The ultralight notebook market is a pretty popular segment to get into these days, and it’s pretty clear that the MacBook Air is doing pretty well, with companies all trying to create the next “MacBook Air” computer. Well, Sony’s latest attempt, the new VAIO Z (check out our review of the previous VAIO Z) sure seems like a pretty worthy competitor. It packs a 13.1″ display, and manages to keep its weight at an impressive 2.6-pound and width at a slim .86″ – mostly due to the fact that it has been stripped of all the unnecessary parts.
The VAIO Z manages to stay featherweight thanks to its external GPU that connects to the notebook through Sony’s own equivalent to Apple’s Thunderbolt port called the Power Media Dock. The GPU in question? An AMD Radeon HD 6650M with 1GB of VRAM, and the ability to connect up to 3 additional displays through its HDMI and VGA ports. A missing optical drive also contributes to its light weight.
Other specs of the VAIO Z include: a 2.7GHz Core i7-2620M processor, 8GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 256GB SSD, Intel Graphics 3000 onboard, a 1.3 megapixel Exmore webcam, WiFi, optional 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, one USB 2.0 port, one USB 3.0 port, HDMI, and stereo speakers with Dolby virtual surround. No prices have been released but the VAIO Z is expected to hit retail outlets in Europe by July – though what we do know is that the US version of this model won’t be the same.
Filed in . Read more about Light Peak, Notebooks, Sony and Thunderbolt.