The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard, yesterday announced a voluntary recall of Lithium-Ion batteries used in select HP and Compaq laptops.
The recall includes around 70,000 units that can potentially overheat, “posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers”.
HP-branded notebooks that can contain a recalled battery include the HP Pavilion dv2000, dv2500, dv2700, dv6000, dv6500, dv6700, dv9000, dv9500, and dv9700, as well as the HP G6000 and G7000.
Affected Compaq models include the Presario A900, C700, F700, V3000, V3500, V3700, V6000, V6500, and V6700, and the HP Compaq 6720s.
Batteries that can be subject to the recall have one of the following bar codes:
62940^^AXV^^^^ 65033^^B7U^^^^
65033^^B7V^^^^
65033^^BGU^^^^ 65035^^B7U^^^^
65035^^B7V^^^^
65035^^BGU^^^^
65035^^BGV^^^^ 67059^^V8U^^^^
67059^^V8V^^^^
The US CPSC says consumers should immediately remove the recalled battery from their laptop and contact HP to determine if their battery is included in the recall and to request a free replacement battery.
The laptops with the recalled batteries were sold at various stores nationwide, hp.com and hpshopping.com from August 2007 through March 2008. The battery packs were also sold separately.
HP and CPSC are aware of two reports of batteries that overheated and ruptured, resulting in fire that caused minor property damage. No injuries have been reported.
Asus K Series K40IN-A1
The Asus K40IN-A1, Asustek’s notebook that belongs to the new K Series, is now available in the US.
The 14-inch laptop features the Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 CPU at 2GHz and the GeForce G102M 512MB dedicated video card, which is “NVIDIA’s lowest power GPU with dedicated frame buffer”. Other core components of the Asus K40IN-A1 are 4GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB hard drive, and a DVD burner.
The 14″ LED-backlit display has a resolution of 1366×768 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The K40IN-A1 also sports a built-in web camera, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, four USB ports, an SD/MMC/MS media card reader, and a VGA output.
The laptop weighs 5.3 lbs with a 6-cell battery and runs Windows Vista Home Premium OS.
According to the earlier announcement, Asus K notebooks feature the proprietary ASUS Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) technology for better energy efficiency. The K Series is claimed to deliver “up to 5 hours of non-stop computing on a 6-cell battery”.
The Asus K40IN-A1 can be purchased through Newegg for $849.99.
Acer Aspire 3935
The recently announced Acer Aspire 3935 13.3-inch laptop can be purchased now in Newegg, B&H, BuyDig, and Amazon , they offer the Acer Aspire AS3935-6504 model with the Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor at 2GHz, the GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, 3GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB hard drive, and a DVD burner.
The notebook’s 13.3″ “edge-to-edge” LED Backlit display has a 1366 x 768 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The Aspire AS3935 also includes a built-in web camera, stereo speakers with Dolby Home Theater technology, a multi-gesture touchpad, a fingerprint reader, three USB ports, a 5-in-1 media card reader, a VGA output, and an audio jack with S/PDIF support, as well as 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, a 56k modem, and an Gigabit LAN port.
Acer’s laptop weighs 4.18 pounds with a 4-cell battery that provides “up to 4 hours” of battery life.
It runs Windows Vista Home Premium OS.
The Acer Aspire AS3935-6504 is priced at $900 at Newegg, B&H, and BuyDig, while Amazon sells it for $972.
Acer Aspire One 571
Blog Macles has revealed the Acer Aspire One 571 10.1-inch netbook that features a dedicated HD video chip and a mini Blu-Ray optical disc drive.
The Quartics Q1721 Multimedia Coprocessor in the Aspire One 571 accelerates decoding and encoding of high definition video codecs, and also adds hardware scaling and filtering, according to Macles.
Regarding the optical drive, the 571 features a small Blu-Ray reader for Vmedia’s 1GB discs with a diameter of 32mm, whereas a standard Blu-ray disc measures 120mm.
The new netbook includes the Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor and a 10.1″ screen with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
AMD Tigris
AMD will showcase a new mainstream notebook platform called Tigris at the upcoming 2009 Computex Show in Taipei, Chinese Commercial Times reports.
The Tigris includes a 45-nanometer dual-core “Caspian” processor and the RS880M chipset.
According to AMD’s laptop roadmap, the Caspian will be paired with DDR2 800MHz memory and a DirectX 10.1-compatible integrated or dedicated video card, depending on configuration. Both video solutions include the UVD2 chip for hardware decoding of HD content and support PCIe Gen 2.
Commercial Times says the AMD Tigris will target 14-inch and larger notebooks, while Yukon and Congo platforms will be used in laptops with 13-inch and smaller screens.
In 2010, the chip maker is reportedly going to unveil a new notebook platform that will feature quad core processors and support for DDR3 memory.
Acer Aspire One D250
Acer’s new 10.1-inch netbook, the Aspire One D250, is now available. The 2.4-pound Acer Aspire One D250, also known as AOD250, comes with the Intel Atom N270 processor at 1.60GHz, the GMA 950 integrated graphics, a 160GB hard drive with Windows XP Home preloaded, 1GB of RAM, a 3-cell battery as a standard, and a built-in web camera. The 10.1″ display has a resolution of 1024×600 pixels.
The D250 has the same core components as the previously launched D150. However, the D250 features a slimmer design with a height of 1 inch, as well as a rearranged port layout.
Acer’s new netbook sports stereo speakers, 802.11b/g WiFi, an Ethernet LAN port, three USB connectors, a multi-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA output.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the D250 is $298.
At the time of this writing, the netbook can be purchased online only through mWave, which offers the white Aspire One AOD250-1326, black AOD250-1151, blue AOD250-1165, and the AOD250-1116 in Red. All models are priced at $309.
Dell Latitude 2100
Dell has launched the Latitude 2100 educational netbook, featuring a 10.1-inch display, Intel’s Atom CPU and a ruggedized design.
The Dell Latitude 2100 is aimed at K-12 students, as we as “any business or public institution that needs affordable, durable, Internet-ready devices for e-mail and collaboration”.
Along with the 10.1″ 1024 x 576 display with optional touch-screen functionality, and the Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, the 2100 includes 512MB or 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 16GB solid state drive or a traditional HDD with a capacity of up to 250GB, the GMA 950 integrated graphics, and a three- or six-cell battery.
The netbook also sports an optional web cam, stereo speakers, 802.11g or 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, a Gigabit LAN port, three USB ports, a 3-in-1 media card reader, and a VGA output.
The Latitude 2100 starts at 2.9 pounds with a 3-cell battery. The ruggedized and ‘rubberized’ netbook is able to absorb “daily bumps and bruises of a crowded playground or backpack” and comes in five colors – School Bus Gold, Chalkboard Black, Ball Field Green, Blue Ribbon and Schoolhouse Red. Its bottom is vent-free to avoid intrusion from spills.
The 2100 is available with a personalized window on the back of the battery pack where the school logo or name can be displayed, allowing schools to personalize or easily identify systems. In addition, there’s a Network Activity Light on the netbook’s lid to help teachers monitor network use and “identify students who may be surfing the Internet”.
Available operating system choices are Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows XP Home, and Ubuntu Linux.
The Latitude 2100 has a starting price of $369 at Dell.com.
Dell has announced that customers can also purchase a custom-built Mobile Computing Station, which equips classrooms with a cart to store, manage and network up to 24 netbooks.
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