Sony's LAST little laptop!

When it manufactured personal computers, Sony got a reputation for producing some unique and niche machines. But sometimes they were a bit too niche...and that was the P-series' downfall.
Sources:
Vaio VGN-P80H recovery image: archive.org/de...
Vaio VGN-P530H recovery image: archive.org/de...
Motherboard photo: mkser.limaging...
Vaio P-series teardown: henjinkutsu.co...
First-gen P-series review from CNet: www.cnet.com/r...
Sony laptop catalog: archive.org/de...
VGN-P70H Reddit thread: / sony_vaio_vgnp70h_8_sc...
Sony Vaio UX photo: www.flickr.com...
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Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicso...).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (freemusicarchi....

[@bap3957]

Hello, I am a member of the VAIO library team. There are some .mod files in the recovery disks which you can also patch. These will also enable instant on and some other software to work on the device.

[@SoSo-li6dn]

this was posted 4 minutes ago? how did you comment 2 days ago?

[@santumChannelYes]

​@@SoSo-li6dn time travel

[@Alfsyn]

@@SoSo-li6dn i dont realize untul i see your comment

[@samuelg7673]

Doing the Lord's work

[@MovingThePicture]

​@@SoSo-li6dn He is a time traveler. They are quite common these days.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I used to lust after these, they seemed so futuristic at the time. It’s kind of funny how of their time they seem now - small yes but clearly held back by some pieces and unable to go any smaller than that.

[@WilliamHollinger2019]

Cell phones took that spot.

[@fungo6631]

GPD laptops: Allow us to introduce ourselves

[@JohnyLim6393]

​@@fungo6631GPD design and build looks so ugly. Better one is Chuwi

[@lenfordmorris1407]

Same, I wanted one of these so bad

[@skeleton5459]

same!!!!! every time i walked passed one. i would stop and consider buying it but i never was able to justify the price.

[@TechKingdom35]

What a cool little device. I love how Sony Vaio devices of that time period were just so unique.

[@pendantblade6361]

I remember reading about these things in tech magazines. It's like whenever you upload it's a like an injection of nostalgia.

[@appleinfl]

Those physical Wi-Fi switches were the bane of my existence when they were on most laptops. Users would inadvertently hit the key or switch and have no idea why the internet stopped working. Can’t imagine the battery savings were enough to warrant the headaches.

[@Max_Mustermann]

They are quite useful when on a plane. Or if one wants to quickly kill the Internet connection for whatever reason.

[@PhillyMJS]

I remember working on Dell laptops a long time ago that would by default auto-disable the wired network port when the machine was on battery. This was back before people became almost violently opposed to ever attaching a cable of any kind to their laptops like they are today. I was pulling my hair out reinstalling drivers for probably an hour before stumbling upon that setting buried in the power settings. I was furious, I wanted to put that laptop on the floor and jump up and down on it.

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@Max_Mustermann If you're computer is already on, then you can just do it via a menu toggle in almost any OS, which I prefer because as someone whom has done computer repair as a side hustle for almost 30 years since I was high school, I can't count how many times over the years I've had clients who barely know how to get on the internet, and check their Gmail come to me, and ask why the WiFi is not working, with one person come to me I've known most of my life having their husband who in was in his mid 60's at time get so fed up with their ACER laptop he chucked it out the window onto their driveway shattering it into pieces all over an FN+F3 keyboard WiFi kill switch combo he had no idea he had pressed, so I made sure to set them up with a desktop, and keyboard with no WiFi kill switch, and a WiFi extender with an ethernet port to put in their home office.

[@ezyto]

this comment makes me feel crazy for noticing the Wi-Fi switch as a kid. my brain just said “oh wifi switch neat” when i saw one for the first time and it was immediately ingrained in my brain

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Believe me, the hardware Wi-Fi switch is an absolute godsend. It means that I can physically kill wireless connectivity without relying on Windows built-in 'soft' kill that has the ability to bug-out and turn itself on. Rather than being a feature to save battery life, it's more commonly found on older business and enterprise laptops for security.

[@MrFastFox666]

I remember when these released as a kid, and I wanted one sooooooo bad. I still think they're charming and adorable and I love the design and the concept. But it looks like it'd be a complete PITA to use even ignoring it's poor performance.

[@notsoseagatey]

Yeah, i own one now and it can't even play a 720p video downscaled to 240p smoothly

[@SonicBoone56]

I love tiny laptops like this. I think GPD and some other companies make modern laptops in the same footprint as this.

