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Say hello to the VAIO TZ, the next generation of Sony’s long-running T product line of ultraportable notebooks and the successor to the current VAIO TX series. Sony Japan has finally made its Sony VAIO TZ series of ultraportable notebooks official, as seen on their website here, two weeks after specs and images of the TZ leaked on a German website.

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At first glance, the design of the TZ has finally moved away from the likeness of the design shared between the T and the TX. Sony designers seem to have take some cues from the signature X505, which VAIO fans would remember as a sleek, ultra-thin notebook, and even the venerable 505 launched in 1997; indeed, this micro-site on Sony Japan’s website compares the advancements in the 10 years separating the old and the new.
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There are four models in the TZ line-up; the VGN-TZ90NS (Windows Vista Business), the VGN-TZ90S (Windows Vista Home Premium) and the VGN-TZ90HS (Windows Vista Home Basic). Both the TZ90NS and the TZ90S sport Intel Core 2 Duo processors (1.2GHz and 1.06GHz, respectively), 2GB RAM, a 100GB hard drive, DVD double-layer burner drive, and are 802.11n ready. Oddly, the TZ90HS and the TZ50S come with Celeron M processors; I can imagine how the performance of these models is going to crawl.
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The major point that sets the TZ apart from its predecessor has to be the upgrade in processor. I am still sitting here with a silly grin on my face, pleasantly surprised that Sony is able to squeeze Core 2 Duo processors into the tiny form factor of the TZ series after all, since the TX series capped out at only Core Solo.
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The TZ comes in four colors; (clockwise, from left to right) Black, Champagne Gold, Premium Carbon, and Bordeaux.