Sony’s VPCZ137GX is a portable and a great performer that comes with a great design that ensures easy operation. The machine comes with a DVD burner and elegant looks. Its drawback is its lack of the crucial USB 3.0 port and its expensive price tag. You are unlikely to come across a better performer than this machine, nor a more expensive one.

The unit is powered by intel Core i5 460M processor that works at a top -notch speed of 2.53 GHz. It packs a powerful 4GB DDR3 memory with a speed of 1066MHz. The ace in the armour is the forceful GeForce GT 330M GPU from nVidia, that comes with 1GB of video memory. The machine uses operating system Windows 7. With such a heavy artillary you would expect the VPCZ137GX to consume battery easily, but it only stops the clock after a good six hours and twenty minutes.

The machine scores an impressive mark of 118 on the WorldBench 6 Test, while producing top -shelf frame rates in matters gaming. Watching the 1080p HD video stream smoothly on the marvellous display is a joy to behold. The clear and wide sounding of the audio is another tick in the box, as is the useful webcam that excels on 640 by 480 resolution video. The lack of Bass is a miss, but knowing that this is a common problem with most laptops will sooth your heart.

On top of the DVD burner, Sony thows in 3 USB 2.0 ports -but there is no USB 3.0 port in site-, gigabit ethernet bundled together with video interface VGA and HDMI. Your shipment of the system also entails a Bluetooth and N -wireless, Memory Stick MagicGate, SD memory card ports, headphone and microphone jacks. You can also add Share My Connection software from Sony -that allows you to share broadband connection with 5 other users-. The machine does not however offer eSATA and Sony 1.linkjacks.

The laptop comes in a chiclet -style keyboard that bears a close resemblance to the ones on Toshiba M645 and MacBook Air, only that contrary to the afformentioned laptops, in the VPCZ137GX there is no distraction at any angle from the backlight leaking on the keys. The machine covers a dimension of 11.4 inches width, 1.3 inches in depth and 8.3 inches. It tips the scales at three pounds. That is a large size that plays to its advantage .

Sony is probably guilty of stuffing its VIAO laptops with software that ultimately overlap Windows 7 functionality. But that’s not true of Wi -Fi hotspot or the WebCam Companion 3 from Arcsoft, that actually increase the machine’s abilities. As a token, you will have the trial edition of Microsoft Office 2010, bundled with Norton Internet Security, but you will have to instal yours in the long term. With portability, performance and ergonomics on its side, the VPCZ137GX is a forceful machine to have. But its princely tag of $2300 is certainly not for the stingy.