[@dreamingthelife]

you think they do or you think they should?, I'm pretty sure they don't but I wish they would.

[@trashman8080]

@@dreamingthelife they do, theres gpd win max 2 and the smaller gpd win mini

[@dreamingthelife]

@@trashman8080 for me it's not the same foot print at all, I like GPD's product line but they have no device with with the footprint based on the keyboard alone, no ultrawode type of footprint. Also the device they make that's most like this Vaio would probably be somewhere in the GPD pocket line which have no gaming controls

[@_SJ]

I have the GPD Pocket 2 for 3 years already and I love it ❤

[@emperorfaiz]

@@dreamingthelife They better not making something similar to this. It would significantly more compromised than the tiny laptops model they already have.

[@MrMegaManFan]

You know what I love about this channel? No BS. The title says what the video is. No clickbait thumbnail with a big question mark saying "Have you seen THIS laptop?" You show us what you're doing, you do it, we like it. Perfect.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

This laptop is lidurully insane!

[@laweedz7853]

But the title was so tempting good💯

[@smug_slime]

Oh you’re gonna hate the the next video uploaded after this one in this channel, it has a question mark.

[@ser_igel]

if you don't like titles like this, use dearrow it's an extension from the creator of sponsorblock which implements user-submitted titles and thumbnails it asks you to pay $1 to use it but there are many ways you can ask to use it if you can't/don't want to pay (no money/sanctions/privacy concerns and similar stuff)

[@ser_igel]

while original title of this video is "Sony's LAST little laptop!", user-submitted is "An Overview of the Sony Vaio VGN-P70H and the Downfall of the P-Series" and yes, they often look like the names of Java classes, but i would gladly spend a second more than usual to read the title than several minutes to realize the video is not about what i think it should be about

[@OrDuckVet]

I always had envy for the VAIO’s seemingly superior aesthetic and “premium” look, but could never commit the money necessary to get into even an entry VAIO when so many alternatives were available.

[@omarkharnivall2439]

I was in Japan when my friend proudly showed me this vaio, I saved the money and got an 2007 Imac, guess which one worked longer?

[@skeleton5459]

same!

[@JavierVegaPerry]

Love this video, bought a vaio p some months ago and use it as a "fun project" with debian 12 (no gui) mostly for nvim note taking and light coding, it works well for this specific use case :D I really like the form factor and hope this type of devices return (aside from GPD devices). Thanks for the great video.

[@josephpeters2619]

I have always loved the design of these computers. I know now a tablet with a keyboard case is a million times better, but I’d still totally buy a modern version of the P with an edge to edge touch screen and one of those yoga book style hinges to fold the keyboard back.

[@MaxGoof]

I also have a soft spot for unconventional form factors. I wish the PC market could sustain more variety.

[@Balrog-tf3bg]

GPD pocket PC is probably about the closest you can get to this nowadays

[@GraDays]

​@@Balrog-tf3bgtrue but so expensive! I would love to replicate this device using a raspberry or similar sbc but projects are way too out of my league cause I don't know electronics. Any tip is appreciated.

[@Sm00k]

I've jumped onto this model from Toshiba's Libretto. Loved the form factor but the performance, even with all the tweaks, was just...well. This. Pretty much until GPD came out with their Pocket line, this form factor was below expectations in performace departament. But damn if doesn't it looks sliiiiiick.

[@TheCarlosMendonca]

Thanks for filming this review. I got the "crocodile leather" Vaio P off of eBay a few years ago for next to nothing from a lawyer who bought it new many years before. He barely used it and it was in great shape. I may still have the recovery CD somewhere. I eventually installed Windows 7 with all drivers that were still found on the internet. I'm pretty sure I have them saved on my NAS. I also dual-booted with Arch 32 running i3 and performance is just okay. Browsing is really painful with anything more than 1 tab, DOSBox games run just okay, and I couldn't get FreeDOS and sbemu to work consistently last time I tried. It's a fun little toy, but nothing more, and I use it to run SonicStage on an MZ-RH1 MD. I really loved the form factor, though, and I wish someone passionate and knowledgeable like polymatt would bother restoring it (battery mostly) and even doing a gut-level upgrade while maintaining the form factor. I know that GPD tried to get close to it with the Pocket, but it's just not the same thing.

[@brunofernandesdarosa]

A guy on reddit rearranged the guts of one of these with a banana pi board. If i remember correctly it was on the r/cyberdeck.

