Sony's 1999 Forward Looking Vaio Slimtop PC

Sony finally entered the PC market at the end of the 90s. Despite being a late contender, they made a huge impression with their immediately iconic and stylish Vaio line. This is a look at their Slimtop system that packed a number of new features into a small package.
This computer has been so much fun to work with. It's really cool to see what the higher end systems of the day would have been like and for all this computer's quirks, it is extremely usable. I really can't think of any one thing that is missing that I would want to add. So they did a very good job of getting the most out of it. The LCD is a bit tired, it may be worth exploring a CCFL-LED replacement some time, I like the system enough that I may want to do it. But I'm just going to enjoy it as it is for now.
I am a bit disappointed by the performance of the system with the 8MB of VRRAM. It leaves the computer really imbalanced, but that's exactly the kind of thing you should expect when you get a unique system like this. I'll mention it here, I know I could attempt to locate more or different RAM chips that could be manually added to the board to increase it, that isn't practical and I won't be looking into it. It would be more likely that I would make a DVI adapter for the monitor and put in a different video card. That would also be impractical, but at least I would have more options then.
Other Videos:
My last video on getting this system up and running: • Refurbing a Sony Slimt...
Sony SOBAX Calculator: • 0x001A - SOBAX ICC-160...
Daylight simulation lights: • RGB LED Daylight Simul...
I have already backed up the entirety of this computer's HDD and uploaded it here: archive.org/details/sony-pcv-...
Thanks to PixelPipes for the video of the card version of the Rage 128 Pro!
/ reputator
More Info:
Steve Jobs on Vaio: nobi.com/en/Steve%20Jobs%20and...
Slimtop LCD compatibility and protocol info: translate.google.com/translat...
Sources:
Vaio Slimtop and VG-180 Ads: books.google.com/books?id=lGF...
Infoworld Slimtop Review: books.google.com/books?id=G1A...
VGA 1997 Active Matrix Monitor: books.google.com/books?id=Gva...
Slimtop LCD compatibility and protocol info: translate.google.com/translat...
About Vaio: web.archive.org/web/201401120...
Playlists of more stuff like this:
Computers: • Computers
Windows 9X: • Windows 9X
1990s: • 1990s
Other Links
KZbin: / akbkuku
Github: github.com/AkBKukU
Thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/AkBKukU
Patreon: / akbkuku
Discord: / discord

[@TechTangents]

The shots with me are slightly out of focus. I would have normally reshot that but my throat was killing me when recording this and I didn't have enough time to redo that and re-edit the entire video to match the new takes.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

Could you add the modded ATI driver to the Archive.org page you made? It'd be invaluable for people that come across these models and want to get games running properly

[@NightWalkerasd]

I didn't even notice until you pointed it out. lol The content is great so it totally overshadow that! Keep the good work! :D

[@Ramdileo_sys]

at 14:05 how many of you want that in a "Tech Tangents 2" channel .... Shelby explains the modification to the INF file he made.. :-)

[@jjccg9415]

When are you going to give us an update on the 1970s Data General mini computers? It's been more than a year :(

[@ryanyoder7573]

Nobody cares about video audio is king. Your audio sounds great.

[@LGR]

Ahh man I loved this overview, great work! Vaio machines of this era are still just the coolest thing to me, and this one in particular is gorgeous in both design and completeness. That gray and lilac has aged gracefully. Coincidentally I've had two Vaio retrospectives in the works for a while now, so it's neat to see the similarities here to those machines -- and all the differences! Especially compared to the Japanese Vaio desktops of 1999, it's fascinating how they tailored their systems for each country. Like I can't imagine a US market Vaio ever got a built-in karaoke mode or MiniDisc authoring tools for instance, heh.

[@TechTangents]

Thanks! The way Sony came in to the PC market, looked around, and said "I have a better idea" really made them stand out and seems so far ahead of its time now looking back! The more research I did on this system the more I realized I got pretty lucky because the grey plastic has yellowed pretty badly on some of them. So I'm glad I got to show this one that still matches the original colors. It would have been really cool to see MiniDisc here in the US like that, it's a shame it didn't take off. I'm looking forward to see your looks at the the computers you have, they made some fascinating stuff over there for sure!

