Sony announces 'division two' series of VAIO laptops built by other manufacturers
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 15th 2010 4:37PM
posted April 15th 2010 4:37PM
Well, here's a bit of a surprise. In an interview with PC Pro, the deputy president of Sony's VAIO Business Group, Ryosuke Akahane, has revealed that the company will soon be effectively splitting its laptop business into two distinct groups. The first, called "division one," will continue with laptops designed and built by Sony as before, but the second, or "division two," will rely on laptops built by other manufacturers. Those behind-the-scenes changes may not be readily apparent to consumers, however, as the so-called division two laptops will still carry the VAIO name, and will apparently have the same "taste of VAIO" and "style of VAIO," with Sony naturally first approving all third-party designs. Presumably, this will also lead to some less expensive VAIO laptops, although Akahane was quick to point out that it's not following the Dell model with different brands at different price points, saying instead that a new brand is "not efficient," and that it wants to "enhance the identity of VAIO more and more."
I'm confused. So will these division have a clear seperation from each other?
Or are you forced to buy a Vaio laptop without knowing whether it is made by Sony or some third party?
@(Unverified)
Probably be something like HP -> Compaq.
@(Unverified)
Sony Vaio's are the MAC's of PC's. They are more expensive for no reason aside for being shiny and has a sony logo. Vaio's are more expensive than any other computers that has exactly the same specs
@staticjethro
clearly you have no idea about computers. there's lots reasons for vaios to be expensive, especially for the high end series
and macs are not superior to PCs, they are just different things
@staticjethro
You couldn't be more wrong. Some Vaios are slightly more expensive than they should be (like the netbook line), but others push the envelope with design and usability.
Just take a look at the Vaio P and Vaio Z series. Nobody else has laptops even close to touching those.
@(Unverified)
Woww you completely missed his analogy.. he said nothing about superiority.
@(Unverified)
Well enough of that irrelevant Mac/Vaio talk...
I'm curious if it's a relationship like HP->Compaq, then should it even have a Vaio label. Assuming the third-party-built laptops will have a higher failure rate and overall "cheap", it could hurt Vaio-brand's reputation.
@Unverified User
This is a well planned strategy by Sony, Sell two diff lines of Vaios, One by Sony, one by cheap labor on China, Both with Vaio name, over time slowly blur the line between the two, then viola, more profit, because eventually they'll all be made cheaply and carry the Vaio name.
@(Unverified) I disagree, I recently bought a sony via laptop and had to return it because the build quality was so poor. The fans made a loud noise and there was a strange buzzing sound from the sound card that would sometimes go away by changing the some mixer settings (some times it wouldn't). I ended up getting a Dell Studio XPS 16 and the quality is much better on it.
@nobled
To be fair, all laptops have to fail at one point. Sony does carry a high reputation for their laptops, and you may have been just unlucky. What is important is how often the laptop is faulty.
And in this case, the probability of a Vaio laptop dying on you would probably increase from this division.
@Outsider
True, but after spending a few days searching online and trying to fix the sony before returning it, I found that it was a known issue with the current core i7 F series laptops.
@(Unverified)
I'm confused too and I don't think this move makes any sense... Why would third party companies submit designs for Sony? Also, this can make the Vaio brand diluted...
@pk Pontiac vs. Chevrolet
@(Unverified) You just ask the sale associate where is it made at. Made in Japan is made from sony (DaBest). Made in China (not DaBest) is a sony third party or their more economical sony factory. Azn people ask this all the time at best buy.
@Vaio Actually your Vaio F is still made in China, but shipped without CTO parts (RAM, HDD, ODD, Wifi, battery, etc). The barebone machines got shipped to CA in bulks and that's where Sony puts in these user replaceable parts according to your CTO orders. Because the machines are shipped here as non-functional parts, they can be labeled as Made in USA.
@Mikeserena Except they already make VAIOs in China, this is about totally outsourcing the laptop production and design (with Sony approval) to a 3rd party company probably for cost reasons since those companies have much better economies of scale vs Sony.
I'm confused. So will these division have a clear seperation from each other?
Or are you forced to buy a Vaio laptop without knowing whether it is made by Sony or some third party?
