Vaio Wallpaper

[Marie Ota]

VAIOwas formerly a brand of Sony, introduced in 1996. In February 2014, Sony created VAIO Corporation, a special purpose company with investment firm Japan Industrial Partners,[3] as part of its restructuring effort to focus on mobile devices. Sony maintains a minority stake in the new, independent company, which currently sells computers in the United States, Japan, India, and Brazil, and maintains exclusive marketing agreements in other regions.[citation needed] Sony still holds the intellectual property rights for the VAIO brand and logo.[4]

As of 2023, Vaio operates its stores in several countries and regions, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, the United States and Uruguay and so on.[5]

Originally an acronym of Video Audio Input Output, later amended to Video Audio Integrated Operation,[6] and later to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary.[7] The logo, along with the first of the VAIO computers, were designed by Teiyu Goto,[8][9] supervisor of product design from the Sony Creative Center in Tokyo. He incorporated many meanings into the logo and acronym: the pronunciation in both English (VAIO) and Japanese (バイオ) is similar to "bio", which is symbolic of life and the product's future evolution. It's also near "violet", which is why most early Vaios were purple or included purple components. Additionally, the logo is stylized to make the "VA" look like a sine wave and the "IO" like binary digits 1 and 0, the combination representing the merging of analog and digital signals.[10] The sound some Vaio models make during startup is derived from the melody created when pressing a telephone keypad to spell the letters V-A-I-O.[11][12]

Although Sony made computers in the 1980s, such as MSX-based HitBit computers mainly for the Japanese market, the company withdrew from the computer business around the beginning of the 1990s. Under the then-new VAIO brand, Sony's re-entry into the global computer market began in 1996. Sony's then-president Nobuyuki Idei thought "there was no point making an ordinary PC", so the VAIO lineup was to focus on Audio Visual (as the VAIO name suggests), portability, and design.

The PCV-90 was the first series of desktops introduced in 1996, and designed with a 3D graphical interface as a novelty for new users. The first VAIO laptop computers followed in 1997 with the US$2,000 PCG-505 "SuperSlim" model, constructed out of a four-panel magnesium body.[13] VisualFlow was a Sony program distributed in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Sony VAIO computers.

In 2001, Steve Jobs presented a VAIO PC running Mac OS to Sony executives, suggesting the possibility of collaboration. Sony's VAIO team ultimately turned down the proposal they regarded a "diversion of resources", as the popularity of the Windows-based premium PC brand was growing.[15]

Sony VAIO released later designs (2011 and later) during a period of low PC sales. They included models with innovations such as magnetized stands. The VAIO Tap, which was designed with a completely separate keyboard. The latest models were complemented by the Windows 8 operating system.[13]

On 4 February 2014, Sony announced that it was selling its VAIO PC business due to poor sales.[16] In March 2014, it was announced that Japan Industrial Partners had purchased a 95% stake in the VAIO division.[17][18]

The sale closed on 1 July 2014. On the same day, the company announced refreshed entries in the VAIO Fit and Pro lines. They initially distributed the relaunched products in Japan, then later in Brazil.[19][20] In August 2015, VAIO announced plans to re-enter international markets, beginning with Brazil and the United States. VAIO CEO Yoshimi Ota stated that the company planned to focus more on high-end products in niche segments (such as the creative industries), as they felt Sony was somewhat too focused on attempting to garner a large market share in its PC business. The Z Canvas tablet was released in the United States on 5 October 2015, through Microsoft Store and the VAIO website.[21][22] On 16 October 2015, VAIO agreed to introduce their products in Brazil through a partnership with a local manufacturer Positivo Informtica.[23]

On 2 February 2016, VAIO announced that it would unveil a Windows 10 smartphone.[24] Also that month, it was also reported that VAIO was negotiating with Toshiba and Fujitsu Technology Solutions to consolidate their personal computer businesses together.[25]

Included as part of the out-of-box experience are prompts to register at Club VAIO, an online community for VAIO owners and enthusiasts, which also provides automatic driver updates and technical support via email, along with exclusive desktop wallpapers and promotional offers. From 1997 to 2001 in Japan, the SAPARi program was also pre-installed on VAIO machines.[28] On later models, the customer is also prompted to register the installed trial versions of Microsoft Office 2010 and the antivirus software (Norton AntiVirus on older models, and McAfee VirusScan or TrendMicro on newer ones) upon initial boot.

