Sony Vaio G11: Diddy but durable

By Rory Reid on 02 February 2007, 12:06pm

People tend to think of size-zero laptops as extra flimsy. Many of us probably wouldn't mind dropping the 20-inch Dell XPS M2010 (as long as it's not on your toes), but if your slinky new Asus U1 hit the floor you'd weep like a lady.

This isn't quite right though, and here to realign perceptions of ultraportable sturdiness is Sony, with its newly announced Vaio G11. This 12.1-inch laptop weighs 1.2kg, which is about the same as a bag of sugar. Despite its slim proportions, it has a drop rating of nearly one metre -- that's impressive for such a tiny laptop . We reckon the G in G11 must stand for 'gangsta'.

Sony says it has performed extensive drop tests and the laptop can survive 90cm falls when switched off, or 72cm falls when it's on -- so you can 'safely' drop it from about breast height. The 100GB hard drive has integrated shock protection and can temporarily secure its drive heads when it senses the acceleration of a fall.

Other good news: Sony claims the G11 has a 9-hour battery life and a charging unit that weighs just 170g and is shorter than a pen. Lovely. You also get an ultra-low voltage Intel U1500 Core Solo CPU, up to 2GB of RAM, a dual-layer DVD rewriter, a fingerprint scanner and Windows Vista.

We don't have any deets on pricing or availability yet, but we'll keep you updated as soon as we have more. -RR