SONY VAIO SLIMTOP PCV-L620.(Brief Article)

Welcome to the first installment of our new column on system design. Each issue, we'll take a look at a desktop or laptop that incorporates one or more significant new design features. Sometimes, these will be in the components being used; other times, the form factor or aesthetic approach will be what we want to bring to your attention. And, when we're lucky, we'll get a product that is different in both of these respects.

That's just the case with the Sony Vaio Slimtop PCVL620 that we've chosen for this month's focus. One look tells you that this isn't any ordinary desktop PC. In recent months, there has been a spate of introductions of "all-in-one" PCs. Some of these, such as the Mac and e-Machines' similar one-piece PC, package everything into a large case. Others, such as the NEC Z-1, Gateway Profile, and Chem USA's PC3000 are essentially laptops built on edge, with the CPU, drives, and other components mounted behind the LCD panel. The Vaio Slimtop falls into a different category than all of these.

As with today's coolest PC designs, the Vaio Slimtop offers a 14.1-inch LCD panel that's digitally driven from an ATI RAGE LT PRO 2X AGP chipset with 4MB of video RAM. On the particular model we tested, however, you must use Sony's LCD--there is no output for a standard CRT. You can, however, also order a version of the Vaio Slimtop without the LCD panel display, which features a standard analog video output.

Along with the LCD monitor, the remainder of the Vaio Slimtop system is in a tiny case, not much larger than a cigar box. Inside this case are the motherboard, hard-disk drive, floppy-disk drive, and a 6X DVD drive. The box can be placed normally, like a tiny AT-style case, or you can attach a special base that allows the case to be mounted vertically on its edge. Since the case is only 3.5 inches wide, the combination of LCD panel and case takes up incredibly little desk space.

SMALL IS GOOD

As innovative as the Vaio Slimtop may be, it, of course, has some conventional features. The motherboard, while smaller than even a micro-ATX form factor, uses standard Intel 440BX core logic, and houses a very fast 500-MHz Pentium III CPU. Standard memory on the Vaio Slimtop is 128MB, with a maximum capacity of 256MB of standard PC100 DIMMs. Also included is a V.90-compatible, 56-Kbps fax/data-modem.

The Vaio Slimtop is very nicely configured, which is a good thing, as it is not really designed to be upgradeable to any extent. The video and audio controllers are embedded into the motherboard and are not upgradeable. There is also only a single PCI expansion slot in the case, should you want to add a network interface or SCSI adapter card. There are no additional drive bays, so unless you intend to eventually replace the 10.8GB Ultra DMA hard-disk drive, you are pretty much stuck with it. A standard floppy-disk drive is included (though it blends ...