The Vaio W sold in Japan uses Microsoft's Windows XP operating system and features a 15.3-inch screen, a 1.6GHz Intel Celeron processor, 256MB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive and a CD-rewritable drive. It's priced at 189,800 yen (approximately £992); yet the Vaio W may be configured differently for sale in the United States or Europe. Sony is still taking a fairly big risk with the W. Aside from Apple's iMac, "there's really not been any successful all-in-one PCs," Baker said. Part of that has to do with price. All-in-one computers typically cost more than a PC and monitor purchased separately. Also, businesses have shown they prefer to keep PCs and monitors separate as monitors can be replaced less often than PCs. Such a setup also simplifies repairs. Because of the difference in PC and monitor upgrade cycles, IBM discontinued its all-in-one NetVista X Series PC. The market has changed, however, since the last all-in-one Windows machine, Baker said. Consumers have shown interest in stylish desktop PCs that are easily stored, as demonstrated by brisk sales of larger, relatively inexpensive notebooks that use desktop Pentium 4 processors. "It's been a while since a really slick, well done all-in-one on the Windows side has been on store shelves," Baker said.
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