Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E/B review

Improving on excellence is never a simple task, but that was the lofty goal facing Sony's engineers. The previous version of the VAIO Z Series combined classy, understated looks, supreme power and fine ergonomics with class-leading stamina, and it had the measure of every other ultraportable on the market

Rather than try to eke out a little more battery life, or trim a little weight, Sony has taken a radical approach to its baby and rebuilt it from the ground up. Gone is the stamina-focussed ultraportable of old; in its place comes a thin and light laptop that packs in an unprecedented level of raw power.
Design to die for

The VPCZ11Z9E/B is attractive, but it doesn't go overboard to draw attention to itself. It cuts a professional, monochromatic dash: matte black contrasts with dark gunmetal grey and the brushed aluminium keyboard surround, while a handful of status lights glimmer along the front edge. It's so understated for such a stratospherically expensive laptop we wondered how it could justify the expense. That, however, became clear very quickly.
The keyboard was already superb, and it's even better here. The keys aren’t just backlit, with an ambient light sensor to fade them in and out, but they also have a slightly crisper action. This, along with the spacious, uncluttered layout, puts it right up with the best keyboards we've used. Other subtle improvements see the trackpad pushed a few millimetres further from the spacebar to prevent stray thumbs from jogging the cursor unintentionally; a minor but occasionally aggravating issue with the original.

Build quality has taken a giant leap forward too. Its predecessor was sturdy for a 1.49kg laptop, but it wasn't perfect: the lid flexed noticeably under pressure, and the chassis wasn't as rock-solid as Apple's best efforts. This new Z Series is a different story entirely. Despite a weight drop to 1.41kg (1.83kg with charger), twisting the chassis with all our might revealed only the tiniest bit of give, and it took some vicious prodding on the lid to cause any showthrough on the display.

That 13.1in display finally gets a Full HD, 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution, and it offers eye-popping brightness and glorious colours. The only drawback is that you’ll need to take full advantage of Windows 7’s text-scaling abilities to avoid squinting at tiny fonts.