Tag: VAIO

Sony To Sell Its VAIO PC Business

Since 1997, Sony has been selling desktops, laptops and notebooks under the VAIO brand of computers. The company met with some early success during the PC boom of the early 2000s, but the company’s line of PCs have been met with slumping sales thanks to the rise of tablets and smartphones.

Now, Sony could try to reinvent the VAIO brand for a new era of personal computing, or it could just sell the division and focus on other products. It has chosen the latter.

Sony announced this morning that it intends to sell its VAIO PC business to Japan Industrial Partners this year. Sony says selling its PC business was the “optimal solution” as it allows the company to put more of its resources towards its smartphone and tablet lineup.

So, what happens to Sony’s current lineup of PCs? The company says its expects the sale to go through in March, and that it will discontinue all manufacturing and sales after this time. At that time, the Japan Industrial Partners will create a new PC company that will service the consumer and enterprise industries exclusively in Japan, but expansion is not ruled out at this time.

As for the employees working on its VAIO products, Sony says 250 to 300 will be transferred to the new company being founded by Japan Industrial Partners. The rest will either be reassigned to elsewhere in Sony or be offered an early retirement package.

Sony also announced that it would be spinning off its TV business into a wholly owned subsidiary. The company notes that its TV business is still losing money and doesn’t expect a return to profitability this fiscal year. It does, however, believe that its reductions and restructuring has put its TV business back on track for a comeback in the future.

To achieve this miracle comeback, Sony has three strategies in place. For starters, the aforementioned spin off will allow Sony to “transform this business into a more efficient and dynamic organization, optimized in size and structure for the current competitive business environment.” Second, it will focus on high-end 4K TVs for mature markets and lower end sets for emerging markets that are “tailored to specific needs.” Third, Sony will continue to “accelerate and broaden its on-going cost reduction and operational improvement measures.”

With these latest moves, Sony can continue to focus on its most profitable businesses – like PlayStation and home electronics. Selling its PC business was probably the right move as its unlikely to pick up again in the future. As for its TV business, spinning it off into its own subsidiary should help the division to remain nimble in the face of any future shakeups.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

February 6, 2014
Sony Announces Three New Windows 8 Devices

The big news out of IFA may be the new smart watches, but the traditional PC is still getting some love from the major players. In fact, Sony has announced three new Windows 8 devices to launch around the time that Windows 8.1 hits.

The first announcement out of Sony is the new Vaio Fit that combines the functionality of a laptop with the convenience and portability of a tablet. As the name suggests, you’ll be able to flip the keyboard behind the display to convert the laptop into a tablet. Simply flip the keyboard to the front of the device to turn it into a laptop again.

As for specs, the Vaio Fit comes equipped with an Intel Haswell CPU, up to 8GB of RAM, up to 512GB SSD and can be outfitted with an Nvidia GeForce 735M on the 15-inch model. The laptop will also come in 13 and 14-inch models.

Alongside the Vaio Fit, Sony also announced the Vaio Tap 11 and the Vaio Tap 22. The Tap 11 is a Windows 8 tablet equipped with an Intel CPU. It comes with a wireless magnetic keyboard that doubles as a cover. As for the Tap 21, it’s a desktop all-in-one PC with a 21.5-inch 1080p display powered by an Intel i5 or i7 Haswell CPU.

In other Sony news, the company announced its new flagship Android device – the Xperia Z1 – today. There’s still no Windows Phone device from Sony, and there might never be one.

[Image: Sony]

September 4, 2013
Buy A Sony Vaio Laptop For School, Get A Free PS3 Or Vita

Microsoft has run a promotion for the past few years that rewarded students who bought a Windows laptop valued at more than $699 with a free Xbox 360. That offer is still underway this year. To combat that offer, Sony is offering up a similar offer to students.

Sony is offering a free PS3 or PS Vita to anybody who buys a Vaio laptop straight from their store. It’s similar to the Microsoft offer in that you’re going to have to drop a pretty penny to get your hands on one of the freebies. The cheapest Sony Vaio comes in the form of a 13.3 inch T Series Custom Ultrabook that retails for $749.99. You could also buy the 13.1 inch Z Series laptop for $2,999, but that just seems kind of ridiculous.

