Sony VAIO TZ150N

The eagerly-awaited Sony VAIO-TZ150N is a chic little unit made for people who like to travel lightly. It weighs less than 3 pounds, is less than an inch thick, and very portable (as it can be put into a messenger bag). This notebook comes with a glossy black finish made of carbon fiber.

What’s interesting about this latest Sony VAIO model is that it has an Instant Mode button that lets you play DVD movies, music, or photo slide show without having to start Windows, thus saving battery life. However, this cool mode disables the touchpad and would have to navigate through keyboard, which is fairly simple. It even comes with front-mounted media buttons with play, pause, eject, reverse, and fast-forward controls.

The keys are slightly raised from the surface for fairly easy-touch typing (relieving the problem of "fat-fingered" users). It also contains slots for both an SD card and a Memory Stick. This Sony laptop comes with loads of wireless communications options for complete freedom from bulky wires, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and even Broadband Internet. And despite its slim finish, they manage to squeeze in a DVD burner.

The down side of the Sony VAIO TZ150N is that it performs slow (even if it comes with Intel Core 2 Duo processor) because of loads of "bloatware" or unnecessary software. It is also insanely expensive, between US$2,000 to US$3,000.

However, once those disadvantages are ignored, the Sony VAIO TZ150N is an impressive laptop. It performs fine for managing e-mail, taking pictures with its built-in webcam, or watching in-flight DVD movies.

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