As part of its Spring refresh, Panasonic will roll out not only the 12.1-inch Let's note NX and SX Series laptops mentioned yesterday, but also an up-to-date Let's note J10. The J10 is a 10.1-inch mini notebook that comes with a 720p display (1366 x 768-pixel resolution) and makes use of a Core i3 or i5 processor (no Atom on this little guy).

The updated J10 also features 4 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive or 128 GB solid state drive, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, WiMAX, an SD card slot, USB 3.0 connectivity, and a HDMI output.

The 'standard' J10 model, boasting a 2.3 GHz Core i3-2350M CPU and a 250 GB HDD, is expected to cost about $1,546, while the 'high performance' J10, with a 2.4 GHz Core i5-2435M and a 128 GB SSD, should go for $2,192. Both models will ship in Japan in late February.

Panasonic unveiled new 12.1-inch notebooks under the LetsNote NX and LetsNote SX families. Both feature 16:10 aspect ratio screens with 1280x800 pixel resolution, but buyers can opt for a wider 16:9 aspect ratio screen with 1600x900 pixels. A 720p web-cam and fingerprint reader can also be opted for. Where the NX and SX differ is with the SX featuring a top-loading optical drive, while NX lacks it.

Both models are driven by Intel Core i5-2450M processor. HDD comes standard, while faster SSDs can be opted for, which boot the system in under 9 seconds thanks to Panasonic's QuickBoot Manager software. Connectivity features for both include USB 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+ EDR, and display outputs that include HDMI.

Japanese PC maker Dospara that specializes in build-to-order PCs and notebooks unveiled Prime Note Galleria QF580 high-end gaming notebook. This 15.6-incher packs a 1920 x 1080 (full-HD) LED screen, backed by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M graphics with 2 GB GDDR5 memory. The GPU is overclocked out of the box to offer performance close to the high-end desktops. Intel Core i7-2860QM quad-core CPU is in-charge of everything else. It is clocked at 3.60 GHz, with 8 MB L3 cache.

There's plenty of memory, by that we mean 16 GB (4 GB x4, SO-DIMM, DDR3-1333). The storage is care of a 128 GB Crucial M4 SATA 6 Gb/s SSD, which is connected to the 6 Gb/s port of Intel HM67 PCH. The optical drive is a Blu-ray ROM + DVD writer combo drive. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is the OS of choice. Networking features include gigabit Ethernet, wireless b/g/n, and Bluetooth 3.0. The keyboard is designed to have high key travel, providing good tactile feedback. To top it all off, there's an HD webcam. The Prime Note Galleria QF580 is priced at 225,980 JPY (US $2900).

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), of Palo Alto, Calif., has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $425,000. The settlement agreement (PDF) has been provisionally accepted by the Commission (3-1).

The settlement resolves staff allegations that HP knowingly failed to report immediately to CPSC, as required by federal law, that certain lithium-ion battery packs contained a defect or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death. The lithium-ion battery packs can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. The packs were shipped with new HP Notebook computers, sold as accessories or provided as spare parts for various HP models.

Sony kicked off this week by announcing updates for four of its VAIO laptops, the Z, S, E and C Series models. Starting at $1949.99, the 13.1-inch Z Series machine is getting multiple new options including fresh Core i5 and Core i7 CPU options, RAID 0 SSD setups, LTE mobile broadband, and a Carbon Fiber Silver coating.

The 13-inch and 15-inch S Series laptops also get the latest 2nd-gen Core i5 and i7 processor options, but they can offer Hybrid Graphics with either an AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512 MB VRAM) or Radeon HD 6630M (1 GB VRAM) discrete graphics card. The 13-inch model starts at $799.99, while its 15-inch sibling (which boasts a Full HD IPS display) starts at $979.99. Both upgraded S Series laptops will become available in early February.

Just to give you an idea of how big an impact Intel's Ultrabook form-factor will have on the portable computing market, OEM major Acer's chairman JT Wang says that in 2012, just the second year of prominence of the platform, Ultrabooks will make up 25-35% of all notebook sales. In the first quarter since launch, Acer's Aspire S3 sold about 250,000-300,000 units. Despite uncertainty in the European market and slow sales expected in the US, Acer finds markets such as Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and other Southeast Asia to be the prime-movers of growth for this platform.

Eurocom Corporation (www.eurocom.com), a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks, high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is now supporting NVIDIA Quadro Quad buffering via external display for an immersive and professional 3D experience. Eurocom Notebooks support NVIDIA's high-end line of mobile GPU's for the best in professional graphics processing.

