Weighing a very manageable 3.7 pounds and measuring less than an inch thick, the SZ370P is as elegant as ever. Outside is the same handsome black-and-charcoal carbon fiber chassis we loved on the SZ170P; open the ultrathin lid and you'll find an elegant brushed charcoal keyboard deck offset by a silver touchpad.

The VGN-SZ370P is built around a 13.3-inch widescreen display. The glossy display looked stunning during DVD playback, but we noticed glare from overhead lights. The stereo speakers above the keyboard deliver enough volume for a conference table presentation, even if the sound is a bit hollow. The widescreen LCD gave Sony room to include a full-sized keyboard, and we found it comfortable and responsive.

Viewing-angle performance is acceptable side to side, with some loss of brightness but not color shift. Looking down from above shows a pronounced color shift. Fortunately, the low profile of the widescreen means you won't have many instances when you can't open the lid all the way and view the screen head-on.

The VGN-SZ370P is loaded with security and durability features, including a fingerprint reader, TPM circuitry, and an active protection system for the shock-mounted hard drive. Extra touches abound: a built-in DVD burner, a Memory Stick slot, and even an embedded webcam and microphone for easy videoconferencing with colleagues or video chatting with family while you're on the road.

The dual-mode graphics subsystem is still present. In battery-saving Stamina mode (selectable via a switch above the keyboard), the unit relies on the integrated Intel GMA 950 engine. Slide the switch to Speed and reboot, and the Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 GPU kicks in. You'll enjoy better graphics performance in Speed mode, but the Stamina mode didn't deliver any gain in battery life.

Compared to the earlier SZ170P (outfitted with a 1.83-GHz Core Duo), the SZ370P's 2-GHz Core 2 Duo CPU delivered much better productivity performance, delivering a MobileMark 2005 score of 276, compared to 231. On the other hand, the SZ370P's best battery runtime was 3:42, versus 4:23 with the same settings on the SZ170P.

Since both systems use the same Nvidia graphics cards, the test results in this area didn't change much. The SZ370P notched a 4,339 in 3DMark03, slightly better than the 4,169 on the SZ170P. The F.E.A.R. scores were identical, at 23 fps on autodetect settings (800 x 600 resolution). You won't mistake this notebook for a high-end gaming rig, but the performance is fine for more tame 3D gaming that other ultraportables simply can't handle.

For connectivity beyond the embedded 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth connections, Sony offers integrated wireless WAN support from Cingular's EDGE network. We'd like to see Sony transition the SZ line to Sprint's faster EV-DO network, as it has done with its TX series.

We wish it offered more battery life. But with its improved performance, extra storage capacity, and double the RAM, the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P is an attractive package for power users who don't want to compromise portability.