Sony stalks new Intel mobile chips
Sony is set to refresh its notebook lineup with upcoming mobile chips from Intel. Specifications posted on some reseller sites and leaked in Sony documents show a major refresh potentially in the offing.
Sony Vaio laptop
(Credit: Sony)This may be good news for Advanced Micro Devices, too: its mobile graphics processors look to figure prominently in the new lineup.
A post on Laptoping says some model will come with 16.4-inch screens. Other models include ultraportables "featuring a 13.1-inch screen," Laptoping said. This series, as well as other Sony notebooks, will have a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI).
One reseller lists a Sony Vaio VGN-FW198U/H laptop with a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 processor, 4GB of memory, a 320GB hard disk drive, and a Blu-Ray disc drive. A price of $2,149.99 is given.
The T9400 is not yet listed on Intel's processor pricing page, but logically slots in below the T9500 (2.6GHz) listed at $530.
This document posted on notebookreview.com shows a VGN-FW100 series image. One model (Vaio VGN-FW160E/H) posted on notebookreview.com is spec'd with a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo P8400, 4GB of memory, a 250GB hard disk drive, and Blu-Ray Disc drive.
The P8400 is part of the P series of upcoming Intel processors that uses less power than current mainstream mobile processors.
The Vaio FW series is expected to pack AMD-ATI HD 3470 graphics as well as other graphics processors.
A consumer notebook line with 13.3-inch LED backlit LCD is also cited with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 graphics chip on various sites. Models listed here specify an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400.
Sony said it would not comment on speculation.
Brooke Crothers has been an editor at large at CNET News, an analyst at IDC Japan, and an editor at The Asian Wall Street Journal Weekly, among other endeavors, including co-manager of an after-school math-and-reading center. He writes for the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
