Sony silently upgrades VAIO SZ in the US
updated 11:00 am EDT, Sat July 28, 2007
Sony VAIO SZ6 Series
Without a formal announcement, Sony has just introduced its SZ6-series notebooks to the US. The 13.3-inch, carbon fiber system receives an upgrade to Intel's Santa Rosa technology and continues Sony's recent practice of packing as much performance into the small chassis as possible; most models ship with a minimum 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo on an 800MHz bus and always include draft 802.11n Wi-Fi. The SZ's trademark Hybrid Graphics system also receives a major upgrade on both sides, the company says. A dedicated Geforce 8400M GS graphics chip provides relatively fast 3D for Vista Business and games, but can be switched to Intel's newer X3100 graphics for slower but more battery-efficient graphics to extend running time as long as 4.5 hours in actual use.
Stock models begin at $2,050 with the above hardware, 2GB of RAM, and a new 160GB hybrid hard drive with a 256MB flash cache that speeds up response times. Other systems include a 2.4GHz CPU and any system can be custom-ordered with conventional hard disks ranging from 120GB to 200GB in size. Certain models also come equipped with a WAN module to hook up to Sprint's EVDO network. Sony itself has not promised an official release date but has Amazon preorders listed that claim shipping on August 1st. [via Notebook Italia]
