Sony announces a new Vaio P. We take a look at the prototypes!

My recent trip to Japan ended up being extended by that pesky ask cloud. So, what better way to pass the time than snooping around Sony's labs? In fact, I had the incredibly rare privilege of meeting the engineers in charge of the brand's Vaio P netbooks. They even showed me the prototypes that helped them develop the latest model. Take a look for yourselves!


The Vaio P is a long, thin netbook which, in spite of its original design, didn't really impress us that much when we tested the last version. Sony has, however, been hard at work updating the series, which it's hoping will prove more successful with European consumers, as in spite of its success in Asian markets, the second-generation Vaio P didn't do too well over here.

The new version will be cheaper, more powerful and will have a bigger hard drive. I can also personally confirm that is has an better finish. There are two major new features:

• There's no trackpad: there are now two buttons on the left hand-side of the screen, and a mini trackpad to the right of the screen (that Akari Hoshi is pointing to in the picture above). This makes for a whole new way of handling the product (see below).

• An accelerometer: turn the computer on its side, and the display flips round into a vertical position. I think it would have been even better with a touch-screen but Sony says this would make the product too expensive.

And now, I've saved the best until last: take a look at the prototypes that were used to develop this new Vaio P. The Sony R&D team took the last version of the netbook and set to work in a kind of DIY development process that almost reminds me of my own custom contraptions.


Now for a close-up:


And from the other side:


Our laptop specialist, Fabien Pionneau, should be taking a closer look at the finished product soon.

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