For mobile warriors, this might be the notebook that you’re dreaming of. Yes, the MacBook Pro does look good, has Core i5 or Core i7, but it doesn’t do the cut because it doesn’t have discreet graphic. Well to be fair 13-inch MacBook Pro never had discreet graphic. With its super thin and super lightweight build and very innocent white body chassis, this new VAIO S ultraportable will be a one-hit wonder for many people seeking for a compact notebook with some horses to punch.

The notebook has a 13.3-inch screen, and is powered by the latest Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors. To give a better chance of survival, it’s also equipped with AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics with 1GB of VRAM, though there’s still a physical toggle for switching, which is rather disappointing. That’s the price of not going for Nvidia’s Optimus. Things starts to speed up really fast with the SSD in it, and your content can be played with the built-in Blu-ray drive.

It is indeed a strong contender to the MacBook Pro, as the 3.8-pound machine is made of magnesium and aluminium, has a backlit keyboard, and a very new battery which is said to be able to power the laptop for 15 hours. There’s also an additional unique adapter so that the new battery can be charged separately from the laptop, which I find this very useful. Of course, you’ll have to fork out an additional $150 for this extended cell battery.

For $979, you’ll start off with the very humble Core i5-2410, those AMD graphics, and a 320GB brick. Pre-order is up now.