Much like Apple, Sony likes to keep its Vaio products aimed at mid-to-high-end buyers and generally eschews the budget end of the market (although there are actually a handful of sub-$600 Vaios we’ve reviewed fairly favorably).
When it comes to Netbooks, it’s no different; Sony’s entry into the very hot minilaptop category shares a lot with Netbooks such as the Dell Mini 9 or Asus Eee PC, but clearly goes out of its way to avoid being lumped in with them.
The P-series Lifestyle PC is one of the smallest laptops we’ve seen; it is almost similar to a UMPC, but with a traditional clamshell laptop design. The widescreen 8-inch 1600×768 display and tiny keyboard make for a form factor that has roughly the same footprint as a standard white business envelope, and is less than 1-inch thick, weighing 1.4 pounds.
To fit a reasonably full-featured PC into a chassis this small, some sacrifices had to be made, and we’re worried the lack of a standard touch pad (instead there’s a ThinkPad-like pointing stick), will keep this new system from being as useful as it could be. It does, however, include a 3G mobile broadband antenna, 802.11n Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth, with mobile broadband service provided by Verizon.
Like several other laptops we’ve seen recently, there’s a pre-Windows instant-on operating system, which uses the familiar Sony cross-media bar menu found on the PlayStation 3 and handheld PSP consoles. Once you boot into Windows, instead of the XP variety found on most Netbooks, it has Vista, although the 2GB of RAM (up to 4GB capacity) should help it run smoothly.
Sony told us it was planning on marketing this almost clutch-size laptop specifically to women, but we didn’t take them seriously until we saw these lines in the official press release:
“Designed for the fashionista in all of us, it’s the ideal companion…”
“The spacing between keys has also been engineered to help reduce typing mistakes making it perfect for long fingernails.”
The P-series Lifestyle PC will retail for about $900, and options include solid state (up to 128GB) or standard hard drives and a variety of colors, including garnet red, emerald green, onyx black, crystal white, and classic (matte) black, with matching accessories including a fitted leather case. More photos are after the jump. …
Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about The Sony P-series Lifestyle PC: Just don’t call it a Netbook
While we’re still pretty unsure of what Dell was up to when it combined its midrange Studio and high-end XPS laptop lines into the new (wait for it…) Studio XPS line, at least it means we’re finally getting a true 16:9 16-inch laptop from Dell, in the form of the Studio XPS 1640.
More details on specs and price to follow (being a Dell, expect tons of configuration options, including Blu-ray), but in the meantime, click through for some new photos that highlight the backlit keyboard and smart-looking leather trim.
Update: Dell’s gone ahead and popped this guy up for sale online immediately. CPU options include the P8400, P8600, T9400, and T9600, all from Intel’s Core 2 Duo line. While it starts at $1,199, for an extra $250, you can upgrade to a full HD 1920×1080 display. Graphics are limited to an ATI Mobility RADEON M86XT chip. There’s also a 13-inch version, called the Studio XPS 1340.
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Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Hands-on pics of the Dell Studio XPS 1640
(Credit: Asus)What could be better than a small, low-cost, easy to use Netbook laptop? How about a small, low-cost, easy to use Netbook laptop with a swiveling touch screen? Conceptually similar to the recently updated Intel Classmate PC, the new Eee PC T91 has a rotating display that can …
Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Netbook plus touch screen equals Eee PC T91
(Credit: Asus)Asus is still chasing the “upscale Netbook” market with its latest shiny little box, the S121. Rather than being part of the well-known Eee PC line, the S121 is being called an “Ultra Slim Mobile Notebook,” and uses Intel’s Atom-based Menlow platform–essentially an updated version of the …
Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Asus says Netbooks can be upscale with the S121
Does your laptop take too long to turn on? Linux-based instant-on operating systems have turned up on plenty of recent laptops, such as the Splashtop-powered Asus N10J, and now Phoenix is jumping into the action with its HyperSpace OS, as featured on a handful of new Lenovo laptops including the S10 Netbook. We got a chance to get a hands-on preview with HyperSpace.
Hyperspace boots up automatically when you start your laptop, instead of Windows. The emphasis is clearly on Web surfing, as the landing screen is a custom Web browser with a sidebar full of links and settings. Shortcuts on the left side are basically just bookmarks for popular Web sites and services.
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Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Hands-on: HyperSpace by Phoenix joins the instant-on fray
HP’s new Pavilion Dv2.
