Labs

Just after we've praised Sony's VGN-FE41E design, along comes yet another new VAIO chassis in the form of the VGN-C2S/W. It couldn't be more different from its sleek cousin, with a chunkier feel and odd texture that take a bit of getting used to. If anything, it apes Apple's MacBook a bit too much, with overly large My-First-Typewriter keys. We'd have preferred the trade-off of smaller keys to allow the right Shift key to extend fully beneath the Enter key.

But build quality is up to Sony's usual excellent standard, with plenty of strength to the lid and a solid feel that's reassuring. The battery is impressive too, giving us 3hrs 45mins under light-use conditions. An hour-and-a-half when pushing the CPU to the limit is reasonable too; this VAIO will get you through a train journey

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or two.

This battery life is partly down to the choice of core components; the 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo T5500 is comfortably the weakest of the group and the integrated graphics don't offer any gaming potential. But with its size - the C2S/W is only 2.4kg and 330mm wide - power was never going to be the main focus. The relatively light chassis incorporates a 120GB hard disk and a DVD writer that also burns DVD-RAM discs, but the size means there's only room for an ExpressCard/34 slot rather than the 54mm slots elsewhere.

The 13.3in screen is bright and clear, if a little too reflective, but the glossy coating affords it real vibrancy. However, the less said about the tinny speakers the better. There's Wi-Fi and integrated Bluetooth, and a useful switch for the former sits on the front edge of the base, where you'll also find a slot for Sony Memory Sticks. A bundled ExpressCard adapter adds support for SD, MMC and xD-Picture cards too.

With Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Works 8.5 and Photoshop Elements 5 all included in the price, it's clear Sony offers the best software selection this month, and the firm's performance in our 2006 Reliability & Service awards suggests you'll be well looked after. But the single year of collect-and-return warranty is disappointing, and we can't recommend the VAIO VGN-C2S/W unless you need something smaller than the Rock or HP.