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@@TechTangents at 14:05 how many of you want that in a "Tech Tangents 2" channel .... Shelby explains the modification to the INF file he made.. :-)

[@joeyscleaninglady2877]

will await the sony magic link video

[@DarDarBinks1986]

@LGR I read that in your voice!

[@charlie891]

that is literally the most aesthetically pleasing computer i've ever seen

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

Great review of a great looking machine!

[@SmellsLikeEMinor]

Hey, my two favorite tech nerds in one place. As a fellow nerd, I mean this with love.

[@jordanvelazquez6321]

You too? I thought having LGR here was enough.

[@BilisNegra]

@@jordanvelazquez6321 In turn Adrian recently got a nice gift from Clint to upgrade a vintage Compaq. Featured in Adrian's second channel.

[@cIeetz]

69th like. lehlehleheleh tongue sounds

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@@SmellsLikeEMinoractually there .. is @LGR up there too :-) at 14:05 how many of you want that in a "Tech Tangents 2" channel .... Shelby explains the modification to the INF file he made.. :-)

[@PixelPipes]

I definitely agree about the look of this PC. It's odd seeing it boot Windows 98, as it looks like a newer generation of computer. In fact, it seems like it was THE computer to usher in that new era, breaking away from the beige boxes for good. A really fascinating transitional system! Also, imagine having the reworking skills to swap out those VRAM chips... 🤔

[@AaronOfMpls]

He mentioned in another comment, it'd probably make more sense to make a DVI adapter for that monitor and use a different video card. (What kind of connector is that, btw?)

[@Alexis_du_60]

@@AaronOfMpls Kinda reminds me of a VESA DFP connector, sort of the ancestor to DVI-D, but larger. Almost even looks like the D-Terminal connector that Japan uses on video equipment. Mmmh so if the Vaio croaks out... I guess the Monitor becomes a paperweight huh? A bit unfortunate.

[@horsesaremyfriends242]

Nah compaq had Black pcs around 1996

[@AaronOfMpls]

@@horsesaremyfriends242 Toshiba had some too

[@letssaylalala]

That VAIO looks mint as hell. It almost feels modern...

[@TKIvanov]

Some people: Had LCD monitors in 1999! Me: Used a CRT till mid-2013...

[@gbangyt-codmobile7037]

Same... lol i used a crt monitor till 2012.. Then i bought a samsung syncmaster 1080p...that thing still works as new...

[@TKIvanov]

@@gbangyt-codmobile7037 I upgraded from my IBM CRT to a 23" FHD IPS Acer (the IBM was nice, but finally switching to 16:9 was such a relief) and yeah still works fine, I even overclocked it to 70Hz lol. Used it for about 6 years till fall 2019 then upgraded to a 240Hz 25" TN Alienware. Still got the Acer for backup and/or to use with my laptop, its not like I can get any decent amount of money for it so I kept it.

[@Wobble2007]

I just got back into CRTs, I can't believe how gob smackingly incredible they look, and they are so unbelievably responsive, no lag whatsoever, my 144Hz G-Sync LCD looks so washed out and feels so laggy compared to the Sony G520 21" CRT, the blacks are incredible and the colours are so inky, I want to play everything I've played on LCD again on the Sony CRT to experience it properly. And then there are retro games, they look so crisp and beautiful, scanlines @ 240p are just so satisfying. I can't seem to pull myself away from it when I'm using it, it's so fun to use lol.

[@tommynobaka]

I specifically bought two dell monitors from the 2000's. There's something about the rendering of colors and movement that can't be replicated by LCD's. I have a 144hz monitor but for some reason is just not as smooth as the ole 85hz 1280x1024. The 144 is faster but not smoother to my eyes Also my middle school was rocking CRT's until 2010 which is kinda insane. I remember my teacher's still having them but once I hit hs in 2011 it was LCD's

[@infinitecanadian]

I watch whole movies on my computer. I play games, watch anime, watch KZbin, etc. It is a multimedia device for me.

[@patrik_x86]

I absolutely love this era of VAIO hardware. The blue colours are just awesome

[@TechKingdom35]

Great video. I also did one on a Sony Vaio X505, the slimmest notebook in 2004. Which might also have been a prime candidate for macOS. These old Sony devices are quite beautiful in my opinion and very well build. Sad what happened to them.

