Sony Vaio T makes a comeback, and this time it's a CULV with major battery life

The previously phased out 11.1-inch Sony Vaio T has shown back up over at Sony Style Japan. The good news is that this time, it's a Windows 7 CULV on the inside, even if it looks the same on the outside. The new Vaio Ts come with processor options including a dual core 1.2GHz Celeron SU2300, a 1.4GHz dual core Core 2 Duo SU9400, or a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600, and they boast Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, plus 4GB or 8GB of RAM, an up to 512GB SSD or 500GBhard drive. There's also optional extras like Blu Ray, 802.11n WiFi, a fingerprint scanner, and digital TV tuner. The laptop's life is rated at about 11 hours when equipped with the standard battery, or 17 with the large capacity. So far, we've only seen these bad boys in Japan, where they're retailing for ¥129,800 (that's around $1400).

[lookseehear Posted Dec 31st 2009 8:45AM]

CULV does wonders for battery life it seems.

[aednichols Posted Jan 1st 2010 9:38PM]

@lookseehear

Too bad about it not doing wonders for performance.

[fokka Posted Jan 2nd 2010 11:20AM]

@aednichols

how good its enough for most people who want to do everydays stuff on a mobile pc

[alexmac9 Posted Dec 31st 2009 8:48AM]

OH NOES
I only just bought a TZ, and it ain't no 11 hour battery w/ ULV processor.

[Leindurstit Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:18AM]

Same here, just picked up a new TZ off Ebay. Haven't regretted the purchase yet, and paid a lot less, but damn would CULV and GMA4500 be nice right about now...

[YpoCaramel Posted Dec 31st 2009 8:49AM]

Aren't electronics a little more expensive in Japan? I wouldn't be surprised if these came out a bit above $1000 in the US.

Speaking of the US, the Vaio TT seems to have disappeared from the Sonystyle USA site... Probably not news, but the Vaio T must be close now.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 31st 2009 8:49AM]

Man slow night... These CULV n1.6 core 2 Duo TT93 were available from November. But I guess better late than never.

[sintricate Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:07AM]

$1000-$1400? No thanks!

[One Love Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:15PM]

@sintricate : WTF SOny?

[Skate It Dont Spray It Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:12AM]

"and they boast Intel GMA 4500MHD"
Not much to boast about, especially at that price tag.. a new rev Macbook/Pro for the same price?

[Skate It Dont Spray It Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:18AM]

@Skate It Dont Spray It
imho this is where netbooks should be with battery life.. although Id love for a quickboot Linux/Hackintosh netbook with 11hours battery life :3 This would be perfect... except that hackintosh users generally get them cause they cant afford a Mac, so for this price you'd want a real'un

[jon Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:35AM]

@Skate It Dont Spray It

I understand that you like Mac, but until they make a Pro with an 11" screen, an 11 hour battery, and optional Blu-ray, I fail to see how they are a valid comparison.

[DaveBrubeck Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:48AM]

@Skate It Dont Spray It

How is this even close to anything Apple offers? Is there a Mac equivalent I don't know about?

I tend to stay out of these discussions because they bring nothing but flames but I find it amusing how Sony is the PC thorn in the Mac fanbois' side when they claim that PCs lack style, thinness etc. so they go looking for a reason to disqualify them. Just admit it: a Vaio running 7 is an awesome machine, no need to get all defensive any time a Sony PC is mentioned.

[Skate It Dont Spray It Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:03AM]

@DaveBrubeck mac is best mac is best
Macintosh All Day
I AmmA FanboI
but really, i use Mac for my computing needs, Windows for my HTPC, Phone, Xbox; and linux if i need to troubleshoot :)

[YpoCaramel Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:17PM]

@Skate It Dont Spray It More portable and longer battery life. Apples and oranges. If you can get an MBA for a similar price maybe then we'd have a comparison, but then I doubt this will come out for $1400 in the USA. Maybe $1000-1200.

[Parias Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:30AM]

$1400.

...

LOLOL! Sure.

[MJGAMER 1991 XBL Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:10AM]

@Parias Maybe that includes the 512gb SSD and 8gb ram?

[Parias Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:23AM]

@Parias

Normally, the highest configurable price is not the one listed as a reference point. The lowest is.

[JW Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:18PM]

@Parias
Not long ago, the original TT was $2000-4500.

[poached Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:14PM]

@Parias I got an ASUS UL80VT for about $830 - no wait, $730 - with a $100 amazon gift card. It's got CULV, Geforce 210m graphics + 4500MHD, 320 GB, 4 GB Ram, 7, 8 cell battery. I could get easily 10 hours on battery saving mode using internal graphics, plus I can switch to the nvidia card to play borderland on low settings, and code in CUDA. ASUS also overclocked the CPU so it's peppy (runs at 1700 vs 1300). Sorry I just had to plug this product because I can't think of another CULV laptop with such capabilities.

[mcraft Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:45PM]

@poached

ul30vt! :)

[DaveBrubeck Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:35AM]

@cherryboom

What a joke. Most Vaios people think are plastic are actually carbon fiber. I have even seen some review sites refer to FW's magnesium alloy casing as plastic. Sony is way ahead of its time in the laptop field but it seems that if you don't have a glowing Apple on your back these days, you're going to get bad-mouthed by the Sony haters.

[Eraser Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:39AM]

overpriced common hardware... how typical of sony.

