Sony announces VAIO SA series ultraportable, puts VAIO F series up for pre-order

Having trouble keeping Sony's slim VAIO S series laptops straight? It's okay, we are, too, especially now that the company's officially unveiled the SA series, a 13.3-inch ultraportable that's poised to go toe to toe with the skinny Lenovo ThinkPad X1. Although it's got almost the same magnesium-and-alloy chassis as the VAIO SB series we saw at CES, the SA is a hair thinner, at 0.95 inches, and comes standard with AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics and 1GB of video memory, 1600 x 900 resolution, a 500GB hard drive, fingerprint reader, and a Blu-ray drive. You can also trick it out with a dual channel solid-state drive, which promises to help let you work up to 16 hours unplugged if you combine it with a $100 sheet battery. If you fork out a minimum of $1,650, you can snag one with an SSD.

If the SA's $1,350 starting price is more than you're willing to spend, there's still the SB series, though the $999 base model naturally has less impressive specs, including 512MB of video memory, 1366 x 768 resolution, a DVD player, and a Core i5 -- not Core i7 -- processor. For what its worth, its color options now include pink and navy, if that floats your boat more than the high-end SA's black, silver, and brown palette.

In other news, Sony's also taking orders for the VAIO F Series, which comes in two flavors: one with a 16-inch 3D display with a 2D-to-3D conversion button, starting at $1,840, and a 16.4-inch 2D model with a more modest $1,100 base price. But if you want a 2D display with 1080p resolution and a Blu-ray drive, you can expect to pay at least $1,125. Both these and the SA series are up for pre-order today, with gussied-up photos below and full PR and past the break.

Sony VAIO SA series

Sony VAIO F series

SonyStyle (F Series), SonyStyle (S Series)

Sony's Thunderbolt implementation hiding in plain (web)site, uses USB connector not Mini DisplayPort?

Look closely at that picture. See that Type-A USB jack? The one with the blue stripe sandwiched between the round AC jack (with its green light) and VGA and HDMI ports? Yeah, that's Sony's Thunderbolt implementation according to a trusted source. A bit of digging reveals that the "Ultimate Mobile PC" teased by Sony above is actually the same VAIO Hybrid PC leaked by Sony Insider back in March said to feature an external dock with one USB 3.0 jack, HDMI, Ethernet, AMD Whistler discrete graphics, and a Blu-ray Disc writer. Naturally, the dock attaches to the VAIO's Thunderbolt jack.

What we're trying to get our heads around, however, is Sony's choice for a USB connector instead of the Mini DisplayPort used by Apple's dual-channel 10Gbps Thunderbolt implementation. The decision to go USB was first brought to our attention by site Gula Digital. We've long known that Sony would be a Light Peak partner in some capacity. And the decision to go USB certainly echoes those first prototype interconnects demonstrated by Intel that combined a hybrid USB 3.0 connector with an optical interface and electrical connection to carry power. We also like the idea of being able to connect a USB 3.0 hard disk without first attaching an adapter. What troubles us, though, is a statement made by the USB Implementers Forum last summer expressing reservations with Intel's proposed interconnect:

"USB connectors are not general purpose connectors and are not designed to be used in support of other technology applications or standards or as combo connectors."

Perhaps Sony has worked out a licensing arrangement with the USB-IF? We don't know. But we're told that Sony's Thunderbolt implementation is definitely using a USB connector and definitely not using Mini DisplayPort. But we'll wait until this thing ships before complaining about Thunderbolt fragmentation too loudly.

Gula Digital

MacBook's real rival is here Sony VAIO Hybrid Laptop

With so many lap tops out there people often get confused which one tops them all. Sony has been known for making some of the best gadgets out there and recently they introduced there new Sony VAIO Hybrid lap top.

This new laptop is a rival to Apple Mac Book Pros and its main body weighs around 2.5 pounds and features Intel core  i7 processor, SSD and a  Intel Thunderbolt connection. This main unit is connected to the second element which consist of Blue ray burner and has a slot of graphic cards which includes Radeon HD 6730M and also Radeon HD  6770M and weighs around 1.5 pounds. Its design is sleek and stylish which truly makes its rivals feel worried. Its graphics are amazing and sharp  to look at and it is simple to use . Sony pays great attention to its rival and makes sure they create a better product which is why this lap top truly is the best.