CPU 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo T2500
RAM 2GB DDR2 533
Hard Drive 200GB SATA (2x100GB RAID-0)
Graphics Card(s) NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600GT (256MB)
Optical Drive Blu-ray
Screen Size and Resolution 17" / 1920x1200
Dimensions 16.4" W x 11.8" D x 1.32" H
Weight 8.4 lbs
Approximate Price $3,799.00
We have here a first for the mobile world - a portable Blu-ray drive in a laptop. Depending on your needs, this may not get a rise out of you, but for a lot of tech geeks out there this is a pretty cool thing. We've seen several vendors (including a few on this list) with HD-DVD capable laptops, but this is the first one available with Blu-ray.
If you set aside the fact that there is a Blu-ray drive in this laptop, the hardware doesn't seem that amazing compared to the others. The only exception is that the VGN-AR190G boasts dual hard drives for 200GB of storage. Otherwise, the CPU is a normal Core Duo, it has the standard 2GB of RAM, and the GeForce Go 7600GT is an okay choice. 1920x1200 resolution on a 17' screen again may be too small for some users, but the HD video junkie that purchases this laptop is unlikely to care.
My main gripe about this system also happens to be its biggest selling point: Blu-ray. While it is indeed cool that you can record HD quality video on this laptop (unlike the other systems that only have HD DVD players) there is questionable value in this fact. There's an interesting duality here. If you were to buy a standalone Blu-ray recorder for your home, it will run you about $1,000. Depending on how you look at it, the rest of the hardware technically would only cost $2,800, which isn't too bad for a system such as this. There's another viewpoint however, and this is more like how I see the VGN-AR190G. Since Blu-ray is waging its war with HD-DVD for the title of de facto high definition standard (this generation's BetaMax vs. VHS?), it is still too early to tell which will win, so why would you shell out this much money when down the road Blu-ray may not emerge victorious? I personally would not be a happy camper having shelled out $3,400 for this laptop, and God knows how much on blank Blu-ray discs, only to have them go the way of the dinosaurs by the end of 2007. For this reason, factoring in the current market price for normal Blu-ray recorders as justification for the price is nullified by the fact that it may be useless in a very short time.
On the other hand, Blu-ray may win and then you can have the privilege of crowing to all your buddies about how you knew it all along and were cool enough to be an early adopter. Check back later, my crystal ball's kind of cloudy at the moment.
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