Sony is taking entertainment lovers on the ultimate joyride. The new VAIO AX Digital Studio PC is the pinnacle of mobile multimedia performance, combining the power of a desktop with the convenience of a notebook.

Featuring a stunning 17″ WXGA+ widescreen (measured diagonally) display with Sony’s original XBRITE LCD technology, the VAIO AX notebook delivers brilliant clarity and true-to-life color, for beautifully crisp playback of photos, home videos and DVDs. Users can also watch and record high-quality television with a removable TV tuner and Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. You can even create a digital library for personal viewing at your convenience, using the DVD+R Double Layer/DVD RW drive with Sony’s Click to DVD software.

The VAIO AX notebook includes a unique multi-function bay, so you can add exactly the components you want to use. The simple swapping of powerful peripherals — a TV-tuner Bay Unit, a DVD+R Double Layer/DVD RW Bay Unit, an optional CD-RW/DVD-ROM Bay Unit, an optional 80GB HDD Bay Unit, and an optional HDD Adapter Bay Unit — allows you to switch from TV entertainment system to high-capacity storage device in a matter of seconds. The optional docking station with an additional multi-function bay provides even more options.

“Sony knows that entertainment and computing mean different things to different people,” said Mike Abary, vice president of VAIO product marketing for Sony Electronics in the U.S. “The AX notebook provides users the swappable components to create their own dream machines and we provide the fixed hardware and design to back them up no matter what they choose to do.”