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

The Billabong special edition VAIO W has just been announced and will be available this June in Australia for $749SRP. This is the first collaboration product between Billabong and Sony. The VAIO W netbook series Imperial Lime has a very nice and funky look which is a result of splashes of bright colors; blue, lime green and black. This netbook includes Billabong content which includes images and video from a new TV series. The TV series is featuring a selection of Billabong’s key surfing athletes.

After finally seeing the Sony Vaio netbook in the flesh, I fell in love with it immediately. The VAIO W netbook has been released in two varients, the W11S1E and the W12S1E. The difference between the two are the hard drive size, operating system, battery and price, while the rest of the specs remain the same. The W11S1E has a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP and is available for £300 with a 3 cell battery, giving 2.5 hours battery life. While the W12S1E is equipped with Windows 7 Starter, 250GB HDD, a 6 cell battery providing 7.5 hours battery life and retails for £350. So naturally, I went with the W12S1E. Both models are hard to find in most shops within the UK, with only one store in my area having the netbook (W12S1E) on display. Both models are available in white, pink and tan/brown. Although Argos also lists the W12S1E available in charcoal.

Other specs of the netbook include an Intel Atom N280 processor, 10.1 inch display, with an impressive screen resolution of 1366×768, which really does make a difference, 1GB RAM, web camera and an SD and Memory Stick card reader. Connectivity wise, it features WiFi b/g/n and bluetooth.

You can view my unboxing photos of the netbook after the break.

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.