Sony will launch the world's lightest laptop

Weighing in at 898 grams, Sony's Vaio Type G notebook will be the lightest laptop in the world and is expected to be available in Japan from December.

Type G will feature a 12.1-inch LCD screen. Sony said it launched this product to target business customers.

Sony is well known for its sleek and compact laptops

In the seminar to introduce new Vaio notebooks, Sony vice president Yoshihisa Ishida said that the "wave" of lithium-ion batteries recovery will not have much impact on their personal computer business despite the So far, 9.6 million computer batteries have been produced by Sony. This number has lessened customer confidence in the batteries that will be used in new computer models.

It is expected that the Type G notebook will have the lowest configuration (no optical drive, battery life of about 12.5 hours) will be sold for 220,000 yen (about 1,881 USD). However, Japanese producers insisted that they still have no intention of exporting Type G.

Sony did not disclose profit from personal computers but said it aims to sell 4.2 million Vaio machines in this fiscal year (as of the end of March 2007), up 14% from the previous year. They also plan to increase the rate of equipment processing revenue to 30% of the total revenue from their personal computers in 2010. Currently this ratio is still below 10%.

HOANG MINH