Sony Vaio AW series: 18.4" - Vista Home Premium/Ultimate - Pay £960 upto £2350'ish
With 1920 by 1080 pixels and the same advanced 3LED technology as Sony BRAVIA TVs, this 18.4" screen is perfect for HD video, and has an integral Blu-ray player. The screen also represents every Adobe RGB colour, making it suited to high-end graphics and video editing apps. Centrino 2 processors and Nvidia GeForce 9 series graphics chips, 320 to 640GB hard disc PLUS a solid state drive for fast loading of operating system & applications (on AW11XU/Q only), make it more powerful than most desktops. Elegant for it's size, the narrow frame around the screen helps disguise it's bulk.
Sum-up: Gorgeous portable desktop (looks like a bigger FW series). If I needed a bigger laptop I'd definately want this one.
Sony Vaio AR series: 17" - Vista Home Premium/Ultimate - Pay £600 (no Blu-ray player) upto £1600
With Sony's Blu-ray disc and integrated analogue/digital TV tuner with remote control (on high-end models), these sexy, glossy black machines have a great screen, good graphics and Intel's latest Core 2 Duo processors. Screen resolutions of 1440x900 or 1920x1200, disc capacities upto 640GB, upto 4GB and every connection you will practically need. Though they weigh-in at a shoulder breaking 3.8KG, that's not unreasonable compared to other 17" laptops.
Sum-up: Great looking and very usable, if you need a 17" laptop. I've got one, great screen, was a bargain too, no complaints.
Sony Vaio FW series: 16.4 " - Vista Home Premium/Ultimate - Pay £750 (no Blu-ray) upto £1250
A new screen size to Sony VAIOs, this 16.4" 1600 by 900 pixel 'real wide' screen has playing Blu-ray discs in mind. Intel Core 2 Duo processors upto 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 300MB drive and a useful array of connections (inc. HDMI & TV). An interesting choice of graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470) will leave gamers wanting, but it's integrated video decoder means low processor load and therefore less crippling battery life for watching Blu-ray discs on the train.
Sum-up: Stylish & very desirable, bit heavy at 3.1KG, and measly 120 minutes battery. Definately on my 'buy' list.
Sony Vaio BZ series 15.4" (business range) - Vista Business - Pay £730 upto £950
An update on Sony's 'business' range, these BZ models have a wide screen 1280 by 800 format, plus camera & mic. for video conferencing (Skype to you & me). Mid-spec. machines with upto 4GB RAM, upto 200GB drives, and unfortunately Intel graphics, which means a mediocre experience with Vista. Business cred. boosted by fingerprint reader, rugged design (apparently you can spill a cup of tea on the keyboard!), and Trusted™ Platform Module.
Sum-up: Robust work horse with 195 min. battery and 2.7kg at a good price. But lack of a decent graphics chip kills it for me.
Sony Vaio NR series: 15.4" - Vista Home Premium - Pay £380 upto £550
Nice for money, these smart, minimalist looking designs also have 4 USB ports. A range of specifications means you have to be careful which model you choose. Low-end models have older Pentium processors and Intel graphics, less than ideal for running Vista, compared to the higher models with 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT graphics and 3GB of memory. A bit hefty at 2.9kg, and you get around 150 mins on a charge.
Sum-up: Decent looks make the higher spec. models above average value. I'd maybe get one for my little sister.
Sony Vaio CR series: 14.1" - Vista Home Premium - Pay £700 to £930
Available in every imaginable colour, this range comes in a wide range of specifications, 1.66 to 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2 to 4GB of RAM, 160 to 250GB hard drive and, significantly, Intel graphics on low-end models (meaning mediocre Vista performance) and ATI® Mobility Radeon™ X2300 on higher spec. models, driving a 1280 x 800 pixel display, so care is required when choosing a model. 2.5kg is average for this size, 220 minutes on a charge is good. An innovative feature, multimedia buttons let you play music or videos without turning the computer on
Sum-up: Lower spec. models don't make financial sense, higher ones do if you like the multimedia functions and the design.
Sony Vaio SR series: 13.3" - Vista Business - Pay £960 to £1130
Lovely, stylish, thin, light (1.85kg) notebook has powerful Core 2 Duo processors, 3 or 4GB RAM, decent graphics, 1280 x 800 pixel screen, and trick power saving technology giving upto 5 hours on a charge. Positioned between the busines user and leisure/design user, both in price and functionality, this range boosts fingerprint recognition and a Trusted™ Platform Module amongst it's features. It has camera & mic too.
Sum-up: Nice product for the business user who needs the security, light weight, decent looks AND reasonable horse power.
Sony Vaio Z series: 13.3" - Vista Business - Pay £1450 to £1750
A new screen size for Sony - 1600 x 900 pixel 'real wide' (1366 x 768 on lower spec. model)- this laptop has powerful new core 2 duo processors, 4GB RAM (all models), NVIDIA® GeForce® 9300M GS graphics, and trick battery saving technology. Looking great in carbon fibre, just 1.5kg, built-in 3G, and the interesting & efficient design of the hinge, make this the sort of laptop Sony are great at building. Though, oddly (given the screen) no Blu-ray drive.
Sum-up: Classy, powerful, light, upto 5.5 hours battery, and 3G makes this laptop very special, but only on company money!
Sony Vaio TZ series: 11.1" - Vista Business - Pay £1050 to £1500
Currently Sony's only ultra-mobile notebook, it's price keeps it firmly in the 'executive' bracket. With an Intel ultra-low voltage processor, 7.5 hours on a charge, a weight of just 1.25kg (thanks to carbon fibre), and built-in 3G connectivity, it's more usefully mobile than almost any other notebook on the market. Beautiful 1366 x 768 pixel screen, and gorgeous all round design add to the appeal of this unique line. Small'ish keys might get to you if you use it a lot, and the standard Intel graphics chip mean a lacklustre performance running Vista.
Sum-up: Desirable... highly, but soon pointless with the arrival of Intel Atom-based SCCs (small cheap computers) from every major PC manufacturer, at prices ranging from £250 to £350 for a decent spec., some even with built-in 3G connectivity.
Sony Vaio TT series: 11.1" - Vista Business - Pay £1200 to £1500'ish
Replacing the TZ, this new ultra-mobile notebook is a typical Sony creation: Stunning, usefully more mobile than most small'ish notebooks, and insanely expensive. At 6 times the price of my Intel Atom-based Samsung NC10 there is a shrinking market for subnotebooks based on the Intel ultra-low-voltage Core 2 Duo processor.A stunning 1366 x 768 pixel screen, integrated high speed mobile Internet acess (HSUPA, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS) and Blu-Ray help justify the gap, as do the latest integrated Intel graphics (not quite NVidia or ATI but better than the last Intel effort) and the classy design.
Sum-up: Feather light, 9 hours battery life, powerful enough for most applications, a great pose, but only on company money.