[@nickwallette6201]

3:44 Hey! That was me! haha I bought my P-series on a whim (thanks, eBay ... you've clearly got my number) and it had the recovery partition still, so I took advantage of that! :-) It took a few tries, because the USB ports are a bit anemic, and my burner (a variation of that same Pioneer BD-RW drive) had trouble burning a disc until I powered it externally. Bear that in mind if you run into any issues with external drives. Sorry it didn't work out quite right for your model, but glad you found a partial workaround. 👍

[@sergeipohkerova7211]

This looks like something the director at our school and all the admin used to flex with meanwhile the school had to cancel art and music because there was no money for it.

[@jeinnerabdel]

Isn't music considered art?

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@jeinnerabdelin some contexts yes but in school subjects art means visual art, and often specifically means photorealistic pencil sketches and painting. If you’re lucky your art department will extend to wood block (or foam block) printing with paint and ink.

[@JanusCycle]

That Recovery Patcher look really useful. Thanks for showing it. Well done on the restore effort here. I always wondered about what these odd machines are like.

[@PlatinumGamingg]

great seeing you here always love your vids

[@th1nhhdk]

It's nice seeing you here

[@rmcdudmk212]

Super cool form factor. It would be interesting to see a computer like this produced today but there is probably closet to zero market for it.

[@mandjzi]

GPD produces something similar

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

​@@mandjziwas coming here to say this

[@virtualtools_3021]

Steamdeck with a keyboard case could be pretty close

[@janhofmann3499]

iPad mini + keyboard case? I know, not a full PC but it shows what’s possible in this size today.

[@CockroachMunchingKrabbyPatty]

With touchscreens and modern Windows being so receptive to them, I envision a modern version of this device equipped with a trackpoint and no touchpad would make for an awesome ultralight form factor. Slap a Ryzen APU in it, and you can enjoy some reasonably impressive gaming as well. A 2560x1080 ultrawide display with minimal bezels and no webcam on this device would be the cherry on top. Man, it's nice to dream.

[@edwinfndz]

I remember seeing these laptops. They cost around $900. That was and still is a lot of money. For an Intel Atom processor? A robbery!

[@zevilaga]

“The world wasn't interested in a solution in search of a problem. “ I always wanted one of these laptops, but your closing sentence kicked me in the stomach. Simply brilliant.

[@ubacow7109]

I loved vaio devices they always had design so far ahead of the market. 15-20 years later I still want one

[@seymansey]

I bought one of these a few years ago in a slightly tipsy late night burst of nostalgia, having lusted after them when i saw them new. Holy moly it was slow, painfully. Even after adding an SSD.

[@Nosloveingneko]

I Absolutely adored the form factor of the P series. The idea of focusing in the keyboard form factor and having the very low height because of the no trackpad and very wide display was such a huge appeal to me. I have one now many years later after admiring them in store, but they are particularly bad on performance when it comes to netbooks. My primary back in the day was a Eee 900HA and that little thing blew the P series out of the water. The only reason i even stopped using it was the screen resolution eventually became too restrictive as technology progressed ans websites used high resolution pages. If someone were to come out with a modern clone of the P series but with modern hardwear to fix the performance issues id 100% be buying one.

[@mcshaggyswildadventures3952]

GPD pocket?

[@Max_Mustermann]

1:21 - SD card readers weren't that uncommon on later VAIOs. My old CS series also had one in addition to a Memory Stick reader. Although it is interesting that they put two card readers in such a small machine.

[@ku-1500]

I think Sony added SD card reader to their VAIO starting from around 2006-2007.

[@Max_Mustermann]

@@ku-1500 That sounds about right, mine was bought in 2008.

[@echonomad94]

The CS was my laptop too lol. Loved the cool light at the bottom and touch a/v controls

[@plasmar1]

I've the canadian version in black(think was 2ghz).... I 2nd any comments about it being trash; the harddrive be it physical or ssd it used pata(I forked out money for a runcore ssd in hopes of getting it to be a bit faster but was still trash)..... there was a video someone uploaded of driving over one and one of my favorite comments was something about "there goes a perfectly good file server" which summerized it's usability........ drivers for the gpu was biggest shortcoming as it gpu had been outsourced to PowerVR and intel did not pay them to develop the drivers; the result was subpar directx compatibility and broken opengl support(this explains the quake 3) which was only present in it's later drivers(if I recall there was a 3rd party gma500 driver from the community but I can't recall); for best speed use windows 7 premium(I tried everything including windows vista completely stripped down and premium as overall best** win10 might be better but wasn't out yet) ** if you can get a really thin copper sheet you can kinda passive cooling mod it to OC but there is absolutely no space for additional fans

[@domtomazo]

Great content as usual! I had one of these - the VGN-P21Z bought in 2010. At that point they where sold at about half launch price in Sweden, probably because they didn't sell well and clearing out the stock was needed. It was never more than a novelty to me, performance was too low straight out of the box. Used on a few trips but nothing more than that. My model had a built-in 3G modem and GPS as well, quite rare at the time!

