f Sony's new Vaio TP2 "Living Room PC" is the new face of home entertainment, it's a face not even a mother could love.

Sony's lounge room PC doesn't look at home in the lounge room

The new TP2 would seem to have the grunt and features to make a fine lounge room companion, but unfortunately it looks more like a robotic vacuum cleaner than an entertainment device. Sony claims "particular attention has been paid to how it fits within a modern home's decor". I think they mean a modern display home, as the TP2 certainly wouldn't look at home in the average lounge room.

Under the bonnet the TP2 delivers the goods. There's a Blu-ray combo drive (Blu-ray player + CD/DVD burner), 2.1 GHz dual core processor, 2 GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M graphics, HDTV tuners and a generous 500GB hard drive. It runs Windows Vista Home Premium and comes with a remote control as well as a wireless keyboard with a built-in trackpad.

As a technobogan I normally don't care what a product looks like as long as it works, but when you're talking about lounge room based technology you have to allow for WAF - Wife Acceptance Factor. WAF is a very real phenomenon, just ask any media centre owner. It doesn't matter who wears the pants or holds the purse strings in your family unit, if the lady of the house doesn't approve of a gadget it will quickly end up on the front lawn.

At this week's Australian TP2 launch the Sony reps told me they were still deciding whether to release a black version in Australia, which I encouraged them to do. For most people, a lounge room computer should be neither seen nor heard. It should just blend in with everything else and get on with the job of handling your entertainment needs. The TP2's unorthodox round shape makes it hard enough to hide it amongst your AV gear without painting it a blinding white. Why not put a flashing light on the top as well, just to make sure people don't miss it?

The digital lounge room requires the marriage of form and function but Sony's Vaio TP2 appears to only be half way there. What says you? Would the TP2 find acceptance in your lounge room?

Read my full Sony Vaio TP2 review