Sony VAIO SZ reviewed

You might want to skip over this drool fest of a review if the $2800 asking price is a bit too steep, but Sony's new VAIO SZ line -- headlined by this here VGN-SZ170P -- sure looks to be an attractive choice for those in the money. Powered by a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 processor, the 3.8 pound laptop has plenty of horsepower, and even manages to best Gateway's 6.3 pound Dual Core M465-E in benchmark tests. The processor also runs surprisingly cool, which is always a good thing with a laptop that is actual small enough to sit on your lap. At 1.2-inches thick, the notebook still manages a 13.3-inch 1280x800 widescreen display, and also includes a DVD±RW optical drive, an EDGE radio for Cingular service, and a VGA webcam to fill up its carbon fiber body. Perhaps the most interesting feature, the SZ's ability to switch between NVIDIA and Intel integrated graphics for the sake of battery life, happens to be a bit of a letdown, since at 4 hours 15 minutes it only offered a 42 minute improvement over the all out NVIDIA usage. PC Mag recommends a larger battery if you really want to try and compete with Lenovo's 7 hour strong X60.