Expectations for the new laptop began in early December after an image of a laptop appeared in a on the Federal Communications Commission's Web site. The machine was identified as the PCG-1P1L and the few details available indicated it will offer cellular as well as Wi-Fi connectivity.
At the beginning on this week, Sony New Zealand -- in a campaign that has since been removed from the company's Web site -- started promoting a "revolutionary" Vaio laptop that will be revealed on Jan. 9 in the country. That works out to just a few hours after Sony CEO Howard Stringer is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 8.
On Wednesday, Sony in Japan started a new Vaio laptop and offered a better idea of the machine's design - a compact laptop that could fit in a woman's purse.
On Thursday a on Sony's U.S. shopping site, SonyStyle, offered details of a Vaio P laptop. Sony used the "Vaio P" name back in 2003 for a desktop PC but at present it doesn't offer any machines under that name.
The computer, according to the site, has an 8-inch LED backlight screen with 1,600 pixel by 768 pixel resolution. Other snippet,s including a 1.33GHz Intel processor, Vista Home Premium or Home Basic, and the choice of a hard-disk drive up to 60GBs or a 128GB solid-state disk (SSD).
From the regulatory filing, the computer appears about 22 centimeters long by 11 centimeters deep and its form factor would suggest a widescreen 8-inch display. The greater length could allow for a larger keyboard than is possible on most of the compact "netbook" computers now be offered by competitors and the combination of a high-resolution with LED backlight will likely make for an impressive display.
The 1.33GHz Intel processor matches the speed of the Atom chip that is included in some netbooks although the use of Vista would be unusual if this is indeed a netbook. If it's a compact but more fully featured machine, as the use of Vista might suggest, then it would appear to be based on the more powerful Core2Duo processor, which is the only other chip Intel offers at this speed.
The additional power would come at a price. The Core2Duo chip in bulk costs US$289 versus $40 for the Atom and Vista is more expensive than XP so a more powerful mini laptop wouldn't be competing with netbooks on price but likely targeting that portion of the market which is attracted by the small size of netbooks but needs a more powerful platform.
While more hints or leaks from Sony could come in the next few days we'll likely only know the full story about the new machine when the Consumer Electronics Show rolls around in early January.