Sony VAIO NW: 15.5-inch Blu-ray notebook from $880

Sony have announced a new VAIO laptop, the NW-series, packing a 15.5-inch WXGA XBRITE display, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor and an optional Blu-ray drive. The Sony VAIO NW is also being priced competitively: the standard model is $800, while adding Blu-ray to that is just $80 more.

Other specifications include an optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card, standard webcam and chiclet keyboard. Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, SD and Memory Stick card slots, and HDMI; there’s also a dedicated “display off” button to switch off the VAIO’s screen when using an external monitor, and an instant-on mode for speedy internet access without booting into Windows Vista.

WiFi a/b/g/n, a 400GB hard-drive and up to 4GB of DDR2 memory are on offer, while battery life ranges from a paltry 1.5hrs with the standard pack and up to 5.5hrs with the extra-chunky pack. The NW-series will be available in white, grey and brown, complete with a strangely textured lid finish, chiclet keyboard and translucent trackpad.