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.
You’re all raging homos.
Sony has been using that keyboard way before Apple. Its a standard keyboard but with beveled edges, nothing like a chiclet keyboard.
Yay for ignorance.
Sony has used a “real” chiclet keyboard in its laptops before the macbook came out. Look up Sony VAIO X505, I’m pretty sure it has a chiclet keyboard. To say that Sony copied off Apple, at least in terms of the keyboard, would be inaccurate.
Also, Sony was the first major manufacturer (as far as I can remember) to integrate cameras into its laptops (ie. Sony Picturebook). I’m pretty sure that while these PC manufacturers have copied some ideas made popularized by Apple, Apple has done some copying of its own.
Make no mistake, I’m a Mac user and I love my Macbook, but I must give credit where credit is due.
This isn’t the first time sony has copied apple, take a peak.
Been without my macbook for three weeks… I don’t care who copied who on the external design, if they can make a computer that won’t expereince RSS within 2 months of use then they’ve got my support
Apple should sue Sony on this one.
What a shame that Sony has seen fit to copy the lousy design of the “I bought it since I want to look cool in Starbucks” MacBook. Big, ugly and heavy just like the Mac notebooks. Luckily they are still making great notebooks like the SZ/C series – Core 2 Duo, NVidia graphics, 2GB RAM, 3.7lb, <1″ thick, 13.3″ 16:10 screen. Pretty much EVERY Japanese manufacturer (Fujitsu, Panasonic, JVC) and some KOREAN manufacturers (LG in particular), make FAR cooler, smaller, lighter notebooks that the big, bloated, clones that roll out of Apple.
Sony should really think twice about rushing to copy a company whose “huge accomplishment” was jumping from 5% marketshare to 12% market share in 5 years.
I wonder if it comes with the (soon to be trademarked by Apple) MacBook Genuinous Random Shutdown (u konw, ’cause life is random) . . .
Come on, guys! Altough Sony design isn’t original at last they don’t come with a half baked product to their customers.
bought a CrashBook Black on june, random shutdowns appears 1 month later, logic board replaced, 3 weeks later the problem returns worse than ever . . . Now waiting in line for replacement parts to arrive one day if God . . . i mean . . . Steve Jobs care to produce them . . . Best shot? 1 month waiting . . .
I hope this Vaio find its way to Brazil shores . . .
Maybe you guys should take a quick look at where each of the new features spotlighted in Apple’s preview of the upcoming Leopard are from. I can go across the list of their “advanced” operating system, and easily point out that many of the “advances” are ripoffs of Microsoft software, like the Time Machine, the whole concept of Desktop Search, “Mail.” My favorite derivitive by far is still the Dashboard, which would be nothing if it wasn’t for the Konfabulator project first, which was, in fact, a drag-and-drop rip of the Microsoft Sidebar, first featured in an older Longhorn build.
But who I am kidding, Apple does make some good software. A perfectly viable solution, depending on your computing needs. Too bad its fanbase is made up of 99% elitist prick fanboys.
What the heck. Can Sony do anything right? If they call that a MacBook
knock-off, they did an awful job! Its much larger and more ulgy then the MacBook, and it dosent even hold as much memory. The trackpad is TINY, and its poorly designed!
This is totally retarded …Not soy copying but you mac freaks should recognize that every thing that is white/silver (i guess now black) is some how an apple knock off! … the Chicklet keyboard was there since sony T series atleast .. that is what 4 years ago? Cant you do better than this troll? This i am typing off a black macbook … it is this relentless crap that you guys dole out annoys any apple user (save for some retards) …
BTW…only similarity is really the color.
Keyboard does not look like the keyboard from macbook.
Design: notice the vents on the side on the sony while they are hidden under the latch on apple.
Camera: Sony had it first.
Size: Sony has much thinner notebooks than this; smaller as well.
Location of IO Ports: Apple has USB & AUDIO OUT/Mic on Left side towards the back on both macbook and macbook pro, while sony has it on the right and towards the front.
Trackpad: Apples trackpad is more streamlined/you dont see the lines like you can see it in the sony.
Lights: Apple does not have LED lights showing power/HD usage/Wi-Fi like this one is.
Screen: Macbook & Macbook PRO are widescreen, this one isnt.
DVD Drive- Macbook has it on the right, Pro has it on the front, Sony has it on the left.
So WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SIMILARITY???
That thing is as ugly as a Mac book. You have to admit, the MacBook is the blandest design ever….It looks like it was taken from the shape of a toilet tank. Now Sony stooped as so low to imitate it. Darn!!
haha, but this one has a right mouse button, so macbook sucks
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tiresome. Macophiles remind me of a disfunctional kids throwing hissy fits. Sigh…
apple invented white