If you're looking for a handsome PC/HDTV combo, the Sony VAIO VGC-LT29U is as good it gets. It's the new and improved version of last year's VAIO LT19U, retaining the beautiful "floating" Lucite frame and large (22-inch) widescreen LCD monitor, as well as the Blu-ray burner and CableCARD tuner. (The external ATI CableCARD tuner is still huge, but you don't have a choice since ATI is still the only game in town for CableCARD tuners.) The LT29U can be mounted on your wall or sit in your kitchen, office, or bedroom, and is a good choice for the design-forward household. If you're in the market for a Media Center PC, an all-in-one PC, and an HDTV, this desktop is all of those things. Its main drawback is the enormous amount of bloatware that Sony has preloaded onto it.

The LT29U sits in a case that looks similar to the ones that house the LT19U and the Eurocom LV220C ViiVa all-in-one PC. The monitor is a bit on the large side for a desktop but is perfectly sized for a bedroom or for hanging on your kitchen wall. Incidentally, the LT29U is compatible with VESA mounts, so it can hang on one of those articulated arms bolted to the wall or your desk. The clear polycarbonate frame looks like the ones on high-end photo and digital picture frames, just larger. It is made of higher-quality plastics than those found on the Eurocom LV220C, and the overall look and feel is better. The version I looked at is the "Premium" model; there are lower-end models without a tuner (the LT25E at $2,000) and a mid-level version with a built-in ATSC tuner (the LT28E at $2,100). All three have Blu-ray burners, but only the LT29U has the CableCARD tuner, 4GB of memory, and 1TB of hard drive space.

The LT29U has a brilliant, sharp "XBrite-HiColor" screen that shows all the details in high-def content, whether HDTV or Blu-ray movies. The system's 1,680-by-1,050 resolution screen is not quite "true 1080p," as it's short of 1,080 vertical lines, but on the 22-inch screen you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. The slot-loading Blu-ray drive can also burn discs—Blu-ray, CD, and DVD. Surfing from the couch is possible, but a little problematic as the wireless keyboard lacks a touchpad or trackball for mousing, and the mouse lacks a back button. I rather prefer Dell's MCE keyboard on the XPS One, which has both a touchpad and back button on the keyboard itself. The included infrared remote works with the integrated IR sensor (no dongle!) to control Media Center and WinDVD playback software.

There's no expansion room worth speaking of, this being an all-in-one PC and all, and even the "spare" hard drive bay is already occupied. The two 500GB drives aren't set up in a RAID array, which makes it easier to keep your Windows Vista install on the C: drive safe from the MCE-recorded movies and TV shows on your D: drive. That way, if the data drive fails, all you've lost are your shows; the Vista installation and your programs are safe on your C: drive. Had they been connected in a RAID 0 array and one drive failed, all your data and the OS would be lost.

The system's Penryn-based Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor runs at a speedy 2.5 GHz, yet has a TDP (Thermal Design Power)—the maximum amount of power the chip and its cooling system are required to dissipate—of only 35W (other systems have a TDP of 45W to 95W). The T9300 is a mobile processor, perfect for the cramped confines inside an all-in-one PC. It's neither the speediest PC in the world nor the slowest: The system's SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score of 118 points is middle-of-the-road for a dual-core PC. The LT29U was able to load Crysis and World in Conflict, thanks to its DX10-compatible GeForce 8400M GT graphics card, but it wasn't really able to play either. Frame rates of 8 fps for Crysis and 12 fps for WiC make trying to play 3D games feel like watching a flickering slideshow. I couldn't test either game at 1,920- by-1,200 resolution, since the system's screen doesn't go up that high (it's limited to 1,680-by-1,050). Windows Media Encoder (1 minute 12 seconds) and Photoshop CS3 scores (38 seconds) are fast enough for a high-end multimedia PC like this one. You'd have to move up to a quad-core to get much faster, and there are no energy-efficient, mobile quad-core processors yet.

In terms of energy efficiency, the LT29U's processor and LCD screen keep the overall power usage low. The system uses only 71 watts of power when idle, as measured by the P3 International Kill A Watt meter—a much better result than that of most tower PCs with external monitors. Even when under load running CineBench R10, the LT29U tested at an average of only 99W. This figure indicates lower overall energy usage than with the 24-inch Apple iMac we tested recently, which idled at 108W and used about 135W under load. The LT29U more than earns its Energy Star 4.0 certification.

Where the LT29U falls short is the astounding amount of bloatware on the system. The same programs and ads appear multiple times in several places on the computer; it's mind-boggling. It's as if Sony's marketing wizzes really don't want you to miss them.

The usual suspects (AOL, Office 60-day trial, Norton 360 60-day trial, and Adobe Reader 8) abound in various places on the computer. There are four AOL-related icons on the desktop alone (AOL, AIM, AOL Video, and an icon that changes to lure you to the dark side by offering other free AOL offers). Also on the desktop are icons for Microsoft Works (the less-capable version, without Microsoft Word) and Norton 360. Do you really need all these here? I thought Vista was supposed to have a clean desktop when you started. The Windows Sidebar has a Travelocity search gadget, which while novel and somewhat useful for the frequent traveler, is still an ad.

The Vista Welcome Center has 20 "offers from Sony"—AOL Video, Norton 360 60-day trial, Napster, AOL Internet Connectivity Services, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Office 60-day trial, QuickBooks, Adobe Store, Adobe Acrobat Connect (90 days Web conferencing), a sales pitch for Adobe Acrobat Pro, VAIO Help and Support, Sentry at Home (60-day trial of a Parental Control app), VAIO Registration, VAIO Special Offers, VAIO Security Center, VAIO Productivity Center, VAIO Entertainment Center, Connect eBooks, a sales pitch for a Sony Mylo, and last but not least, Sony's LocationFree Player software.

VAIO Security Center, Productivity Center, Entertainment Center and Help are mirrored in a floating taskbar above the usual Vista task bar. Just in case they somehow haven't made their sales pitches plain to you, three of the four links go to pop-up windows where Sony tries to sell you Norton 360, Webroot Spy Sweeper, "Sony physical security" devices, VAIO Special Offers, Sentry Parental Controls, Acrobat Connect, Acrobat 8 Pro, Office, QuickBooks, Norton 360, Corel Paint Shop Pro, LocationFree base station, Napster, a Sony Reader (for the Connect eBooks), a Sony Mylo, and VAIO Movie Story (this actually seems to be a full program instead of trialware). Just about the only link that doesn't try to sell you extended subscriptions or additional offers is the VAIO Help and Support, which does get you to useful stuff like the electronic owner's manual and system recovery utility.

Don't get me started on how annoying it is that Internet Explorer (IE) launches with three home pages: Sony/AOL, eBay, and Sonystyle.com. The Sony/AOL search page is about as useful as the usual AOL home page as a pretty standard start/search page, but do we really need eBay and SonyStyle to start up every time we use IE? This thing has more ads than Times Square or Piccadilly Circus. While it's easy to change the home page in IE, the task may be beyond the novice computer user, who will continue to see all three sites every time he starts Web surfing.

In most respects, the LT29U is the one to beat in the TV/PC field, for now. It makes a great TV with built-in Blu-ray—and a really good PC. Only the boatload of bloatware keeps it from scoring higher. Though it's not an "iMac killer" or a "Dell XPS One killer," the VAIO LT29U will still be an attractive addition to your den, bedroom, or kitchen if you can find the room for it. Just make sure to budget an afternoon to uninstall all the extras you don't need.

Check out the Sony VAIO VGC-LT29U's test scores.

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