Sony lifted the curtain on a pretty sweet new laptop, the high-end VAIO S Series. The new 13.3” PCs boast some pretty impressive specs, like new “Sandybridge” i5 and i7 processors, solid state drives, backlit keyboards, Blu-Ray and hybrid AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics that auto-switch between discrete and integrated GPUs. They also feature Intel Wireless Display 2.0 (i.e., “WiDi), which is the newer, faster, smoother version of WiDi 1.0, which I shot a video on last year.
As always, Sony built a really beautiful PC. The new S is available in black or white and is built from magnesium and aluminum (read: seriously lightweight and durable). I have the mid-range S that appeared a few weeks ago and I’ve been really impressed with the build quality; it feels good to hold, comfortable to work on, and has a battery that gets about 6 7.5 hours of life. The new higher-end VAIO S has an optional “Sheet battery” that can push that to an all-day-computing 15 hours.
The best part about these new PCs? They start at $970! That’s a bargain for a high-end laptop. Check them out at http://www.sonystyle.com/sseries
I bought a Vaio Z Series last September and could not be happier with it ... despite having to nurse my father in law through his disasterous experience of buying a Vaio shortly after Vista's launch.
Thankfully, Sony learned a lot from their mis-steps with Vista and now only include pre-installed apps that users will actually want and need ... heck, my Z Series even comes with full versions of Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop & Premiere Elements! :) The screen is wonderful and the keyboard is a JOY. And thanks to it's Core i5 and pair of SSD's, this thing is very seriously quick whilst easily giving me 6+ hours of continual pretty heavy use on a single charge!
I wrote up my experiences that led to my purchase here: www.bitcrazed.com/.../I-almost-bought-a-MacBook-Pro.aspx
These new S Series devices are VERY similar to the Z Series except everything has been uprated ... the case is now unibody, the processor is faster and more efficient, WiDi is a great addition. The ONLY gripe I have is that I wish they'd provide an option to replace the DVD/Blu-Ray with a battery - then there'd be no need for the battery slice.
Buy one. You won't regret it! :)