Sony VAIO VPCL214FX/B 24-inch All-In-One Desktop PC

Aug 4 2011 - Sony's VAIO VPCL214FX/B continues the companies trend for all-in-one desktops that are designed as multimedia entertainment centers. It certainly provides a solid set of features for this including 1080p compatible display, Blu-ray compatible drive and an HDMI input. It also has a design that is very reminiscent of their television designs. The problem is they sacrifice some performance by relying on mobile parts rather than desktop processors like much of their competition. Add to this a cost that is several hundred than the competition and the system falls to a more average selection for as 24-inch all-in-one PC.

Aug 4 2011 - While most all-in-one desktops have migrated from mobile parts to desktop parts, Sony has decided to stick with mobile processors for their VAIO VPCL214FX/B. Specifically, it uses an Intel Core i5-2410M dual core processor. This is a solid processor choice when it comes to mobile parts but most similarly priced all-in-one's are using a quad core desktop Core i5 processor. It should be able to handle most tasks just fine but it will fall behind the desktop processor based systems in more demanding tasks such as desktop video. At least Sony is equipping the system with 6GB of DDR3 memory rather than the typical 4GB which helps it handle memory intensive tasks and multitasking better.

One of the primary goals of Sony's all-in-one systems it to make them multimedia entertainment centers. With this in mind, they equip their VAIO VPCL214FX/B with a Blu-ray compatible optical drive for watching movies on the high definition format. In addition to this, they also include both HDMI input and output connectors. This is important as it allows an external HD device such as a cable or satellite TV tuner to be hooked up to the system. The only other thing that would improve it even further in this respect would be to add an HDTV tuner but most people are not getting HDTV through an over the air antennae.

For hard drive storage, Sony uses a fairly typical one terabyte sized hard drive. This provides it with a fair amount of storage space for applications, data and media files. The drive spins at the traditional 7200rpm spin rate which gives it good overall performance compared to many other all-in-ones that have opted to use green class drives with slower spin rates. If this isn't enough storage space, they have also includes two new USB 3.0 ports for use with high performance external storage. The only downside is the system does have fewer overall USB ports at just five compared to most that have six or eight.

Like most companies, Sony has included a multitouch screen with the VAIO VPCL214FX/B. The 24-inch display offers a good overall picture and features a 1920x1080 resolution for properly supporting 1080p HD video. The odd part is that there is a gap between the glass covering the screen and the plastic frame. This is an odd design decision that detracts from an otherwise very attractive design. As for the multitouch, once again there is a limited amount of very functional touch software to really justify the inclusion. The graphics rely on the new Intel HD Graphics 3000 that are built into the processor. They are an improvement over the past Intel graphics by support Direct X 10 and adding additional 3D performance. The downside is that the graphics still fall short of what most dedicated graphics can achieve. It certainly isn't going to be used for playing 3D games. Once again, at the price point for this system, most alternatives have a dedicated graphics system.

Overall, the Sony is a tough system to place. The media features are definitely the best aspects of the system. The problem is that both the HP TouchSmart 610 and Lenovo IdeaCentre B520 offer many of these same features. They also are able to do this at prices that are several hundred less than Sony and with higher overall performance from desktop processors. The big advantage that Sony has over the other two is the style and appearance. The real question is whether that style is worth the extra cost and for many it probably will not.