Quad buffering is a technology for implementing stereoscopic frame rendering in computer graphics. For stereoscopic rendering, each eye must receive a separate image. Quad buffering uses double buffering with a front buffer and back buffer for each eye, totaling four buffers: left front buffer, left back buffer, right front buffer, right back buffer.

Gigabyte today announced that three extraordinary new Blu-ray gaming and multimedia notebooks in the P2532 series are now on sale in international markets. The P2532 series features three new configurations that are designed to meet the needs of a variety of users interested in mobile gaming and multimedia.

"Gigabyte has long been a leader in the gaming motherboard market and we have taken our expertise to design high-end notebooks," said Richard Ma, Senior Executive Vice President of Gigabyte. "With the P2532 series, we have developed a line of premium products that feature exceptional performance, but at an affordable price to achieve the best value for users."

Next month Samsung Electronics is planning to refresh its Series 9 line of ultra-thin notebooks and introduce new 13.3-inch and 15-inch models that are just 0.58-inch thick and offer a battery life of up to 10 hours. The incoming machines have an aluminum casing, a SuperBright Plus display, a Core i3 or i5 processor, up to 8 GB of RAM, a 128 GB or 256 GB solid state drive (for a boot time of just 9.8 seconds and a wake-from-sleep time of 1.4 seconds), a glass touchpad, and a backlit keyboard.

The 'new and improved' 13.3-inch Series 9 notebook will start at $1,399 while its 15-inch sibling will have a base price tag of $1,499.

AMD's next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU), codenamed "Trinity", was demonstrated at CES. Trinity will make up AMD's 2012 A-Series APU lineup, and will be designed for mainstream-thru-performance notebooks, and mainstream desktops (different standards for different form-factors). Pictured below is what its notebook-specific BGA package looks like. The package has an exposed rectangular die, with a stabilizer frame around it (like with GPUs). Notebooks' cooling assembly heat pipes make direct contact with the die. Trinity packs two Piledriver modules (an evolution of Bulldozer), and DirectX 11.1 AMD Radeon HD 7000M graphics (notebook APU) or HD 7000D (desktop APU).

Shown to the CES crowd was a mind-boggling demo. The public were first shown what appeared to be an ATX desktop connected to two monitors, one monitor running a DIRT 3 DirectX 11 game demo at high-quality settings, and another screeen revealing the APU to be running GPU-accelerated video transcoding. No discrete graphics was used, it's just the embedded HD 7000 at play/work. If that alone didn't raise a few eyebrows, the AMD representative removed the lid of the ATX desktop case to which those two monitors were connected, to reveal a 14-inch laptop inside doing all the work. And there's more - the laptop's main screen wasn't idle, it was running a high-definition video playback. Whatever synthetic benchmarks end up telling about Trinity, its real world performance does impress!You have got to watch the video after the break!

Lenovo today announced IdeaPad YOGA, the industry's first multi-mode notebook with a 360 degree flip-and-fold design. Combining the tablet's ease-of-use with the ultrabook's functionality, IdeaPad YOGA gives consumers four-in-one personal computing, with four separate usage modes in one PC. Lenovo also announced today its new IdeaCentre A720, the slimmest 27-inch all-in-one (AIO) PC in the industry.

LG Electronics (LG) will showcase four new notebook models and an all-in-one PC at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 in Las Vegas. LG's brand new Super Ultrabook Series, the Z330 and the Z430, offer powerful performance and sleek design unseen in ordinary Ultrabooks, while the P535 and the A540 establish a new standard for 3D notebooks. Lastly, the V300 is the ideal 23-inch all-in-one PC for entertainment, thanks to its immersive 3D display and In-Plane Switching (IPS) -enabled wide viewing angle.

"At this year's CES, LG will showcase products that are not only new, but also establish categories defining new standards for personal computing devices," said J.J. Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of LG Electronics IT Business Unit. "Our new products feature a range of breakthrough technologies from LG, such as IPS display, glasses-free 3D and Super Speed Boot, that will noticeably elevate the personal computing experience. These technologies reflect our goal of satisfying various consumer demands, as well as our aggressive strategy for 2012."

