Sony is set to release a Vaio branded netbook or subnotebook at CES, as we know from the viral marketing and teaser websites the company has been putting up of late on the Sony Style website.
The latest teaser pics show a stylised keyboard with a tracking nub
The specification for the machine is for a system with a 1.33GHz Intel processor and an 8 inch screen running Windows Vista, which suggests, as Jack Schofield notes in the Guardian, that it is probably going to be a 'subnotebook' rather than a 'netbook'.
"I expect it to appear at a subnotebook-type price of £/$999 or more," opines Schofield.
Schofield also notes that the device features a "1.33GHz clock speed" that suggests an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, "rather than the 1.6GHz Atom you'd expect in a netbook.
"Core 2 Duos with this rating have been available both in Low Voltage (L7200) and Ultra Low Voltage (U7700) versions, and neither is cheap compared to a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270."
Semantics
At the end of the day, much of this comes down to semantics, as Schofield suggests in his claim that "almost all netbooks are also subnotebooks, just as they are also laptops and they are also portable PCs.
Whereas netbooks are not designed for processor-intensive tasks such as video-editing and audio production, the difference here is, as Schofield notes, "Sony, of course, focuses on video and audio: that's where the Vaio name comes from."
Whatever it turns out to be, we cannot wait to have a play around with it at CES next week. The main difference between the average netbook and the Sony Vaio to be unveiled next week, for the average consumer, is going to be the price point, we expect.
