Sony VAIO X-Series Hands On

Sony VAIO X-Series Hands On

The crew at Engadget managed to get hands-on time with the new Sony X-series laptop. They said the notebook made them "rethink the entire definition of thin". The X-series has a carbon fiber frame and aluminum keyboard. Specifications include an 11 inch screen, Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 31Wh removable battery. At this point, Sony is not sure of whether it will keep the Atom processor, and was only in the prototypes to keep them running.

Sony hinted that the price will be less than $2,000 and that it will be officially announced in October after Windows 7 launches.

Full Story (Engadget.com)

 

oh nice...im liking this...

 

Looks like the TT replacement!

 

If they keep the Atom, it better be well under 1000.

 

2k for an Atom is a robbery, no questions asked.
I wonder, how will this outstand

 

If it stays an Atom with that RAM and screen size it'd almost have to be a Z series. Then again the pics at Engadget do show a VGA port and Z Atoms tend to use HDMI so who knows.

 

Didn't Engadget post an update stating that the Atom was not a final option? I think they are probably going for a CULV...

 

I think that notebooks are thin enough (any thinner and they would snap in half), I wish they would spend more money on increasing the battery life.

 

width='580' height='360'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F1eVitUAGx4&hl=en&fs=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F1eVitUAGx4&hl=en&fs=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='580' height='360'></embed></object>

 

CULV would use HDMI as well. I only bring up the VGA port because changing it for an HDMI would change the shape of the chassis around the port since HDMI is thinner.

What's really interesting is that the CPU that best matches up with an 11" screen, 2Gb of RAM, and a VGA port is the VIA Nano (Samsung NC20, & Lenovo S12).

It's been over a year though since the rumors of a Nano-based Vaio Netbook.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/news/2008/07/23/Sony-Netbook-Launching-Q4-/p1

 

I would tend to agree, the other thing that suffers when you get super thin is the keyboard has to have some sacrifices made in some way (reduced key travel etc.) and sometimes ports simply don't fit. For me the one-inch thin form factor is thin enough.

 

9 hrs too little?

With respect to this under $2000.00 thin netbook, I will never be a consumer for a glorified notebook that has such a big price tag with such little performance. Its like putting a Geo Metro engine in a BMW car.

But that is just my taste. I like a nicely styled notebook but I can't swallow an atom cpu in a high priced notebook.

 

QFT!!! I agree with you. Spending 2K on an Atom? FAIL!

 

The design is very appealing; there is no doubt about that.

I have a 1.33 core solo processor in my Sony TX that has 2MB of cache. Really i think that XP is more ideal for this processor. With only 512kb of cache the N450 has I doubt it is much better than the processor i have.
I also have an SSD drive installed to boost performance.

The C2S processors and improved 4500HD graphics card would now be the bare minimum that i would really want to run anything but XP on.

Whether they go for an atom/CULV processor price should reflect that.

A number of UX owners still want Sony to move away for these atom processors in the Vaio P series. Some Sony owners are very discerning customers lol.

I am interested in this product but then it all depends what the specs will be like. If the price was right and it had an atom i could still be interested.

 

As was noted in the article, Sony says it is not decided on the processor choice. I wholeheartedly agree that the Atom processor would be a mistake; it is enough for web browsing but that is all.

That said, one of the things I do not like about the "ultra-thin" notebooks is the general lack of an optical drive. I use an optical drive on an almost daily basis.

 

That, for me, is the best thing. I will never buy another laptop with an optical drive.

 

I would rather have an additional hard drive than an optical drive, or the ability to swap the drives out.

 

well...
from now pendrive,etc will be the future (maybe)

about the notebook:
yes, it's a wonderful notebook

but the less than 2000 is kinda joke

 

SD Cards should replace Optical Drives.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/is_apple_trading_sd_cards_for_dvds_in_macbooks

http://www.digitalrebellion.com/blog/posts/could_sd_cards_replace_dvds.html

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43352/98/

 

Kinda reminds me of when the Dell Adamo first came out. But the Atom? Thats an even bigger deficit.

 

I dunno which would be worse a Core 2 based Celeron cpu or the Atom N450. The Celeron will have the advantage of the better gpu(?) and 4gb of ram, unless the newer Atom cpu changed that.

Someone brought up the UX, and it is odd that a device that small that netbooks had a more powerful(so to speak) cpu. Is there a reason Sony, and others were able to accomplish that? If so, why can't get give us that in the Vaio P(for slight higher cost I guess) and in this new X-series if only comes with an Atom CPU.

