Digital Trends

The A160 is a desktop replacement that is different from those sold by other companies. It is not designed to replace a workstation, it doesn't feature a full-fledged Intel Pentium 4 desktop processor and it only has 80GB of storage space. The A160 is a notebook that appears to be designed to replace your home's desktop system rather than an office workstation in most instances, although it would make an adequate computer for the office.

We didn't give the A160 an award for a couple reasons. There is way too much preinstalled software and junk on the system and it can ruin the user experience. Sony also didn't add a media card reader (other than their own Sony Memory Stick) and they didn't include a scroll wheel. These should both be a given in a desktop replacement system, and why they left these out is beyond us.

On the upside, the AV Entertainment Dock that Sony packages with the A160 is simply amazing and includes every conceivable port and connection you can think of; this alone separates the A160 from its competitors. And instead of trying to market the A160 as having audiophile quality sound using integrated speakers and subwoofers, Sony throws in a pair of nice external speakers so that when you are plugged into the docking station you are not stuck with the systems internal speakers.

Lastly, we have to give Sony credit for designing a system that not only features a 15.4-inch widescreen display with Xbrite technology, but does it all in a chassis that is slimmer than the competition. We are on the fence about whether they should have gone with a desktop processor instead of the Centrino chipset and Pentium M CPU though. The bottom line though is that the Sony VAIO VGN-A160 is a masterpiece that fuses cutting-edge technologies with a breathtaking design. Sony fans should be more than happy with their latest offering.