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Whatever laptop you're using to read this post, throw it in the bin and go buy one of the latest eco-inspired Sony VAIO Graphic Splash editions. It's for the environment!
OK, maybe that's a bit harsh. It's just hard for us to swallow the green pill that Sony's pushing with its new VAIO FZ Eco Edition laptops, particularly when the touted environmental benefits look an awful lot like a sales pitch. "Slim design for minimum use of natural resources"? The FZ series isn't that much thinner than its competitors, and it seems unlikely that Sony's engineers were thinking about saving the rainforests when they designed the case.
We suspect the real meat of the announcement is that Sony has designated one percent of Eco Edition sales to go to 1% for the Planet, which funnels money to environmental organisations worldwide. And the company is using the occasion to draw attention to its trade-in program, which gives you credit towards a new VAIO when you turn in your old computer for recycling (again, not exactly unique).
Sony is keen to mention their other ‘green credentials’ such as their partnership with EPEAT (the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) where various VAIO laptops have been registered. There's also the use of vegetable-based plastics made from corn starches in Sony Japan, used in the latest VAIO model sold in Japan, which has a PC card slot insertion made from this vegetable-based plastic. Sony claim to be "making a strong effort" to bring this process to the US.
Other features of the Sony VAIO include the total elimination of halogenated flame-retardants from plastic parts and printed circuit boards, packaging made from recycled carton and pulp-mould and (in some models) easy-to-recycle magnesium alloy casing.
Or maybe you should just forget all the above and prove your green credentials by your choice of nature-inspired lids -- will it be Caribbean Water, Clay Earth ("reminiscent of prehistoric cave carvings"), Spotted Life or Bloom? Prices start from $1,391.
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