 

Atom.. really turn me down.
they have too many atom cpu based release, arent they? ;z
am hoping for culv at least. i hope the try out putting the culv on X series too.

 

That is a great idea. This needs to happen.

 

and all laptops will be much thinner and lighter and long live the CULVs?? hahahaha
it would be a great idea, but there needs to be a good approach on this, not just a drop all of the sudden...

 

All you need is more companies to offer consumers the option to buy their product on SD cards as well as on optical media. Once they do that the transition will happen on it's own as there are already tons of devices (phones, hand-helds, cameras, TVs, notebooks, etc.) that come equipped, or can be equipped with, with SD card readers.


But if you need even more incentive to switch, memory cards have 2TB capacities on the way.

 

Everything so far is pointing towards Sony using an atom processor in this netbook/notebook.

I still would like Sony to come out with a CULV notebook, but i don't think that this one will be it.

It also looks like this X series will be passively cooled so i could understand why they would opt for a processor/gpu with only a 7w draw. The atoms also sell for under $100.

It would be interesting to read more about how the N450 processors actually do perform. With only 512KB of cache i don't expect miracles.

The Toshiba R600 sports a C2D ULV processor and this is a 12.1 notebook that costs around $2,000 and weighs around 800grams and has a built in optical drive. No it is not as thin but in view of the 12.1 in size and the fact that it has an optical drive in terms of design may be that is just as amazing.

If these are priced around €1,500-€2,000 it is going to be really interesting to see how these will do.

It is a shame that this also will probably not have an HDMI port. You can get all kinds of hdmi adapters but this doesn't work so well for VGA.

I have started keeping my eyes open for a good deal for a TT. I still haven't written it of completely though.

 

Technically, R600 does not get below 900 gram -- only the Japanese Dynabook SS RX2 with 128GB SS and optional 3-cell battery can get down to 858 gram . R600 sold in US and Europe all come with 6-cell battery and start at 1000 gram. If you pick HDD version or larger capacity SSD (or any extra wireless feature, really), the weight goes up further.

On the other hand, if Sony wants something to replace both TT & G (keep in mind R500/R600 was designed to directly compete against G, not TT) and complement Z in its ultra-portable line-up, one could argue that it should have C2D ULV processing power -- Sony certainly should have the engineering capability to make it happen.

 

You would appear to be in the minority there. I don't ever use the optical drive, usually, other than to burn CDs and DVDs with relative infrequency. So as long as one of my computers has a DVD drive, I'm fine. My Asus W3J has a hot-swappable optical drive bay, and I almost always have a 2nd battery there since I never end up using the CD drive.

 

I see. I thought the 813g included a dvd drive but it doesn't appear to.
Trusted Reviews weighed the R600 with a 3 cell, ssd drive and HSDPA wwan in at 813g.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/lapto...iba-Port-g--R600-108-12-1in-Ultra-Portable/p2

It looks like Sony will be using SSD drives only and that will help to bring down the weight down a fraction to.

The thing with the TT i could quite happily use that as my main notebook. With a 1.6 ULV i would have no qualms about doing that.

 

Yeah, the DVD-less version did not catch on and you can probably say the same thing about 3-cell. I think for more business-oriented customers that Toshiba was trying to sell to, they tend to have to have optical drive as a simple, secured (most companies do not allow outside computer or USB drive to be plugged into their computers) and cheap (it's much cheaper to leave a CD/DVD with your client than a SD card or USB drive) file transfer method. If you have to carry an optical anyway, might as well have it built-in -- or swappable with battery.

 

I am using the TT right now as my main computer, and I have no qualms about at all(well ION gpu would have been better but I don't do any games so that be a waste I guess?). This is with the slower 1.2ghz(some how steep-stepping @ a higher 1.5ghz). I could see the X as my main computer(with an external dvd drive) if it at least comes with a dual core based cpu(except maybe dual core Celeron heard nothing positive about those cpus).

 

Holy milf this laptop is hot.

 

Word! It has a really cool design. I would've bought it if it didn't have such a small monitor. And I also want at least 3GB RAM. But the laptop is indeed a very "hot" laptop.

 

Hey, if I were to buy one of these small laptops, should I go for the TZ series, which I personally like much than the X Series, especially cuz X doesnt have friggen Dvd drive which I use all the time! Any suggestions?

 

If you don't mind the lack of a HDMI port or stronger graphics the TZ is still a great notebook. It's screen is way beyond other ultra portables and netbooks.