IDG Looks Back at VAIO
While I mainly use Macs at home and work, I believe that Sony makes the best Windows personal computers. They are beautiful and innovative. IDG takes a brief look back at 10 years of VAIO.
According to my bro Takashi, Windows 95 was profoundly important in spurring personal computer adoption in Japan. So I’m really glad the article covered the importance of Windows 95 in Japan.
Many homes in Japan didn’t have a PC at the time. They relied instead on dedicated word processing machines that fell somewhere between electric typewriters and laptop computers. But the launch of Windows 95 helped expand the PC market in Japan, in part by offering an interface more friendly to Japanese users.
While they got the Vaio 505 for its thin and elegant design, the MPEG encoder card in the first desktops, and the inclusion of iLink (i.e. Firewire i.e. IEEE 1394) — they neglected to mention the first integration of a webcam into a notebook, the inclusion of a memory stick reader in most models, and other things now common in competitors’ models.
Sony VAIO PCG-C1VN PictureBook — Circa 2001