'Gorgeous' Vaio P Frustrates

Sony’s new netbook, the Vaio P, is about the size of "one of those plastic folders waiters use to bring you the check at a restaurant," but the pricey gadget is "very slow and has poor battery life," writes Wall Street Journal tech maven Walter Mossberg. It draws envious glances from passers-by, but they're no compensation for its tortoise-slow processor, dreadful battery life, and memory-hogging Vista Home Premium OS.

The Vaio P is sleek and has a great keyboard and a clear, albeit small, screen. The two gigs of memory are adequate, and the built-in 3G modem and Wi-Fi help Sony make the case that it's a competitor not just for laptops but for smartphones as well. "Unfortunately, once you actually start using it, that promise is dashed by its awful performance," Mossberg writes.