Sony's VAIO RC desktops with Blu-ray get (more) official

We already saw an official Sony preview of the VAIO R series desktops last month. Now in addition to announcing their AR laptop and UX micro, Sony completes the hat trick by coming clean with full specs on their Type R desktops. At the top of the heep is the RC72 Blu-ray spinnin' model which maxes out with Intel's top of the line 3.6GHz Pentium D960 processor, up to 3GB of DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics with 256MB of VRAM, either a 20-inch DVI-D (HDCP) 1680 x 1050 display or 23-inch 1920 x 1200 DVI-D sans HDCP display, and 2 freakin' TB (4 x 500 giggers) of SATA disk to record television from the included terrestrial analog or digital hi-vision tuners. At the moment, these are announced in Japan only but we're sure a US press release of the similarly spec'd VAIO RC300 series with NTSC/ATSC tuners is just around the corner. Don't worry, we have time since these won't be dropping for Nippon until about mid-June.

[Via Akihabara News]

[arnulf @ May 16th 2006 8:42AM]

I would love to buy the case, but that's it ;)

[charlie @ May 16th 2006 8:44AM]

What is with all this news everywhere of $3000+ desktops and laptops? We never used to get these links before blu-ray came out. All the sudden people are spending $4000 on a desktop for a couple TB of storage, blu-ray, and a top of the line processor? Is blu-ray really that valuable to anyone?

Its just kind of silly that half the links on engagdet for the past week or so have been to news about these useless computers with blu-ray.

[james @ May 16th 2006 8:49AM]

#3 you are being unfare. these machines are the latest technology in the market, one should expect to pay through the roof!

i wonder if it has bluetooth/WiFi built in?

[james @ May 16th 2006 8:50AM]

oops, meant #2

[anon @ May 16th 2006 8:54AM]

#2: Useless? Excessive or expensive would be good adjectives, but useless they are not. I certainly could use a couple TBs of HDD storage and a blu-ray burner would certainly save me from backing the multiple DVD fiasco I currently use. If it's too much PC for you, fine, but for me it is an attractive solution.

[TC @ May 16th 2006 8:57AM]

#2 Charlie: It doesn't mention the price! It sounds as if you don't like blu-ray, but the BDdrives are only about $250 of the cost of the PC. Any high cost here is due to the processor and 4 x 500GB HDDs (and the premium Sony likes to put on the price). I was able to spec PC's on Dell's website above the $4000 well before Blu-Ray came about.

[Dave @ May 16th 2006 9:33AM]

...looks nice. Oh wait, it's a Sony. No thanks. DRM debacle still biting them in the ass.

[Troy @ May 16th 2006 10:28AM]

2 Terabytes of RAID Harddrives? 3GB of RAM? 3.6GHz dual-core? + Blu-ray?

Wow. Excessive and expensive, but then again so is s Ferrari or the Bugatti Veyron. . .

[Johan @ May 16th 2006 11:45AM]

US release "promised" by Sony in paragraph four here:

http://www.digitalworldtokyo.com/2006/05/sony_to_launch_bluray_vaio_pcs.php

[AndyG @ May 16th 2006 12:34PM]

In Sony's defense, I've been buying their top of the line Vaios for awhile simply because they're usually much cheaper than the competition and even though I don't really care about having a Blue Ray drive if the price is $3,000 it sounds alright considering the rest of the configuration.

[Kevin M. @ May 17th 2006 9:20PM]

I actually heard that the VAIO desktops will start from $2300. The current ones are actually quite a bargain. I need a new computer, and I'm a Blu-Ray fan, so this is on my list. (And has been for months.)

[7916 @ May 17th 2006 11:35PM]

Vaio Rc series is kool. i agree with #5. i could certainly use a couple of terabytes mainly cz my music and music video collection has started going through the roof add on to that smalville, lost, 24, and alias all on my hard-disks. a blue ray burner is also an added plus. i could store the entire series of 24 all on one disk. does any1 have the specs on the burner (2X, 4X?) and does it come with a hi-definition monitor? please respond

[7916 @ May 17th 2006 11:46PM]

any1 know how fast the blu-ray burner is (4x, 16X?) and is that monutor hi-definition compliant (is it a hugh definition monitor, 1080p and all?)

[Eric @ Jun 12th 2006 7:15PM]

I can't wait, I currently have a Sony RA940g Dual Core 3 GHz 2GB memory, NVIDIA 6600GT and i TB Storage, the computer is flawless Sony may put a higher price, but they perform flawlessly and man is it quiet, liquid cooling rocks, I can't wait to get the new one...anyone know if you'll be able to customize them, Also, if you're going to complain about the price..don't, just don't buy it and say nothing

[Kenton @ Jun 13th 2006 12:12PM]

2 TB of HD but ONLY 3GB Ram? WTF? Why cripple a new system with limited RAM? SONY has been doing this for a few years now. Not sure why... maybe to prevent upgrading. I have been using systems with 4+ GB Ram for more than half a decade. I would love to buy this system but it simply won't do. That is a strange number of Dimm Sockets... 3? 6? When did we start using ODD number of Dimm pairs?