Sony's 12.1-inch VAIO G bunged with SSD

The ultimate in ultra-portable lust just reached a whole new level of sexy. Sony's VAIO G1 is now available with a 32GB Solid State Disk option. That's right; silent, durable, lickity-quick SSD making this the world's lightest 12.1-inch laptop at just 1.89-pounds. Hell, it even extends the standard 6-hour battery an additional 30 minutes or 12.5-hours off its fat, extended-use cousin. Of course, the SSD will cost ya: a ¥65,000 (about $545) price premium over the staid, 40GB hard disk option. But damn, it's tempting.

[Via Impress]

[Joe Smith @ Apr 10th 2007 7:47AM]

Hey! That's not that expensive considering it's an SSD.

[Ed @ Apr 10th 2007 7:48AM]

Even though I hate $ony and would never buy products from them I have to say is, "WOW"! Hope HP comes out with this option soon.

[Andreas @ Apr 10th 2007 7:49AM]

Wow! At last someone took the first step!
Finally! Wohoo :) Important day... The race is on.

[akintz @ Apr 10th 2007 8:07AM]

Joe: You did notice that the $545 is just the price for the SSD option, right? Not the whole laptop?

But under 2lbs... and 6.5 hrs of battery? Holy crap...

[Zadillo @ Apr 10th 2007 8:16AM]

As cool as this is, I am still curious why we don't see more than a half hour increase in battery life from an SSD disk compared to a hard drive. It makes me wonder if the cost and significantly smaller storage space is worth it.

Or I guess maybe the primary purpose is the faster data access than a hard drive.

[muaddib420 @ Apr 10th 2007 8:35AM]

Zadillo:

it's a first step. the costs are only going to go down. i'm actually suprised it's this "cheap" of a premium. this has all kinds of practical benefits besides decreased energy usage. less moving parts means less chance of mechanical failure. military and industrial uses are enhanced. seek times much less.

but one problem i see is data retrieval in case of failure would be tricky if not impossible.

[SL @ Apr 10th 2007 8:43AM]

did you also know that this computer comes with Core Solo? it's a ripoff. Sony keeps wishing they can screw consumers because they are Sony. That day has long passed.

[Zadillo @ Apr 10th 2007 10:43AM]

Are you kidding? Have you seen what the actual dimensions and weight of this laptop are? It's not going to have a full Core 2 Duo processor in it; it doesn't have anything to do with screwing anyone over. This is a sub-2-pound notebook after all.

[Mike @ Apr 10th 2007 9:13AM]

AWESOME!

I don't care about their rep I love Sony and this is a great move I would pay the SSD premium just for the luxury of avoiding a damaged HD due to vibrations/shock from mobile use...

[steve-o @ Apr 10th 2007 10:11AM]

Maybe it's just me, but it freaks me out when people call electronic devices 'sexy.'

[Jon Kelly @ Apr 10th 2007 11:53AM]

"Bunged" ???

[Naveed @ Apr 10th 2007 12:01PM]

never got into this laptop, i much prefer widescreen, and a core 2 duo is a must, hopefully theyll put the new C2d ULV processros in it.

[Naveed @ Apr 10th 2007 12:14PM]

oh and 32 gigabytes is so small to run a computer off of. you might be able to survive if youre a strict business user though

[TheCash @ Apr 10th 2007 4:12PM]

What the hell does 'bunged' mean?

When you Engadgeters finish snogging the ye old english arse, how about you get back to speaking english? Is this blog based in NYC or London? Figure it out, thnx.

[the vette makes them wet @ Apr 10th 2007 6:24PM]

engadget regularly uses weird or just wrong terminology.

they often use 'drop' to mean 'release'. Sony 'dropped' laptop xyz. Drop usually means to withdraw from product offerings.

[shimman @ Apr 10th 2007 7:51PM]

the drive is better be the fast samsung sl-flash based ssd as extra sony is charging

[_V3ndetta_ @ Apr 19th 2007 3:09PM]

Ahh,Sony continues to dominate the Ultra-Portables. And moving in to dominate the desktop replacements?? (Sony VAIO VGN-AR series.)