Over the past few weeks we have seen a barrage of great new laptop offerings from PC manufacturers, all hoping to deliver thin, light, and powerful mobile-computing solutions driven by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor. Competition in this space will be fierce, perhaps even more so now that Apple's has upgraded its Macbook Air offerings. PC powerhouses such as Lenovo, Hewlett Packard and Dell offer great options for Windows users. But this week I thought we'd look at a few of the latest notebook offerings from three Japanese manufacturers to see how they stack up.

When talking about ultra-thin notebooks, Sony is an intriguing player since its VAIO series was doing ultra-thin years before it really came into fashion. And Sony's latest iteration, its VAIO Z, is indeed very slim at 17 mm thin, and it weighs a paltry 1.2 kg. Unlike many PC makers who put forth the same teardrop profile that the Macbook Air has made famous, Sony has refrained from that design in favor of a traditional, but still very thin, profile.

This notebook features solid state RAID drives and is powered by Intel's latest Ivy Bridge i7 quad-core processor. Sony claims a battery life of up to 6 hours 45 minutes, which can be extended up to 14 hours via an optional "sheet" battery attachment you can append to the bottom. The body is composed of carbon fiber and aluminum and though the VAIO Z might look all business, it does sport some notable features that make it great for media consumption. The 13.1-inch full HD display (1920 x 1080 resolution) offers wide viewing angles and impressive color accuracy. It went on sale this month in Japan, and while retail prices may vary, the cheapest you'll find this one for is about ¥125,000.