Sony Europe has announced the forthcoming release of its new VAIO S series notebook. Benefiting from a full flat design made with magnesium housing and an aluminum palmrest, the new 24mm thin notebook will feature a dual battery option to double the run time, hybrid graphics that swaps between integrated and installed graphics for optimum performance, a fast boot into Windows and the ability to get users online from cold in seconds.
The new VAIO S series will sport a 13.3-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution VAIO Display Plus with a low reflection coating and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the brightness depending on surrounding light. At the top end of the various configurations on offer is an Intel Core i7-2620M and up to 8GB DDR3 memory. Storage will run up to 640GB HDD or 128GB SSD, and there'll be either Blu-ray or DVD Super Multi optical drives available.
Users are given the option to extend the internal Lithium-polymer battery life of seven hours by attaching a second, flattened battery to the base of the notebook which effectively doubles the time between charges and can be installed without switching off the device. It can also be charged separately from the onboard battery.
A Hybrid Graphics system is said to seamlessly switch between the AMD Radeon HD 6630M card and the integrated Intel HD GPU, according to the needs of the task at hand, to best balance performance against battery life.
Other features include a backlit keyboard, 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 wireless connectivity – with an option that includes Sony's "everywair" 3G WWAN – one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, and a high definition webcam. There's also a Fast Boot function which offers 50 percent startup improvement over standard notebooks when loading up Windows 7 Professional, and a WEB button that can power up and get you online in seconds, according to Sony.
The new VAIO S series will be available in black, white, silver, pink and blue from March/April with pricing dependant on which configurations are chosen.
