Sony is all set to make its first foray into the world of netbooks, announcing that a new entry to its popular Vaio range, the Sony Vaio W series, will be priced at 60,000 yen or around £390.
The Sony Vaio W is the Japanese computing giant's first official 'netbook', although Sony would still rather hear it called a 'mini notebook'.
The Vaio W packs in a 10.1-inch screen and a 1.6GHz Atom processor running Windows XP on 1GB of RAM. Which means it has pretty much exactly the same spec as the slew of other Asus, Acer, MSI, Medion and other leading netbooks currently out there on the supermarket shelves.
Here at TechRadar, while we were fans of the Sony Vaio P, the ultra-portable (and ultra expensive!) PC released earlier this year, we can only hope that the Vaio W is priced at a more reasonable level, in line with its spec.
Decent build and keyboard
In addition to a decent 1366 x 768 screen, if the build quality is good and the keyboard is not averse to taking a daily hammering (as our older, bigger Vaios aren't), then Sony may well find a market of consumers willing to pay a premium for a sexy-looking, well-constructed mini PC.
Sony describes the Vaio W as "a charming mini notebook with a stunning wide screen that brings a refreshing splash of colour and fun to this hot vacation season."
It continues: "Pick up this chic mini notebook, and you can catch your friends' attention and catch up with the latest news all the while you're catching the sun. It comes in three dazzling colours -- sugar white, berry pink and cocoa brown....The screen's bright and vibrant colours deliver your friends' and your own photos and videos in all the beauty that they deserve."
TechRadar has contacted Sony UK and we will bring you our detailed hands-on appraisal of Sony's new netbook as soon as we get our mitts on one.
You can pre-order the Sony Vaio W now from Sony Style Store over at www.sonystyle.eu.
Specs
Model VPC-W11S1E
Processor Intel® Atom™ Processor N280 (1.66GHz)
OS Genuine Windows XP Home
Memory 1GB
HDD 160GB Hard Disk Drive (Serial ATA)
Screen 10.1" X-black LCD with LED technology, 1366 x 768 resolution
Weight & Size 1.19 kg, 179.6 mm (depth) x 267.8 (width) x 32.4 (height)
Others WLAN 802.11b/g/Draft-N, Bluetooth®, Motion Eye webcam
