Sony VAIO-P The Rolls Royce of Netbooks
I took the sexy svelte Sony VAIO-P out for a spin over the last few days.
This is a very slick, amazing piece of work from Sony. A luscious high resolution screen combined with a really great keyboard. Did I say it was compact? This thing is really compact. It fitted comfortably into the inside pocket of my short jacket.
Compare the sizes…
This thing is neat.
It comes with all the usual WIFI, Bluetooth technology and this model had the 60GB disk (which of course is actual a 55GB disk after formatting). It has got two USB ports and a little dongle to add an external screen and an ethernet connection. The press release also promised 3G connectivity but it wasn’t a feature on my model (which I’m guess was pre-release given its VGN-XXXX model number). 3G would really put the icing on the connectivity cake.
It comes with Vista by default which means performance is pretty awful for all the usual Vista reasons. It would be much more usable with Windows-XP or Linux. I expect Windows 7 would be pretty snappy as well.
And now the bad news. These babies will set up back between 1100 and 1600 euros depending on configuration. No wonder they don’t want us calling it a Netbook ‘cos those sure ain’t netbook prices.
A great little machine, but that price will need a 50% discount to take a bite of the new hot Netbook market that is all the rage in 2009.
The Right Hook 
I saw one in a Sony Center last week and I have to say it falls into the has to be seen to be believed bracket. Compared to the existing netbooks it is a work of art.
The only question I had about it was the trackpoint. It saves space but how did you find having to use it in real life?
Hated it. Worst thing about the device.
Why is every technology post on this and the last blog about some Sony device or other? Is there no other manufacturer, or do you work for them on the sly?
Hi Andrew,
I don’t think thats quite the case. We review everything that is sent to us, Sony have been good at getting gear to us recently. We also do a fair bit of Philips stuff and a whole range of handsets.
We don’t work for Sony.
Hi Joe I know that yourself and George have great faith in Sony. I do too. Almost every electronic product I own is Sony TV,DVD, Audio amp and tuner.
Where Sony fall down is with their service and backup. I bought a Sony Vaio laptop. After two years the screen died. Sony want €800 to replace it. So I thought it would be better to buy a new one. Hard drive crashed 18 months later Sony did not want to know about it. It was now an old model. Lastly I bought a Sony amp/tuner. From day one there was a problem with it. I contacted Sony service. They told me that there was a Firmware problem. It took three months to resolve.
Why do I stick with Sony. the staff in my local Sony centre (Athlone) are fantastic and very helpful. Sony products are excellent until they give trouble. Where is “Sony Service”
Played around with it in Harvey Normans on Saturday. Lovely looking machine and snappy enough but the price point is really excessive for what would be a second (or third) machine. I was looking for something that I could lug around to conference and not pull the arm off me or run out of juice after 40 minutes!
hi, found ur blog, but u did not update for a while already, this sony is cute.I like it, sure, I do not like the windows vista as well.