[@chriswathen9612]

I worked at an electrical retailer when the P series came out and I lusted after them...until I tried one. Absolutely beautiful design which is novel in that it genuinely can fit into the inside pocket of a coat whilst still having a decent enough sized keyboard. But the list of mistakes made was huge. The screen resolution is far too high for something so tiny, it's pretty much essential to have some sort of scaling turned on which leaves it barely having any more usable screen space than a 1st gen EEEPC. Even by netbook standards it is chronically underpowered, the two main weak points being the graphics which can't even run aero (which an EEEPC can) despite being bundled with Vista Premium in many markets, and the decision to use a miniature 1.8" spinning hard drive as the storage device when other manufacturers were using some sort of SSD at the time. It gave the P much more storage but it also made it excruciatingly slow. Don't rate that docking station either - a brick the size of the power supply clipped to it just to get VGA and Ethernet. Either it greatly increases the bulk for not much extra functionality if carrying the machine around or it gets left behind and lost. For the money this thing was shocking (IIRC it was a £1000 machine in a market which previously had considered £300 about the limit for a netbook, with many for sale well below that) . However I did always want one and picked one up a P19WN (yet another variant which was sold in the UK market) 6 or 7 years ago cheaply from ebay. If you put WIndows XP on it the machine will run relatively well but it's really not much practical use for anything other than as an email banger - nor even was it when brand new. A real shame because so much effort went into the design and had Sony just put in better hardware to create a true premium netbook to match the premium pricetag it could've been a big hit.

[@hassanbeydoun2460]

I believe this thing if given an ethernet port and better specs could be one hell of a netbook for sysadmins. Like think about it, back then this was at its peak but now you can cram more hardware in that size of a motherboard. Truly fascinating stuff, I always loved VAIO computers. I used to have a VAIO VPCEA24FM, which wasn't good for gaming (Intel Core i3-350M with integrated graphics and 4GB RAM) even though I tried to use it like that, but with a 13" screen it was cozy to use for any school projects.

[@bagotaitamas]

This VAIO had a 2nd gen version. There is a project in the works on Hackaday which somewhat modernizes its insides with RPi zero 2w. EDIT: The hackaday project is for the gen1.

[@AryaFairywren]

Oh that's me! ^~^ It's work-in-progress, I used the Vaio to demonstrate a KiCad technique, and I'm going to continue poking at it sometime soon - the components are planned out, just need to put them on the board and link them together.

[@bagotaitamas]

@@AryaFairywrenI wanted to contact you, but was too lazy to make an account. I have 2 of these machines, and would love to help with your project.

[@MmntechCa]

I vaguely remember seeing these at the Sony Store back in the day. The drawbacks though really highlight why the iPad just demolished this product category.

[@SteveTheDog115]

Cathode Ray dude just did a long series on those weird fast boot media startup utilities from windows vista era, if anyone is wondering more about that, that series really does a good deep dive on that jank!

[@ianbrisland1982]

I have one of these and used it a lot in server rooms for SSHing into servers, was also great for timesheets and invoices... as an IT contractor this was a good little tool.

[@WinrichNaujoks]

I'm guessing you were also able to bill the customer for the time it took to create the invoice.

[@chibinyra]

I wanted one of these sooooo bad. Still trying to find stuff like it especially now that phones are keyless.

[@unhhgcrxexhjvuvujchcrzwzwz7956]

These things are so rare and expensive it’s ridiculous for such hot garbage computers

[@edwintam2349]

Great retrospective. I wanted one of these so badly for travel - I even ended up buying one from the Sony Store when they still existed, but discovered the chassis was bent, so I had to return it, and I never bought another. I loved the old PDAs, the quirky computers from the early to mid-2000s. There's no question that the current form factors are way more productive, but they're all sort of uniformly boring.

