Thursday 13 Apr 2006 - 10:31
Sony has released more details about what is expected to be its first desktop PC to include a Blu-ray Disc drive.
The Vaio RC300-series machines will include reader/writer Blu-ray Disc drives that support single-layer 25GB discs or double-layer 50GB discs, according to information posted on the US version of its Sony Style Internet shop.
They'll be high performance computers based around an Intel Pentium D dual-core processor and include RAID 0 Serial ATA hard-disk drives, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) memory and PCI Express x16 graphics. The computers will be based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and include Sony's Giga Pocket TV recording software, according to the site.
No other details regarding the machines were available and a launch data and price was not listed.
On Wednesday Sony announced a range of new PCs in Japan that didn't include any Blu-ray Disc models. The company, which is the leading backer of the new optical disc format, said it plans to launch Blu-ray Disc based computers in the "early summer" in the US.
Earlier this week rival computer maker Fujitsu said it will sell a Blu-ray Disc-based desktop computer in Japan in late June. The company's FMV-Deskpower TX95S/D desktop will have a reader/writer drive similar to that in the Sony computer and will cost around ¥600,000 (around £2,900).
The first consumer movie players supporting Blu-ray Disc are expected on sale at about the same time. Samsung said it will sell such a player in the US market from June 25.
A player for the competing HD-DVD format has already been launched in Japan by Toshiba and is due on sale in the US later this month. Toshiba plans to sell an HD-DVD equipped laptop computer in Japan in mid-May and Fujitsu said it will also sell a similar machine in Japan from late June.
Martyn Williams
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