PCV-MXS: Difference between revisions
(Created page with "== Overview == thumb|538x538px|VAIO PCV-MXS Setup thumb|VAIO PCV-MXS in action GIF thumb|VAIO PCV-MXS Front The Sony VAIO PCV-MXS was a desktop PC component system released by Sony in 2001. It was the successor to the PCV-MX series. It included a NET-MD (MiniDisc) drive, FM radio, DVD drive, speakers, remote, media reciever, memory stick slot and loads more multimedia fea...") |
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== Resources == | == Resources == | ||
[https://archive.org/details/PCVMXS20DiskImage.7z PCV-MXS20 Recovery Disks] | [https://archive.org/details/PCVMXS20DiskImage.7z PCV-MXS20 Recovery Disks] | ||
[http://www.vaiosite.com/review/vaio/desk/mxs1/mxs1-1.htm Interesting VAIO MXS review] | |||
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rk8laIyJ8g PCV-MXS advert] | [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rk8laIyJ8g PCV-MXS advert] | ||
Revision as of 18:00, 13 September 2023
Overview
The Sony VAIO PCV-MXS was a desktop PC component system released by Sony in 2001. It was the successor to the PCV-MX series. It included a NET-MD (MiniDisc) drive, FM radio, DVD drive, speakers, remote, media reciever, memory stick slot and loads more multimedia features. It came with either a 15" or 17" TFT LCD display for viewing pleasure.
It looks a lot like a media server and was intended to be one, with its audio-like design. Below the MD drive, there is a small LCD which displayed music info and allowed the unit to be used without the PC turned on, with the pause, play etc... buttons located under the LCD. The included remote made this handy for example when you wanted to play music from your sofa. The concept of this unit is to "store", "listen to", and "take out" music. You could get your old CDs and transfer them over to the computers storage and copy them onto MD, then listen to them or take out the MD and listen to it on the go. That is presumably what Sony was aiming for with this machine. You could also record FM radio and TV audio onto MD/CD and play it back later. The device had a optical input and line input to be able to record from external devices. It was bundled with a bunch of sony software, including DVgate, DVDit! for VAIO and SonicStage, which was used to control the MD player over PC and transfer songs onto MD.
It has good quality speakers included, which produces a good sound with good all around frequencies.
Detailed Specs
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 (1.70 GHz → 2.4GHz)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
Chipset: SiS650 chipset
Memory: 256MB (standard) /1GB (Maximum) (DDR SDRAM, DDR266 / DDR333 DIMM) [Number of slots] 2
Display: 15" or 17" TFT LCD
Storage: 80GB - 160GB IDE HDD
Weight: 11.5kg
MSRP: 300 000 yen, 2000€ - 3000€
Original OS: Windows XP Home Edition SP1
Daily Usage today
The PCV-MXS is powerful enough for word processing, basic internet (as long as the site doesnt have any animations) and (of course) media playback. It is still very useable for media playback and as a media server, even today although it is reccomended that one upgrades the HDD to an SSD, upgrades the RAM and maybe even the Processor depending on the unit.
They were sold worldwide so can be found in the US, UK and Europe, but are so rare that it is almost impossible to find one for sale online. They can be found very rarely on Yahoo! Auctions Japan or Mercari Japan. You will need a Japanese proxy service such as Buyee for this though.
Resources
Disassembly is as with any normal desktop PC.