[@jimmothy79]

I worked at Office Max in the mid / late 90's and always thought if I were to ever buy a pre-built it would be one of the Vaio's. The looks and colors were just so different from your standard case.

[@robertridley-fj8zz]

Late reply, but I worked for your coemption (you know who, not the depot one but the "basics" one in the UK in the second half of 2002, filling in before emigrating to the US. I still remember the Pentium 4 Vaio with the 17" widescreen LCD monitor. It was a thing of beauty and the specs were on the face of of it superb. Oh but that SiS motherboard, iy you knew your hardware in those days, this was to say the least, not the choice you would have made if building a machine at any budget. I think I favoured MSI at the time, a time when there were so many choices, but all my experience of SiS based machines through previous IT work soured me against them. They still exist, but concentrate on the SoC market apparently.

[@denpolicarpio]

That dot matrix printer... such an original way to thank your supporters!!! 😎

[@samuelthompson8009]

I absolutely love this channel. The pacing and production value makes "gettin' to the goods" something you never really notice - start-to-finish, it's always wonderful to watch. The rewatchability of these clips is incredible.. especially when you consider the usually overwhelming technical nature of such content.

[@a544jh]

At 10:10 I don't think that JS function gets an unending call stack. setTimeout() will put the next setBG() call on the event loop. i.e. It's not a recursive call.

[@LEVELMotorsports]

That's a cool machine. I always loved the VAIOs from that era but was in high school so I could never afford them. I recently picked up a Vaio X505 and a Vaio UX390 - two machines I lusted over when they were new, but damn were they expensive.

[@parlinmains]

Hopefully they're a little more affordable now.

[@kramerdesign9443]

That ‘hidden’ floppy drive is so slick

[@TheBigBentley911]

I worked at CompUSA when this launched and it was the coolest looking computer I had ever seen. I actually convinced a few people who came in to buy an Apple to buy this instead.

[@CantankerousDave]

I remember Circuit City being full of Sony machines.

[@thedungeondelver]

Shelby, this is one of the best videos you've done. Bravo!

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

remember when VAIO made desktops........yeah I remember. 1:32 for anyone that wants to know the SONY PCV-90 was the first VAIO computer they made and it came out in 1996, there was a weaker model with half the RAM and a lower clocked CPU called the PCV-70. I literally remember this it is insane. I am old

[@somethinghottowatch7402]

I miss my childhood 🥺🥺 never gets better these days

[@elijahvincent985]

For a second, it looks like a new, low-end desktop computer! Still a beautiful design now!

[@alexisnik19911]

It's so cool to see these VAIO machines with the original OS and software.thanks!

[@Igeltod]

man the nostalgica is killing me i have to stop watching the video to not burst out in tears

[@AlanPope]

Hah! Nice irony using Bleem! on a Sony machine.

[@sunnohh]

I noticed but failed to realize that 😹😹

[@bramvandenbroeck5060]

I love those rare sony pc's, i own one of the first picturebooks :) lovely machine you have there my guy, i hope you get to enjoy this machine for as long as possible. And Steve Jobs LOVED Sony, he never ever did sue them, he had a lot of respect for the ceo of sony

[@TheRetroNobody]

I had a Sony VAIO PCV-200. Got it new in 1998. I remember the cube demo screen thing very well, but only opened it a handful of times. Seeing the purple keyboard and mouse in your video brings back all sorts of nostalgia for me. Good times.

[@ericstech3181]

"Nobody really wants to watch a *whole* movie sitting at their computer." Bold of you to scrutinize my entire childhood :(

[@Sabundy]

Wow....that is a cool piece of 90s tech. I still have a Sony Vaio monitor 😃

[@zzzae]

This strikes me as a predecessor to the all-in-one desktops with built-in TV tuner that seemed really popular when I first visited Japan in 2008-2010. That kind of multimedia PC that can double as a TV does make sense for small Japanese homes with tatami-style furniture, I guess.

[@AngeloFerronatto]

5:25 - I honestly thought it was a microwave oven till the screen started to tilt... lol

[@andlabs]

The inclusion of -FireWire- i-LINK and the nature of the proprietary display connector (look up HDI-45 and ADC) just add more to the Apple comparisons. But for my money the computer I was reminded of visuals-wise was the Sharp X68000, not any Mac (although it's still far from a perfect comparison).

