How would you change Sony's VAIO P?
By Darren Murph 
posted July 2nd 2010 9:43PM
posted July 2nd 2010 9:43PM
posted July 2nd 2010 9:43PM
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I've been watching the Sony Vaio P in the anxious hope that it will be the revolution in the netbook market. For the hefty $800-price-tag that it's been clinging to for the last few revisions there needs to be some pretty gross revisions. The processor speed needs a ride up into the next full digit, 2.0+, double the memory to 4GB RAM, allow the option of SATA over SSD and definitely provide good support for HD video with HDMI.
I'm surprised someone hasn't bought one and suped it up to a Core 2 Duo.
@fshussain C2D are different slots then Atoms.
Almost forgot:
24) Bigger battery for longer battery life
25) Solar panels along screen bezel & the back of the screen (front side)
26) Give it nVidia chipsets
I've been using the VGN-P15G for over a year now as my primary system. It gets the work done, but a faster processor would make all the difference.
As usual, take off the bloatware.
I would ditch Win7, Put in the latest Android, Touchscreen, lower the price by around 100-200 dollars.
Overpriced garbage.
@jmaine
wait, it is, or it should be?
how would i change it? I'd swap it for a mac
Just call it magical and say we reinvented the already reinvented computing.
rename it Vin and market it as the Kin for adults who have money to throw away.
@xrs10
then bin it after extensive research
Definitely the price!!!
Touchscreen, make it a rotatable tablet.
Touch Screen, rotatable tabelt and a fast gyroscope and accelometer so it always rotates to the way its being held.
I own one of these babies and there is an aspect to it that nobody has mentioned yet. This is the smallest form-factor PC on which you can actually get some work done. A normal netbook is not something I would carry with me all the time like a phone, for example, whereas this unit, (from my perspective at least) crossed the line where I just put it in my bag... just in case.... I can download my mail, do some light office work, do online banking etc. literally on the go.
@sedohunta
So true... I bring mine on every single flight I've taken since I bought it, while I almost never did that with my old MacBook. Also, I used to work on things during lunch at the office. Great form factor.
@letoast
You actually get work done on this?
Just to be clear : how old are you ? how are your hands and your eyes ?
Because you probably could sue your employer for making you work on this!
I mean it it's cruel.
@letoast I don't see how doing work during lunch at work could be considered a pro.
@Flix C
I'm 30 years old, fairly slim and not too tall... that I don't have fat fingers. I am mildly nearsighted, and don't wear glasses while using the P.
In regard to what I said about working on things during lunch, I'm not talking about job work... I'm talking about personal projects.
There's no reason to buy it at this price point, for this money you could get an alienware m11x.
Make it cheaper and make the battery life like three times higher !
I mean 2h15 of video playback @ 65% brightness.
yuck !
That's the battery life of my 5 years old compaq sub 600$ 15inches notebook!
This is supposed to be UBER MOBILE ! How can it be mobile with less than 3 hours of battery life.
Also it lacks the Apple logo on the back.
I mean it's trying to be hype, WAYYY overpriced, and it lacks basic features and try to compensate with pseudo coolness...
wtf Sony ? didn't you understand Apple sells thanks to its brands not thanks to the defaults of their products ?
Make it a ThinkPad & lose the name
It could not play Hulu smoothly in the store. Definitely should be faster.
Sony probably makes this for the Japanese market as they always have, they've always put a premium on portability and style. Bringing it to the US is probably just an afterthought, like a, why not?
it's pretty, but the track point is ANNOYING.
also, knock a few hundred bucks off the price!
Lower the price and get rid of the chiclet keys.
My first laptop was a Sony Vaio
Second laptop MacBook
Why does everyone feel they have to copy Apple???
@StarrsNana I may be wrong, but I think Sony implemented the chicket keyboard before the MBPros
@productdesigner
I see... well I guess I was going by the fact that when I purchased my Vaio in 2003, it did not have the chiclet keys, I’m afraid that I didn't notice if any other of the models did. When it was time to purchase another laptop I wanted another Vaio and could not find a model that did not have the chiclet keyboard. So, I figured I may as well try a Mac since it was cheaper than the Vaio model I wanted to get.
By all of the keys being at the same level, the error rate for the "baby" finger missing a letter is very real. Also, I am a typist (have been for 34 years) and I prefer the fell of a tactile keyboard.
I now have a MacBook (which I love), but without fail whenever I type a document, I find that some of the words will be missing a letter that should have been typed with my baby finger (maybe they are too short?)
I kind of have a running joke in my head that whenever I read something online, and a letter is missing from a word (what happened to proof-reading?), that the typist is probably using a chiclet keyboard).
I suppose that if a person learned how to type (or hunt-n-peck) on this kind of keyboard, then it probably doesn't bother them. I just wish there was a choice within the brands, most of them seem to become converts (one exception I’ve noticed is Lenovo).
