Digital Trends

Sony PCV-W20 April 13th, 2003 | by Logan Lindquist

Setup and Use Continued...

The PCV-W20 comes preloaded with a lot of 3^rd party software including: Microsoft Works 7.0, Microsoft's Age of Emipres 2.0, Inuitit Quicken 2003, Adobe Acrobatreader and Photoshop Elemnts trial edition, Apple Quicktime and RealOne Player.  McAfee's Security Center is also preinstalled but is more annoying than good with its constant pop-up messages and registration windows.

The hardware on the PCV-W20 really gives way to the design side rather than the functionality side. While the keyboard placement looks very good in the way it flips up against the screen, the restricted movement due to being attached to the system makes use very uncomfortable at first. It also would have been better if there were more travel in the keyboard keys, as it stands the keyboard feels a lot like a laptops despite its larger size.

We would have preferred a mouse with side buttons with added functionality simply because of the systems unique layout. We did notice that the DVD/CD-RW drive ejected a laptop style tray horizontally which means it could be easily damaged if bumped. A slot loading drive similar to the ones used in the VPR Matrix/Apple Powerbook laptops would have been a better choice.

The PCV-W20 performed average to in our benchmarking. Because the PCV-W20 uses integrated SiS 32MB shared video, its performance was a lot lower than if it were have a separate video adapter. In our video tests, the PCV-W20 scored 50% lower than Gateway's Profile PC which uses an Nvidia GeForce2 MX 400 video card. In our CPU benchmarks, the PCV-W20 system either matched or trailed an AMD Athlon XP2200+ (1.8GHz) reference system, which is pretty good for a system of this type. Click on the “performance” tab to view all benchmarks.

Conclusion

The Sony VAIO PCV-W20 is another system that falls into the lifestyle computing category with the likes of the Apple iMac and Gateway Profile systems. As with most of Sony's products, the PCV W-20 tries to be unique and succeeds quite well at doing so albeit at the expense of some functionality. Although this system is not the fastest in its category, the features and design more than make up for any short comings. The PCV-W20 is a sleek and sexy system geared towards the casual computer user who wants to show off a little style. Those who purchase the PCV-W20 will be more than happy with their decision.