So, say that you find one of these laptops to strike your fancy. Upon entering the checkout, just enter in FREEPS3 or FREEVITA on the eCoupon entry form. The item will be automatically added to your cart and the offer of free Sony gaming systems will be yours to keep.

It should be noted that the PS3 model on offer is the cheaper 160 GB model, but it should be enough to start you on your PlayStation 3 gaming odyssey. If the Vita is more your speed, the Wi-Fi model is on offer. If both of those options are none to your liking, you can call up a special number to get $200 off PlayStation merchandise including more expensive models of the Vita or the PS3.

Finally, you can get eight percent off your laptop purchase if you find yourself not wanting a free PS3 or Vita. That eight percent off would come in handy if you’re looking to buy that massive $2,999 laptop.

It should be pointed out that you can buy a Vaio laptop from any other retailer like Newegg or Best Buy and get a free Xbox 360 out of it. The strength of Microsoft’s offer lies in the fact that it can be redeemed at a number of stores across the country. Sony’s offer is only available at their online store where you might not be able to get the best deal for your money.

June 12, 2012
Sony Announces Its First Ultrabook (Kinda)

Sony has had it’s Vaio line of computer out for years, and now they are finally getting into the Ultra Book game, kinda. Today Sony finally announced the Vaio VAIO T13 and T11, for the European market. The ultrabook will come in 2 sizes 11.6″ or 13.3″ and due to it being so small it is ultra portable. The new Vaio will feature a 1.4GHz Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3-2367M chip and 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. Buyers will have a choice of a SSD drive or a 320GB 7200RPM hard disk drive with a 32GB SSD cache.

One of the new features are the “Rapid Wake + Eco” system features the ability for the ultraboook to be put into a deep sleep when you shut it, and stay that way for up to 90 days with out the battery running out. Then when you are ready to start typing again, just open it up and it instantly fires back up. It is able to do this thanks to it’s use of the latest-generation Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core processors.

One of the coolest things included is a 90 day trial of 90-day trial of Intel Anti-Theft Service3. This service will basically deactivate your ultrabook incase of theft or loss.

At this time there is no price available, or a release date for when it will come out in the United States.

Here are the specs for the ultrabook form Sony:

Model: VAIO SVT1311M1E
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2367M Processor
OS: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit with Service Pack 1
Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM
Drive: 320GB HDD 5400rpm
Screen: 33.7cm (13.3″) VAIO Display (1366×768) with wide (16:9) aspect ratio
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Optical drive

May 2, 2012
Sony Preparing New VAIO Laptop With Chrome OS

Documents recently released by the FCC show that Sony is preparing to release a new addition to their VAIO line of notebook computers. The documents consist mostly of reports detailing the new computer’s compliance with various FCC regulations, but also includes images and some interesting details about the laptop’s specs.

The images show a 21cm laptop with dual USB ports and an SD card reader, as well as an HDMI port:

The full list of documents can be accessed here. One of the documents included is the user’s manual, which confirms both the VAIO branding and Chrome OS:

Google released Chrome OS in November 2009. The operating system is based on Linux. An open source version of the software, Chromium OS, is freely available from Google, while Chrome OS is shipped on computers manufactured by Google’s partners. Previously Google only had two such partners: Samsung and Acer. With this new VAIO notebook, Sony becomes the third.

Chrome OS has done fairly well for itself since its launch, but its popularity is nothing next to that of Google’s other operating system, Android. Some recent events, including the launch of the Chrome browser for Android, have sparked speculation that Google may be preparing to unify the two operating systems. The fact that Google is apparently working on a desktop version of Android seems to bolster those rumors.

For the time being, though, the two will apparently remain separate, since the documentation for this new VAIO laptop consistently refers to Chrome OS. There’s no data yet on a release date for this new Chrome OS VAIO laptop. It is probably safe to say that it will go into production by the end of the year.

March 26, 2012