Last year I wrote about Sony’s amazing VAIO Z. It was the PC I used for several months as my main work laptop and the one that was in my bag when my son was born last June. I defined the Z as “luxury computing”; it was fast, light, beautifully designed and sported features that no other laptop on the market had. To this day I rank it as one of the best PC’s I’ve ever used.
Now Sony is redefining luxury with the new version of the VAIO Z, which goes on pre-sale starting today. It’s a .66” thin, 2.5lb light premium PC made from a mix of carbon fiber and aluminum, and it’s loaded with incredibly high-end specs – some of which you won’t find even on 15” or 17” premium PCs.
The most striking difference between the VAIO Z is the Power Media Dock. It’s a docking station unlike any before it; snap in your Z and get access to an optical drive, 3 USB ports, one of which is 3.0, and an AMD Radeon HD 6650M GPU. That means that when it’s in the dock, the Sony VAIO Z supports up to 4 HD displays (including the built in LCD). Pretty impressive stuff, especially when you consider the unique approach Sony’s taking here.
Inside the actual PC is a second-generation Core i5 or i7 processor, optional dual SSDs, and a choice of either an HD+ 1600 x 900 or full HD 1920 x 1080 display. That’s right – a full 1080p display in a 13” laptop that weighs less than 3lbs!
My Z is on its way to me and you can expect a full review as soon as it gets here. You can pre-order yours today from SonyStyle.com, starting around $2000.
This is just my opinion, but I don't think this is the sort of notebook I would want to buy. It is pretty good - but I don't like how some features - like an optical drive aren't available without external components - like a smaller netbook would be. I would personally rather have my 15" notebook, which is a little thicker, has similar specs but has an integrated optical drive.
Of course, this is just my opinion, and I do think this may be something useful to some users.
@blacqwolf
It's not meant to be a 15" desktop replacement, but an ultraportable. You can definitely find one with your specific requirements, iust not this PC.
@Ben
Lovely laptop, I wonder if it will feature an AMD Llano chip. Plus the battery life seems suspect, but I hope it does last as advertised. Too bad the price is a major barrier, so I'll stick with the more affordable netbooks.
Just wanted to leave a note that these types of posts seem "spammy" to me. I understand that not everyone will be looking for the same types of information on a blog. However, I subscribed to the W7 Team Blog rss in order to get info on what's happening in the Windows world. But the for the last little while, most of the posts have become what I see as junk or overt advertisements for W7.
Jonathon, I respectfully disagree. Microsoft products must be installed on devices and obviously will involve MS working together with the OEMS to produce the best experience possible for end users. I personally enjoy Ben's reviews & have come to trust his hardware recommendations.