Lenovo today announced its new portfolio of small-to-medium business (SMB) laptops loaded with serious business technology and personal lifestyle computing features. The portfolio includes the premium ThinkPad Edge S Series to the mainstream ThinkPad Edge E Series to entry-level laptops in the essential Lenovo B Series, available in select markets. The chic ThinkPad Edge S430 laptop comprises high style and genuine substance with performance technologies and innovations like the latest Intel Core processors and Thunderbolt technology. The ThinkPad Edge 11, 13, 14 and 15-inch laptops include new useful technologies like Lenovo Solution Center to solve common IT tasks, while simultaneously addressing users' entertainment needs with rich visual and deluxe audio features.

MSI is rolling out its new generation GT685-the ultimate gaming machine. In addition to featuring the Intel second generation Core i7 quad core processor, it is the first laptop to sport the nVidia GeForce GTX 580M, the world's fastest discrete graphics card, 32G DDR3 of memory, and accelerated dual hard disk architecture. It comes with Dynaudio and THX TruStudio Pro smart wrap around sound as well as a full HD screen. You'll be impressed by how smoothly online 3D games play and with the edge that your new GT685 gives you against opponents.

The machine won the CES 2012 award for product innovation, seen by many as the highest honor of the high tech industry. MSI, where designing high-end record-breaking gaming notebooks is par for the course, will continue to design faster, more powerful notebooks that follow in the tradition of its gaming NBs best epitomized in the MSI GT685. The GT685 utilizes the wildly anticipated nVidia GeForce GTX 580M top-end discrete graphics card which boasts 384 more CUDAs (Compute Unified Device Architecture) than the previous generation with advanced 256 bit broadband and 2GB GDDR5 of display memory. You will be awed by how smooth 3D games run and the new edge you enjoy in battles will help you rack up wins.

The world's fastest gaming laptop, MSI's battle-ready GT783, just hit the market. It packs Intel's blazing second generation Core i7 quad core and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M-the planet's fastest discrete graphics card. The GT783 racked up a record shattering 16,000 points on 3D Mark vantage, blasting the competition out of the water. To make this amazing machine even more amazing, it comes equipped with a SteelSeries gaming keyboard and top-of-the-line Dynaudio surround sound to bring your gaming experience to all-new levels. Now, you'll be able to pick of the competition without breaking a sweat.

Apple reportedly started ground-work on developing a design with which future Macbooks can be powered by fuel-cells, pushing the battery life envelope further up. Apple has applied for two key patents with USPTO, titled "Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device", and "Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device."

The filing states "Our country's continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling." It continues "These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources."

Portland-based CTL Corp. has recently launched its very first Ubuntu-based laptop, the business-oriented MB40U which features a 14.1-inch (1366 x 768) LED-backlit display, Sandy Bridge power, and runs the latest Ubuntu release, version 11.10 aka Oneiric Ocelot.

CTL's Ubuntu-flavored notebook is equipped with a Core i3/i5/i7 processor, up to 8 GB of RAM, up to a 500 GB hard drive or an SSD with a capacity of up to 512 GB, Intel HD integrated graphics, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n/ WiFi, Bluetooth, a 3-in-1 card reader, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, D-Sub and HDMI outputs, and a 6-cell battery enabling up to 5 hours of use per charge.

The MB40U starts at $449 and can be found here.

Mouse Computer Japan (MCJ) introduced its latest notebook for gamers on the move, the i950PA5-SP. With its 17.3-inch form-factor, it classifies more as a desktop replacement, making it quite the LAN Party-animal. Under its hood is an Intel Core i7-2960XM quad-core processor clocked at 2.70 GHz (3.70 GHz max. turbo), a whopping 32 GB of RAM, two Intel SSD 320 series 120 GB drives in RAID 0, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M graphics with 2 GB GDDR5 memory, Blu-ray writer, WiFi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 3.0. The 17.3-inch display packs a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The i950PA5-SP is priced at 299,880 JPY, that's US $3,850.

What makes the GT780DX as the gamers' ultimate weapon? In terms of power, it features the Intel Core i7 quad core CPU and latest NVIDIA's top-end GeForce GTX 570M discrete graphics card with 3 GB of GDDR5 display memory, giving it superior performance, so you can enjoy smooth graphics even when playing the latest games in high resolution. The impressive performance also serves to greatly enhance game realism and make these machines the ultimate weapons for the extreme gamer.

Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, explains that the latest GT780DX not only packs performance to keep the extreme gamer engaged, it also comes with a SteelSeries keyboard specifically designed for serious gaming. The new keyboard is much more rugged and the new design better meets the needs of extreme gamers to give you the edge in the heat of battle. MSI has also incorporated Dynaudio and THX TruStudio Pro envelope-pushing sound technologies for a riveting audio experience. Designed both inside and out for gaming, the GT780DX has got your back when you're hip-pocket deep in goblin blood.

