Sony’s first Vista ultramobile unit is ready!

After launching its first ultramobile unit for Windows XP, the VGN-UX50, last spring, Sony takes a big step forward to follow the industry, releasing its first minilaptop for Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest operating system that finally made it to the public only four days ago.

Sony’s ultramobile PC for Vista comes with high hopes, targeting the business users in search for minilaptops. Although no reference to the price is being made in the official press release, the UX1 is expected to have a price around $3,800 U.S. (£2,000). The sources say that this price comes from the Sony officials, but until it becomes a reality, we can’t consider it more than just a rumor.

The little Vista-capable laptop from Sony is known as Vaio VGN-UX1XN, or shortly UX1, and has only 95 by 50.2 by 32.2mm (4 by 2 by 1.3 in.), featuring a slide-screen over a full Qwerty keyboard. If you don’t workout often, it won’t be a problem carrying it around, since it weighs less than half a kilo (a little more than a pound). These being said, we can award it the title of “Smallest Vista capable laptop” without any worries that we’ll be wrong!

Under UX1’s hood we can find 1GB of RAM, a low-voltage U15000 Core Solo CPU running at 1.33GHz and an Intel onboard graphics chip, while the connectivity part is fully covered - onboard 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB port, sockets for microphone and speakers, as well as a Memory Stick Duo port.

If you were wondering about the price, you’ll find the answer in the fact that the UX1 doesn’t have a hard drive, but a built in 32GB flash drive. The screen is a 4.5 inch X-Black LCD that uses a 1024X768 resolution. The last feature that will help your eyes feel better is the blue backlight of the slimed-down keyboard, which allows you to use it much easier in environments with weak light sources.

Compared to most laptops available at this time, UX1 has some clear advantages. First, it can be used in landscape or portrait mode, and if you feel better with a touch screen and stylus rather than a keyboard, you’ll be pleased to find out that these two are also included.

At last, having the target clients in mind, Sony integrated support for a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), as well as a fingerprint recognition system. The two cameras included can be used for taking photos (the one on the back end, having 1.3MP) and to help with videoconferencing (the 0.3MP one, located by the screen).