Page 2
After spending a few days with the VAIO AR190G, we have a few preliminary observations:
- Another dazzling display from Sony; like the VAIO AX and VAIO A before it, the VAIO AR's 17-inch 1,920x1,200 wide screen is one of the best in its class, along with the Qosmio's and the Fujitsu LifeBook N6000 series'.
- None of the HD-ready LCD monitors in our Labs was equipped with an HDMI connection, and the VAIO AR190G lacks a DVI output, so we had to do some jury-rigging (HDMI cable with DVI adapter) to get hooked up.
- Elegant design: tasteful, piano black with chrome trim
- Complete set of multimedia controls
- Only three USB ports, which is lame, though you also get FireWire, S-Video (out and in), S/PDIF, HDMI, and VGA.
- Speakers are OK, but don't crank as loud as the Inspiron E1705's set.
- Strange that the 8.5-pound VAIO AR has virtually the same keyboard as the 3.5-pound VAIO SZ; it's a great keyboard for a thin-and-light, but Sony couldn't afford to put a few more keys on something as big as the VAIO AR?
- The VAIO AR190G's touch-pad buttons, placed along the outer edge of the case, are too far away from the touch pad itself.
Here's a complete rundown of the specs:
- Intel Core Duo T2500 processor (2.0GHz)
- 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM (maximum capacity 2GB)
- 200GB 5,400rpm SATA hard drive
- Optical drive writes (at 1X) and reads (at 1.6X) Blu-ray discs (BD-R, BD-RE, BD-ROM), and just about any other format you care to throw at it
- 17-inch wide-screen display, 1,920x1,200 (WUXGA)
- Nvidia GeForce Go 7600GT graphics card (with 256MB of VRAM)
- Windows XP Media Center 2005
- Video connections: TV tuner, HDMI output, S-Video input and output, VGA output, FireWire
- Audio connections: S/PDIF, headphone, microphone
- Other connections: PC Card, ExpressCard, 3 USB 2.0 ports
- Network connections: Bluetooth, Intel PRO/Wireless 802.11a/b/g, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K modem
- Price: $3,500
