The newly-founded VAIO Corporation launched two new laptops, the Pro and Fit, earlier today as the company formally came into existence. The laptops are currently only available for purchase in Japan. Sony sold the brand they had formed earlier this year to an investment fund to enable themselves to concentrate on the more profitable smartphone and tablet sectors, retaining just 5% of VAIO.
The Pro is an 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch ultrabook with Intel Haswell Core i3, i5 or i7 processor options and 4GB or 8GB of RAM. Both laptops have 1920x1080 resolutions and are 17.2mm at their thickest point meaning they should be easy to carry around. The laptops have either a 128Gb, 256Gb or 512Gb SATA 3 SSD for storage and Intel HD Graphics 4400. The smaller model costs 120,000 yen, around $1180, with the larger 13-inch model priced at 130,000 yen or $1280. These are evidently high-end machines.
The Fit, at 100,000 yen, around $984, has a 15.5-inch 1920x1080 or 1366x768 display with the same choice of processors as found on the Pro. It has a 500GB hard drive and is equipped with an Ethernet port and optical drive - things that the ultra slim and stylish Pro abandons. The Fit, ironically, is anything but fit at 26.1mm thick.
Both laptops look very similar to VAIOs built under Sony management. The only real difference is the lack of any Sony branding but on many existing VAIO devices not much is visible anyway. The fledgling company has not said if or when it will expand out of Japan. Presumably, its fate lies with these early devices to see if it can escape the fate foreshadowed for it by Sony.