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If you want to really compare Apple's new ultraportable against Sony, the natural choice is the VAIO G11.

Here, we compare the two products head-to-head in all the key areas.

THINNESS
The G11 measures 24mm; the Air measures 19mm. That, on the surface, is a staggering achievement, and there's no disputing the Air looks simply phenomenal.

Remember, though, that the Air doesn't include an optical drive, unlike the G11. Jobs claims you can "borrow" an optical drive from a PC or Mac (presumably over the network) using software, but that's not much help on the train. Nevertheless, there's no doubt which is the winner for thinness...
WINNER Apple

BATTERY LIFE
We don't want to be too unfair here. For Apple to squeeze five hours of life from a laptop that thin is a great feat of engineering. But - and this is a big but - the G11 lasted for almost nine hours in our light-use tests. Even under intense use (when we push the CPU to 100%) it kept going for four hours.
WINNER Sony

WEIGHT
We haven't yet had the Air into the PC Pro labs to weigh on our calibrated scales, so all we have to go on is the official claim of "exactly three pounds", which equates to 1.4kg. But even that's substantially heavier than the G11, which weighs 1.13kg.
WINNER Sony

SPEED
We know the Apple Air uses a new Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at either 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz, and we believe this will be a standard version - that is, not ultra low voltage. The Sony G11's processor is ultra low voltage, and runs at 1.33GHz. It's also single core. The Air also has twice the RAM, at 2GB, compared to the G11 currently on sale at <

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www.sonystyle.co.uk. As such, there's only going to be one victor when it comes to out-and-out speed. WINNER Apple

STYLE
Although we weren't initially overwhelmed by the Air's slightly industrial head-on looks, there can be no denying a little "wow" escaped our lips when we saw how thin it was. And this is likely to be the reaction you get whenever you whip out your Air. But the Sony G11 looks similarly impressive, and its darker finish is likely to survive a couple of years' worth of battering better, too.
WINNER Score draw

FLEXIBILITY
With a 100GB hard disk and (have we mentioned this before?) the built in DVD writer, there's absolutely no doubt which of these two laptops is more flexible when it comes to storage. That said, the Air's 80GB is generous enough for most people's needs.
WINNER Sony

ERGONOMICS
We haven't used the Air ourselves yet, but from seeing it in action it seems to have a number of factors in its favour. For one, that super-large trackpad will make navigation easy. Second, its screen is significantly larger than the Sony's: 13.3in to 12.1in viewable diagonal, 1,280 x 800 resolution to 1,024 x 768.
WINNER Apple

VALUE FOR MONEY
According to the Apple UK store, the base model of the Air will cost £1,199 inc VAT. The G11 on sale at Sony Style (model number VGNG11XN/B.CEK) costs £1,499 inc VAT.
WINNER Apple

So, overall, few would argue: the Apple Air has the edge. If you're looking for an exceptionally light laptop that will last a decent segment of the day away from the mains - and you don't need an optical drive - then it seems the one to go for (we'll hold off full judgement until we've tested it in the PC Pro labs).

For Apple to truly compete with the likes of Sony, however, it needs to provide a wider range of laptops than three.

Read our full coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote speech here.