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Posted 17th March 2010 by Jonathan Leggett

Netbook? Mini netbook? Call it what you will, the first of Sony’s Vaio M Series of new mobile broadband enabled Vaio pocket PCs to be officially unveiled looks very smart indeed.

Coming in at a slimline 1.3kg and running Windows 7 Starter, the M11M1E houses a 10.1-inch LED screen and a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor. Also under the hood is a 250GB hard drive, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, plus a motion eye camera fixed in the screen for video calling.

There’s also three handy USB ports. And as well as being on offer in black and white colour options, it’s pretty well connected too, with Bluetooth and WLAN 802.11b/g/n capabilities.

Due to go on sale in around a month’s time, there’s no word yet whether Sony’s mini marvel will be appearing on mobile broadband deals. But the fact that it’s retailing at around £300 bodes well for its chances.

Certainly it’s much more likely to appeal to carriers than Sony’s last attempt at a slimmed down laptop, the lavishly specc’d Vaio P Series, which sells for a budget unfriendly £450.

Full Vaio M series specs:

Processor

Intel® Atom™ N450 1.66GHz

Operating system

Windows 7 Starter

Memory

1GB DDR2 SDRAM (667 MHz) 250GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)

Dimensions & weight

1.4kg (with supplied battery); 183 x 33 x 268 mm (D x H x W)

Screen

25.5cm (10.1”) 16:10 display (1024x600) with LED backlight

Supplied software

VAIO Gate; MusicStation; PMB VAIO Edition; VAIO Media Plus; VAIO Care; VAIO Transfer Support; VAIO Update; VAIO Smart Network; Internet Explorer 8; Windows Live Essentials Suite; Adobe® Reader® 9; McAfee (60 days free virus update) and Norton Online BackUp Trial.

Misc features

WLAN 802.11b/g/n; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; MOTION EYE camera; stereo speakers, 3 USB ports and an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3150.