WHAT'S HOT: Along with Apple, Sony has some of the slickest computer designs we've seen in home systems. The VAIO PCV-RX580 continues that tradition. Its handsome minitower case has ash-gray sides and a burnished-silver finish on the front and top panels, with lilac accent stripes on each side. The Sony optical drives have rounded silver front plates that match the color of the system. A door hides the floppy drive and a slot for Memory Stick flash memory, and another door conceals two USB ports and one IEEE 1394 port. You'll find two more USB and IEEE 1394 connections on the back of the system. The rear ports are meticulously labeled, which should help eliminate confusion during setup.

Our system came loaded with several goodies for enjoying digital media. Its generous software bundle includes Adobe Premiere 6.0 LE and Sony's basic MovieShaker video-editing software, plus Adobe's excellent Photoshop Elements. Think you'll never fill this system's 80GB hard drive? Capturing digital video footage will test its limits, and the 2X/1X/2X DVD-RW and 8X/4X/24X CD-RW combination drive will let you become your own movie distributor. This drive not only allows you to copy data, it also lets you create DVD movies that will play in any set-top DVD-ROM player. The system has an 20X-40X CD-ROM drive, too.

WHAT'S NOT: Keys on the VAIO keyboard felt rubbery when we depressed them, and the space bar seemed very slow to respond. The keyboard is tilted up at a steeper angle than most models on other PCs we've seen lately, and you can only adjust the angle to be even steeper. You can't reach all the keys without bending your wrists back, which can lead to some soreness after prolonged typing.

While this PC is quite good-looking, its beauty is only skin-deep. Getting inside the system for maintenance or upgrades is an ugly process. The first trick is opening the case, which offers no hints to unsuspecting users; the slim system manual didn't provide any clues either. After yanking at every part of it, we finally found the correct procedure: The top of the case slides off after you pinch two tabs on the back of the system. With the top off, you will eventually discover an unmarked hook that you can wedge your finger under and pull back to release the side panel. Sony took some measures to help you navigate inside the crowded case, but none of the features work very well. You can slide out the power supply after removing a retaining screw, for example, but then it hangs awkwardly from a thick trunk of cables and still hinders access to the processor and RAM slots. The floppy drive is mounted in a caddy that rotates outward--but only after you locate a well-hidden release button. Likewise, the hard drive is mounted in a removable cage whose release lever is concealed from view. The two optical drives are held in place with standard screws that are difficult to reach.

WHAT ELSE: Equipped with a 1.8-GHz Pentium 4 processor and 512MB of SDRAM, this VAIO scored a 96 on PC WorldBench 4, which is in line with the scores we have seen from comparably equipped systems running Windows XP.

Images on the 19-inch Sony HMD-A400/L monitor looked very good, but only at lower resolutions. We test 19-inch monitors at 1280 by 1024 resolution, but the RX580 can only support this resolution (with 32-bit color) at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which produced a slight flicker that will probably lead to eyestrain after prolonged viewing. However, letters appeared very sharp on our 12-point text screen shot, and colors and detailing looked rich on our test photograph. To stop the flicker, we had to bump the resolution down to 1024 by 768, which the system could handle at an acceptable 75Hz. Likewise, game play looked very good at lower resolutions, according to our judges, but Unreal Tournament was unplayable even at a modest screen resolution of 800 by 600. Quake III, on the other hand, played acceptably up to 1024 by 768 resolution with 32-bit color.

We were unimpressed with the weak sounds that came from the two Sony PCVA-SP2 speakers. We had to turn the volume up all the way to hear some of our test tracks clearly, and even then the speakers sounded a bit flat.

UPSHOT: The VAIO PCV-RX580 is a beautiful system designed with media mavens in mind, but they will likely crave a more robust monitor and sound system.

SUMMARY

Sony VAIO PCV-RX580 PC WorldBench 4 score of 96, Pentium 4-1800 CPU, 512MB of PC-133 SDRAM, Windows XP Home, 80GB hard drive, 2X/1X/2X DVD-RW and 8X/4X/24X CD-RW combination drive, 20X-40X CD-ROM drive, Asus AGP-V3800M graphics card with 32MB of SDRAM, 19-inch Sony HMD-A400/L monitor, integrated sound, Sony PCVA-SP2 speakers, V.90 modem, minitower case, Corel WordPerfect 9, PC-cillin 2000, Quicken 2002, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premiere 6.0 LE, Sony MovieShaker, PictureGear 5.1, Arcsoft PhotoPrinter 2000, one-year parts and labor warranty, free 24-hour daily toll-free tech support for first year ($20 per incident thereafter). $2250 800/571-7669 www.sony.com/vaio