Sony VAIO P Review

This year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Sony stunned the world with the introduction of the VAIO P sony vgp-bps13. This ultraportable notebook with an 8-inch screen fits inside your jacket pocket or your purse and packs an amazing amount of technology inside a tiny package. However, potential buyers and the press were also stunned when Sony announced the price would be $900 when slightly larger netbooks with similar specs cost half as much. Is the new Sony VAIO P an overpriced toy or an extraordinary travel laptop that's worth every penny? Let's take a closer look.

Build and Design

Despite the use of an Intel Atom processor, the design of the Sony VAIO Psony vgp-bps2c is quite unlike any netbook we've seen. The exterior is covered in glossy plastics with smooth lines, rounded edges, and a style that looks like it's trying to strike a balance between luxury and utility. The best way to describe the design is that the VAIO P vgp-bps8a looks like it's equal parts computer and fashion accessory. The look is pretty neat; something like a cross between a glossy smart phone and a netbook. Glossy plastic is found on the top of the screen cover as well as around the bottom of the laptop. Matte silver plastic is used around the keyboard and the internal frame uses magnesium alloy for extra support. Overall, the look is quite nice, but the glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints and makes the new netbook look a little tarnished after just a few minutes of use.

The build quality of the VAIO P is amazingly solid for a subnotebook of this size and weight.vgp-bps2b batteries The construction is mostly plastic but all of the plastics feel strong enough to handle being tossed around inside a backpack or purse. Even the glossy plastic surfaces resist minor scratches. While we certainly don't recommend it over a padded laptop bag, the VAIO P vgp-bps8 is small enough to slide into your back pocket ... something you certainly can't do with any $500 netbook currently on the market.

In terms of upgradeability, the VAIO P vgp-bps9a/b is pretty limited. The chassis isn't designed to be opened and serviced by the owner. A qualified technician can open the VAIO P and repair it, but it won't be easy for you to open the chassis yourself. Honestly, there isn't much need to. The 2GB of system RAM is soldered to the motherboard so you cannot replace or upgrade it. Many of the netbooks we've seen to date require complex disassembly in order for you to get to the storage drive, system RAM, or wireless cards ... so this isn't anything new.

While it would have been nice for Sony engineers to include socketed RAM inside the VAIO P sony vgp-bps9 so you can upgrade it yourself, the reality is that a RAM socket won't fit inside a laptop this thin along with everything else that's packed inside. Bottom line, the Sony VAIO P is a marvel of modern engineering.

Operating System and Software

Our pre-production unit came equipped with Windows Vista Basic (32-bit), but its safe to assume Sony plans to offer the VAIO P sony vgp-bps10 with Windows 7 later this year. The reason Sony decided to use Windows Vista rather than Windows XP is because Microsoft now has very specific hardware requirements for laptops using Windows XP ... and the VAIO has too much RAM and a screen with too much resolution to qualify for a Windows XP license.

Although the VAIO P runs Windows Vista, Sony recognized that many business users and travelers would want to be able to access things like email, the Firefox web browser, a photo gallery, or instant messaging applications as quickly as possible. So, if you need to use your VAIO P sony vgp-bps9/b as quickly as possible you can press a small button located next to the power button and you'll be ready to get online in roughly 20 seconds or less. Unlike most "instant on" operating systems we've seen over the last year, the Linux-based Sony XRoss interface feels genuinely snappy and might be a viable alternative to Windows Vista when you need to get online, share photos, or listen to some music quickly while on the road.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Most low-priced, full-size notebooks currently on the market feature poorly built keyboards that show significant flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied. Thankfully, most netbooks have remarkably firm keyboards due to the fact that the chassis is so small there isn't much empty space inside the notebook for the keyboard to flex or bounce.

The keyboard on the VAIO P sony vgp-bps9/s is less cramped than what we've seen on the 7-inch and 8.9-inch netbooks, but the Sony keyboard is still very compact. Most netbook keyboards are quite frustrating to use because the small footprint and tiny keys require you to use a "hunt and peck" style of typing rather than traditional touch typing methods. This means that passwords get mangled, emails look like gibberish, and playing games that require keyboard commands becomes quite aggravating.

You can still use the "hunt and peck" method of typing with the VAIO P, but since the keys have more spacing in between them it's a little easier to use standard touch typing methods. Bottom line, you can type long emails or reports without too much discomfort ... but you'll probably want to invest in an external keyboard if you plan to use this as your primary office computer.

The touchpad is, well, completely absent on the VAIO P. Rather than a typical touchpad the VAIO P uses a touchpoint or trackpoint pointing stick similar to what you find on many business-grade notebooks. The trackpoint is quite sensitive and easy to use, and even though I usually prefer to use touchpads I found the trackpoint to be very enjoyable. The left and right touchpoint buttons are located in the correct position beneath the space bar and have a shallow feedback and produce a light "click" when pressed.

Display

The glossy LED backlit display on the VAIO P is nice and vibrant with rich colors and excellent contrast. As stated, although the screen is small at just eight inches, it offers the unbelievable 1600 x 768 resolution. This does have the side effect of making small text difficult to read, but Sony was smart enough to design a very functional "magnify" tool that allows you to increase the size of what you're reading without changing the screen's resolution setting. Just press function (FN) and F10 keys and small text instantly becomes readable. The screen is a glossy XBRITE-ECO variety so expect some reflection under strong indoor lighting or direct sunlight.

Horizontal viewing angles are good, so you and a friend won't have trouble watching a movie on the 8-inch screen at the same time. Vertical viewing angles are acceptable, but colors do tend to wash out from above and become inverted when viewed from below.