Engadget Chinese got shots from a ‘trusted source’ of a Lenovo ultra portable that seems awfully familiar to the shape of the VAIO P [Product page]. Additionally it looks to be styled after the special ThinkPad Reserve Edition notebook. I’m all for the light-weight and keyboard friendly form-factor of the VAIO P; if only we can bring the price down. Competition certainly has the tendency to make that happen so we’ll just have to wait and see if Lenovo is actually going to market this device, and if they are aiming for the same price range or not.
Is Lenovo working on a VAIO P-esque ultra portable? http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=6235
Excellent, I hope other manufacturers also jump on the Vaio P bandwagon and give Sony a good competition, maybe even teach them a lesson for overpricing the P series to the point of being darn right rediculous!
Must admit, that Lenovo’s screen is way too wide, maybe even wider than the Vaio P! Still it looks nice. :D
Come on Stevie get your hands on this baby!
It would be great portable device ,if it has dual cpu inside , Able to multitask some app..
Looks really retro to me. It really looks like early pdas and hand-held computers. I’m not sure if I like the screen or not, as I don’t like to scroll down alot. But I do like the idea of Sony having a little competition-prices should start to go down on the Vaio P if this thing gets out in the wild.
I hope the do improve on the Sony P as it is too wide by about 1/2″ to easily fit in most large jacket pockets and should be only about 7″ to no more than 8″ long. Then it would be a great take with you everywhere PC!
Can’t wait for Asus/Acer/Samsung to produce something similar in terms of form factor as the Vaio P. If Sony can do it then I’m sure these companies can do it too. I really wanted the Vaio P but the asking price is not justified for what it is! I’m now having to look at other devices with portability in mind, such as the Viliv S5 which so far seems very promising (Thank you Steve for all your hard work on the Viliv S5)
The real question is, will a device of this form factor ever take off? Will consumers take a shining to it? I think probably not, as much as I hope otherwise! The price alone will be the biggest let down to give this new form factor even a chance in the market!
It’s just like the UMPC market, which lets face it, has a long way to go before the mojority of people even know what a UMPC is! But again, the pricing of UMPC has also been a factor in its own downfall, not forgetting the netbooks, which havent helped the UMPC market at all.
Netbooks are slowly becoming more and more usable with more power, and in the near future, better graphics, and will slowly just blend in with normal laptops. I have a Vaio VGN-SZ61MNB and a Samsung NC10, for my needs at home and out and about, the NC10 is more than enough and has a much better battery life! Of course this depends on the individual and their needs.
Anyway I hope this new form factor is here to stay and hope that the other manufacturers I’ve mentioned above, can do their part in making sure that it does. Sony has become a big joke over the last few year and I’d even go as far as to say that most of the big boys high up in Sony, are taking serious drugs because they havent got a clue!
Sony use to be the best portable music player manufacturer (I still beleive it is) and they let Apple take over from out of nowhere! To make things even worse, Sony are now making HiFi’s which come with docks for iPods, but what about their own players? just shove those into a USB socket and leave it dangling somewhere, that should be ok! FFS Sony, wake up!
I believe this type of pocket netbook or computer will take off but only if it is easy to carry as Al mentioned. I think the Sony P was close but not quite right. If they made it just a bit more easy to slide into a jacket pocket then it would do very well. I would definately buy a pocket netbook or laptop if it had a touch type keyboard and is easy to fit into my coat pocket.
I agree with James and Al, though the raon umpc sort of meets that design but didn’t take off. Perhaps because the Raon brand isn’t well known
The Raon was actually a bit worse in size than the Sony P; it is 4.64″ wide. Most large pockets have a hard time with anything larger than 4.3 to 4.5″ wide and the ideal width should be more like 4.25″ to me. Thus to me it is not about the brand but still about the size. Millions want the function of a basic laptop with a touch type keyboard but it must fit in a large inside jacket pocket so to me the size should be more like 4.25″ x 7.5″.
The Sony P and the Raon are too wide to fit in most pockets very well and the Sony P is a bit longer than it should be to really mobile. Remember the Psion 5mx it had an easy to touch type keyboard yet it was only 3.6″ x 6.9″ in size.
I must say, that I could not agree with you in 100%, but it’s just my opinion, which could be very wrong.
p.s. You have an awesome template for your blog. Where did you find it?
Looks absolutely disgusting!