With holidays coming up we all begin to start imagining what we might buy for others and, just as importantly, what we might covet for ourselves. When my laptop caught fire a year ago (the battery exploded as I turned it on -- no one was hurt), I bought another full-service Lenovo Ideapad, but held off on taking the netbook plunge. True, who better to buy one of those tiny pocketbook-size laptops than me, a customer who would pay well to make writing while traveling lighter and quicker? However, most models were geared to students, gamers, and casual email retrievers, and I wanted to wait till I could get a full-featured and adorable baby, running a Windows operating system, for a real price.

That day has come. When a Sony Vaio W Series netbook in white enamel decorated with silver snowflakes arrived for review, I jumped at the chance. Here she was, a gorgeous yet functional baby (model VPCW111XX/P) that shouted "woman" and "power" at the same time. (You can see the other gorgeous finishes at the Sony Style Signature Edition website.)

Pre-loaded with Windows 7, the W series proved hard to test. Every time I turned it on, the Windows OS would start updating itself, loading all sorts of security patches onto my little gem, making it hard to work. You will be able to buy this mini notebook with Windows XP Home Premium instead of Windows 7, but if you keep it around long enough and are into gaming and entertainment, you'll need to upgrade it soon enough to play the newest games. That's my biggest gripe.

My raves are many. Snowflake (I had to name her) is 10.5" wide, 1.28" high and only 7.1" deep with her battery pack installed. The 82-key keyboard is short of full-size, but is responsive and as comfortable as the Hewlett-Packard models which sport a three-quarter-size QWERTY keyboard. The crispness of the hi-resolution screen rivals the iPhone, and the touchpad is sensitive and easy to use, without the jumpiness I've experienced on other lightweight notebooks and netbooks.

Her 10.1" backlight, XBRITE-ECO technology screen provides a brightness that lasts for hours without getting hot or expending battery life. I did a very casual test; some writing and emailing, with a bit of hibernation while snacking and, at six hours, it had hardly made a dent in the battery charge. One note about this longlife, fuel efficient battery is its weight; the Spec Sheet says Snowflake's svelte 2.65-lbs physique includes that battery, though the battery feels like it weighs more than the rest of baby on its own. The AC power charger is compact as well, great design in comparison with some of the huge old school chargers sold with otherwise sleek, compact machines.

With an Atheros 802.11/ b/g/n wireless network connection, I expected Internet access to be a breeze, but in fact had trouble with my pre-release model. After some investigation, I hear that many netbooks have trouble breaking through firewalls on office LANS, and in fact Snowflake was also challenged by the standard issue Lodgenet pay-for-wifi connection available in a hotel. After some investigation, we changed her default security settings and now she surfs like a, well, snowboarder.

I'm so in love with her, though, that I'll chalk this up to a Windows 7 operating system bug and keep toting her along.