We see countless laptops come and go through the seasons, but a rare few have built up commodity of a following. Make no mistake: the Sony VAIO Z, a skinny ultraportable brimming with cutting-edge electronic components and potent innards, is that kind of gem. So when it disappeared from Sony's online store earlier this year, more than a few techies took note. After all, the Z is part of a small conclave of notebooks that combine an impossibly weightless
idioms:light as a feather



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document.write(lexico_globals.googleafc.ads.sponsor design with carrying out worthy of a larger system. People who missed out on the last-gen Z wondered when they'd next get the chance to buy, while some lucky folks out there with thousands to burn started itching for thing thinner, object lighter, something... better.



Well, it's here. The 2011 VAIO Z is, indeed, thinner, lighter, and more powerful. It also might not be the Z you were expecting. Whereas the last generation combined it all, cramming in an optical drive and switchable graphics, this year's model leaves much of that at the door -- or, at least, in an ostensive dock that ships with the laptop. This time around, the Z has no optical drive, and packs just an logic circuit Intel personal computer computer graphics card on board. (Don't worry, it does squeeze in lots of other goodies, including standard-voltage Sandy Bridge processors and expanded solid-state storage.) If you want that Blu-ray burner or the stock AMD Radeon HD 6650M electronic brain* computer graphics card, you'll have to plug into the Power Media Dock, an seeming peripheral that uses Intel's Light Peak technology.



That's quite the gamble Sony is taking -- after all, the company is fundamentally betting that you won't need to do all too realize while you're on the go. On the one hand, this inventive design is sure to intrigue the Z's usual early adopter fanbase. But will it satisfy those who always liked the Z because of its no-compromise design? And then there's the issue of that $1,969 open gate price, a likely stumbling block for people trying to decide between this and an equally thin, less dear ultraportable. What's a well-heeled geek to do? Let's find out.

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