Why You Can Trust CNET Sony VAIO VA TV-PC review: Sony VAIO VA TV-PC
All-in-one PCs aren't for everyone. They're inherently difficult to upgrade and pricier than comparable midtower systems. But the versatile VA11G makes sense for the space-constrained, combining a TV, a TiVo, a stereo, and a PC into one device. We just wish Sony had paid more attention to its design.
Since we reviewed the all-in-one VAIO V520G earlier this year, Sony has fattened it up and dropped the price. The $2,200 VAIO VGC-VA11G keeps its predecessor's bright 20-inch wide-screen display but adds some bulk. In exchange for the extra heft, you get improved audio output and more easily accessible ports. All-in-one PCs have inherent limitations that will turn some people off (they're hard to upgrade and pricier than comparable midtower systems), but the versatile VA11G makes sense for the space-constrained, combining a TV, a TiVo, a stereo, and a PC into one device. We just wish it had a better design.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The Sony VAIO VA11G has very credible specs: on the inside, a 64-bit-capable 3.2GHz Pentium 4 640 processor, 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM, dual 160GB hard drives, a TV tuner, and a double-layer DVD burner; on the outside, a stunning 20-inch wide-screen LCD display with a 1,366x768 native resolution and Sony XBrite technology for a bright, vibrant picture. The VA11G provided smooth DVD playback, rich colors, and gripping gameplay. The surprisingly robust built-in flanking speakers and the subwoofer hidden in the base also provided impressive audio output.
TV quality was less dazzling--though we've yet to be satisfied by any picture produced by a PC TV tuner. As on other PCs with standard-def TV tuners, the TV picture on the VA11G seemed grainy and soft. Seen from a typical viewing distance, a talking head on a news program looked reasonably sharp; fast-moving images, however, appeared blurry. You won't want to watch a Sunday's worth of football on the VA11G. Also, while the display has the pixels to display a 720p HDTV image, the VA11G doesn't provide a way to connect an HDTV signal. Even if you did mange to squeeze an HDTV tuner card into the VA11G's free (but difficult-to-reach) PCI slot, you would be able to display only over-the-air HDTV signals (no PC currently has the ability to display a cable HDTV signal). You won't get to watch much HD content with the VA11G besides HD movie trailers and other online HD video.
The built-in display on any all-in-one system introduces two problems. First, if you outgrow the PC in a few years, you must throw out a perfectly good monitor. Second, you can't choose the size of the screen. The VAIO VA11G's 20-incher is too small to replace the living room television set, but in our tests, you could easily see each of its pixels when sitting as close as one normally would at a desk. This made for occasionally grainy full-screen DVD playback and live TV pictures. You need to be 5 to 10 feet away from the screen to get the maximum effect. Really, the VAIO VA11G works best as a second TV in a home office or a make-do solution for an apartment or a dorm room.
We're not ecstatic about the VA11G's design, either. The screen's sleek silver bezel looks great, but the black plastic housing behind it is surprisingly bulky, partly because of the integrated subwoofer, which gives the audio output its unexpected punch. The optical drive and the flash-card reader are front mounted and easily accessible, but the plastics around them--the flimsy flip-out door and the sketchy eject button--feel like they might break off at any moment.
The VA11G's design pales in comparison with that of the $699 Apple iMac. Granted, the iMac lacks some features found on the VAIO VA11G, such as a TV tuner, but it's more neatly integrated into one sleek package and costs considerably less. The VA11G's price is more comparable to that of the Gateway Profile 5.5 and the MPC ClientPro 414.
The VA11G ships with a wireless RF keyboard and mouse, doing away with two annoying cords and giving you the freedom to compute from the couch--if you can make out the screen from that far away. Sony has also built the radio receiver into the housing, averting the need for another dongle. It would have been nice for the company to take that concept a step further by folding the Media Center remote-control receiver into the case; the system has a spare PCI slot--although it is not easily accessible--so there's clearly extra room inside. For external expansion, the VA11G has four USB 2.0 ports and one four-pin FireWire connector in addition to an S/PDIF audio out and an S-Video jack.
The VA11G gave us no surprises in CNET Labs' BAPCo SysMark 2004 performance benchmark. Its score of 181 placed it neck and neck with similarly equipped media centers, such as the Gateway 832GM, which uses a slightly slower Pentium 4 630 processor and integrated graphics. The HP Media Center m7070n, which uses the Pentium 4 640, edged the VA11G by 6 percent. As expected, HP and Shuttle media-center systems, both outfitted with Pentium 4 530 chips, trailed slightly behind the VA11G.
The VA11G has more than enough oomph to handle media-center chores alongside basic Windows tasks; we had no problem running standard Windows apps such as Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Word while watching TV in a small window in the corner of the screen.
The VA11G handled our 3D tests fairly impressively. At a resolution of 1,024x768 with some advanced settings enabled, it scored a respectable 48 frames per second (fps) on Half-Life 2 but only a meager 21fps on Doom 3. Lower the antialiasing and anisotropic filter settings, and the machine will give you playable frame rates for today's games--impressive for an all-in-one PC.
Unlike the V520G, the VA11G comes loaded with Microsoft's Media Center OS (the V520G uses XP Home paired with Sony's own DVR app, GigaPocket). The Media Center OS lets you record and watch TV and access your photos and music via remote control. We like GigaPocket but prefer Media Center for its integrated ability to handle all manner of multimedia files. In typical Sony fashion, the VA11G also comes loaded with a wealth of multimedia programs, ranging from DVgate for digital video to SonicStage for audio manipulation and mastering. Additional applications include ones for burning DVDs, creating digital music, and sharing files over a network. However, the bundle doesn't include a productivity suite such as Microsoft Office.
Sony backs the VAIO VA11G with its standard one-year onsite warranty, which includes a year of toll-free tech support. That's a substantially better default warranty than most top-tier vendors provide. You can upgrade the protection by up to four years ($379.99). We also found a host of useful electronic documents that aided setup.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | BAPCo's SysMark 2004 rating | | SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating | | SysMark 2004 office-productivity rating |
Find out more about how we test desktop systems.
System configurations:
Gateway 832GM
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 630; Intel 915G chipset; 1,024MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB integrated Intel 915G (shared memory); WDC WD2500JD-22HBB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
HP z555 Digital Entertainment Center
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); Maxtor 6B250S0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
HP Media Center m7070n Photosmart PC
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.2GHz Intel P4 640; Intel 915G chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 128MB ATI Radeon X300 (PCIe); Seagate ST3250823AS 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Shuttle XPC G5 8300mc
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.0GHz Intel P4 530; Intel 915G chipset; 512MB DDR SDRAM 400MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 (PCIe); WDC WD2500JD-98HBB0 250GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA
Sony VAIO VGC-VA11G
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005; 3.2GHz Intel P4 640; ATI Radeon RC410M chipset; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 256MB ATI Radeon X700 (PCIe); (2) Maxtor 6L160M0 160GB 7,200rpm Serial ATA