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This is a really nice laptop. It’s a little larger than I was expecting, but is delightfully slim for a machine of it’s capabilities. Bonuses on this model are the Blu-Ray burner, built-in TV (including Freeview) tuner, ultra fast Raid 0 harddrives and top spec graphics card. One thing that I’m a little disappointed by is the keyboard. It feels a bit cheap and plastic - it reminds me of an old Sinclair QL keyboard - and I would have expected something with better quality on a Sony top-of-the-range laptop. My only other criticism is something that is common with all laptops these days and that is the amount of software that is already installed on it. I spent the first day removing what I didn’t want and installing what I did. Depending on your circumstances, this is either a good thing or a bad thing.
It’s a decent piece of kit though. I played World of Warcraft on it with all the video options set at max, running full screen at 1920×1200 and it runs totally smoothly.

It also makes incredibly good use of the increased surface area to pack in a gorgeous 17-inch glossy X-black screen which offers intense colours and great contrast, although at the expense of reflectivity, so you’ll need to position it where there are no bright lights behind you. The screen has a native resolution of 1,920×1,200 pixels, giving it enough pixels to display full 1080p video, so you’ll get the full benefit of watching movies from the Blu-ray drive. Or at least you will in theory as the bundled WinDVD BD software proved a little unstable under Vista, but this should be fixable with an update.

The screen features a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels (WUXGA), and the resulting images are clear and smooth. We found it ideal for playing games or watching movies on – and the built-in Blu-ray drive will let you watch films in high definition. Icons and menus do appear small in everyday use, however, so you may want to adjust the settings.

The last thing ill mention then is its design, some will love it, others will, well actually everyone should love it. This vaio is black in colour, with a matt black colour and a very nice shiny black surfaced lid, which makes it look amazing whilst closed.

Sony Vaio AR51SU reviews from Blogspot

Pros
+ Excellent display
+ Great storage space
+ Good performance

Cons
- Expensive (over 2000 $)
- Poor battery life

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