Sony Corp. reportedly wants to release a type of personal computer that has failed to become a success for a number of other makers, a smartbook. Due to be launched this summer, the Vaio-branded system will be based on Google Chrome operating system as well as Nvidia Tegra 2 system-on-chip.

The Sony Vaio smartbook will feature 11.6" display with 1366*768 resolution and will be powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 250 system-on-chip with two ARM Cortex-A9 processing cores, integrated GeForce graphics core as well as other necessary input/output elements. The system will be equipped with 1GB of DRAM, 16GB flash storage, Wi-Fi and so on. According to SonyInsider web-site, the smartbook will be 19.9mm think, will weight around 1kg (2.2 lb) and will have eight hours battery life.

Sony reportedly wants to customize Google Chrome operating system so that to offer exclusive features not available on other systems. Among the benefits of the OS are named rapid booting and intuitive interface.

The smartbooks are lightweight netbooks based on microprocessors powered by ARM architecture. In the recent couple of years a number of companies, including Lenovo Group, Toshiba Corp. and others, tried to release such systems. Neither of the commercial smartbooks became commercial success due to various problems with software as well as due to the fact that they did not meet expectations of the customers.

It remains to be seen whether Sony will manage to make its smartbook a success after it did not manage to capture a significant market share on the market of netbooks, where it offered exclusive form-factors as well as interesting capabilities on industry-standard Microsoft Windows operating system.

Tags: Sony, Vaio, Chrome, Nvidia, Tegra