What does everybody think of Sony computers? I am looking at a VAIO Pentium 4, 630 3.0 GHZ with hyperthreading processor PC, double layer DVD+R/RW drive and Win XP Media Center 2005, wiith 1GB PC-3200 400MHz DDR, 800 Mhz Front side bus, 250 GB Serial ATA HD, ATI Radeon x300 128mbx16 PCI-Express, for $1100. Comment?

[ 08-19-2005, 05:00 PM: Message edited by: Attalus ]

Seems alright for the price, the graphics card is a bit of a let down though, depending on the games you like. Does it come with a monitor etc? (just getting an idea on the price to see how worth it it is)..

Nope, no monitor. I'm a bit turned off by the Media Center.

Is the graphicscard onboard ? If not, it's easily enough replaced with a high end card like the 9800PRO, you get one of those for a fair price these days.

The X300 and the 9800PRO shouldnt have too much of a performance difference. Hmm, Media Center is ok, depending on what you want your PC for. I wouldn't use it if you just want to use your pc as a pc though, if you get my drift. My advice would be to shop around and see what you get, I'm not really in with that zone as I build my own computers, but think about what you want to do with your computer, how long you want it to last before you upgrade, your own technical knowledge and likelihood of doing anything yourself building wise, and your budget.

It all depends on what you're going to use it for.

Media Center isn't the best choice for a general OS, XP would be better but if you're just going to use it for music and movies it will be great.

You might want to talk to the retailer about an XP alternative if that's not you're bag, and they may be able to offer you a cheap upgrade to the video card if you plan on playing a lot of new games at very high resolutions.

No, I want to use it for a gaming computer. Thanks to all.

From what I've seen Sonys tend to be a tad over priced for the specs, but you do get good build quality. Still, if you do the research I is possible not to compromise on quality or price.

However, I've only seen UK prices, so I don't know if SOny has positioned themselves the same in other markets

So true!

Keep in mind all components come from the same sweat shop, err, production line in Taiwain. Bigger names pay bigger prices for 'first shift' components. With that said, Sony does 'honor' their warranty a tad bit more freely than do most others.

For a gaming rig, even thou that x300 is a new series card, with unheard of gaming power, it's kinda low in the performance department compared to the other cards. And, the Media OS will leave 'You' wanting as a general purpose OS, and leave 'You' somewhat 'Mad' as a gaming OS.

What would be the price difference for the x600 and XP Pro, or even home?

Also, make sure the graphics card in question runs on the PCI-X bus and not the AGP.

You won't see a performance difference right away, but you will future proof yourself...for a while...