Here comes the sun: Hide your Sony VAIO

We gathered at Sony's corporate love-in at the London Stock Exchange yesterday. While fortunes were made and lost on the international trading markets, Sony's men in black led us around the hermetically sealed world of the new VAIO Professional laptop range. This included the BX series (15 to 17-inch screens), the S series (13 inches) and the TX series (so small we could barely see it -- and pictured on the right). Sony is keeping tight-lipped on prices and availability at the moment, but watch this space.

The whole of the new range uses X-Black LCD screens, which Sony claims are extra sharp and bright, but to us just look intolerably reflective. Any overhead strip lights, or even a window behind you, is reflected back in the mirrored screen. Despite a lengthy chat with Sony about the problems these screens present, we couldn't convince anyone that having the world behind you reflected back in your screen would pose a practical problem.

The average consumer may find themselves drawn to these screens like a magpie in PC World, but a few hours with the X-Black and you'll be driven mad by the glare. Unfortunately, this seems to be standard fare for most big laptop manufacturers today. Let's hope these glossy screens go the same way as Space Hoppers and communism. -CS

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