The new Sony model, the Vaio
PCV-W1, addresses the entertainment aspect of the PC and is making
a play for a spot in the living room. Featuring a 17.5 inch wide
screen, a P4 2.8GHz PC with 160GB of hard disk and a DVD-burner. It comes with Sony's range of media management, TV and DVD
burning software and runs Windows XP Home edition. Microsoft's Media Center
edition might be used by HP. They are expected to launch a system running
the new version of the OS next month, when the new Vaio will also be available.
Sony said that the company's own software suite more than compensates
for what XP Media Center offers and that the Sony application suite "underlines
our commitment to AV IT convergence."
Brightness levels are boosted on the 17.5in wide
screen for daytime television viewing. It sports "Natural Color Control"
circuitry that will adjust the color for either TV or PC duties.
According to the DVD-Recordable article; Sony's Feed Forward Drive electronics claims to
reduce any of the ghosting that is sometimes seen on LCD screens. This can occur
when the screen's response time struggles to keep up with the action on-screen,
especially in areas of high contrast - so keeping this to a minimum is vitally
important if you are to watch films and the like.
The unit also has a
surround sound system that purportedly gives the impression of audio coming from
a wide angle, not from the stereo speakers either side of the screen.
Doubling as a PC, it boasts a P4 2.8GHz chip,
512MB of memory, a 160GB hard disk and a DVD burner. It also has USB 2, i-Link
(FireWire), 10/100 Base-T Ethernet, PC Card and Memory Stick slots.
Source: dvd-recordable.org
