Just got back from lunch with the Sony boys where they pulled the new Vaio P from their jacket pockets.The P debuted at CES last week and has made it here in double quick time.

Sony has dubbed this machine the "Pocket Style PC". It's form factor is long and thin, as opposed to the more traditional notebook shape of other netbooks. Sony wanted to preserve a full-sized keyboard for the machine while still shrinking its overall size. The result is an ultra-widescreen, 8-inch display with a resolution of 1600 x 768 pixels.

The machine measures 245 x 120 x 91.8mm overall. Weight is 599 grams. Two models are availalable here in NZ. The P13 comes with a 1.33GHz Atom processor and a 60Gb HDD and retails for $1,699. The P15 has a 1.6GHz processor and a 64GB SSD and retails for $2,299.

The case is magnesium and four colours are available here in NZ, black, white, red and green.

The machine boasts 3 USB ports, slots for both SD and Memroy Stick, and a special port that is designed to take an adapter that will allow you to plug in a network cable or output to an external display.

A navigation eraserhead is used instead of a trackpad and you can even select items with it with a quick tap. There are also twin mouse buttons and two other very cool buttons on the keyboard rim. One of the two lets you boot into Instant Mode without starting Windows, and presents you with a PS3-style menu for getting to your browser, viewing your photos etc. The other button helps make use of the very wide screen by automatically resizing two open windows to sit side by side on the screen.

The Vaio P also boasts noise-cancelling that works with the provided ear-bud earphones, and has a built-in webcam at the top right of the screen.

The P is equipped with Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g/n wi-fi.

HD playback of video content is also provided and you can play AVCHD footage straight from a video camera or off the web.

Even the AC adapter is small.

Running Vista, the P gets along quite nicely, but I'm thinking Windows 7 will be the OS for this machine.

Oh yes, and the keyboard really is nearly full-size and quite comfortable. Except that the space bar is a little close to the rim of the machine and a little hard to hit.

Posted by Ted Gibbons at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 5 )

Video card manufacturer XFX has just released a range of ATI powered video cards. This in itself is hardly news worthy since the Radeon HD-4000 series has been doing the rounds for many months now. What is worth mentioning, however, is the fact that up to now XFX has been a one-brand band providing exclusive support for ATI’s main rival, Nvidia — and very staunchly so. Here at PCW Towers our ears, inboxes and IM windows have been filled many times over by XFX PR on just how superior Nvidia cards are to those produced by AMD owned ATI. XFX breaking exclusivity is a slap in the face for Nvidia to be sure, but for the rest of us, we look forward to seeing the personal touches XFX — renowned for tweaking their products to give them a performance edge over the competition — put on the upcoming lineup of Radeon cards.

Posted by Scott Bartley at 1:21 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )