Great news for those in the US who fell in love with the Billabong edition Sony VAIO W, previously only available to those in Australia. Sony will be releasing the Imperial Lime Billabong netbook to the US market and you can pre-order it in Sony Style stores from today. The netbook will cost $500 and comes with the standard VAIO W specs, including a 10.1 inch display, with a resolution of 1366×768, the best which can be found on a netbook and really does make a difference. You also get 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, along with Windows Starter 7 as the OS.

Not only that but, Sony will be teaming up with Billabong in the Design for Humanity event. Sony will auction off two of the netbooks for the event, where all proceeds will be donated to the Invisible Children foundation. The event will take place June 10th.

Via Sony Press Release

Images courtesy of Sony Electronics News & Information

Sony are adding a new netbook model into their VAIO W range. The VAIO W12S1E will come with a 250GB hard drive compared to the 160GB hard drive of the original VAIO W netbook, the W11S1E. The new netbook will also come equipped with Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7. Like other netbooks, this will be the Starter Edition of Windows 7. Sony have opted for a tan color instead of brown on this netbook and have kept the white and pink versions.

The VAIO W12S1E is available for pre-order from Amazon with the release date slated as the 10th of November. It has a pre-order price of £399.99.

Source

If you haven’t picked up Sony’s first official netbook yet, the VAIO W11S1E, it may be time to do so. I’ve been thinking of picking one up myself and took a look on PC World to see how much they were and if they were now available for collection from store. After finding nothing from the site, I checked back on our previous story about the Vaio W and followed the link. The PC World link now takes users to the netbook section. It it still possible to buy the VAIO W11S1E from the UK though as Amazon still have the netbook in stock.

Many stores and companies participate in Breast Cancer Awareness month and Sony are no different. This year to help raise money for the cause, the company is releasing a pink edition of the Sony eReader. The 10 inch Vaio W netbook will also be available in two tone pink with a matching case and mouse. $110,000 of the profits will be donated to the charity.

The first official netbook from Sony is now available in both the UK and US. US consumers can purchase the netbook from Best Buy in white, brown or pink for $499.99. Amazon.com are also listing the netbook but, currently only have pink in stock.

For the UK, the netbook is retailing for £374.95-£381.26 depending on color. Both the pink and brown are available at the higher price, while the classic white is the cheapest of the three variants. Amazon UK are also listing the netbook in all three colors.

If you’re thinking of going into your local Best Buy or PC World to pick the netbook up instead of online delivery, unfortunately you’re out of luck. Both retailers only have the Sony Vaio W netbook available for online orders and not in store or for collection.