backtop

Gadgets Sony Shows Off New 13.3" Notebooks
Brandon Hill (Blog) - September 27, 2006 11:16 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 28 comment(s) - last by lemonadesoda.. on Sep 28 at 5:54 PM
Sony announces new notebooks with some flavor

Sony is putting Intel's new Core 2 Duo mobile processors to good use in a new line of slim notebooks. The VAIO C Series notebooks are available in five colors including seashell white, blush pink, spring green, espresso black and urban gray. Given the dearth of colorful choices in notebook land, it’s nice to see a company offering a nice palette of colors to choose from.

But enough with the swanky colors, it's the hardware that matters and the 5-pound VAIO C Series delivers. In addition to the aforementioned Core 2 Duo processors, they also include a 13.3" widescreen display with XBRITE-ECO screen technology, 100GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive, DVD±R Double Layer/DVD±RW/-RAM drive, 802.11a/b/g wireless and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. Surprisingly, Sony is taking a page from Apple's book by giving its black C Series notebook the best specs (at least for the European market). In this case, the black model features a 256MB GeForce Go 7400 mobile GPU while the other models make do with integrated GMA950 graphics.

Sony expects to make the VAIO C Series notebooks available from SonyStyle.com in October of this year with a starting price of $1,350.

Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Always been a fan
By therealnickdanger on 9/27/2006 11:38:17 AM , Rating: 4
of Sony notebooks. Their style has always been superior to others, IMO. If only they could supply a high-end GPU in these smaller platforms, I would buy...




RE: Always been a fan
By OrSin on 9/27/2006 11:58:06 AM , Rating: 2
Why would you want a high end GPU in 13.3 screen. You going to play quake at 800x600. The problem with sony vio is not the stype or GPU but just crappy workmanship. and even worst parts. My compnay have 17 SOny laptops and 14 was return within 1 year. The thing is all of them had diffenent problems. They was just junk.


RE: Always been a fan
By hughlle on 9/27/2006 12:09:50 PM , Rating: 2
well, your company must be quite abusive as sony make great laptops. never had one break on me.

i dont like the whole performance via colour thing as i'd love a pink or blue laptop etc with a good gpu. i dont really see the point in a colour option if you can only have a decent gpu with one of the colours


RE: Always been a fan
By lemonadesoda on 9/27/2006 7:13:07 PM , Rating: 1
You dont need a decent GPU for the ladies.


RE: Always been a fan
By therealnickdanger on 9/27/2006 1:33:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why would you want a high end GPU in 13.3 screen. You going to play quake at 800x600.

Assuming those were both questions, I want a high-end CPU in a small laptop because there are times that I feel my 17" laptop is too bulky and large. As it stands right now, my e1705 can play nearly any game at 1920x1200 for a 1:1 with my screen. The best picture quality on a fixed-pixel display is achieved by avoiding scaling. So let's say this 13.3" screen has a native resolution of 1280x800 or 1600x1050 or something - I want to be able to play games at the native resolution with full eye-candy and maybe some AA and AF. I don't think that's too much to ask. Smaller size and lighter weight makes it that much easier to carry around...


RE: Always been a fan
By therealnickdanger on 9/27/2006 1:33:48 PM , Rating: 2
EDIT: CPU ---> GPU
durrrr


RE: Always been a fan
By plewis00 on 9/27/2006 1:42:40 PM , Rating: 2
It will be a WXGA panel like all Sony's other 13.3" incarnations, so you're looking at 1280 x 800. I have the Sony SZ which has a 128mb GeForce 7400 Go and that can quite comfortably manage Farcry at native resolution with full settings (no AA/AF), I think that is very good from a laptop weighing under 2kg, and carrying it around is great.

Now that I look at these machines, I would not be at all surprised if the mainboard is the same one as that used in the SZ laptops. The overall design looks very close. The SZ series has dual graphics (NVidia and Intel switchable) - all Sony has to do then is hard-wired in either chip for these. Spec-wise they are very close as well, and the Sony SZ will take Core 2 out of the box as well I'm told.


These colors look familiar...
By TheFro on 9/27/2006 11:41:52 AM , Rating: 3
These laptop colors look strikingly similiar to another popular electronic device, but I can't quite remember what that device is called...




RE: These colors look familiar...
By xlmussel on 9/27/2006 11:53:54 AM , Rating: 2
The PSP? I think there's a pink PS2 somewhere too ... but no lime green. Oh wait ...you said "popular" ... so PSP is out.


RE: These colors look familiar...
By ic144 on 9/27/2006 11:55:21 AM , Rating: 1
He means Ipod Nano.


