Our podcast partner, Sascha, from EeePCNews.de (which has just relaunched as netbooknews.de) reports that he’s secured some new info on the Sony UMPC.
Wie ich schon auf Eeepcnews.de berichtete, wird der Sony Vaio P eine Atom Z520 CPU (1,33 Ghz) aufweisen, 2GB RAM, HDD und optional SSD, GPS, UMTS und das alles zu einem Preis, der sich wohl im Bereich um die 700 Euro einpendeln duerfte.
The Sony Vaio P will run on an Atom Z250 (1.33 as we’ve tested on the WiBrain i1 and Kohjinsha SC3) with 2GB RAM, an HDD and optional SSD, GPS and UMTS with a price around the 700 Euro (970 dollars) mark reports Sascha. The 2GB RAM hints at Vista (or ‘Windows 7 ready’.) Apparently, the Asian source indicated that the image, now confirmed as photoshopped, is actually very close to the real-deal.
In addition to the above, a new teaser has appeared in Japan Hong Kong. With these teasers appearing at different times in different places and with strange placeholders on Sony websites, you have to hope that the quality of the product is better than the marketing program which seems somewhat dis-jointed from a web perspective. Even the launch dates seem to vary between the 7th and 9th of Jan. The first CES press events are on the 6th Jan with the Sony ‘invitation only’ Press event planned for 4:15pm on Press day, the 7th in Las Vegas.
Wow!!!!
Looks Good.
Wait and See…
There is a huge void for a laptop small enough to carry everywhere so if they make it the size of something like 7″ to 7.5″ long, 3.6″ to 4.25″ in depth, and a height of under 1.3″ then it will be a hot product.
If it is too large which it appears to be and not be able to fit in a large jacket inside pocket then it will not do as well and price will be a key factor. I want a pocket laptop but if this thing is small but not that small to stow in a jacket then I might as well get any other laptop as I still will need a bag for it anyway.
What they need to do is model it after the Psion 5mx or HP Jornada 720 in overall size. That pic looks like the size of the old NEC 750 or 800 Handheld Pro device which still required a “man purse” to carry.
sounds like a mid.
the “umid” mid is probably the closest thing to that description, but its not available yet
http://www.umpcportal.com/products/UMID/MID
I agree with Al 100%.
I am confused. A 1.3 GHz Atom processor? My Acer Aspire One has a 1.6 ATOM and that is not very fast. Plus, that unit cost $300. How is this device going to be successful?
Your Acer Aspire is equipped with N270 processor. Z520 processor is different from N270 in terms of power consumption and HD 1080P playback hardware acceleration.
It is true. Sony revealed 1600 x 768 8 inch resolution at their web site
Looks good, but…this uses poulsbo, right? Does that mean I can´t connect it to a high resolution external display?
The CPU and HDD/SSD options are in keeping with the Vaio P series leak on Sony Style last week: http://jkontherun.com/2008/12/25/sonys-netbook-fits-in-a-pocket-might-not-fit-netbook-category/
I wonder if the 8″ LED-backlit screen with 1600 x 768 res is true too.
I’m going to the press event on the 7th, so it’s only a matter of days before we all find out! :)
Great stuff Jenn. Will be following your twitters and Xperia blogs!
a core solo would have been much better like the Q1UP i used to have. an amd dualcore like the Everun note would have been a blast, but it wont last long due to the small battery. i hope they provide other processors 1.33 dualcore maybe, anything but the 1.33 atom. i have read previously that they are slow.
will that amazing screen resolution play HD movies with that processor and the possible integrate graphics chip within this motherboard. any thought guys??
an everun note would be a better choice for performance and size or any other 1.6 atom, however the reliability issues of the note is a big downside.
hope things turn out better, the speculated appearance is amazing..
To be honest, I can’t really believe its an Atom processor in there. If it’s a 1.33 Atom then people are going to expect sub $600! If it’s got 6 hours battery life, GPS and 3G then it’s going to work in its niche but it will need some heavy marketing like the Sony UX did.
I’m sure it will have it’s fans though, either way.
S
Anyway, it will be launched in Korea at Jan, 8, 7pm.
Sony Korea is going to invite blogger right now.
By expectation of dimension will contain the battery size of 22W. 1.8 inch HDD and 8 inch 1600 x 768 resolution LCD will run out the battery 3~4 hours at optimal condition if they equipped with Z520 processor.
