Updated: Sony Japan Updates N Series With New Vaio NW

Sony Japan announced a new update to its Type N series with new models VGN-NW50JB and VGN-NW70JB. SonyStyle USA currently offers a Vaio NS, which is very similar to the NW but not as powerful as this new release. The NW series features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (P8700) @ 2.53ghz, a 15.5 inch screen (16:9, 1366×768), 4GB of DDR2 RAM (PC2-6400; up to 8GB supported), Intel Graphics Media accelerator 4500MHD, a 500GB HDD, and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. The VGN-NW50JB comes standard with a DVD reader/writer, while the VGN-NW70JB features DVD and Blu-ray combination reader/writer drive. Other useful features include HDMI out, 802.11a/b/g/n, a built in 3.1 megapixel webcam and microphone, SD Memory/Memory Stick ports, and a FeliCa card reader for our Japanese friends. The NW series also carries on the tradition of a fabric-like texture on the lid of the laptop.

It also has a new Web button that allows quick access to an Internet browser through the familiar OS Quick Start we’ve seen in previous Sony laptops for multimedia playback (AV MODE). A quick-loading Internet browser is smart; we assume it is compatible with encrypted Wifi and the browser is flash compliant. I really like this feature and I think alot of consumers will, too. Here’s a picture of it (click to enlarge):

The NW series also comes with a choice selection of Sony software, including Vaio Movie Story, Click to Disc/Click to Disc Editor, the tried but true SonicStage Mastering Studio, Vaio MusicBox, Picture Motion Browser, Vaio Media plus, Microsoft Office Personal 2007, Magic-i Visual Effects (for webcam) and more. While I love that software, at the end of the day I’d probably format it, load Windows 7 RC and keep it clear to get the fastest HD renderings possible. This is a pretty sweet machine for HD renders and writing that to Blu-ray.

It also has full FeliCa support for all the major players, including Edy, Pasmo, PiTaPa, eLIO, etc. It sure makes me jealous to read these FeliCa FAQ pages, because I wonder why I can’t have this stuff in the USA yet:

Here are some more pictures courtesy of Sony Japan:

Battery life looks to be about 2.5 – 4.5 hours for both models. The VGN-NW50JB should retail for Y149,800, while the VGN-NW70JB is expected to hit for Y169,800 and be available everywhere in Japan on June 27th.