CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 03/25/2005
- Updated on: 11/07/2009
Some will find the RB38G too bulky for a high-traffic area such as the family room, but it comes with the VAIO Media network-file-sharing application that so you could stash it away in another room and serve content to another PC in your entertainment rack. Still, we've certainly seen gaudier cases than this one's sleek ebony design. The two disc drives (regular-old DVD-ROM and a multiformat, double-layer DVD burner) and the front ports (one four-pin FireWire, two USB 2.0, and four varied media-card slots) are hidden behind flaps for a streamlined appearance.
The rear panel holds four additional USB 2.0 ports, one six-pin FireWire, and composite-video, S-Video, and coaxial connections for your television signal. Cases such as the Alienware DHS-2 Media Center and its nest of inputs offer more flexibility, but, for a standard desktop-style Media Center PC, the RB38G gives you most of what you'll need for basic home A/V integration. You'll also find a 10/100 Ethernet port, a parallel port, and two PS/2 ports for older peripherals, plus connectors for VGA and DVI monitors.
The RB38G's midtower case doesn't offer a lot for expansion. It has three free 3.5-inch drive bays, but both of its PCI slots are occupied--one by the TV tuner card, another by the modem card. You do get one free x1 PCI Express port, but we haven't seen many expansion cards yet that fit that type of slot. If you have a broadband connection at home, at least you can easily dispatch the modem card to free up a PCI slot.
While you might find yourself frustrated that you can't customize the RB38G at the time of purchase, its basic specs are strong for a mainstream PC. The RB38G uses a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 550 processor, a 250GB 7,200rpm hard drive, and 1GB 400MHz DDRAM (expandable to 2GB, a good idea if you do a lot of gaming or video editing). The 128MB ATI Radeon X300 graphics card is strong enough to power two monitors for an extralarge work space. We were happily surprised by how quietly it all runs, humming along at just above a whisper.
The specs tell only half the story with the Sony VAIO VGC-RB38G; the rest belongs to the multimedia software that makes this PC a pleasure to use for most digital-media tasks. The system runs Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and comes with a large, sturdy remote for enjoying some couch time. Connecting a TV signal via an antenna or a cable connection is easy, and you can watch TV with the Media Center and use your PC as a DVR (digital video recorder), at least over a broadcast-TV or other cable signal that doesn't require decryption by a cable box. We love that it comes with Sony's Click To DVD software, which makes importing old analog videotapes and burning them to DVD a breeze. With the composite and S-Video ports on the rear, you won't need to install an extra PCI card to connect your VCR.
Other media apps include Sony's PictureGear Studio for photos, SonicStage 2.1 for music-CD creation, and Sonic RecordNow 7.0 for disc creation. They work well for the most part, although we'd rather use Windows Media Player than SonicStage to make music CDs. Sony is neglecting a huge area, though, by including only Windows Movie Maker for video editing. Movie Maker is strictly for beginners, so you'll likely need to buy a better editor. Overall, the multimedia tools stand up well against Apple's iLife '05 suite, although they don't work together like the iLife programs do. Mac users, however, can only wish that Apple had out-of-the-box television, VCR, and DVR capabilities.
During our testing, the Sony VAIO VGC-RB38G felt quick and responsive when working with media applications--even multitasking never slowed it down. CNET Labs' tests placed it slightly above average for its category, turning in strong results on our SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation benchmark and passable scores on our Unreal Tournament 2003 test. Its SysMark score of 227 tied the results from the iBuyPower Media-XP--not surprising, since they use the same CPU. The RB38G's Unreal Tournament 2003 frame rates were nearly identical to those of the Alienware DHS-2 Media Center, which also uses a Radeon X300 graphics card. Neither system is really designed with gaming in mind, but with a score of 82.8 frames per second in our test, you should at least be able to play older games at lower resolutions. More important, the Sony has enough video oomph for Media Center-related tasks.
Sony backs the VAIO VGC-RB38G with one year of toll-free, 24/7 phone support and a one-year limited warranty with onsite service. Printed documentation was nonexistent, which seems like a real omission considering the vast potential for confusion when integrating this system with your home audio and video components. Online support is generic, relegating you to general tutorials and driver downloads, none of which are system specific.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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SysMark 2004 Internet-content-creation rating |
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