'Gorgeous' Vaio P Frustrates

Sony's tiny new laptop is slow and has woeful battery life
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2009 12:28 PM CST
'Gorgeous' Vaio P Frustrates
Sony's new VAIO P series 8-inch notebooks are shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show(CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 10.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Sony’s new netbook, the Vaio P, is about the size of "one of those plastic folders waiters use to bring you the check at a restaurant," but the pricey gadget is "very slow and has poor battery life," writes Wall Street Journal tech maven Walter Mossberg. It draws envious glances from passers-by, but they're no compensation for its tortoise-slow processor, dreadful battery life, and memory-hogging Vista Home Premium OS.

The Vaio P is sleek and has a great keyboard and a clear, albeit small, screen. The two gigs of memory are adequate, and the built-in 3G modem and Wi-Fi help Sony make the case that it's a competitor not just for laptops but for smartphones as well. "Unfortunately, once you actually start using it, that promise is dashed by its awful performance," Mossberg writes.
(More Sony stories.)

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