Sony Vaio W ‘Eco Edition’ netbook announced

Sony has upgraded its Vaio W netbook with the Eco Edition. The new Vaio W series generates 10 percent lower CO2 emissions during production compared to its predecessor. It has recycled plastic parts, an innovative carry bag and an electronic manual (presumably loaded onto the netbook). The 10.1-inch (1366 x 768) LED backlit display is also mercury-free.

To make sure you know about its green credentials, Sony has used a mint green palm rest and touchpad. The carry bag has been designed to replace the cardboard box that normal electronic devices come in. Therefore the Vaio W Eco Edition will ship straight to your door in this bag. The outer fabric is manufactured using 100% recycled PET bottles. Read more

Sony Vaio W netbook now shipping in UK

The Sony Vaio W netbook is now in stock and available to order in the UK. Comet has managed to snag the first stock in the country and currently has the white version (VPCW11S1E/W) for sale for £399.99. This puts it £30 cheaper than the current Amazon.co.uk pre-order price. Other colours are expected shortly.

The Sony Vaio W is the first proper netbook from the company and comes with a 1366 x 768 resolution 10-inch display, chiclet keyboard and is powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU. It ships with a 3-cell battery as standard which should last for 2.5 hours according to the company.

Thanks John!

Sony Vaio W netbook reviewed – premium not justified

The Sony Vaio W netbook is due to launch in the middle of next month, however Computer Shopper already has a review up of the device. We didn’t really learn anything that we didn’t already suspect. It wins marks for its interior design, high-resolution (1366 x 768) display and touchpad. However, it was let down by a poorly performing 3-cell battery, small keyboard and only two USB ports.

Whilst the model does come with a 6-cell battery option, the upgrade is prohibitively expensive. They did reiterate though that if you’re not too concerned regarding battery life, then the high-resolution screen really is excellent. They even went as far as saying that once you’ve used a screen like this, there’s no going back, mainly due to a lack of scrolling issues that you normally find on a 1024 x 600 netbook display. Click through for the main review points. Read more

Sony Vaio W netbook available to pre-order in UK & US

The recently announced Sony Vaio W netbook is now available to pre-order on both the Amazon UK and Amazon.com sites. Amazon UK has all three colours up for pre-order (white, brown and pink) for £430. No estimated release date is given, although Sony already mentioned that it expects the Vaio W (W11S1E) to hit UK retail in the middle of August.

The Vaio W (W111XX) is also up for pre-order in the US through Amazon.com for $499.99. Only the brown and pink models seem to be up for pre-order. There’s no release date here either, but is expected to arrive next month too.

The Sony Vaio W is the first proper netbook from the company and comes with a 1366 x 768 resolution 10-inch display, chiclet keyboard and is powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU. It ships with a 3-cell battery as standard which should last for 2.5 hours according to the company.

Via NetbookReviews.Net.

Thanks Matt!

Sony Vaio W netbook gets UK pricing & hands-on impressions

Sony’s first entry to the netbook market, the Vaio Mini W-series, was announced yesterday. Whilst we found out how much this netbook will cost in the US and mainland Europe, a UK price was conspicuously absent. We now know that the Vaio W will cost £399 including VAT, when it’s released in mid-August.

A number of publications went hands-on with the Vaio W netbook today and came back with mixed reactions. PC Pro thought its biggest selling point was the high-resolution (1366 x 768) screen. The screen was bright and text was sharp, although they did feel the 10.1-inch screen was a bit too cramped. The chassis is made of plastic, although with a textured finish. Whilst the chiclet (isolation) keyboard looks great in the pictures, they said that the Samsung N110 keyboard was more usable.

What Laptop also feels that the HD screen is its standout feature. They found the colour and contrast to be excellent. The touchpad is large and has responsive mouse buttons. TechRadar liked the 86 percent keyboard although they were concerned on slightly small keys. They also loved the screen, using adjectives such as “stunning” and “vibrant” and calling it “one of the best netbook screens we’ve seen to date”.

Sony Vaio W netbook: Protruding 6-cell battery & access panel in pictures

Sony announced its first proper netbook yesterday, the 10.1-inch Vaio W, which has a high-resolution display, chiclet keyboard and is powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU. We can’t help thinking that Sony would have had a best seller on its hands if the battery life was a bit better.

Sony has included a standard 3-cell (2100mAh) battery that is good for just 160 minutes of battery life. The good news is that an optional 6-cell (5200mAh) battery will also be available that should double this time. Some new pictures from ITMedia show just how much this higher capacity battery will stick out, unfortunately it does so quite a bit. Read more

Sony Vaio W netbook: 10.1-inch HD screen, N280 Atom, chiclet keyboard

Sony has finally released its first ‘proper’ netbook by announcing the Vaio Mini W-series. Whilst Sony has always claimed that the Vaio P was not a netbook, there’s not a chance they’ll claim the same with the Vaio W, which fits the typical netbook mould.

The Sony Vaio W has a 10.1-inch high resolution (1366 x 768) LED backlit screen as standard. This is powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU and 945GSE chipset. It comes with Windows XP, 1GB RAM and a 160GB (SATA) HDD. Other featured include Wi-Fi (including Draft-N), Bluetooth, webcam, microphone, two USB ports and MemoryStick / SD card readers. The three-cell battery should last around 160 minutes. There will be an optional 6-cell battery. Read more