Customer Reviews

Sony VAIO PCV-RS420 Desktop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD+RW/CD-RW Drive )

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Clarification of how this product was rated...
+ One star for gamers or heavy media users
+ Four stars for home office applications

I usually start out with the pro's, but given the seriousness (or even worse, silliness) of the cons, I am going to start with those...

Cons...
1) Virtually no software *of value* is delivered with this machine. Except those items that are automatically bundled with Windows XP (MS Works, Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc), you're on your own when it comes to software. As a matter of fact, there was so little software, I originally thought someone forgot to load it. A brief call to the Sony help line (22 minute wait for a rep) quickly cleared this up.
2) The cabling for the mouse, speakers, and keyboard is uncommonly short. Fully eighteen inches shorter than the cables that came with the PC that the Sony is replacing. I really have to question the decision making process that Sony used here.
3) The speakers that came with the machine are not even worth plugging in. The thin sound delivered is accompanied by noticeable crackles (on new CDs) and they even distort the music. This is especially disappointing given Sony's heritage of excellence in audio products.
4) The issue with the sound, coupled with a weak video card, is why I suggest gamers stay away. Although for a little more money, you can pick up some decent speakers and a video card that would make this PC rock

Pros...
1) The tightest boxing and packaging of a PC that I have ever seen (this is my 7th or 8th PC). Gives me a warm and fuzzy that this thing is built to last.
2) When I checked under the hood, with the exception of the weak video card, everything looked to be of very high quality.
3) Great form factor -- the box looks great and they have packed a lot of power into a surprisingly small space -- great for those with limited desk space
4) USB slots to spare (I have found 6, the documentation suggests there are 8)
5) I am unfortunately still only able to get dial-up service, but the v.92 compatible modem coupled with the 512 MB of RAM and 2.8 Ghz CPU clock speed (with hyperthreading) make it seem like the internet is loading much, much faster
6) Easy set-up (important if you're a first time buyer!)
7) Buttery smooth operation for both the DVD recorder and CD-RW drives -- and both are wicked fast
8) Lightening fast handling of word processor and spreadsheet applications

Net/net: questionable cost savings decisions by Sony turned what could have been an awesome PC-for-the-home product into a sometimes silly, sometimes smoking solution for all but gamers.

An excellent hardware platform, easily upgradeable in nearly every aspect.

Hardware: 4.25

The p4 HT 2.8GHz dual-core processor still rocks at higher-end of 32-bit platforms. Still is really no app it can't handle. Even the infamous "super" PC version of "T2" ran easily and smoothly.

The graphics card, despite the complaints of some, is still rocking, though this long after intro, gaming fanatics will want an upgrade for latest games. For occasional gamers the 64MBG 9200 Radeon is more than adequate. Recently purchased HALO runs and sounds awesome; benchmarking standard QIII also runs without flawlessly.

The Pioneer 106 DVD-/+RW is long since obsolescent--and replaced with a Memorex True 8 and a Plextor 716A, the later a blazing fast 16x writing speed. A minor complaint: the second optical drive included as stock was a mere CD-ROM. Sony should have made this a CDRW w/DVD-ROM for those us into movie processor and archiving. So the CD-ROM went as soon as the 8x DVD burners were available.

Despite the reivews, the machine has only 4 USB 2.0 with 8 connectors, therefore when using 2, 3 or 4 USB devices, make sure to plug them into only ONE connector on USB port, otherwise you'll split the bandwidth, not so important for digi-camera downloads, but for external hdds or burners, this is a MUST. The FireWire ports include a 400 6-pin port on the back and 4-pin. One could really have wished for two 6-pin ports, especially since devices like my iPod require the 6-pinner and this requires manuerving 'round to the back to plug it in. A bit of a pain if, like me, you're cramped for space.

The ethernet card is of high-quality and I've had no problems with it since I've been on the cable modem again.

The built in soundcard, surprisingly, is really quite excellent. It's able to support SPDIF and 32-bit out-put (such as that generated by the IN-MAD plug-in for Winamp); but is devoid of both high-end inputs and tape/record conversion capabilities. I've replaced it with an external, USB 2.0 Creative Sound Blaster that's absolute brilliant (esp for $50!).

The config that allows so much hardware into a small space does have one medium drawback: if you've got hands bigger than gnome's, it's difficult to work with. It requires patience and care when swapping out cables or adding new internal devices. Impatience could easily result in a bent pin. One wishes the packaging engineers had taken this into consideration.

