Sony's Vaio C series of 13.3-inchers

Sony just released their 15.4-inch Vaio N series of fashion computers for the home, now they're gunning for your personal style with the release of the Vaio C series. As such, the press release is more focused on the colors on offer -- seashell white, blush pink, spring green, espresso black and urban gray -- than the product itself. In fact, in Europe the names change to karma white, free spirit pink, natural green, timeless black, and nomad grey. Uh, Sony, less time in market research and more time on battery fabrication please. Thanks. Nevertheless, don't be fooled by those girlie looks 'cause these Core 2 Duo offerings bring plenty of power in that Vista Premium ready chassis. Starting with a 13.3-inch XBRITE-ECO wide screen display, Sony delivers 256MB nVidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics, 120GB SATA disk, up to 2GB memory, a dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, ExpressCard and multi-format memory card slot, and the usual array of Firewire and USB 2.0 ports all in a 5-pound slab. Expect 'em to start posing hard in your favorite coffee shop come October when they drop for $1,350 (starting price) or a bit later depending upon your color persuasion. More shots in blush pink and spring green after the break -- come on sissy, you know you want to look.

[Via Laptoping]

[tiuk @ Sep 27th 2006 9:50AM]

I'll admit I like the green.

[callisto3 @ Sep 27th 2006 9:51AM]

i'd hit it. i can't believe laptops still look as boring as they do. vaio's are great laptops to begin with, so the added color is a bonus in my book. :thumbsup:

[Deluxe @ Sep 27th 2006 9:52AM]

Delicious.

[ryan @ Sep 27th 2006 9:53AM]

i'd want one of these even with an exploding battery

[Ben @ Sep 27th 2006 10:05AM]

These look fantastic. Damn, and I was so close to getting a MacBook.

[mike @ Sep 27th 2006 10:05AM]

these are the 13.3 macbook wannabes?

oh they come with windows...ugh


1350?! So after tax it comes to about 1500.... FOR A LAPTOP..

so much for macs being overpriced..

[Mark @ Sep 27th 2006 10:58AM]

Vaios AND Macs are overpriced. That doesn't make them any less nice.

...And ubuntu works quite well on Vaios...

[DJDole @ Sep 27th 2006 11:30AM]

RE: mike
"these are the 13.3 macbook wannabes?"

So because Apple released a notebook with a 13.3" screen, anyone else who releases a notebook that just happens to use that same standard screen size, is a wannabe?
Get over yourself, and get over your Mac idolizing tendencies.
It's a laptop, that�s it.

[Shah2b @ Sep 27th 2006 12:07PM]

Ohh come on Mike.
Okay I agree that Apple is "cool". But that doesn't mean Sony is any less.

By the way I'm been keeping an eye on Apple and even longer on Sony. And I can tell you most products that Apple is launching nowadays, were available (sometimes) years ago via Sony. 13.3inch laptop?? macbook wannabe's check out the S series by Sony. and even before that Sony was making much smaller 12inch, 10inch and "cool" laptops. They are much older than the macbooks and in my opinion still look much better than a macbook. I still love the design of the Vaio Z serries, the C1 series picturbooks with builtin webcam years before anyone else made them.

Okay Mike I'll give you one thing I do envy a macbook and that's the Magsafe powerconnector, and maybe Mac OSX (but M$ Windows gets the job done)

Cheers,

Shah

[Zadillo @ Sep 27th 2006 10:17AM]

I would buy a MacBook over this because of OS X, but to be fair on price, note that these seem to have a GeForce 7400 compared to the GMA950 of the MacBook. Plus they have Core 2 Duo, and we don't even know yet when the MBP is going to get C2D, much less the MacBook.

Granted, they say prices starting at $1350; not sure if the GeForce 7400 is an additional configuration or something else. They don't seem to actually be up at Sony's site yet. But the prices actually sound pretty reasonable, and from a hardware standpoint it sounds like you do seem to get more bang for your buck (dedicated graphics, C2D) compared to a MacBook.

[Zadillo @ Sep 27th 2006 10:18AM]

Sorry, also noticed that these offer DL burners and an ExpressCard slot, both of which are not available on the MacBook.

[wei.sui @ Sep 27th 2006 10:24AM]

a green one for me please

[Jason Rouse @ Sep 27th 2006 10:28AM]

Wow, these are a great deal. That's the MSRP, and you will be able to find them for cheaper. I want a Macbook for OSX, but it would be hard to pass up something like this with much better specs. The dedicated graphics alone make it destroy the Macbook in terms of performance.

Apple needs to update the Macbook line with an option for dedicated graphics ASAP.

[Zadillo @ Sep 27th 2006 10:30AM]

Hrmm, according to the NotebookReview article on this, these models have Intel GMA950, and it is just the black one that has the GeForce 7400 - I'm going to assume then that it will have a higher price than $1350. I guess one could at least argue that Sony is making the black model more distinctive beyond just the color.

Will be curious to see what the actual prices are. For the time being I guess this is in a bit of a different price range from the MacBook, but still not by much.

[Dennis @ Sep 27th 2006 10:34AM]

hmmm.... i gotta say those look suspiciously like the HP fingerprint notebooks except with colour and without the fingerprints.

[Ben @ Sep 27th 2006 10:34AM]

I think these things look amazing, and seem to pack a punch to boot. I'm real close to getting a Macbook Pro as well (never been a mac fan in my life, then I played w/ my friends the other weekend-- feel in love w/ photobooth)

if the macbooks will just get C2D it'll be an easier choice for me :p

[Ben Grogan @ Sep 27th 2006 10:35AM]

I still have and love my SZ140, and if these are anywhere close in quality and performance they are going to be absolute killers.