[@igorschmidlapp6987]

This looked like a perfect device for an IT field engineer/tech to take on site to service servers in a data center... I much prefer the mouse "nub" to a touchpad any day, as I find it more precise/easier to control the cursor.

[@web1bastler]

I recently bought one of those little P-Series for fun. Mine has a 64GB SSD which interestingly is connected via a flat flex ide to sata adapter cable. I upgraded the wifi with a modern intel wireless ac card to improve wifi speeds and power-consumption. Now I'm looking into getting a re-celled high-capacity battery to replace the ageing original battery. The SD Card slot is pretty useful since it is sdxc capable. Biggest card I've tried was a 512GB with no issues.

[@GraDays]

Interesting. What about performance after those upgrades? Are you documenting your findings in a website or similar? Would love to read more about it. Thanks.

[@web1bastler]

@@GraDays Will do. Haven't had a website for ages now but I might set something simple up. Or make a youtube video.

[@shinikyokai8815]

I loved this design back in the day. Wish they would release something like this with modern specs.

[@OtioseFanatic]

I legitimately still daily drive one of these, in bright pink, used as a dedicated writing device. It's still the smallest laptop that manages to have a usable keyboard while legitimately fitting comfortably in my purse.

[@rat_boy_u]

I always loved these little laptops. I wanted to buy one but when they where for sale I was young and poor. I miss the old days of major manufacturers trying really interesting form factors.

[@riccardonecci8083]

This was majestically written. The last touch on Sony’s late consumerism was witty and spot-on! Thanks!

[@georgeh6856]

When I saw the intro and the picture of this tiny Sony, I thought, "This one has to be all about function."

[@fdmillion]

I actually have the US version. In 2010 I saw it in a store and wanted one sooooo badly, and around 2016 I managed to get one on eBay for something like $159 at the time. Mine still works, battery even still holds a charge, but it's stuck with the 80GB hard drive which further slows down the already paltry CPU. Since it is just a ZIF IDE drive though I might try to get one of the iFlash adapters (usually sold for upgrading clickwheel iPods) to connect up an mSATA SSD, which might be a viable option to get better performance out of one of these today. (FYI for others: don't go overboard on the SSD, a 64GB or 128GB mSATA can be found typically for ~$20. No real point in sticking 1TB in this thing unless maybe you want to store a ton of audio or poorly-compressed SD video.) The other significant limitation today is that these things only have a 32-bit CPU, so many modern OSes simply won't run. For Linux, if you're a tinkerer, a stock Debian i686 distro may work best, because most all of the "mainstream" Linuxes (Arch, Ubuntu, etc.) have long since dropped 32-bit CPU support. These may actually be some of the last end-user PCs sold with 32-bit only Intel CPUs, as by 2010 even netbooks tended to have 64-bit capable Atoms in them (and these were definitely still being sold at retail in late 2010 which is when I saw it in store).

[@Locutus]

Fair play to Sony for experimenting with different form factors. Not many companies are willing to take a chance like that.

[@Sb129]

I always wanted this particular VAIO, I remember seeing it in Fry's Electronics back in the day and it seemed so cool to me and that never stopped. I think I like the fact that the screen size conformed to the keyboard, almost like some strange amalgamation of a keyboard PC with a notebook PC. I still want one, I'll get one someday. Also, I know the pain of searching for vintage VAIO drivers, my 2001 SR27 model with Windows ME seems to not exist anywhere

[@jz4057]

OMG I had one. I was traveling around the world for work 20 years ago and always wanted a light weight and fashionable laptop. I got it exactly this color as a birthday present and loved it. It travels everywhere with me and turned heads. Sony had the most fashionable cell phones as well 20 years ago, just so you know. Still have it.

[@joshhardin666]

The vaio p series was fantastic! I wish that we could get more designs like this again. standard size/stripped down keyboard with trackpoint, display to match the size, nice and thin. but with a modern low power cpu, ddr5, wifi 6e, and modern lithium polymer battery.

[@ChristianStout]

The Vaio Duo series was another cool form factor Sony tried. I wish another manufacturer would give that a try.

[@dreamingthelife]

if you are talking about the series with the slide up screen then GPD has make a couple handhelds like this.

[@dreamingthelife]

oops I meant the UX, what were the Duo like?

[@ChristianStout]

@@dreamingthelife It slides up at an angle, so you can use it at a desk. There's videos of it out there.

[@Robwantsacurry]

I remember seeing these when they came out, I really wanted one so much. Probably for the best I couldn't afford one back then.

