Editors’ Note: During our testing, Sonystyle.com listed that the Z530N was no longer available, although as of this writing it was available from other online retailers. The Z540E, also available from Sonystyle.com for $1,999, replaces Windows Vista Business with Vista Premium, offers more RAM (3GB) and a larger hard drive (320GB). It is otherwise identically configured.
It’s more than an executive status symbol. The Sony VAIO VGN-Z530N ($1,999) is an ultraportable notebook that delivers the performance serious road warriors demand without sacrificing battery life. The 13.1-inch display with a unique 16:9 aspect ratio makes watching DVDs a pleasure—black bars, be gone!—and you can switch between Intel’s integrated graphics and discrete Nvidia graphics depending on the boost you need. And for the first time, unlike the older VAIO SZ series that offered this feature, you’re not forced to reboot the system (which is a good thing, since the Z takes its sweet time). A comfortable isolated keyboard, fast integrated mobile broadband connectivity, and a durable carbon fiber case make up one of the best lightweight machines of the year.
Design
All it takes is one look at the brushed aluminum that adorns the deck and the stylish cylindrical display hinges (the left side houses the AC plug and the right the power button) to know that the Z530N is a luxury-class notebook. It’s a bit on the thick side at 1 to 1.3 inches, especially when compared with wafer-thin systems like the Apple MacBook Air and Lenovo ThinkPad X300, but we have no qualms about the Z530N’s 3.3-pound heft. We barely noticed the system in our backpack. Plus, at 8.3 inches deep, the Z530N keeps a low profile, great for air travel (the ThinkPad X300, by comparison, measures 9.1 inches). The overall look of this wedge-shaped notebook is handsome but not as stunning or iconic as the Air or Voodoo Envy 133.
At first we thought the isolated keyboard, whose keys are separated by a fair amount of space, would require a learning curve. It doesn’t. We found the layout easy to use and the keys comfortable, with just the right amount of springy feedback. The touchpad is nice and large, but the mouse buttons, which flank a tiny fingerprint reader, are too small. We would have liked Sony to split the difference by sacrificing some touchpad surface area to leave room for larger buttons.
Above the keyboard on the left are two programmable shortcut buttons, and above those is the Stamina/Speed switch. To the right is a dedicated eject button for the optical drive. The left side of the Z530N houses the Ethernet jack, ExpressCard/34 slot, modem, one USB port, a FireWire port, and the mic and headphone jacks. The VGA connection, second USB port, HDMI output, and DVD burner are 
on the right side. Only a 2-in-1 SD Card and Memory Stick slot is up front, along with the wireless on/off switch.
16:9 Display
The Z530N sports one of the best LED-backlit displays we’ve seen on an ultraportable. Its XBrite-DuraView screen is bright and crisp, and we saw excellent viewing angles from side to side when we streamed an episode of The Colbert Report on Hulu.com. The panel is also scratch-resistant. Because of the LCD’s 16:9 aspect ratio, the 1366 x 768-pixel resolution minimizes the dreaded black bars when watching DVDs. But that’s only if the film was shot in widescreen (look for an aspect ratio of 1.78:1). Sure enough, when we popped in a Heroes DVD, we didn’t see any black bars at full-screen.
If you want 1600 x 900-pixel resolution, which gives you the ability to look at two open windows side by side, the starting price for the VAIO Z Series jumps from $1,799 to $2,079, a reasonable $280 premium.
