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May 20, 2008 11:12 AM PDT

Sony laptop cuts keyboard in half

by Mike Yamamoto
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(Credit: Pocket-lint)

There are plenty of products on the market designed specifically to squeeze into tight spaces, but their designs usually don't require major amputation. Sony has apparently taken that drastic surgical step, however, to a new laptop model headed for the Korean market.

The most notable--and possibly disturbing--aspect of the latest version of Sony's LJ Series is its keyboard, which appears to be about half the size it should be. That means that, when closed, the keyboard doesn't appear to even cover the 15.4-inch screen. Presumably there will be some kind of casing that will protect the LCD, as Pocket-lint says, but it still looks weird either way.

If you're a road warrior who lives on airplanes, however, a laptop like this might make some sense. As for what's under the hood, it has a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, a 200GB hard drive, and built-in Webcam.

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by bwahblah May 20, 2008 1:47 PM PDT
the l(x) series of sony laptops are meant to be placed in the home, it's a "Lifestyle" pc. It's not meant to be carried around like normal laptops, thus the floating glass design, which would be imagined to be fragile. Neither Crave nor Pocket-lint picked this up.
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by stasguy May 21, 2008 5:55 AM PDT
When I was in Japan I saw a similar model, the keyboard has a flap underneath that is unfolded when you want it to be...
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by hopnung May 21, 2008 5:14 PM PDT
I could see where the title of this entry on main page ("When single-handed typing is useful") could hint towards something else...
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by May 22, 2008 7:55 AM PDT
Pay attention - IT IS NOT A LAPTOP. These series is a desktop with a fold up keyboard. and there are dozens of versions.

For reference:
http://www.techfresh.net/gadgets/computers/sony-vaio-vgc-lj25l-resembles-a-laptop/
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by May 22, 2008 8:09 AM PDT
Here's a link to Sony's Japan site: http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Style-a/Product/L15/index.html
It is very flash heavy so it is hard to to copy and paste the text into a translation system. Hopefully a company as large as CNET has access to translators
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by r.a.rae May 26, 2008 6:14 PM PDT
Saw a VAIO exactly like this at Office Depot this weekend, and I'm quite sure it's a PC, not a laptop.
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