Electronics giant Sony has announced that it will be bringing its Vaio S-series ultraportable notebooks to the United States market. Available in black or white, the Vaio S notebooks will feature Intel’s latest “Sandy Bridge” Core processor family, along with hybrid graphics and an optional “sheet battery” that attaches to the bottom of the notebook and offers up to 15 hours of battery life.
“We continue to raise the bar when it comes to the mobile computing experience,” said Sony Electronics senior VP Mike Lucas, in a statement. “The Vaio S Series laptop makes no compromises by offering the ultimate, full-featured ultra-mobile PC.”
The Vaio S models will be available with Intel’s second-generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors (up to a Core i7 running at 2.70 GHz), along with up to 750 GB of hard drive storage or 256 GB of SSD storage. The systems will sport a 13.3-inch LED backlit display with a native resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels and some systems will have switchable Hybrid graphics: users can choose between power-sipping Intel graphics or AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics with 1 GB of dedicated video RAM. (The systems also sport HDMI and VGA output for supporting external HDTVs and monitors.) The systems will sport DVD/CD or Blu-ray burners, SD and Memory Stick Duo media support, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth networking.
All the Vaio S systems will have backlit keyboards, an integrated webcam with an Exmor sensor for enhanced low-light performance, along with support for Intel Wireless Display 2.0, enabling users to beam video content to a nearby HDTV (using a separate adapter). And the Vaio S series weigh just 3.8 pounds—five pounds with that separate “sheet” battery option.
Pre-sales for the Vaio S models are available today starting around $970; the sheet batteries will cost around $150. However, Sony hasn’t said when Vaio S systems will actually get into consumers’ hands. If we were to guess, we’d say mid-April.
