Sony Vaio VGC-RC102 review

The Vaio RC102's sleek appearance looks like something out of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It doesn't come with a monitor but it does come with stereo speakers and a responsive wireless keyboard with built-in track pad, as well as an uncomfortable wireless teardrop-shaped optical mouse.

The Sony interface can be used for watching and recording TV as well as viewing music, photos and videos stored on your hard disk. The software is easy to use, although playlists in Windows Media Player or iTunes formats aren't recognised. Unfortunately, you can't spontaneously create playlists or play music while viewing photos.

The flexible timer options for recording video are easy to use, although you must use the mouse and keyboard as there's no remote control with the PC. An electronic programme guide is available using a web browser, but requires a subscription from tvtv.co.uk. The RC102 comes with a single analogue TV tuner, so Freeview is out of the picture and you can't record one channel while watching another.

Although the RC102 can connect directly to a TV, Sony has provided a media receiver with remote that connects to your TV and receives content from the RC102 over a network. Given the RC102's bulky size, this seems a good idea; unfortunately, the media receiver can't play content in Windows Media or DivX formats. This is puzzling since the RC102 itself has no problem playing such files.

Although the media receiver has WiFi the PC doesn't, so you may have to buy a wireless adaptor to connect it to your wireless network.

When it comes to editing video, the RC102 is excellent. Its two 160GB hard disks give 320GB of storage in a RAID 0 array, while the two FireWire ports make it easy to import video. The bulging software package covers all the bases with Adobe Premiere Standard, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Sony's own video-, image- and audio-editing packages, as well as Microsoft Works 8.

Although the RC102's general Windows performance is good, its 3D performance is sluggish due to the ageing GeForce 6600 graphics card. It's a fine though slightly pricy choice for people who need a powerful general-purpose PC and a way of beaming their media around the house.

Author: Alan Lu