Sony's VAIO P Series: A Netbook or Not?

Ever since pictures of Sony's VAIO P Series first leaked out, the tech blogosphere was very excited since every body thought that Sony was releasing their first netbook. Well, after Sony released the expected price of the VAIO P, which is around $900, all praise about this netbook quickly went down the drain.

In fact, during the 2009 CES, Sony has been explaining how the VAIO P Series is NOT a netbook and in a recent interview by laptopmag with Sony's Mike Abery, the latter explained why the VAIO P shouldn't be called a "netbook". Before I get to that interview, let me break down the Sony P Series' specifications: The Sony P Series sports an Intel Atom Z520 processor and has 1.33 GHz of speed, 2GB of RAM, 60GB hard disk drive, 8 inch 1600x768 high resolution screen, Bluetooth, WiFi, WAN, and GPS.

Now standard netbooks in the market have standard specifications of: Intel Atom Processor 1.6GHz, 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 8-12 inch screen, Bluetooth, and WiFi. As for WAN and GPS, some users buy a mobile broadband dongle and a GPS dongle to have both features on their netbook. Plus, standard netbooks cost about half the price of the VAIO P series.

Now going back to the interview, Sony's Mike Abery states that they're putting the VAIO P series in a different category altogether, apart from netbooks and ultraportables. They say that the VAIO P Series is geared towards consumers who are more concerned with form factor and mobility, and is "skewed more female than male". And Abery is even quoted as saying that the type of premium customer they are targeting "probably doesn't even know what a netbook is". So basically, what Abery is saying is that the VAIO P Series is for the Paris Hilton type of consumers who don't know what a netbook is and wouldn't even bother doing a product comparison. They will just buy the P series mainly for its looks. No wonder Sony decided to make use of 7 blondes when they created a buzz about the VAIO P at the Grand Central Station.

And talk about trying hard, Sony even went to the lengths of breaking down the points why their P series shouldn't be called a netbook, over at their Sony blog. Thankfully, Engadget had the sense to rebut all of Sony's claims.

Best Buy descries Netbooks as "Netbooks may look like laptops, but they don't have the full capabilities of a computer. Instead, a netbook specializes in mobility and the Web, so it's great for travel or as a supplement to your main PC." Hmm, the VAIO P doesn't have the full capabilities of a PC, in fact, its processor is even slower than standard netbooks and Sony has always claimed that the VAIO P series is great for traveling, however, Wikipedia says that netbooks are a class of laptops that are small, light, and inexpensive. That's the only thing missing from the VAIO P, its supposed to be inexpensive which puts it in a new category: overpriced netbooks.

Sony products have always been known for having a premium compared with products of other companies. They're like Apple in a sense but instead of offering innovation, they always justify their premium prices because of their product's "style". However, considering that there's an economic crisis going on, I think calling the VAIO P series a "class of its own" in order to justify its pricing is just too much. A netbook is a netbook no matter how much you style it.