Sony offers a stylish and feature-rich alternative to netbooks, but this is still a Sony, so it comes at a price.

Yesterday, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sony displayed its new Vaio P Series. The company stated that the P series is the lightest netbook on the market, as it only weighs 1.4 pounds.

It seems that Sony dislikes the term “netbook,” as all official information and press releases refer to the P series as the “Lifestyle PC.”

The thin laptop has the shape of an envelope and therefore, it should be easy to just put it in the bag and forget about it. It is clear that the notebook is made with portability in mind, as teaser adverts from Sony show a woman inserting the notebook in her handbag.

While this notebook promises to deliver full functionality in a little package, its price will be quite hefty. Costing about $900, the P series is even two times more expensive than some netbooks on the market.

Sony will sell its new notebook through its stores this month, but a spokesperson stated that it would also be offered by other U.S. retailers starting February.

The notebook’s screen is its biggest advantage over netbooks. While it is 8 inches in size, its ultra-wide resolution of 1600x768 is a first in its category. The high-resolution screen means that not only horizontal scrolling is no longer necessary, but it is spreadsheet-friendly, too.

Being oriented both to the style-conscious consumer and the business user, the P series offers 3G broadband support, so there is no need for an external modem. The notebook is powered by an Intel Atom processor and 1GB of RAM.

The P series comes standard with a 60GB hard drive, although Sony is offering a 128GB solid drive as an upgrade. Of course, the laptop comes with a capable wireless card, which supports the high-speed 802.11n network protocol and with Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity.

The ultraportable PC also has an integrated GPS module and navigation program, which bundles maps of Canada and the United States.

Software-wise, all P series notebooks run Windows Vista, but Sony also integrated a quick-boot media platform, called the Xross Media Bar. Xross provides instant access to media content, such as pictures, videos and music, without the need to boot into Windows.

Along with the standard four-hour lasting battery, Sony also offers a high-capacity battery pack, which is claimed to provide more than eight hours of use.

Costing $900, the new Sony Vaio P series impresses through its impressive features for the size, but it is more expensive than usual netbooks, which cost between $300 and $500 and offer enough computing power to handle basic tasks, such as surfing the internet and checking email.

Still, the P series offers superior features, such as the bigger screen and the integrated GPS and 3G modules and will certainly appeal to a wide range of consumers.