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The specific qualities of the new processor family are a perfect match for VAIO,” says Hidetoshi Takigawa, Marketing Director for VAIO of Europe. “With High Definition already shaping the future in so many ways, VAIO is ever-more focussed on HD performance. Better still, the clear advantage offered by the new Intel silicon is leveraged by Blu-ray Disc™. Put together, this means we can offer customers the most complete, most sophisticated High Definition solutions available. Whatever people want, from pure entertainment right through to editing personal HD content, VAIO is the logical choice.

I’ve been looking for a laptop for a while (to replace a 6 year old, much loved laptop) and could not decide, but finally took the plunge for this one. Expensive, yes, but hugely impressive performance, coping with importing video, playing music, surfing the web and emails all at the same time. I guess for this money you would expect that, but amazing nonetheless. Looks fantastic too and seems really well built. I’ve no regrets, even if the credit card has taken a hit.

Despite the chassis being close to three years old, the VAIO VGN-AR61ZU is probably still the best looking, Full HD multimedia notebook on the market. You’re also getting a very solid specification with strong performance, making it an ideal replacement for your big, ugly desktop machine. With a digital TV tuner and a Blu-ray drive built-in, you’ve got your entertainment needs pretty much sewn up.

A desktop-replacement laptop may be suitable for moving from room to room, but it doesn’t usually make for an ideal travel companion due to its size, weight and short battery life. In its favour, you ought to get a big screen to work on and powerful performance.At 3.9kg, the AR61ZU is at the bottom end of the desktop replacement spectrum. It’s also extremely powerful, thanks to its 2.4GHz Intel T8300 Core 2 Duo processor and whopping 4GB of RAM. As a result, it managed to score one of the highest PC Mark05 scores we’ve ever seen — a massive 5,797. This number confirms that it’s more than capable of handling strenuous applications and workloads, despite its semi-mobile form factor.

Sony Vaio AR61ZU Reviews from Picerunner

Pros: ; Incredible performance; good 3D; 1080p display

Cons: ; High price; short battery life; heavy

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