Sony's Unique View on the Exchange Rates?

[slycat]

So I was looking for more information about the new Sony P as it looks kinda cool and I'll be in the market for a laptop soon and so I came across the official American SonyStyle site, selling it for $900. So I thought, that's not bad as that's about £600, and I checked to see if it was on the UK site, and sure enough, it was. However, it's being sold for £1369. That's over $2000 according to XE.com! I'm not sure if a UK keyboard really costs the $1100 difference... Did I miss something or is that what Sony's actually doing? Even without the VAT, the price is still $1,806.72.

Anyway, after looking at the device more, it seems to be too close to a mobile phone compared with a proper laptop. After all, my Sony Ericsson X1 has a full keyboard and Windows Mobile already. I think I may wait for the Dell Studio XPS 16 to lower in price (and when I have cash) and get one of those as a mobile desktop replacement. The other option is to get a netbook and a new desktop PC, my current desktop PC is ancient by today's standards and my laptop died last year.

Edit: On closer inspection, the UK model has a 128GB SSD as standard as opposed to the 60GB HDD of the US one, and the UK one also has built in 3G and an Atom Z530 1.6GHz CPU in place of the Intel 1.33GHz processor. Still doesn't justify the price difference, unless the SSD really is worth that much...

Comments

[caleb-badger.livejournal.com]

Windows Vista on a 1.33 GHz processor. Are they joking?

[slycat.livejournal.com]

Hmm, the UK site says the CPU is an "Intel® Atom(TM) Z530 Processor (1.60 GHz)". Either way neither are the best choice for Vista.

However that said, I'm running Vista on my crappy old Athlon XP3000+ :P I had a free legal upgrade and I missed the features of Vista from my now dead laptop. It's not too bad for day to day operation, I can even playback 720p HD movies. No good for games tho!

[hytiger.livejournal.com]

Typical sony.... pile of overpriced, badly built crap with an expensive badge, barely meeting the minimum requirement for the OS installed.

As for Vista.... 'nuff said!

[skunki.livejournal.com]

I thought we got this kind of pricing in Germany only. I know prices in America and Canada are without V.A.T., but sometimes I got the impression there are still reperations (I guess thats the word, LEO doesn't know it) for WW2 included. I once bought a Dive Computer for the Trimix course which meassures dive time, depth and temperature only. Suggestes Price for Germany was 120 EUR, but only 70 EUR for France. Since I'm living near the border, I bought it there.