Sony VAIO P Series

Since the P Series was introduced at CES 2009, there's been some debate about whether the new, 8in ultra-widescreen, pared-back P Series is, or isn't, a netbook.

Leaving that aside for the moment, it’s fair to say that it certainly looks like one. It’s small, it’s highly portable, makes friends with mobile networks easily and is clearly designed with the web in mind.

And it’s also a lovely thing, coming in four snazzy colours, with build quality to coo at, and a very satisfying ability to fold up snappily and be stowed in a (large) pocket or bag.

It’s very tempting to flounce about with, if only for the weight / looks of gadget envy ratio. It’s, undeniably, ridiculously portable.

But there are only two key points for a purchaser to consider: what it can do for you, and whether the uncomfortable-looking price tag up there can justify itself.

Speed-pacer

The P Series isn’t blessed with enormous power - our prototype felt distinctly sluggish at times - but then you won't be re-rendering Wall-E on this. For, say, browsing the net on your ‘book, or email, it’ll be fine. And we found the admittedly cramped keyboard less sausagey after a bit of practice.

In fact, sat in economy class (as if we would), the tiny dimensions could be a godsend: if you can fit your hands on a surface, you can type on it. Even the horribly fiddly trackpoint nipple is eventually tameable. Or you could use a mouse.

There’s no denying that the 802.11n, 3G SIM card slot and GPS on-board are very, very useful. We’d hesitate to strap it to a windscreen, but it’s small and portable enough to be able to pull out of a jacket pocket and work out just how lost you are. It’s the sort of integrated, thoughtful design that’s priceless for the inevitably mobile.

Money for nothing?

Except, of course, it all costs: that high-resolution screen; the GPS module, the expensive finish; that bespoke chassis design. It all adds to a piece of kit that could be uniquely useful to some, and merely quirky and interesting to others.

We can live with the almost complete lack of optical drive (and ports, come to that). And we can forget that US customers will pay $900 for it. If its quirks are useful, or you want the status of what is admittedly a lovely thing, it’s borderline justifiable at £849.

We’ll reserve final judgement until we see a fully working model; but we suspect that the kind of people buying cut-price netbooks in their droves will agree with Sony that this isn’t one of them.