14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt, AMD's Fusion platform has been one of the most pleasant surprises of early 2011, and it's quite likely that things will go even better in the near future, as more and more systems built around the new APU make it to the market, as is the case with Sony's Vaio YB notebook, initially announced back at CES 2011. The ultra-portable system comes packed with an AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350 running at 1.60GHz and featuring up to 1MB Cache, the video being provided by the Fusion's embedded graphics engine.
The YB notebook also sports a 11.6-inch glossy screen with 1366 x 768 pixels resolution, as well as a 500GB (5400rpm) hard drive and 4GB DDR3 SDRAM memory.
The new Vaio portable system comes equipped with a QWERTY keyboard with 83 keys with 1.6mm stroke and 18.43 pitch, as well as a built-in MOTION EYE camera and microphone, plus an Electro-Static touch pad and the usual Sony ASSIST buttons.
Moreover, it incorporates plenty of connectivity and networking options, such as Fast Ethernet (RJ-45) Protocol, 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T (Gigabit), WiFi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n and Stereo A2DP Bluetooth technology (2.1 + EDR).
Plus, Memory Stick and SD memory card slots have also been thrown in the mix, for good measure.
Last, but certainly not least, we'll have to say a few things about the battery life, that is quite OK when using the standard battery (around 6 hours with default settings), but absolutely impressive when using an extended battery (arriving at around 13 hours).
Of course, pricing depends largely on the outlet and technical characteristics, the version we've talked about up until now, available directly from Sony, selling for around 600 US dollars, while Amazon's got a less powerful version coming in (but not available just yet), featuring 2GB of RAM and 320GB of storage, which will cost just around $550.