Sony VAIO in pink for the girlies… cringe!

Which marketing guru thought this one up? Oooh, pink is for girls! Girls will love this! Genius….

I know a lot of girls (no, seriously) and I can think of about five of them (that’s a small percentage, trust me) who would lap this up in true ‘Oooooh it’s girly and pink and sparkly and pretty’ style – we blame Paris Hilton for this sickening, irritating fad.

Anyway – you get the picture, there’s are two pink Sony VAIOs on the market aimed at the female market for its Signature Spring 2010 collection.

The first is the Pink CW laptop, the second is the Pink P Series Lifestyle PC. Every Sony VAIO Signature Notebook is a limited edition, meaning they will be available for a limited time only.

Sony go green with recycled VAIO laptop

Chargers are now draining less standing power in a bid to save the environment, gizmo’s such as Apple’s range are using materials that aren’t harmful to the world around us and Sony has now entered the eco fray.

One of its new SONY VAIO laptops will hit the shops made from recycled CDs and DVDs. Well, a quarter of it will be and there is no difference whatsoever to standard models in terms of size, functions and potential pricing.

In case you worry about cardboard and paper too, the machine doesn’t even come in a box when you buy it.

Instead it’s all packaged into a neat carry case also made from recycled materials, that you just pick up and walk off with.

New Sony VAIO laptops from just £560 at Laptopshop

The Laptopshop January sale has some extraordinary offers, with arguably the best coming in the Sony VAIO range.

New Sony VAIO laptops featuring Windows 7 Premium start from just £560, possessing some incredible specs.

Sony VAIOs are an excellent choice if you are considering purchasing a laptop. You can be sure that you will have access to the latest technological features while being stylish and comfortable at the same time. So if you are considering a new notebook computer, the Sony VAIO laptop may be the way to go.

Sony VAIO F-Series laptops on sale from mid January

Sony has drawn the curtains back on its latest multimedia laptop range, the Sony VAIO F-Series. Boasting a powerful specification, the laptop is primarily aimed at the creatively minded among us, and looks to be ideal for those after photo, video and music editing functionality.

Carrying out any of the above tasks requires power, and that’s something the VAIO F-Series should be able to deliver in truck loads. The base model boasts an Intel Core i5 processor and 4096MB of DDR3 memory, with the top-of-the-range model packing a more powerful Core i7 chip and 8192MB of DDR3 memory.

The 16.4-inch widescreen panel boasts a 1920 x 1080 pixel full HD resolution and aims to have your pictures, movies and Blu-ray discs looking fantastic. A powerful nVidia GeForce GT 330M graphics card is also in place, making the machine as well suited to gaming as it is to multimedia editing.

A recordable Blu-ray drive is included as standard for watching the latest HD movies and writing up to 50GB of data to disc, and a capacious 500GB hard drive lets you store huge amount of music, photos and videos with ease.

The laptops will be hitting the shelves on the 18th of January – pricing as of yet unknown, but we doubt they’ll slot into the refurbished laptops category.

Sony unveils four new VAIO laptops

Sony’s latest additions to the Sony VAIO family include an environmentally-friendly notebook featuring a reprocessed plastic chassis comprised of approximately 20 percent recycled CDs.

Consumer electronics giant Sony announced the release of four VAIO notebook computers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, including the Z-Series ultra-portable notebook, housed in a lightweight carbon-fiber chassis, the F-Series multi-media notebook, featuring Sony’s Transfer Jet technology to wirelessly transfer digital photos, W-Series Eco Edition mini notebook, incorporating a reprocessed plastic chassis and packaged in a reusable carrying-case and the Y-Series notebooks.

At just over three pounds, the Z notebook is housed in a carbon-fiber aluminum chassis and includes the latest Intel processor technology, as well as s a 13.1-inch (diagonal) high-resolution LED backlight screen, which conserves power and provides a wide spectrum of true-to-life colors. The Z model also has an optional Blu-ray Disc (BD) optical drive for creating and storing high-definition content. The PC integrates wireless 3G Mobile Broadband technology provided by Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband Built-In (optional), Wi-Fi (802.11n) and Bluetooth wireless technologies. The Z Series comes exclusively in solid state drive (SSD) models—up to 512GB. The Z Series will retail for about £1,300 and be available in summer, according to a company release.

