Electronics consumers have welcomed the diminutive ULPC machines (such as the Asus Eee, HP Mini-note) with wide-open arms, but major names in the computing industry are wary about the new trend of low cost PCs and the threat that their attractive price tags pose in the computing market built on powerful and expensive machinery. Read more in the full article.

Fujitsu has released a new entry to its Amilo line. The new laptop sports a Penryn processor and a lot more, basically a nice upgrade to its silicon gene pool. This time though, its got itself a nice new Blu-ray drive. Read more in the full article.

We thought all of these battery issues were over but it seems that we were wrong. Toshiba reported earlier today that it has once again recalled laptop computer batteries manufactured by Sony due to fire risk.

According to the company's latest count, around 5,100 battery packs have been listed as defective. Despite that, Toshiba decided to recall more than 10,000 battery packs to make sure all the defective packs containing targeted battery cells are exchanged.

To date, a total number of 9.6 million Sony batteries have already been recalled since last year. That cost Sony a whopping amount of 51 billion yen (US$ 418 million). A Sony spokesperson commented that the recent recall shouldn't have a big impact to their business because of its relatively small scale.

It should be remembered that companies other than Toshiba such as Fujitsu and Hitachi have been thinking if they are going to seek compensation from Sony.

Here's some good news for the businessman looking for some quality portable hardware that's easy on the budget - Fujitsu-Siemens has just unveiled its ESPRIMO Mobile line of laptops. We give you the skinny on what's to expect with the sturdy-looking portable that's got everyone talking.

Well, what's under the hood? A hefty Core 2 Duo system to keep things fast and reliable, Intel's GMA X3100 integrated graphics card for much-needed graphical muscle, as well as the usual connectivity essentials- UMTS, Bluetooth, WLAN. Not shabby at all, and the packaging's pretty neat, too, coming in with three wide-screen flavors (12.1-inch, 14.5-inch, and 15.4-inch).

And for those of us who hate searching for electric sockets to plug our cumbersome wires into, the ESPRIMO line laptops can take a second battery, jacking up the group's happy time to a whopping 10 hours. Plenty enough juice to last you a whole day's worth of work.

No word yet on a definite release date or pricing, however, but we'll keep you updated on all things ESPRIMO, so keep it locked right here.

LED backlit notebooks are the new fad for notebook manufacturers, the forerunners being Sony, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Asustek. Now Apple and Hewlett Packard (HP) are going to release their models with the said technology in Q2 2007.

Even when big notebook makers are using LEDs, Taiwan LED manufacturers are unlikely to profit from the innovation, according to DigiTimes.com

The use of LED backlights has become more popular, but LED manufacturers in Taiwan would unlikely supply the demand since their LEDs simply don't cut it. The specifications of a backlit notebook is 1,680 nits, and Taiwan LED makers have yet to reach that brightness level. Patent restraints would also be a hurdle since notebook makers consider that better than cost competitiveness.

However, they will continue making the LEDs for handsets though they are constantly under pressure to be cost competitive.

If you're one of the people who are thinking this should be obvious, then you'll be hard pressed to find someone who'll disagree with you on that assessment. Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Toshiba are all thinking about getting some sort of compensation from Sony as a result of their faulty batteries and the subsequent need to recall a portion of them.

For all those who still haven't heard of the Sony battery problem, this all started with exploding laptops. Specifically, a laptop at a Japanese conference burst into flames. It's been traced back to Sony's battery, which has instigated a lot of security measures to lessen the chances of another accident occurring. As a result of this, different laptop manufacturers have begun to recall Sony batteries that could also be responsible for future accidents.

While it does seem rather fitting for the three laptop companies to request some money back, in the same way their respective consumers are probably going to do, you have to wonder how much hurt Sony can take. In addition to the battery recall, which they expect to lose at least half a billion on, they're also getting some trouble on the gaming side with their PS3 problems. All in all, this also lowers Sony's stocks and total value. While they probably could afford to compensate the affected companies, the steep penalties they'll be incurring from it can also hurt the companies getting compensated in the long run. Still, if there's a way for Sony and the laptop makers to get back on their feet and restore their good name among consumers, we're definitely all for it.

Taking a cue from its competitors, Fujitsu's now updating their laptops with an upgrade available for their B-series (late October) and Q-series machines (early November): the option of replacing their hard-disk drive with a flash drive system.

The flash drive was chosen due some of its advantages over hard-disk based systems, including lower power requirements reduced weight, higher impact resistance, and faster start up time.

Flash drive-equipped B-series laptops will have an extra 15 minutes of runtime, with the Q-series laptops having an extra 30 minutes. The flash-drive option also cuts the Windows XP Home Edition start-up time down from 32 seconds to just 19 seconds in both machines.

The flash drives are made by competitor Samsung, and can also be found in Samsung's Q30 laptop and Q1-SSD ultra-mobile PC machines. Another noted flash-drive release is Sony's UX90; the 16GB flash drive is an optional replacement for its hard-disk drive.

Fujitsu will be releasing two options for the upgrade: a 16GB pack for ¥80,000 (USD$670), and a 32GB pack for ¥160,000 (USD$1,340).

Sony's already got a ton of problems. Exploding laptops because of their batteries, a recall of their batteries by multiple companies, the banning of Sony battery use on airplanes, and the monumental losses this whole fiasco has brought them are really not going to look good when Santa reviews his list for Christmas.

Unfortunately, other people will probably get coal in their stockings too, as Hitachi decides to take back their batteries as well.

Ever since the first mention of the exploding laptops, more pressure has been placed on laptop makers to get back potentially defective Sony batteries and have them replaced. Even Fujitsu, which previously mentioned that they wouldn't be having a recall of the batteries, has joined the bandwagon by taking back 287,000 batteries worldwide. Hitachi, on the other hand, is only recalling 16,000.

Currently, more than 7.5 million batteries have been recalled by numerous companies, including Hitachi, resulting in substantial losses for the companies involved. The predicted losses for Sony have reached the $ 257 million mark, with around half being a result of the battery fiasco and subsequent recall. No word has yet been announced as to the damage this has caused Hitachi, both in terms of their reputation and annual profits.

Even more battery problems, and right now's really not the best time for Sony's batteries to be messing up. Fujitsu is doing a worldwide recall of 287,000 batteries made by Sony as a result of the warnings about Sony's lithium-ion batteries overheating.

According to Fujitsu spokesperson Masao Sakamoto, 224,000 of the batteries being recalled were sold overseas, while 63,000 were sold in Japan, all of which were put into varying Fujitsu-brand laptops. Fujitsu doesn't have an estimate for the cost of the battery recall, as they're still fixing the logistics of their recall plan.

Sadly, this is definitely not going to strengthen the relationship between Fujitsu consumers and the laptop manufacturer, in much the same way as this fiasco will cost Sony. There hasn't been an explanation as to why they've only begun to recall batteries now,  though their earlier position on not needing to recall batteries probably has something to do with the delay. Keep checking QJ for more info as it comes, and check your laptops for problems in the meantime.

Gone are the days of donning your favorite football team's logo on your shirts, now you can have them on your laptops!

Fujitsu has come out with their Football Laptops, otherwise dubbed as the "award-winning" AMILO Pi 1536 series with lacquered finishes that feature the Everton, Celtic, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur teams.

The laptop sports a 15.4-inch WXGA display screen, has Intel Core Duo T2400 CPU, 1GB RAM, and a massive 120GB hard drive where you can store images of your favorite football players and of course, game footages.

You can get these laptops from Fujitsu's website for roughly $1,900 or £1,000, and show your friends who's the real football fanatic!