The VAIO NW11Z/S is a substantial, if overpriced, laptop. The most noticeable feature is the screen, which is a 15.5in ultra-wide 16:9 affair that's perfect for watching films on. It's a crisp, clear screen, and one of the best that we've seen on a laptop for a while.

Inside, Sony has packed a 300GB hard disk drive and 4GB of RAM, but has only included a 32-bit version of Windows Vista.

The ATI HD 4570 graphics chip will handle most modern games, but you'll have to scale back the settings to make high-end games such as Crysis playable.

Battery life suffers as a result of the hefty specifications: we managed to get two and a half hours out of it in normal conditions. Stylistically it's a treat, but it's a shame that the casing is plastic rather than the aluminium it might appear to be.

But it does stand out, especially next to the acres of other laptops that pass through our offices. We feel that a few more new features would have gone a long way, though.

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