Sony VAIO VGN-AR190G Review

Looks like I might have bought my laptop at a bad time. With Intel bringing out Core 2 Duo soon, and the market quickly gearing up for the HD-DVD versus Blu-ray optical drive battle, I am left feeling a little behind the times. Laptop Magazie recently reviewed the Sony VAIO VGN-AR190G, a Blu-ray machine with a 17″ LCD widescreen display.

The 1.3-inch-thick VGN-AR190G is visually stunning in more ways than one. Its sleek-looking glossy black exterior is offset by a silver VAIO logo with matching silver trim and port covers, but it’s the 17-inch widescreen display that really catches the eye. The 1920 x 1200-pixel WUXGA+ panel displays high-definition video and utilizes Sony’s XBrite HiColor technology to deliver a crisp, sharp picture with deep color reproduction. The screen’s antiglare coating does a good job of deflecting ambient light, so background reflection is minimal and even less than that of the Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650.

In the end they give the VGN-AR190G a four out of five though honestly, it is lacking in the major areas of concern for me. It was expensive, average in productivity tests, had a short battery life, and had small touchpad buttons. One thing I find interesting is they place slow Blu-ray burning as a negative, though the technology is still in its infancy.