Vaio computers come with components from companies such as Intel processors, Seagate Technology, Hitachi, Fujitsu or Toshiba hard drives, Infineon or Elpida RAM, Atheros and Intel wireless chipsets, Sony (usually made by Hitachi) or Matsushita optical drives, Intel, NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards and Sony speakers. Recent laptops have been shipped with Qimonda RAM, HP speakers with Realtek High Definition Audio Systems, and optional Dolby Sound Room technology.

A selection of media centres were added to the VAIO range in 2006. These monitorless units (identified by a product code prefixed by VGX rather than VGN) are designed to form part of a home entertainment system. They typically take input from a TV tuner card, and output video via HDMI or composite video connection to an ideally high-definition television. The range included the XL and TP lines. The VGX-TP line is visually unique, featuring a circular, 'biscuit-tin' style design with most features obscured behind panels, rather than the traditional set-top box design.

In 2013, Sony VAIO's range comprised seven products. The most basic were the E, T and S series while the high end models, the F and Z Series, were discontinued. Sony also had a range of hybrid tablet computers, with models called VAIO Duo 11/13, VAIO Tap 11/20 and VAIO Fit multi-flip, as well as a desktop computer under the L series. These models use Windows systems and Intel processors, as described above.[29]

Sony released some of their early digital audio players (DAP) under the VAIO line. The first model, the "VAIO Music Clip", was released in 1999, powered by an AA battery and featuring 64 MB of internal memory. It differed from Sony's players in the "Network Walkman" line, which used external Memory Stick medium at the time. Succeeding models were also released, but it was mainly sold domestically, with Walkman-branded players more widespread internationally.[30] In 2004 the brand made a comeback with the VAIO Pocket (model VGF-AP1L), featuring a 40 GB hard disk drive for up to 26,000 songs, and a 2.0-inch color LCD display. Like Walkman DAPs it used SonicStage software.[31]

Over the years, the Sony VAIO lineup has been responsible for many 'firsts' in desktops and laptops, as well as for setting trends for what would now be considered standard equipment.[citation needed]

Some Sony VAIO models come with Sony's proprietary XBRITE (known as ClearBright in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region) displays. The first model to introduce this feature was the Vaio TR series, which was also the first consumer product to utilize such technology. It is a combination of smooth screen, anti-reflection (AR) coating and high-efficiency lens sheet. Sony claims that the smooth finish provides a sharper screen display, the AR coating prevents external light from scattering when it hits the screen, and the high-efficiency lens sheet provides 1.5 times the brightness improvement over traditional LCD designs. Battery life is also extended through reduced usage of the LCD backlight. The technology was pioneered by Sony engineer Masaaki Nakagawa, who is in charge of the Vaio TR development.[35]

The TX series, introduced in September 2005, was the first notebook to implement a LED back-lit screen, which provides lower power consumption and greater color reproduction. This technology has since been widely adopted by many other notebook manufacturers. The TX series was also the first to use a 16:9 aspect ratio screen with 1366x768 resolution. The successor to the TX series was the TZ series in May 2007. This new design featured an optional 32 or 64GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for rapid boot-up times, quicker application launches and greater durability. If selected, a 250 GB Hard Drive could also have been included in place of the built-in CD/DVD drive to provide room for additional storage. For security, this model included a biometric fingerprint sensor and Trusted Platform Module. The TZ offered a built-in highly miniaturized Motion Eye camera built into the LCD panel for video conferencing. Additional features included the XBRITE LCD, integrated Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) technology and Bluetooth technology.

The AR Series was the first to incorporate a Blu-ray Disc burner,[38] at the height of the Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD format war. This series was designed to be the epitome of high-definition products including a 1080p capable WUXGA (1920 1200 pixels) screen, HDMI output and the aforementioned Blu-ray burner. The AR series also includes an illuminated logo below the screen. Blu-ray/HDMI capable models have been the subject of intense promotion since mid-2007, selling with a variety of bundled Blu-ray Discs. The AR series was subsequently replaced by the AW series, and in 2011, replaced by the F Series, which incorporates all of these features in a 16.4" 16:9 display.

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