Sony's latest JS1 all-in-one is really a nice looking machine, but it's packing a lot of interesting tech as well. Packing a 20.1" 1680x1050 display, the Core2Duo system holds 3GB of memory and 500GB of storage. Audio plays through Dolby-based virtual surround sound and Sony's integrated Sound Reality chip can record, edit and play back SA-CD music. You remember super audio CDs, right? The only slight disappointment was that the system has no optional Blu-ray integration, which would have been media overkill in the best way. No word on pricing or availability. Full specs:

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Overheard in MI6 4th-floor martini lounge: "Man, it used to be fun heading down to Q's lab. Shit blowing up all the time, everyone just grinning and shaking their head knowingly (oh, James) when I accidentally incinerated prototype after expensive and high-time-investment prototype. Now? Dude's just going to down to the high street shops and slapping some logos on. Look at this laptop--it's garden variety Z-series: 13.3 inches, Core 2 Duo, 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 3G connection, Blu-ray. And he's billing M £3,000 ($US5,300) for it. Same for my phone. I mean, they're nice and all, but WTF?" [Gadget Review, T3]

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At Sony's UCHI media event today, they unveiled the world premiere of their new Vaio TT series, the 1.3kg notebook with an integrated Blu-ray drive. But unfortunately for anybody who got excited by the rumoured leaks from the US overnight stating that the diminutive lappy would come with a 250GB SSD, the TT series come with a standard HDD:120GB for the VGN-TT15 and 160GB for the premium VGN-TT17.

The premium TT17 seen in the clip above incorporates a Blu-ray disc drive for both playback and burning, an 11.1-inch LCD screen, Intel Core 2 Duo processor (SU9400 at 1.4GHz) and 4GB DDR3 SDRAM. The TT15 only comes with a standard DVD drive, coupled with a slightly slower Intel Core 2 Duo processor (SU9300 at 1.2GHz), 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, but it does come in a selection of three colours: black, gold and red.

Aside from the fact that the TT17 has a built-in Blu-ray player, the most impressive feature on display was the inclusion of noise-cancelling headphones with both models:

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According to leaks collected by Sony Insider, that Sony Vaio TT I mentioned yesterday is turning out to be one of the sweetest laptops we've ever not seen. A new spec sheet shows that the 1.3kg laptop will come in Champagne Gold, Crimson Red and Silk Black with respectable features, and then there will be a Premium Carbon Fibre Black, with a 250GB solid-state two-drive array and a 2X speed Blu-ray burner—with no change in overall weight. Sounds too good to be true, but here are the full leaked specs for your perusal:

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Sony Insider is reporting a well-founded rumour that the Vaio team will announce a new notebook tomorrow, a replacement to the super-sweet TZ, now to be called TT. I don't know if that's an Audi reference or a boobie reference, but what I do know is that it will likely have wireless-N, Bluetooth and an EVDO option—no mention of HSDPA—and will be a full-powered Vista notebook with the same 11.1-inch screen as the lightweight TZ. Catchy name or not, this combination of features should make it a pretty hot item, so let's all keep an eye out for the real news. [Sony Insider]

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Considering just about every other laptop maker has entered the ULPC arena, it comes as no surprise that Sony's thinking about dipping its toes into netbooks as well. Sony exec Mike Abary told Laptop Magazine to "stay tuned" about the company's netbook plans, and added that "we are letting the pioneers of the market make the mistakes... We have to participate." What? You have to participate in creating a consumer product that's been key to keeping the PC industry from sinking with the rest of the economy? Crazy talk! [Laptop Mag]

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The NS series of laptops is the latest in Sony's Vaio update frenzy, and they're machines aimed at delivering HD video. Hence the NS is available with a Blu-ray ROM drive and has a widescreen 15.4-inch Xbrite-Eco LCD for showing video off. Trouble is, the screen resolution is 1200x800, just enough to deliver 720p, but not enough for 1080p. Ditto for the cool new CS, which already made it to Japan. They both also have minimum battery lives of 1.5 hours—likely what you'll get when you're trying to watch that 2-hour Blu-ray movie. More overall feature info below:

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Sony's AW Laptop isn't really meant for the average technology set, but its ocean of storage space, high quality screen and HDMI out seem to indicate it's more for a designer who needs colour accuracy, or a photographer who has to run through a lot of shots. And with a palm rest that matches the grip on the Sony Alpha DSLR, the two go hand in hand.

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We brought you a three new Vaios last week, but Sony Japan seems to be in the mood to tweak much of the rest of its Vaio line of laptops and desktops. There are new machines in the A-series, C-series, L-series and R-series. The RT50 is aimed at professional users, labelled "photo edition," with an anti-glare screen and a screen shield. CS60B is a 14.1-inch laptop in numerous colours and 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the LJ53B is one of Sony's stylish desktop all-in-one media-players. But the AW70 and AW50 are the most interesting: monster, 18.4-inch powerful laptops with Blu-ray burners and HDMI-out, designed as desktop replacements.

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Sick and tired of never getting even close to the 10 to 12 hours of battery life advertised by PC companies on your laptop? Sony hears you, and is taking pains to improve at least one thing about their power packs. No, not the overheating factor, though they say they've got that somewhat under control now, honest! The company recently told PC Authority that they would be switching to a more realistic measurement for advertising their notebook battery figures. Yay?

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