[clhs Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:44AM]

@cherryboom
Gosh, what an articulate and insightful critique.

[hfm Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:49AM]

@cherryboom agreed.. they pioneered the island style keyboard well before apple in their Vaio line.

[N900 Posted Dec 31st 2009 9:50AM]

@DaveBrubeck We're practically used to this troll splitting his panties all over the Engadget articles. This one takes the cake though.

@cherrydouche Is that opinion that you pulled fresh out of your ass? Do you even KNOW what an FW feels like? Yeah, I doubt you have any evidence to back your bull up, but hey, that's why we call 'em trolls.

[bluemajik Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:07AM]

CULV?

[Parias Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:29AM]

@bluemajik

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=culv

[bluemajik Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:34AM]

@Parias http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Dick

[Parias Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:03AM]

@bluemajik

Nice.

[Marc Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:09AM]

I've read that Sony tends to renew its lines at the beginning of every new year. Can anyone confirm that? I'm about to buy a new Vaio, but I don't mind if I have to wait one month in order to have a newer model.

[enoch Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:24AM]

17hrs is unheard of!
If or When this thing comes out in the US of A, I'm getting one!

[artshark Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:41AM]

too bad the SU9600 is kissing two grand. might as well buy a dual core atom netbook and a seperate full laptop or desktop. these CULVs are really cool but not all speedy enough to be an only machine, and they're quite pricey.
actually dell's 11v and vostro v13 [i guess all dells with v's rock] have it pretty good on the value. problem is, after seeing how unreliable my friends dell was, how can i buy one in good confidence?

[brokensticks Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:28AM]

@artshark I don't know about your friends' dell experience, but most everyone I know hashad a positive one, including myself (except for a harddrive crash, which really isnlt dell's fault).

[YpoCaramel Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:20PM]

@artshark I've have good Dells and bad Dells. I doubt the Precision/Latitude series is all that unreliable, businesses seem to like them enough, but no idea on the Vostro. You can squeeze an optical drive into this one too, which is really handy.

[nothing Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:44AM]

$1,400 for Intel GMA 4500.... rly? seriously?

[JW Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:17PM]

@(Unverified)
Dell Latitude Z has GMA for $1800. The size and the looks more than makes up for it.

[YpoCaramel Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:21PM]

@(Unverified) Do you really need a 9400M or more for this class of computer? Realistically how much time are you going to spend gaming on this thing?

[Leo11877 Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:52AM]

I think the author needs to change the title to say TT series instead of T series. The T series of laptops was the much older model with Pentium M Centrino chips.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=11038424#specifications

[pika2000 Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:10AM]

Looks good (hopefully all the colors will make it to the US). Engadget forgot one of the neat features here. The SSD option is actually 2 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration. Also, this thing have 2 drive bays, and can be equipped with the 500GB hard-drive/2 SSDs + optical drive, or the 500GB hard-drive AND the 2 SSDs. F*ck yeah!

[Sarig Posted Dec 31st 2009 11:41AM]

@pika2000

I can feel the money I don't have quivering in fear already.

[BluechipJ Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:11PM]

@pika2000

Awesome notebook and a worthy upgrade to my TZ.
1.06Ghz Core Solo & I do Photoshop on the road. 1.6Ghz Duo should be a great upgrade.

Can't wait to head south to the US & grab one (because in Canada, it'll be $200-$400 more expensive and not have all the options available).

[Peytral Posted Dec 31st 2009 1:19PM]

@pika2000
what this 11" laptop has 2 drive bays an a optical bay? holy sh*t... that's insane! I WANT

[jon Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:17PM]

@Peytral

Granted, they're 1.8" drives. Still, pretty sweet, and there's a reason these things used to sell for almost $5000.

[vinhl Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:15PM]

Nom nom nom. Sony > Apple for ultraportables

[Badison Posted Dec 31st 2009 3:50PM]

@vinhl

lol Does Apple even make ultraportables?

[BigTank2585 Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:42PM]

Take that Sony badge off and im pretty sure it will be under $700
Sony merch seems to be 30-40% higher price than others.

Put an apple on it and you have some very confused iFans...

[YpoCaramel Posted Dec 31st 2009 10:36PM]

@BigTank2585 Sony also seems to be quite innovative, or at least different. They didn't make generic netbooks or ultraportables until the W-series, and that model doesn't have the premium. The models with a premium price are quite exceptional - X is a unique 1.42ib Atom machine and P has its unique almost pocketable form factor. And so the is T a bit different: a 11" CULV with integrated optical drive and apparently dual HDDs.

[Cyrs Posted Dec 31st 2009 12:46PM]

Aww, more Intel graphics in a otherwise awesome laptop. I wish more laptop makers would take note from Asus's UL30vt laptop, and place switchable graphics in their CULV laptops. Cause while a Intel graphics setup does save energy, Intel graphics still suck. It's either that, or Nvidia needs to develop a new mobile GPU that can match an Intel GPU's energy efficiency, while being way more powerful (and no I don't mean Tegra or ION, has to be more robust than that).

Does anyone know when the new Arrandale CULVs are supposed be released? Last I heard it was Q4 09, and that seems obviously unlikely now, google is no help either?

[jon Posted Dec 31st 2009 2:09PM]

@Cyrs

You have googled poorly.

Arrandale launches next week at CES, systems should appear shortly after.