REVIEW: Sony Vaio P in 2023 - Pocket Sized, Ultraportable Mini Laptop! Still Usable?

Retro review of the Sony Vaio P (Gen 2) Lifestyle PC...a unique UMPC & netbook hybrid.
Is this mini laptop an ancestor to modern day Chromebooks, GDP Pocket series, and Xperia 1?

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More Vaio products: https://amzn.to/3FS52ZT

Details:
The Sony Vaio P series is a range of ultraportable subnotebook computers launched in January 2009.

It was marketed as a "lifestyle PC", although they share many characteristics with netbook computers. The device is slightly larger than previous Sony Vaio UX Micro PCs (handheld PC / UMPC), released 16 years before modern mini computers like the Steam Deck. Unlike the Sony Clie PDAs (i.e. Sony Clie UX50, NX70V, NX80) which runs on Palm OS mobile operating system, these machines run on a full version of the desktop class, more powerful Windows OS.

Easily carried in your hand or pocket, this compact stylish laptop was equipped with a full range of functions, enabling mobile computing anytime and anywhere. Contrary to being simply a miniature version of a usual notebook pc, the "VAIO® P series" featured a unique shallow-depth dimension that fit on a narrow café table. Ingeniously styled with sleek lines and round corners, the "VAIO® P series" was designed to slip easily into bags or pockets, increasing portability. The smooth flat surfaces devoid of screw holes or covers, evokes a beautiful appearance from any angle.

The Sony Vaio P series features an 8" LED-backlit display with native resolution of 1600x768, coupled with Intel GMA 500 integrated graphics, an Intel Atom CPU and up to 2GB of DDR2 memory. It uses a pointing stick in the keyboard as its pointing device. An integrated "Motion Eye" webcam (optional in some models) is located on the upper right corner of the display bezel. Built-in GPS (some models), Bluetooth, 802.11 b/g/n wireless and 3G or HSDPA mobile broadband comprise its connectivity options. Like most ultraportables and netbooks, an internal optical drive is not present.

At launch, the pre-installed operating system was one of the 32-bit versions of Windows XP, which has lower resource requirements than Windows Vista. Several people have succeeded in installing various versions of Linux on the Vaio P, most notably Ubuntu Linux, which allows for full 3D graphics to be utilized.

Since the release of Windows 7, the P series now ships with that OS installed. The Atom Silverthorne platform adopted by the P series sported lower power consumption and higher-clocked processor options compared to the more common Diamondville platform. In addition, the P series is the lightest and smallest laptop in its class, weighing roughly the same as the Apple iPad 2 tablet and less than all 10" netbooks, and the 7" Asus Eee PC models. The 1600x768 resolution of the P series' 8" display is also comparable to that of much larger laptops, such as the 12.1" Thinkpad X200s and its 1440x900 resolution.

Dependent on the model, storage was a 60GB or 80GB hard disk drive, or 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB solid state drive.

The VPC-P11 series (gen 2) launched in May 2010 featured a refreshed exterior, an accelerometer to enable switching from landscape to portrait mode, a tiny 16mmx16mm touchpad built into the LCD bezel, and a choice of five colours - 'electric orange, neon green, hot pink, icy white and classic black'. In addition, a button was added to instantly switch the screen to 1280x600 resolution, in order to make text more readable, as well as a digital compass, ambient light sensor, and higher-capacity battery (2500mAh).

The P series clamshell format was incorporated in Sony's Tablet P, which was released in November 2011. This tablet features dual touchscreen displays, a similar form factor to the later Microsoft Surface Duo.

Other unique netbooks from this era include:
HTC Shift / HTC Advantage X7510 / Nokia Booklet 3G / Toshiba Libretto W100 / OQO Model 02 / OQO Model 01 / Samsung Q1 / Asus R2H / Vulcan Flipstart / Handheld PCs NEC MobilePro / Psion Netbook / Fujitsu U820 / Fujitsu UH900 / Sharp Netwalker / Nvidia Shield / Sony Vaio VGN-U750P / Fujitsu LIFEBOOK U810

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