Beside the “most powerful Vaio Z ever built”, we've also had the chance to check out another business-oriented Vaio notebook at the local Sony even we've just attended, namely the Vaio S series, that, by all accounts, is a rather souped-down version of the Z in just about every aspect, starting with the CPU and storage unit and ending with the price.

At a first sight, the Vaio S is not nearly as exciting as the Z, but while the latter targets demanding businessman who won't let a minor detail such as the hefty price point stand in the way between them and the notebook of their dreams, the former is designed mostly for those users who want to enjoy the benefits provided by a Vaio, but are limited by a tighter budget.

So, while the S looks quite good on the outside, its finishing is, nevertheless, just a tad inferior to that of the Z series, having a more plasticky feel to it.

Also, the downgrade is visible in other segments as well, including that of the CPU (Intel Core i3-370M), graphics (Intel HD graphics), memory (4GB DDR3), display (13,3-inch VAIO Display (LED) WXGA (1366x768, 16:9)) and storage (500GB HDD).

And since we're on the topic of the HDD, it's also important to mention the fact that the S series packs an advanced HDD protection solution, which will protect the drive against malfunctions caused by bumps and shocks.

Looking back, we believe that we might have painted too bleak a picture of the Vaio S series, and that's not really doing these notebooks justice, because, in the end, they'll prove to be extremely good companions for the businessman who want to go the Vaio way without “bankrupting” their company in order to do so.