The VAIO VGC-M1 caters for the market it's aimed at - home environments. If you intend to run a variety of challenging business and light graphics applications, the system is also more than up for the job - although it's relatively expensive considering there's no cutting-edge technology, upgrade options are limited and its pretty useless for running games. The keyboard is a little cramped too, and there's no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but it is a neat solution for living rooms and point-of-sale areas that are tight on space and where a laptop isn't suitable.

Pros: Compact form factor; good looks; bright and crisp screen
Cons: Small 15.4in. screen; no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth; no good for games


Sony continues to drive the consumer PC market with enhancements to its VGC series of space-saving desktop computers. Pitched as an all-round entertainment device, the stylish black-and-silver VAIO VGC-M1 (482x342x301mm, 9kg) hides the working components of the computer behind a gorgeous - but relatively small - 15.4in. widescreen X-black LCD monitor that has a native WXGA resolution of 1280x800 pixels.

To operate the system, you simply press the large, stylish transparent power button on the top of the system and pull down the flip-down keyboard. The unit can then be used like any other regular desktop system - but it's a whole lot more pleasing on the eye. Sony supplies Windows XP Home Edition SP2 as the default pre-installed operating system, as well as an infrared remote control for audio and video playback and a wired USB optical mouse.

The system we've reviewed here is based on a 3.06GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of DDR400 SDRAM (upgradable to just 1024MB), and a rather accommodating 160GB hard disk. There's also a vertical-mounted double-layer DVD±RW recorder neatly hidden behind the right-hand side speaker, with Sony's GigaPocket TV tuner with stereo audio-in, composite video-in and S-Video ports on the opposite side.

It's disappointing that Sony has opted to include ATI's ageing Mobility Radeon 9200 GPU with just 64MB of memory, a graphics solution that isn't powerful enough to cope with today's power-intensive DirectX 9.0-based 3D games such as Doom 3 or Half Life 3. On a more positive note, the built-in 5W subwoofer and non-detachable 3W speakers are above par.

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