Sony VAIO VGN-A190 Laptop (1.70 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Drive)

by Sony

Product Details

Data Sheet [146kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00027BV4U
• Item model number: VGN-A190
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon Product Description

Sony's Vaio A Series notebooks unite desktop PC power and functionality with performance rivaling any desktop. The Centrino Mobile technology runs cool and quiet, while helping to keep the profile light and slim with enhanced battery performance. The VGN-A190 features fast 802.11g wireless connectivity, a 17-inch screen, large 80 GB hard drive, 1.5 GHz Pentium M processor, 512 MB of installed RAM, a DVD+/-RW drive, and a bevy of Sony multimedia software. It also comes preloaded with Sony's GigaPocket software, which enables you to watch and record TV programs right on your PC.

Sony Series A Display Sizes The VGN-A190 features a 17-inch screen.

The Basics Hard Drive: The spacious 80 GB hard drive offers more than enough storage for your work and home files, a well-stocked multimedia library, and hours of recorded TV programs. Processor: The 1.7 GHz Pentium M processor is at the top of the Centrino speed range. Because of its design, the Intel Pentium M gets more done per clock tick than a Mobile Intel Pentium 4, thus providing the discrepancy in GHz measurement (i.e., 1.7 versus 3.2). The Pentium M processor is designed specifically for low-power mobile usage, and it features the latest in power-saving technologies--ensuring you push your battery and productivity to the max. It also has an L2 cache of 1 MB and a front-side bus (FSB) speed of 400 MHz. Memory: The 512 MB of built-in memory is a good start for power users. It has two memory slots in total, with a maximum memory expansion up to 2 GB (2 x 1 GB). CD/DVD Drive: It is equipped with a combo DVD+/-RW and CD-RW drive. For DVD+R discs, it has a 2.4x write and 4x read speeds. For DVD-R discs, it has a 4x read/write speed. For CDs, it has a 16x write/8x rewrite/24x read speed. Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has an 86-key keyboard and electro-static touch pad.

Both the VGN-A150 and the VGN-A160 feature a 15.4-inch screen.

Sound and Graphics
With the 64 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics card, the A190 delivers a dazzling visual experience optimized to support the most compelling next-generation 3D gaming environments of today and tomorrow. Sony's exclusive XBRITE LCD technology delivers ultra crisp and super bright graphics, and the Smart Display Sensor automatically adjusts to any projector or display resolution. It also has an AC'97 sound card that's integrated into the main board, and comes with two built-in stereo speakers.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots The A190 has an integrated 802.11g wireless LAN (which is compatible with the more widespread 802.11b and offers faster data transmission rates). You get a decent--but not overpowering--offering of connectivity options, including both high-speed USB 2.0 and FireWire: 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) ports for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals 1 VGA monitor port 1 A/V mini jack 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II) 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack 1 Memory Stick slot (Memory Stick Pro compatible)	Dimensions When Closed Other Series A Computers
	Sony VAIO VGN-A150 1.50 GHz Pentium M 512 MB RAM 80 GB HD	Sony VAIO VGN-A160 1.5 GHz Pentium M 512 MB RAM 80 GB HD Giga Pocket Engine TV Tuner

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This A190 comes with the Windows XP Home Edition operating system, and it features Microsoft Works 7.0 (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents). Sony's Giga Pocket built-in software converts TV signals to digital MPEG2 format and lets you watch and record TV programs right on the PCV-620G, watch while you record with the Slip Playback feature, and burn shows directly to DVD. It's also loaded with Sony's Vaio Creative suite of multimedia applications, which includes PictureGear Studio (digital photo), SonicStage (digital music), Sony MovieShaker, DVGate Plus (digital video), VAIO Media (network file sharing), and Click to DVD (for burning DVD discs). Other preloaded titles include a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office, Quicken 2004, Norton Internet Security (with 90-day trial subscription), InterVideo WinDVD, and a 90-day trial of AOL.

Dimensions and Weight
Measuring 16 x 1.7-1.8 x 11 inches and weighing 7.9 pounds (without battery), the A190 is best served as a desktop replacement.

Power
The A190 comes with the PCGA-BP2EA rechargeable lithium ion battery; it has an estimated battery life of 1.5 to 3.5 hours.

What's in the Box
This package contains the Sony Vaio VGN-A190 notebook, rechargeable battery, AC adapter, and printed instruction manual.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars buyers watchout for these cheaters, November 11, 2004

By 

alex jonson "bub" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGN-A190 Laptop (1.70 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

Buyers watch out for private sellers
There are a lot of private sellers trying to rip you off .prices look cheap when you send the money you wont get the product or your money back.

