Vaio P breaks the mould... and the bank
AT LEAST ONE PC manufacturer, it seems, didn't jump blindly on the Atom reference design like everyone else. Sony, the party in question, has just launched their Sony VAIO P (for Pocket) and it seems like a winner, until you read the price tag, that is.
The Sony VAIO P is an ultra-widescreen device measuring 120x245x19.8mm, with an odd 8-inch 1600x768 resolution LED backlit X-Black LCD, an Atom Z520 (1.33GHz) processor, 60GB HDD and 2GB of onboard memory running Windows Vista Home Premium. Communications include Wi-Fi, BT2.0+EDR and 3.5G wireless (Everywair, they call it) plus GPS positioning, webcam and mike.
It also dual-boots to XMB, Sony's trademark Windows-media-centre-like GUI that's available on PSX, PSP and Bravia kit.
Sony advertises a four-hour battery life, but we're guessing it's plus or minus a whole lot if you switch off the onboard wireless communications.
The VAIO P comes in an assortment of colours (onyx black, crystal white, emerald green and warlock purple garnet red).
This 'netbook' definitely looks smart and sexy (and weighs only 638g), but then you get a nasty reality check. Despite the ongoing recession, Sony thinks it's OK to market a £849 suped-up netbook with features coming out of its rear end.
We checked the pricing across pounds, euros and dollars and this is what we got: the VAIO P is sold in the US store "from $899.99"... that's roughly £615 in Blighty. However, Sony is charging £849 in Blighty and a whopping €919 in €uroland. That's a 40 per cent plus mark-up from US prices... leading us to believe that Sony thinks the sole cure for the recession is to overcharge European boys for their toys.
If, however, you've really got it in for this device and have deep enough pockets, Sony is taking pre-orders for a unique "high-end" model. This one sports a 1.6GHz Atom and a 128GB SSD for the brow-raising cost of £1,369.
Yes. £1369. For a chic netbook...
... and you thought Asus had a pricey netbook with that S-series? Tsk Tsk.
Shipping in February. µ
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This Sony POS has the same stats as every other netbook out there (well, the "upsized 1.6Ghz Atom unit does anyway". I can't believe anyone would even attempt to run Vista with a 1.33GHz Atom. On top of that, they are overcharging for this "almost computer" by $400 on the low end and $1,000 on the high end? Anyone who buys this piece of junk with "The broken OS" has more money than sense and would do better to just buy a Macbook instead. This is the same Sony that is over charging for the PS3 and wondering why they aren't flying off shelves. Are they just in denial about the world wide recession or what??
Just Sony doing what they do best, ripping off the idiots that think the sony badge is worth the extra £400-500 as with all the Vaio range.
well, not enough to shell out any kind of money but this product looks really well done and of higher quality then the usual affordable netbooks. then again i'm not buying into all that atom netbook hype anyways and have no need for one.
it still looks cool thoguh...
It's a common netbook, under the hood. The screen is notable, though.
It's not bad at all, but its price is simply insane.
Sony said they would shake the netbook market... but I think they didn't.
And they wonder why they lost a billion dollars?
Sony thinks our "pockets" are bottomless
I have a brother in law that worships at the altar of Sony, he would buy 2 of these. He's thick as a brick!
what's up with all this sony-hate? not everyone looking to buy something is looking necessarily at bang for the buck always.
This netbook looks great, it's way better than my dell mini 9" where after using for 2 hours, regretted my purchase because of the tiny keyboard. i think sony designers nailed it with this netbook, it's a regular sized keyboard. despite the price, this thing looks great to me.