Sony's Latest VAIO Looks Like Barf

luigi writes "Sony offers sneek peek at completely new designed Notebooks - VAIO QR. No technical data, prices, release dates available yet." i4u is a sort of a rumor mill: the sony pics are a little bit down, but you can check out links to to sony's japan site. Basically the cool little purple boxes have been replaced with a black and white thing that looks like it was designed by school children. Sorry: Not candy coating this one, it looks dumb.

Comments

VAIOs for corporate use? Phooey.

[hatless]

Looks swell to me. Very 1982.

As for losing their corporate market, I'm shocked to hear Sony ever had one. No real docking stations, crappy port replicators, structurally weak cases, little plastic doors that break off if you breathe on them, and hardware so fussy that the things lock up more than a Packard Bell.

We bought a few a year ago. One by one, they've died, broken, or become nearly unbootable. They look slick. The light ones are certainly light and seemingly inexpensive. VAIOs have some nifty features (FireWire, f'rinstance), but they don't belong on an IT department's equipment list in my experience.

If IBM made Thinkpads that looked like these new VAIOs, I'd be thrilled. Seen the new Thinkpads? There's design. Rigid construction and reinforced, rubberized hinges throughout, pass-through everything to the port replicator/dock, bright screens, and they're about as stable as a good desktop. Sure, they're black rectangles that look like every other Thinkpad of the last 5 years, but they paid attention to quality. They're also not cheap, but even if they cost twice as much as a VAIO, they're worth every penny.

If you're in charge of your company/organization's purchasing and someone wants a VAIO, either tell them to buy it for themselves, or buy two so you can have a loaner on hand when the first one breaks.

iBook

[Barcode]

It looks like a black and white iBook! It's got a handle! What were they thinking?

a) The Vaio's were and are really slick looking magnesium-encased computers. This black and white thing looks like the Panasonic Tough-book - a really blocky, non-slick looking box.

b) It's got a handle! You can't carry a computer like that by it's handle. It will get scratched, it is not protected, and if you drop it, it is lost! I do not let anyone of my clients carry a computer more than two feet with out putting it in a case. Believe me, you do not want to see what a laptop looks like after a two foot drop to a floor. Yes, even a carpeted floor! A handle is cute, but without a case, it is asking for trouble!

Sony, if you are listening, you are making a huge mistake!

~Patrick