Vaio P with updated 1.6GHz Atom and 128GB SSD is still weak-sauce

Sony's finally throwing US consumers a bone by offering its VAIO P with a faster "1.6GHz Atom" processor we presume to be the Z530. Model VGN-P698E also adds a 128GB SSD to the mix along with a Verizon WWAN module and GPS radio. Problem is, the US Version doesn't have an XP option like the VAIO P in Japan let alone the 1.86GHz Atom Z540 option. That means you'll be stuck watching Vista Home Premium overwhelm that Atom processor and integrated GMA500 graphics when Windows 7 and those new Tegra-based smartbooks (running CE or Android) arrive in October. Come on, don't you want a glorified $1,500 netbook?

[Paradox @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:13AM]

WTF?? 1.500,00$????? And i tought that Apple was expensive...

[Fernando @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:18AM]

That's because you're brainwashed like the rest of the world.

[htowngator @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:24AM]

@Fernando

Apple overprices their products as well for the hardware, and quit being a homer about Mac OS.

[Kevin @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:55PM]

at least for $1500 with an apple laptop you'd get a core 2 duo :P

sony has a $4000 computer too, built into a large lcd, at least for that price with apple you'd get dual-nethelhelm based xeons, with the sony you'd get a simple core 2 quad

So sony is more apple than apple :P

[ash chapman @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:56AM]

Comparing the iPhone to this netbook? Why did you post?

Let's compare the xbox 360 to the Toyota Corolla.
Let's compare Pepsi to the Ginzu knife collection.

What's better, guys? Jogging or headphones?

[Kelmon @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:56AM]

@ManOfFewWords

Minor point but the Flash Player is a plug-in for browsers and therefore isn't considered part of any browser on any platform. We all secretly hope that it will go away and die so that this nonsense with plug-ins for functionality that should be part of the browser will disappear.

The problem with Flash for the iPhone is that Adobe are incompetent. Even Microsoft can produce Silverlight for the Mac platform that is about twice as efficient as Adobe Flash and it's hardly in their interest to make anything good on the Mac.

[Kizorblade @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:58AM]

@ash chapman

A banana is better, duh.

[p3ngwin @ Jun 22nd 2009 3:43PM]

Engadget seems to not know that the 1.8Ghz is NOT the limit for the rest of the world.....

the Vaio P with 2Ghz Atom CPU is available right now in Japan and other parts of the world:
http://www.geekstuff4u.com/sony-vaio-p91.html?SID=322fe790af35bdd8b90053ad922f0dc8

[BATMAN @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:14AM]

first off: FIRST

second: its not bad, its just the stupid $1500 price tag

plus making it tablet might justify that price

[BATMAN @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:15AM]

Damn, wasn't first -_-

[kal326 @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:57AM]

First off: Holy epic fail Batman!

Second: Even a touchscreen/tablet isn't going to come close to making this things price justifiable. Table PCs can be had for around $1000 and those have vastly greater specs minus the SSD which they Sony wouldn't really get much of a performance gain out of.

[phantomo.lui @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:17AM]

Does it make sense to get the MacBook Air Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz using the same amount of money?

[Fernando @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:20AM]

Depends on your needs. The Air will perform much better then this even with the same specs just because of Mac OS. But do you need to run Windows only apps all the time or are you going just doing the email, web thing?

[Kelmon @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:58AM]

How small do you need your computer would be another consideration. The Air is pretty small at 13" but nowhere near as small as the Vaio P, which you can (almost) fit in your pocket.

[Kizorblade @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:52PM]

The Air will perform better.. but it's a lot bigger.
So the question is..

Size
or
Performance?

[Markarian @ Jun 22nd 2009 3:52PM]

I use Vista Ultimate on my Aspire One with the N270 and 1.5GB of RAM and it works fine.

[Shiz @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:19AM]

Hey now, Sony said this was not a netbook!

I can buy the gaming Gateway laptop I have been drooling over for months with that money.

The first iteration was a no and this one is a HELL NO.

[OneLove @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:22AM]

...but its sangria red?

[Fernando @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:21AM]

Hey Sony lost Billions last year they gotta recoup that money somehow!

[M. @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:22AM]

seriously who would buy this thing for that price? I would rather pick up an Asus 1008ha or HP 2140 and drop in an SSD and would still be cheaper than this thing.

[htowngator @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:23AM]

Sony and Apple both overprice their stuff, but this is ridiculous.

[webran61 @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:14PM]

You speak true words there, sir.

Just never thought a PC company could make a Mac product look reasonable.

Macbook Air > Vaio P

[JZ @ Jun 23rd 2009 2:52AM]

Ofcourse the Air>Vaio P, everybody can figure out that the Air is way bigger and much more intimidating then an Vaio P... C´mon the Air is close to 3 times as heavy as the Vaio is and except for a bigger screen and better CPU runs pretty much the same hardware. Now... do you still keep bitching about the price? Lets then consider a 128GB SDD which runs over here already close to 900 USD on avarage which leaves about 600 USD for the rest of the netbook or whatever you want to call it. Tbh I dont consider it that much more expensive anymore.
Lastly sure.. you could get cheaper netbooks but you do realize that those seriously cheap netbooks have keyboards that small even an my GF with seriously small hands can´t type properly on it? With the Vaio P you also get a carbon casing and a proper screen i dont feel its such a bad deal. Also Sony isn´t targetting this at the low-end market but more at a secretary or people who got some money to throw at it. If this gets released I wouldn´t mind buying it as this is atleast a netbook I can work on and not to forget can switch the battery mid-flight.

[stellar @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:25AM]

The only weak-sauce around here are engadgets lame editors

[Aspartame @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:36AM]

Or maybe your grammar.

