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By Alex Kidman, CNET.com.au
Mar 25, 2008

Sony's VAIO TP2G is a media center designed for the living room. You couldn't actually miss this fact; it's adorned with "TV-side PC" on the exterior packaging. Once you unpack it, you're met with something that looks rather like the illicit offspring of a Roomba vacuum cleaner and an Apple TV. It's not an overwhelmingly bad design, but it is exceptionally white, and as such, it may not match up with many of the other parts of your home A/V setup. As one passer-by put it while we were testing, it looks like something you'd have in a design home to show off--but not necessarily your own home.

Editors' note : This review was based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.au. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Please check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

While it initially appears a little barren aside from the rather obvious Blu-ray drive tray, that's because most of the TP-2's most accessible ports are hidden. The front panel of the TP2G slides inward to reveal memory card readers, two USB 2.0 ports and a FireWire port. The back of the TP2G is nowhere near as neat, however, and it much more betrays the TP2G's PC heritage. There's a pair of USB ports, HDMI, Ethernet and the screw for the supplied WiFi antenna--which is naturally enough white. Surprisingly for a Media Center PC, the TP2G doesn't ship with an integrated TV tuner, opting instead for a rather large external USB unit. You'll need to use the supplied USB extension cable with this, as directly plugging it in at the back will entirely obscure the secondary USB port. Either way it's annoying, and with the USB extender cable, somewhat unsightly.

The remote control and keyboard that come with the TP2G are once again white, and it's pretty clear the design aesthetic for the keyboard has come from Sony's VAIO notebook line. The keyboard keys are flat and there's a touchpad at the base to cover basic mousing functions. Both work off IR and the keyboard requires four AA batteries.

Features

On the PC side of things, the TP2G runs off a 2.1GHz T8100 Core 2 Duo Processor, 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive and 256MB Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT GPU. Networking is provided via either Ethernet or Wi-Fi, although we struggled for some time to get the supplied antenna to screw in properly for Wi-Fi usage, before giving up and going to the Ethernet port.

Aside from the basic Windows Media Center offerings that you get with Vista Home Premium, Sony also provides some VAIO-specific utilities with the TP2G. The most pertinent of these is the "Living Browser", which can be accessed directly from the Media Center menu and gives you a Web browsing experience direct from the remote control.

Performance

There are two basic aspects to consider when assessing the TP2G's performance. First of all, on a pure PC grunt basis, the TP2G performed quite adequately for a lounge room PC, scoring 5,407 in PCMark05, and 2,427 in 3DMark06. That's not going to hugely satisfy cutting-edge gamers and, given the TP2G's modular design, you're not going to easily be able to upgrade the graphics card, if at all. Still, for less ambitious gamers, it's fine.

The real taste test of the TP2G, however, is in how good it is in a lounge room setting, and it's here that the news isn't so fantastic. The basic Windows Media Center interface is still solid as ever and that part works quite well. It is worth noting that the TP2G ships with a standard Windows Media Center remote, and, if like us, you've got an Xbox 360 in the vicinity, you'll have to do some delicate aiming to avoid switching both on at the same time. That's a minor concern, however, next to the aspects that just don't work as smoothly as they should.

The Living Browser concept is a fair one--letting you control Web browsing with just a remote--but in operation it's way too fiddly to bother with. Since there's a keyboard supplied with the unit with a trackpad, you'll quickly go back to using your regular Web browser.

The keyboard is nicely light but also feels rather flimsy, and the flat notebook-style keyboard can be uncomfortable and a bit unresponsive at times. We'd advise getting a good wireless keyboard from Microsoft or Logitech to replace it.

Ultimately, the factor that makes the TP2G far less interesting than it really should be is that it feels like a product that should have been available at least two years ago. In the intervening period, we've seen no end of home A/V devices that cover the TP2G's main "fun" applications just as well as, if not better than, the TP2G actually does. This list includes Sony's own PlayStation 3, which also gives you the same Blu-ray playback opportunities, web browsing and even image, music and video playback. Strip those out and you're left with a lounge room PC you can't easily upgrade and most likely won't match your existing home decor.

Service And Support

Sony VAIO PCs have a one-year local warranty. At Sony's support Web site, VAIO owners can download the latest drivers. For simple problems, the company offers an online knowledge database for troubleshooting. Should the unit require further diagnosis or repair, the customer will have to send the unit to the service center. For an additional S$96.30 (US$63.36), consumers can purchase the VAIO Overseas Service package which provides a 24-hour call center for repair requests and international warranty coverage at designated countries.

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