Editorial Product Review:Amazon.com Item Description: The Sony Vaio VGC-RB64G desktop entertainment PC comes loaded with the all tools you need to easily create, manage, share, and enjoy your digital photos, home videos, movies, and music. Convert your VHS or 8mm home videos to DVD discs to share with the whole family with the amazingly easy-to-use Sony Click to DVD software via the dual-layer, multiformat DVD burner. Store hundreds of hours of your music collection on the extra-large 250 GB Serial ATA hard drive. You can also watch and record your favorite TV programs (via the built-in TV tuner) using the Giga Pocket personal video recorder (PVR).
It features a hyper-threading 2.8 GHz Pentium D dual-core processor for powering through work as multiple applications hum along simultaneously and without stress. Enjoy thrilling graphics performance with the ATI Radeon X300 graphics card with 128 MB of video RAM. This multimedia PC also features 1 GB of installed RAM, a multiformat memory card reader compatible with the most popular digital camera formats, Microsoft XP Media Center Edition 2005, a wide assortment of pre-loaded software titles, and included remote control and speakers along with a keyboard and USB optical mouse.
The Basics - Hard Drive: This entertainment-centric desktop is loaded with a 250 GB Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive, which offers higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0--than typical ATA hard drives.
- Processor: The 2.8 GHz Intel Pentium D 920 dual-core processor is one of the strongest processors currently available, and it resides in the middle of the speed spectrum for this line as of February 2006. An Intel dual-core processor delivers additional computing resources and help expand the PCÕs capabilities by providing higher throughput and simultaneous computing. You'll be able to perform multiple tasks such as digital rendering and gaming all while running virus scan or other background tasks seamlessly. Each core has 2 MB of L2 cache onboard (for a 4 MB total), and the two cores share an 800 MHz front-side bus.
A hyperthreading processor helps a PC run several demanding applications at the same time. This technology enables the processor to execute two threads (parts of a program) in parallel, boosting performance during key high-drain procedures. This results in more efficient software performance, such as faster reaction times in gaming applications, and enhanced multitasking.
- Memory: The VGC-RB64G comes with 1 GB of installed PC2-4200 DDR RAM (533 MHz). This is a good start, but you'll want to max out the 2 GB capacity (which is a bit small for such a multimedia powerhouse) for your 3-D gaming and video-editing needs.
- CD/DVD Drive: Offering the latest in DVD writing technology, the multiformat DVD/CD drive is compatible with both DVD+ and DVD- disc formats as well as dual-layer DVD+R discs, which can store up to 8.5 GB of data. For DVD-RW discs, it has a 16x write/6x rewrite speed, while for DVD+RW discs it has a 16x write/8x rewrite speed. For double-layer DVD+R, it has a 6x write speed. For CDs, it has a 40x write/24x rewrite speed. It also has a separate DVD-ROM drive with 16x DVD read speed and 40x CD read speed.
- Included Peripherals: It comes with a standard Vaio keyboard (PS/2) and a USB optical mouse. This package also includes a pair of stereo speakers (VGP-SP3), remote control, and IR blasters for controlling a TV or cable/satellite box.
Graphics and Sound Video and graphics are powered by the ATI Radeon x300 card, which delivers enhanced visual quality and performance for todayÕs and tomorrowÕs graphics-intensive digital photo, video, and gaming applications. It also supports the newest PC architecture standard--PCI Express--enabling it to send and receive data simultaneously at twice the speed of current AGP 8x solutions. It features 128 MB of video RAM and composite AV, S-Video, VGA, and DVI video ports. It also features the integrated Intel High Definition audio chip (Azalia), featuring THX certification and 8 channels for full Dolby 5.1/6.1/7.2 surround sound with Dolby Pro Logic IIx.
