Mar 16

Sony VAIO M netbook officially unveiled, attempts to befriend your wallet

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, laptop, netbook, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

It’s still mildly hard to believe that the Sony VAIO M is for real, given its lack of VAIO’s iconic chiclet keys plus the pretty convincing VAIO W fake that we’ve stumbled upon. Nevertheless, kudos to Sony for reaching out to a more affordable market with its new 3.1-pound netbook. The specs are the identical with the ones we saw yesterday and earlier this month, but hey, there’s no harm in having another party to welcome this fella, right? You can grab one now — in black or white — for £300 ($456) in the UK.

Gallery: Sony VAIO M netbook officially unveiled, attempts to befriend your wallet

Sony VAIO M netbook officially unveiled, attempts to befriend your wallet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 15

Sony Vaio M and its Atom N450 heart get unboxed

Posted in: netbook, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

Sony’s successor to the Vaio W netbook made its debut a little prematurely earlier this month, which has now been followed by its first unboxing and preview. Encased in an appealing matte black plastic, the Vaio M is set for an April launch in the UK at the very reasonable £300 ($456) price point. Unfortunately, the drop in price also means a lower-res 1024 x 600 display, while the W’s chiclet keyboard has also been replaced with a more conventional typing surface. With 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 250GB storage drive, Sony seems to be giving us the bare minimum here, but that’s alright with us — let’s just make sure this thing actually has a battery that lasts, shall we Sony? The original article doesn’t seem to be up anymore, but give the Google Cached source a click for some more pictures.

Sony Vaio M and its Atom N450 heart get unboxed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 05

Sony VAIO Z with Quad SSD stripped down and explained by its project leader

Posted in: hands-on, laptop, sony, SSD, teardown, Today's Chili, vaio

For the average geek like us, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching a gadget skillfully torn apart by its creator. That’s why we’re slightly envious of Engadget Chinese, who saw Sony VAIO Z Series project leader, Takamitsu Kasai, explaining the differences between the old and new VAIO Z literally part by part. Hightlights include Sony’s proprietary Quad SSD (so not user-upgradable, sadly), a redesigned heatsink to accommodate the new chips’ higher TDP (thermal design power), and various features of the “one-piece milled aluminum” and “hybrid carbon” chassis. Of course, all we really care about are photos of the naked VAIO Z, so go ahead and gorge yourselves after the jump.

Sony VAIO Z with Quad SSD stripped down and explained by its project leader originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceEngadget Chinese  | Email this | Comments

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Mar 04

Sony Vaio M surfaces… unofficially

Posted in: laptop, Laptops, leak, netbook, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

Well, what do we have here? It’s the Sony Vaio M series netbook, as yet unannounced but sitting here getting detailed all the same. The 10.1-inch netbook, which looks, well, pretty much identical to the Sony Vaio W series, is apparently going to boast a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 250GB hard drive, plus 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, and a built-in webcam. There’s no pricing information or dates of availability for these bad boys yet, but there’s one more shot after the break to gander at — if you’re so inclined.

Continue reading Sony Vaio M surfaces… unofficially

Sony Vaio M surfaces… unofficially originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 01

Sony’s Rocket Project helps students reach the stratosphere, unloads some Vaios in the process (video)

Posted in: intel, science, sony, Today's Chili, vaio
We’ve seen plenty of cockamamie rocket stunts in our day, but there are still few things cooler than an amateur project that reaches for the stars. To this end (and for some free advertising) Sony’s announced the imaginatively named Rocket Project, wherein eight high school science students will be selected to receive Vaio CW-series laptops which they’ll then use to design and build a twenty-five feet tall, 500 pound rocket capable of reaching the stratosphere (at least theoretically). Qualifying designs must also incorporate a Vaio Z-Series (Intel Core i5) laptop to control the rocket, and a Vaio F-Series (Intel Core i7) as mission control for the launch. As Tom Atchison, Director of the Association of Rocket Mavericks puts it, “the laptops from Sony and Intel have more computational processing power than some of the first spacecraft to reach the Moon. But can a Sony Vaio laptop launch a rocket? That is what this extraordinary group of high school students is going to find out, and I am very excited to give them an accelerated course in rocketry and the unique hands-on experience of building something capable of blasting off into space.” Sounds great — now, how about a similar project for embittered bloggers? PR after the break.

Continue reading Sony’s Rocket Project helps students reach the stratosphere, unloads some Vaios in the process (video)

Sony’s Rocket Project helps students reach the stratosphere, unloads some Vaios in the process (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 02

Sony Vaios Now in Super Bold Colors

Posted in: laptop, notebook, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

SonyVaioE2.jpgIf your personal color palate leans toward the shocking, Sony has a notebook for you. Actually, it has five. The company just announced the Sony Vaio E, and the “E” must stand for “electric.”

