Sony's Vaio P managed to generate some buzz at CES, largely based around its minuscule footprint, 1.4-pound weight and ultra-wide LCD screen. Sony aggressively marketed this device as not being a netbook, but rather as a full-functioning laptop. They even went as far as to install Windows Vista Home Basic on the Vaio P despite an Atom processor, and gave it the 1600x768 resolution. This left two big questions to be answered: Is it suitable for real everyday use? And does it transcend the netbook category and enter the realm of media notebook?
If "everyday use" means some light multitasking focused around the internet, then you may be using the Vaio P with regularity. But assuming media notebook status entails watching HD Youtube vids while working in Photoshop, the answer to the second question is a definitive "no." On the other hand, any way you slice and dice it, the Vaio P is a netbook. I came into to this review with modest expectations, and tested it as such. I didn't beat the hell out of it by trying to install Adobe Premiere or play Crysis on the thing. But seeing as Sony was talking a big game, I tried to do more than browse pages, listen to music and check email.
The review unit I tested had a 1.33 GHz Z520 Atom Processor, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD and Intel integrated graphics designed for MIDs. So I decided I would try to run three to five apps at any one time, essentials like SlingPlayer, Pidgin, Skype, VLC, iTunes and Gimp. Meanwhile, I'd have Firefox open, running Google Docs, Flickr and Youtube.
For the most part, this machine ran speedily, handling Pidgin and many-tabbed Firefox along with other apps. I wouldn't consider the Vaio P as fast as a standard laptop in a similar scenario, but it definitely feels faster than most netbooks. Resident netbook expert Mark Wilson also noted that in the short time he spent playing with the Vaio P, it felt two or three times faster running Vista than other netbooks running Vista.
I suppose it's no huge shock, but trying to play most video on the Vaio P was pretty rough. It could handle anything in the resolution ballpark of 320x240 without failure, but 640x480 fullscreen video would lag and 1280x720 video (from vids created on my Kodak Zi6 and from YouTube) would freeze within a few frames. Locally stored, non-HD DivX movies either ran in slow-mo or lost every third frame. The moral of the story: If Sony is going to be adamant about their product not being a netbook, adequate video playback is a must.
The review unit I tested had a 1.33 GHz Z520 Atom Processor, 2 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD and Intel integrated graphics designed for MIDs. So I decided I would try to run three to five apps at any one time, essentials like SlingPlayer, Pidgin, Skype, VLC, iTunes and Gimp. Meanwhile, I'd have Firefox open, running Google Docs, Flickr and Youtube.
For the most part, this machine ran speedily, handling Pidgin and many-tabbed Firefox along with other apps. I wouldn't consider the Vaio P as fast as a standard laptop in a similar scenario, but it definitely feels faster than most netbooks. Resident netbook expert Mark Wilson also noted that in the short time he spent playing with the Vaio P, it felt two or three times faster running Vista than other netbooks running Vista.
I suppose it's no huge shock, but trying to play most video on the Vaio P was pretty rough. It could handle anything in the resolution ballpark of 320x240 without failure, but 640x480 fullscreen video would lag and 1280x720 video (from vids created on my Kodak Zi6 and from YouTube) would freeze within a few frames. Locally stored, non-HD DivX movies either ran in slow-mo or lost every third frame. The moral of the story: If Sony is going to be adamant about their product not being a netbook, adequate video playback is a must.
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