Sony hangs ten with Billabong, pops out gnarly special edition VAIO W netbook

Sony's never been one to craft a "low-cost laptop," and even the company's minuscule VAIO W netbook remains one of the most expensive in the sector. But this, friends, might just be one worth the premium. Announced over in Australia, the limited edition VAIO W you're peering at above has been designed in partnership with Billabong, and the Imperial Lime lid is certainly the primary selling point. Expected to ship Down Under next month, the 10.1-inch machine will be outfitted with a 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, Windows 7 Starter and a GPU that's incapable of handling 1080p material. You'll also find an Ethernet jack, a pair of USB 2.0 sockets, built-in webcam and a 250GB hard drive, but none of those ho hum specs help to justify the AU$749 ($619) price tag. The lid, on the other hand...

[2her0ck Posted May 24th 2010 7:34AM]

i want one!!!

[IceTheGreat Posted May 24th 2010 8:58AM]

@2her0ck give me a 4 buckets of color, and a paintbrush. I'll sell them for $999, get em while they're hot!

[BKKKevin Posted May 24th 2010 9:59AM]

@IceTheGreat That's too much work - Just dip it in the Gulf of Mexico...

[zweihander Posted May 24th 2010 1:21PM]

@BKKKevin i was thinking this was the "oil spill edition" if you squint just right it looks like the windows bliss desktop with oil spilling down the screen.

[snowrid3r Posted May 24th 2010 4:16PM]

@IceTheGreat

theres obviously 5 colors

[tobsmonster2 Posted May 24th 2010 7:38AM]

The lookssay yes but the price makes me sad face :(

[xifranx Posted May 24th 2010 7:39AM]

this is pretty sweet

[XRX Posted May 24th 2010 7:40AM]

Vaio W has the best built quality ................. among all the other netbooks.

[BlackCloudz Posted May 24th 2010 7:41AM]

I look at that and see oil spill.... Bad timing...

[Mike Vick Posted May 24th 2010 7:52AM]

A bit too pricey.

[thr Posted May 24th 2010 7:58AM]

Gnarly?

I don't understand what's happening here.

[jubjub Posted May 24th 2010 8:11AM]

If MS released something like this (perhaps in a mouse form), it's for the KIN generation, but it's not, so it's cool, right?

[Jashue Posted May 24th 2010 8:37AM]

Pure. Cheese.

[bigcow05 Posted May 24th 2010 8:41AM]

"Theme" laptops look so cheesy, imo.

[HikaKao Posted May 24th 2010 8:48AM]

God I love the design.

[bgphoenix Posted May 24th 2010 8:56AM]

Now d W will stand for (color) water spill :)
and it'll b hard to tell when u actually spill ne liquid on this thing...

[FAP FAP FAP Posted May 24th 2010 9:10AM]

1080p & HDMI and you have a deal.

[Rastan Posted May 24th 2010 9:23AM]

Should have had the words Billabong Since 1973 scribed over the front of it.

[Extinction Posted May 24th 2010 9:41AM]

normally im against all the irrational sony bashing this site does but thats the first design thats ever made me cringe

[jonyah Posted May 24th 2010 9:49AM]

If they an put that res in a 10", why can't I get 1440x900 in a 13" (except for lenovo's x301).

[bigcow05 Posted May 24th 2010 10:29AM]

@jonyah

You can get 1440x900 on a 12" as well (x201)

[BKKKevin Posted May 24th 2010 9:58AM]

Looks like a Vaio BP...

[nickicks619 Posted May 24th 2010 10:45AM]

I finally convinced myself to make an acc to comment on this thing.. cool dude! I want one. I love it. (the design) Im still getting a MacBook Pro tho. BUT THIS WOULD BE PERFECT FOR MY MOM! NO JOKE! (you can laugh but my mom's not the techie kind, she's gonna love how it looks & they have like a windows based os on her job.. so yeah) :| then again.. In the place I live, People would drool over this!

[nickicks619 Posted May 24th 2010 10:48AM]

I finally forced myself to make an acc to comment on this. I LOVE IT! I'm still getting an MBP tho. BUT THIS IS PERFECT FOR MY MOM! (yeah, funny.. laugh all you want lol but my mom's not really the techie kind & she could use this for her job.. It's small, portable, etc & she'd love the design!) From where I live, people would drool over this! =D

[zath Posted May 24th 2010 1:06PM]

This paint job would look great on a wooden surface, I hope Asus would consider this for their bamboo series!

[TacticalTimbo Posted May 24th 2010 1:30PM]

I dig the idea of a Billabong branded design on a HP laptop but seriously that design looks terrible, surely they could have done better!?