Don’t get me wrong, I love Sony’s laptops – the designs are really slick and they always come with a bunch of extras – but I have to say I find their website quite tricky to navigate (to say the least) if you’re trying to find out what’s available in pink.

I recently spent the better part of an afternoon trying to figure out the easiest way to find and compare Sony’s pink notebook offerings, and this is what I found:

• If you go to their homepage and navigate to the lineup of laptops, the different models are displayed. When you click on each one, a little window pops up with a short list of specs and the available colors. Doing this tells us that only the SR and the CS are available in pink.

• However, if you click on the NS, that little window pops up, telling you that this model is available in Nightfall Blue, Granite Silver and Silk White. BUT, if you click on the “Shop Now” button in that window, and then on the “Buy Now” button in the next, what appears on the list if not a NS notebook in “Sunset Pink”. Hm.

• AND, if you instead of clicking on a specific model in the main window, click the “Help me choose” button and in the following window select Color – Pink, you are given 5 models to choose from. The day I did this, my list included a CR590EBP, the CS290JEP, NS235J/P, a TZ250N/P and a TZ350N/P.

Oddly, this list does not include the SR. It does include the CS and NS mentioned above, as well as 3 models from the outlet. But the only way you find out that they are from the outlet is if you click on one of them, and in the resulting product window look up top, right beneath the tabs of the website, for the page thread (it will say: Home>VAIO® Computers Outlet>Notebooks Outlet>VAIO® TZ Series Notebook PC). I could easily have missed that if I wasn’t looking for it, and what bothers me even more is that nowhere in this window does it state whether the laptop is just on sale or a refurbished model.

• If you instead head straight to the outlet for VAIO notebooks, you will find (at the moment) over 200 laptops in various colors, some on clearance, some refurbished. You can’t search on color here, so you have to scroll through the list. Interestingly, I found two clearance (i.e. NOT refurbished) models in pink here, which did not show up in any other search: a TZ340, and a CR190. However, the TZ350N/P from our list above did show up here in the outlet as well.

I also found several pink refurbished models at the outlet: SR290s, TZ2000, TZ340, CR290, CS110, but since they are not mentioned anywhere else, one has to assume that for refurbished models, you need to go straight to the outlet, which is perfectly reasonable.

• I also tried typing in “pink notebook” in the search window on the main notebook page, and got a list with the following models: SR390, CS290, NS235, CS110 (refurbished), TZ350 (on clearance).

• A search for “pink laptops” in the same window resulted in a list of: SR390, CS290, NS235, CS190, SR190, and SR165 (those last 3 are listed as “no longer available for purchase”).

• My search for “pink computers” brought up (as far as laptops): SR390, CS290, NS235, CS110 (refurbished), TZ350 (on clearance), CS190, SR190, and SR165 (“no longer available for purchase”), so that’s the same as the other two searches combined, but there was also an additional model that showed up here: the C290, which is available and as far as I can tell is neither refurbished or on clearance.

I am not trying to do any Sony-bashing here or suggest that they are being dishonest in any way. I think that it’s an oversight on their part and that their website needs a bit of double checking and tweaking.

What I did want to do was to bring it to your attention so that you don’t end up with a refurbished laptop unintentionally, or give up on your search for a particular pink Sony laptop before you’ve tried all possible ways to find one.

Dell’s line of super-portable laptops – “netbooks” – are similar to the Asus Eee Pc and Acer Aspire One in that they’re basic, small, lightweight, and inexpensive.

This being Dell, upgrades are available, but if you want to keep the cost down, go with one of the basic systems. The least expensive configurations of the Mini 9 and 12 come with the Ubuntu Linux operating system, but don’t let that deter you. If you haven’t used it before, you can do basic Linux training at their (Linux’s) website to see if it’s something you think would work for you.

If you’re looking for a “go everywhere” basic laptop (or “netbook”) and mostly use it for email, accessing the Internet, and basic word processing, the Inspiron Minis are all great choices.

The most economical version of the Mini 9 is only $249 – for the black one. If you want it in pink, you have to add $30, but Dell donates $5 of that to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, so at least part of it goes to a good cause. Other specs for the least expensive base configuration include:

• Linux 8.04.1 operating system
• 1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache Intel Atom processor
• 8.9″ display
• 4GB SSD (solid state drive)
• 512MB memory at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 4-cell 32Whr battery

Optional upgrades available for the basic model are:

• 2GB DDR2 at 533Mhz memory ($75)
• 64GB solid state hard drive ($150)
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 capability ($20)

The most expensive version of the Mini 9 sells for $412 (which includes the pink color), and comes with:

• Widows XP Home
• 1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache Intel Atom processor
• 8.9″ display
• 16GB SSD
• 1GB memory at 533Mhz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 4-cell 32Whr battery

No additional internal upgrades are available for this model

All Mini 9 configurations measure 9.13×1.07×6.77″ and weigh around 2.28 lbs.

Slightly larger (10.28×7.19×1.25″) and heavier (2.86 lbs) than the Mini 9s, the Mini 10 comes in 6 colors. “Promise Pink” is one of them and costs $30 extra – again, $5 of that goes to Susan G. Komen. The most basic configuration sells for $399 (+30 for pink) and features:

• Windows XP Home edition
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 10.1″ screen
• 160GB 5400RPM hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 3-cell 24WHR Li-Ion battery

For an additional $50, you can upgrade the processor to 1.6Ghz.

Dell also mentions the following features, which will be available on the Mini 10 “at a later date”:

• Internal GPS
• HD screen
• Internal digital TV tuner

Dell has not set a date for when that might happen, so keep checking back.

The next step up is the Mini 12, where the least expensive, basic configuration sells for $399 (+$30 for pink) and comes with:

• Linux 8.04.1 operating system
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 12.1″ screen
• 40GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 3-cell 24WHR Li-Ion battery

Optional upgrades available for the basic model are:

• 1.6Ghz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor ($50)
• 80GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive ($50)

The most expensive Mini 12 configuration costs $549 (+$30 for pink) and features:

• Windows XP Home edition
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 12.1″ screen
• 80GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 6-cell 48WHR Li-Ion battery

And again, for $50, you can upgrade the processor to 1.6Ghz.

All Mini 12s measure 11.77×9.02×0.92″ and the starting weight is 2.72 lbs (that’s with the 3-cell battery).

Don’t miss my post on Dell’s newest pink laptop – the Inspiron R.