It also includes the dinosaurian 3.5in floppy that Apple and Dell have long since done away with. A better alternative, and clearly worth a few extra dollars, would have been a "smart" card of flash memory reader built in. The software's built in for the smart card reader, but is of little use withOUT the hardware! Disable in Services if you don't buy one.

Memory, nicely configured four DIMM slots; only drawback is the maximum capacity is 2GB (a little paltry considering XP's 4 Tera-byte limit). I've added a GB to the 512MB stock 2700 DDR. Even while burning a DVD, running Word, Photoshop, playing audio files and surfing the net, the machine works flawlessly with no problems burning the DVD.

Hardware Overall: the port connectors are high-quality and solidly hold your your cables. Though cable extenders are recommended to avoid the potential disaster of the Bent Pin(!). There is generous expansion space for both a second hdd and the optical drive bays can accomodate any size internal device easily and quickly. The fans are also quiet and barely noticeable, keeping the machine quite cool.

One MAJOR minus--though hardly a problem with operation--is the almost perversly difficult case for the tower. Fiendishly difficult to remove and, especially to replace, this will cost you more time (and profanity) than it should. This is perhaps the only area where Dell actually beats anyone with their hinged cases making internal access a breeze.

The keyboard is cluttered with the usual useless "one-touch" buttons and includes no USB ports. The standard mouse is stardardly tossable. Replace both with an optical mouse and the MSFT ergo-keyboard. Tinny, .5 watt speakers are insulting considering Sony's deserved reputation for high quality audio equipment. This and the worthless software pkg--see below--are the only major fouls.

Software: 1.5

Nothing useful--beyond standard Win-ware--is included in the pre-installed package excepting the reinstall disk. This easily created and quickly reloads the OS and incl. apps. One major problem is that you are given no choice as to what's installed. So some time will be spent uninstalling the mostly useless apps. The utterly useless Works package also leaves behind some 400MBs of useless junk after isntall that has to be manually removed. The "Click-to-DVD" software is worse than useless, having almost no robustness and 50% coaster rate. This was removed almost immediately. there are also several other useless applications for which there are much superior third-party equivalents.

The MAJOR problem with the entire OS/Applications pkg didn't show up until the release of SP2. Three attempts to install SP2 led to major problems and finally crashville. I was obliged to ditch the entire OS/App package and purchase a full version of XP Sp2. This worked flawlessly. And since the incl. apps are mostly junk, you lose nothing by flushing them. In place of Nero's bloatware, Vso-soft's Copy2DVD is highly reccomended, esp. its $40 price vs. the $100-$150 price of Nero's bloatware (and major problems with the recently releases).

Bottom-line: a solid hardware platform easily upgrades to higher-end system; For the price, excellent deal. As used or a gift, highly recommended. Fully expect to get another 18 to 24 months out of it..

Summary: 4

A machine to last for years once the software package is dumped. Processor upgrade should make it more than a contender in its market segment.

This has been an awesome computer from Day one. I installed an extra gig of RAM about 3 years back and am only just now replacing this spectacular comp, or rather moving it into secondary duty. No complaints, can count the crashes in seven years on one hand. At this point it's just too slow to run media, photo, and other programs at the same time so it will become my daughters computer.

I notice this machine has a '64MB dedicated video memory' card,and everything else is great,except the 'DVD ROM' speed. This machine operates at '2X DVD ROM',which is way to slow,that probably accounts for the bad performance with 'high-end software'. '8X DVD ROM' speed should always be the minimal,'16X DVD ROM' speed being your fastest. Ideal minimal set-up: P4 2.6 w/400 MHz FSB,512MB RAM Memory,ATI Radeon 64MB(dedicated video memory),8X DVD ROM,'Windows XP Home Edition'. This is the bare minimum to operate 'high-end software'. Oh yes,remember to stay away from 'Shared(Integrated) video memory' cards,they come in both 'ATI Radeon' and 'G-Force'. The problem with 'shared' is they 'crash' your computer after 2 minutes,whether your playing a 'DVD movie' or 'high-end software',no problems with 'Dedicated(Allocated) video memory',runs like the 'Energizer Bunny',keeps on going. Another thing is to remain at '512MB Ram memory',if your 'RAM Memory' is higher or lower than '512MB RAM Memory',your computer will 'crash' after 2 minutes! This goes for any brand of computer you buy,buyer,beware!