In the biggest U-turn since Gordon Brown admitted that giving MPs a daily allowance probably isn't a good idea, Sony has gone and made a netbook called the Mini W-Series – and here it is in its unboxed glory.
The best thing about Sony's 10in netbook is its screen. It's a little early to say whether it bests our current favourite netbook display on Acer's
Aspire One D150, but it has a higher resolution at 1366x768. This makes it ideal for jobs like BBC iPlayer, which the 1.66Ghz Atom N280 processor handled well in our brief play.
We were also impressed with the chiclet keyboard – it's 86% full size so takes a little getting used to, but there's plenty of travel in the keys and it feels more premium than most netbooks we've used.
Luckily, the Mini W-Series doesn't have an overly premium price tag either – it'll go for £400 from mid-August, and that includes a 160GB hard-drive.
We were a little disappointed to see that no built-in 3G support or the XMB interface (which made it onto the P Series), and we'll have to wait and see how the 3 cell battery stands up – Sony is claiming three hours from moderate use. But overall Sony's belated arrival to the netbook is mighty impressive.
The Mini W-Series will be available in white, red, or black hues – we'll have a hands-on video and full review very soon, but in the meantime scroll down for more pics and full specs.
Full specs:Processor Intel Atom N280 (1.66Ghz)
OS Windows XP Home
Memory 1GB
HDD 160GB hard-drive
Screen 10.1in X-Black, 1366x768
Weight/size 1.19kg, 179.6x267.8x32.4mm
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
