You know how Sony keeps trying to insist that it’s VAIO P is not a netbook, but rather a premium mobile computing device? Well, I’m inclined to agree, based on the price alone. You can’t get a vaio P for less than $900, which puts it in a different class of device from a $299 Dell Inspiron Mini 9 or a $400 Asus Eee PC 1000HA. But I was still surprised to see a post on Sony’s official blog that basically says the same thing.
The author does also go out of his way to try to outline other reasons why the Vaio P isn’t a netbook, but most of the arguments are a bit weak. For example, Sony claims that it’s keyboard is larger than those on most netbooks. It’s not. The keyboard is surprisingly large and easy to use for such a small device, but it’s not exactly bigger than the keyboard you’ll find on an HP Mini 1000.
There are certainly a few features that Sony packs into the Vaio P that you won’t find on most netbooks, including GPA and optional high capacity 64G or 128Gb solid state disks. But those features alone don’t justify the price difference. One item that might is the insanely high resolution 8 inch, 1600 x 768 pixel display. But I’m honestly not that impressed with the technology that allows Sony to use a screen that could easily give users a headache.
via Engadget
Lucky I wasn’t drinking my coffee when they pushed Vista (on an underpowered CPU) as a selling point…
The new toshiba NB100 in Japan is going to cost around $900, but I’d still call it a netbook. The Eee PC S101 almost reached $800 here too but I’d still call that a netbook too 🙂
Nate, You think you are in the minority? I for one agree with you.
As for the P not being a netbook because it costs too much, does that mean all any other manufacturer has to do is raise their prices to put their products in another category?
I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t really like my netbook displays to be high resolution. IMO 1024X600 is pretty easy on the eyes.