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Sony's all-in-one PC bites Apple on price
By Grace Aquino |
January 4, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SONY gives Apple a run for its money with a new line of Vaio JS all-in-one desktops, offering more versatility and bigger savings.
The word "savings" isn't usually in Sony's vocabulary. But the Tokyo-based company changed its tune to catch up to the popular iMac. Based on the JS190 desktop I tested for a few weeks, Sony is hitting Apple where it matters: hardware and cost.
The Vaio has a faster processor than its closest iMac rival ?? three gigahertz versus 2.66 gigahertz ?? allowing it to run swiftly when multitasking between applications. Sony also throws in a built-in combo Blu-ray/DVD drive for the ability to watch high-definition movies on the PC - all for US$250 less.
The iMac currently lacks integrated Blu-ray support, but you can bet that California-based Apple is working on it. For the time being, Sony is one step ahead.
Blu-ray matters because it won the high-definition format war against HD-DVD earlier this year and thus has become an increasingly important feature to have on a PC. Nearly all Blu-ray drives are backward compatible, so they're able to play both DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
Blu-ray's benefits are two-fold: It delivers a sharper image than standard DVD, and it future-proofs your PC. Even if DVDs don't go away entirely, Blu-ray is poised to become more ubiquitous as more people adopt HDTVs and as Hollywood studios release more films using the format.
Part of what makes the iMac so popular is sleek industrial design. The all-in-one concept combines the computer's guts and the LCD monitor into a single unit, making it compact and easy to set up. The iMac currently offers two screen sizes: 20 inches (51 centimeters) and 24 inches. The keyboard and mouse remain separate and come in wired (via USB) and wireless (via Bluetooth) flavors. Sony developed a similar all-in-one design that matches the iMac's handsome profile. The difference is the iMac's LCD panel is thinner, measuring about 1 inch compared with the JS190 at 2.25 inches. Sony's version has more screen sizes to choose from - four versus the iMac's two. Options include 20 inches (the size on the JS190 I tested), 22 inches, 24 inches and 25.5 inches.
Between my Apple and Sony test machines, I didn't notice a huge difference in screen quality. In my movie playback tests, both looked bright and rendered colors beautifully. Text also looked adequately sharp.
Both all-in-ones sport a built-in webcam for video chats and a speaker grille located below the screen. Sound quality on both was fine for day-to-day use. Sony's Webcam did a nice job of tracking my face as I moved across the frame, which is a feature the iMac lacks.
On the digital imaging front, Sony makes it a little easier to transfer photos from a camera's memory card to the PC.
You can insert a compatible card in the Vaio JS190's media card slots.
It supports the standard SD format that's used on most cameras and the Memory Stick format supported only by Sony cameras.
Apple doesn't outfit the iMac with card slots so you connect a camera via a USB cable only.
The JS190 was generally a fast machine, once you get past some software hiccups, involving both Sony's Vaio software and Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.
When I first powered up the machine, it required some software updates that took a while to complete.
The iMac had no such annoyances, and when it did update its software, it went through the drill fairly quickly.
Overall, the Sony JS190 is a good, reasonably priced PC. You'll pay less for having Blu-ray and a faster CPU, in exchange for the iMac's easier-to-use operating system.
The word "savings" isn't usually in Sony's vocabulary. But the Tokyo-based company changed its tune to catch up to the popular iMac. Based on the JS190 desktop I tested for a few weeks, Sony is hitting Apple where it matters: hardware and cost.
The Vaio has a faster processor than its closest iMac rival ?? three gigahertz versus 2.66 gigahertz ?? allowing it to run swiftly when multitasking between applications. Sony also throws in a built-in combo Blu-ray/DVD drive for the ability to watch high-definition movies on the PC - all for US$250 less.
The iMac currently lacks integrated Blu-ray support, but you can bet that California-based Apple is working on it. For the time being, Sony is one step ahead.
Blu-ray matters because it won the high-definition format war against HD-DVD earlier this year and thus has become an increasingly important feature to have on a PC. Nearly all Blu-ray drives are backward compatible, so they're able to play both DVDs and Blu-ray discs.
Blu-ray's benefits are two-fold: It delivers a sharper image than standard DVD, and it future-proofs your PC. Even if DVDs don't go away entirely, Blu-ray is poised to become more ubiquitous as more people adopt HDTVs and as Hollywood studios release more films using the format.
Part of what makes the iMac so popular is sleek industrial design. The all-in-one concept combines the computer's guts and the LCD monitor into a single unit, making it compact and easy to set up. The iMac currently offers two screen sizes: 20 inches (51 centimeters) and 24 inches. The keyboard and mouse remain separate and come in wired (via USB) and wireless (via Bluetooth) flavors. Sony developed a similar all-in-one design that matches the iMac's handsome profile. The difference is the iMac's LCD panel is thinner, measuring about 1 inch compared with the JS190 at 2.25 inches. Sony's version has more screen sizes to choose from - four versus the iMac's two. Options include 20 inches (the size on the JS190 I tested), 22 inches, 24 inches and 25.5 inches.
Between my Apple and Sony test machines, I didn't notice a huge difference in screen quality. In my movie playback tests, both looked bright and rendered colors beautifully. Text also looked adequately sharp.
Both all-in-ones sport a built-in webcam for video chats and a speaker grille located below the screen. Sound quality on both was fine for day-to-day use. Sony's Webcam did a nice job of tracking my face as I moved across the frame, which is a feature the iMac lacks.
On the digital imaging front, Sony makes it a little easier to transfer photos from a camera's memory card to the PC.
You can insert a compatible card in the Vaio JS190's media card slots.
It supports the standard SD format that's used on most cameras and the Memory Stick format supported only by Sony cameras.
Apple doesn't outfit the iMac with card slots so you connect a camera via a USB cable only.
The JS190 was generally a fast machine, once you get past some software hiccups, involving both Sony's Vaio software and Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system.
When I first powered up the machine, it required some software updates that took a while to complete.
The iMac had no such annoyances, and when it did update its software, it went through the drill fairly quickly.
Overall, the Sony JS190 is a good, reasonably priced PC. You'll pay less for having Blu-ray and a faster CPU, in exchange for the iMac's easier-to-use operating system.
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