* Price as Tested: $1,199.00 Direct
* Type: General Purpose, Ultraportable, Netbook
* Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
* Processor Name: Intel Atom Z520
* Processor Speed: 1.33 GHz
* RAM: 2 GB
* Weight: 1.4 lb
* Screen Size: 8 inches
* Screen Size Type: widescreen
* Graphics Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
* Storage Capacity: 64 GB
* Primary Optical Drive: External
It was more than two years ago that Mike Abary, senior vice president at Sony, reached into his inner suit pocket and pulled out the Sony VAIO VGN-UX180P. At the time, he called this handheld PC, which ran a full-blown version of Windows XP, "an achievement in ingenious design." Little did he know he'd be pulling the same stunt again at a quaint hotel in Manhattan, where I was one of a handful of journalists invited to preview Sony's take on the netbook revolution. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a clamshell the length of two UX180Ps, not even an inch thick. This, as he described it, is Sony's answer to the surging netbook market, only it's not being classified as a netbook, it's not an update to the UX180P, and the intended audience, interestingly enough, is women. It's the Sony VAIO VGN-588EQ ($1,199 direct), better known as the Sony Lifestyle PC.
