Sony's unique VAIO VGC-LS1 desktop computer for home users belongs more in a living room or den than a home office. This all-in-one PC is also an LCD-TV with a built-in TV tuner, so it could serve as the centerpiece for a small home theater system.

The 19-inch widescreen LCD isn't as large as your average living room TV, but it's a much sharper image. The 1680 by 1050 resolution gives you crisp text even at very small fonts and Sony's XBRITE technology delivers brilliantly colorful images. It would work well in a dorm room or other confined space where you may not normally have room enough for both PC and TV.

The built-in TV tuner lets you run a cable signal directly into this desktop computer for home, and the included remote control lets you pause and record live TV from the couch. There's also a Webcam built into the top of the display, so you can use this VGC-LS1 for online video chatting or videoconferencing.

Since it's an all-in-one home desktop computer, all of the components are built into the back of the flat-panel display. Even with everything tucked back there, the system is only a little over seven inches deep and not much taller or wider than the LCD itself.

Sony manages to include some impressive components in this all-in-one; in fact, it's running Windows XP Media Center edition, but it's Windows Vista-ready. The home desktop computer is powered by a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor, which pairs two processing cores on a single chip - a great CPU for multitasking. There's also a whopping 2GB of 533MHz DDR2 memory installed in the system, so you've got plenty of fast RAM available for video editing or other high-end graphical tasks.

The 250GB 7,200rpm hard drive is a welcome find in a TV-tuner equipped system as it gives you a good amount of space to store recorded video. The slot-loading optical drive is a Double Layer SuperMulti DVD writer. This drive lets you burn to traditional DVDs as well as high-capacity DL media that lets you pack up to 8.5GB of data on a single disk.

These drives make this desktop computer for home users handy for creating and burning home movies. There's a Firewire port for connecting a digital camcorder, the core power and memory are more than equipped to handle video editing, and then you can burn up to four hours of high-quality video onto a DL disk when you're finished. And Sony includes all the software tools you'll need for this task (as well as plenty of other multimedia applications).

In addition to the Firewire port, there are also four USB 2.0 ports for hooking up high-speed peripherals. And the media card reader, which supports Memory Stick, Memory Stick Duo, and Secure Digital cards, lets you transfer files and photos from your PDA or digital camera easily.

Like most all-in-one PCs, this desktop computer for home users won't be a killer gaming rig. The integrated graphics share video memory with the main system RAM, so it will struggle with most 3D games. And due to size constraints, there's no room to put in an add-in board, so you're stuck with what you get.

But these desktop computers for home users probably already have the abilities you'd normally add via these slots. In addition to a modem and network interface, there's built-in 802.11 b/g WiFi access so you can connect it to the Internet via your wireless home network. It's a handy find in a system that can be placed in any room of the house.

The input devices are well matched to this home desktop computer. The keyboard features a folding cover that flips up over the keys, preventing dust accumulation when it's not in use. And both mouse and keyboard are wireless, letting you compute from a distance.

The stereo speakers built into the home desktop computer deliver decent sound, although if you'll be watching a lot of movies or TV from across the room, you might want to hook up a surround sound set.

Sony lists these all-in-one PCs at almost $2,100, which is a bit pricey for the included components. But if you're looking for a well designed and very compact second desktop computer for home users, the Sony VAIO VGC-LS1 systems are slick and sharp.

Pros: Very compact, lots of RAM
Cons: A bit pricey, integrated graphics

Warranty
1-year limited