[@Justachamp772]

XMP on a laptop would be so cool just for a app launcher

[@neoasura]

I wanted one of these so bad back in the day when I was always on the road, when I was going as small as I could when average laptops were so bulky at the time. They were just too expensive.

[@angrylex89]

I had this laptop in 2010. It was never fast enough to begin with, but after two years of not-so-active use, it just died in an endless loop of Windows loading.

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

2:41 What is this ASCII aquarium program, and where can I get it? 🐠🐟🐠🐟

[@henrywit6147]

Great video! It would be interesting to see you perform at least an SSD upgrade. Might break the device but still would be interesting to see the process.

[@g4z-kb7ct]

It's not easy. The SSD interface is non-standard zif connector. There are options for later P-series models but the early P-series is more difficult to upgrade. The usual way is a zif to msata adapter then use a msata ssd but it depends on the P-series model whether it will work or not.

[@AbacasOnline]

as soon as I saw the thumbnail I knew the productivity on that thing would be near impossible. I already find it hard to work on my netbook's 1024x600 display.

[@wrahn]

My Japanese roommate brought over his VAIO to play Warcraft III at our impromptu LAN party. Everyone's mind exploded

[@ibendover4817]

I remember wanting one of these so bad but got a regular sized netbook instead. I remember having to squint and struggle even those were larger and was glad I didn't get the viao. Still a net little device though.

[@shun0825]

I hope sony would bring this line again I love so much and with a more capable hardware this time it would be really good

[@rharvier]

I remember going to Fry's Electronics and seeing the VAIO laptops and thinking how cool they looked and how far out of my price range they were. Thank God, because I probably would have bought on if they were a bit cheaper.

[@kovalsky117]

I had one. To this day, i still believe this to be the best form factor for a tiny laptop. Typing was a breeze. If only performances had followed.

[@buitreador]

what makes this so slow is the GMA 500, it was a rebranded POWER VR SGX that can barely handle any 3D game and it lags even in the Aero theme, it has to be the worst integrated graphics of all time. Intel never made drivers for anything more than Vista and 7, you cant even install these in windows 10 or XP, im not joking. I have the 530h and i tried EVERYTHING, including that msata to zif adapter. Its ideal maybe for code and emulation but no more than that.

[@DEJ915]

As someone that owned one of the original designs of this, the C1 400Mhz Pentium 2, these were actually big improvement even though they were small and the keyboard was worse. The main issue with the original C1 was it was unbelievably hot to use and unless you propped it up was so hot you couldn't even touch the thing because it had an essentially nonexistent cooling solution with a full laptop CPU. I replaced mine with the U3 micro laptop which wasn't really any faster but was more comfortable to use due to less heat. Later on I picked one of these P series for 600 dollars and still have it now (as well as the U3) and it works great with XP which was what most of us that owned them ran instead via the Japanese drivers page since it was sold with XP in Japan.

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

I quite like that. A modern version would be rather spiffing

[@Fender178]

My dad owned Windows ME based small Sony VAIO Laptops and man that thing sucked with ME on it. It blue screened majority of the time. When he upgraded it to Windows 2000 it really made a difference.

[@EximiusDux]

I will forever love tiny yet usable "laptops". Perhaps we now have the technology to actually make it work, looking at how much processing and rendering power is being crammed into flat thin tablets.

[@kazinwho]

I got a Sony Vaio laptop for college in 2005 and I loved it, but in retrospect, my parents paid far, far too much for something that became outdated so fast (and it couldn't play games all that well either, besides emulators, which admittedly was what I wanted to play on it lol). It was cool looking - a dark red color, I don't remember the model. I miss Vaios haha

[@THEmuteKi]

The proper Vaio laptops were pretty consistent devices. My roommate in undergrad a few years later had a Vaio laptop (probably navy blue) and at one point actually had someone come out for on-site hardware support in our dorm.

[@kazinwho]

@@THEmuteKi what the hell, you're from TT lol

[@Bigbacon]

time for things like this to make a come back. with newer hardware they'd be awesome. I miss having a netbook.

[@findtruth7]

Had more ports than today's $3000 laptops.

[@rubikzombie]

I'm interested in how it would compare as a portable Linux machine. Maybe the previous owner was on to something.

