Sony’s new VAIO Laptops make portable video production truly possible…and affordable…and fun!

 Lance Albright

 Sony’s new line of GRX600 VAIO Laptops include everything you need to capture, edit and distribute your own video masterpieces.  No matter where you are, as long as your VAIO batteries are charged up, you can be a movie mogul.  Just plug in your DV camcorder to the iLink (Firewire/1394) connection or your digital still camera to the USB connection, and you are ready to start. The VAIOs come packed with a ton of great software to make it easy to create your own multimedia productions. When you are done, you can export the finished movies or slide shows back to tape, send them out via email, post them on a web site, or even burn them to DVD using the VAIO’s bundled DVD burner. Sweet.

 With list prices starting around $1799, you get a powerful Pentium P4 processor (1.8 MHz or 2.0 MHz), tons of RAM, large hard drive, BIG 16.1”UXGA color screen, and CD-R/DVD ROM combo device. The big screen makes it a lot of fun to watch pre-recorded DVD movies as well as your own videos and movies that you make. This line of VAIO laptops also include an ATI Mobilty RADEON 7500 32 MB (4X AGP) graphics card, Memory Stick, integrated 10/100 Ethernet, 2 Type II PC Card slots, and three USB jacks.

  Sony also includes Windows XP Home edition, Word 2002 and a bunch of very cool digital and video authoring programs. You can customize your VAIO for various hard disk sizes and CD/DVD burner speeds.

 This includes Sony’s new “Click to DVD” software that enables you to easily burn your movies to DVD as well as to easily create digital slide shows.  Click to DVD’s manual mode enables you to edit together video clips, still images, and music, complete with chapter menus for easy DVD navigation. The auto function is designed to let you quickly and easily burn DV footage from a DV camcorder directly to a DVD or CD.

  Other included multimedia software includes Sony’s innovative MovieShaker video editing software for creating “automatic movies”, and Sony’s DVgate.  Sony has also included a light version of Adobe Premiere.

 For audio, you have a choice of Sony SonicStage, Screenblast “Acid” and “Screenblast “SoundForge”. Of course, for you digital image demons, Sony’s PictureGear and Smart Capture programs are included, as well as a copy of Adobe’s brand new PhotoShop Elements. And, as the VAIO is running Windows XP, you also get Windows MovieMaker. With a free upgrade from the Microsoft web site, you can install MovieMaker 2, which is a very powerful video editing application for creating digital movies for DVD or web distribution. Extremely cool.  

If you are using one of Sony's new MICROMV format digital camcorders, you will be able to import and edit that digital video by using either the MovieShaker or "Click to DVD" software.

 Whether you use the VAIO’s included bundled Sony or Adobe software, Microsoft’s MovieMaker 2, or imported third party video editing software, the VAIO GRX laptops provide a wonderful platform for mobile movie and Internet video production.  

Also see new VAIO RZ

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