[fryke]

It probably went like this:

1.) We could remove the frames or make them smaller.
2.) We'd need to add a little thickness for the battery, then.
3.) Well then let's _not_ remove the frames or make them smaller, because else Sony is going to release a notebook that's thinner than ours and we won't be able to say ours is the thinnest in the world any longer. I'm sure people will understand that the most important thing here is not to actually deliver a really good subnotebook, but rather to "think different" and to be able to brag. A lot.

Actually, it probably didn't go down like that, but I'm sure the battery life was an issue. While you can have the battery take any form with Li-Polymer, it still needs volume, and if you don't give it volume with any thickness of the notebook, then it needs the larger area instead. (And to that I'd say: Double the battery life by increasing the thickness by a few millimeters.)