Sony's 17-inch VAIO AR with Blu-ray meets Penryn

Check it Blu-ray on-the-go fans. Sony just gave the Penryn bump to their VAIO AR series of media laptops. Sweet, powerful, 2.5GHz of cool running, long lasting, Core 2 Duo T9300 processing and 512MB of NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT graphics now at the heart of this 17-inch, 1,920 x 1,200 resolution lappie. Your $3,300 pre-order should be greeted by a Jan 29th ship date if you're lucky.

[Thanks, Zainuddin Z.]

[Richard @ Jan 24th 2008 4:22AM]

Now this is one sweet laptop, pfft @ CrapBook Air

[wutang01 @ Jan 24th 2008 4:27AM]

By golly gosh I've already started saving for this sexy black beast! =D

[Poom @ Jan 24th 2008 5:10AM]

While this is indeed a damn nice laptop, this AR and Macbook Air are aimed at totally different groups??? I don't think you should compare them...

[Geir E @ Jan 24th 2008 6:35AM]

Granted, This is one sweet looking laptop.

But it is a bit weird to compare a high powered laptop with 17 inch monitor and blu-ray to the worlds thinnest laptop with 13.3" screen and no optical drive.

[Richard @ Jan 24th 2008 7:35AM]

Im not comparing anything, I just think this laptop looks nicer than the CrapBook Air

[Tamer Brad @ Jan 24th 2008 11:00AM]

Do you think saying "CrapBook" makes you witty? Can we please stop with these nicknames like Crapple and Microsuck and CrapBook etc? We're not Goddamn twelve year olds here.

[Ty @ Jan 24th 2008 11:13AM]

The moral of this story, children, is that fanboi's on both sides are usually idiots. Compare this to the MacBook Pro, not the Air, you.fucking.morons.

On another note, this is one badass laptop.

[Panathas17 @ Jan 24th 2008 11:29AM]

@Tamer Brad

about that...

[Slobodan @ Jan 24th 2008 4:42AM]

Man, this lappy has everything except a useful keyboard. Who do they think a 17-inch beast like this is for? Coders, thats who!
With a decent keyboard, I'd order right now..

[fraz @ Jan 24th 2008 5:07AM]

er.. I code on a 13" 2kg samsung, thinking of upgrading to an 11" sony tz once they up the processors.. seems ok to me, not that cramped a keyboard, the qwerty bits all there and in the right place...

[Mark @ Jan 24th 2008 4:43AM]

That is one very expensive laptop. I never understood the attraction of hulking around a huge laptop. May as well buy a desktop and a smaller, more affordable laptop. It would probably cost less than this monster.

[Dave @ Jan 24th 2008 4:44AM]

So sexy! I want one, ok 2 :)

[Bellerophon @ Jan 24th 2008 5:09AM]

I hope this means that the new Penryn chips are ready for Apple's MacBook Pros too.

[Melenor @ Jan 24th 2008 5:22AM]

People buy Macs to pretend they have one of these.

I kid, I kid!

[Tamer Brad @ Jan 24th 2008 11:01AM]

Haha :) As a Mac owner, I'll confess had I not bought a MacBook I'd've gotten a Vaio, they are really beautiful machines.

[antbring @ Jan 24th 2008 5:40AM]

"Just" gave? They did this the day after the anouncement on CES. It has been on the website since that

[Tombio @ Jan 24th 2008 5:28AM]

And you don't even have to to gym after carrying this monster around campus all day. Nice specs though and can replaces pretty much any current desktop.

[Stephen @ Jan 24th 2008 5:33AM]

Great - roll on updated MacBook Pros with Penryn please!

We have a couple of the older version of this Sony and it's no where near as nice as a 17" MacBook Pro. (Personal tastes perhaps - not looking to start another fan boy riot!)

[Eh @ Jan 24th 2008 5:59AM]

I have to say Sony makes better looking laptops than Apple. My friend has a high end Vaio and the thing is so well made it feels like its one solid piece of steel, macbooks dont have quite the same sturdiness to them. Their desktops aint bad looking either.

[massive_98 @ Jan 24th 2008 10:42AM]

While I have never had a VAIO laptop the desktop I got from Sony is just fabulous. Its not really even a desktop, it looks more like a tv.

[DaTechnologyKing @ Jan 24th 2008 11:49AM]

I really like the design of this laptop. If I decide not to get all Apple products, then I would definitely get this laptop. Internal Blu-Ray player...? Yeah, thats all I needed to hear...

[porschedevotee @ Jan 24th 2008 4:04PM]

I have a slightly older version of this, nearly identical specs though. It's a beast of a computer and has never given me the slightest bit of trouble. My parents both have Macs (G4 and a G4 Powerbook) which they manage to crash or somehow cripple EVERY DAY. Yeah, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with my glittery black behemoth :)

[Phillip Donley @ Jan 24th 2008 5:45PM]

Which just goes to show you... Old people really aren't computer savy, regardless of computer make or model.

Then again, the last PowerMac G4 was made nearly 6 years ago, and if the laptop was purchased any time near that, I would say it's probably not a fair comparison, not even to a slightly older version of the SONY VAIO AR.

[Patrick @ Jan 25th 2008 3:36AM]

This reminds me...
Anyone know of a website which discusses various system requirements for playing back HD discs? Looking at the specifications for this computer, and especially the fact that it includes a BR drive makes me assume that it can play back BR discs. Let me know if you have any good places that discuss this topic in depth. I've tried searching, but I come up with strangely few sites, any system requirements end up being for other stuff, like MS's WMV-HD or something. So, an actual URL would be great.
Thanks. :)