Blu-Ray Anyone? – Sony VAIO AR190G

Tired of skinny ultraportables? Sony has released the first multimedia notebook ever to feature Blu-ray technology. But the new VAIO VGN-AR190G offers more than just the latest in storage-medium tech. It’s one of the slickest desktop replacement laptops around, and I want one. Sony spares practically nothing in the 8.4 pound, 16.4-inch wide VAIO frame. First and foremost, there’s a Blu-ray drive whose discs can store five times as much data as a DVD.

A single-layer Blu-ray can store 25GB, with twice that much room available on a double-layer. For recordable DVDs and CDs, the drive is also compatible, so no worries about your newly outdated media. The beauty of Blu-ray is that it’s great for high-def videos and anything else that requires masses of data. You can already find a limited supply of Hollywood flicks on Blu-ray discs. Pop one of these in the new VAIO VGN AR190G, attach the laptop to your HDTV with the included HDMI cable, and arguably you have the most vivid, most 21st-century viewing technology available outside of military intelligence.

What would HD quality video be without the proper display to appreciate it? The VAIO has a 17-inch widescreen with WUXGA+ quality resolution (1,290 x 1,200), which comes with Sony’s anti-glare, illuminating XBrite HiColor coating technology.

And you’ll need the right video processor, too, to get the most out of this AR190G multimedia marvel. Enter the Nvidia GeForce Go 7600 GT graphics card with 256 MB of dedicated memory. That should do it for high-def viewing, as well as any gaming you have in the cards.

The backbone of the VAIO is the 2 GHz Intel Core Duo T2500 microprocessor and 1 GB of DDR2 memory. And in case you want to store something on the laptop and not on a Blu-ray disc, there are two 100GB hard drives, configured in RAID 0 for maximum room.

With the new VAIO VGN AR190G, you get all of that and a bag of chips-figuratively speaking, for two integrated speakers, built-in camera and microphone, FireWire port, S-Video port, Memory card slots, coaxial cable, remote control, and DVI adapter.

So you have three grand plus to spare? I’ll pay you back next Tuesday for a Sony VAIO today.

Read – The VAIO AR190G Review

By Matthew Brodsky – Laptopical

Monday, June 26, 2006