CES 2012: Sony Presents Sliding VAIO Tablet Prototype

Sony has revealed quite a few design concepts at this year’s CES fair, one of the most interesting of these being a sliding VAIO tablet that reminds up pretty much of Asus’ own Eee Pad Slider, but chances are that this will run the Windows 8 OS.

Details are sketchy at this time as this is just an early prototype, but thanks to the built-in keyboard the VAIO concept can work both as a notebook and a tablet.

In the former mode, Sony’s creation looks more like an Ultrabook than a slate, but slide the screen over the keyboard and this transforms into a tablet.

If you want the device to become even more portable, Sony’s design even lets you detach the screen all together from the keyboard, pretty much as you would do with Asus’ Transformer tablets.

The display itself seems to measure somewhere in the vicinity of 12 or 13 inches, according to liliputing, and in the front of the keyboard there’s a small opening for placing a stylus.

On the sides of the VAIO tablet we also get to see some USB ports, while a speaker is placed behind the keyboard.

The concept was showcased behind glass and no specifications were provided by the Japanese company, but the presence of a Windows key on the keyboard seems to suggest that the convertible tablet will run Microsoft’s OS (most probably Windows 8).

This makes sense since VAIO is a Windows-only brand, while Sony’s tablet division is part of the company’s mobile group.

Right now, there’s no telling if this concept will ever make it into production as Sony’s reps present at the company’s booth kept saying that there are just prototypes, and that they are merely to show Sony's design prowess.