Rating: 
Summary: Vaio: Style...WITH substance.
Review: VAIO...the name itself is so stylish (check out the history of the creation of the name on Sony's website), one wonders if the computer itself will be as cool. The answer, in short, is: yes, it is, without being embarassingly overpowered (if you are the kind who would feel embarassed by excess). This computer is, in essence, aimed at what used to be called a "prosumer" (someone who wants to do what the pros do but who is paying their own tab and must therefore choose carefully what they buy). But let's start with the superficial stuff first. Starting on the outside: The case is about three-quarters as high as an older computer tower, and a bit wider. It is mostly dark grey, dull silver on the sides with the word VAIO embossed into it, and with what appears to be (but is not) a black strap pulling tight all around (giving the distinct impression that this computer is so powerful that it needs to be restrained). It is a wonderful case design to see. As far as hearing goes, this machine is very quiet. The back is made almost entirely of perforated metal so there's plenty of air flow, and the fan and power supply are quiet. Indeed what drew me toward the "RZ" series of Vaio rather than the "RS" series of Vaio (with the older style tower case) was that when I viewed each series at a store, I noticed the RS series' side panels actually vibrated from all the noise they produced. The RZ in contrast is more solid and more silent. Behind every door there are audio/video/s-video/firewire inputs, most duplicated on the back of the machine as well. Do you use a Dolby Digital receiver in your room to watch your DVD movies in 5.1 surround? If so, you'll be glad to know that this Vaio has a digital audio out (phono-coax, not optical) that will send the signal along just fine (once you find all the various soundcard settings that you'll need to set to engage it properly). (You'll only need that one audio cable, because both the DVD audio and the computer's own sounds all go through the same way). Alternately Sony also includes a set of presumably so-so speakers, which frankly they shouldn't, considering how many go straight into a landfill. I was surprised that there's only 4 USB2s...6 would have been nice. On to the interior: professional reviews mention it is cramped inside the unit, but do they mention how easy it is to add a hard drive? The whole drive cage slides out for easy working, and slides back in easy as pie. Maybe that is standard now, but for me, who was upgrading from an older computer, it was fantastic. My next thoughts are on the computer's ease of use. These thoughts are firmly entwined with how nice Microsoft's XP Media Center operating system is, which is not unique to Sony. If you're coming from an older operating system like Windows98 you'll love the way the new Windows Explorer gives you nice big previews of your files (photos, etc), and you'll hate the way that Microsoft is trying to prevent you from using any customized start-up screens. The general "look" of XP appears to basically be a rip-off of Apple, but with a bit less style. It is still an improvement over Windows98, aesthetically. There's still the usual Windows weirdness afoot, but less of it, and far fewer crashes. Use the included remote control to fire up the Media Center in the evening to transform your computer into some kind of Tivo-esque dream machine. Very simple set-up, naturally, since all the Media Center functions are meant to be controlled from the remote control. It downloads a free tv schedule which you can use to tell your computer when to record your favorite shows. I've had tv on my older computer but never with this much ease of use. Press the Media Center button again and it all fades away and you're looking at a regular XP computer again. Now about video editing and DVD authoring: This can do it all, but to do it well you probably won't want to use the bundled software Sony included, which hasn't won any raves (but is not impossible, as one review suggested). If you supply the better software, for example Sonic DVDIt or Adobe Encore, this Sony's hardware will serve it well. One complaint about the way the system is set up: As delivered, the My Documents folder resides on the C drive. The hard drive arrives partioned into two parts - C and D. But C is tiny - it has just enough room for a variety of programs and the operating system. To have the My Documents folder there is stupid, considering that people who buy multimedia oriented machines tend to have voluminous collections of images, mp3s, etc.. So before you start compiling all your photos and documents and so forth, first thing you should do - and which Sony should have done for you - is to click on My Documents and opt to MOVE the My Documents folder to the larger D drive. Having done that, the computer is pretty much all set.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been 5 Stars
Review: We read all the customer reviews of this model and many others before deciding on this one. As soon as this machine arrived, I reformatted the HD to make my C drive 40 MB, and then moved My Documents to the D drive, thanks to previous reviewers for those suggestions. Also, another reviewer mentioned having only 4 USB ports, mine has 7.
Probably my biggest issue, which may not affect any other users is the length of the keyboard cable. My previous PC was also a VAIO purchased in 2000, and that cable is atleast 2 feet longer, where's the extra cable? Now my current desk really doesn't work for this PC. On to other issues...
I would have liked to use the Windows Movie Maker with an analog input, I love to make MPGs especially out of my old videos. I was able to route my VCR through my HandyCam, but as soon as you hit the capture key the i.Link makes my cam play the tape in it, which is not the tape I was trying to record. I was able to work around that by using my VCR through my cam and then using DV Gate. While the older version of DV Gate my old PC was alot better than this one, I was able to make AVIs with my VCR. These files run about 100MBs per 30 seconds!! I was then able to export them using DV Gate to my D drive as MPGs knocking that 100MBs down to a more managable 4MBs. With older versions of DV Gate you could just choose MPGs to start with. And my last issue...
In order to use Click to DVD with analog inputs you have to set your TV preference in the Media Center. Since I currently have no plans to hook up cable to this I never did that, but within a half hour of emailing Sony support, I was told to set my cable preference to no TV input. Why, I couldn't tell you, but unless you do that you are not using analog to make DVDs. Over all I have had no real issues with this pc, the software seems to work fine, but I'll imagine 3rd party software to be much better and I may go that route in the future. With out these little issues it could have been 5 stars...
Rating:
Summary: Could have been 5 Stars
Review: We read all the customer reviews of this model and many others before deciding on this one. As soon as this machine arrived, I reformatted the HD to make my C drive 40 MB, and then moved My Documents to the D drive, thanks to previous reviewers for those suggestions. Also, another reviewer mentioned having only 4 USB ports, mine has 7.
Probably my biggest issue, which may not affect any other users is the length of the keyboard cable. My previous PC was also a VAIO purchased in 2000, and that cable is atleast 2 feet longer, where's the extra cable? Now my current desk really doesn't work for this PC. On to other issues...
I would have liked to use the Windows Movie Maker with an analog input, I love to make MPGs especially out of my old videos. I was able to route my VCR through my HandyCam, but as soon as you hit the capture key the i.Link makes my cam play the tape in it, which is not the tape I was trying to record. I was able to work around that by using my VCR through my cam and then using DV Gate. While the older version of DV Gate my old PC was alot better than this one, I was able to make AVIs with my VCR. These files run about 100MBs per 30 seconds!! I was then able to export them using DV Gate to my D drive as MPGs knocking that 100MBs down to a more managable 4MBs. With older versions of DV Gate you could just choose MPGs to start with. And my last issue...
In order to use Click to DVD with analog inputs you have to set your TV preference in the Media Center. Since I currently have no plans to hook up cable to this I never did that, but within a half hour of emailing Sony support, I was told to set my cable preference to no TV input. Why, I couldn't tell you, but unless you do that you are not using analog to make DVDs. Over all I have had no real issues with this pc, the software seems to work fine, but I'll imagine 3rd party software to be much better and I may go that route in the future. With out these little issues it could have been 5 stars...
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