[@johnoutdoorvideos]

Nice work as always!

[@ihaveacoolhat1]

I remember drooling over Sony Vaio laptops back in the day. I only ever saw them in Sony Centres and nobody I knew had one. The hunt for a perfect VGX-TP1 continues. Also that cool as hell Vaio laptop with the minidisc slot!

[@GabrielZ666]

Congrats on the teleprompter it is a huge upgrade! Is that a Samsung's Nexus 10 under the mirror? I still have mine in its original box, love that tablet!

[@KC-shunting]

My house is full of 5×4 LED monitors, but I've always wanted at least one 4×3 LCD. Great thing to have.

[@msthalamus2172]

That is the best use of Active Desktop I've ever seen! I'm glad someone came up with a good use for it. It's the first feature I ever tested in my career, and it died almost immediately. :)

[@dave4shmups]

Wonderful video on this Vaio PC! I had no idea that Bleem! came out for PC, until I saw you using it in this video. And it looks like it runs pretty well on this PC.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Indeed! As for Bleem itself ... LGR, Gaming Historian, and Wrestling With Gaming all have videos about Bleem: - LGR -- "LGR Oddware: Bleem! Commercial PlayStation Emulator" (17:20) -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3e8an6sZshnY7M - Gaming Historian -- "From Shady to Legal: How 2 Emulators Battled Sony - Bleem & VGS" (19:40) -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3irpp9nhdeLeac - Wrestling With Gaming -- "The Story of Bleem! - The PlayStation Emulator for the Dreamcast & PC" (9:58) -- kzbin.info/www/bejne/hISthpVvgNKbhLc _EDIT: added runtimes_

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

So Sony has another model that you should look for You will absolutely be floored if you can find one Sony made a computer that has a micro computer with a CD drive bolted below the display and what’s really odd as you don’t see a lot of these machines but if you could find one it is the wildest machine you’ll ever see because it literally looks like the PC is floating under the screen

[@bland9876]

so basically like a mac?

[@johnDingoFoxVelocity]

No not like a Mac it’s literally a monitor and the computer is mounted underneath it it literally looks like a floating CD drive it doesn’t even look like a computer but these are getting really hard to find because they are literally hardware locked two windows XP

[@bland9876]

@@johnDingoFoxVelocity so it's like those mini computers where they use the vasa mount on a monitor to attach themselves? Interesting they got a full sized cd player in there.

[@8KilgoreTrout4]

Sick quality video man. And you really impressed me with editing the driver. Pray I find a good strong Vaio (preferably matching peripherals) desktop lol

[@KiteAndKeyProductions]

Vaio's were the first computers that REALLY caught my eye. I had only had Gateways up until then. Man, those things are sleek.

[@nigel-Rollercam-channel]

Great video another all prebuilt I was unaware of, I must find that Compaq hat it is awesome!

[@operationbs7610]

Great video! I had a Sony computer similar to this. Loved it back in the day.

[@Deadmeme64]

I love the patron roll at the end. I never thought a patron roll could be so creative. xD

[@SmiIeyyXD]

You can gain a subscriber with one video, and I happened to cross this video, never seen your channel and decided to subscribe.

[@ReinaldoRauch]

Great vid mate, congrats o/

[@tahsin28]

The stand, LCD, mouse pass through, the software etc. etc. To think how steve thought so highly of it. Amazing.

[@ghostmouthzach56]

Fantastic video. I had a Vaio laptop around 2003 that I used to import my hi8 sony camcorder stuff through. Loved that thing for editing simple videos in Windows Movie Maker.

[@robwebnoid5763]

I used to work at an Intel motherboard factory & we were building Vaio motherboards, right at that time in the late 1990's. The boards had internal code names & partnumbers of course, so they weren't sometimes called Vaio outright. Now of course, I would not remember exactly which motherboards as there were a few variants of Vaio, but I would not be surprised if any of those motherboards in these machines had our fingerprints on them. That might sound icky, but remember all motherboards around the world are handled by workers, both with & without gloves.

[@AshtonCoolman]

I REALLY miss my Sony VAIO PCV-120 (P200MMX) I had years ago. I gave it away to a friend with the nice Trinitron monitor. This system is really great looking! I miss Sony's good stylish designs.