[stellar @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:11PM]

trust me, its the editors and the emo grammar trolls

[Aspartame @ Jun 22nd 2009 4:40PM]

LOL

Yeah, because grammar criticism is vastly inferior to editing criticism.

[dan2600 @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:27AM]

Retail Laptops (and computers in general) are much more expensive in Japan (I don't know why)...

Sony attempts to push these prices onto US pricing schemes.

They look silly and the only people who actually buy the "high" end Sony laptops are people who automatically associate performance/quality with price. (In other words they presume that the apple tax apply's for PCs as well)

ya can't put lipstick on a Eee (or something like that)

[narcszm @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:40AM]

When they put CULV in there, I'll buy it. Until then, I laugh at Sony for being so stupid.

[Jordan @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:36AM]

Well to me, I would think that this would be a good laptop if it wasn't so expensive. Looking at the specs of this, honestly, it has the same stuff that the Netbooks have. Upper level netbooks of course, but still a netbook that's 500 versus this that's 1500... I dunno...

And about the macbook thing, yes, if you want more power do the air. Obviously it has more horsepower under the hood, but I can jusify spending even that kind of money on something so flimsy... I really don't like the design. Thin is good, but too thin is breakable.

[glenn s @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:46AM]

$1500.00??? Massive fail ahead. Avert your eyes. Ooh, the carnage.

[Al @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:48AM]

You can get the Japanese version with XP, the 2.0ghz Atom cpu, and English keyboard for the same price or less(depending of config) at Conics(.com) straight from Japan. So, this is a rip man.

[Vic De Zen @ Jun 22nd 2009 2:13PM]

I'll admit, at first glance I was tempted to get this but after looking up the specs and reading reviews I decided against it. Even after this "upgrade" I don't think it's worth it. What on earth is Sony doing?

[The Souljourner @ Jun 22nd 2009 11:54AM]

Do I want it? Hell yeah. Do I want to pay for it? Hell no.

[Steve Jobs @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:01PM]

This thing sucks, an iphone 3Gs will do everything this thing can do and at a fraction of the cost at $199. . .screw you sony, apple rulez!

[RandyFD @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:15PM]

How's that new liver treating ya?

[Cory @ Jun 22nd 2009 5:08PM]

Last time I checked the iPhone wasn't $200. It was thousands of dollars after a few years on contract.

[Kelmon @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:00PM]

In fairness, if something like a 15" MBP is a suitable alternative to this device for you then I don't think you are who Sony is aiming this product at.

[chris @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:14PM]

ahhhh, the weaksauce, i love that term, not used enough, props for using the old school term!

[Steve Jobs @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:26PM]

Quite nicely Randy! Thanks for asking, I got it for really cheap in the black market to boot! The only problem is that it has made me more money hungry than ever! So I need all of you to go out and BUY APPLE! Gimme yo money!

Steve Jobs

[Rob @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:40PM]

OMG it's Steve!

Yes my master. I will give you more money then proceed to post on Engadget to defend the faith. Thank you for your generosity in providing mankind with the charity of making the Mac Book.

[omega @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:26PM]

Well a Viao P is neat, but whats with this thing being more expensive then a Macbook Air? At least that now has a kick ass video card. Sony, you used to be so cool, now your just blah.

[Robert Yesselman @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:39PM]

It should be remembered however, that Averatek turns out flimsy junk.

[sockatume @ Jun 22nd 2009 12:53PM]

Actually Intel released new drivers for the GMA500-containing chipsets that actually enables the hardware audio-video decoding. Even full-screen HD YouTube is silky smooth according to the chumps who actually bought one before it worked properly.

[Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jun 22nd 2009 1:32PM]

I got to try out the Vaio P in my local SonyStyle and the performance is pathetic. There was some stutter while loading up Youtube and just trying to play one game. My brother had the old game Heretic and Hexen on his flash drive he tried out on the Vaio P and the framerate was low, it ran worse than my desktop from 11 years ago! I really hope it was Vista and all the infamous Sony bloatware they put on.

It looks nice, I like the design, I was a fan of the original Vaio C1 Picturebook this comes from but the performance really needs to improve, fast.

[clicclic @ Jun 22nd 2009 1:41PM]

Have you haters seen/touched the damn thing? It's gorgeous. The engineering is A+

Apple better get busy cuz this Netbook fractal is growing...

[shinrajp @ Jun 22nd 2009 1:55PM]

Seriously, who would spend $1500 for a netbook. Last month I saw a guy wanted to buy the VAIO P in Fry's but the suttered due to the price. It's perfect for his pocket and presentation, but with that price he could buy 2 to three netbook or mac book air.

Sony, stop being so high class when your products aren't. Apple is overpriced but they do have better quality such as bettery life and core 2 duo baby. iPhone 3gs can almost replace VAIO P because it is a pocket computer running mac os X!

[dmax @ Jun 22nd 2009 2:11PM]

Paying a premium price for a lifestyle? Electronic gadgets doesn't make a wise investment, they depreciate very rapidly, and are almost obsolete after one year. You'd be better off buying a gold bar and hang it around your neck, you'd even get more attention without it depreciating.
This seems to be Sony's philosophy nowadays, they're starting to sell art instead of electronic gadgets, and think too highly of their products, design is important i agree, but other brands does that too and still, price their product reasonably.

[tonymrep @ Jun 22nd 2009 3:17PM]

Totally lame, but a few people will still buy it.

[Space Invader 9 @ Jun 22nd 2009 4:28PM]

A $500 computer for only $1500?!

Oh Sony, u so funny.

LOL at the dumbasses who actually buy this.