Sony has recently released its own entry into the growing tablet wars, yet its netbooks are also excellent products. Indeed, these devices were a great step for laptop computers, and there are a few models which are worth investigating for people who want something highly portable and affordable.

The Sony M Series netbook is an excellent option for business users. It has a 10.1 inch screen, which is small yet more than adequate for most tasks, combined with a 250GB hard drive that is certainly beefy enough. The processer runs at 1.66 GHZ alongside 1GB of RAM – this comes with a perfectly adequate built in webcam. This product is by no means new, yet it executes a variety of tasks with speed and efficiency – business people will find it much easier to work on than a tablet.

The Y Series (Ultraportable) is aimed more at regular consumers with a slightly larger screen (11.6 inches) and a weight of just 3.2 pounds. There is more space on the hard disk and it generally has the increased performance that you would expect from a newer model. 2GB of RAM is certainly a welcome addition and the battery appears to last for at least three and a half hours.

These two Sony products are cost-effective solutions for people on the move – they perform quite well and are much cheaper than getting a tablet. Indeed, these Sony laptops might give you cause to think twice before buying something flashier.

Sony are to shrink the size of their VAIO Y range down to 11.6 inches from 13.3. The new Sony Vaio Y mini laptop will feature an 11.6 inch display with a 1366×768 pixel resolution. Other specs of the laptop will include a 320GB hard drive, an Intel Core i3-380UM 1.33GHz processor, Intel HD graphics card, 2GB of RAM as standard but, can support 8GB of memory. We will also see support for Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. The VAIO Y will also feature a HDMI out port, enabling you to connect the laptop to your HD TV, as long as it has HDMI ports any way. Windows 7 Home Premium will come preloaded on the netbook.

Unfortunately the laptop will only be released in Japan. The laptop will being selling on November 27th. As of yet the pricing is unknown but, is expected to go on sale for 110,000 Yen. There’s no word on whether we will see the 11.6 inch Vaio Y outside of Japan.

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Sony have announced that they are releasing the VAIO EB, EA and EC series of laptops with new configuration options, more specifically CPUs and graphics. They have also reintroduced the purple color configuration which has proved popular among many. Specs wise, the laptops will be available with Intel’s latest CPUs, the 2.66GHz Ci5-580 and the 2.53GHz Ci5-460M. A 2GHz Pentium Processor option has also been added for those looking for a more affordable option. Both the EA and EB series will also have the option of a 1GB graphics card, which the EC models already have. Another change for the EB series and one for the EC range, is that you can have add a HD display and is a free upgrade for a limited time on new customized EB and EC laptops. The offer will expire on October 9th.

The Sony VAIO F will have it’s GeForce GT 330M graphics card upgraded to a GeForce GT 425M along with 1GB of video RAM, making it perfect for gaming. A USB 3.0 port has also been added which means even quicker transfers from external hard drives, digital cameras, phones, etc.

The All in One touch screen VAIO L computer will also have the option of a Blu-ray disc reader/writer. This was initially a feature when the computer was released back last year but, it quickly sold out. It’s now back however, along with the option of adding a TV tuner, a quad core processor, 2TB hard drive and some other new options.

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Sony have unveiled a fresh set of specifications for their Vaio range in Asia, Engadget has reported.

Intel’s i5-560m CPU is now an available configuration option on a number of Vaio laptop models, whilst the new addition to the F Series options is the NVIDIA 425m graphics processor, which can now be chosen by potential buyers to beef up their laptop specs. The Z series of laptops comes out the winner in the freshen up though, as buyers now have the option to choose the Intel 2.66GHz Core i5580m or the Intel 2.8GHz Core i7-640m processors when creating their specification list for their new notebook.

Sony have announced that they are to add SMC – Share My Connection – technology that acts like MiFi, to their new Vaio Z and Vaio Y series of laptops. SMC gives users the option to turn their device into a mobile wireless access point which allows up to 5 other devices including PC’s, mobile phones, cameras and so on to share a single network connection.

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SMC is only available in the US currently and needs a subscription package with Verizon to work. This subscription is available from June 20th according to Sony.