Sony Vaio NW Range Launched

Having been at the front line of technology for a good few decades now any release by Sony is definitely worth a mention, and despite the somewhat low-impact last addition to the Vaio line up with the P-series ‘Sony netbook’ they are back to what they do best with the Sony Vaio NW notebook range.

Unsurprisingly the Sony Vaio NW range is sleek, subtly curved and available in a range of soft tones (including birch white, walnut brown and rattan silver) all of which have the iconic ‘Vaio’ logo embossed in silver in big letters along the top.

However the most notable thing about the NW range is not its design (as you would probably struggle to distinguish from, well, any other Vaio) but the fact that, according to Sony, it offers ‘entry level’ pricing for a Blu-Ray equipped laptop.

Obviously the main problem here would be the use of the phrase “entry level” – although Sony are renowned for their quality they are also pretty well known for their high prices – but for a change they aren’t that far from the truth.

The range starts at $800 (£490) which isn’t too bad, and it is only an extra $80 (£49) for the Blu-Ray drive as well, which isn’t too bad in the grand scale of things (considering that it is a Vaio). But obviously that on its own isn’t enough to justify the price tag, so there are a few nice things added in to make it worthwhile.

As it’s not currently available (it’s due to be released ‘sometime in the summer’) we don’t know the exact specifications of each model, but we do know enough to go by. There will be up to a 2.1GHz Core 2 Duo processor, combined with 4GB of RAM to support the (Genuine) Vista Home Premium that it runs. It will also have up to 400GB of HD space and an optional dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card which will compliment the 15.5” widescreen LCD display (which uses Sony’s patented XBRITE-ECO™ LCD technology which provides a crisp, vibrant and clear picture).

It also comes with the other standard features (including 3 USB ports, a series of card slots [ExpressCard, SD card and Memory Stick PRO] and a VGA and HDMI out socket) as well as up to 4 hours battery life which all adds together to be a very promising package.

In conclusion: admittedly this is nothing radical and does not change dramatically from what we have seen from Sony in the past – with the notable exception of the inclusion of a Blu-ray drive in a machine that looks vaguely affordable.

However one thing did puzzle me about the Sony Vaio NW details and that is why they needed to state that it runs Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium. Not only would it be an amazing reverse of trend for Sony to make machines running ‘un-genuine’ Windows, but it would also be highly illegal. Surely 99.99% of people would assume that it is genuine, and the 0.01% that don’t could probably work it out soon enough.

Via – Sony

Related Pages:

1. Sony Vaio E Series Laptop Launched
2. Sony Netbook (Vaio W)
3. Sony Netbook (Vaio P Series)
4. Sony Netbook (Vaio X) Announced
5. New Sony Vaio Laptops (F, S, Y Series) & Netbook (W Series) Announced (CES 2010)

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