[@hectorlopez-nk2yt]

i got one of those good videos i remember i received this as a birthday gift in 2009 it is frustrating to use till this day

[@G1NZOU]

Personally I loved mine, and still own it (and bought a second one in gold) though I don't use it as my main laptop anymore. It was seriously flawed with its limited RAM and processor, but I did find once it had actually booted up properly it was fine for general use, and I found it very handy in College to type notes while also keeping my classroom desk space for papers and other items, while also being really easy to grab and take to the next class, was able to use the dongle to take advantage of ethernet, it even fit into my jacket pocket like the adverts loved to show. Part of me wishes if VAIO hadn't been sold off that they'd have brought a newer and more capable version out using more up to date hardware when all the lightweight slim Intel laptops got a couple of generations upgrade, but the small screen did hold it back despite that dimension being its core design feature so it wouldn't sell that well in today's world of ever more capable tablets and decent spec lightweight laptops.

[@G1NZOU]

Also when my desktop's motherboard died, I ended up using it as my main desktop PC for a couple of months, despite lack of performance it still browsed just fine and when connected up to my monitor and tethered to wall power for max performance it did just fine, the only thing I really missed was not being able to game.

[@lztx]

I was in Japan in March 2009 and visited the Sony building. I remember playing with this VAIO and it was the laggiest computer i have ever used. Doing a Win+R took at least 10 seconds just for the dialogue to appear, then even longer for notepad to appear

[@LoneWolf0648]

i wonder what a modern pc in that form factor could do considering how powerful the raspberry pi 5 is for being so tiny

[@vhateg]

That would be PERFECT for taking notes in class with a terminal-only Linux running on it.

[@zacanger]

This thing was just ahead of its time. Or behind the times, not sure which. The form factor might've done well in the PDA age, or been a good alternative to the GPD-type UMPCs today. In the late 2000s/early 2010s, we were all switching to smartphones netbooks were just about to transition to ultrabooks, so it feels like it was just poorly timed.

[@DatBlueHusky]

I have one of these too, the best upgrade you can do is stick a ssd in it and it makes it better on load times but yes its very slow for what it is and i think best os would be windows xp which should make it real snappy.

[@tylerbrunton7696]

My wife has one of these, she won it in a contest around the time we met. It was actually the first time she ever had her own computer, and really put some miles on the thing.

[@derekchristenson5711]

I remember seeing the US version of this machine in Fry's Electronics in 2009, when I went there to buy a netbook. I had already pretty much decided on the cheap but decent Acer Aspire One (in blue!), which seemed to make all the right compromises to meet the price and size expectations of a netbook for me. Nonetheless, I took a look at Sony's offering and, even just trying it out in the store, I was left wondering who would buy such a thing. The Acer came with Windows XP pre-installed, which ran quite well on it and looked good on the small but bright screen Acer had chosen, and it seemed surprisingly speedy when opening office applications or browsing the web. The Sony, by contrast, had (as mentioned) Windows Vista, which slurped up all of the machine's limited resources just to, well, run Vista by itself, making opening any of the pre-installed applications or browsing the web glacially slow. Add to that the fact that 2009 was prime "everyone hates Vista" time, and the choice of OS by Sony was quite perplexing (even much more powerful laptops on display came with XP to satisfy customer demand!). And, yeah, while the Acer's keyboard was reduced in size, it was still large enough to type neatly on and had a decent key action, while even leaving enough space for a small trackpad, while the Sony machine was awful to type on and felt much more cramped. About the only thing I remember liking about the Sony was just how clean and sharp the picture looked, as a static image, comparable to the beautiful screen they used in the PSP. However, a $900+ picture frame wasn't what I was there for, and the Acer was easier to use, more pleasant to use, had more resources leftover from the OS to run applications well, and even had a bigger (if cheaper) screen, all for about $300! Since I was buying a netbook as a travel machine, one that would be powerful enough to use for typing, email, and web browsing, with some light gaming, while traveling but still cheap enough that I wouldn't be paranoid about it being stolen from my hotel room, choosing the Acer was an easy choice. The best I can say about Sony's little machine -- and so many others that they made in that era -- was that at least they tried to be different, and sometimes that's important for pushing the state of the art. Just... not this time.

[@GreySectoid]

This was my holy grail laptop back then, but as a poor student I had no disposable income to buy it. Funny how it was considered lightweight, now my X1 Carbon weights the same while being a full sized laptop.

