Sony press release verbatim:
Design That Works: The VAIO N10-Series
A new addition to the VAIO range of notebooks brings together sharp design and affordable practicality
The VAIO N10-Series is for everyone who wants a practical, general purpose notebook for use at home or as a student. It represents excellent usability without frills, but – and this is key – it remains very much a VAIO at heart. One look at the clean, classic design makes that clear.
“We believe there are lots of people who want a portable which is strong on core features but does not compromise on design or quality,” says Jun Koyama, Director of IT for VAIO Operations Europe (VOE). “The N10-Series is here to provide them with exactly that.”
Essential Sony design values are matched by essential specifications. The range features Intel® Core™ Duo processors, hard disks ranging from 80GB to 100GB and either 1GB or 512MB of memory.
There are constants across the range, particularly where comfort and ease of use are concerned. The A4-footprint chassis is partnered with a highly legible 15.4-inch widescreen display operating at 1280 x 800 resolution. The result is an all-purpose, portable format with a generous on-screen workspace and an ergonomic keyboard. Power-efficient integrated graphics performance comes courtesy of the Intel® 945 GM motherboard chipset.
VAIO portables are noted for their superior displays, and the N10-Series is no exception. Sony X-black LCD™ screen enhancement greatly boosts the range of contrast, so blacks are really black and everything else is rendered in more natural and realistic tones. Colour also benefits, appearing richer and more vibrant – a long way from the basic standard of generic LCDs.
A double layer DVD±RW drive is fitted to all models, so very large amounts of information indeed (up to 8.5GB per double layer disc) can be archived for safe storage or easily shared with others. Students in particular may find this extremely useful.
High-speed 802.11a/b/g wireless networking is standard on all models, as is wired Ethernet (100Base-TX/10Base-T), so connectivity with home wireless or wired networks is built-in. All N10-Series notebooks also feature handy SD Card (Secure Digital) and Memory Stick™ slots (Memory Stick™ Duo and Memory Stick™ PRO Duo compatible), making use with digital cameras and many other digital devices a simple matter.
Source press release with links to larger images here.
MacDailyNews Take: First of all, yes, we did a genuine “Grade A” double-take when we first saw the press release images. Right down to the chiclet keyboard, no less! When companies do this, it really draws attention to their lack of original ideas and their inability to innovate. See Microsoft’s Windows Vista, for example: It’s Windows XP dressed up to fool the general public that it’s “just like Apple’s Mac OS X.” Now poor Sony with this OS-limited, can’t-run-Mac OS X-but-obviously-wishes-it-could, knock-off spawn of a MacBook Pro and a MacBook.
Buy this mess, put Vista on it and you, too, can have a retarded stepchild of Apple’s Mac platform.
Shouldn’t Apple, or at least Jon Ive, be getting royalties from Sony for the design? If they aren’t, then Apple’s lawyers should do something about this travesty.
MacDailyNews Reader “Dave” put it so eloquently and humorously in a comment we’ve grabbed from below and moved right up here: “Sony’s new line of laptops: MockBook and MockBook Pro.”
“Essential Sony design values!” It’d be funny if it wasn’t so sickening and sad. This is the move of some no-name Chinese company, not Sony! How the mighty have fallen.
scottm4321,
Market Values:
Apple (AAPL) = $64.21B
Sony (SNE) = $41.74B
Now, what were you saying about giants?
DL… Who said anything about the Mighty Mouse? I’m aware of the controversies of the “one button vs. two botton” in Apple history, but I think it comes down to something Apple knows all to much about. Design and simplicity of it’s designs, which is why Apple has won more design awards for it’s products than ANY computer company.
And, by the way… the Mighty Mouse IS a two button mouse, like it or not. Now get over it and move on with your life!
Just a correction re: keyboard. .the keyboard on this sony laptop, actually is their standard laptop keyboard on earlier models (I needed to get a windows machine before the macbook came out i March this year – and it had exactly the same keyboard).
Apple needs to check there overseas parts inventory and if the count is off by even one send in the troops [read Legal department!
Sony has lost it once and for all!
Maybe it’s time for a e-mail write-in strategy!
Want-to-be’s are so not cool!
Unfortunately even though it looks like a Macbook or Macbook Pro; it is not a Mac. This means Apple can’t sue Sony.
MS took advantage of this for years.
It’s a poor copy; look at how badly the logo matches Apple’s.
“…does not compromise on design or quality.” It merely copies it.
The VAIO laptops have been using the “chicklet” style keyboards for at least as long as Apple’s used them. I think the best quality of the Sony laptops are the screens, and that’s probably what’ll set them apart from everyone else, including Apple. As for the rest of the design, I never thought the macbooks were that attractive, so it’s kinda sad to see Sony blatantly copying.
