Sony Vaio P Review

Sony has finally made a grand entry in the netbook market, and it has definitely done it with great style. The new Sony Vaio P is the new ultraportable unleashed by Sony, to compete with the scores of netbooks already available. It is very expensive compared to other netbooks, priced almost twice that of any standard netbook and weighs and measures about half. It is not designed to become a popular netbook in terms of sales numbers, but fills a void in the higher end netbook market for users who care more about style and exclusivity than about value for money. In this review, we check out the Sony Vaio P and see if it manages to live upto the hype it has generated.

Sony Vaio P Specs:

• Dimensions: 9.7 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Processor: Intel Atom Z520 1.33 GHz CPU
• RAM: 2 GB DDR2 RAM
• Hard Drive: 64 GB SSD Drive / 60 GB HDD
• Display: 8 inch TFT Display, 1600 x 768 pixels, LED backlit with Motion Eye Webcam
• Graphics Card: Intel GMA 500
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0, Mobile Broadband, GPS
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Ports: 2 USB v2.0, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out, Memory Stick slot, SD Card Reader

Design and Build Quality:

The Sony Vaio sports a superb design – stylish, exquisite, in one word, Vaio. It bridges the gap between Pocket PCs and smartphones and netbooks. It has ultra compact dimensions – 9.7 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches, and is possibly the tiniest, fully functional netbook. It weighs just about 1.4 lbs, much less than any netbook. It is the ultimate example of stylish miniaturization. It can easily slide in your pocket and feels very light. The design is very attractive and will definitely appeal to the younger generation. The glossy lid, the metallic look and the superb build quality leave no doubt that it is indeed a Sony product. It is available in Silver, Black, Green and Red. I would definitely prefer the Black version.

Display and Speakers:

The Sony Vaio P sports a nice 8 inch XBrite ECO LCD display with a native resolution of 1600 x 768 pixels. It is a LED backlit one which improves the display quality a bit and helps in conserving power. The very high resolution seems unusual on such a small display but it doesn’t strain your eyes at all, in fact it is very easy on them. The superb resolution eliminates the need for horizontal scrolling in most webpages and also provides more screen space to work on. However this means that the font size is very low, and you will need to zoom in to have a proper look. You can easily manage two windows together in the screen space. The brightness and contrast is almost perfect and the image quality amazing. It is perfectly suited for multimedia content, except for the size.

The Sony Vaio P sports built in stereo speakers located just above the keyboard. They are sufficiently loud and have decent sound quality, which should do well for casual music and videos. If you take your music seriously, we would recommend that you get a nice pair of headphones to go with your Vaio P. The Vaio P also sports a Motion Eye webcam to the right of the display. It has nice video capture quality and should do for basic video conferencing.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

Most of the netbooks on the market have almost full sized, slightly cramped keyboards which are very functional. As the Sony Vaio P has extremely minimal dimensions, it cannot obviously accomodate a full sized keyboard and so sports a very compact, but functional keyboard. The keys are widely spaced out and have perfect travel. The key alignment is changed a bit, but that will take just a few minutes to get used to. Sony has done the perfect job of fitting a keyboard in this small space. The keys have a nice feel and provide good feedback. The keyboard totally blends in with the stylish look of the Vaio P.

Owing to the compact dimensions, there is no space for the touchpad, so Sony has skipped it and included just a touch point in the midst of the keyboard. The touchpoint is placed right in the center. It is very sensitive and has good response. It is quite fun to use, once you get used to it. The mouse buttons are located below the keyboard and have nice feedback. In contrast with the way it looks, the keyboard + touchpoint combo is very comfortable and easy to use.

Performance:

The Sony Vaio P is powered by the Intel Atom Z520 1.33 GHz processor. It comes with 2 GB DDR2 RAM and the storage part is handled by a 64 GB SSD. You can also opt for the 60 GB HDD to save costs. The graphics department is handled by the Intel GMA 500. The Vaio P runs Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium. The performance is a bit low and is suited just for basic tasks. The 1.33 Ghz processor, though a bit slow, helps in low power consumption and runs quite cool. Don’t expect to run any games on it, just basic web browsing and document editing with some music and videos is what it is meant for. The 64 GB SSD has decent read / write speeds.

Along with the bundled Windows Vista, the Vaio P also comes with a built in Instant On OS like Splashtop. It boots into this mode quite fast. The Instant On OS has a very light footprint and sports the popular Sony XMB interface. It provides all basic stuff like User, Settings, Photos, Music, Video, and Internet. The Vaio P is also equipped with built in GPS. The GPS reception is nice and takes a small amount of time for a lockdown. It’s definitely usable.

Battery and Other Stuff:

The Sony Vaio P is powered by a standard battery which lasts about 4 hrs 10 mins with moderate usage. You can maximise the battery life by following some battery saving tips which we have mentioned several times before. There is also an extended battery available which gives double the battery life.

Despite its small size, the Sony Vaio P sports a nice range of expansion ports and slots – It has 2 USB v2.0 ports, Ethernet, Headphone, Microphone, VGA out, Memory Stick slot and a SD Card Reader.

Pros:

• Nice Design and Build Quality
• Superb Display
• Comfortable Keyboard and Touchpoint
• GPS

Cons:

• Underpowered
• Very Expensive

Final Words:

The Sony Vaio P is a nice option for those who want a stylish ultraportable device, something which stands out from the standard netbook crowd, and don’t mind paying a premium for the exclusivity.

Our Rating: 4 / 5.