By Matthew Henry
SYDNEY: Sony Australia will roll-out a new Vaio PC concept called the “living room PC”, which is designed to deliver full Windows Vista and media centre functionality on a high definition flat panel television in the living room.
Sony announced the sleek Vaio TP2 (RRP $2,499) at the MediaConnect Forum in Maroochydore yesterday afternoon connected to a full HD Bravia flat panel television.
The focus of the product will be delivering a storage and viewing solution for digital media in the living room.
HD entertainment is also a key feature. The TP2 boasts a Blu-ray drive and HDMI output for full HD picture quality, and will come bundled with an USB-style HDTV tuner.
“In 2007, Australians spent $2.83 billion on high definition products, purchasing over 1.2 million high definition flat panel TVs, and almost 180,000 HD movies,” said Sony Australia channel marketing manager – Vaio, Jun Yoon.
“As HD becomes the home entertainment format of choice, the TP series has been created as a link between people and HD devices and represents true AV/IT convergence within the home.”
Other key selling points include HDMI output, remote control and wireless keyboard with touchpad, Windows Vista Home Premium, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 500GB hard disk drive providing generous storage for digital media.
The TP2 also includes some user interface innovations including the Vaio Living Browser giving the user access to media files with the remote control.