The good: High-resolution display; cool color combos; typical high-quality Sony construction and design.

The bad: Poor battery life; smallish keyboard; loud fan.

The bottom line: Attempting to create a premium-priced version of a Netbook, Sony has added an high-definition display to the Vaio W. It's an attractive step-up package, but the internal components are the same as in cheaper models.

Read full review of the Sony Vaio VPC-W115XG/P »

By Dan Ackerman, CNET.com
Aug 26, 2009

Sony's first foray in to the world of Atom-powered laptops was the Vaio P-series Lifestyle PC, which sported a unique miniaturized design (about the same footprint as a standard business envelope), but was hampered by input issues (no touchpad) and the use of Windows Vista as its OS.

At the time of that product's release, Sony was adamant that despite the Atom processor and small size, it was most definitely not a Netbook. The new Vaio W, on the other hand, is very clearly a Netbook with Windows XP, a 10-inch display and familiar Netbook form factor.

While the S$899 (US$648.68) price may cause some sticker shock as the base components aren't too much different from what you'd find in a S$699 (US$504.37) Netbook, Sony is hoping the inclusion of a 1,366 x 768 high-definition display is enough to push the Vaio W over the line into the elusive "premium Netbook" category--perhaps the Holy Grail of PC makers looking to escape the price-cutting wars at the lower end of the Netbook business.

If the high-resolution display is worth a S$200 (US$144.31) premium to you, than the Vaio W is one of the nicer overall Netbook packages out there. However, the same basic combo of an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP is definitely available for less. Dell's less snazzy-looking Mini 10 can also be outfitted with a similar hi-def display while offering more configuration flexibility.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

While not the thinnest or lightest 10-inch Netbook around, the Sony Vaio W offers a solid, well-constructed chassis that feels sturdier than some of the less expensive Netbooks we've seen. Our unit was decked out in an all-over pink color scheme, from a rich, darker pink on the lid, to a pale pink on the patterned keyboard tray, to a subtle pink crosshatch on the touchpad surface. If pink's not your color, brown and white versions are available as well.

With the recent (and welcome) trend toward oversized keys on Netbooks--relatively speaking, of course--we were a little surprised by how diminutive the keyboard on the Vaio W felt. It looks and feels like a shrunk-down clone of the standard Vaio laptop keyboard, with flat-topped, widely spaced keys. But this leaves the individual keys smaller than we'd like, and the Function, Tab, and right shift keys are especially tiny.

Features

Sony includes its custom Media Plus software for organizing and playing media files. It's a well-done app, but we're usually wary of investing the time to learn a proprietary software package that's used only on one brand of laptops.

The real star here is the 10.1-inch widescreen LED display. It has a 1,366 x 768 native resolution, which is higher than the Netbook standard of 1,024 x 600. We've also seen this higher resolution on a couple of 11.6-inch Netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC 1101HA.

While it's arguably a better fit on those 11-inch screens, it also works nearly as well on the smaller 10-inch display, and we didn't find text or icons too small to see. Of course, your mileage with HD video files with a Netbook's anemic video capabilities may vary; we were able to load up HD versions of streaming TV show episodes online, but they stuttered in full-screen mode.



Being a Sony Vaio, it's not surprising that there's a second media card slot for the proprietary Memory Stick format. And being at the top end of the Netbook price scale, it's also not surprising to find Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi included (but not HDMI, as found on the similarly priced Dell Mini 10).

Tags: Netbook, Sony Vaio, SD Card, Sony Corp., Keyboard

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