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Sony released two new notebooks Wednesday featuring chips from Advanced Micro Devices, right as U.S. college students begin the annual move into dormitories.

The new additions to the Vaio series are the NVR23 and FXA63 notebook PCs, powered by the Athlon XP 1800+ and Athlon XP 1600+, respectively. The 1800+ runs at 1.53 GHz and the 1600+ clocks in at 1.4 GHz.

The NVR23 comes with the Athlon XP 1800+, 256MB of DDR synchronous dynamic RAM, a 30GB hard drive, three USB ports, a 15-inch LCD display, and a lithium-ion battery rated to last up to 2.5 hours. It is priced at about $1500, according to Sony.

The FXA63 features the Athlon XP 1600+, 256MB of RAM, a 20GB hard drive, two USB ports, a 14-inch LCD display, and the 2.5 hour lithium-ion battery. Sony says it will sell for about $1400.

Serious School Work

The notebooks are designed for students, especially at colleges and universities that require incoming freshman, or first-year students, to own PCs, Sony says.

However, the college-bound will also appreciate the combination CD-RW and DVD player, as well as the thin film transistor LCD for playing Everquest, Sony's online multiplayer game preinstalled onto the two notebooks.

Both notebooks can also go wireless with optional 802.11b wireless LAN access points and PC cards, Sony says.

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