Friday, October 30, 2009

Sony launches lightest notebook ... so far

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Evergeek Media

Upping the ante by lowering the profile in the remarkably competitive skinny-laptop space is Sony's latest, the Vaio X.

Clad in resilient but lightweight carbon fiber, the 11.1 inch (diagonal) Vaio X weighs in at 1.6 pounds and is just half an inch thick. Within that, it sports a 1366 by 768 resolution (16:9 widescreen) LED screen and a built-in Motion Eye camera in its upper fold.

And while notebook ultra-lights designed for travel aren't exactly renowned for horsepower, the Vaio X looks to buck the trend by offering a 2.0 GHz Intel Atom Processor and 2GB of RAM -- which is pretty spiffy for a wafer-book, far superior to the typical low-rent "netbook."

In terms of juice, the Vaio X sports 3.5 hour, low-profile battery, but Sony is also offering a bulkier battery option for frequent flyers and road warriors that will reportedly extend Vaio X life up to 14 hours.

So much for ultra-thin, which Sony spins as good for "propping up" the Vaio X for better typing ergonomics. Surprisingly, within the confines of its stock thinness, the Vaio X manages to include a (seemingly huge) VGA port, two USB 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port and the requisite Memory Stick Duo and SD Card slots.

The Sony Vaio X is available now for $1,299.99 in the U.S. and is expected to retail in Canada for $1,499.99 in November.

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