Hot on the heels of chip maker Intel's Centrino Duo notebook platform revamp come the laptops based upon it. One of the first: Sony's vaguely MacBook Pro-like Vaio FZ series.

The line comprises eight models. The top-of-the-line unit packs in a Blu-ray Disc burner; 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 processor; 2GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory; a 200GB 4,200rpm hard drive; and, among a broad I/O array, an HDMI port.

Interestingly, it also packs in an as-yet-unannounced Nvidia GeForce 8400M GT graphics chip with a gigabyte of video memory. Register Hardware will have full details about this and other 8M series GPUs shortly.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest-rung FX relies on its 965GM chipset's X3100 graphics chip, which grabs up to 256MB of the 1GB main memory bank. It has a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo T7100; a 160GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; and a standard DVD writer.

Both models sport a 1280 x 800 widescreen 15.4in display and 802.11n-enabled wireless networking - they'll do 802.11a/b/g too. They all have s-video, USB and VGA ports, along with an SD, MMC and MemoryStick Duo card reader, and an ExpressCard 34 add-in slot.

They're pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium. Above the keyboard - available in black and white versions - there's an array of media playback controls available to use even when Windows hasn't been started up.

Aimed at the US market, prices range from $1400 to $2000. They'll go on sale there mid-May, Sony said.