Opinions on this please

Nenen

I've just seen this:

Sony VAIO VGC-LM2E PC Media Centre (Base Unit & 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor plus remote, cordless keyboard and mouse) for £799 at my local John Lewis, can be seen here:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230473423/Product.aspx?SearchTerm=VGC-LM2E

I'd be really grateful for opinions. I want to replace my current desktop PC. I'd be using it for email, surfing, using MS Office applications (particularly MS Word, Publisher and Powerpoint) and a little bit of very basic photo editing. I occasionally play Civ2 (which shows how old fashioned I am! ).

I particularly like the fact that I can watch TV on it and it has a recordable TV hard drive. I assume that the design means it can't be upgraded in future and if something goes wrong the wjhole lot goes... but given that I've never yet upgraded a pc (I replace them about every 4-5 years instead) and JL have an excellent guarentee I'm not so worried about those issues. The picture is superb but am I missing something?

mikegahan

Hi

I looked at this and it looks very good. I am sure you could get the same techical specs for a little less with another manufacturer but you are paying for the Sony name and the design quality. And it is not that expensive as you would have paid the same amount for a laptop a couple of years ago
Enjly?

Marty_J

£799 will get you a 20 inch 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, or £829 will get you a refurbished 2.66 GHz one (reduced from £949).

I use one of these to watch, pause, rewind, fast-forward and record freeview on my Mac, and it works brilliantly.

Macs come with the iLife suite of applications including iPhoto which is great for organising and editing your photos. Microsoft make a version of Office for the Mac, or you can run OpenOffice which is compatible with many Microsoft formats.

As for Civilisation 2, I'm pretty sure there's a Mac version of it. If not, you could maybe run it with an application called DosBox that allows you to run DOS applications.

And of course, Macs can also run Windows if you really want to.

People are always saying Macs are overpriced; if so, I don't see the point in paying the same price as a Mac for a lower spec'd PC (and one that's nowhere near as pretty either...lol).

libra10

I'm currently using my third Sony Vaio and have never had any problems with them. My first machine accidently fell onto a marble hearth and survived! Even though they are a little more expensive, I would definitely recommend Sony laptops.

Good luck

Nenen

Thanks for the feedback so far... I'm afraid I can't go down the mac route (much as I understand they are superior in many ways) as I have to use PCs at work and at university and I know I wouldn't be able to cope very easily with swapping between two different systems!

I'm just hesitating buying this as it seems SO weird to have a desktop with no desktop box (it's all built into the screen and keyboard)! Has anyone actually got one of these already?

Marty_J

You can always install Windows and dual boot with OS X, or you can run Windows just like any other program in a window as it were. You could even just install Windows on it. Personally, I think the iMac is a better computer for the money, but it's your choice.

If you're not into that though, I can say that I have an all-in-one system (an iMac), and it is great. Just think of it as a laptop with the screen stuck on front. It's so nice not having a tangle of leads everywhere, and I can pick it up and move it to any room in the house as easily as a laptop. If you like elegance of design, an all-in-one design could be for you. If you like tinkering around with your computer's innards and you aren't that fussed about what it looks like, then it's probably best to save yourself some money and stick with a regular system.

shona_2

Nenen wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback so far... I'm afraid I can't go down the mac route (much as I understand they are superior in many ways) as I have to use PCs at work and at university and I know I wouldn't be able to cope very easily with swapping between two different systems!

I'm just hesitating buying this as it seems SO weird to have a desktop with no desktop box (it's all built into the screen and keyboard)! Has anyone actually got one of these already?

I work on a PC a have a home desktop PC but also have a macbook, and switching between them is easy. It's like 2 different parts of your brain, or going from an auto car to a manual if you do that often. It takes a day or 2 to get used to it, and it is worth it!!!