I'd really like to filter out all comments from people who do not OWN this machine. My wife got one last February after we went out and physically tried every netbook available. They were all too big for her bag -- the P was perfect and shows every sign of having been designed for women. She loves everything but the trackpoint. She ESPECIALLY loves the keyboard, and I agree it's far and away the best keyboard I've tried on anything close to that size. We both like the screen a lot, but would prefer something with a wider viewing angle.
IMPROVEMENTS:
Keep form factor, of course -- women, not men, will understand
Fit a trackpad on it somehow
Increase main processor and graphics speed; dual core atom and ion like the Asus 1201N would be ideal
Widen the viewing angle
Lower price would be nice, but not necessary if all the above were done
I realize that most of is is not technologically possible, but this is a wish list, right? Unfortunately, if it stays as slow as it is and still costs as much as a fully loaded iPad, it's probably doomed. Too bad. But the form factor will resurface -- it's really useful.
I think it's too danged slow, but she's okay with it.
add a touch screen anybody? This thing is begging for it.
Though, it is rather impossible, put in a Core i7, (at the very least i3).
I think the P should have double Atom CPU or something if that's even possible.
Ok. About screen size / resolution - in most applications you can zoom in as much as you like. I can make the letters in Word just as large as on my 15.6 notebook if I want and still see a full line of text and the same applies to web browsers. Keyboard - probably one of the best in the netbook world and I can type pretty fast on albeit mostly with 3 fingers only. Speed - I only have the 1.33 atom and with XP and Firefox on a RAM disk and I have zero problems with its speed for what I use it. (It plays HD movies without any problems) Oh and I bought it second-hand for 430 dollars in pristine condition. Battery life - could be better, but I am still waiting for a good bargain on an extended battery and that will give me close to six hours of web browsing.
Oh and my wishes:
- better battery life
- more standard resolution, I actually think this resolution is overkill for this size
- better video card (for light gaming)
- less wide bezel on the sides
- webcam in the middle or tweak the optics
- speed is fine (this is not supposed to be your number 1 machine)
It's a kool netbook, with a interesting form factor. Personally, I like it. Unfornately, however, is the $800+ pricetag. This machine just isn't worth it. Only apple can [sort of] pull off the overpriced hardware thing.
OLED Display
An SSD
Nvida Optimus and CUDA support
4 USB 3 Ports
N draft wifi, and Bluetooth 2.1 ERD
Dual Freeview HD with PVR
VHF/FM/AM and DAB built in
HDMI 1.3c in and out.
Component in and out
No seriously I could carry on...
(Im using the VAIO VGX-XL 302 to burn my BD J1.1 .ISO's = PS3 Emulators Disc with ROMs, Its about the 5th VAIO Ive had. SONY dont make a better PC than the VAIO VGX-XL 302, its only £2999.99)
On the VAIO site have the latest drivers avaliable so you dont have to trawl Japan and Americas VAIO sites to get the latest drivers.
I bought the one last year and I love it. Sony should put a Bluetooth 3.0 and a built in a HD cam. I'm good then.
Way to expensive.
NOT BAD~
Cut the price to $300 or less. Then it's a netbook with a sensible form factor-most notably a TrackPoint instead of one of those bloody useless midget trackpads with almost no usable space and a tendency to screw things up when one's palms brush the corners while typing.
Seriously, why did all those netbook makers think that was a good idea? Heck, even full-sized notebooks have irritating trackpads, with the sole exception of Apple.
I would also normally mention something about having a Wacom pen digitizer and a swivel screen, but that screen's aspect ratio is way too skewed and small for convertible tablet use. Current widescreen tablets are already too narrow in portrait orientation as is-768 horizontal pixels just does not cut it, let alone anything less.
I have the first model, one of the very first revisions with the crappy Atom 1.33GHz... Man that's crap! And the Intel GMA500? Are you kidding me? This piece of overpriced hardware that I bought my wife just for the looks and size, needs to redesign in the inside so badly! Just saying... I'd throw in an ULV or at least the dual core Atoms and a decent graphic chip, let it be a better GMA or nVidia's 9400M. This very pretty laptop needs it like salt... :o( I'm really satisfied with the design and build quality, but that doesn't make this subnote/netbook any better, does it... ? :o)
screen should fit the body size 21:9. current one has space left off at the edges horizontally. for some small camera.
use touch screen
make it thinner and compact.
SSD
carbon fiber body
@denisvergis
add to this put a better processor a dual atom maybe a graphic chip reduce the price by 300 dollar and its gr8 to go.
Multi touch display with very thin frame (ie: viewable/touchable screen covering 99% of the lid surface) + 10 hours battery life with wifi on.
Make it play 720p and have at least 10hours Battery Life for Video playback. Then I don't care what the price is.
Update Graphics card (DMA500). It's awful.
i bought one from play.com it was a60gb version as soon as i booted it up it only had 29gb to play with...... so i sent it back..... it was too thick, the mouse was awful, took me back to the days of the thinkpad.... it should have been touchscreen........it could be the nuts
Yes! A touch screen, wi-fi, a book reader app and every other app available. The nuts, indeed.
I would make the battery last longer, the other vaio models http://sonyvaiopink.com are great too