Sony VAIO VGN-FJ170/B

Sony divides its thin-and-light VAIO FJ series into two camps--the FJ170, which sports an Onyx Black lid and a 1.73GHz Pentium M processor, and the FJ180, which comes in four different colors (Jade Green, Sky Blue, Raspberry Red, and Pearl White) and features a 1.86GHz Pentium M. Both the FJ170 and the FJ180 carry a sweet component cache that includes a mammoth 100GB hard drive spinning at a speedy 5,400rpm; a bright, 14.1-inch, wide-aspect display with a respectable 1,280x800 native resolution; 512MB of quick 400MHz memory; and a sweet, double-layer DVD burner. The only straight-up standards in this list are the Intel Pro Wireless 802.11b/g card and the Intel 915GM chipset, which sponges up to 128MB of main RAM to use as video memory. Our VAIO FJ170/B evaluation system offers some nice components, along with decent speed and battery life, for its reasonable $1,499 price. Head over to our full review for more on the VAIO FJ series.