Sony's new Vaio C15 laptop does a budget good

If there's one thing Sony's Vaio laptops are known for, it sure ain't being friendly on the pocket book, but this new Vaio C15, just released in Taiwan, looks to be a fierce competitor in the mid-range. Going for a mere NT$39,800 (about $1,200 US), the laptop packs a 1200 x 800 13.3-inch screen, Core 2 Duo T5500 1.66GHz processor, NVIDIA GeForce 7400 graphics, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB HDD, Bluetooth and even a DVD burner. At 5 pounds heavy, it's not exactly an ultraportable, but fancy inclusions like an ExpressCard slot and Memory Stick reader (still with the Memory Stick, Sony?) excuse a bit of that bulk. The 4 hour batter life rating ain't bad neither, especially with that dedicated graphics card hogging up the juice. All in all, it seems like Sony might have quite the winner with this model -- though there's no word yet if any of that "winning" is planned to take place over here in the US and A.

[Jammy @ Nov 16th 2006 4:29PM]

Mister, if you know that much about Engadget and it's readers then wouldn't that make YOU a devout reader and, in turn, also a loser who needs to get out more?

[ScOObyDoo @ Nov 16th 2006 12:29PM]

Similar machine from Dell would be $500 less. Is the Sony brand and quality REALLY worth $500? For a Lenovo I could understand it, but a SONY?

[ronin @ Nov 16th 2006 12:34PM]

For those who want a larger screen their N-series is about the same price for a 15.4" screen. Minus Bluetooth though.

[Rick Lyon @ Nov 16th 2006 1:09PM]

Is the trackpad off centered? Why?

[Andir3.0 @ Nov 16th 2006 1:36PM]

Why does it matter if the trackpad is not perfect center?

[lemmiwinks @ Nov 17th 2006 9:34PM]

Explain again why memory stick compatibility is such a problem for you guys. Sony have had these for years. There are millions in circulation. Sure they cost 50% more than some other sticks, but flash memory is cheap now - who cares. They're not going away - deal with it!

All the latest Vaios come with a combined reader. They can read SD and all the usual suspects. Until the laptop catches fire of course.

[homant @ Nov 16th 2006 1:40PM]

Nice! A Macbook that doesn't run OSX! My prayers have been answered!

[Andir3.0 @ Nov 16th 2006 1:34PM]

"still with the Memory Stick, Sony?"

Would you rather they just stop recognizing all their previous owners and abandon the device/codecs all together Microsoft.

[Galley @ Nov 16th 2006 1:41PM]

No thanks, I'll take a refurbished MacBook with a 2.0GHz processor for $999.00.

[tty56 @ Nov 16th 2006 2:04PM]

Sony Notebook are excellent quality. My main computer is a Sony SR1K bought in 2000, and is still running fine. And it still looks good, the only parts I had to replace was the harddisk and the battery. Some of my colleagues have laptops from other brands which look worse after 3 years.

I think the C15 is quite nice at a good price.

[Genome @ Nov 19th 2006 7:54AM]

I bought my PCG-SR1K in 1996 and to this day it still works. The only problems I had with it were the psu giving up and external cdrom getting broken.

Im still looking for a worthy replacement for this cool machine.

[mespinosam @ Nov 16th 2006 2:13PM]

this is explosive news

[M. Rod Von Hugenstein @ Nov 16th 2006 2:35PM]

Looks good, hopefully we'll see it here.

Oh yeah, OS X rocks!!!

(Don't buy a Dell D620, they have junk LCD's)

[Omar @ Nov 16th 2006 6:50PM]

You've already reported this story guys. Its teh same machine as the C1 you had up as a news story a couple of weeks ago.

[LTM @ Nov 16th 2006 4:55PM]

and the thread turns ugly.................

[Oddmanout @ Nov 17th 2006 1:32AM]

"Is the trackpad off centered? Why?"

Maybe the logic is that you generally use the trackpad with only one hand, so it's placement is somehow biased for that hand. Kinda gives you a 'custom' feel...like contour grooves on your personal sidearm.
Or maybe it allows you to simply rotate your arm to reach it instead of having to pull it back at the elbow...I dunno...seems like it would make the laptop innately unsuited to either left or right handers...

@:'Mister'

"These and many other feeds are as lengendary as MS-DOS OS. That's why i prefer Gizmondo."

What does this sentence mean ? What does this sentence mean in the context of this article ? What does this sentence mean in the context of your rant ? What does a defunct handheld game console (Gizmondo) have to do with any of the afore mentioned things ?

Your answers, please.

(And please, don't misunderstand. I'm not picking on you. I don't understand what you're trying to say well enough to even begin such a venture...)