by Heath on February 22, 2011
Sony has introduced updates to the Vaio C and S series line of notebooks.
The Vaio S series has a unique selling point in that it has two battery options available. The standard Vaio S ships with a single battery that is good to power the notebook for about 7 hours. An optional second battery is available that can be charged from a PC and can connect to the Vaio while it's still switched on. When connected, it further boosts battery life another 7 hours giving 14 hours in total. This is more than enough for a full days work and will certainly be an advantage to Sony. [click to continue…]
Sony could be launching a service that would tackle iTunes. The new service could be announced as early today which also coincides with the September 1 Apple [AAPL] event being held in a few hours time which is expected will also reveal a streaming service.
It is expected that the system will revolve around the Sony PlayStation 3 games console and then roll out to Vaio computers and Bravia HDTV's later on in the year. Also Sony Ericsson mobile phones are expected to get the services if rumours are correct. [click to continue…]
Sony has announced that the Sony VAIO Y and Z series laptops will soon get the ability to act as a wireless hotspot for up to 5 devices to connect to.
The Wireless hotspot functions work out of the box and use a new embedded wireless technology that Sony call "Share My Connection".
(SMC). With SMC you can turn your laptop into a mobile wireless access point that can connect up to five other PCs or networked devices, such as smartphones, mp3 players, and cameras. A subscription is required.
The idea is aimed at those who travel in groups for either business or family needs. Having one of the Sony VAIO computers in the group would allow the other 5 in the group to connect and share a connection. [click to continue…]
Microsoft [MSFT] has sent out reminders to OEM's around the globe that as of October 22 this year, Windows XP will no longer be available to install on Netbooks.
OEM's after that date will need to start using operating systems from the Windows 7 line starting with Windows 7 Starter that has been designed specifically for devices like netbooks.
Windows XP has been out a long time now. The Microsoft OS launched in August 2001 and has been very popular among laptops and computers for a number of years. Microsoft is ending support for it soon though with XP service pack 2 support ending next month. However, XP SP3 support will go on till April 2014 at which point you should have upgraded by then anyway. [click to continue…]
We recently tested a Sony Vaio L All-in-One PC to see how it runs, how it performs and if it's any good. To be honest, I've never really paid interest in the all-in-one style PCs so I didn't really know what to expect.
Starting with the design and looks of the device, it looks great. The Vaio L has a large multi-touch screen measuring 24 inches in a full HD resolution. Below the screen is a stand that runs the full width of the device and forms part of the whole unit. On the back, a kick stand flips out that lets the Vaio L lean backwards slightly on a table. As with many other All-in-One PC's there is just 1 cable going in to the back which provides power to the unit. This makes All-in-One PCs a lot easier to set up as well as cutting back on the clutter that regular PC's have. Overall, it looks great sitting on a desk and when people see it, they always ask what it is and what it does. [click to continue…]
The Sony Vaio P second generation model is getting ready for launch in the US. The Sony Style site in the US today put up a pre-order option on the laptop.
The cost of the Sony Vaio P is $899.99 (numbered VPC-P113KX) and will be launching in a few weeks time on or around June 25. The Vaio P laptop comes in several colours although the downside of the US model is that it lacks some higher end options. The model available for pre-order is the only one available that runs an Intel Atom Z530 processor clocked at 1.60GHz along with a 128GB SSD (rather than a larger 256GB). [click to continue…]
Sony has announced the new Sony Vaio J all-in-one PC. The Sony Vaio J has an impressive 21.5 inch screen that is capable of showing a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Powering the Vaio J is an Intel Core i7 CPU. 8GB of RAM is also included.
Other features of the Vaio J all-in-one PC include a Blu-ray disc and a multi-touch enabled screen.
"The J Series changes the way consumers interact with their PC enabling them to tap, drag, zoom, rotate and engage with their content and entertainment like never before," said Mike Lucas, senior vice president of the VAIO business at Sony. "And with its attractive price point, this cutting-edge technology will reach a whole new audience."
[click to continue…]
The Sony Vaio P Series was recently updated with a new version bringing several new features to the portable netbook/laptop device.
This new version comes with a crocodile skin cover (fake BTW) to give it a little more of a unique touch.
On to the technical specs, the Crocodile version is just the same as the other versions inside and has an Intel Atom Z560 processor, a 256GB SSD and an optional 12 hour battery is available. [click to continue…]
Just hours after receiving details of the new Sony VAIO P Series (second gen model), we now get to see all the insides of the lime green version.
The new Sony VAIO P Series was first announced this morning where we learned that it has a GPS built in along with accelerometers, 3G data connectivity amongst a few other new features.
The teardown reveals that Sony has done a lot of work squashing all the components in to the P Series although in doing that they also get rid of a standard SSD and change it for another SSD with a different non standard connection. [click to continue…]
Sony has announced new models in the Sony VAIO P Series. The new ultra-portable PCs weigh just over 600g and have a number of new features which includes a GPS sensor and a Digital Compass along with an accelerometer. 3G is built in to the new VAIO P series also allowing connectivity whilst on the move.
The new ultra-portable is described by Sony as giving a fully-features Windows computing experience... and so much more (in their words). By adding the extra functions such as the GPS, digital compass and 3G connectivity, it certainly does add a bit of versatility to the ultra-portable.
On the keyboard a trackball can be found along with a couple of buttons. Also duplicated is a set of more mouse controls that can be found at the edges of the screen. Both a touchpad and left/right mouse buttons can be found down the left/right side of the screen allowing you to control the ultra-portable VAIO P with your thumbs as pictured above. [click to continue…]
Sony Insider have managed to track down some details of a new Sony Netbook range called the Sony Vaio M Series. The Vaio M series netbooks are similar to the Vaio W Series.
The Vaio M Series come with a 10.1 inch screen that's backlit by LED. A resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels is found on the screen. The netbook runs an Intel Atom N450 CPU running at 1.66GHz. Memory wise it has 1GB of DDR2 and for storage a 5400RPM 250GB hard drive. [click to continue…]
We first mentioned the Sony VAIO Z Series notebook a few weeks ago around the time of CES. Sony today pushed out a press release that gives a few more details about the notebook and also when it will be showing up in Europe.
First off, the specs. The VAIO Z Series will come with a Quad SSD that's configured in a RAID 0 setup. Having a quad SSD RAID 0 configuration allows for data to be shifted up to 6.2 times quicker than a 5,400 HDD configured in an array. The 6.2 speed increase (potentially) should make it one very quick notebook where accessing data is concerned. Also the VAIO Z supports an Intel Core i7-620M processor (depending on the model you choose) along with a healthy 6GB of DDR3 memory.
A second unique point about the VAIO Z series is the high performance dynamic hybrid graphics system it uses. The notebook basically has two options to switch between an NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M GPU for when performance is needed and when not you can manually or automatically switch down to a lower spec Intel based configuration which we assume is done real-time. [click to continue…]