Sony Vaio VPC-J21L0E

Sony Vaio VPCJ21L0E review

The latest addition to Sony's range of all-in-one PCs is the Vaio J series. At the moment there are two identically priced models, the VPCJ21L0E reviewed here, and the VPCJ21L8E. The only differences are the size of the hard disk (500GB in the J21L0E reviewed here, 1TB in the J21L8E) and amount of RAM (6GB in the J21L0E, 4GB in the J21L8E). The J21L0E is currently on sale for £800 at PC World, or £900 direct from Sony. Both models use a 21-inch optical multi-touch screen, an unusual choice that works using two optical detectors positioned inside the frame at the top corners of the display. This technology has been around a while, and its main benefit is that, unlike capacitive screens, you can use any kind of pointing device, such as a finger or stylus. But unlike resistive screens, there's no circuitry or special coatings on the screen itself. Like most Windows 7 touchscreen systems, you only get two-point multi-touch. The system works pretty well, and because it's not a pressure-sensitive system you don't have to jab the screen to get a response. The downside is hovering your finger a couple of millimetres over an icon can be enough to launch it.