Sony VAIO PCV-V1

It's a TV, it's a computer - heck, it's an all-in-one media centre!

You've got to hand it to Sony - if there's one thing the company manages consistently, it's cracking designs that shout "buy me!" This new desktop computer-cum-LCD TV is no different, employing a silver bezel and black fi nish to handsome effect.

It's a functional design too. As well as tilting forwards, backwards, left and right, you can watch and pause live TV, play MP3s and videos all via the remote control - ideal for the bedrooms where it's surely destined to live.

The PC-as-TV concept isn't new (take a look at Hi-Grade's Xperian range), but such a sexy Sony one is new territory. For starters, there's the quality of the 15-inch screen - it's incredibly sharp, responsive and as at home with EastEnders as it is with emailing. The built-in speakers are of a similarly high class, making music and telly enjoyably listenable, even when cranked up loud.

The software for watching TV does the job, but it's not exactly what you'd call slick. For instance, you can't just press pause on the remote to pause live broadcasts; instead you have to press record and then pause - one of several quirks. It's only got an analogue TV tuner too, which means no Freeview channels. On the plus side, there's a DVD burner and easy software for writing recordings to disc.

Playing back videos and recorded TV is easy enough. Listening to MP3s, however, is rubbish. You can control Sony's MP3 application, SonicStage, via the remote but it's not designed to be used at a distance - the text is tiny!

The PCV-V1's other multimedia bit is Sony's Giga Pocket software. This beams recorded telly, images and music to other PCs on your home network. It's brilliantly easy to set up and generally works well, though video sometimes stutters, even over Ethernet.

As a normal PC, it's a similarly mixed bag. On the one hand, it's got a nice wireless keyboard and mouse, has stacks of software and is extremely powerful for day-to-day tasks. On the other, it's crap at games - the cars in Need For Speed Underground crawled along on the highest detail settings.

If design and beauty are your priorities, buy the PCV-V1. If you're after ease of use and a PC that doubles up for multimedia entertainment, then take a look at Hi-Grade's Xperian systems - they run Windows XP Media Centre, which is far better than Sony's remote- control applications.

FEATURES:
15-inch LCD. Intel Pentium P4 2.8GHz. 512MB of RAM. 160GB hard disk. DVD/CD writer. TV tuner and remote control.