Information on Sony's new VAIO TZ Series notebook first leaked out in early May from Sony's European website. From the specs that gathered, the VAIO TZ looked to be a real winner for mobile professionals.

Yesterday, Sony officially announced the VAIO TZ for the U.S. market and it doesn't disappoint. The notebook features an 11.1" LED-backlit display (1366x768), weighs just 2.65 pounds and is less than an inch thick. Battery life is listed at up to 7.5 hours.

The VAIO TZ notebooks incorporate ULV Core 2 Duo processors, dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, EV-DO Rev. A (Sprint Mobile Broadband) and a fingerprint sensor for increased security.

All VAIO TZ notebooks come pre-loaded with Windows Vista Business."Sony is known for miniaturization and being an innovator in design, but this time we have really out done ourselves," said Mike Abary, Sony Electronics senior VP of VAIO product marketing. "This new notebook is an engineering marvel that I believe is one of the best looking PCs on the market."

Sony says that base models will start around $2,200 while a fully-loaded model with a solid-state disk will come in at close to $3,000. The VAIO TZ will become available on the SonyStyle website in August.