Yes, folks, we finally managed to get someone to send us a mainstream laptop with an IPS display. Not that there are many choices; besides the Sony SE reviewed here, the only other options for anywhere close to a grand are the Lenovo X220 (which starts at around $1250, give or take) and the HP Envy 15 (which costs $1250 with the same 1080p panel as the VAIO SE). Sony’s VAIO SE costs less for the basic model, always comes with a 1080p display, and it has plenty of other cool features as well. But are there other areas where the SE falls short, or does the sum of the parts create something awesome?

Sony shipped us a higher spec unit for this review, but outside of the CPU most of the changes are pretty tame. The short summary is that if you’re after a decent mainstream laptop with a good display that won’t break the bank, it’s very difficult to come up with better options. Everything isn’t perfect, unfortunately, but there are very few laptops that don’t have one or two glaring flaws. Read on to find out the good and the bad (or merely okay) with the Sony VAIO SE, and find out if this might be worthy of your next laptop purchase.

Users who want everything out of their notebook, no matter how ridiculous the demands, are probably more than at least a little curious about Sony's VAIO Z2. There's good reason to be: this 13.1" ultrabook features a stunning 1080p screen, a secondary battery slice that nearly doubles running time off the mains, and an external dock box that features an optical drive, additional connectivity, and a dedicated GPU that can actually be used to power the notebook's internal screen.

The VAIO Z2 has a lot going for it, but is it worth the heavy price tag? Outside of the specs on paper—which admittedly look quite good—what's the build quality like on the Z2, how does it fare in day to day use, and are there any concerns or benefits that might not immediately stand out? We'll cover that and more as we put this laptop to the test.

AMD has had switchable graphics technology with their mobile GPUs for a while now, with solutions like the original HP Envy 13 from two years back and Lenovo’s T400 in late 2008. NVIDIA’s switchable graphics was first seen in Sony’s VAIO SZ around August 2008, requiring a reboot when switching modes. Since then, we’ve gone from hardware-based switching with a required reboot, to software-based switching on-the-fly, and now we’ve got dynamic switching based on application needs in the form of NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology (first launched in early 2010 and now seen in over 100 different laptops from every major OEM). AMD also has a dynamic graphics switching technology, called AMD Dynamic Switchable Graphics (and apparently doing away with the PowerXpress brand), debuting with the HD 6000M series and supporting CPUs with integrated graphics in the form of AMD’s own Llano laptops as well as Intel Sandy Bridge offerings. The question is: are these two technologies equal, or does one of them work better than the other?

Prior to now we haven’t had a chance to test AMD’s Dynamic Switchable Graphics with Intel IGPs, and we only briefly toyed with the technology in our original Llano notebook review. The drivers in the Llano notebook felt a bit raw, so we didn’t want to dwell on the technology too much, but now we have a Sony VAIO CA laptop with an i5-2410M CPU and HD 6630M GPU to add to the mix. We have looked at dozens of laptops with NVIDIA’s Optimus Technology since it first launched, but we also have a newcomer in the form of Acer’s TimelineX 3830TG, which uses the same i5-2410M CPU with a GT 540M GPU. Our focus today will be on the switchable graphics technology, however, with detailed benchmarks for the two laptops coming in a future article.

Curious about how the two technologies stack up to each other? Read on for our head-to-head comparison.

You asked for it, you got it: in house, a review of Sony's longstanding 13.3" road warrior S series. It's light, has a matte screen, switchable graphics, a mainstream Sandy Bridge processor, and the potential to last all day (and then some) on the battery. From the outside, at least, the Sony VAIO S looks like a winner at nearly any level. But did Sony cut any corners to get the VAIO S' price down, or should it be on any traveller's short list?

The debate over the potential (or not, depending on your perspective) for cellular handsets to supplant dedicated portable gaming consoles was already at the 'dull roar' stage when Steve Jobs unveiled the first-generation iPhone in January 2007. Successive iPhone iterations, along with iOS ecosystem expansion to the iPod touch and iPad, have upped the argument amplification a notch or few, as have competitive offerings based on the Android, RIM, WebOS and Windows Mobile (now Windows Phone) operating systems.

Sony's multi-phase approach to addressing the standalone-versus-cellphone debate is, if nothing else, intriguing. One key product in the company's plan, Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play gaming cellphone, is the subject of this particular writeup:

The mythical 'PlayStation Phone' had been rumored for several years, but when it finally appeared in late March in 11 countries (not then including the United States), it was curiously absent any explicit 'PlayStation' branding. Sony Ericsson's initial U.S. carrier partner was Verizon, who began selling the handset in late May subsequent to its first official U.S. unveiling, a commercial which ran during February's Super Bowl. More recently, AT&T picked up the handset in mid-July. One week later, Verizon dropped the Xperia Play's contract-subsidized price to $99.99, from $199.99 at introduction. Was Verizon's action a competitive response to AT&T's entry, a reaction to poor Xperia Play sales, or some combination of these and/or other factors? Verizon's not saying, but let's see how well (or not) the handset performs to get a sense of its degree of market appeal.