Sony VAIO W-Series Netbook - Hands-on

When it comes to netbooks, Sony has exhibited the kind of reticence that allowed Apple to muscle in on the portable media player market it so long dominated. After the super-expensive and largely pointless P-Series 'lifestyle' something or other, it finally announced its first genuine netbook last week, the W-Series. Earlier in the week I had a little time to take a closer look, so here are my first impressions of Sony's first netbook.

I'll deal with the normal pleasantries now. While this is indeed the first Sony netbook, it is restricted by most of the same rules as everyone else. This means you'll get an Intel Atom N280 processor, 1GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. There's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth too, while there's a webcam for video chatting and the like.

This just leaves the major headline: the display. It looks as though the W-Series will be the first netbook to take advantage of Intel's newly relaxed rules regarding netbooks by utilising a 1,366 x 768 resolution, 10in display. Naturally it's LED backlit, just like every other netbook, but the resolution is a massive improvement for a 10in netbook and we fully expect Asus, Acer, Samsung and the rest of the gang to follow suit just as soon as they are able.

As for the display itself, on first inspection it's a bit of a stunner. Being a relatively high resolution for such a small display means it has a very high dot pitch, so is razor sharp. This might prove challenging for shorter sighted folks, but if every netbook starts shipping with a screen of this resolution I (for one) won't be complaining. On a more negative note, though, the W-Series follows the trend toward reflective glossy displays. Netbooks with anti-glare displays are few and far between these days!

Connectivity is the usual fare, with three USB ports, a VGA output, audio jacks, an Ethernet port and an SD card reader on-hand. One change is the inclusion of an obligatory Memory Stick reader, a regular feature of every Sony notebook, though one few are likely to use. Were a prize for bloody-minded persistence on offer, Sony and its proprietary memory could run Toshiba (it of Blu-ray denying fame) pretty close!

From a design standpoint the W-Series is an undoubted success. Visually it's a bit like a slightly more refined version of the Toshiba NB200-10Z, which itself appeared to have more than a little Sony influence in its design. Like the company's NS-Series of notebooks, the body of the machine is a textured plastic, albeit finer and smoother to the touch. On the lid, meanwhile, the W-Series is finished in a smooth matte plastic that should be more durable than some of Asus' recent offerings.


Sony will also be selling the W-Series in different colours, with brown, white and pink being on show. It has also created matching accessories, including slip-cases and mice. They're very nice, too, though Sony won't be shipping the machines with the slip-cases, so be prepared to pay a little more for the those.

Vital to any netbook is the keyboard and if there's an area where the W-Series might polarise opinion, this would be it. Like most Sony laptops it has an isolation-style keyboard and it looks very cool. We even like the key action, which is quite different to most. While the key travel is very shallow, even by Sony's normal standards, the keys have a very snappy and light feel that works rather well. It takes a little getting used to, but after a couple of minutes I was quickly up to speed.
So, what's the problem? First, there's the size of the keys; they're just a bit on the small side. Probably not small enough to be a deal breaker, but compared to any of the latest 10in netbooks they're definitely smaller - I'd liken the Sony to the original Acer Aspire One and the D150 in this respect. My real gripe, though, is a bit of a perennial classic - the right-Shift key. It's just tiny, no bigger than a normal key, though it is at least positioned fairly sensibly. Overall, the keyboard isn't bad per se and in some ways it's actually very good, but there are one or two quirks to contend with and while I liked the key action, it's easy to imagine others not agreeing.

While larger 'extended' batteries for the W-Series have been pictured, the retail machines won't ship with them. We weren't able to ascertain the size and capacity of the provided batteries in our time with the machines, but given the W-Series weighs around 1.19kg it's probably a three or four-cell unit. Of course, as the Asus Eee PC 1008HA demonstrated, this needn't mean bad battery life, so it's impossible to pass judgement on that right now.

As yet Sony hasn't settled on a final price for the W-Series, though a release in August at around £400 were the figures discussed with us. Given this is Sony and it has a unique feature (i.e. the high resolution display) up its sleeve, this isn't a terrible price. Overall, Sony appears to have many of the right ingredients for an excellent netbook, but how long until Asus et al jump on the bandwagon? If and when they do might be the deciding factor in the W-Series' success.

Each colour version has a matching slip-case, but you'll have to pay extra to get one.

On the front are memory card readers for SD and Sony's proprietary Memory Stick formats, along with a wireless radio switch.