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Super Thin, Super Light Vaio X

Sony is touting the Vaio X as the planet's thinnest, lightest notebook -- and it potentially is. Weighing as little as 655g and only 13.9mm thick, it beats the Apple MacBook Air's 1.36kg and 19.4mm, and is aimed at the style-conscious business user.

Sony's claiming a battery lifespan so long as sixteen hours, though you'll need the extended battery to reach that, adding a few millimetres to the depth and a significant amount to the weight of the machine. Routinely, you'll get eight hours liberty. The 11.1in diagonal, 1366x768 resolution screen is backlit by power-saving LED technology and you can specify one of 3 solid state disk ( SSD ) sizes : 64GB, 128GB or 128GB. Only with a 64GB SSD and without the optional, HSPA-capable 3G module does it achieve 655g ; the added elements boost weight by 130g to 785g. Still, not much of a heavyweight.

The light carbon-fibre surrounding is either gloss or matte finished, depending on whether you stipulate, respectively, the top-end VPC-X11Z1E/X with a 2GHz Atom CPU and a 256GB SSD, or the entry-level VPC-X11S1E/B, which sports 1.86GHz and a 128GB SSD. The entry-level model's matte finish is arguably more attractive and, unlike the top-end model, doesn't need constant polishing to remove fingerprints, though I was guaranteed by the product manager the glossy model includes a polishing cloth. Both come with 2GB DRAM, an Intel graphics subsystem and 802.11n WiFi connectivity. Also standard are two USB ports, a neat, space-saving Ethernet port, SD card and Sony Memory Stick slots, Bluetooth and a camera. You get VGA out too for powering a projector.

regardless of the awkward names, the models are both attractive and so easy to stroll around with and to use. Simplicity of use features include a multi-finger touchpad, though I didn't test this, and it comes with Windows seven. The only question mark is the screen : it's just over 2mm thick and flexes alarmingly, while it failed to appear to suffer from being picked up by the corner of the panel.

The Sony Vaio X is a very attractive piece of kit that hits the high end of the desirability scale but only some time spent with it'll tell if it delivers what it guarantees. Expect a full review in these pages soon.

Available from November 2009, the entry-level Vaio X costs £1,299, the top-end costs £1,799.

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For more updates, check out more Sony Vaio X reviews and articles at JoeBuy.com.

Aiptek V10 PocketCinema Ultra Mini Projector at IFA 2008