Apr 13, 2009 by simonp
P for Pocket

Sony, the fashionistas of tech, keeps redefining style as evident in their new VAIO P Atom-class notebook. It’s annoyingly sexy due to its svelte 19.8 millimetre thin body and inconspicuous curved edges. It’s annoying because the VAIO P is so desirable yet so unattainable by many due to its hefty price tag.

Its 8-inch screen has an ultra-wide resolution of 1,600x768 pixels which makes onscreen things incredibly sharp. A side effect to this is that everything looks smaller, including fonts. As the VAIO P is made more for web browsing, internet chatter and watching YouTube videos rather than the heavy stuff like video editing, reading words onscreen can get uncomfortable after a while. This is of course unavoidable due to the VAIO P’s sheer portability. It’s a small price to pay for fashion.

Its battery can last about three hours and that’s good. On the performance end, the VAIO P works as what an ultraportable should, delivering just enough juice to keep us occupied in between the meaner machines. There are two USB ports, just nice for a mouse and maybe a USB flash drive, there’s also an SD and MS card reader, and a webcam buoyed by fantastic fun software. It may not be powerful enough to run high-quality 720p videos, but lower resolution ones run fine. This sacrifice is bearable if the VAIO P is a concubine with a larger wife waiting at home.

Verdict
Sony has the VAIO P’s design all correct
and that costs the extra dough.

YOU'LL USE THIS AT...
MEETINGS
Stun everyone when you bring the VAIO P into the boardroom and that’s half the battle won. Your PowerPoint slides and Excel budget forecasts will only share half the attention.

COLLEGE
Besides assignments, you can do instant messaging, video chat and more on the VAIO P! Turn on its wireless network adapter with a switch at the front of the notebook and then latch on to a connection. All this while your lecturer is yakking away.

THE AIRPORT
Weighing only 0.594 grams, you’ll never get sore shoulders from lugging a notebook around on your travels. The VAIO P’s so small, you’ll want to whip it out and start tapping its keys even if you don’t have a need to. Or if you want, you can answer emails before the flight.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Since you can easily conceal the VAIO P in the pocket of a cargo pants, you can catch a video while commuting on the train or in buses unlike the other peons who have unsightly thick books or unwieldy newspapers! Besides, the VAIO P has good battery life which should last the journey.

QUICK SPECS
SIZE/WEIGHT: 245 x 19.8 x 120mm. 594g.
SCREEN: 8-inch UWXGA, 1,600x768.
PROCESSOR: 1.60GHz Intel Atom Z530
MEMORY/STORAGE: 2GB memory. 64GB SSD.
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
TECH: USB2.0, Bluetooth, WiFi, SD and MS card reader

Sony VAIO P VGN-P15G
SGD1,699 - www.sony.com.sg