@(Unverified)
Damn ittttttttttttttttttttttttttttt. Low rank this one D:
@(Unverified)
I hope not.
IBM -> Lenovo?
I can't remember the last time I saw a SONY VAIO. It seems like Apple MacBook has replaced that niche experience a few years ago.
@Pratt221
You would if you left your art school more often.
@Sogeking Lol, I study Classical philosophy at the Catholic University of America. Anyways, I was just commenting on the capitalization that Mac has made in the Laptop industry and how they have seemed to fill the niche that Vaio has been tailored to. I prefer my Windows 7 Asus any day over a Mac, but I do think Apple has put out a superior product in that niche.
@Pratt221
Perhaps.
But does anyone need a premium machine if all they need to do it writing and websurfing?
"enhance the identity of VAIO more and more."
so even more expensive VAIOs....
"enhance the identity of VAIO more and more."
Please lower the price of REAL VAIOs MORE and MORE.
Yeah, I'm gonna side with Division One, just to be safe.
Yup
I don't really understand the point of this. Or the implication for the consumer...
Well, there goes the good build quality of Vaios.....
Whats the point? Sony get their OS from Microsoft anyway. Question is, is the VAIO brand so lusted after that other OEMs will get into bed with them just to have it on their hardware?
Div 2 = cheap version
Sony laptops have always been made by other manufacturers.
There's a few giant Taiwanese ODMs (Quanta, Compal, Wistron etc) and they make every freakin laptop on the market. Its not like Mr Sony has been sitting at a production line making Vaio's.
@voodoo Exactly. Things like the W series is obviously a rebadged of a generic netbook used by everybody else.
@voodoo WRONG. Those ODMs only build the PCs, putting pieces together. All the design - including motherboard and circuits - are done by Sony in Japan.
@d3bing
Both the article and my comment are referring to the actual manufacture of the laptops, not the design. Hence terms such as 'built', 'make' etc
So you have missed the point entirely.
@voodoo VAIO Z is made in Japan, even the motherboard is manufactured by Sony in Nagano TEC (Japan).
@voodoo
I highly doubt that taiwan still put parts together, its mostly contracted to Taiwanese firms (FOXCONN for example) and they outsources the labor to china. Taiwanese nowadays do have the technology to design their own products, HTC anyone?
oh yeh, sony designs shitty phones.
@voodoo
dude, you missed the point entirely. The article is stating the Sony will start to give the built - meaning designing the PC (not talking about looks, but motherboard, circuits, engineering) - to other manufacturers like the huge ODMs, instead of building the PCs and just giving to them to "put together".
If they were referring to just "making" (putting together the PC), then as you stated, there is nothing new - read it carefully. This is a huge change for them.
And as Endeavour1934 said, they also still have a factory in Japan which produces VAIO Z, P and X series...
So basically we will be able to buy a netbook Vaio that doesn't cost $600? I can live with that. I say they should let ASUS design the Vaio's. They're fairly similar and ASUS is the king of cheap and well designed notebooks.
@Biotite
ASUS screens are horrible. Sony's screens are incredible.
@JakeInDC
Well firstly I'm not sure whether this is right source or not....please down rank me if this information is wrong.
In case if you don't know or not, I seems heard from somewhere that ASUS is actually ODM of some Apple Mac laptops.
I don't get what's so special about Vaios, overpriced as another platform I know but for no reason in the Vaios case. I don't get how they justify the price, is it just for the style?
@Plazmic Flame
How are they overpriced? My Vaio F1190X had a base price of $999, that is including a core i7 quad. The only real expensive ones are the high end Signature Collection.
@Plazmic Flame Some Vaios may be "overpriced," but Sony is one of the few companies that still care about battery life and design, at least on their premium lineup. All other companies are just pushing more generic cheap plastic laptops with crappy battery life. You get what you pay for.
Everyone in the industry is doing that, the more expensive version are build inhouse to insure for the quality control, while the cheaper version are made by taiwanese oem. Lenovo does that with their Ideapad.
Keepin' it real fake with Sony's seal of approval.
This is truly wtf....
So they are essentially licensing their case "design"?
@Ben64
Umm no, they're opening the sketchbooks to other companies to produce designs and products but retain approval restrictions.
@Ben64
They're licensing the name and logo of VAIO