Look for the specific items that scammers try to do:

1. Look at the seller's id they look like some what irrelevant. Example (amazon_cheap)(Sony_Amazon)
2. Look at the sellers rating it says just launched because the sellers like to create many e mails as they can.
3. In the sellers comments they will say like "please contact me before buying. Otherwise I won't send you the item".
4. When you send the e mail to them they will say "we are a small company in Romania or UK or Spain trying to evolve to sell outside the country". They will say send money through western union. When I get the money you will get the notebooks with in 2 business days.
5. They will send detailed sellers address where to send the money western union (Spain). I said "I know the address in Spain can I come and pay to that address" he said "I will do only through online" this is cheater.


When you send money through western union you won't get your money back.

Escrow and Amazon secure payment are the trusted payment.

I got an e mail from a seller he said "I will get transaction only through Amazon secure payment. I thought he was good seller. Next e mail he wrote "tell me your complete address I will forward the address to Amazon" I gave him my address .

With in 1 day I got a e mail from "Amazon secure payment" from address looked like it was from Amazon, but when I clicked on reply the to address said "([e-mail]) it was not a e mail from Amazon in that message it said Amazon wants you to make payment through western union. I wrote the email to Amazon they said we will not allow any one to pay through Amazon these are fake e mails trying to rip peoples money.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the 16:9 big screen laptop... wow, July 10, 2004

By 

dave (bay area, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGN-A190 Laptop (1.70 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

I purchased a thinkpad last year for work, but when I saw this Vaio I lost it and whipped out the credit card. Was a true impulse buy. The screen is breathtaking: bright and 19xx pixels across. That is a lot of pixels. Watching DVDs on this system is like watching a high end TV. The wide screen gives you a movie image size that's about what you'd get on a 20" conventional TV.

The thinkpad (T30) screen was just barely bright enough, but this screen is so bright I actually turned it down a few notches. You can use it in bright sunlight, which would be impossible with a lot of laptops out there. I now no longer need an external display. The keyboard could of course be better but that applies to most laptops.

Cool tip: go to display settings control panel. Set your desktop resolution to 120DPI to make the font size comfortably large. Change your icon size to 48 pixels. Tweak font and window sizes to your preference and you'll have the crispest looking desktop out there. Even your friends with powerbooks will do a doubletake.

The ONLY reason I gave the laptop 4 stars is because this thing weighs almost 10 pounds! Get a good case and don't drop it!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice notebook. A bit on the heavy side, but I don't care., December 18, 2004

By 

Sphere "cch128" (Alaska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony VAIO VGN-A190 Laptop (1.70 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Drive) (Personal Computers)

I purchased this notebook for 1999.98 USD which included the docking station and speakers.

The Centrino CPU auto steps when on battery to less than 700 MHz, but while plugged into it's AC power supply runs at 1700 MHz which is close to the performance of a 2500 MHz Pentium 4.

I love the screen, the resolution and briteness of this screen is far greater than any notebook I have ever seen before. Someone else made a reference to the screen being "HDTV" but going to Sony's web site I could not find reference to HDTV quality graphics anywhere in their product specs for this notebook. Still, it has increadible resolution and fine line capability.

The graphics processor built into this notebook uses the ATI 9700 GPU which isn't bad for a notebook computer, in fact, I believe it is the best you can get right now for anyone notebook and will allow playing 9.0 DirectX games with wonderful graphics. It isn't powerful enough to play DOOM3 without lags on the lowest gameplay resolution, but DOOM3 is an increadibly demanding game for graphics processors and CPU's. Still, this notebook is plenty powerful enough to play most of this years OpenGL games. I have been playing UT 2004 and most of the time the game flows like liquid, but there are occasional lags when things get super busy on the screen, so this notebook isn't a replacement for a PC gaming yet, but it isn't far off for most games.

This baby is heavy, close to eight pounds and the battery life at full screen brightness is only an hour and a half, but I can live with that because I can always turn the screen briteness down when on battery which will allow several more hours of operation. Of course, when on battery it isn't good for gaming with the CPU stepped down to below 700 MHz, but is fast enough for most anything else on battery.

Sony had a problem with previous versions of their notebooks because the keypad lettering could be scratched off in normal use and the plastic housings finish rubbed off through use, something I really disliked, but this version doesn't appear to suffer from the poor design of previous versions. The USB connector is not accessible except at the back of the notebook, something I wish had been moved to either the right or left side of the notebook. Also, this notebook does not have a serial port which is required in my line of work to communicate with devices so that is a very big mistake on Sony's part, but for most people that won't matter.

Sony has improved lots of things with this machine, they moved the CDROM eject button to a place you won't accidentally hit when trying to close the CDROM tray, so they finally figured that out.

All Sony needs to do is increase the clock speed of the CPU another 500 MHz above their current 1.7 GHz offering and you will have the hottest notebook on the market, as is, its a great solid replacement for a home PC used with everything but gaming. However, notebooks will always be behind the capability of any PC when it comes to games because graphic processor manufacturers always lag at least a year behind for their mobile offerings.