Vaio P with updated 1.6GHz Atom and 128GB SSD is still weak-sauce
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 22nd 2009 11:10AM
posted Jun 22nd 2009 11:10AM
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
WTF?? 1.500,00$????? And i tought that Apple was expensive...
That's because you're brainwashed like the rest of the world.
@Fernando
Apple overprices their products as well for the hardware, and quit being a homer about Mac OS.
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
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?
@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.
@ash chapman
A banana is better, duh.
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
first off: FIRST
second: its not bad, its just the stupid $1500 price tag
plus making it tablet might justify that price
Damn, wasn't first -_-
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.
Does it make sense to get the MacBook Air Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz using the same amount of money?
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?
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.
The Air will perform better.. but it's a lot bigger.
So the question is..
Size
or
Performance?
I use Vista Ultimate on my Aspire One with the N270 and 1.5GB of RAM and it works fine.
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.
...but its sangria red?
Hey Sony lost Billions last year they gotta recoup that money somehow!
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.
Sony and Apple both overprice their stuff, but this is ridiculous.
You speak true words there, sir.
Just never thought a PC company could make a Mac product look reasonable.
Macbook Air > Vaio P
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.
The only weak-sauce around here are engadgets lame editors
Or maybe your grammar.
trust me, its the editors and the emo grammar trolls
LOL
Yeah, because grammar criticism is vastly inferior to editing criticism.
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)
When they put CULV in there, I'll buy it. Until then, I laugh at Sony for being so stupid.
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.
$1500.00??? Massive fail ahead. Avert your eyes. Ooh, the carnage.
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.
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?
Do I want it? Hell yeah. Do I want to pay for it? Hell no.
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!
How's that new liver treating ya?
Last time I checked the iPhone wasn't $200. It was thousands of dollars after a few years on contract.
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.
ahhhh, the weaksauce, i love that term, not used enough, props for using the old school term!
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
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.
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.
It should be remembered however, that Averatek turns out flimsy junk.
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.
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.
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...
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!
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.
Totally lame, but a few people will still buy it.
A $500 computer for only $1500?!
Oh Sony, u so funny.
LOL at the dumbasses who actually buy this.
I actually own and somewhat enjoy a Vaio P, in the red color, with a non-SSD regular ol' HDD. Using it right now to view Engadget, actually. It's not the best machine in the world, but I chose it over the competition for what I feel are the right reasons, and I've been happy with my purchase.
I didn't pay $1500... to get the base model with the traditional HDD, it was $899 at launch. My other machines at the time were a 15 inch MacBook Pro (Early 2008) and a 14 inch HP Artist edition. I sold the HP for $700, got the Sony, and did so for the following reasons:
- I didn't need two full-size laptops. The HP was beautiful and really did a great job with media and ran most games OK with its 8400 graphics chip and 2GHz core 2 duo, but I always found myself using my MBP almost all the time once the newness of the HP wore off. I was planning on moving to Japan, and still may, and the Vaio would be much better to take to and from work every day than the MacBook. It's light, sleek, super portable, and would work for the tasks I'd need it for there.
- The keyboard is actually a usable size for my somewhat large hands. It's not as nice as a full size one, but it's a lot better than those on the Aspire One, the Eee, and the Wind... I tried a lot of them before choosing a netbook, and liked the HP mini and the Vaio P the best in this area.
- The 1600x800 display is really nice, and was the reason I chose this one over the HP. It's a weird resolution, but being able to view most pages at full width and have plenty of room on the rest of the screen of an OpenOffice window is really a blessing. Text is small but unbelievably crisp. My vision is fine so for me it's not a problem, but some friends have used it and complained about the small size.
So for me, the tiny size, the great keyboard, and the hi-res display differentiated the Vaio P from the rest of the tiny computer crowd, and I like them all enough to make a purchase decision over them. I am a little unhappy with how sluggish it can be, but it's been tested with Windows 7 which resolves that problem very well, and is something I'll upgrade to when it finally launches for real. I believe it's overpriced, but for me it fills a need nicely and is a machine I use regularly when I just have light surfing or retro gaming to do. Say what you will, but as someone that bought one I don't feel like "an idiot" for buying one at all....but on the same token I am not 100% satisfied...about 85% is probably more accurate.
Us fashionistas understand just fine why you'd want a laptop this small and slick.
i think it looks awesome... if only it performed as well as it looked
Although this product is stupid, and however much I hate the Atom CPU, it is far faster than the ARM11 cores in the Tegra.
Sony is missing out - unique design, weak performance, wildly overpriced. Just two out of three right would have made this a big hit...
Just bought one of these at work (paid $899), and even the IT guys "wowed" when they opened it. It is so tiny, the box is actually smaller than the box my wireless mouse came in.
For those comparing it to netbooks, HP's website gave dimensions of 10.3 in (L) x 6.77 in (W) x 1.04-1.29 in (H). The Vaio P is 9.0 x 4.75 x 0.75 - significantly smaller than most netbooks on the market. You'd have to buy an OQO to get smaller full-function Microsoft OS (and OQO is bankrupt and stopped production).
But honestly, Sony is not selling this to "Soccer Mom wants to send emails." They are selling this to "I want to show off when I am sitting in first class." You always pay for miniaturization and status (which all you Mac lovers should certainly understand). This product is perceived to give both.
Wow, and I thought the current trend of netbooks (larger and increasing prices) is bad enough, Sony as usual took the cake. I think with the ways things are going, Apple could announce an expensive netbook, price it lower than Sony, and still advertise it being "cheaper." LOL.