Sony speeds up Vaio BX laptop line

Sony has unwrapped its latest business-centric Centrino, the Vaio BX40 series. The entire line-up's based on Intel's recently released 'Santa Rosa' platform.

So, it's new Core 2 Duo processors and 802.11n all round? Not quite - some models come with 802.11a/b/g rather than the next-gen wireless networking technology. Standard features include drop-sensitive hard drive protection; a 15.4in, 1280 x 800 display; up to 120GB of hard drive storage and 2GB of DDR 2 memory; a 1.3-megapixel webcam; Bluetooth; and a fingerprint sensor for data encryption and log-on security.

Top-end models contain AMD's ATI Radeon Mobility HD 2300, which, despite its name, isn't a DirectX 10 chip, like the HD 2400 and HD 2600 series of mobile GPUs.

The BX40 line members come with Windows Vista Business Edition pre-installed. Full line-up details will soon be available at Sony's web site.