A little over a year after launching the Vaio P mini-laptop with its 8 inch, 1600 x 768 pixel display, Sony is giving the Vaio P line a refresh. The new Sony Vaio P features the same small size and high resolution display. But it has a couple of new features, including:
- There’s an optical touchpad built into the screen bezel (Don’t worry, there’s still a pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard as well).
- Sony has added an accelerometer that lets you rotate the display to read web pages or documents — or tilt left or right to move forward or backward in the web browser.
- The top of the line model now comes with a 2.13GHz Intel Atom Z560 processor, while the base model still has a slower 1.6GHz Atom Z530 CPU.
- You get a choice of colors including black, white, orange, pink, and white.
Sony has also added Playstation3 remote play functionality. That will allow you to stream music and movies from your PS3 to your Vaio P mini-laptop.
Like earlier models, the new Sony Vaio P will have 2GB of RAM, run Windows 7 Home Premium, WIFi, and optional 3G mobile broadband. The device uses a solid state disk instead of a hard drive, and while the original Vaio P topped out at 64GB of storage, the new model will be available with up to 256GB. The mini-laptop measures 9.7″ x 0.8″ x 4.7″ and weighs 1.3 pounds.
The new Sony Vaio P will be available starting in June for $799 and up. That makes it pretty expensive by netbook standards, but actually about $100 cheaper than the price Sony charged for the first generation Vaio P which was introduced last year.
Engadget has the first detailed review I’ve seen for the new Sony Vaio P. Engadget’s Joanna Stern seems to like the new case design, which looks a bit like a paperclip when closed, and which comes in several distinctive colors. But she says the laptop’s small size made it hard to actually use on your lap. And the lack of a palm rest can be a bit disconcerting — the computer is virtually all keyboard (and screen and screen bezel). She also echos a concern I’ve had for a long time: super high resolution displays on small screens will just give you a headache — at least assuming you’re using Windows 7 or another operating system that doesn’t simply scale the graphics and instead just makes everything look extraordinarily sharp… and tiny.
For more details on performance, battery life, and other goodies, make sure to check out Joanna’s full review.
You can find more images after the break.
Watch out Sony doesn’t cripple it with firmware upates if it can be used for something they [Sony] doesn’t like.
Oh so now its clear. That is what he clip(4th Picture) sign means at their website.
From the specs it seems very impressive!!
Ok, I know your not a fan of touch screens in non convertible screens, but I think a high quality capacitive on this would have made it amazing.
Actually, given the Vaio P’s small size, I think you might have a point.
But it would also be pretty hard to accurately tap on a screen that sharp.
So I guess Intel launched the Z560 CPU without much fanfare. I was wondering if Engadget made a typo, but it sure was a persistent “typo.”
I’ve used my Vaio P for something like 9 months now, yes it’s not the fastest thing in the world but I think it’s better than a netbook for the following reasons.
Style – this is personal taste but I think it looks stunning.
Featues – Instant on, bluetooth, 3G, GPS.
Screen – text does sometimes look small but hey, it’s not your main PC and if you don’t know how to zoom to 125% – 150% in IE then how did you earn enough money to buy it in the first place.
I think the screen makes photo viewing a great experience, really bright and good colour range.
Size – netbooks are small laptops, the P is a real pocket PC, I carry it in my jacket pocket or in my hoody pocket.
Trackpoint – Trackpads are nice when they’re big enough, too small and you may as well chop the whole front off and use a trackpoint or bluetooth mouse like I do.
I will buy the new one as the remote play, optical mouse, accelerometer and SSD appeal to me, my current one is fast enough to do the on the move tasks I bought it for but it would be nice to have some extra speed.
I understand the P isn’t for everyone but there are enough netbooks out there that there’s no need to keep saying “Oh, add a touchpad and make it like every other netbook”, diversity is good, I’d happily pay more for something that fullfils my needs and appeals at the same time.
This comment was written on a Vaio P keyboard and yes, it was a rant. (^_^)
Oops, forgot my login.
Anyway, love the new colours.
Even though I usually go for glossy black gadgets I’m partial to the green and orange ones.
Vista ruined the Vaio P’s launch, faster processors and Windows 7 will ensure adaquate performance (If you’re still expecting HD video editing then you should be shot).