Sony teaser shows subnotebook with tracking nub

I’m 90% certain that when Sony’s new P-series subnotebook is released it will cost far too much to be considered a netbook. But from the glimpses we’ve seen so far, it’s still a pretty nifty looking ultraportable laptop.

Now Sony has posted a new teaser animation on its Japanese site that briefly shows the keyboard and what appears to be some sort of tracking pointer in the middle of the keyboard. In other words, there won’t be a large trackpad taking up room on this tiny device. And that allows sony to dedicate a lot of space for the keyboard. Or as much space as there is to dedicate on a computer wih an 8 inch screen.

via Engadget and Pocketables

Posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008, 11:31 am by Brad
Tags: sony, sony vaio, sony vaio p

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pat norton

I thought the only reason we hadnt seen the nubbins was that IBM held some kind of patent?

As someone who used a T21 and T43 for a decade, WHY arent there any netbooks that have the Thinkpad red nub instead of the track pad?

In a format where space is at a premium, why did it take this long?

I want a netbook with one but not enough to buy a Sony.

ToniBorgetto

I don't believe that IBM would somehow prevent the use of trackpoints on netbooks, since there are in fact several manufacturers which use them already in their notebooks.

Besides IBM/Lenovo you can find them at Dell, HP, Toshiba, and so on. Only problem is: they are mainly used as a "high end"-feature - e.g. at Lenovo you only get a trackpoint if you buy one of their Thinkpads, not with the Ideapads.

I'd really love to see a netbook with trackpoint, makes so much sense when you have little space.

Kobra

Ah, the track point! I was really disappointed in learning that Lenovo didn't equip the s10 with one of those, I've been a IBM/Lenovo user for many years and really like the track point. It makes better sense to use it on a small netbook than the track pad we all have today...

I wonder if it will be hard to read text on a 1600 x 768 8" screen, better keep those glasses near by 8-)

DougC3

In my opinion, even a baby step toward getting trackpoints on netbooks is a good thing. If this turns out to be a trackpoint, maybe it will increase awareness among netbook makers and buyers about the need and potential demand for this.

Alex Linhares

Vista ultimate? Not even Gates would want that. We're in for some EPIC fail here.

onemadscientist

This really shouldn't be a surprise. If we think back to cicra 2000 we will remember the Sony "Picturebook" laptop. This had a 7" screen and was smaller than most netbooks made today.