Sony P Series VAIO Lifestyle PC
Ted Kritsonis
Sony makes no bones about the fact that they don't consider their new VAIO Lifestyle PC laptop to be a netbook. Despite its diminutive frame and lightweight design, the Lifestyle PC has some notable power under its hood that could make it a stronger performer when compared to other small laptops and netbooks, but it also depends on if you can get used to using it first.
It has an 8-inch widescreen, weighs 1.4 pounds and is less than one inch thick. It's a pretty-looking device that has a certain fashionable quality to it — something that Sony obviously intended for when it cited women as possible buyers and used terms like, "fashionista" and "long fingernails" in its press release. It comes in four colors: emerald green, garnet red, onyx black (or matte black) and crystal white. Accessories like cases and other items are already being made available to complement the Lifestyle PC.
Rather than come installed with Windows XP, Sony opted to have Vista Home Premium run on the Lifestyle PC. There's also an instant-on operating system, so that you can view content you have stored on it without booting up into Windows. The interface is the same as the one you'd see on the Sony Playstation 3 or Playstation Portable (PSP).
Under the hood, it has 2GB of RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n), Bluetooth, GPS and a 3G mobile broadband antenna. That means you can access the Internet using your data plan from your phone carrier. Verizon is onboard to provide the service so far.
On the keyboard, Sony had to cannibalize the trackpad to make the Lifestyle PC smaller. You'll have to use the pointing stick to navigate the cursor onscreen, which might be an issue for some users. The mouse buttons are right at the bottom below the keyboard, which might make things a little cramped as well. There are two USB ports on the side, and the Lifestyle PC comes with a dongle that you can plug in to another port that allows you to plug in an external monitor or an Ethernet cable for a wired Internet connection.
Battery life is said to be up to four hours, though you can pay extra for a bigger battery to double that. It runs very quiet because there are no fans whirling like crazy to cool down the processor. As expected, there's also a built-in webcam on the right-hand side for chatting through Skype, Windows Live, Yahoo! Messenger and other programs.
Sony even offers you the chance to have it personally engraved. It hasn't been released just yet, but Sony is accepting pre-orders on its website at a current cost of $899.