Sony finally unveiled its much-anticipated VAIO Z series- the electronics giant’s new ultra-portable laptops that have been described as the “world's lightest 13-inch standard voltage PC”.

Boasting a thinner profile even than the Apple MacBook Air at just 0.66 inches in thickness, the aluminum-&-carbon-fiber laptop comes equipped with some very impressive hardware specs.

The 2.5-pound VAIO Z series features a 13.1-inch LCD display that offers a resolution of 1600 by 900 pixels, SSD of up to 512GB and RAM of up to 8GB, 3 USB ports, VGA ports and HDMI.

The new models have been made available with second-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.

Sony is also offering an external device, called the Power Media Dock, which connects to the VAIO using Light Peak technology aka Thunderbolt. In addition, it features an AMD Radeon HD graphics card and an optical drive.

The Sony VAIO Z series, which comes preloaded with Windows 7 operating system, also offers the option of doubling the 8-hour battery life with the help of an extra battery.

However, all of these striking features come at a price. The Sony VAIO Z comes with a starting price tag of $1,969.99, much more than Apple's existing 13-inch MacBook Air.