computer-reviews.net

Sony VAIO VGC-RB50 Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz Desktop Computer

Wednesday, June 7th, 2006 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Reviews | View Comments

This Sony computer is designed for use as a media center computer. With minimalist styling, it manages to fit fairly well into you living room, but not nearly as well as some of the newer Sony offerings that have home entertainment center styling, rather than just a good looking computer case.

For a fraction under $900, does this system compare well against newer models offering a little more future proofness and power?

Let’s take a look at the specifications. The Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz processor is from the older 600 series of processors from Intel. They perform fine, but were known for producing a lot of heat, and using a lot of power. The inclusion of a DVD burner and a large 250GB hard drive are fairly run of the mill for a media center computer, computers which are usually designed for home entertainment.

Integrated audio and graphics do not lend themselves to high quality systems, although they have gotten better in recent years, the best is still found in component parts. A standard affair when it comes to networking, all which are possible without upgrades.

The biggest gripe I have is the missing remote control. These are a fairly standard accessory on Sony computers and make a whole lot of sense for entertainment centers, nobody wants to get up and use a mouse for the simple of functions on the computer, especially playback of videos and other media.

So overall, I don’t think that this computer is really worth it. I would put the money into a more up to date version which has more features included. It’s not a bad system, and at the time was probably good, but not good enough anymore.

Systemax Nighthawk Intel Pentium Extreme Based Nvidia SLI Gaming Computer

Monday, May 22nd, 2006 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Reviews | View Comments

Of all the Systemax reviews I’ve done, this one is certainly the most expensive systemax computer I have seen. With a top of the line set of specifications, it will be enough for the most demanding of gamers, and the range of options will allow you to get just what you need.

As with many of the Systemax computers you get a range of options for a lot of the computer. In this case the base computer comes with an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition processor. This is a hefty processor, mostly because of it’s pricetag, which is over $1000 by itself. You do however get the fastest Intel processor available, albeit still a single-core processor.

Amongst the other parts in this Systemax computer you find appropriate choices for a high-speed computer.

It comes standard with 1GB of memory, which can be upgraded to 2GB, which I highly recommend. 2 BFG 7800GTX OC 256MB PCIe video cards are the standard fare in this system, but if you are really paying this much, dish out the extra $100 for 2 BFG 7900GTX OC 512MB video cards and reap the extra performance that those give.

Two Western Digital 74GB Raptor drives in a RAID 0 are an excellent choice in terms of performance. By themselves, these drives give the highest performance available in the desktop computer market. The RAID configuration pushes this even further and gives exceptionally fast performance. The RAID 0 does make it more vulnerable to drives failure, so the extra drive for storing your data is recommended to keep your data safe and provide a lot of extra capacity.

A DVD burner comes standard, but the second drive can just be a DVD-ROM, which I think is enough, or do without it altogether, unless you do a lot of disc to disc copying.

Rounding it out by adding a 19inch flat screen monitor brings the whole package to around $4000. Now, although I would personally choose all the parts of the computer seperately if I was spending this much money, the package here has been fairly well thought out and offers decent parts which are pretty much guaranteed to blow away anything else out there.

Sony VGX-XL1 Intel Pentium D 820 2.8GHz Media Center

Thursday, May 18th, 2006 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Reviews | View Comments

Now this is what I’m talking about. Sony computers have finally got it right in making a great media center computer. Without any other considerations, the look alone put it way ahead of many of their competitors in terms of style and design.

As the first computers started getting the media center treatment a few years ago, the computer case itself was always an eyesore. Computer cases can be pretty bland and were often hidden from view when put together with a home entertainment system. Home theater equipment has sleek smooth designs, with the components being slim and well styled to fit in a living room. This has always been true of their design.

The Sony VGX-XL1 takes this to heart and is a system with the looks to sit beside the most elegant of equipment. Thankfully their has been no need to downgrade the equipment in order to meet their styling goals.

