Vaio P...new toy, shiny and white

[kaz]

Been waiting for work to format a red Vaio P with SSD (US version with 1.3 atom)...they were taking a bit longer than I wanted so I picked up a white one for travel/home/EFI datalogging. This one is the cheapest config with 60GB HDD, 1.3ghz Atom.

Loaded Windows 7 on it and it's pretty zippy compared to the when I played with it on Vista (and I had pretty much all services turned off). It weighs a little over a pound, been getting around 2.5-3 hours on the standard battery depending on usage. MKV's, H264 and Divx play fine with no tearing or stuttering when the files are on the harddrive. It won't stream Youtube HD, it gets really choppy, maybe 1-2 frames/second...probably because of the flash container all the videos are in. Oh and the resolution is really high for such a small screen. Text is TINY. 1600x768 means you can place two windows side by side and actually use both.

Looks like it's going to be a great small netbook to bring around in a pinch when I don't want to thumb type on the OQO, or don't wanna bring a larger laptop. Still waiting to receive my OQO 2+, which should actually run faster than this VAIO and it has the cool OLED touchscreen.

Anyways, was all excited to load up a session from the EFI and having problems with the usb->serial port cable and driver, argh. BTW that's an 11" Lenovo U110 ultrportable in the background, so even that is a pretty small laptop in comparison.

[SweetDaddyD]

Neat. The only thing that could make it cooler is if it was running OSX. lol.

[kaz]

OSX actually runs great on the Dell netbooks, this chipset won't support it. I have a Macbook Pro, it's nice...I just wish it were smaller and lighter, that thing is like a brick.

[luxige]

That Vaio is sweet.

Yeah, the Apple laptops are amazingly heavy.

I'd love to pick a netbook that can run OSX, but I understand it is a rather tricky install. Does anyone know of a site that has some guidance on this? Or an install service?

[Ian]

I love Lost.

[kaz]

Originally Posted by luxige

That Vaio is sweet.

Yeah, the Apple laptops are amazingly heavy.

I'd love to pick a netbook that can run OSX, but I understand it is a rather tricky install. Does anyone know of a site that has some guidance on this? Or an install service?

Gizmodo - How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 9 Into the Ultimate OS X Netbook - Dell mini 9 hackintosh guide

MyDellMini • FAQs and How To's

[shay2nak]

street fighter 4 background!!! that game is badass! Haven't played much but I love it!

[cd4age]

I saw these when I was in Japan a while back it's a sweet little system but it was really hard for me 2 type on. Probably take a while 2 get used 2 the key spacing.

[plastique999]

Peter...always getting the latest and greatest toys!
How's your car running...going to make Big Willow?

[charliex]

i've been doing all i can not to go buy a P, i was looking it over in frys today, just need over 600 vertical res, which most of the netbooks don't do,,.. soo tempting, i already have a stack of vaio's.

the aspire one will do osx too, but its pretty clunky and i don't think there is yet a 100% working version yet, i run it inside vmware when i have too but not on an atom.

[kaz]

Originally Posted by plastique999

Peter...always getting the latest and greatest toys!
How's your car running...going to make Big Willow?

I don't think I will be in town for LCS Willow But...I will be at the BW LCS for sure, and Jack days coming up. Bringing the Lotus to Streets on Sat, friend of mine is tracking for the second time in his Mini just want to make sure he is ok lol. Was going to bring the Subie but the brakes aren't on it yet - you are headed to test your new racecar tomorrow?

[Beanie]

Originally Posted by luxige

That Vaio is sweet.

Yeah, the Apple laptops are amazingly heavy.

I'd love to pick a netbook that can run OSX, but I understand it is a rather tricky install. Does anyone know of a site that has some guidance on this? Or an install service?

I bought a "Hackintosh" on ebay. It is a MSi Wind U100 Notebook with 120GB HD, 1GB RAM, 10" screen (1024 x 600), 1.6GHz Intel Atom dual core processor, wifi, wired ethernet, camera, card slot, etc. The seller preloaded both OSes and included the Leopard DVD, XP, and the CD he used to install the hacked version of Leopard. You cannot upgrade the Apple OS, but so far that's not a problem. I've upgraded iTunes and it still works. I believe the hacks involve just drivers... not sure. It was cheap ($600). If I wasn't so frugal, I would have bought a genuine Apple product. The only real downside is the resolution (the 600 high part) is less than ideal for OSX. It works, though.

ebay member: noahlh is where I bought it.

That VAIO looks very nice. Sony makes some great hardware.

[kaz]

Originally Posted by charliex

i've been doing all i can not to go buy a P, i was looking it over in frys today, just need over 600 vertical res, which most of the netbooks don't do,,.. soo tempting, i already have a stack of vaio's.

the aspire one will do osx too, but its pretty clunky and i don't think there is yet a 100% working version yet, i run it inside vmware when i have too but not on an atom.

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System

It's just, not that sexy lol...but it's cheap and finally some netbooks are doing more than the ridiculous 1024x600. I wouldn't though recommend the Vaio P for "field" work...it's much too light, delicate, and that text is tiny tiny.

[charliex]

yeah its no P ! they did have it at 299 a one point which is cheap and cheerful given how quickly i run through hard drives on the dyno.

the TR1/2/3A still beats them all up though, 1280x1024 4 years ago in a 10"

[thetoast]

I'm typing this on a P right now :-)

(also white / 1.3 / 60GB... but the Canadian version doesn't have GPS or 3G)

The 1600x768 resolution is brilliant... very much enjoy it. There are a few projects out there trying to get video drivers going for linux and so on, which is what i'll be loading when it's ready. Vista is just too heavy!

[gameson]

Originally Posted by charliex

yeah its no P ! they did have it at 299 a one point which is cheap and cheerful given how quickly i run through hard drives on the dyno.

the TR1/2/3A still beats them all up though, 1280x1024 4 years ago in a 10"

+1. I still have my TR and I just upgraded the HD to the SSD 32 GB. Very fast startup and shutdown with XP. I dont think I'll ever get another laptop, lol.

Charlie, btw, do you know if the BIOS battery is rechargeable or no? Mine died just after 2 days of no use, but I have not use the laptop frequently. And when I contacted Sony CS, the part numbers 146862421 says that it's Lithium Ion battery... weird, never know a BIOS battery is rechargeable.

[luxige]

Kaz and Beanie, thanks for your input. I'll follow that up.

[MickOpalak]

That OQO is the bomb.

[charliex]

gameson, I can't remember what was in it last time i popped it open, trworld ought to have some info on it though, i'd be suprised if you couldn't replace it, i just ordered a new battery for my ux180, tr2a and a power connector for the TR so i'll be back inside it and will have a look

[kaz]

Charlie-

on a related note, I've been seeing tons of potential in-car PC's running Atoms or Via's or whatever, have you had time to play with one as a tuning/logging/analysis tool?