Another challenger enters the ultrathin notebook arena. This time its NEC, prepping its lightest and daintiest edition of the UltraLite line, the Type VS. Its thickness ranges from 15.8mm to 29.9mm, comparing unfavorably to the 19.4mm MacBook Air or the 16.51mm Adamo. But, its 725g weight (about a pound and a half) definitely undercuts the competition, and its three USB slots, Ethernet port, and SD card reader give reasonable connectivity without external adapters. Its 10.6-inch screen has a resolution of 1208 x 768, the CPU is Intels 1.86GHz Atom Z540 (the same as found in the higher-spec version of the Vaio P), 1GB of RAM is on tap, and a 64GB SSD keeps things persistent. Solid specs for sure, and with an asking price of around ¥99,750 (a little over $1,000) it should be reasonably solid value when it hits Japanese retailers in July. Just dont go wasting your summer waiting for these to appear domestically.
Update: That ¥99,750 is actually a special promotional price for those who pre-order directly through NEC. The devices MSRP after that will be nearly double, ¥176,000 ($1,850), and while were guessing itll sell for something less than that, it still wont be nearly the bargain early-adopters will receive.
