The second set of controls are situated either side of the display – a small touch-sensitive section sits on the right, while left and right buttons are on the left. It’s a nice idea, but the buttons tend not to react unless pressed firmly, and the small touchpad requires very small and precise finger swipes in order to accurately move the mouse pointer.
Certainly, slim but a bit on the long side for coat pockets
With the screen having a relatively high resolution, reading small text can be tricky. Thankfully Sony includes a ‘big/small’ button (it’s probably got a more glamorous official name), which quickly switches between the native resolution and a more eye-friendly 1,280 x 600.
At half the weight of most netbooks, it won’t weigh you down
As far as connectivity goes, the VPCP11S1E isn’t left wanting. The usual 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth and Gigabit Lan are joined by an unlocked 3G mobile broadband module in the form of Qualcomm's Gobi 2000. Sony’s also managed to cram in a GPS receiver and the VPCP11S1E will even tell you in which direction you’re stumbling with its built-in electronic compass. Other goodies include an ambient light sensor that adjusts the screens brightness, SD and Memorystick slots, two USB ports and a 0.3Mp webcam.
Benchmark Tests
PCMark05 Results
CPU
Longer bars are better
Memory
Longer bars are better
HDD
Longer bars are better
Video Loop Battery Life Results
Battery life in minutes
Longer bars are better
Unlike with most netbooks, which have to make do with Windows 7 Starter, Sony’s been able to instal the fully-fledged 32-bit Home Premium version. Unsurprisingly, the Atom processor occasionally finds things a bit too much and sluggish moments occur from time to time. PCMark Vantage, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 06 all proved too much, but it did manage to stumble its way through the entire PCMark05 suite, achieving an overall score of 1119. The HDD score of just 3520 was disappointing, though, especially considering the use of a 64GB SSD.
COMMENTS
Thanks
Thank you for testing the Vaio P with Ubuntu - you've probably saved a number of Reg readers some grief.
Try MediaPlayerClassic
VLC uses CPU rendering whereas MPC will hook into the GMA graphics and use some of that grunt to render.
I have the same problem with 1080P encodes on my media center, the dual core amd 2.0GHz chip isn't up to smoothly rendering the file in VLC but when using MPC the ATi3850 I have stuffed in the box makes no deal out of it.
Also try running MSCONFIG and removing some of the pointless crap on startup. If it has an SSD look at an optimisation guide for SSD's aswell as there's a ton of crap running to aid HDD's that have a negative impact on an SSD.
Netbook? Really?
So, unless you're from Psion, a netbook is a small, cheap, low-powered laptop with a low-res screen. The Vaio P doesn't have the traditional netbook form-factor and it's got a (significantly) above-average screen compared with netbooks. Unsurprisingly, this comes at a premium (especially since the cost of the panel isn't shared among every manufacturer on the planet), so it's not cheap. So why are we calling it a netbook? The article eventually points out that it's not one, but that doesn't really excuse putting "netbook" in the review title. It's not like Sony claim it's a netbook.
By all means rant about whether it's value for money, but starting out by calling it a netbook necessarily puts it on a back foot. If you started by calling it a subnotebook, you could describe it as "cheaper than average and a bit slow". Since "subnotebook" seems to have disappeared from the technical vocabulary, I'd like to remind you that they're very small, premium notebooks, typically compromising functionality in favour of size. This is exactly what a Vaio P is. However, every manufacturer who has traditionally made subnotebooks is now on the back foot, because everyone compared their premium models with the Eee PC. The Eee was "good enough" for a lot of users (especially those like me, used to second-hand Librettos), but that doesn't mean you can ignore every corner that it cut; it was never *that* small, and it was more compromised than true subnotebooks.
If I was in the market for a new laptop, the screen is the first thing I go for, with a portability second. For me, a Vaio P is a very tempting proposition (but not in pink), although I can't deny I'd like it to be a bit cheaper and to have a slightly smoother linux install process. If you're not a resolution addict like me, I'm sure it looks over-priced compared with an original EeePC, because you have no interest in the premium features it offers. Reviewers who don't like high resolution screens (*some* people are comfortable closer to the screen than others) killed the 15.4" WUXGA laptop market; criticising a netbook whose USP is that it has a high-resolution screen for having a high-resolution screen seems unduly harsh. People who want a Vaio P presumably want it because of the screen, not in spite of it (unless they're both idiots and fashion victims).
The Vaio P is in a niche of its own. There are plenty of things to criticise about it, but please don't compare apples to, er, apricots.
Close
... But far too expensive and not good enough to justify the pricetag!
Get yerself an Asus 1005HA-H for £250. Still getting about 9hrs battery from mine and it's under 1.5Kg in mass. Absolutely top machine, great for long-haul flights and daily commuting.
Ok so it's slightly larger than the P Series, but 1/3rd of the price and actually usable as your main machine.
