Sony Refreshes VAIO Ultraportable Notebooks with LTE and New CPUs

People who want their portable computers to be visually sophisticated and light may want to take a look at the slightly upgraded VAIO S, VAIO Z and VAIO E systems that Sony is preparing.

Sony's VAIO series of laptops is about as focused on aesthetic value as it is on performance, being intended for the so-called “fashion-conscious” crowd.

The company is now working on better versions of some VAIO S, VAIO Z and VAIO E machines (sales start as early as February).

The 13.1-inch Z-Series laptop qualifies as the most high-end of the newcomers, and its price of $1,949.99 (1,514.31 Euro) definitely fits that position.

Sony will let buyers select between extra CPU options like Intel Core i5 and Core i7.

The company has also made it possible to arrange SSDs in RAID 0 setups, in addition to providing LTE mobile broadband support, all in a Carbon Fiber Silver coating.

The 14-inch and 15.5-inch C-Series are getting some new chassis options of their own (Kaleidoscope Pink and Geometric Black), while the E Series laptops (same sizes) are receiving some new Sandy Bridge CPUs.

Sony's latest blog post doesn't hand out the exact prices of these modified newcomers, but one can drop by the shopping page and try to guess based on the starting tags of the laptops as they are now.

More informative was the entry concerning the S Series (13-inch and 15-inch), which are getting similar processor upgrades (second-generation Core i5 and Core i7).

Moreover, the VAIO S will feature AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512 MB VRAM) or Radeon HD 6630M (1 GB VRAM), complete with Hybrid Graphics capabilities.

The 13-inch machine will sell for $799.99 (621.25 Euro), while the 15-inch one will come for $979.99 (761.03 Euro).

On a related note, Sony's 14-inch EG and 15.5-inch EH laptops got a sort of update of their own, namely Pentium B960, Core i3-2350M, or Core i5-2450M processors (0.1GHz stronger than what they replace).