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Sony Vaio F series: Just call it 'The Beast'

The Sony Vaio VPCF11Z1E/BI is so powerful and awkwardly named that we're just going to call it The Beast. With a quad-core Intel Core i7 chip and 8GB of RAM, it'll knock your socks off

Jason Jenkins
Jason Jenkins is the director of content for CNET in EMEA. Based in London, he has been writing about technology since 1999 and was once thrown out of Regent's Park for testing the UK's first Segway.
Jason Jenkins
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Super-powerful laptops are like Ferraris -- no-one buys them, but we all like to drool. Sony's new beastly Vaio F series is aimed at those who want to edit HD video or raw image files.

There are three models -- top of the range is the VPCF11Z1E/BI (those letters must mean something to someone at Sony HQ) with a quad-core Intel Core i7-720QM processor running at 1.6GHz and 8GB -- yes, 8 -- of memory. There's a Blu-ray writer and an Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics chip with 1GB of its own memory -- impressive specs for a laptop.

The screen is designed to show off the laptop's HD capabilities -- it's a 16.4-inch behemoth with a Full HD resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. A light sensor adjusts the backlight to match the brightness of the room, and there's a 'display off' button, in case you're inclined to use this as a hi-fi and don't want to stare at your Windows desktop.

A large screen means a large keyboard, and this 'laptop' is so large there's room for a number pad on the right, as on a normal desktop keyboard. At 3.2kg, it's probably best to think of the machine more as a desktop you can fold up and put away in a drawer, rather than a portable computer.

802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built-in, as you might expect for something at this end of the market, along with a 500GB hard drive. Sony claims a 3-hour battery life.

It will pop into shops from 18 January -- no pricing has been announced, but we'd be surprised if it comes in well over £2,000.

If this ends up being too expensive for your tastes, there are two other models coming along at the same time. The VPCF11S1E/B has less memory and a Blu-ray reader rather than the writer, and the VPCF11M1E/H has a dual-core chip and smaller memory still.

All the models ship with Windows 7 64-bit and a bunch of Sony software packages designed to organise movies and pictures.

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You get HDMI, eSATA and Express Card slots, but this isn't a thin machine.
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A view of the keyboard next to a Sony camcorder.
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That's where the Blu-ray drive is.

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