Asus will ship its leather-clad laptop, the S6F, next month, the manufacturer revealed this week. It hopes well-to-do punters will be happy to fork out almost £1,700 for a compact computer with an 11in display and a low-voltage Intel dual-core processor.

Infosec Security features introduced in Windows Vista will make setting up PCs to boot in either Linux or Windows far more difficult, according to security guru Bruce Schneier. Vista is due to feature hardware-based encryption, called BitLocker Drive Encryption, which acts as a repository to protect sensitive data in the event of a PC being either lost or stolen.

Think Centrino technology is only for notebooks? Think again. An Intel presentation partially leaked onto the web this week makes clear the next generation of the platform, codenamed 'Santa Rosa', will also be pitched at desktops when it's introduced "mid-Q1 to mid-Q2 2007".

Japanese enthusiasts have been treated to a demo of an Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 965 chip running at over 5GHz, a frequency 35.8 per cent higher than the part was designed to be clocked to. The chip usually runs at just 3.73GHz.

UK system builder Rock is to produce Pegasus 650 notebooks with a large Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach decal on the lid. The company will make no more than 100 of the decorated devices, it pledged. The game's publisher, Atari, will offer three of them as competition prizes.

Evesham Technology has spruced up its top end notebooks by giving them Nvidia’s latest graphics processor and a liberal sprinkling of Intel’s dual-core processor technology.

Infosec As web apps are becoming more secure stolen laptops have become among the easiest ways to break into corporate networks. High profile firms such as Fidelity and Ernst and Young along with celebrities such as Kevin Costner have lost laptops over recent months. Concern over these thefts has focused on the exposure of data left on these devices. But the potential to use stolen kit to lift user credentials also poses a grave risk.

Intel’s marketing department has added the finishing touches to the vendor’s revamped business PC strategy.

Only a week after reporting a drop in quarterly earnings, Intel is today expected to launch a fresh bid to capture market share in the business computing segment.

Japanese consumers will be able to buy one of the world's smallest PCs next month when local vendor Third Wave ships what it calls the Prime Super Mini - a desktop machine smaller than a 12in notebook computer.

HP has asked 15,700 customers around the world to send back their HP- or Compaq-branded notebook batteries or risk the potentially faulty power packs overheating and catching fire. The recall comes six months after the company made a similar request for the return of certain laptop batteries.

Gateway has begun shipping its latest "ultra-portable" notebook, the E-100M. It said the machine was less than an inch thick and weighs just 1.4kg (3.2lbs) and sports a processor Intel hasn't launched yet. The Core Solo U1300 first appeared on Intel roadmaps in November 2005 with a Q2 2006 debut.

Dell has announced what it claims - and it should know - is its fastest consumer-oriented notebook, the gamer friendly XPS M1710. The laptop sports Intel's quickest Core Duo processor plus Nvidia's newest, top-of-the-range mobile GPU, and comes in a choice of glowing red or metallic black carapace.

South Korea's iRiver is preparing to enter the ultra-mobile PC arena, the company has revealed. This week it demo'd its first UMPC, the W10, at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair. The prototype device shown at the event sports Wi-Fi, WiMax and WiBro connectivity.

Samsung's upcoming ultra-mobile PC, the Q1, will be pricey enough when it hits the UK's shores, but buyers in the company's native land of South Korea will have to splash out even more if they want one. According to local reports, they will have to pay the best part of KRW2m - equivalent to $2,100/£1,198.

Asus has finally revealed what lies under the hood of its Lamborghini-branded notebook, the VX1. Unfortunately, the laptop is unlikely to impress anyone expecting the computing equivalent of the performance cars it's named after. It's also more expensive than Asus has hinted in the past.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has slapped PC World for advertising product on TV that it was unable to supply to customers because of lack of stocks.

The UK retail chain, part of DSG International, has been told not to show the ad on TV again. This is the second time this year the ASA has chastised PC World on the same issue.

Fujitsu has announced the world's third notebook to incorporate an HD DVD drive, following the lead set by Toshiba and, more recently, Acer. However, the 17in machine is not expected to appear until June.

Fujitsu will this month ship a monster high-definition PC-TV hybrid that incorporates not only four TV tuners - two for digital and two for analogue broadcasts - but also twin 300GB hard drives and a dual-layer enabled Blu-ray Disc recorder.

Asus this week lauded its latest laptops' successful attempt to win the thumbs-up from audio specialist Dolby. Announcing two new machines, Asus said one comes with the Dolby Home Theater stamp of approval, while the other ships with "gameplay transforming" Dolby Digital Live technology.