We check out Sony's Penryn-using, Blu-Ray-burning, Full HD laptop. Was it too big, or are we going to need a bigger boat? Read our full review.
Review summary of the Sony VAIO AR:
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 The Sony Vaio AR is a nice fit for a high-end home theater setup in need of a portable, hi-def solution. While this might be a narrow niche, we think such enthusiasts will enjoy the Vaio AR, which looks every bit the part it will play. These customers probably won't miss the lack of DVI output, or the unimpressive dedicated media controls, as their system will already use better options. Gamers looking for a desktop replacement for LAN parties might want to look elsewhere, as the machine couldn't keep up playing Crysis. And road warriors who want to watch a hi-def movie in first class better check to make sure the plane has power outlets, because battery life, though better than other laptops in this class, won't last a full movie, let alone a cross-country flight. Still, the Vaio AR's size makes it easy for typing and using on the desktop, in lieu of an external monitor, and with all of the newest, most advanced tech onboard, it should keep up with the newest multimedia machines for months to come. Release: January 2008. Price: $3600.
Pros: Blu-Ray burner. Full HD display, and HDMI output. Large keyboard.
Cons: Pricey, even for these capabilities. Battery won't last through a movie. Couldn't play Crysis.
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Full Sony VAIO AR Review:
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Case design - Good
The Sony Vaio AR is a slick black behemoth of a laptop. Though most devices in this category go by the "Desktop Replacement" moniker, the Vaio AR will replace your desktop, as well as a few components of your home stereo. The glossy black case resisted fingerprints as well as a glossy black case can, but this isn't a machine you'll be handling much, thanks to its girth. Most ports on the device are hidden, and Sony uses a nearly-unbroken, mirrored band to add continuity to the case design.
At 8.4 pounds, the Vaio is a heavy laptop, but we've seen desktop replacements that were almost twice as heavy, so perhaps Sony deserves some credit. Still, the large amount of unused space on the screen and keyboard surfaces bothered us. We wouldn't wish for a larger keyboard, as the Vaio AR's keyboard is plenty roomy. But, there is still a large bezel around the screen that could have been reduced. The trackpad, as well, is tiny, and should have taken more advantage of the available acreage.
Input - Good
The keyboard on the Vaio AR is plenty roomy, with lots of travel for the individual keys. The keys sit almost flush with the lower half, thanks to a slight dip at the edge of the palm rest, but the keys dig deep enough that they feel completely full-sized. The trackpad, however, is a different story. Compared to the whopping size of the rest of the machine, the AR's trackpad seems quite dinky. We also didn't like how the buttons overhang the lip of the machine. Worst of all was that the buttons were unreliable registering our clicks. We sometimes missed a click because we didn't aim dead center, or press hard enough.
The Vaio AR also includes a set of dedicated multimedia controls, which is an important addition to this sort of multimedia powerhouse. Unfortunately, we think Sony didn't go far enough, and the buttons seem like a concession tossed in at the last minute. While basic playback functions are there, we would have liked to see some more advanced shuttle controls, or buttons arranged more intuitively than the tiny, silver nubs above the AR's keyboard. The AR also uses Channel Up/Down keys to control the media center, or Sony's Location Free devices, which are an unfortunately less-popular, though not less-capable, version of SlingMedia's SlingBox.
Finally, though the media controls are perhaps most useful in the Vaio's AV Mode, we didn't find this mode, which gives you access to your media without booting into Windows, to be a complete solution. While all of the sample music, pre-loaded into a special "Music" folder, was accessible, when we ripped a disc into Windows Media Player, those tracks were restricted from the AV Mode by a lack of user privileges. While it would be easy to fix the situation by moving files around, we would rather the two programs play nicely together.
Display - Very good
The Sony Vaio AR can be configured with a WUXGA, or what is now called a Full HD, display, capable of 1920 by 1200 pixels. This is the ideal for viewing 1080p content from a Blu-Ray, and we tested the machine by watching "Underworld: Evolution," which we like for hi-def testing because it is a movie with a lot of deep, dark blacks. We're happy to report that the Vaio AR held up very nicely, and the glossy screen accurately displayed a deep contrast and vivid colors. Unfortunately, even this powerhouse portable couldn't quite keep up with the Blu-Ray disc, however, and WinDVD stuttered a bit during some scenes of the movie.
