SlashGear Japan
SlashGear may have a Sony VAIO P in the house, but what it didn’t come with was any retail packaging. As such, we’ve had to wait to see a full unboxing, and the guys at Akihabara are the first to oblige. It’s unclear whether theirs is the 1.33GHz or 1.86GHz version currently available to order in Japan (but not in the US).
To be honest, the packaging does little to excite. It’s in keeping with Sony’s general notebook box design, but we’d like to have seen more effort put in to make the ownership experience more interesting; after all, that’s something ASUS manage with their Eee PC 1002HA netbook, which at $499 is almost half the price of the cheapest VAIO P.
Still, the box is a transient thing, and it’s the long-term use of the netbook you’re more interested in. We’ll have more hands-on reports about the Sony VAIO P this week – with good news and bad – so keep reading SlashGear!
3 Responses to “Sony VAIO P gets unboxed”
Carlos January 15, 2009
The MacBook Air still has the best packaging a computer can possibly come in.
NeutralRene' January 15, 2009
Why do you care much for the packaging? You’ll throw it away anyways after you pulled the contents, right?
NeutralChris Davies January 16, 2009
Rene, it’s all to do with how good a new device makes you feel when you first get your hands on it. With something like the VAIO P – or in fact any device that could be considered a luxury above and beyond its more basic counterpart – the last thing you want to feel when you’re unpackaging it is buyer’s remorse. That horrible feeling of “oh, damn, I shouldn’t have bought this”.
Carlos’ comment is very telling. Apple know that the MacBook Air is a niche product – both by what it’s capable of, and by virtue of its price. They know part of the jusification for buying it is “I want that so much!” rather than just “I need a new computer”. Their packaging builds on your feelings of “investing” in something special, something where the designers have thought about you and your ownership experience, rather than just something to stop it getting smashed during shipping.
Anyway, surely we’re all keeping our packaging just in case we need to return gadgets under warranty? ;)
Neutral