Following a trend, Sony announced pricing and availability for its touch-enabled Windows 8 lineup yesterday. Many of the computers named in the press release are slight variations on existing products with added touchscreens, but two in particular stood out to us: the Vaio Duo 11, an Ultrabook that folds down into a tablet, and the Tap 20, an all-in-one desktop that includes an integrated battery and will lie flat on a table. We took some time at a Sony event in New York City last night to go hands-on with the new hardware, all of which launches alongside Windows 8 on October 26.
A word of warning: Sony held its event in a studio loft set up like a club, complete with a head-bobbing DJ and lights of many shifting and ostentatious colors. For both the Vaio Duo 11 and the Tap 20, I'll provide press images so that you get a clear look at the colors and general form factor, and then my multicolored "Sony Club Mixx" pictures for the details.
Vaio Duo 11
The Vaio Duo 11 is yet another convertible PC, but this one has an 11" 1080p IPS touchscreen rather than a 13" screen—the reduced size and weight (2.86 pounds) makes it about twice the weight of an iPad, but not much heavier than purpose-built Ivy Bridge tablets like Acer's Iconia W700 (2.3 pounds). This makes it a little more plausible to actually use the laptop in tablet mode.
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via Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com
