Vaio P -first impression review-

My new notebook arrived safe and sound ヽ(；▽；)ノ

I hesitated long before buying it, I wanted to get it right after it was announced but I was short of cash and decided to wait till the price drops down, unfortunately, the price never dropped, instead, it almost disappeard from stores. Almost. It was still available in some Sony online stores and Amazon but not in my country. The only way I could get it was to order it from Sony store in Poland for the original price or get used one.

I had an opportunity to get it very cheap when I was in Japan in 2010 but I didn't have this kind of cash to spare (even though the price was low comparing to other notebooks, it was still quite an amount).

I almost lost hope to get it, I checked the other alternatives for the notebook like tablets and high tech phones but non of them was suitable for my needs.

I definitely wanted something light that would fit my bag and take anywhere with me. I wanted to be able to browse the network and upload photos and movies while I'm abroad and be able to use it in work, have all my documents with me and be able to work with children and the interactive board (which is next to impossible on our school notebook). Also, if the classroom with interactive board is occupied there still are two classrooms with a projector but there is no computer.

So far no tablet was enough for this and as for the phone, well, I need my phone to work, I don't want to waste battery, mine is really old (6 years) but its battery lasts for two weeks while my friends have some iphones and other HQ stuff and they happen to run out of battery before the sunset, usually it lasts for 2-3 days max. I don't want to worry about that.

Sony Vaio P is smaller than a typical 10" netbook, in general, it's a 10" minus the touchpad or rather that part under the keyboard where touchpad normally is and that's why the screen also has to be smaller ending up at 8". Size and weight is important for me and it fits my bag just like my notebook (the one made of paper :p). It's slightly wider than a typical A5 notebook. It's only 0,8 (not 0,6 as they say, it was probably measured without the battery) and I can feel the additional weight but I still have lots of space, with my older computers I always had to use an additional bag to transport them.

It runs with Windows 7 Professional (comes originally with full version, not just some starter like in most notebooks). People usually find the letters too small but I can see perfectly fine, my sight is good and have no problems working on it.

I only managed to upload the most basic stuff but so far only one program did not work (Optivum, a program for teachers, used to print the end-of-the-year reports) because of the screen resolution being too small. It also happend to me that during copying images I had some doubles and when computer asked me if I want to replace them, the bottom of the message was below the screen and I couldn't chose the last option and the OK / Cancel buttons. I didn't find any other flaws so far, but it's too soon to evaluate.

It has surprised me as well, there are some things about this notebook I didn't know even though I've been studying it for the last two years. I knew it has the auto-rotate function but I didn't know it reacts to movement during normal actions like watching photos. When I want to switch to another photo I don't have to push buttons, just tilt it slightly to right (next photo) or left (previous photo). I was also surpised to see a touchpad next to the screen, I was wondering for hours why there's some square drawn until a friend of mine explained to me what it is.

My greatest concert was not about the notebook in general, I knew more or less what to expect. I realize it received lots of bad reviews as it's not for everyone, first of all, it's not a notebook to use on everyday basis, the screen is to small to work with for long hours or to write MA thesis on it My biggest concern was whether it will work at all as I ordered it from Allegro (sth like eBay) and it was used, however, the seller promised it was in perfect state and I cannot disagree. Even though it's white the cover is scratch free, the screen is clean as well, the buttons work great. I must say I was lucky.

So far I bought one thing from Allegro, it was my Kindle 4 but it was brand new and sealed. I have some ised thing, eg, my camera (Canon 30D) and piano (Casio CTK-731) were also used but I was able to try them before buying and the people who sold them to me were more or less reliable and not a true strangers. This time I ordered on spec so I'm glad everything went just fine.

If anything good or bad occurs to me I'll post it, I may also write a proper review after some time, I need to spend some more time with my new baby ( ´ ▽ ` )