Sony VAIO M and its Atom N450 heart get unboxed

Sony's successor to the VAIO W netbook made its debut a little prematurely earlier this month, which has now been followed by its first unboxing and preview. Encased in an appealing matte black plastic, the VAIO M is set for an April launch in the UK at the very reasonable £300 ($456) price point. Unfortunately, the drop in price also means a lower-res 1024 x 600 display, while the W's chiclet keyboard has also been replaced with a more conventional typing surface. With 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 250GB storage drive, Sony seems to be giving us the bare minimum here, but that's alright with us -- let's just make sure this thing actually has a battery that lasts, shall we Sony?

[xsacha Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:12AM]

I wouldn't mind getting an Atom netbook if they could last more than 5 hours. Unfortunately manufacturers seem to throw in a 3-cell battery and make it last as long as my 11" core2duo laptop lasts (just 5 hours). What's the point?

[xsacha Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:14AM]

@xsacha
By the way my 11" has a smaller bezel, so it ends up being the same physical size as this. Also a 6-cell battery isn't that heavy - only weighs 1.3KG altogether.
Why oh why did they give up on the chiclet keyboard on this?

[benny90 Posted Mar 15th 2010 8:23AM]

@xsacha cause they are cheap a$$es, its sony after all.

[emopoops Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:13AM]

sony should have stuck to the same keys they used in the p series. those keys are aweful.

[BOGRASH Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:44AM]

fugly, late, weak, ill-conceived entry into an overcrowded market. this will sink without trace

[Pickaxe Posted Mar 15th 2010 7:53AM]

@BOGRASH Sums up my thoughts nicely.

[benny90 Posted Mar 15th 2010 8:21AM]

Seriously, Sony absolutely sucks now...

They have totally lost all of their mojo they used to have.

[XRX Posted Mar 15th 2010 12:53PM]

@benny90

Sony's Z series Vs ?...........what do you say...........

[tamayoduck Posted Mar 15th 2010 9:38AM]

Someone tell me how this is signifcantly different from my 1.5 year old EeePC 1000H. Other than the slightly newer processor and slightly bigger HDD... this is the same thing. It's almost Q2 2010, Sony!

[RKN Posted Mar 16th 2010 12:57PM]

F that, I'll rather get a $400 Acer 1410.