Sony refreshes lineup with Intel Core chips and Pine Trail

Normally, we'd be lucky if products made it to retail shelves within a week after being announced. But in a strange twist of events, Sony's latest machines have not only appeared online ahead of the local launch, they are already being sold in some brick-and-mortar stores.

Shifting away from the old VGN prefix, the new line of notebooks have started carrying the VPC label (e.g. VPC-F117). The latest laptops include the 16.4-inch Vaio F, 14-inch Vaio CW and 13.3-inch Vaio S. There are three new Pine Trail Netbooks as well, and, despite using the same chipset, have enough distinctive character to appeal to different user groups.

Notebooks
The Vaio VPC-F117HG is the Japanese maker's entertainment desktop replacement. Sporting the latest Core i7 processor, full-HD 16.4-inch panel and Blu-ray writer, this laptop should be able to support any multimedia need. However, there are a couple of tradeoffs in the bid to make this 3.2kg machine as sleek as possible (41mm at its thickest point). The Nvidia GeForce GT 330M is a midrange model which we do not recommend for hardcore gaming, and the ExpressCard slot is only 34mm, not the full-sized 54mm component. Fortunately, Sony has sweetened the deal by bundling full versions of Adobe Premiere Elements 8, Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Elements 8, making it a good buy for digital photographers and videographers.


The Vaio CW series comes in a range of colors (three for the low-end model and five for the high-end version). But this is not the only appeal of this laptop as the Japanese company managed to fit a 14-inch panel into a chassis as portable as a 13.3-inch machine. This is a good machine with a low-end graphics card for the casual gamer.

The Vaio S line is a premium thin-and-light with a 2kg chassis that is only 31.5mm at its thickest. This portable appeals to the frequent traveler with its discrete graphics card and full-power Core processor. We were also surprised to find an optical drive integrated into the sleek body.


Netbooks
The entry-level Sony Netbook is not too different from the first-generation model, save for the Pine Trail platform. Available at S$899 (US$661.89), it's a little pricey considering its competitors are going for under S$799 (US$588.27). Colors available include pink, white and brown.


The next step up is the S$999 (US$735.52) minilaptop. The extra premium is for the unique color scheme: Warm white body with mint-green palm rest. But the real appeal of this Netbook is that Sony claims it to be eco-friendly. The chassis was built from recycled plastics and even the bundled carry case is made from reused PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material. Otherwise, it is exactly the same as the entry-level machine down to its feature set and platform.

The top-of-the-line Vaio W Netbook comes in only blue and costs S$1,099 (US$809.14). This time, the focus is on increased functionality. Not only does this Vaio sport a larger six-cell battery, it is also the only one equipped with HSDPA connectivity. The downside is that the bigger battery increases the weight to 1.33kg and thickness to 51mm.

Strangely enough, despite the current trend, the Japanese maker still has not moved on to the larger 11.6-inch display for its Netbooks. We suspect this could be to avoid cannibalizing sales of its premium Vaio TT machines.