AMD today updated its A-Series line-up of desktop and notebook Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), further improving its top-performing family of dual- and quad-core APUs. Along with speed and performance improvements, AMD Steady Video update make this unique feature more compelling than ever. For desktop users, AMD extends its overclocking pedigree to the APU; for the first time users can tune both x86 and graphics settings in a single processor for boosted performance.

The updated AMD A-Series APUs combine up to four x86 CPU cores with up to 400 Radeon cores, delivering powerful DirectX 11-capable, discrete-level graphics and dedicated HD video processing on a single chip. These new APUs increase performance and deliver a richer feature set than existing AMD A-series APUs. Plus, only AMD APUs offer AMD Dual Graphics for an up to 144 percent visual performance boost when a select APU is paired with a select AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series graphics card.

Windows (PC) will make its first transition to a machine architecture other than x86 in decades with Windows 8 Windows on ARM (WOA), and Microsoft wants to make absolutely sure that it has a well-oiled ecosystem in place to propel its growth. Currently, Microsoft picked three potent players among ARM processor vendors, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments (that have experience and can ship in Zerg volumes), and NVIDIA (which has demonstrated a lot of engineering potential with its latest Tegra products).

Microsoft reportedly asked the three ARM players to pick two notebook vendors each (one major, and one minor) with which they will work to develop some of the first WOA portable computing devices. Qualcomm selected Samsung and Sony, Texas Instruments chose Toshiba and Samsung, while NVIDIA chose Acer and Lenovo. Among these, Samsung, Toshiba, and Lenovo are the major partners. Surprisingly, Taiwan-based companies have an insignificant role in this ecosystem. ASUS, which has thus far been the largest client of NVIDIA for Tegra processors, has been left out. Now that downstream partners are selected, upstream ODMs such as Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron and Pegatron Technology, which manufacture for those companies, are getting their R&D teams in shape to compete for the next-generation platform. The finishing line of ARM's marathon run to get into PCs is in sight.

PC major HP made a slight slip, disclosing AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 7000M series GPUs as options available for some of its notebooks. These are the first public disclosures of a 28 nm GPU. The new options that had been made available were Radeon HD 7670M, and Radeon HD 7690M, both based on the "Thames-XT" GPU. The Thames-XT GPU is built on the 28 nm process, and features current-generation VLIW4 stream processors, a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, and is DirectX 11 compliant. AMD unveiled this GPU at a press event in London on the 5th.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced volume production of SSDs (solid state drives) that support the Mini-Serial ATA (mSATA) interface. The drives are designed for use in ultra-slim notebooks such as Ultrabook PCs.

"Samsung's compact mSATA SSDs will provide performance of the highest quality in helping to deliver the advanced ultra-slim PCs that consumers have been wanting," said Myungho Kim, vice president of memory marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung plans to continue providing timely delivery of advanced SSD solutions, while preserving its leadership position in the SSD market for notebook PCs."

Seagate is now shipping the second generation of Momentus XT, its groundbreaking solid state hybrid drive for consumer and commercial laptops and the company's fastest drive ever for personal computers. With a simple drive upgrade, users can boost boot-up speed and overall performance to turbo-charge their laptop PC. Seven original equipment manufacturers are gearing up to ship laptops powered by the Momentus XT drive. The drive is now available at online retailers Amazon, Canada Computers, CDW, Memory Express, NCIX, Newegg, and TigerDirect.

Powering the Momentus XT drive are Seagate's Adaptive Memory and FAST Factor technologies. Adaptive Memory technology works by identifying data usage patterns, and then moving the most frequently retrieved information to solid state memory for faster access. Adaptive Memory effectively tailors hard drive performance to each user and the applications they use. FAST Factor technology blends the strengths of SSDs and hard disk drives for faster access to applications, quicker bootup and higher overall system speed.

Eurocom Corporation (www.eurocom.com), a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks, high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is now offering a Mobile Workstation capable of supporting NVIDIA 3D Vision with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M and 560M GPUs.

Eurocom offers 3D Vision support on the Neptune Mobile Workstation through a built in-emitter, 3D active shutter technology, a 120Hz display and supported NVIDIA graphics cards. The EUROCOM Neptune comes complete with an NVIDIA 3D Vision Kit which consists of one pair of 3D Vision glasses and USB cables. Each lens of the glasses operates at 60Hz, and alternate to create a 120Hz 3-dimensional experience.