Sony Rolls Out VAIO Z Ultra-portable with External GPU Dock

From DailyTech: Apple may turn a few heads with its ultra-thin, and ultra-light MacBook Air notebooks (which are available in 11" and 13" varieties), but Sony is going for the throat with its latest VAIO Z notebook. Sony, as usual, is packing in about as much technology as it can muster into a slim and sleek package.

While Apple can only manage to cram dusty old Core 2 Duo processors into its current MacBook Air (granted, a refresh is on the way), Sony is going full-tilt with an Intel Core i7-2620M processor running at 2.7GHz -- Turbo Boost ups the ante to 3.4GHz if you need some extra performance for more demanding applications. Also included are 8GB of DDR3 memory, a 256GB SSD, a 13.3" display (1600x900), and an integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU.

The VAIO Z uses a sheet battery design that was introduced with the VAIO S Series. The lithium-polymer design provides up to 7 hours of battery life -- a second sheet battery can be added to boost battery life to a more impressive 14 hours.

In its base configuration, the VAIO Z weighs in at a respectable 2.65 pounds.

Where things start getting interesting, however, is with the VAIO Z's Power Media Dock. The Power Media Dock features an integrated AMD Radeon HD 6650M GPU with 1GB of DDR3 memory, an HDMI port, VGA-out, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, GbE, and a DVD SuperMulti Drive (VGP-PRZ20C) or Blu-ray Drive with SuperMulti (VGP-PRZ20A). The Power Media Dock connects to the VAIO Z using Intel's Light Peak technology.

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