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THE VPC P115 IS easily the smallest laptop I’ve ever seen. It’s also the “loudest” in terms of its colour. The unit dropped off at Finweek for review is bright pink, including its keyboard keys. It’s also available in other colours, including orange, green, white and, thankfully, black.
It’s essentially a netbook computer with an Intel Atom 1.8Ghz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 60GB flash-hard drive, which means there’s no moving parts in the computer. The tiny form factor means it easily fits into a handbag or even the tiniest of briefcases – but it does come at a price. For one, the screen is minute and will test the eyes of users with anything under 20:20 vision. However, Sony has catered for that with a button on the keyboard that switches between the high 1 600 x 700 screen resolution to a larger 1 200 x 600 for easier viewing. But you won’t fit much on the screen at the lower resolution and things are very cramped even at high resolution.
On the other hand, its keyboard is surprisingly usable for its size and doesn’t compromise much. It also has comfortable spacing – between the keys. And while I wouldn’t tackle a 3 000-word feature on this computer, it’s certainly usable for email and short documents. The P115 also runs Windows 7 Home Premium, so there’s no skimping on operating systems.
The only department I found it lacking in was sound. The built-in speakers are terrible, which is a pity since it’s a great device to watch videos on. But Sony has included a set of headphones and it sounds great if those are used. You could also plug in external speakers.
Also included is a dock for the laptop that allows you to plug in an external monitor and Ethernet network cable. The device itself has two USB ports, a headphone jack and plug for its tiny battery charger.
It also has amazing battery life. In use the P115 reported six hours available, but it apparently uses almost no power when idling as I went through two days of casual use without recharging. There’s a tiny trackpad built into the side of the screen, with buttons on the other end, but the mouse interface is centred on a nipple in the keyboard used to guide the cursor with two mouse buttons below the keyboard. That works really well.
The VPC-P115 is rather expensive, considering its specs. The standard unit costs R12 000 and then there’s the P116, which includes built-in 3G and a GPS: that goes for R14 000. But if size is important to you and money isn’t a problem, then you certainly won’t find anything smaller or more capable for the price.
It’s essentially a netbook computer with an Intel Atom 1.8Ghz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 60GB flash-hard drive, which means there’s no moving parts in the computer. The tiny form factor means it easily fits into a handbag or even the tiniest of briefcases – but it does come at a price. For one, the screen is minute and will test the eyes of users with anything under 20:20 vision. However, Sony has catered for that with a button on the keyboard that switches between the high 1 600 x 700 screen resolution to a larger 1 200 x 600 for easier viewing. But you won’t fit much on the screen at the lower resolution and things are very cramped even at high resolution.
On the other hand, its keyboard is surprisingly usable for its size and doesn’t compromise much. It also has comfortable spacing – between the keys. And while I wouldn’t tackle a 3 000-word feature on this computer, it’s certainly usable for email and short documents. The P115 also runs Windows 7 Home Premium, so there’s no skimping on operating systems.
The only department I found it lacking in was sound. The built-in speakers are terrible, which is a pity since it’s a great device to watch videos on. But Sony has included a set of headphones and it sounds great if those are used. You could also plug in external speakers.
Also included is a dock for the laptop that allows you to plug in an external monitor and Ethernet network cable. The device itself has two USB ports, a headphone jack and plug for its tiny battery charger.
It also has amazing battery life. In use the P115 reported six hours available, but it apparently uses almost no power when idling as I went through two days of casual use without recharging. There’s a tiny trackpad built into the side of the screen, with buttons on the other end, but the mouse interface is centred on a nipple in the keyboard used to guide the cursor with two mouse buttons below the keyboard. That works really well.
The VPC-P115 is rather expensive, considering its specs. The standard unit costs R12 000 and then there’s the P116, which includes built-in 3G and a GPS: that goes for R14 000. But if size is important to you and money isn’t a problem, then you certainly won’t find anything smaller or more capable for the price.