[@onometre]

damn that thing switches resolutions faster than even any modern display I've used

[@SUCRA]

I love these sony quirky PCs, congrats on the find and thanks for your work on the video. I have a pcv-w20 that has a few similarities. I should have tried some 3d games on it, I don't know what I was thinking on that video. I guess it's a reason to revisit, I also want to back up it's hard drive and look at it's insides, which I haven't.

[@dmferrari]

Subscribed. Great video

[@ronny332]

Damn, the slim floppy drive above the DVD drive is so sexy, unbelievable.

[@theryanwitski]

Sweet!! Love your videos!

[@jeromeglick]

Wow! Videos like this really give you perspective on exactly what has taken place with consumer tech in the past 20 years. Active Desktop background changing based on time of day? 15+ years ahead of its time -- think f.lux on PCs or Night Mode on smartphones! The design of the PC case does remind me of Sony's hi-fi A/V equipment of the same period. Hotkeys at the top of the keyboard? My 20-yr-old keyboard doesn't have those, but it reminds me I really should program those Windows global hotkeys: Ctrl + Alt + I for Internet (Firefox), Ctrl + Alt + M for Mail (open new tab & go to Gmail?), Ctrl + Alt + S to sleep, etc.

[@Garedot]

I also like these Sony Vaio PC's

[@sergeysiminyuk]

Vios were always so cool, both laptops and desktops. Sadly I never came across one. I used to watch DVDs and DVD rips on my p3 450 Coppermine with 196mb ram and some mix of HDDs I managed to scavange. Getting a PC capable of DVD playback was a milestone for me. In my teenage years I had to make do with parts I found in machines people would throw out. Used a p1 200mhz for a long time but it wasnt up to the challange. If memory serves DVDs needed a p2 333mhz at the minimum without the mpeg2 card.

[@segaprophet]

It's beautiful - I've always loved the look of vaios

[@superapple4ever]

Just think if they would've gone through with that partnership what Apple and Sony would it look like together today. Unfathomable.

[@robertwielewicki1249]

Nice one

[@TheBasementChannel]

That light blue accent colour is such a 90s thing. Love it.

[@pheapkim978]

That thing is so sexy Sony always had the best design on everything they touch and all the features ahead of its times always with there products

[@recentpicturesofcelebrities]

You did your best again ! Ciaoo

[@MissMTurner]

Man, I remember drooling over the Vaio systems at Circuit City in the mid/late 90s.

[@thebungisound810]

Looks like a computer straight out the sims 1, lovely review, thanks

[@einsamfechter]

This took me back, I did tech support for Sony computers back in this era.

[@rahulmohanty4724]

The most beautiful system I've seen 👍

[@stu3131]

We had that machine. Loved it. First day we set it up, my dad installed StarCraft and I hogged it for hours.

[@keithwhisman]

Back in 1999 the very best monitors for gaming was still the trusty flat screen super fine mesh NEC CRT monitor because of its high end features that gave the very best high resolution gaming features at the time.

[@anonamos6086]

Sony has always been way ahead of their time with their computers and phones. I’ll never understand why they didn’t put more effort into the US market.

[@ComputerClubShow]

I would love to get my hands on one of those VAIOs with the built-in mini disc drive.

[@idtyu]

I love vaio computers, they were always expensive but cutting edge. Sony had external gpu in 2012, that's way before when it got popular over the years. The vaio z I had was super fast, for a 2011 laptop, it had 4 ssd running in raid 0, an i5 and a dedicated graphics card. All inside a light 13 inch carbon fiber body.

[@prismstudios001]

Ah, the good old days…..when the storage andRAM were hopelessly TINY…..

[@keithtam8859]

so jealous, you have the exact model I want

[@AveragePootis]

I love this thing, imagine having this and a Playstation 2 with Linux & HDD on the same table, being something like a file server

[@juanignacioaschura9437]

Your experience with the drivers is, to me, the one flaw VAIO had throughout its history in Sony's portfolio: every single model had a proprietary quirk with their drivers. I don't know if nowadays the JIP VAIO devices come with standard stuff, but back in the day, even for the newest Windows 7 Sony VAIO laptops, you had to scour through Sony's website to get the appropriate driver because, even if the part matched, you couldn't get a standard driver to install.

