Sony's got some VAIO refreshes for the new year. The company's super-powered ultraportable, the VAIO Z, now has a Verizon LTE option and the baseline CPU is now Intel's Core i5-2450M, which runs 0.1GHz faster than the chip it replaces. The ultraportable previously only came with a 3G modem upgrade, and the new $150 Verizon LTE option is currently free with a promotion that ends on February 4th. The Z comes in a new color — Carbon Fiber Silver (read: white) — and custom machines can now be spec'd in Premium Carbon Fiber Black, which was only available in pre-configured "Signature Edition" models before.
If you thought that refresh was a bit mild, you're not going to be impressed with the rest of them either. Sony's 14-inch EG and 15.5-inch EH laptops are now offered with either a Pentium B960, Core i3-2350M, or Core i5-2450M processor, all of which represent 0.1GHz bump over the CPUs they replace. The company says it has updated some processor options on the 13.3-inch and 15.5-inch S series laptops as well. While Sony doesn't specify what the new CPU choices are, we suspect they'll be similar to the VAIO Z's bump. We'll get to see exactly what has changed once the updated S series laptops are released in "early February."