Sony's not elaborating much on the new Vaio X notebook announced today, but it could shape up to be another misstep by the electronics giant.
The Vaio X's greatest asset, reported by Engadget, is its slim figure, measuring just 0.5 inches thick, with an 11.1-inch display. Built from carbon fiber, the laptop weighs in at a mere 1.5 pounds.
From there, we know very little about the Vaio X. Sony says it will "set the new standard for stamina," but didn't provide an estimate for battery life. There's an Atom processor inside, but Sony didn't specify which flavor. No other specs are available, and Sony wouldn't even let Engadget hold the model that was on display at IFA 2009.
So what we've got here is a very nice-looking computer that probably won't be too powerful and will likely cost an arm and a leg. That's just speculation, but given Sony's track record of selling high-end computers, I'm not expecting the Vaio X to be a low-cost ultraportable that competes with netbooks and consumer ultra-low voltage PCs.
Need the Dell Adamo be mentioned as a lesson? The super-sexy, super-slim PC market is not lucrative to the point that you can put an uninspiring computer in a fancy wrapper and sell it for any price, especially in this economy. Maybe Sony's hoping things will improve by the time the Vaio X is released -- date unknown -- but even then I think people will look at the Atom processor inside with a skeptical eye.
It should be interesting to see how this computer plays out from here.
