centre. A full manual is available for download on the Sony Website but it is hardly useful unless you ... more
The Sony Vaio VGX-XL100 is the latest home cinema endeavour by the world's leading electronics company. First of all, the VGX-XL100 is actually one of the best Media Centre PCs on the market and would be more than adequate for the average consumer who wants a space saving, all-in-one media solution. It comes with a P4 D 2.8 GHz processor, 1Gb of DDR2 ram, 250Gb hard drive, a GeForce 6600 graphics card and a built in free view TV card. This impressive spec allows the user to play most games out at the minute as well as watch, record and pause live TV.
This might all sound good but for £1000 you could get a better PC for the same price, albeit without the stunning Sony case, which, to people concerned about cosmetics and worried wives alike may be worth the extra money.
Now we come to the downsides, the VGX-XL100 comes not with an instruction manual, but an instruction sheet. A two sided A2 sheet with pretty illustrations is all you get to set up your media centre. A full manual is available for download on the Sony Website but it is hardly useful unless you can print out the 300+ pages. Secondly for all you home cinema buffs, like me, you might be surprised to know that there is no DTS decoding, which now comes with the cheapest of DVD players. If this is a problem you will have to buy an external decoder or upgrade the soundcard to something like a Sound Blaster Audigy 4.
Overall I have been impressed with my Sony Vaio VGX-XL100, the TV recording facility has been invaluable during the World Cup and if you need a good looking media solution (without DTS) then this Media Centre is the perfect solution.
Advantages: High Spec and a Few Hidden Extras Disadvantages: Doesn't Really Look Like a Media Centre
Centre for the living room then the SonyVaioVGX-XL100 is probably more suitable. All in all this is a great piece of kit and well worth considering when looking for a new PC.
Overall Rating: 8/10 Comment: Feature rich PC that gives most new PCs a run for their money ...
Microsoft Works, Sony SonicStage, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Sony Click to DVD, Adobe Acrobat Elements, Sony SonicStage Mastering Studio, Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition (Trial), WinDVD for VAIO, Adobe Premiere Elements, Adobe Reader, VAIO Recovery Utility, Roxio DigitalMedia SE, Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 Try & Buy, Utimaco SafeGuard Easy (Trial), Norton Internet Security AntiSpyware Edition
Manufacturer's product description
The key to your digital life. The VGX-XL100 Digital Living system merges Sony industry-leading home theater expertise with the powerful computing performance of a VAIO PC.