The highlight of HP’s CES lineup is this new, thin, 12-inch AMD-powered model, called the Pavilion Dv2. At first glance, another glossy HP laptop with an AMD processor may induce yawns, but when we learned this was the first system to use AMD’s new Netbook-like Athlon Neo platform, our ears perked up.
Pitched as a kind of step-up from Netbooks, Neo provides for a little more processing muscle–at least enough to power Windows Vista. The CPU is called the Neo MV-40, runs at 1.6GHz, and comes paired with ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 graphics.
Besides that, the Dv2 also has a fairly large keyboard for a 12-inch laptop, starts at about 3.8 pounds, and is 1.3-inches thick at its thickest point. The display is a 1,280 x 800 LED.
Look for the HP Dv2 later in January, somewhere north of $500. Check out some more photos after the jump.
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Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about The HP Pavilion Dv2 debuts AMD’s new Ultrathin notebook platform
After the initial 7-inch Celeron versions and the second wave of 9- and 10-inch Intel Atom-powered systems, we’re finally seeing the third wave of Netbook laptops–machines that take the basic concept of low-cost, low-power computing and start to add in useful extras and features largely missing from the until-now rather Spartan design philosophy of most Netbooks.
Even though the Mini 1000 only hit a few months ago, HP was actually an early player in the Netbook field. The company’s business system side came up with the Mini-Note 2133 in spring 2008, with a solid brushed-metal chassis and a nearly full-size keyboard. Unfortunately, this predated Intel’s Atom CPU, and rather than using the Celeron processor that came with the very first Netbooks, HP went with an underpowered Via C7-M, which pretty much killed any chance it had of becoming a mainstream product.
Now that the plastic-clad, Atom-powered consumer version has become a hit, HP’s business side is taking another crack at the Netbook market with a radically updated version, called the HP Mini 2140.
It keeps the aluminum construction and big keyboard, but updates the components to an Intel Atom CPU, and hard-drive options that include standard platter drives up to 160GB and solid-state drives up to 80GB. The LED display is 10.1 inches, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Two new additions that threaten to make this our favorite new Netbook are an accelerometer for the hard drive and a full ExpressCard/54 slot–a Netbook first (Lenovo’s S10 has a smaller Express Card/34 slot). We recently told HP’s consumer side that, as much as we liked the Mini 1000 Netbook, its business-side colleagues had just decisively leap-frogged them.
Look for the HP Mini 2140 later in January, starting at $499. More pics after the jump.
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Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about First third-generation Netbook: HP Mini 2140
The HP Pavilion dv3.
We’ll come right and say it–we love 13-inch laptops. One point we’re fond of making is that in a world where we have 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and even 20-inch laptops, the 13-inch size is the biggest we’d consider carrying around on a regular basis, as well as the smallest we’d be able to use as a full-time work machine.
HP is debuting a new 13-inch model, powered by a variety of AMD CPU options (although, not the new low-power Athlon Neo). We’ve always liked HP’s snazzy dv-series designs, with their glossy finishes, metallic accents, and subtle imprint patterns. HP describes this new model as having, “an argyle-like pattern for subtle contrast to the liquid appearance of the metallic finish.” Then again, matte black works for us, too.
While the new dv3 is reasonably svelte, starting at 3.8 pounds and about 1.3-inches thick at its thickest part, we’re most excited about the backlit keyboard–an extra we’d point out only comes with the more expensive $1,699 version of the 13-inch MacBook (and you can’t even get the dv3’s Express Card/34 slot in a 13-inch MacBook).
Look for the HP Pavilion dv3 later in January. Check out some more photos after the jump.
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Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Can the HP Pavilion dv3 take on the MacBook?
You and I may see the laptop market as completely oversaturated, but chipmaker AMD sees only opportunities and underserved markets. Hence the new Athlon Neo, which AMD calls a “platform for ultrathin notebooks.”
The company sees Netbooks as occupying the space between 7- and 11-inch displays with prices under $499, …
Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Not quite a Netbook: Meet the AMD Athlon Neo platform
Lenovo's S10 Netbook.
We liked both the 11-inch U110 ultraportable and S10 Netbook from Lenovo, so we’re pleased to see the company not messing with success and making only minor revisions to these two models in what might be the first set of official laptop announcements from …
Originally posted at CES 2009
Continue reading about Modest updates for Lenovo’s S10 Netbook and U110 ultraportable