My wife Claire has just started a new job which involves being away from home quite a bit. We decided that it would be a good idea if she bought herself a laptop so that she could browse the web and check emails while she's away.

Portability was an important consideration; the laptop had to be small enough to fit comfortably inside a small suitcase (screen size of less than 14") and also light. On a recent shopping trip to Leamington Spa, we called into the Sony Shop and saw some ultra-portable laptops from the VAIO range. They were truly gorgeous and more than satisfied all the criteria.

After some shopping around and a bit of further research, she decided to purchase the Sony VAIO VGN-TZ31. It is a compact laptop with a durable carbon fibre chassis and weighs just a little over 1.2kg. Although it is nowhere near as thin as say, the MacBook Air, it still manages to pack quite a bit into its 22mm thick case. It has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive and a DVD+/-RW drive - something which many ultra-portable laptops don't have. It also boasts an 11.1" inch screen, with a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and built-in webcam. All in all, a remarkable achievement for a laptop of this size. For more information, check out the Sony online store here.

I am, of course, completely envious and have decided that I must have something better. But what? It's hard to find laptops that are both small and yet powerful enough to use as a development machine.

If you have any advice or recommendations, let me know.