Specifications

For the price range, the specifications on this system are about average. For roughly the same price one can get a system based around the Pentium 4 2.4GHz processors. This means that the system specifications are about on par with an equivalent system built around an Intel processor.

The one area where the system could be improved by Sony is the chipset. Using the newer NVIDIA nForce2 chipset would provide better performance and new technologies such as AGP 8x, a better integrated graphics core and Dual Channel memory support.

Quality of Construction / Aesthetics

Over all the design of the VAIO computer case is nice looking. It has various hues of blues and grays encompass the plastic enclosure. The enclosure itself feels fairly fragile. The plastic covers for the floppy and ports on the front use magnetic closures but the hinges feel flimsy and that they could easily break. Similarly when moving the system to be set, the plastic often sounded as if it could easily break if it was set down improperly on one of its edges. The system houses two USB 2.0, a single iLink (FireWire) port and a memory stick slot on the front of the case to allow for easy access for peripherals.

The keyboard and mouse are constructed of a similar colored plastic as the computer case but feel much more study than the case itself. The layout of the keyboard is a traditional design with a small ergonomic plastic ledge that can be attached to the keyboard or extra wrist support. The mouse is a traditional ball based mouse which is a bit of a disappointment since many builders are now moving towards the optical mice which are easier to clean and function well on most surfaces.

Finally the system ran at a very low noise level overall. The case and power supply fans ran at very low levels where they wouldn't be too noticed by the user during normal computer usage. The DVD drive on the other hand had a tendency to provide a very constant high pitch when the drive was running a DVD movie for playback. This could be very distracting for individuals who may want to watch a movie on their computer, but this is still a fairly uncommon practice.

CPU, Memory and Drive Performance

Overall system performance was about average for the components included with the system. The CPU scores were a bit lower than expected for a Athlon XP2400+ processor, but this is likely because of the older nForce chipset being used by the system. They are still within an acceptable range for the processor and do compare favorably with systems based on the Intel Pentium4 2.4 GHz processors.

The systems memory scores were a bit more disappointing and this is likely caused from the use of PC2100 DDR memory. Use of a higher PC2700 DDR memory would definitely boost the performance of the memory bus as would the use of the newer nForce2 chipset from NVIDIA that allows for the dual-channel memory usage.

The drive performance from the included 80GB ATA/100 drive is within the normal range for the included drive.

Graphics Performance

Sony's VAIO PCV-RXA842 is definitely not a system built for 3D gaming. Its integrated graphics processor the nForce 220 MX is based around the older nVidia GeForce2 MX graphics core and uses a shared memory architecture with the system memory. This means that the graphics processor allocates 32MB from the 512MB of system RAM for use by the graphics processor. This severely limits the graphics bandwidth and processing power of the graphics engine for 3D performance as indicated by its 3DMark scores:

Thankfully the system does have support for a AGP 4x slot in the system so those who are interested in 3D gaming can look into upgrading the video graphics with the addition of a 3D accelerator.

The normal 2D graphics support of the card is excellent allowing for high resolution and refresh rate capabilities at a 32-bit color depth. During DVD playback on the computer system, it was able to handle the frame rates at a consistent level when playing back at both full-screen and in a window. Frames were dropped when other applications where opened or closed during the playback, but this is consistent with a software DVD player such as the one included on the system.

Software Bundle

Software included with the system included the following:

Overall the software bundle is a somewhat mixed bag of applications. Most of the basic application software is included such as an office application suite, anti-virus and multimedia applications but it lacks some other key software that would prove to be very useful. One particular example is lack of software to take advantage of the CD-RW drive. While a few of the Sony application make use of the CD-RW drive, there is no one overall application that can be used for managing or backing up application files which is one of the true advantages of having a CD-RW drive.