[@halvardlund4782]

I wish Sony had their own public tv channel. They have so much to give, and people do not see the quality products until they are gone...

[@RTDragonCommando]

As soon as I saw that background I had flashbacks. A friend of mine had one of these, and we HATED it for gaming, that 8mb of vram meant his brand new system couldn't do much more than mine, which had an older ATI Rage Pro AIW with 8mb as well. Plus for gaming at the time, the LCD was definitely a downgrade from a decent CRT, because it actually only scales images nicely some of the time. Sometimes the image would just turn to garbage when motion on screen was high. I remember spending hours tweaking and messing with settings and drivers to get the absolute most out of what it had. Though back then I did that with every computer, I was the only one in my circle of friends that would really dig in and mess with things.

[@davideliasok]

Loved it!

[@fatcat7msk7ru]

Nice device really like it from far away

[@lukeson8934]

this would of been a great system back in the early 2000s!

[@johneygd]

This pc was 11 years ahead of it’s time, i bet it can even serve now in 2021 for certain purposes.

[@SB-qm5wg]

Cool video. ty

[@Alexis_du_60]

6:51 - I thought of the same thing! Ain't it fitting to emulate a PS1 on a Sony VAIO just for the hell of it? LOL

[@maxwillson]

I still have our family Sony PC from 2001. Man that thing is in rough shape! That light blue color is now a disgusting brown color and I threw the keyboard away because it's so far gone and ugly. The two CD drives don't work anymore and it's slow as hell! I can't believe we actually used that computer for anything back in the day ahahaha

[@rdxdt]

What a neat looking machine, kind of remember the blueish aspect of My Computer icon on Windows XP.

[@PedroManX]

So awesome.

[@nezyro]

Rebuild this into a fully modernized stealth high performance gaming PC, maybe a matte semi-transparent side-panel with internal RGBs that bleed through, RGBs in the back of a curved 4k monitor to match the day cycle background. Keep all the late 90's aesthetics, with a touch of subtle RGB and an extreme hardware makeover.

[@majikalarttechstudios2335]

I wish I had one of these. In fact, any Japanese, Korean brands introduced their products that are rich with attraction and style long before US brands like IBM, Microsoft, Apple, and Compaq did. For example the Apple iMac G3 has taken some samples of gimmick of Sony VAIO desktops back in mid and late 90s

[@talon1976]

I used to have one of those.... It was a good PC for the time.

[@nticompass]

Ooh, MemoryStick! That memory card "standard" that nobody used and that Sony only allowed like one company (SanDisk, I think) to make cards for. I first discovered MemoryStick when I had a PSP and wondered why the MemoryStick Pro Duos were so much more expensive than SD cards and why they came with this weird adapter for something I've never heard of (MemoryStick Pro Duo -> MemoryStick Pro). I eventually found a third-party MicroSD -> MemoryStick Pro Duo (that Sony hates) and use that with my PSP.

[@ddoodm]

@10:12 the function actually isn't recursive because it's invoked by a new event stack scheduled by the setTimeout call each time :)

[@ubacow7109]

Still a better setup than most folks PCs 2021

[@Errcyco]

Dude we had one of these! I used to sit on Liquid Generation cause this was the only computer we had that could run the site semi fast lol

[@leeadkins1360]

Subscribed, I'll be back for more :D Good work!

[@jwoody8815]

Its Amazingly modern looking, Wouldnt look out of place today.

[@michaelLeeMagnolia]

That was way ahead of it's time but it's really nice

[@BreakifyTV]

I think I still have this computer somewhere in my parents garage! :)

[@CantankerousDave]

Hah, that PCV-90 shown at 1:30 was my first post-Amiga PC in 1997. I also had a ginormous “laptop” of theirs in the early Aughts that had a desktop P4 CPU. Heavy, hot, zero battery life, but the screen was gorgeous.

[@psykus3072]

Great review! Love that 90's Sony design. Would be curious if it would be feasible getting Linux up and running on these types of old machines, saw you using some kind of Linux in your other videos with KDE as the DE. Would be a nice little addendum if any modern or contemporary versions of Linux ran out of the box.