The computer itself still maintains the functionality of an everyday computer. It has all the standard things inside to allow it to perform usual functions. It is not designed to be doubled as a desktop computer and is really dedicated to things going on in the living room.

The smaller of the two enclosures is the computer part itself. Bundled software allows easy management of the media on the computer and most other functions on offer.

The larger box is a massive DVD storage center, capable of housing 200 DVDs. These are manageable from the same software that is included. You just put the discs into the big box and thats it, they are then all accessible by remote control.

The specifications of the computer are fine and will give enough for the uses it is intended for.

The high price tag does put it out of the range of many people. Simple designs lead to lower costs, which is often a priority for many people. But in the end, the styling and ease of use are the best features, putting media center PCs comfortably in the home entertainment system without sticking out like a sore thumb.

Sony VAIO RB60G Pentium D 920 2.8GHz Desktop Computer

Monday, May 15th, 2006 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Reviews | View Comments

With a price just over a thousand dollars and a host of high-end features, this Sony computer will do nicely for a home-entertainment system, and give enough features do well as a stand-alone desktop computer as well.

It comes with the new Pentium D 920 dual-core processor. It’s not the newest of the processors on the market, but it’s pretty new, and will provide enough processing power for anything you care to throw at it. The 900 series are the next generation in dual-core processors from Intel, but do not offer substantial gains over the 800 series. They do however, come at only a small price premium and consume less power.

The rest of the features are suitable for a computer at this level. The gigabyte of RAM is about what is expected and will keep it performing well, and allow use of both memory intensive programs and extensive multi-tasking.

For storage, the SATA hard drive offers enough space at 250GB. The inclusion of SATA also means that when upgrading you will have more choice open to you, to allow you to get either a much faster or bigger hard drive.

For the features on the outside, there are firewire, USB and card reader slots at the front, behind a little cover. At the back of the computer you will see a further firewire port, 4 USB ports, the audio ports, as well as slots for video cables and a modem port.

The included remote control allows you to control features of the audio/visual software just by using th remote control. This really boosts this system as a media center because not many people want to get up and use a mouse when sitting in the living room.

A built-in graphics solution will fair well with gaming, but that is not the intention of this computer. For a media center it gives everything you could really want. It lacks the sleek design of many of the very new media systems, but it’s price does save it a bit, allowing that media center experience, without breaking the bank.

Systemax Dual-Core AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Desktop Computer

Friday, May 5th, 2006 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Reviews | View Comments

This is a standard systemax computer. Unlike many of the other models in the Systemax range, this one cannot be customized as comes as-is.

With a good looking case, it gives a good first impression. That’s good, because at around $1400 it’s got to have something to set it apart from other very cool looking cases for this level of computers.

There is a full compliment of expansion ports at both the front and back of the computer. Up front, there is a flash card reader to make easy work of getting your digital pictures and othe data onto and off the desktop computer. There are also firewire, 2 USB, microphone and a audio out spot . Both a DVD burner and DVD/CDRW are situated at the top. At the back are 4 USB, 3 firewire, modem, audio, 2 USB and digital out, as well as the obligatory for mouse, keyboard and monitor. The ATI Radeon X1600 video card gives old-style and DVI outputs.

The AMD Athlon X2 4400+ is not a low-priced model. You always pay a premium for the faster or fastest in the range and this is no exception. It is really fast and will meet the needs of everyone including those that are into gaming.

There is a gigabyte of memory, which is great, allowing enough to run any application. Two 300GB hard drives supply the storage needs of this computer. The best thing about this is that you would be able to set them up how you like. The K8N Neo4-F motherboard wil allow you to setup RAID 0, 1, 0+1 or JBOD for your preference.

Sytemax computers are well put together and have a bit of thought put into the different parts that are in there. Of course, there is still the need to get the best price possible, like the motherboard, which although quite good, is one of the cheapest with the Nforce 4 chipset.

If I had this much money to dish out, I would get a less powerful processor and save heaps of money for the other peripherals like the monitor.