Sony's 'not-netbook'

The announcement of Sony's tasty-looking 638g, 8in. VAIO P (below), which launches over here in February, has sparked a debate in the ZDNet UK office about what is, and what isn't, a 'netbook' (we take these things seriously round here).

Before ASUS and its Eee came along in 2007, the laptop landscape was relatively simple, comprising desktop replacement (big, hefty), mainstream (biggish and heftyish), thin-and-light (quite thin and quite light) and ultraportable (light enough to actually travel with) systems. Very small and light notebooks such as Toshiba's Libretto, Sony's VAIO C1 and HP's OmniBook 300 had been around for a long time, and were often called 'mini-notebooks' to distinguish them from more powerful ultraportables (which you could do proper work on).

Then along came Intel and Microsoft with the Ultra-Mobile PC or UMPC, which was basically a combination of mini-notebook and Tablet PC. Clearly the world needed another category of 'very small PC', because Intel followed up the UMPC with the MID (Mobile Internet Device). A smartphone, of course, is both 'mobile' and an 'internet device', but it's not an MID. Confusing isn't it?

Anyway, back in 'small computer'-land, the ASUS Eee ushered in the 'netbook' category, which is essentially a mini-notebook -- but, even more essentially, a very cheap one. Fair enough, except that now everyone and their dog has produced a 'netbook', some prices have crept well over the £400 mark. Which is where we came in: is Sony's £849 VAIO P a 'netbook'? Sony finds the word beneath it, almost certainly because of the 'cheap' association. The spec is pretty good: 1.33GHz Atom Z520, LED-backlit 1600x768 screen, integrated mobile broadband, Draft-N Wi-Fi and more. It also features Sony's XMB (XrossMediaBar) pre-boot OS for quick access to messages, the web and music if you don't want to fire up Vista. According to those who have handled the thing, the build quality (especially the keyboard) is excellent.

So what shall we call this officer-class 'not-netbook'? Suggestions are welcome. A brief straw poll on the ZDNet editorial desk gathered the following: 'PoshBook', 'CoffeeTableBook', 'ChequeBook'...