Posted 10/29/09 at 09:40:46 AM by Paul Lilly

Here's a recall you don't see very often. Sony, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, announced a voluntary recall of some AC adapters in use on certain all-in-one Vaio desktops and Vaio docking stations.

According to the safety notice, faulty insulation inside the AC adapter can fail over time, which then poses an electrical shock hazard. So far there have been four reports of the affected adapters short circuiting, none of which occurred in the U.S., but no one has been injured.

The recall affects AC adapter model VGP-AC19V17. These were supplied with certain all-in-one Vaio desktops (VGC-LT series and VGC-JS2 series) and Vaio docking stations (VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1) sold through various outlets between September 200 through October 2009.

If you have one of these adapters, Sony advises turning off the PC and unplugging it right away. You can contact Sony for a replacement either by calling 877-361-4481, or by visiting the firm's website at esupport.sony.com/ac19adapter.

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Posted 10/08/09 at 06:47:52 PM by Jason Barry

Sony is accepting pre-orders for its newest laptop, the Sony Vaio X Series. Though most would consider this a “netbook” solution due to its hardware, it might be one of the snazziest, albeit most expensive, looking netbooks on the market.

Sony managed to cram an 11.1” widescreen, up to 2GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD and a 2GHz Intel Atom processor into a half-inch body weighing 1.6 pounds. They piled up some extras too: internal Verizon Mobile Broadband, GPS, webcam, and memory card readers. Oh, did I forget to mention, you could get up to 14 hours of use out of the included, extended battery (up to 3.5 hours with the standard).

No doubt, the extended battery increases the size and weight of the book, but all-things-considered it may be worth it to be that long without a power cable.

The price tag is steep (starts at $1299) for netbook-grade performance. You can check out more pics and pre-order your own at the Sony Style site. Is the X Series too rich for your blood?

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Posted 08/14/09 at 09:42:22 AM by Paul Lilly

Remember that whole fiasco with Nvidia graphics-based notebooks giving up the ghost because of a "weak die/packaging material set?" That manufacturing defect ended up costing Nvidia millions of dollars in warranty repairs. It also led to extended warranties by some OEMs, the latest of which is Sony.

"Sony, in cooperation with Nvidia, has been looking into any possible effect to Vaio notebooks with Nvidia graphic processors. Until recently we had not identified any Vaio models that were affected by this issue," Sony said in an eSupport USA notice.

The statement went on to disclose that a "very small percentage" of Nvidia-based Vaio PCs may exhibit "distorted video, duplicate images, or a blank screen" because of the faulty GPU.

According to Sony, affected models include the Vaio VGN-AR1xx, VGN-AR2xx, VGN-AR3xx, VGN-FZ1xx, VGN-FZ2xx, VGN-FZ3xx, VGN-FZ4xx, VGC-LT1xx, and and VGC-LT2xx series. For those who need repair service because of a failing GPU, Sony said it will provide a three year warranty extension.

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Posted 08/10/09 at 04:33:19 PM by Andy Salisbury

For those of you that are looking to get a Windows 7 Vaio from Sony, don’t plan on using the Windows XP mode to run applications, because it won’t be included with the systems.

According to Sony’s Xavier Lauwaert Windows 7’s XP mode will be disabled due to security reasons. According to one of Sony’s engineers, they’re “very concerned that enabling VT would expose our systems to malicious code that could go very deep in the Operating System structure of the PC and completely disable the latter.”

Apparently Sony still plans to enable XP mode on some machines, but as to which models they choose or when it’ll be available, nobody knows.

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Posted 07/24/09 at 05:55:19 PM by Andy Salisbury

According to a recent interview with Sony’s Senior Vice President of Information Technology Products Mike Abary, there has been a recent push towards bringing touchscreen Vaios to consumers, as well as integrating them with a plethora of goodies.

The touchscreen Vaio, which will be known as the Vaio W, is reported to integrate the PlayStation Network to deliver movies and TV shows (possibly games) and come with eBook functionality. They’ll also be based off of Windows 7.

No official word yet on pricing, but you can expect them in time for the holidays.

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Posted 07/07/09 at 04:09:28 PM by Andy Salisbury

With their latest introduction to the Vaio line Sony is looking to bring their newest netbook, the Vaio W, to the states.

The 10.1-inch netbook will feature some pretty common specs: a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM, Windows XP, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n, VGA out, two USB ports, Ethernet, a webcam, and MemoryStick/SD card readers. It’ll also come with a three-cell battery stock, and feature an 86 percent size keyboard.

It’s reported to cost about $500, and is set to release about mid-August. And best of all, it’ll come in three flavors: berry pink, sugar white and cocoa brown.

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Posted 02/18/09 at 07:17:28 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Sony has reached an agreement with Corel to use the latter’s InstantON technology in future Vaio P-series netbooks. Vaio Ps with Corel’s instant-on OS will begin appearing on American store shelves later this month. A lot of PC manufacturers are incorporating instant-on solutions in their netbooks.

The technology allows users to perform tasks like web browsing without having to wait for the main OS to boot. Though both the companies waxed eloquent about the inclusion of Corel’s Instant On technology in the world’s lightest 8 inch notebook, it still doesn’t seem enough to justify the netbook’s $900 price tag.

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Posted 01/08/09 at 02:24:07 PM by Benson Hong

In our recent roundup of netbooks, we dubbed these little PCs to be a “great second computer” but a “pathetic first one.” At CES 2009, Sony’s introduction of the new Vaio P has turned some heads about the full potential of this so-called netbook-in-disguise. Weighing in at only 1.4 pounds and measuring in at just under an inch thick, this little guy packs an 8-inch widescreen with a 2.08:1 aspect ratio and a supported resolution of up to 1600x768.

Inside the Vaio P you will find a 1.33GHz Atom processor, 2GB of ram and a SSD drive ranging from 64GB to 128GB of storage space. Built-in is wireless WAN 3G (Verizon Only), 802.11 Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The P’s instant-on OS allows for quick access to the Sony’s Xross Media bar interface making access to photos, music, videos, and the web seemingly fast. Included also is an integrated real-time GPS functionality with turn-by-turn directions. An internet connection is not required in the United States or Canada.

Expect a starting price of around $900 and shipments beginning in February.

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