Multimedia Competence - Sony Vaio A690

Posted by Todd Gold

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The Vaio VGN-A690 Vaio is a desktop replacement that John Wayne would have loved. Tipping the scales at a hunky 8 and a half pounds, it isn't built for cutting edge mobility. However if the Duke was still alive, he'd probably be too busy backing up his VHS movie collection to DVD, to ever consider leaving the ranch.

Back inapril at Sony's PC manufacturing center in San Diego, lineworkers assembled the five millionth VAIO computer. It could wellhave been one of their more illustrious notebook offerings, theSony VGN-A690.

The A690 Vaio is a desktop replacement/multimedia laptop thatJohn Wayne would have loved. Tipping the scales at a hunky 8.5pounds, this guy isn't built for portability. But with abeautiful high-resolution (1920 x 1200) 17 inch XBrite display,built in DVD player/burner, Vaio AV Entertainment dock, and a 6pack for company, you'll never want to leave the ranch.

A standard Vaio A690 is equipped with a 1.86 GHz processor,however you can customize your A690 over at sonystyle.com with a2.13GHz Intel Pentium M Processor 770, 100 GB Hard Drive and 2GBof ram, but this top end configuration will set you back the bestpart of 3000 dollars. On the other hand a lesser configuration ofthe VaioVGN-A690 laptop, with a 1.40GHz Intel Celeron M Processor 360, and 40GB hard drivecosts around 1600 dollars.

Once docked in the A690's AV Entertainment Dock, you'll haveaccess to plenty of expansion slots and ports, including - 4 USB2.0 ports, 1 FireWire (IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connectingdigital video camcorders, 1 S/PDIF, 1 VGA/DVI monitor port, aninfrared port, TV port and memory stick reader. If you purchase amore expensive A690 configuration, you also get Bluetooth. The AVEntertainment dock allows you access to this Vaio's powerful TVtuner, and video recorder. If you've ever wanted to back up yourold film favorites on VHS to DVD, you can with the VGN-A690 usingSony'sVAIO Zone software.

The A690 really comes into it's own as an all in oneentertainment/multimedia center. Sony say that XBRITE LCDdisplays have quicker video response times than normal displays.Also the XBrite coating on the crisp 17 inch display reducesglare and ambient light reflection, supposedly lessening eyefatigue, and making movie watching, and game playing moreenjoyable.

I can't really fault the VGN-A690, but I certainly wouldn'tconsider this Vaio if you'rea frequent flyer or traveller. The A690 notebook works besttaking pride of place on your desk or coffee table, waiting toentertain and relax you after a hard day at the office.

One thing concerning me about Vaios at the moment, is the newsI'm hearing over at Hardware Analysis that people have reported problemswith dodgy memory slots.

If you're going to spend thousands of dollars on a laptop, youreally need to do the research, not only online. However a goodfriend of mine bought a Vaio notebook in 2000 and it's stillrunning smoothly after 5 years of operation.

The Vaio A690 is available at a number of online retailers andsonystyle.com.

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