I've mentioned the sleek new P-series laptop from Sony, showcased at this month's CES already with a target audience of women and eventually college kids and young professionals. Whilst it quite rightly hit many 'best of' lists for its elegance, the subsequent reviews tell a different story and they're not great. I can start off by mentioning its plus points - the low weight at 1.4lbs, the slim and stylish exterior, the 8inch screen give it a slight edge over competing netbooks and there's 3G wireless though the jury is still out on whether it is a laptop or a netbook. However, PC Mag wasn't impressed with what went on under the bonnet but conceded, "Based on design alone, though, [they] think Sony can create a huge following with this pseudo-netbook". After listing a number of flaws, including the inability to run Vista, high resolution that makes word processing and emailing poor and a limited keyboard, not to mention the price point at $1,199, PC Mag continued that, "According to Sony, women aren't too concerned about what's inside the system; how it looks is more important."
I'm ready to be affronted by this but I wonder if Sony is partly right. Yes, I do look for a good looking piece of kit but it has to perform too. My laptop has to be up to the tasks I want it to do or it's a big waste of cash. To assume that women will be fooled by a pretty exterior over system performance is naive and, dare I say, arrogant, for Sony in 2009. They might have been making a simplistic statement unaware of quite how it would be perceived but Mike Abary, Sony's senior vice president who unveiled the Pseries should really have known better than to insult his target audience. However, I will concede that good looking equipment will have an edge over boring kit for many - men, families and yes, women too. [via John Morris, ZDNet]
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