Sony Vaio P: The first netbook from Sony

Although computer makers hate netbooks, the cheap low-powered machine is becoming a major craze these days. Along with low-price laptop makers, high-end laptop producers like Dell, HP, Samsung and now Sony joined the netbook bandwagon. On July 7, 2009, Sony announced to release a netbook in August. The new netbook named Vaio P will be the latest addition to its Vaio series. The new Vaio P will cost about $500 in the U.S market and 60,000 yen in Japan. The Vaio P will be the size of a hard cover book and will be fitted with low powered hardware compared to other Sony laptops.

Dimensions:

• Length: 10.5 inches
• Breadth: 1.28 inches
• Width: 7.1 inches
• Weight: 2.6 lb
• Colors: Berry pink, sugar white, and cocoa brown.

Technical specifications:

• Ports: Two USB ports, VGA Output port, Ethernet port, multimedia slots and SD memory slot.
• Webcam: Available.
• Processor: Intel Atom N280 with 1.66 GHz clockspeed.
• Memory: 1 GB
• HDD: 160 GB with 5,400 RPM.
• Communication: Ethernet 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth.
• Operating system: MS Window pre-installed.
• Other Applications: Sony’s VAIO Media Plus Multimedia Streaming Software, Norton Internet Security 2009 (30-day trial version) Microsoft Home and Student 2007 (60-day trial version)

Even in February 2009, Mike Abary, senior vice president, Sony, said that the whole netbook market is a "race to the bottom." Already, Sony has a small ultra-portable Vaio laptop but its configuration is higher than the new Vaio P and it is more expensive. The company tried its best to avoid producing cheaper netbooks but failed to do so.

Currently, all the major PC makers launched their own netbook products. According to famous research firm Gartner, the number of “mini-notebooks” will reach 21 million by the end of the current year and 30 million in 2010.

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