Here comes the VAIO mini laptop…
Sony and Apple are the companied that have stubbornly refused to put out an inexpensive mini laptop computer on the market. After the tremendous success of netbooks in the last few years it looks like the trend has caught up with both of the companies, and Sony is first to release a VAIO mini laptop. Although it should be said that Sony has already been dabbling in the segment with the VAIO P, but that was more of a niche experiment since it was extremely small and very expensive.
With the new VAIO W Sony introduces a “standard” mini laptop to eager consumers, packed with all the features we’re used to from these little gadgets: a 10-inch screen, an Intel Atom N280 processor clocked at 1.66GHz, Intel GMA graphics, Windows XP Home and 1GB of RAM. The pricing on the base model is $499 – a slightly heftier price tag than similar competing models, but that might be justified if the workmanship and overall quality is better in the VAIO W than the average model.
As it turns out, the Sony mini laptop does have a few added goodies. The most prominent one is the screen. Sony is known for using very high quality screens in their laptops, and the VAIO W is not an exception. The 10-inch screen really stands out from the competition when it comes to color reproduction and true blacks. It also has a higher resolution than 99% of the competition – instead of the established standard 1024×600, Sony has opted for 1366×768 screen in the VAIO W. Besides providing added screen real estate it also looks very good doing it. This upgrade could be well worth the higher price alone.
Design wise, Sony’s new netbook also stands out in a crowd of laptops that look like they come from the same mold. The VAIO W has a chiclet-style keyboard with isolated keys like other VAIOs and Apple’s MacBook line. If it’s better or worse depends on your personal preferences, but at least this editor thinks it looks better. Naturally it also comes with a rather large VAIO logo emblazoned on the lid.
A minor disappointment is that the W only comes with 1GB of RAM. I’m sure that many were hoping for at least 2GB in the standard configuration, especially considering the low prices on memory at the moment. However, this is not Sony’s fault but rather a licensing issue related to Windows XP Home. All things considered, the new VAIO W looks to be a premium netbook that actually lives up to the promises of delivering a little more than the rest.
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