Vaio


VAIO Corporation is a Japanese personal computer manufacturer headquartered in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture.
Vaio began as a brand of Sony, introduced in 1996, until it offloaded it into an independent company in 2014, with Japan Industrial Partners purchasing the Vaio business while Sony maintained a minority stake. Sony still holds the intellectual property rights for the VAIO brand and logo.
In 2025, JIP completed the sale of its 91.40% stake in VAIO Corporation to Nojima Corporation.

Etymology

Originally an acronym of Video Audio Input Output, later amended to Video Audio Integrated Operation, and later to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary. The logo, along with the first of the VAIO computers, were designed by Teiyu Goto, 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 and Japanese sounds similar to "bio", which is symbolic of life and the product's future evolution. The name is also alphabetically close to "violet", which is why most early Vaio products 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. 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.

Global operations

As of 2023, Vaio is operational in the following countries:

As part of Sony

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, 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. VisualFlow was a Sony program distributed in the late 1990s and early 2000s with Sony VAIO computers.
Over the years, many audio visual technologies and interfaces pioneered by Sony became a key focus for its VAIO computers, including Memory Stick, i.Link, and even MiniDisc.
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.
Sony VAIO released later designs 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.

Spin-off from Sony

On 4 February 2014, Sony announced that it was selling its VAIO PC business due to poor sales. Sony created VAIO Corporation, a special purpose company with investment firm Japan Industrial Partners, as part of its restructuring effort to focus on mobile devices. In March 2014, it was announced that Japan Industrial Partners had purchased a 95% stake in the VAIO division.
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. 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, 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. On 16 October 2015, VAIO agreed to introduce their products in Brazil through a partnership with a local manufacturer Positivo Informática.
On 2 February 2016, VAIO announced that it would unveil a Windows 10 smartphone. Also that month, it was also reported that VAIO was negotiating with Toshiba and Fujitsu Technology Solutions to consolidate their personal computer businesses together.
On 4 June 2018, Nexstgo Company Limited announced that they would be licensed by VAIO Corporation to oversee the business in Asia. This license agreement between Hong Kongbased Nexstgo and the Japan-based VAIO Corporation would include manufacturing, sales and marketing as well as servicing of VAIO laptops under the VAIO trademark in the Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan markets.
Currently in the US, VAIO business products are sold by Canon USA.
On November 11, 2024, a major Japanese electronics retailer named Nojima Co, Ltd. announced it will acquire Vaio for ¥11.2 billion. It will purchase about 93% of the Japan Industrial Partners's stake while Sony will retain a 4.7% stake. The deal was completed on January 6, 2025 with Vaio becoming a subsidiary of Nojima.

Products

Sony VAIO (1996 to 2014)

Sony's VAIO brand included product lines across notebooks, subnotebooks, desktops, media centres, and even Network media solutions.

Computers

Sony's VAIO range of computers consisted of the following lineups:
Desktops
  • Desktops
  • * PCV series
  • Multimedia Desktops
  • * PCV-M series
  • * PCV-MX series
  • Tablet PC Desktops
  • * PCV-LX series
  • Media Center PCs
  • * VGX-XL series
  • * VGX-TP series
  • * VGC-R series
  • All-In-One Computers
  • * PCV-W series
  • * VGC-VA series
  • * L series
  • * Tap 20
  • * Tap 21
    Notebooks
  • Ultraportable Premium
  • * 505 series
  • * 700 series
  • * 800 series
  • * TX series
  • * TZ series
  • * TT series
  • * SZ series
  • * Z series
  • Ultraportable Mainstream
  • * SR series
  • * SRX series
  • * TR series
  • * VX series
  • * SR series
  • * S series
  • * T series
  • * Y series
  • Ultraportable Netbooks
  • * G series
  • * M series
  • * W series
  • * X series
  • Consumer, Home & Work
  • * F series
  • * FX/FXA series
  • * XG/XE/XR series
  • * QR series
  • * FRV series
  • * GR series
  • * GRX series
  • * GRZ series
  • * GRT series
  • * NV/NVR series
  • * B series
  • * BX series
  • * FJ series
  • * C series
  • * CR series
  • * NR series
  • * E series
  • * XE series
  • * Fit 14 & 15
  • * Duo
  • * Tap 11
  • Multimedia
  • * A series
  • * AX series
  • * AR series
  • * AW series
  • Portable Entertainment
  • * FS series
  • * FE series
  • * FZ series
  • * FW series
  • * F series
  • * NW series
  • Lifestyle & UMPC Subnotebooks
  • * C1 series
  • * GT series
  • * U series
  • * UX series
  • * P series

    Experience

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. On later models, the customer is also prompted to register the installed trial versions of Microsoft Office 2010 and the antivirus software 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 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 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.

Portable music players

Sony released some of their early digital audio players 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. In 2004 the brand made a comeback with the VAIO Pocket, 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.