The line comes in five translucent high-gloss colors (Caribbean Green, Iridescent Blue, Coconut White, Hibiscus Pink, and Lava Black) and three matte colors (Maple Brown, Silver White, and Gunmetal). The lids of the glossy models are subtly patterned, and the palm rest is in the same color.

Besides bright colors, you’ll get an edge-to-edge keyboard, a dimpled touchpad that’s integrated into the palm rest, and a 15.5-inch widescreen display. For HD movie viewing, choose the optional Blu-ray drive.

Other specs include an Intel Core i5 processor, up to a 500GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium OS. Look for them to retail for about $700. You can pre-order one now, but they won’t be in stores until next month.

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Feb 02

Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops

Posted in: laptop, Laptops, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

Hey there, what’s this little surprise? Sony‘s colorful VAIO E Series laptops have arrived to cheer us up — and it looks like they’re going to do the trick, we have to tell you. These 15.5-inchers come in a wide range of colors, and you can mix and match lid and keyboard shades, if you dare. Inside, you get a 2.13GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a DVD burner and a 500GB hard drive. A Core i5 version is also right around the corner. You can pre-order one of these bad boys now for shipping in March — but it’ll cost you about $800. Hit the read link to check them out. There’s one more shot after the break.

[Thanks, Paul]

Continue reading Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops

Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceSony Style  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 22

Sony’s secret kill switch: myth, rumor or hearsay?

Posted in: rumor, sony, Today's Chili, vaio
Could there be something lurking deep inside your Sony laptop or TV programmed to break the device as soon as the warranty expires? That may sound like a crazy conspiracy theory not far off those involving the mysterious deaths of engineers, but it’s a theory that continues to persist to some degree in Japan, and even seems to have grown in recent years. As Telegraph.co.uk reports, the belief in a secret timer or “kill switch” has been around for the past twenty years or so, but it apparently took on some newfound momentum amid the rash of Sony laptop battery failures, which even prompted some Sony execs to publicly deny that such a switch exists. The kill switch apparently isn’t completely pervasive though, as the PlayStation 3 is supposedly “exempt,” thereby explaining its considerable success in Japan — although there’s some talk that’s because it’s a Trojan horse for Sony’s next big scheme: mind control disguised as 3D glasses.

Sony’s secret kill switch: myth, rumor or hearsay? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 20

Core i5 and i7-equipped laptops / desktops emerge from every corner

Posted in: BestBuy, CoreI5, CoreI7, intel, laptop, processor, refresh, sony, Today's Chili, vaio

Best Buy already stocked up on the Core i5-equipped VAIO S and Satellite E205, and now it seems that everyone else is following suit. Just weeks after Intel announced that it would be releasing Core i5 and Core i7 chips for the mobile realm, the usual suspects have already outed a number of refreshed rigs that include said slabs of silicon. Sony’s 14-inch VAIO CW is now available from $829 with a mobile Core i3, while the $1,120 version ships with a Core i5, NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 330M CPU and a Blu-ray combo drive. Dell has obliged by adding a 2.53GHz Core i5 to its 15-inch Studio (available now for $999.99), and there’s even a version that ships with Netgear’s Push2TV adapter for taking advantage of Intel Wireless Display technology. Over on the desktop side, Acer hasn’t wasted any time by updating its Aspire G Predator with a sultry black shell (as opposed to the old orange one) and a 3.06GHz Core i7-950 processor, though the $3,185 MSRP should scare away all but the hardest of hardcore. Seen any others get the Core i5 / i7 bump? Shout ’em out in comments!

Core i5 and i7-equipped laptops / desktops emerge from every corner originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceStudio 15 (1), Studio 15 (2), Acer, Sony  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 19

Sony VAIO Z brings Quad SSD drive and dynamic graphics switching to Europe in March

Posted in: availability, europe, launch, NVIDIA, sony, Today's Chili, vaio
Announced at CES with a “late Spring” availability, we just got word that the Core i7-620M pumpin’ VAIO Z series from Sony will be hitting Europe in late March. The Z’s biggest claim to fame is its ultra-fast Quad SSD, a rather unique Sony innovation that writes data in parallel to four SSDs (up to 256GB total capacity in RAID 0) at speeds up to 6.2x faster than typical 5400 rpm laptop hard disks. Sony also fits the Z with a hybrid graphics solution that combines 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with Intel HD graphics allowing you to automatically (or manually) switch between “speed” and “stamina” modes… presumably without requiring a logout if we’re reading “dynamic” correctly. Rounding out the specs are 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 802.11n WiFi, integrated optical drive, and optional VAIO Everywair 3G mobile broadband module all stuffed into this 13.1-inch laptop with 1920 x 1080 pixel LED backlit display with 210 x 23.8-32.7 x 314mm and 1.43kg footprint. Power AND portability? Come give us a hug Sony.

Sony VAIO Z brings Quad SSD drive and dynamic graphics switching to Europe in March originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSony Europe  | Email this | Comments

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