Sony launches multimedia rich Vaio desktops

14 September 2004 21:07 GMT / By Stuart Miles

While Sony today has announced a number of laptops to its Sony Vaio range that hasn't stopped the company launching a number of new desktop machines either. The emphasis is mixed, but the main focus seems to be on home entertainment and making the cross between the PC and television more seemless.

The RA200-Series offers PCTV with sophisticated digital recording, home-server functionality with TV and Hi-Fi links, wireless networking, and dual layer DVD.

Alternatively, there's the RS700-Series, which combines Intel's Hyper-Threading processor technology with ATI Radeon 9600XT graphics and high-speed memory to deliver premium multimedia performance.

Sony's announcement of Genova is something different: a one-piece design incorporating an advanced sub-woofer and stereo speakers. With the new, remote-aware VAIO Zone interface, it becomes an entertainment system with the emphasis on audio, but it also features PC-TV. While Mare/Viento is the other side of the AV coin: a TV-PC fusion that aims to look like a television but has the heart of a fully featured PC.