Connectivity - Good
Sony made some interesting choices for ports and connectivity on the Vaio AR, and we wonder why any choice was necessary. The machine includes three USB ports, which is fine for us. Thankfully, Sony still clings to i.link, their own brand name for FireWire (which is Apple's brand name for the IEEE 1394 they helped create), which is a nice option for some video camcorders and hard disk drives, but the AR uses the slower 1394a standard, instead of the 1394b, or FireWire 800 standard, which is twice as fast. For wireless networking, the Vaio AR will hop onto networks using 802.11a/b/g or even the draft-n, which is a welcome addition as those routers slowly become more affordable.
For video output, the Vaio AR includes S-Video and a full-size VGA connector, as well as an HDMI port. We definitely appreciate the HDMI output, and we had no trouble connecting the Vaio AR to our home entertainment setup. Windows isn't our favorite solution for playback, as the OS can get a little wonky when it comes to hooking up external displays, but the Windows Media Center is a nice part of Vista that makes media playback easy. We would have definitely dropped the S-Video port, as most videophiles who care about Blu-Ray are probably using something more modern and hi-def. This we would have traded for a DVI port, which is strangely absent, meaning you won't be able to hook the Vaio AR directly to an external, hi-def monitor, except over HDMI, which is available, but more rare than DVI. Of course, with its huge footprint, you might not be able to fit the laptop onto a desk with an external display, but with a laptop this size, we wonder why any connectivity would be left out. At this size, these options should fit inside, and at the $3500 price tag for a loaded machine, certainly you've paid enough to deserve the extra option.
Performance - Very good
Windows Vista has never looked so smooth on a laptop, but the Sony Vaio AR did not provide the perfectly smooth desktop experience for which we were hoping. Navigating the OS, the wealth of translucent windows opened and closed neatly, with all of the Aero effects you'd expect. When we ran Crysis, however, we were a bit disappointed. We rarely expect Crysis to run on a laptop, but on a machine with such multimedia bona fies, we expected at least a playable experience. Even at the "Low" settings, the game was choppy and keyboard input wasn't responsive enough for an enjoyable round of play.
Blu-Ray suffered some performance problems as well. During movie playback, as we mentioned above, we occasionally encountered some stuttering, where the picture struggled for a moment to keep up with the ongoing soundtrack. This is unfortunate, especially as Blu-Ray is making such a larger splash in the marketplace.
The machine uses a nearly-top-of-the-line Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT card, which seems an odd choice, considering there are better GeForce cards on the market, for not much of a price premium. Gaming powerhouse Alienware (now a Dell brand) is already packing high-end machines with two Nvidia 8800M cards running in SLI mode, and though we haven't tested them, we're betting that Blu-Ray and gaming performance would be improved if Sony moved away from the mid-range Nvidia graphics card into the high end.
Otherwise, we were generally impressed with the machine's performance. Though we're skeptical that 4GB of RAM is really necessary, the machine was able to handle plenty of open apps at once without crashing or even slowing down much. Network speeds were equally impressive, and even complicated sites like Flickr's editing page, or YouTube's video pages, sprang to life quickly.
Battery - Mediocre
For battery testing, BAPCO's MobileMark estimated about 68 minutes of DVD playback before the battery dies. This is not nearly enough battery time for us, especially when DVD and Blu-Ray playback are such an important aspect of the machine. We understand that, most of the time, this machine will be plugged in on a desktop, but we really expect to get through at least a full movie before the battery dies. If we're already resigned to lugging an 8.4-pound notebook around, perhaps another pound or two of battery would be called for. The AV mode, which does not run the full Windows OS, should save some battery power, but in our tests we were unable to play Blu-Ray discs from the AV Mode window, so this point is really moot.
Niche - Very good
This laptop is for home entertainment enthusiasts who want to take a full-fledged Blu-Ray BD-R drive with them on the road. So, we imagine a customer with an HD camcorder who wants to burn hi-def home movies and take them to friends and family to show off. For these folks, the Vaio AR comes with everything they need, including FireWire input, HDMI output, and even a Blu-Ray burner, for archiving and passing along the hi-def content. The power brick is a bit cumbersome, and doesn't make wrapping up cables easy, but we expect setting this up on a friend's system will be no more difficult than setting up a portable DVD player. Gamers should look elsewhere, as the machine isn't really optimized for gaming as much as home theater applications. Also, road warriors looking for a great movie experience while traveling will be able to find a smaller, lighter notebook, perhaps even with better battery life.
Price and availability
The Sony VAIO AR will start selling for $3600 () in January 2008.
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