Slashdot Mirror
Sony Releases Smallest VAIO Yet
ephidryn writes "Sony Corporation has released their new VAIO laptop in Japan. The PCG-U1 is even smaller than their previous sub-notebook the C1 PictureBook. Measuring in at 7.3" x 5.5" x 1.4" and weighing a mere 1.8lbs the 6.4 inch XGA screen does 1024x768. The laptop uses a Transmetta Crusoe TM5800 processor and can house up to 384 megs of RAM." As a Picturebook owner, I can't imagine how a keyboard any smaller can still be usable, but this little guy offsets that with thumb controls to make input easier.
That's small. Really small. I'd call it more of a palmtop than a laptop. Looks like they've sucessfully breed a palmpilot/laptop hybrid.
...I'll procrastinate tomorrow...
What I'd really like to see is a PC laptop in an iBook form factor. Where are all the cheap smaller laptops? This is fina and small, but it'll probably cost like $2000, which isn't cheap.
--------- Beware the dragon, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
What's nice is that while the built in screen is limited to 1024x768, it has the ability to pump out 1600x1200 to an external monitor.
--------- Beware the dragon, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
It seems the mouse and buttons are above the keyboard which is strange but could be practical.
I used to have a picturebook in my previous job and I loved it. I have small fingers so it the keyboard size was not problem and I also have very good view so the size of the screen was not a problem either. And linux runs perfectely well on the old crusoe-based sony picturebook! (Not like on my current dell C400)
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
But every VAIO I've used/seen has felt like a cheap hunk of plastic. A friend of mine bought one about a year ago, and within 3 months it had to be sent in for various parts breaking twice. I think they should focus on making these tiny suckers durable, I mean, with something that small, it's bound to find itself in undesirable situations.
Have you been stalked by Seth today?
20GB, XP Home
867MHz Crusoe(TM) TM5800 processor with LongRun(TM)
Power Management
10.6" wide-format SXGA TFT
256MB memory
20GB hard drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo drive
External USB 3.5" floppy drive
Built-in multinational 56K4 V.90 modem
Built-in 10/100 Ethernet
Quickpoint pointing device with scroll button
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
Model P2110, FPCM20091
$1,499
Forgive me for being cynical, but I can't see many uses for something of that size. It seems to me to have all the functionality of a PC, while having all the UI woes of a handheld.
Now, I can think of things like being a portable place to dump picture files, and *maybe* to take notes on if you have small enough fingers. Other than that, I can think of nothing. Would someone mind enlightening me as to why this uber-expensive gadget is useful?
--I hate big sigs.
You may find it more enlightening and certainly more amusing to read machine-translated Japanese, via Babelfish .
Does anyone have experience on what refresh rate / colors can you have achieve with the ATI Mobility Radeon-M 8MB in X? At quick glance this seems as the only possible big weak point of the device - atleast for me who is used to having too many terminals open and don't utililize the virtual desktops a lot :)
I just had a flashback, there used to be some type of laptop where when you opened it up the keyboard would expand past the sides of the notebook to give you a larger more usable keyboard. Was it the old thinkpads? I forget. Anyways, I think that this Vaio could do with doing something like that because that keyboard is just rediculously small. I mean, if you're getting something that small you might as well give up and make it use a stylus like a PDA or one of those Fujitsu tablet computers because that would make it way more useful. The only problem I see with the expanding keyboard idea is that it would increase thickness and the whole vaio notebook line prides themselves on how thin they are and with this super small vaio that would matter the most. I think it's stupid really, you end up paying twice as much for that thing as you would for a larger, but faster, more flexible and really more USABLE regular sized laptop and the only advantage you get is that it's small (not even *that* small, most pants pockets couldn't fit it so you'll need a bag for it anyways!
The description includes :
:)
"1x Biology U-Port"
What kind of beast is that?
Probably it's mistranslated bluetooth-port.
Sony used to make some of the best consumer electronics around. The Sony TV, video and audio gear I bought 10 years ago was superb.
Unfortunately, the Sony TVs, VCRs and audio gear I've bought in the last two or three years has been absolutely awful!
They seem to have exchanged quality and performance for features and gadgets.
My 1990-model Sony VCR gave a markedly better picture than the 2000 models I bought to replace it just three years ago. The difference was so marked that I actually took the first unit back thinking it was faulty.
