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Sony's VAIO W Billabong hits US shores June 11th, $500 buys you a ride
Remember the boardshort-inspired VAIO W Billabong netbook that surfaced in Australia last week? The limited edition lappy's headed stateside, too, and its Imperial Lime lid and faster 1.83GHz Atom N470 CPU will only cost you $50 more than the stock model. Mind you, this is otherwise the same pricy VAIO W that wasn't worth five Benjamins last fall, but if you're the type that dreams of barreling down a tunnel of deep blue ocean nightly, we suppose the occasional concession can't hurt. Now available for preorder via the source link, the mini-notebook ships June 11th; PR after the break.
Sony's VAIO W netbook reviewed: personable and pricey, and that's pretty much it
After Sony's unorthodox VAIO P, did you really expect the outfit's first "real netbook" to burn the house down? With Microsoft's inane hardware restrictions still firmly in place on Windows XP-based netbooks, there's only so much differentiating Sony can do, and evidently those subtle tweaks didn't exactly justify the higher-than-average $499 price tag. Computer Shopper managed to give the unit a spin a few weeks prior to its US release, and while it definitely appreciated the 1,366 x 768 resolution display, the cramped keyboard, painfully lackluster 3-cell battery and commonplace performance didn't exactly elicit huge grins across the review room. Naturally, the design here is pretty notable, but with ASUS' Eee Seashell line already lookin' pretty decent for a lot less cheddar, we'd agree that Sony's going to have to do better than put a pretty face on a vanilla set of innards to get our next five Benjamins.
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXXIII: VAIO W netbook clone handily beats Sony to market
Turns out by the time Sony went official with its inaugural VAIO W netbook, it was already old news to the Chinese KIRF market. The "VAIO" pictured above apparently came out some time in mid-June and does a laudable job of honoring the actual one's chassis, although the keyboard is more traditional than Sony's isolated / chiclet stylings. Throw in a 10.2-inch LED display, 1.6GHz Atom processor, integrated graphics, a 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, and decently convincing packaging and you'd be liable to think you went through a time warp spotting this in Shenzhen. It's got a pretty sizable head start on the legit version, but something tells us this particular model won't be trying its luck elsewhere in the world.[Via PMP Today and Cloned in China]
Sony VAIO W netbook now official in US, coming August for $499
Not so much of a surprise now, but Sony's bringing its 10.1-inch VAIO W stateside as well, and yes, according to the Sony reps we talked to, this time they really do mean to call it a netbook, unlike its VAIO P brethren. Likewise, with that nomenclature comes none too surprising specs, including a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, Windows XP, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n, VGA out, two USB ports, Ethernet, webcam, and MemoryStick / SD card readers. The three cell battery should last an estimated three hours, and like usual there's also an option for six cell. That isolated (read: chiclet) keyboard is said to be 86% the size of a normal typing surface, and the aforementioned bundled VAIO Media plus software enables content streaming across DLNA-enabled devices like the PC or PlayStation 3. Now for what's missing: the reps stressed this an "in-home" product for them, and as such there's no talk of 3G or GPS, nor should hold your breath for an optical drive or SSD option. The company stressed the hardware's build quality here, and while we'll have to wait until we get our hands on to validate, like we said before, the pics aren't exactly flattering when you look at what the competition is producing. All that's left to discuss for now is the release date, pricing, and color options, so in order: just around the $500 mark, mid-August, and berry pink, sugar white and cocoa brown. Welcome to the bottom, guys. Full press release after the break.
