Power meets Style
Written: Jul 30 '00 (Updated Jul 31 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: the LCD, the Size of the computer, CDRW, ample HardDisk space, good amount of ram, iLink, and much much more
Cons: the door on the front of the computer, only 2 PCI slots (both taken up), 4pin iLink, and no numberpad.
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| Skyleth's Full Review: Sony VAIO PCV-L640 PC Desktop |
Amazing, Sony did it again. Sony's latest remake of their eye catching slimtop is really something to think about... buying!
An answer to the latest trend in personal computing... (or anything electronic)
Ever since Steve Jobs smacked us with the iMac small cute colored devices are popping up everywhere. I blame him for the five-zillion neon colors I get to choose from when I want to buy a calculator (no joke, HP has a scientific calculator that has interchangeable colored covers) or a cellphone. Heck, even cordless phones are now technicolor. So following the trend of a more friendly personal computer, Sony does it with it's own technological flare. Making one of the smallest desktop computers available, without skimping on the power and most importantly, not making it look like a teletubby.
Features (incase you forgot) and my 2 cents
700MHz Pentium III: Good choice of speed and value, 700/800MHz is that top of the middle of the road, the point before you are paying for nothing but the fact that it's the latest in technology.
30GB HD: This should last you the life of the computer, but of course if you are like me where you never delete anything, download and install programs like crazy, and spend too much time on napster, it'll last you 2 years or so.
128MB RAM: MultiTasking will go smoothly! You really only NEED 64, but the general rule of thumb with RAM is "the more the better"
i.Link: With this feature, i kind of wish they gave me a larger HardDisk, I think the most recent count is roughly 3min per GigaByte of Purely DV video. Now if this i.Link is in constant use you'll fill up that "huge" hard disk even quicker
MemoryStick: Great especially if you have a MemoryStick Walkman, CyberShot camera, Cyber Frame, Certain DV camcorders, etc...
Type II PCMCIA Slot: useful can't really imageine what I could use it for... perhaps a Sony VAIO PCMCIA DVD-ROM which will be interchangeable with the VAIO Z505 or even the SR7K
CD-RW: I personally think it's a better choice than the DVD from some earlier models, because even though the 15" LCD is rather large, it's not quite big enough for Movies, and the included speakers aren't all that thrilling.
15" ActiveMatrix LCD: Great Size, Great Quality, It's an LCD!
Sleek yet powerful
Okay, so it looks good, but it's probably some crappy celeron chip with little ram (cough cough compaq). Wrong. Amazingly enough Sony was able to fit in a 700 MHz PentiumIII processor along with a 30 GigaByte HardDisk (or to make it sound even larger than it is, just like toshiba, it's a 30 Billion Byte Hard Drive), 128 Megs of RAM, a CDRW, Memory Stick Slot, Type II PCMCIA Card slot, i.Link, and a few other things here and there.
Now, I know I said this when I first saw it. "That's it? Only 700MHz?" Well true that there is much faster out there, but really, is it necessary? Remember you are trying to fit all of this in what is almost a laptop form factor. Truth be told that today you me and the guy next door could go into any computer store take a system off the shelf and most likely it will suit our needs. 700 MHz is more that what most people will be able to use, Microsoft Office will fly, anything internet will run smoothly (especially if you have broadband), and games will be enjoyable.
I'm not going to say that the Hard Disk will suit your needs, because that will change tomorrow, literally. I bought a computer last year w/ a 10GB hard disk, and I thought, I'll never fill that, low and behold 8 months later I am buying another 40GB. Let's see how long this one lasts (it's all napster's fault i tell you!). As far as RAM goes, the more the better, but realistically, 64MB is all you really need. But then you have geeks like me who must have more ram! No problem, this machine is upgradeable to a meager 256... last time I checked. But no one will be running a server off of this nor will they be compiling 10 thousand lines of code all day every day, so not to worry.
In contrast, look at the short lived Compaq experiment: 500MHz Celeron, 64MB Ram, 15" LCD (which is thicker than Sony's 15"LCD by atleast 3x) CD-RW, 10GB HD. For the extra $500 (not completely sure what the exact price of the compaq system was, but this is close enough) Sony is definetly the better buy.
What's Important
Today when our precious desktop space is being taken up by other things such as Scanners, Printers, Lamps, Kitchen Sinks, CDs (or those annoying tower case things), Zip Drives, Telephones, Mouse Pads, USB Hubs, etc... everybody needs more room! Sony's LCD is one of the smallest LCDs out there. You'll appreciate that in the space that a 17" CRT takes up you can fit the entire setup. Now, no one is really going to do that, it makes everything a little hard to access... But no matter what you will find a set up that will free your desk and work beautifully.
The Ugly
Everything I've said has been good so far, time for the bad parts of this design!
1. The main controls for the computer including the PCMCIA card slot, iLink port, USB Port, MemoryStick port are behind a panel of some sort. Now if you have the computer lying on it's side the door just gets in the way, 9 times out of 10 you will snap the door off when you're trying to open it. Standing on it's side both saves more space, and keeps the door alive.
2. There are only 2 PCI slots! One is taken up by a modem and the other by a 10/100 Network Card. While it's true that your average Joe will never need anything else inside the computer, it's nice to have the option.
3. The keyboard has no numberpad. It's really not that big of a deal, but I have become so accustomed to using that numberpad to enter any numerical information. I just never really learned the number part of touch typing.
4. Ultra ATA 33 HD, although most people who buy this will not know what that means, it would be nicer for them to put in a faster HD, boot time would go by faster.
5. Stop it with the 4pin iLink! Although it's great that Sony offers the iLink port, it has the mini iLink port on the computer. If you look at any other iLink devices or even at the FireWire port on an iMac you'll notice a 6pin Large iLink/FireWire port. Most/All devices other than DV Camcorders will use the Larger 6pin iLink/FireWire port. Although they do sell 4pin to 6pin cables, they're a pain to find. Good think it's a 400 MegaBit iLink port, the original slimtops only had a 200 MegaBit iLink port.
6. The Speakers mounted on the side of the LCDs are fine for your regular CD listening to and stuff, nothing amazing, but it would be nicer if they came with independent speakers... although... that would just add to the clutter of your desk, okay Sony wins, I take it back. There is no six.
Putting it all together
So in the end, with those little (and they really are little) problems aside, I find this computer to be the best thing since... cell phones got smaller (to the point where you loose them in your own car). I love how small it is, I love the power it packs, and I love the features. And I finally can do paperwork on my desk again! It's been a long time since I've seen this much of my desk. Wow, I must say after rereading this a few times, I talk about how cool it looks very often, well seeing as how it is one of the biggest factors in this computer, I don't think my emphasis has been misplaced.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Skyleth
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Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Technology developer at a small dot com.
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