The all-in-one form factor is one many companies have flirted with in the past, but few, with the notable exception of Apple, have returned to with much gusto. 19in versions of the LT-series have been around for a while, but they’ve been very expensive for considering the screen size.

The most obvious change with the LT28G is the 22in screen, with a 1680 x 1050 resolution that’s great for both work and entertainment. The screen will still look slightly lost in larger rooms, but it’s a perfectly adequate TV replacement if you’re sitting within two metres, and looks great when watching darker scenes in films thanks to Sony’s X-black glossy screen. The LT28G even comes with a slot-loading Blu-ray drive located neatly behind the glass bezel.

Another piece of good news comes with the addition of two TV tuners integrated into the chassis (you only require a single aerial to feed both). So now it’s easy to record one TV programme in Vista Media Center while you’re watching another.

The LT28G isn’t such great news if your entertainment needs stretch to cutting-edge 3D gaming, though, as the GeForce Go 8400M GT won’t cope with much more than last year’s games at low resolutions, and there’s no realistic chance of upgrading it. Still, it’s good to have any gaming potential at all.

There are no complaints when switching to more prosaic jobs. The keyboard and mouse are both wireless, and the RF receiver is neatly built into the VAIO itself. Both are comfortable to use, even when you’re not at a desk, and the keyboard features a plastic cover to hide the keys.

This folds up to create a wristrest and reveal the standard keyboard and trackpad. It all feels well made, adding to the VAIO’s air of class. There’s also a standard Media Center remote.

Just remember to stock up on batteries, because you’ll need four AA cells for the keyboard, two for the mouse and a further two for the remote control.

The attractive glass bezel that surrounds the screen features a fantastic power indicator light that appears to hang in the bezel. It’s so well put together you could easily mistake the LT28G for a standalone living room TV – not something you can say about many PCs. The speakers are the equal of, if not better than, most TVs’ speakers, too.

There’s also a 1.3-megapixel webcam built in above the screen. Picture quality is good, and it features a handy switch that lets you angle the lens vertically, saving you moving the whole screen.

Reflecting Sony’s recent embrace of SD cards, there’s a reader on the left-hand side of the machine, which is also a MagicGate-compatible Sony Memory Stick slot. There are also PC Card and ExpressCard/34 expansion slots.

Five USB ports provide reasonable upgrade potential for peripherals, and one might well be an external hard disk: the 500GB internal disk sounds a lot, but will soon be consumed by music collections and video – especially if you start recording TV series. We can’t complain about the rest of the specs, though, with a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM assuring Vista speeds along.

But the LT28G isn’t unique in being a fast, stylish all-in-one. Its biggest threat is the latest-generation iMac, which costs $2399 but manages to trump Sony with a larger 24in LCD. It doesn’t have the TV tuners, though, making it immediately less attractive as a media centre, and, of course, the price doesn’t include Windows.

If it was reasonably priced it would be on the A-List. But Sony, disgustingly, is charging almost double what it’s charging in Europe for the same model. We’re sick of these rip-off Australia mark ups (which also severely blight our GPS group test on page 68) and as such, we refuse to recommend it.

The TP2 has an almost identical spec and costs $2000 less. You’d be better off buying that and a Full HD TV. It’s a shame as this is an otherwise excellent piece of hardware.