Sony has come up with yet another great looking VAIO. The VAIO P Series made the press at CES go gaga this week and I had a hands on session with it at the Singapore launch. I held it, opened it, pressed it, tried to flex it, typed on it and the VAIO P felt rock solid. Even the slim LCD screen doesn't flex a bit. For a tiny thing like the P, it sure has amazing built quality. My friends at Sony say it isn't a netbook, but how can you launch a small-ish notebook today and expect it not to be a "netbook"? I think the only thing that qualifies it as "not a netbook" is its price. It costs S$1,299 (more than double my Eee PC 901) but in the photo below it does make my Eee PC look like it was from the stone age.
Sony VAIO P next to my Asus Eee PC 901
The thing I liked best about the VAIO P is the screen. Absolutely brilliant when you play a HD video. But I was truly disappointed to find out that the Singapore version does not come with the built in 3.5G option. The ability to put a SIM card into a notebook is one of the best ideas in mobile computing ever. So while the US market gets that option, we here have to stick to good'ol Huawei USB modems.