Sony VAIO SB Series

Light and well built, excellent battery life, excellent performance, backlit keyboard, USB 3.0, ambient light sensor ;

All ports on one side, not friendly to left-handers, lots of pre-installed software ;

The array of ports includes USB 2.0, VGA, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, and most impressively, a USB 3.0 port. You also get a webcam, separate SD and MemoryStick Duo slots, a physical Wi-Fi toggle, a combination headphone/microphone port, and 802.11n Wi-Fi

Lightweight ; Good endurance, even with no extended battery ; Matte display with versatile viewing angles

Flaky trackpad ; Screen wobbles ; Fan can get loud

One of our favorite 13-inch laptops with a built-in optical drive, the SB is lightweight and well-built with a low-glare display and long battery life.

Light and well built, excellent battery life, excellent performance, backlit keyboard, USB 3.0, ambient light sensor

All ports on one side, not friendly to left-handers, lots of pre-installed software

The Sony VAIO SB Series (VPCSB16FG) represents all that is good about mobile computing: it's a thin, light, well built and attractive 13in laptop, and thanks to 2nd Generation Intel Core CPU technology, it also possesses great battery life and fast...

It's a little disappointing that the fit and finish isn't quite up to the standards we'd expect from a £1,700 laptop. It just doesn't have the perfectly clean lines and premium build materials we usually find in systems that expensive. In this case,...