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).