Sony has announced that it will be adding a touchscreen option to the company’s first Ultrabook, the Vaio T13. According to Engadget the ‘T13-2’ can be speced up quite nicely — up to a Core i7, 256GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM. Pricing doesn’t seem to be confirmed yet, but Sony mentions somewhere in the $1600 range for the aforementioned top-end model. The non-touchscreen Vaio T13 now starts at the fair price of $739; it is unclear how much the touchscreen base model will add to this starting price. The touchscreen T13 is expected to go on sale as Windows 8 launches later this month on the 26th.

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Sony’s most premium ultraportable, the VAIO Z, has finally been refreshed with Ivy Bridge processors. We watched over the last few weeks as VAIO Z stocks dwindled and Sony offered deals to get rid of the previous models. Now Sony is offering Intel’s latest Core i5 or Core i7 processors in the VAIO Z which feature the improved HD 4000 integrated graphics.

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Even though we blew the lid off of the Sony’s first official entry into the Ultrabook space a few weeks ago thanks to Sony EU, Sony US has been completely silent about the VAIO T series… until now. The VAIO T launches in the US as one of the first Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks, and also at a very respectable price: $769.

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Sony surprised us last week when they finally jumped into the Ultrabook market with the VAIO T series. Shortly thereafter we got confirmation the T series would also be offered with the next-gen Ivy Bridge CPU, which I’m particularly excited about given that Intel says the HD4000 graphics will be twice as fast as the existing generation of Sandy Bridge Ultrabooks.

I’ve scoured the web for the best photos of the VAIO T series (T11 and T13 specs) that have yet been released. Here’s a high-res gallery of the slick looking Ultrabooks:

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“I have hands on for all the Sony Ultrabooks!” said the email from fellow Germany-based blogger Balazs Gal of Techfokus. Checking out his YouTube channel reveals three videos. That’s the Vaio T13, the Vaio T11 and a comparison video. Balazs also got confirmation, from an official representative, that there’s an Ivy Bridge version. Yes, the one we spotted!

I’ll link you to the news articles here. (Translations: T13  and T11) Check them out for a good set of pics. The videos are embedded below.

Update: The Sony T13 and T11 have the Intel HM77 chipset with integrated USB3.0 and other new features. The more interesting part of that is that it’s the latest chipset and it supports Ivy Bridge; Another confirmation that Sony are planning to right across the low-to high-end with this product. High-end versions with 512GB SSD and an Ivy Bridge Core i7 will be well over $2000, for certain but a $700 (or thereabouts) stating price brings it to the masses. Again, Ultrabooks proving they have a high dynamic range of use cases.

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Update: It wasn’t too difficult to spot the 01.04 on this right? Sony seems to have done very well with the joke though which was probably set up by a PR company. Search for a Sony Ultrabook on Google now and you’re likely to see the Series Q listed.  I suspect this is just the start of a Sony Vaio Q Ultrabook campaign.

Just how do Sony manage to do this every time? They led the way with their high-powered handheld UX-series UMPCs and it looks like they’re doing it again. This time round it’s an Ultrabook.

The Sony Vaio Ultrabook looks incredible.

256GB SSD, 1080p display and discrete graphics.

You wonder just how far behind even the high-end Ultrabooks are going to look when this one launches. Video below.

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Dear Sony,

You’ve made some of the coolest handheld devices that I’ve ever owned. From your Clie PDA line, I owned the Clie NR70 and the Clie UX50. From your VAIO UX line, I’ve owned the incredible UX180. I’ve owned a PSP which was stolen years ago and I recently purchased another one because I regard it as the best mobile gaming device on the market.

All four of these devices (and certainly many others in your handheld lines) emitted a blinding light of quality, reeked of design excellence, and were bathed in awesomeness. Each of these devices inspired wonder within me. They were true gadgets. Holding them in my hands made me think “wow, this is the future! inch. In school, I used to use the Clie UX50 to type notes and assignments in class, then I’d print it out in the library through the infrared port. That was awesome. And even if it did make me look like a total geek, it made people say “Wow, what is that thing? inch. The Clie UX50 had WiFi and Bluetooth before most people even knew what those terms meant. And a 3.2MP camera built-in (rotating camera, no less) that was on par with digital cameras of the time, and was just one feature of a rich and useful device that I used for years.

You didn’t actually call your Clie line of devices “PDAs inch, you called them Entertainment Organizers, and for good reason. But most of the world wasn’t ready. They weren’t ready to embrace mobile. They weren’t ready to carry entertainment and productivity in their pockets. You’ve since canned your line of Clie PDAs, your UX UMPCs, and your Mylos. The PSP is great, but it becomes outdated with each passing day and is threatened by the likes of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Those that did accept your devices loved them. There’s a surprisingly active community of VAIO UX fans who have modded and enhanced the UX series beyond what some thought possible, but it can only be taken so far. They keep modding because they don’t want to let go of your awesome device. They don’t want it to fade away and be supplanted by something that doesn’t inspire the same awe.

Things have changed though. You’ve changed, Sony. The blame can no longer be placed on the world. You’ve entered a dark age.

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I’d love to get out an do another Solar Computing Tour in 2010 but I’ll have to plan it carefully. Our new baby is due in March so maybe I can pull a long weekend together in late August but we’ll have to see how things go.

It doesn’t stop me thinking about solar computing though and in this post I’m going to compare a set of devices and some technologies that will be important for the job of Solar PC 2010.

Before I do that I want to highlight a few things that really haven’t changed much in the last 3 years. It’s a sad story of minimal progress.

• Solar panels – NOTHING has changed. They’re still expensive and inefficient.
• Battery Tech – NOTHING has change. They are still expensive and use the same technology as before.
• Operating system choice – Nothing has really changed. If you want to work efficiently you need to choose the same OS as you use on the desktop. Mobile operating systems have come a long way but there are still too many potential roadblocks for the average productivity user. Windows 7 is nice but compared to XP it’s less efficient which in my book, makes it the best choice for efficient and productive mobile computing.
• Screen technology. Outdoor users are still fighting the sun with LED backlights although this is a great step forward from the CCFL backlighting I used in 2007. Transflective screens are coming in 2010 though. See below.
• Weather – Ah, there’s something that hasn’t changed much either! Still, constant chaos. (Thank goodness!)

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