Sony's VAIO RC310G desktop with Blu-ray reviewed

You probably know already if something like the "world's first PC with Blu-ray drive" appeals to you, but just in case you needed some reassurance: yes, the Sony VAIO RC310G burns and reads Blu-ray discs, and yes it costs a few million dollars for the privilege. The main hiccup is that Windows recognizes the drive as a CD-ROM drive, and the Blu-ray discs as just really large CDs. Otherwise, things worked smoothly, with the included Roxio software recognizing the drive correctly right off. The burning experience sounded similar to that of the Pioneer BDR-101A, with about 45 minutes required to fill the disc, and another 45 minutes to verify. Luckily, the VAIO includes a full software suite to take advantage of the drive, with Roxio DigitalMedia SE for data, Ulead BD DiscRecorder for burning Blu-ray movies, and InterVideo WinDVD for Blu-ray playback. The Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT card included with the system claims to offer HDCP decryption for protected HD content, and hardware decoding to keep the load of your CPU, though there aren't currently any titles to test it out with. With 2GB of RAM, a 300GB HDD, a 3.2GHz Pentium D 940 processor, and (a bit of) room to grow, the RC310G shouldn't do too bad as a media-centric desktop, but it's not a top-tier system either. At $2,249 for the setup, it's not the greatest of deals, since the drive itself should only cost $1000 independently. But if you have to have it now, or you want something that's more or less guaranteed to work with Blu-ray, Sony's VAIO RC310G is the best (and only) way to go.