X

Break out your checkbook for the high-end 13-inch Sony Vaio Z

Sony says that by, "melding cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray Disc optical drive, HDMI output and a hybrid graphics system into highly-mobile PCs," it has come up with a 13-inch laptop worth a whopping $1,830.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
See full bio
Dan Ackerman
Sony

While Sony's Y series of 13-inch laptops may seem fairly pedestrian, the company's other new thin-and-light is something else entirely. Sony says that by, "melding cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray disc optical drive, HDMI output and a hybrid graphics system into highly-mobile PCs," it has come up with a 13-inch laptop worth a whopping $1,830 -- outmatching even the very pricey HP Envy 13.

The Vaio Z weighs just over 3 pounds, and some configurations include a similar high-end "100 percent color saturation" display as found in the Vaio X. Also available is a Blu-ray drive and 3G mobile broadband antenna, which requires Verizon service.

One interesting option you won't find on a 13-inch MacBook or the HP Envy 13 is the hybrid graphics system, which switched between discrete and integrated graphics on the fly, allowing for better performance or better battery life as needed (Sony calls the two settings "Speed" and "Stamina").

Helping the Vaio Z stay thin and light is the included SSD hard drive, up to 512GB. No standard spinning-platter drives will be available. We'll update this post with more specific specs and components when we have them.

Sony says the Z series will retail for about $1,830 (but we're not sure what that configuration would include) and should be available in late spring.