“Sony engineers have raised the bar once again” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of the VAIO business group at Sony. “By melding cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray Disc optical drive, HDMI output and a hybrid graphics system into highly-mobile PCs, consumers can now enjoy HD content on their terms- in the living room, on–the-go, where ever.”

Nearly 70,000 Sony Vaio battery adaptors should be recalled

Bit of an embarrassment for the world’s leading tech manufacturer; Sony has had to recall around 69,000 AC adaptors sold with its Sony VAIO notebook products, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

It is believed the products have been sold globally.

No injuries have been reported, although Sony said that it has received four reports of the adaptors short-circuiting. The evil adaptor number in question is the Sony VGP-AC19V17.

The adaptors were sold between from September 2005 through October 2009, and included the Sony VAIO VGC-LT series and VGC-JS2 series notebooks as well as the VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 docking stations.

Sony will provide a free replacement for the adaptor, which consumers can request by visiting the Sony Laptops support site.

In 2008, Sony recalled 73,000 VAIO notebooks because of “irregularly positioned wires” that also potentially could have caused a short circuit.

Sony Vaio X battery claims put to the test

The incredibly thin (0.6-inches), light (just 1.4 pounds or 2.2 pounds with extended battery wedge), and expensive (£1,899.99 base) Sony VAIO X laptop is universally anticipated, set for release next month.

However, equally anticipated is whether Sony’s claim that the VAIO X battery lasts “all day and well into the night and will set the new standard for battery stamina,” as proclaimed at its IFA unveil back in September in Berlin, is in fact true or a load of codswallop.

Results show that if you’re hoping to get anything close to the hype then you’ll have to opt for the extended battery as the standard 4-cell battery only lasts for about 3 hours. Thankfully, the extended battery bolt-on is included in the X-series price… and <drum roll> according to tests, the VAIO X happily motored on for almost 10 hours using WiFi (GPS and 3G turned off) thereby easily usurping most 6-hour, 6-cell laptops.

Looking good.

Sony laptops go pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast Cancer Awareness month has arrived this October, and Sony are showing their support with a range of pink gear to help raise the profile of this great and much-needed cause.

Their pink products include a special pink VAIO W Series Mini Notebook bundle, which includes a pink mouse, pink case for the laptop, and a two-tone pink laptop itself. Under the pink skin, the machine is the same VAIO W we have already seen.

The pink Sony VAIO laptops have 10.1-inch screens, N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 160GB of storage. Sony is also offering its Reader Pocket Edition in rose, otherwise known as pink, as well. Sony reports that it will donate $110,000 to breast cancer research from the proceeds of the research.

Sony roll out backstage remote support for laptops

Sony have unveiled a new service for consumers to optimise their experience with their Sony VAIO laptops. A new Backstage Remote service allows online technicians to diagnose, repair, and upgrade devices remotely so consumers don’t have to leave their homes. Backstage Remote complements the existing Backstage services offered by some Sony stores across the country.

“We know consumers with Sony laptops are extremely busy and when they need PC support they don’t always have time to come into our stores,” said Steven Nickel, Vice President, Backstage Services Group. “Backstage Remote allows us to provide a high level of support at the convenience of the customer.”

Customers can select from a menu of services starting at £19.99, like PC Tune Up, PC Software Repair, Data Back-up and setting up your digital camera to transfer pictures to your PC. For PC support, a technician assumes control of the PC remotely and provides the diagnosis and repair or upgrade.

Big name manufacturers looking to 3D screens

Dell, HP, Sony and Lenovo are working with far-east company Wistron on laptops with screens capable of 3D imagery.

The systems should utilise stereo 3D technologies patented by Wistron itself. Acer is also said to be looking into the feature having struck a deal with US-based DDD company, who offer similar services to Wistron.

While the quality of stereo 3D technologies of DDD or Wistron is not clear at the moment, just like technical requirements of these technologies, it is certain that all of the aforementioned notebook makers (and stereo 3D tech developers as well) are planning to target high-end notebooks for gamers with advanced capabilities.

HP laptops have led the way in 3D enterprise but Sony laptops are coming up in their rear-view mirror – though they’ll be hard-pressed to counter HP’s target date of June next year.