When you hear "Vizio," you probably don't think computers. But the Irvine, Calif.-based company, which ranks as America's top LCD HDTV maker, is hoping to change that.
Vizio, which said its televisions are currently sitting in some 40 million American homes, is now moving into the competitive PC market with a new line of PCs, which have been in development for the past two years. To say the company has high aspirations for its new venture might just be an understatement.
"What we are really shooting for is the best Windows PC in the world," Matt McRae, CTO of Vizio, said in a Friday interview with PCMag.
What sets Vizio's machines apart from other Windows PCs, McRae said, is performance and design. The new line includes two thin and light laptops (aka ultrabooks), one standard notebook and two all-in-one desktop computers, all of which start at $898.
The Thin + Light, described as "ultra-responsive, ultra sleek, and long-lasting" comes with either a 14-inch or 15.6-inch screen, both with HD resolution. Vizio's other laptop, called the Vizio Notebook, is slightly thicker than the Thin + Light, but has faster Nvidia graphics and more storage. Rounding out the line are two all-in-one desktops, which come with either a 24-inch or 27-inch full HD display, and feature 2.1 surround sound audio and a neat desktop subwoofer that doubles as the power source.
We sat down with McRae to get the scoop the company's new PC offerings, and also find out what it has in store for tablets and TVs.
PCMag: Why did Vizio decide to enter the PC market and what does the company hope to accomplish with this move?
McRae: A lot of Windows PCs just don't really live up to the design or performance that consumers want. So we saw a gap in the market for a premium Windows machine, and we set out to build the best Windows machine in the world.
PCMag: How long have these computers been in development and what when into building them?
McRae: We've been working on the products for two years. We wanted a very unique design, but also something very slim and competitive in the marketplace, that really looked premium. But at the same time, we wanted premium performance, so we selected all the top-level components in the world – the brand-new Ivy Bridge processors from Intel, new Kepler GPUs from Nvidia, the fastest SSDs. When we coupled that with the design, it took a lot of time to get the product right from a thermal standpoint, and from a performance and mechanical standpoint.
PCMag: These new PCs are super sleek and thin with aluminum bodies. Tell us more about the design, and how important that aspect was.
McRae: Everything started from the design. Since we were designing it as a consumer product from the ground up, it needed to be desirable, it needed to be beautiful. Right away we started with what we think is one of the best materials – aluminum. It's very strong, very lightweight, and gives a very premium feel.
We also care a lot about picture quality so we picked some of the highest-quality screens that you can buy in the world, and we do color calibration on them to make sure when you're watching a movie or a TV show it looks very, very good.
In the all-in-one, design mattered a lot as well. It turns out that a lot of people see the back of the all-in-one as much as they see the front because [the devices are] sitting on a desk or in a kitchen and people are walking around the device. So we actually spent a lot of time designing the back. It features a hand-assembled arm made out of aluminum that attaches to the monitor on a hinge, which is completely invisible to the end user. It's actually a gorgeous way that you get pivot without a visible hinge. That's a little bit of the level of detail that we went into.
You can also see that all of the products feature what we call an undercut design that makes the product look like it's floating a little bit off the desk. That's a design language you're going to see us carry forward on products in the future.
PCMag: Tell us more about what on the inside of these new computers.
McRae: They all feature the third-generation Intel core processors, some of the products also have the Nvidia Kepler GPU, all the products feature SSDs. In the Thin + Lights, you have nothing but an SSD, up to 256GB. In the standard Notebook and the all-in-ones, you have a hard drive and an SSD. And the SSD is where the operating system lies, and it also allows the computer to not only perform better but wake up very quickly from standby and sleep modes.
PCMag: The all-in-one is described as a complete entertainment solution, with connectivity to your cable box, premium sound, and full HD picture. What's your favorite feature?
McRae: My favorite feature is probably the 2.1 audio system. It's the only one in the market; it really brings the audio experience up a level. We wanted these to be really good entertainment devices, because we see people using computers as much for entertainment now as they do for productivity.
We also did a lot to bring the audio quality up. We have custom audio drivers, we've custom-engineered the audio airspace around those drivers to get the right sound out of them. We worked with a company called SRS to bring their technology and tuning to get the right sound.
In the all-in-ones, we have a subwoofer that doubles as the power supply. So there's this pod that sits next to the device, and that is a subwoofer and the power supply at the same time.
Continue Reading: Challenges of Making a PC>
PCMag: Has it been difficult to transition into this new market? What type of challenges did you face?
But things like thermal design are new to Vizio. We don't deal with a lot of thermal design issues on a television unless it's extremely thin. But these are very high-performance and battery-powered products, so thermal design is really important.
In some ways it was an easier road to go because of the partnerships we had and because of the help we got from Microsoft and Intel. Because there's a standard software load we put on it, and Microsoft helped us optimize.
As for the go-to-market strategy, it's very similar to what Vizio's done in the past where we build a great product but still sell it at a great price.
PCMag: What do you think sets Vizio apart from other Windows computer makers like Dell and HP?
McRae: The first is the design. We believe this is a unique and very premium design, especially for Windows. We think it's one of the most beautiful Windows PCs out there, of course we're biased.
The other thing I'd say is the performance and the experience. We are committed to producing and shipping a clean image. There's no bloatware on the system at all, we're the only PC company doing that. We partnered with Microsoft on Signature, which is their clean image. And not only are we using Microsoft Signature Image, but Microsoft provided some engineers to optimize that image fully to our hard drive, so we have what we believe to be one of the most high-performing products out there today.
The final thing is the entertainment features. Because of our TV background we spent a lot of time on the picture quality, a lot of time on the component selection for the LCD panels, and a lot of time on the audio to make sure it's a great audio experience as well.
PCMag: These devices have been called lower-cost alternatives to the iMac, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Do you see Apple as your main competitor?
McRae: Actually we don't. What we are really shooting for is the best Windows PC in the world. A lot of people are comparing us to Apple and I think it's because we focused on design and quality, but we're really shooting for that Windows user that wants something better.
PCMag: Vizio last year launched its own Android tablet, which we gave 2.5 out of 5 stars in our review. Does the company have any plans to continue on in the tablet space and launch any other devices?
McRae: I can tell you we did very well with our first tablet, we learned a lot about what consumers use them for and the features that they care about. We completely sold out very quickly on that first tablet, and decided after we finished that tablet what we wanted to build next. We are in the design phase right now and we'll be able to make some announcements in about six months.
PCMag: Meanwhile, Vizio is still a leader in the HTDV market. What can we expect from Vizio TV's in the future?
McRae: You'll see us do what we always do — continue to improve picture quality, and continue to improve our designs. You'll see some new products coming this holiday, and then I think we have a few surprises in store for CES, but I can't talk about them yet.
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