So, Sony, where's your netbook?
Dear Sony,
You've obviously tired of the Vaio UX UMPC, which hasn't been at SonyStyle now for months. We know you like it small and thin: your new Vaio TT is a nice little number. But it's $2,000 and up, and clearly designed for watching Blu-Ray movies and getting heavyweight work done on the go.
So when do we get our Vaio netbook? The fact is that most of the extant models are sort of ugly. We've got Dell, HP, Asus and a bunch of other guys: not exactly the Tate modern out there, is it? They all look like sandwich makers.
Come, now. Show Apple that high-end PC makers can make reasonably-priced, modest machines without frustrating their customers. Give us something tiny, lightweight, and get it out for less than $600. Put art on the case — make it print-on-demand, even. Show all these guys how to make a pretty little laptop. Sex up the dossier.
It's not as if you're wanting for heritage. Hell, you could just start making the "Picturebook" PCG series again, with only minor upgrades (WiFi, WWAN, you know), and that would be more than enough. Those things were freakin' awesome.
Or, how about it: a little brother to the old X505? It was much like the MacBook air, but a few years ahead of its day. Don't say you've not been tempted to refresh this baby since Apple proved you can sell 'em. I played with one of these a while back — not bad, even now. With 3G, Intel's Atom, and bare-minimum specs elsewhere, this would be a killer if a lid could be kept on the overall price.
Something entirely new, of course, is the more likely scenario. So how about it, Sony? Let's have a netbook we can love, not just use.
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Unfortunately, their picturebook series notebooks were the TT back in the day and costed an arm and a leg.
I don't think Sony wants to cheapen their name for the netbook segment especially since the margins are so low there.
Yeah, the PCGs where pretty pricey. But they were also high-end in their day. I'm suggesting they keep the form factor, but with modern netbooky components.
That's the thing about netbooks: done right, they don't cheapen anyone's name. The point of them is that they are carefully-considered gadgets in their own right, rather a new class of machine unto themselves, and not just shitty little cheap laptops.
The Sony VAIO NS series base model will be $750. Not a netbook but much cheaper than many VAIOs.
As much as I dislike Sony I can't help but be curious as to how they will approach netbooks, if at all.
In their Clie' days they were hailed at being far more advanced than ANYTHING Palm put out at the time. (Fond memories of my TH55)
One thing Sony can do is put cool things in small packages...as long as you are willing pay for it.
SONY missed several trains with the VAIO releases... the VAIO X505 was huge in Japan but the US managers tough Japan is Japan is Japan and USA is different...
They had the same tough with the Vaio picturebook that are still loved by people in Akiba (it was used last year by one of the characters in the "Akihabara@deep" drama)...
Mah...
My last windows puter was a C1 running W98. Loved it until the windows rot got to where I had to give it the Old Yeller treatment.
Um, how about the Sony Mylo? Does that not count as a netbook?