Malata’s Sony Vaio P lookalike at CES

When I first spotted Malata’s PC-98905 a few months ago, I thought it looked a lot like a Sony Vaio P. That’s because like the Vaio P, the Malata netbook is wider than it is deep and the base is pretty much all keyboard due to the lack of a touchpad. But I got a chance to check one out in person at the Intel booth and to be honest, it doesn’t seem all that Vaio P-like in person. And that might be a good thing.

Overall, the Malata PC-98905 is a bit bigger and bulkier than the Vaio P. And that means it has room for a slightly larger chiclet-style keyboard, which I found to be reasonably comfortable to use. There are large left and right buttons at the base of the keyboard, which are a little squishy. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I suppose you don’t have to press very hard to register a left or right click.

The pointing stick which replaces the touchpad is smack dab in the middle of the keyboard, much as it would be on a Lenovo ThinkPad business-oriented laptop. I didn’t get a chance to play with the pointing stick though, since the computer wasn’t turned on.

I couldn’t find anyone at the Intel booth that knew if the Malata netbook would be sold in the US. It’s possible that Intel only had it on hand to show the wide range of products using its Atom processors. The company is also showing laptops from vendors including Asus, Acer, and Dell.

The Malata PC-98905 comes with an Atom N270/N280 or N450 processor. It has an 8.9 inch. 1024 x 600 pixel display, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB SSD, 1 to 2GB of RAM, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi. It has a 3000mAh/7.4V battery and measures 10.1″ x 5.6″ x 1.1″.

More pictures after the break.

Posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010, 3:21 pm by Brad Linder

Corinn

I'm surprised more netbook makers haven't gone this route to make their systems smaller, yet keep relatively large keyboards. Pointing sticks beat the hell out of small touchpads anyway.
Anonymous

I have the P, it accomplishes what it was designed for perfectly and with style. It’s perfect for my jacket pocket or hoody and I get plenty of use throughout the day in college.

People who say netbooks are superior don’t grasp the concept.
A notebook that fits in your pocket rather than a slightly smaller laptop that costs less and is less powerful.
The P trades power for portability wheras a netbook trades power for a slight reduction in size and cost.

I my opinion this lacks the style of the P so I’ll stick with mine until I can afford the 2GHz version of the P.
Anonymous

I agree, I’d always go for a trackpad over an undersized trackpad on my small device, cut the size by half and actually get a more useful control method at the same time.

For long periods I use a mouse with my P but the pointing stick is so good I usually don’t bother.
G1NZOU

I have the P, it accomplishes what it was designed for perfectly and with style. It's perfect for my jacket pocket or hoody and I get plenty of use throughout the day in college.

People who say netbooks are superior don't grasp the concept.
A notebook that fits in your pocket rather than a slightly smaller laptop that costs less and is less powerful.
The P trades power for portability wheras a netbook trades power for a slight reduction in size and cost.

I my opinion this lacks the style of the P so I'll stick with mine until I can afford the 2GHz version of the P.
G1NZOU

I agree, I'd always go for a trackpad over an undersized trackpad on my small device, cut the size by half and actually get a more useful control method at the same time.

For long periods I use a mouse with my P but the pointing stick is so good I usually don't bother.

Malata’s Sony Vaio P lookalike at CES

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