Not only that but the VCR bought in 1991 gave almost 10 years of perfect service -- one of the units I bought in 2000 has already died and isn't worth fixing. And I'm not talking the cheapest machine in the range - I'm talking about the more expensive units.
Likewise the Sony TV I bought back in 1991 is still chugging away and delivering a great picture. The one I bought three years ago now has an inferior picture with poor geometry and what appears to be the sound subcarrier affecting the picture on some lowband channels (again I returned the first one I bought unit thinking it was faulty). What's more, it has just developed an intermittent fault.
When I asked the Sony service techs they admitted that the consumer electronics (TVs, VCRs, audio) that Sony sellings today simply isn't engineered to the same quality standards as it was a decade ago.
Up until recently all my consumer electronics were Sony but I've decided that it's simply not worth paying a premium price for quality that's no longer there. The DVD player I bought a couple of months ago is a no-name Chinese unit that works superbly and was just half the price of the cheapest Sony equivalent. Even if it breaks in 18 months it will still have a lower total cost of ownership than Sony's gear (based on recent experience).
It strikes me that Sony have started resting on their laurels. This, plus their atttiudes to things such as DRM have made me an ex-Sony advocate.
As ye sow, so shall ye reap!
Well, I actually like the idea. I don't have huge hands, but I'm not a small guy (6'4"). I used to have a Toshiba Libretto (even smaller) that was the best thing ever for me. I am currently a network engineer and I basically built a troubleshooting kit on the Libretto with RedHat: TFTP server, emacs for ACL editing, sniffers, analyzers, IDS, ROM images, configs, etc. It even had a serial port so I could console into routers,etc. So when we had problems at our offices around the country, instead of having to lug around a huge laptop I could just throw the little thing and a couple of cables in my backpack and head out. I really miss it. The keyboard may have been small, but I wasn't using it to type a novel.
Derek
Don't Panic...
My Toshiba Libretto CT110 is a 64Mb 4.3gb 233mhz monster in a package 210mm X 130mm X 35mm.
And it's not the smallest Libretto.
Fran
:):):)
1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!
Yeah it's cool that it weighs 1.8 pounds, but is it functional? Forget the keyboard being unusable... the screen is *tiny*. Compare the DPI of various screens:
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p1000_summer02_t s
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/p2000_summer02_t s
. sh tml?products/notebooks/tech_specs/s_series_fall02_ ts
Inspiron 8000
15.1" UXGA
132 DPI
Fujitsu P1000
8.9" 1024x600
133 DPI
Fujitsu P2000
10.6" 1280x768
141 DPI
Sony Clie T665 PDA
3.1" 320x320
145 DPI
Sony PCG-U1
6.4" XGA
200 DPI!!!
The DPI is significantly higher than even the Clie PDAs!
I'm surprised that Fujitsu laptops are often overlooked; they have many well priced models of various sizes:
The widescreen format of Fujitsu's smallest laptop, the P-1000 Series, provides a fairly usable keyboard. It also has a *touch*screen and costs only $1100. Weighs a bit more at 2.2 pounds. A newer version is rumored to be released next month:
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
The P-2000 mentioned above has *internal* DVD/CDRW,is only 3.4 pounds (2.8 pounds with weightsaver in place of CD drive), has battery options to get up to 14 hours, and costs $1500. A newer version is also rumored to be released next month (933 MHz CPU). Check out the P series forums at http://www.leog.net
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
If you want a lightweight full-sized notebook, the S series has a 1.2 GHz P4-M CPU, 13.3" XGA, weighs 4.5 pounds, and costs $1500 (personally I wish this one had a 1280x1024 screen).
http://www.fujitsupc.com/www/products_notebooks
I'm a big fan of small computers, and am glad to see some manufacturers resisting the touchpad, which is a huge space hog on small units. I do wish the new U1 went with a trackpoint, or a libretto-like mouse on the screen. Having it where they located it on the U1, almost makes it necessary to pick up the unit to use the mouse, which is unacceptable.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
I have a sony PCG-U1 which i bought from here
;-)
it works well, execpet the battery life is kinda short, but if you run it on max power save you can get about 2 hours on it.
THe best use ive found for it so far is concealed war walking, get netstumbler on it, plug in some earphones and place it in your bag. it even fits in my fanny-pack. You can walk anywhere with it no-one would even think you have a computer in your fanny-pack.
plus, it's a lady killer
Sun is Warm, Grass is Green