Sony Vaio VGX-TP1

Measuring about 10.6 inches in diameter and less than 4 inches in height, the unit has impressive features for its compact size. You get a 1.83-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 5600 chip, 2GB of RAM, a 300GB hard drive, integrated graphics, a multiformat DVD burner, built-in wireless capability, an ethernet port, and Windows Vista Premium Home. A matching wireless keyboard and remote that are comfortable to use and equally compact complete the package.

The preproduction unit I looked at was fairly easy to set up, though I did have to hunt for the tiny button in front that turned on the wireless transmitter to enable it to see the keyboard. (My test system lacked the documentation, HDMI cable, and HDMI-to-DVI adapter that the system will ship with.) In operation, the unit was whisper-quiet. Because it was a preproduction, we did not formally test it in the PC World Test Center; but informally, its performance seemed satisfactory for handling typical computing tasks, as well as such multimedia tasks as viewing TV. Video playback of a DVD was adequate, though I noticed a few decoding artifacts. The unit uses integrated graphics (based on Intel's 950 chip set) and shared graphics memory, which may be the culprit here--or perhaps this nonshipping system has some glitches that Sony will have fixed by the time you read this.