[@broccoloodle]

more ports than a macbook air 😂

[@SwitchBladeX0]

Could get down with more mini laptops. I would love these today. Steam deck don't really cut it for me

[@SantiagoSalse]

Imagine this beauty with less bezel and running an Apple A17 pro chip or M1😍

[@avotius]

I really appreciate that Sony is willing to be a bit out there and crazy with some of the things they do. Will there ever be a second gen of some of their nuttiness? No, but we are all worse off for not having them in the laptop world anymore.

[@tdata545]

That was weirdly popular back in the day. My HP had that "LINUX MEDIA PLAYER OS" on it as well. Wait is that keyboard that annoying membrane type where it sticks for a fraction of a second and then violently returns to position? I remember some of those membranes back in the day. They were cool looking laptops, super expensive, and neat ideas. LUCKILY GPD and ONE X kind of brought these little guys back, but with respetable chips for the former. The latter dabbles here and there, but usually sticks with above Celeron and Atom, but heavily Neutered i3 chips.

[@rollingtroll]

I so wanted a C1 back in the day, literally dreamt of it.

[@TrusteftTech]

People wanted a Mac, I wanted a Sony Vaio computer. Never got one. Problems aside, still gorgeous piece of computing.

[@BlackBagData]

I had a Sony TR series laptop and loved it. I even did the mod on it to add Bluetooth and upgraded the 1.8” drive to a higher capacity.

[@igeekone]

I've always liked these UMPCs, but I always knew they had atrocious performance. Even at the time they were brand new, the lackluster performance left these as novelties.

[@nobunaga123]

I used to have this laptop! It was slow but the compact size made up for it

[@sammcj2000]

I had this or a a model very similar to it when it was new. I remember the drivers being terrible but the hardware both to use and performance wise was excellent. Lovely form factor and good screen for the time. Good memories.

[@TYNEPUNK]

spent a lot on a vaio tx, was a wonderful small machine. Used it as main pc until my wrists hurt ;) motherboard died, cost a fortune to repair (like 1500us), it died again and no warranty. Gave up on vaio after that.

[@TheRawketLawnchair]

i remember a home nurse using this to fill out reports. i felt so bad for her. she was given it by her job.

[@DEMENTO01]

the instant boot os is something Cathode Ray Dude would be VERY interested in btw

[@SgtMoo]

Had someone drop a bunch of old computers off at the store I work at saying we could do what we want with them. Most of them were ancient junk but one of these was in the pile (VGN-P15G). I love computing oddities and couldn't let the thing go to e-waste so kept it. Such a unique little machine that I figured I could find some use for and had pretty much forgotten about it until this video popped up on my recommended.

[@Space_Reptile]

oh hey the vaio has quickboot, that uses a hidden partition on the disk to "instant boot" a very basic linux OS that has a webbrowser and some very basic media tools you are not missing much, those were usually on vista laptops because laptops used to take over a minute to load vista thanks to slow harddrives and lots of bloatware, frustrating the end user

[@MaxOakland]

That burgundy color is unique and looks premium

[@Longplay_Games]

I remember really wanting one of these, it was nice to see you get it running :)

[@t_w_7821]

god...this is a throw back so much to my memories, I used to have a lot of VAIO laptops, AR, N, R, X and the one in the video, I lost count, VAIO were the best...I don't know why it goes downhill and the new VAIOs are....

[@eduardofukay]

I have mine. It still works. Even the battery still runs.

[@Noah_Bailey]

"This does not compute" Last time we heard Rory the robot.

[@Lukeno52]

Vaio Ps are really cool machines - they did a huge variety of colours, and I think there were effectively two generations (the early Vista ones, and the later 7 ones). The ones you really want are the ones with the 1.8" SSD. EDIT: That Reddit comment you showed comes from me sharing a picture of mine on /r/retrobattlestations! Definitely agree with what that user said, it is very limited, but that to an extent makes it fun.

[@cageycretins]

I bought a Sony Vaio VGN-P21Z/Q - Atom Z520 / 2GB / 80GB / 8" TFT / 3G / over here in Europe in 2010 and replaced the 1.8" HDD with a 1.8" SSD myself. SSDs were NOT cheap back then! But the Sony were sold for about ½ the price early 2010. Later I also upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and to Windows 10 -it runs rather well on W10. Back in 2011 I was hospitalised for a long time, and this litte computer saved many hours of boredom for me, so all in all - expensive - but great for what it was. Still running BTW! Thanks for showing the rest of the world this litte computer!

[@ChainShinra]

Since you swapped the drive, do you per any chance have the ability to extract the recovery partition? It's really nowhere to be found out there :(