[James @ Sep 27th 2006 10:48AM]

Just made a comparison between Macbook and these. The non-black sony vaios cost �999 and have:

core2duo instead of core duo, 100GB instead of 60GB, 1GB instead of 512 MB, dual-layer burner, card reader.

The macbook costs �899 and has:

VGA camera, bluetooth, DVI out.

both have integrated graphics and all other specs are largely the same, including software, as the Vaio comes with some equivalent iLife-type stuff.

The extra �100 would get you the RAM upgrade and most of the way to the HDD upgrade. In other words, except for the Core2 processor, these laptops are largely the same. They even weigh the same!

However of course the black Vaio has the Geforce, and only costs an extra �100 - overall this Vaio may be better value.

[HisXLNC @ Sep 27th 2006 11:02AM]

RE: mike
"these are the 13.3 macbook wannabes?

oh they come with windows...ugh


1350?! So after tax it comes to about 1500.... FOR A LAPTOP..

so much for macs being overpriced.."


Did you even compare the darn specs?

Sony Core 2 Duo vs Apple Core Duo
Sony 120GB HDD vs Apple 60GB HDD
Sony DL DVD-+RW vs DVD-Rom/CDRW in the cheapest Sony NVidia 256MB video card vs Apple Intel shared 64MB video card


Good allah, you mac fanboys jump to conclusions way too fast.

[UMTopSpinC7 @ Sep 27th 2006 12:35PM]

Where are the blue ones?

[Gerardo @ Sep 27th 2006 12:37PM]

I gotta admit I'm a guy and I like the green one.
Nice features and nice sleek design.

Gotta love it!

[juv3nal @ Sep 27th 2006 12:44PM]

If the one with the "real" vid card comes in at under 4lbs, and price isn't ludicrous then one of those is my next computer.

[Bas @ Sep 27th 2006 12:46PM]

Comparable specs or not, that white Vaio looks like a macbook to me. To me that just means it's looking damn good so thumbs up for Sony with this one.

When looking at the pictures I noticed that the pink Vaio in the first picture has black keys while the pink one in the second picture has white keys. I also don't understand why the green Vaio is grey on the inside of the shell, which just kills the design.

[Tek @ Sep 27th 2006 12:55PM]

I noticed the keyboard switch-up on the pink model as well. I personally like it with the white keyboard more. If it had the white keys, I'd definitely be torn between a white Vaio or a pink Vaio.

I want to buy a MacBook, but with all the issues you hear of, and now Sony Vaios that offer quite a bit more are coming out...maybe I'm not so Mac-curious anymore (notebook-wise)...

Can I assume "multi-format" media card reader means I can plug in my SD card? No need for a Memory Stick-having digital camera or PSP? Good lord, I'm sold! If not, oh well, just dreaming.

[Zadillo @ Sep 27th 2006 1:48PM]

"I want to buy a MacBook, but with all the issues you hear of, and now Sony Vaios that offer quite a bit more are coming out...maybe I'm not so Mac-curious anymore (notebook-wise)..."

If you're worried about "issues", note that Sony hasn't been immune to those at all. Just look on some sony forums to find a whole host of complaints relating to the SZ series in particular (spacebar issue, etc.).

[Al A. @ Sep 27th 2006 2:29PM]

for $1,350? im sold...
for some reason i'm attracted to that green one also. if only they hav the same spec. as the black one..=/

[Ndric @ Sep 27th 2006 5:20PM]

Wow, that's pretty decent.

[hashmonkey @ Sep 27th 2006 6:20PM]

Is it just me, or is anyone else waiting for a hybrid disk drive for use with Vista's ReadyDrive before they purchase a "Vista Ready" laptop? In my opinion, jumping on this laptop is the equivalent of jumping on a pre-Merom Macbook. Not biting just yet.

[Jeff @ Sep 27th 2006 7:01PM]

it is really necessary to mimmic Nano colors?

does that occur to anyone else?

[Sebastian Johnson @ Sep 28th 2006 3:55PM]

@Jeff, I'm not sure Apple invented colors.

[gene @ Oct 1st 2006 1:23AM]

no word on release date?

[david72 @ Oct 4th 2006 6:28PM]

I think these are going to sell quite well, personally. I work for a computer reseller, and when these colored FJ290
laptops started coming in, they sold like crazy, despite having the Pentium M processor. Several girls in my office bought them. Style and form seem to have really risen in importance (as opposed to specs and value). And that's cool -- I personally see it as a part and parcel of the computer becoming something that's part of your daily life.

[Sony fanboy @ Oct 4th 2006 11:52PM]

What, Sony didn't think the American market would catch on to the original names...?

Kimono/gi white
Sanrio pink
Yen/$$$ green
Ninja black
Yakuza gray

"Man, Sony wants to take over the world"

"Hey, I've seen the Last Samurai. Maybe we should let them"

Banzai!!!!

[Adrian @ Oct 9th 2006 1:39AM]

the vga out only killed my interest.. how can they release a laptop wihtout a dvi connector theese days?

[Han-Wool @ Mar 11th 2007 8:10PM]

I have seen c series @ US sony website and they don't sell any of c series with built-in nvidia 7400 but only intel 950. The c series just isn't meant to play games much like macbook and I have sz220 which I sometimes play oblivion iv elder scroll and it runs well. My friend have c series pink it's so hot awesome but because it runs on intel gm950 like macbook I consider those two as piece of shit

[Ismael @ May 12th 2007 4:59PM]

For god's sake, MS and Sony are tons better than the OSX bollocks..

My sister bought the black one and for such a versatile laptop, holy crap its amazing!

Regards,
Is

[cher @ Jun 26th 2007 6:32AM]

Where can i buy this laptop?? Can some one help me with a website were i can purchase this!
thanks