By BladeVenom on 9/27/2006 12:12:54 PM , Rating: 4
I know Apple fanboys are pretty pathetic, but now they are claiming Apple invented the colors pink and green?


I want one
By flyboy84 on 9/27/2006 1:17:13 PM , Rating: 1
These look like what I've been waiting for. My parents' college graduation present for me was an IOU for one laptop of my choosing, no price limit. I'm looking for something reasonably small, with a little oomph. I like the black one :D I'll probably wait for some reviews though.




RE: I want one
By FNG on 9/27/2006 2:39:00 PM , Rating: 2
If I had that carte-blanche I would be sporting a T61p when they hit the streets. My T23 is ~4 years old and it is still kickin like a pack of ninjas, albeit arthritic ninjas when I load up a Flash filled webpage. Great keyboard, great screen, battery still holds 72% charge and gives 2 plus hours of battery life. Unless Lenovo screws the pooch on the Thinkpad, they have a customer for life. Hell, I even evangelize for the Thinkpad...


RE: I want one
By flyboy84 on 9/27/2006 2:43:47 PM , Rating: 1
Hmm thanks, I'll look into that one too. Any other recommendations?


RE: I want one
By flyboy84 on 9/27/2006 2:43:49 PM , Rating: 2
Hmm thanks, I'll look into that one too. Any other recommendations?


Sony Style
By aplman on 9/28/2006 9:40:40 AM , Rating: 2
I am personally glad to see Sony back in the style business. I thought Apple was going to run away with it. Personally of all the sony colors Black is the best. The others are OK. I just purchased a black macbook. I can run WIndows and the Mac OS (which is a dream I might add). That is something I can't do on a Sony... or a dell... or an Hp..... and the list goes on. I am a former PC user... now an avid Macintosh fan.




RE: Sony Style
By lemonadesoda on 9/28/2006 5:51:40 PM , Rating: 2
It's ok to come out of the closet... and it's great that you've got the courage to share it with us. ;-)


RE: Sony Style
By lemonadesoda on 9/28/2006 5:54:19 PM , Rating: 2
P.S. You dont have to choose the color at the back of the line (re: picture above). It's OK to choose the color at the front. ;-)


By psychobriggsy on 9/27/2006 11:57:58 AM , Rating: 2
Instead Apple did the white MacBook, black expensive MacBook and metallic MacBook Pro thing.

If Apple is readying a MacBook update with colours then this will have stolen their thunder.




By viclyonline on 9/27/2006 4:29:53 PM , Rating: 2
actually they do kind of look like 13.3" MacBooks, especially with the wide touchpad.


Finally
By ic144 on 9/27/2006 11:56:50 AM , Rating: 2
Finally, I was hoping that Sony would update their 13.3" line with the Core 2s. Another item on my "to buy" list.




By lemonadesoda on 9/27/2006 7:19:41 PM , Rating: 2
1./ SONY need to fix their crummy flimsey keyboards. I hope they have fixed this range.

2./ SONY need to fix their XTRAREFLECTIVE screens. Impossible to use in most working environments due to reflections.




Cool!
By Hemipower on 9/27/2006 11:38:27 AM , Rating: 1
Nice, Light, and at least for the black a little power in a smal package.




laptops
By adam92682 on 9/27/06, Rating: -1
RE: laptops
By Loc13 on 9/27/2006 1:12:43 PM , Rating: 3
"WILL"? Are you sure? There has been no battery incident relating to a SONY laptop. Maybe every battery on a sony product "will" explode, including the one in my camera and sony ericsson K750 phone. OH NO IT'S MADE BY SONY, IT WILL EXPLODE!!! gotta love these comments.


RE: laptops
By therealnickdanger on 9/27/2006 1:26:22 PM , Rating: 1
I'm pretty sure it was a joke. Even so...


*BOOM*


RE: laptops
By plewis00 on 9/27/2006 1:49:56 PM , Rating: 2
In all fairness, one Sony laptop has gone up, it was an old-school FX series machine. I read somewhere Sony doesn't even use their own batteries in their machines. I'm not that surprised, I've opened IBMs and found Toshiba and Fujitsu hard disks fitted in them.


RE: laptops
By lennylim on 9/27/2006 2:48:57 PM , Rating: 5
> The batteries will explode

No, that is an extra cost option.


"You can bet that Sony built a long-term business plan about being successful in Japan and that business plan is crumbling." -- Peter Moore, 24 hours before his Microsoft resignation

DailyTech Poll
Which web browser do you use on your primary personal machine? 






44 Comments







botimage
Copyright 2009 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki