Ultraportable laptop takes on netbooks at CES

Last year we saw the netbook market take-off and with Sony launching a competitively priced stylish, ultraportable laptop at CES the choice of what to pop in your man bag is going to be a tough one.

President and chief operating officer of Sony America, Stan Glasgow unveiled the selection of VAIO P series laptops in true style as they rose onto the stage, stating, "there are other ultraportable computing solutions but what I'm about to produce trumps them all".

Of the colourful selection, Glasgow took hold of a bright red model and gave the P-Series a glittering overview, praising its design and tiny form factor that enables it to be popped into handbags.

Brains and beauty

These mini ‘tops don’t just have lustful looks and diddy dimensions, they also pack some big features. "Unlike many so-called notebooks ours has an integrated 3G radio as well as 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth and GPS.

The most notable feature is the screen. Anyone who has used a netbook will appreciate a 8in 1600 x 768 resolution, rather than a 1024 x 600 display that is common among the netbook crowd.

There’s a claimed fours hours of battery life, so not much of an improvement there, but an extended battery will be made available that doubles this.

The processor is a 1.6GHz Intel Atom, as we'd expect to see in a netbook, but Sony doubles the RAM to 2GB.

P Series price point

That’s not the only thing Sony has doubled, with the P Series setting UK consumers back £849 inc VAT on its release in early February.

Being nearly double the price of rival netbooks that Glasgow states the P Series has been pitted against puts it in an almost completely category altogether.

The potentially redeeming feature for Sony is the laptop's 638g weight - which is around 500g lighter than most netbooks. So despite putting a strain on the purse strings, it should take some off your back.

Via PC Pro