Connectivity and Expansion Slots For expansion, the VGC-RB64G has two 5.25-inch half-height external bays (occupied), one external 3.5 -inch bay (occupied) and four internal 3.5-inch bays (one occupied), two PCI slots (occupied), and one x16 PCI Express (occupied). It comes with the following external connectors:
- 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 rear) for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
- 2 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports (1 6-pin in rear, 1 4-pin in front) for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
- 1 parallel port for connecting older printers and scanners
- 2 PS/2 ports for connecting keyboards and mice
- 1 VGA monitor port
- 1 DVI video output
- 1 S-Video input
- 1 Composite video/audio input
- 1 RF coaxial video input (VHF/UHF)
- 1 microphone, 1 headphone, 1 line-in
- 1 audio line-out
- 1 subwoofer input
- Multiformat memory card reader on the front, compatible with CompactFlash (Type I and II), MicroDrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Duo, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital, and XD Picture Card
It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port for a 10/100/1000 Fast Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems.
Preloaded System and Software The pre-installed Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (Update Rollup 2) is essentially Windows XP Professional Edition with a variety of tools to help you to create, organize, and enjoy digital media ranging from music to home movies to photo slide shows. The Update Rollup 2 upgrade offers support for the Windows Media Center Extender technology built into XBox 360 game consoles, which lets you access entertainment from your Media Center PC--whether itÕs live and recorded TV and movies, music, photos or Online Spotlight--on any TV in the house.
It also comes loaded with a bevy of Sony multimedia software: GigaPocket (personal video recording) Click to DVD (DVD creation), SonicStage (digital music), Vaio Media (network file sharing), DVgate Plus (digital video), and Image Converter (for PSP transfer). Other pre-loaded software includes Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition, Quicken 2005 New User Edition, Microsoft Works 8.5 (with word processing, spreadsheet, and calendar), Norton Internet Security (with 90-day subscription), Intervideo WinDVD, Roxio DigitalMedia SE, and SpySubtract.
Dimensions and Weight This desktop measures 7.13 x 16.9 x 15.24 inches (WxHxD) and weighs approximately 25.35 pounds.
What's in the Box This package contains the VGC-RB64G desktop PC, two stereo speakers, keyboard, USB optical mouse, remote control with IR blaster, and power cord. It is backed by a 1-year limited hardware warranty.
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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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A very good choice,...
I bought this Sony about 2 yrs ago and it's WONDERFUL! I highly rec'mend this anyone and would but again from AmaZon! Esp with free shipping. Sure beat the Q's at the dept store!!
Customer Rating: -
Professional & Reliable!
I was waiting tp purchase a good PC jumping from my old P4-1.7 512SDRam, 30GB :(
I kept researching and looking around, from ALien ware to TOshiba because im looking for a brand here until i came to Sony, i know sony are expensive with there vaio products but i took a deeper look into there desktops and found this VGC-RB64G.
I chose this model because i needed to have MS-MCE edition with an included built in TV tuner and other features, the features are clear no need listing.
No my experience with this Desktop after this long intro.
the PC is fast, reliable, smooth, quite, elegant, and professional, the ram inside is as mentioned by a previuos reviewer Samsung, i upgraded to 2GB you have 2-DDR2 slots waiting for your ram, go for 2x512 DDR2 rams i bought different rams not samsung and they work great just be careful to be compatible with 280 pins and mhz etc...
The mother board comes with the x300 occupying the pci-express slot so forget using that or replace it, you have the modem occupying a PCI slot i removed that and placed my wireless PCI, i know there is USB :/ and i removed the PCI sony tv tuner and replaced it with the haupagge PVB-500MCE card check it out its cool (dual Tv tuner) and finally i purchased the 19inch LCD xBrite (silver) it hooked through the x300 DVI port. with this PC completing the sony family and i began rocking Quake-4 & doom3 and fear on this PC.
bottom line, its a great PC that will keep me rocking for another 2-years.
Thanks
TOA
Customer Rating: -
Fast and reliable dual core computer
Like previous reviewer, I am satisfied with this product overall except for the facts (1) I need to buy recovery CD/DVD from sony web sites unless DIY the CD/DVD by instruction, (2) I need to upgrade to XP Pro in order to add the system to network domain.
As a software engineer, I bought this computer because I wanted to write software with parallel processing. (Hyperthreading PCs are not really improving its speed with multithreading, but dual core PCs are) There are d-core PCs from other blands such as HP and Dell. Upgrading anything for HP PC was nightmare in my experience, and Dell d-core PCs are lot more expensive than this computer. So I chose Sony RB64G and I am happy with the decision so far.
As advertused, this computer is very quite as long as room temperature is cool enough. But expect it noisy like air-conditioner whenever room temperature is high such as 85-90.
Pleasant surprise I found was that upgrading memory from 1G to 2G costs about $100 for this computer. This computer has Samsung M378T6553CZ3-CD5 DDR2-533 512MB memory, which usually sells for about $50. I bought two from ewiz.com for $103. As you might know, upgrading 1G memory usually costs $100-200 more. With easy installation of two of them into the PC, I have amazingly fast and affordable parallel machine at my home. One thing I want to mention is that for some reason, Sony documentation or web site does not tell you what kind of memory chip they are using for this computer. So I had to open my PC and look inside to figure it out myself. Maybe Sony does not like people to know they are using Samsung memory? who knows.
One problem I found with this computer is Microsoft Media Center 2005 installed on this computer. This version of windows provides software so-called media center so you can watch/record TV/DVD and so on, which is nice. But you have to know you cannot add this windows system into windows network domain! Due to this reason, you cannot access this computer from other computer via network; you can access network from this computer though. So I don't know why MS calls this OS "Center" - it should be "Isolated PC for media." I am upgrading it to Windows XP Pro.
Hope this helps future buyers.
Customer Rating: 
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Hardware, thumbs up; recovery disk, thumbs down
A few things for the careful PC buyer.
After a week, I can say the quality of the hardware is excellent. WD hard drive, Pioneer DVD Rom and DVD+-R/W (yes, there are TWO optical drives), Intel motherboard.
Good, quiet cooling system.
Excellent ATI graphics card.
Has four memory slots, two of which are filled with 512MB chips. To upgrade (to the max), you must fill the two empty slots with 512MB also. Easy to install, as the layout inside the case is very clean and sensible.
Only hardware negative is the lack of free slots. The space-saver motherboard has three, and they are all filled up. Yep. The good news is one slot has the modem, which can be tossed as far as I'm concerned.
Now, for the software. Some bonehead at Sony decided to make a very restrictive recovery disk that allows no options whatsoever for partitioning the hard drive. In other words, it comes as one big 250GB C: drive and cannot be partitioned by any of the software that Sony supplies. Sony tech support recommends a third party partitioning application (but won't name a brand). This can be verified on their tech support site for this model.
Also, if you do try to install your own WinXP Pro, GOOD LUCK, especially with the drivers glued stubbornly into the moronic recovery disk.
My solution is to just get a second hard drive to partition for the virtual memory and storage of files I'll access often, leaving the supplied drive for system, major and core programs, and storage of rarely used data. The second hard drive, hopefully, can be partitioned using the Windows XP SP2, Media Center Edition, which was included.
NOTE: hard drive is SATA type. Won't take the old ribbon-cable IDE type. That's ok--SATA can be much faster.
Documentation for the system is minimal.
The system flies (especially with 2GB of memory). The video is smooth and fast, great for handling large photos in Photoshop, game play, and DVD play back. Haven't tried the Click to DVD, but noted that it recommended the maximum amount of memory to run properly.
Overall, it is a good deal for the power and quality, but it would be hard to recommend this to those who like to partition their hard drives, need empty slots, or want to load their own version of Windows.
Another plus is that tech support answers quickly and will give the right info if the right questions are asked. Quite friendly, I found.
For the typical home or business user, this is a dynamite piece of equipment.