Sony Web teaser do not revealed the batter life and kind of processor. Simply, they say 1.3Ghz intel processor. If Sony do not use the atom Z520, the battery life will be 1~2 hours.
The price will be $999 range based on they are doing big party in world wide.
Let’s what’s happening
No systems are launched with sub $600 equipped with Z520 1.3G atom processor. See the U2010, R50, Sharp wilcom D4 and etc.
I agree but all of those systems are regarded as too expensive by many people.
Maybe Sony will hit the right balance with profit margin/sales numbers though. always try to keep in mind that increasing the price by a small percent can have a large effect on profit margin. If sales drop by a large %, you can still be in a place where lower sales nunbers mean higher profit!
Steve.
By the way, mate, that teaser image is from Hong Kong, now part of China. It is written in Chinese, after all, not very popular in Japan.
Please be more careful about these things – we love laughing at the Western can’t tell things about apart, especially when captioned :p
Corrected. Of course, not a mistake made on purpose! Don’t laugh at us ;-)
Al says:
“January 2nd, 2009 at 9:03 pm
There is a huge void for a laptop small enough to carry everywhere so if they make it the size of something like 7″ to 7.5″ long, 3.6″ to 4.25″ in depth, and a height of under 1.3″ then it will be a hot product.”
Have you seen the Fujitsu U2010 or U820 in the states?
Will be interesting to see what exactly this turns out to be…we’ll know soon enough…
Dis-jointed as this marketing campaign may be, Chippy, it’s working at least on the level that many websites I visit are talking about this lil’ guy…. ;-)
Creating a buzz on our level is often not good enough for consumer electronics producs. Bloggers like to think they are addressing the world of normal buyers but that isn’t the case so there’s often a scewed view.
Having said that, this device will probably be priced into an area where buyers/ IT departments will do at least some research on the ‘net so maybe you’re right! Maybe it’s hitting right mark.
Steve
Good points, Chippy….. although do you mean a ‘skewed view’ or ‘screwed view’?
;-)
Sony’s going to price their netbook at about $1k? Still unconfirmed, but I totally called it on the latest @gdgt weekly! http://bit.ly/Clc1
although i dont mind paying more for a quality product that i really like (which is why i support lowend – highend netbooks) if Sony actually releases this for $999 it is going to be an absolute failure. a device like this has to be cheap or it will fail just like all super small notebooks, UMPC’s, OQO’s, etc before it.
one has to wonder what Sony was thinking when creating this, it’s like they dont even have a clue whats going on in the world right now. out-of-touch companies remind me alot of out-of-touch people in general (politicians, celebrities).
from what i can see there is absolutely nothing revolutionary about it either besides being small, which is completely contrary to the marketing campaign. delete the touchpad/palmrest & add a trackpoint? big deal! Raon had them beat at least by using an optical pointer.
This is a revival of Sony’s C1 Picturebook from the 2000-2004 time period. Unlike the C1’s Transmeta processoor which was low powered in both senses, the Intel Atom is fairly decent. Also unlke the C1, there will probably not be a rotating webcam/digicam. “Subnotebooks” are not anew idea but the extreme price reduction with the coming of “netbooks” is.
Eww, no. If the CPU isn’t going to be the top end Atom Z540, what’s the point of getting Netbook-sized UMPCs that cost 2x the much.
Fujitsu U820 is a better choice for similar pricing, and the Wibrain I1 and the Viliv S5 will blow it away with better battery life and lower pricing.
Can the 1.33 atom menlow platform support 2GB? No one has done that so far. Does that mean its not menlow?
Scooobie
It supports 2gb. i had it running with 2gb here on the sc3
sony japan was saying : all to be revealed 5th Jan…
http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/
watch this space :)
and that’s about 24hrs (5th Jan JP time)
so everyone wake up at 3am to see it :)
brett – I don’t see 5th jan anywhere at that link?
Re-read brett’s post, he didn’t say that it said Jan 5th anywhere…what he said that if you watch that site, all will be revealed on Jan 5th…. ;-)
Hi!naqo! http://wrhodhuf.com iojcm tvrrg
New Sony UMPC info includes specs and a sub $1000 price. (Chippy/UMPCPortal) http://bit.ly/Da5g