More laptops leaks: Sony's VAIO NR laptop

Sony's leaked German spec sheet.

Leaks of new products are pretty commonplace these days (unless you're talking about Apple), and nowhere is that more true than the laptop scene, where pretty much every unannounced new product release is leaked, discussed, blogged, and photographed long before the first press release goes out.

The latest entry in the laptop leak-athon is the Sony VAIO NR, a 15-inch system that popped up briefly on Sony's German Web site before being pulled down. Notebookreview.com managed to grab the spec sheets in time, and even though they're in German, we still kinda like what we see.

There seem to be two versions--dark brown (which Sony calls wenge brown) and silver. Under "Spezifikationen," the brown model lists an Intel 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7250 CPU, Intel 965 chipset, 2GB of RAM, an ExpressCard slot, and a 200GB hard drive. There is some dispute in different online accounts about whether the silver version knocks the CPU back to a 1.5GHz T5250, or if it's identical to the dark-brown model. Since leaked tech specs are often dubious at best, we'll have to wait for official word--or at least better leaks--to say for sure.

With its deep, nearly black look and very thin profile, the VAIO NR has an almost-MacBook-like look, and with a purported starting price of around $899, we don't see any reason this couldn't be a successful addition to the U.S. VAIO line--but there are no reported plans to bring it stateside just yet.