“Design That Works”
When you copy someone else’s design, you cannot take a “design” credit. Therefore, the tagline should read:
“It Works”
mike & jadisone, the sony model you are referring to is the vaio pcg-c1x picturebook. i had one. the camera also recorded quicktime movies and could swivel from inboard and outboard view. ran win98. was quite advanced for its time. with a firmware pcmica card could even play dvd’s on an off board player. not much more than 1/2 the size of today’s macbook and fit nicely on the food tray in ecomony class. used it to take notes at conferences and drop pics into the document in realtime. usb and firewire. not too shabby for 1999. i think sony and apple have an implicit rule that they will not sue each other.
as for the memory card slots, i like just connecting the camera (sony dsc s-85 & a100) to the laptop (pb g4 1.33ghz) via usb anyway. one less thing to carry around and lose.
I think it looks real nice. Too bad it is a Sony, I swore them off long ago.
Did they copy the magnetic latchless lid? I don’t see any hooks.
You know whats funny, wheres the slot loading drive? Why is it apple is the only one to realize that the slot loading drive on a laptop is essential? I mean, laptop means “tight spot” and having to deal with a flimsy tray?
One question, Can you run OSX on it ? Apple will still be the better option simply because you’re getting 2 computers for the price of one.
It’s much prettier than any other PC out there. I would consider buying it if I had to be married to XP. However, I’m suprised that the opted to leave out the video camera, which Sony is in many of their higher end VAIO laptops.
Oh no,
Sony’s copied everything,
From the rectangular form factor.
To the idea of having a keyboard,
And a touchpad,
then that idea of placing a screen on a hinged piece above the keyboard.
And using an Intel processor (Cheeky Sony ciopying Apple)
And putting a hard drive in the unit.
And some memory.
And a DVD Drive.
And wireless
And an SD slot.
And USB ports.
And Ethernet.
Did I just describe just about every modern Intel laptop on the planet?
Get over it guys, The MacBook is just an Intel PC clone now. Not surprising that you find other PCs in the market which look similar and have similar specs.
” it really draws attention to their lack of original ideas and their inability to innovate”
Just remember it was Apple who FINALLY got on board selling systems based on the the industry standard Intel platform. Clearly Apple innovation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Many of the “Innovations” Apple has introduced over the years were actually designed by Sony anyway.
“One question, Can you run OSX on it ? Apple will still be the better option simply because you’re getting 2 computers for the price of one.”
No with Apple you still only get one computer. Can your wife (or significant other) boot your MacBook under Windows, take it away and use it while you simultaneously reboot it under Mac OS X, take it away, and use it yourself? NO, You just get the ability to dual boot an OS almost nobody cares about on ONE computer.
“Why is it apple is the only one to realize that the slot loading drive on a laptop is essential?”
because everybody else in the world seems to get on fine without it. Perhaps you don’t know what the word “Essential” means.
Design that works … well it did work for apple!!!
Perhaps “What?” have head stuck in hole…smell of doo-doo.
to “What?”
While many may understand it’s a hard life being Sony’s bitch these days, the post does not say that Sony copied the technical specifications of the white MacBook, but rather it’s copied the look and feel of the hardware to create the “MockBook”…
“it’s copied the look and feel of the hardware to create the “MockBook”…”
yep by building a rectangular box, with a keyboard, with a trackpad in front of it, with a hinged bit on the back of it with a screen in it, and making it out of plastic, and coloring it white…
Those “look” and “feel” elements don’t really belong to Apple. It just looks in terms of overall “look” and “feel” like any other notebook to me, but then so does a MacBook. You can probably find as many similarities as differences between the Apple and the Sony.
You obviosly dont have the eye for well designed things, so you cannot see the diffs which are very important to some of us…Thats all…All laptops has very similar configurations today, but only Apple runs Mac OSX and looks very slick…And only Apple has so many design awards for their products…Thats it…I hope you understand now…
“, so you cannot see the diffs which are very important to some of us…”
I’m happy for you. choice is great.
“runs Mac OSX and looks very slick…”
The comments seem premised on the physical look of the systems, and that Sony has duplicated the tech specs of the hardware.
“I hope you understand now…”
What I don’t understand is people getting so upset when it’s made clear that the difference between Apple and other products is purely a matter of cosmetics. These days the stuff inside the box is standard. While there’s sure a lot of ugly laptops out there, Apple doesn’t have a monopoly on designing stylish ones.
To me, it looks like a laptop that shares many “features” with the MacBook range, but as the MacBook has a distinct toy-like quality to it I am not sure this is a good thing…
It doesn’t have a “chiclet keyboard”. It’s got a completely different hinge-mechanism. It’s neither white nor black. As long as you don’t say Apple didn’t invent white keyboards or glaring displays, i can’t see more similarities to a macbook than to any other notebook, but hey – people stealing from Apple seems to be THE self fulfilling prophecy.