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Sony is expanding the use of the VAIO label. It can now be found on notebooks, subnotebooks, desktop and media centres. Network media solutions by Sony will also carry the VAIO brand.

VAIO notebooks are usually shipped with Microsoft Windows Vista Business (Business line) or Windows Vista Home Premium, while high-end models sometimes come with Windows Vista Ultimate.

In mid-2005, all models stopped shipping with a Recovery CD, which was replaced by a hidden partition on the hard drive, accessible at boot via the BIOS or also within Windows via a utility. The partition allows the user to either reimage his hard drive to factory state, or to create recovery media. VAIO users are prompted to create a set of recovery CDs or DVDs as part of theout-of-box experience , along with a prompt to register at Club VAIO, an online community for VAIO owners and enthusiasts, which also provides automatic driver updates andtechnical support via email, along with exclusive desktop wallpapers and promotional offers.

On recent models, you are also prompted to register your trial versions of Microsoft Office and the installed antivirus software (Norton Anti-Virus on older models, and McAfee Antivirus on newer ones) upon initial boot.

VAIO computers come with components from companies such as Intel processors, Seagate Technology, Hitachi, Fujitsu or Toshiba hard drives, Infineon RAM, Atheros and Intel wireless chipsets, Sony (usually made by Hitachi) or Matsushita optical drives, Intel, NVIDIA or ATI graphics processors and Sony speakers. Recent laptops are being shipped with Qimonda RAM, HP speakers with Realtek High Definition Audio Systems, optional Dolby Sound Room technology. It has been confirmed that a touch-screen VAIO is planned to be launched as well as support for PlayStation Network.

Technology

The TX series introduced in September 2005 was the first notebook to implement an LED back-lit screen, which provides lower power consumption and greater color reproduction. This technology has been widely adopted by many other notebook manufacturers now. It was also the first to use a 16:9 aspect ratio screen with 1366x768 resolution.

The SZ series was the first to use switchable graphics – the motherboard containing an integrated Intel graphics chipset, with discrete NVIDIAGPU hardware on an expansion card. The former could be used for less power consumption and greater battery life whereas the latter would be used when greater graphics processing power was needed. A switch is used to toggle between the graphics but required a cold-boot. The Z series has recently replaced the SZ series but does not require a restart of the system to change graphic modes on Windows Vista, it can be done on the fly. This feature has subsequently been used by other manufacturers, including Apple, Asus and Alienware.

The high-end AR Series VAIOs were the first to incorporate a Blu-ray Disc burner. This series was designed to be the epitome of high-definition products including a 1080p capable WUXGA (1920 × 1200 pixels) screen, HDMI output and the aforementioned Blu-ray burner. The AR series also includes an illuminated logo below the screen. Blu-ray/HDMI capable models have been the subject of intense promotion since mid-2007, selling with a variety of bundled Blu-ray Discs. The AR series was replaced by the AW series. The AW series incorporates all of these features in a 18.4\" 16/9 display.

Another recent addition to the VAIO series is the TZ model. This new design features a 64GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for rapid boot-ups, quicker application launches and greater durability. If selected, a 250GB Hard Drive may also be included in place of the built-in CD/DVD drive to provide room for additional storage. For security this model includes biometric fingerprint sensor andTrusted Platform Module . The TZ offers a Built-in highly miniaturized MOTION EYE camera built into the LCD panel for video conferencing. Additional features include the XBRITE LCD, integrated Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) technology and Bluetooth technology.

A selection of media centres were added to the VAIO range in 2006. These monitorless units (identified by a product code prefixed by VGX rather than VGN) are designed to be part of a home entertainment system, which typically take input from a TV tuner card, and output video via HDMI orcomposite video connection to an ideally high-definition television. This range so far includes the XL and TP lines. The VGX-TP line is rather visually unique, featuring a circular, \'biscuit-tin\' style design with most features obscured behind panels, rather than the traditionalset-top box design.

The VAIO line also features a series of desktop computers, which incorporate motherboard and widescreen LCD monitor into a single unit (in a manner similar to the more recent models of Apple\'s iMac series). These are identified by VGC in the product code.