HP has announced three new laptops to its growing line up. As well as a laptop featuring TouchSmart technology, there is also the local release of the Vivienne Tam Mini 1000 and a budget entertainment lappie as well. With the new academic year for university and tafe now in swing, those needing some new computing kit could do worse than looking at all these products that retail for no more than $1,999 each. Yep, even the TouchSmart is less than $2K.

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Story from Gizmodo Australia

We already know the new MacBook Pros have video problems, so when the Inquirer says their Nvidia GeForce 9600 GTs use the same faulty material that killed earlier graphics cards, it doesn't look good.

Hoping to bring a final end to the era of the exploding notebook, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Germany are developing batteries without flammable materials.

The liquid electrolytes at the heart of traditional lithium-ion batteries can catch fire, but the Fraunhofer scientists say they've figured out a way to make them with a new, solid polymer that's inflammable, and, since it's solid, won't leak.

Intel rolled out its new low-cost laptop model yesterday, and the machines will boast bigger, 9-inch screens, 30 GB of storage and integrated Web cameras. These new Classmate PCs, which will go on sale in April for somewhere between $300 and $500, are the second iteration of Intel's answer to the One Laptop Per Child organization's cheap laptop, the XO.