Sony unveils carbon-fibre Vaio X netbook

Sony's 'just one more thing' at the IFA 2009 press conference was an ultra-thin carbon fibre netbook called the Vaio X.

President of Sony Europe, Fujio Nishida, showed a working model of the 14mm computer, which will run Windows 7.

The Vaio X weighs under 700g, sports an 11.1-inch screen and an 'all-day' battery that "will set the standard for stamina". Er, as long as it arrives before Nokia's 12-hour Booklet 3G, anyway.

Ready for ULV chips?

Back in July, TechRadar predicted the arrival of a new mini Vaio, although it is unlikely the Vaio X will hit shelves by October. This is not least because the hands-on prototype Vaio Xs Sony is showing at IFA are using Intel Atom processors, instead of the next gen ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors the chip-maker has lined up for the next generation of ultra-portables.

Other specs are hard to come by, but it looks as if the Vaio X will come with an aluminium keyboard, 2GB RAM, a smattering of USB ports, memory card slot and VGA output. Arrival date is 'Autumn', although we'd bet on closer to Christmas given the undecided nature of its processor.

Your guess on price is as good as ours right now, but we'd be surprised to see the Vaio X selling for significantly under four figures.