Alienware announced today their upcoming CrossFire X-enabled M17 gaming notebook. The company had been hinting at a surprise announcement for some time, and this is it. The notebook sports a 17-inch display, a Core 2 Quad / Extreme CPU, and up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. It also features twin ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870 GPUs, a WXGA+ / WUXGA panel, an optional HDTV tuner, up to 640GB of HDD space in a RAID 0 array, a dual-layer DVD writer / Blu-ray reader, WiFi, Blutooth 2.1, gigabit Ethernet and a facial recognition sensor. The unit weighs a hefty 9.5 pounds and the 12-cell battery won’t keep it charged for too long. The M17 is available soon online and retails starting at $1,399.

ASUS has finally released details regarding their ET1602 / ET1603 Eee Top all-in-one PCs. The company has decided to host official details for both units on their website. Both rigs boast a 15.6-inch touchscreen LCD, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB 5,400 RPM hard drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, a pair of stereo speakers, two USB 2.0 ports, a multicard reader, audio in / out and a nifty handle to help with lugging them around. The ET1602 features an integrated graphics set while the ET1603 includes a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450. The company did not fess up on pricing or a release date, however.

HP is attempting to revive the sluggish netbook market with it’s Mini 1000 netbook. The Mini 1000 will offer an aggressive price point, a polished Linux OS and a skinny aesthetic. As rumored, the Mini 1000 will be ditching VIA an sticking with an Atom 1.6GHz N270 processor. The system will also offer a 10.2-inch display at 1024 x 600 resolution. HP is offering 512MB, 1GB and 2GB RAM configurations, but those with Windows XP will be limited to just 1GB. On the storage front, the company offers the choice of a 60GB 4200 rpm HDD or a 8GB or 16GB SSD. The Mini 1000 also has an SD slot, VGA webcam, 802.11b/g, optional Bluetooth, Ethernet and dual USB plugs.

The netbook also offers a competitive choice between Oses. You can stick with your standard XP, but for $20 dollars less you will be suited with a specialized version of the Ubuntu-based Linux OS, codenamed "MIE."

The XP version is available today for $399, and the Linux MIE version will drop in January for $379.

Thank goodness somebody is addressing the wasted-space/elongated edges problem attacking our laptops. Each laptop has at least a centimeter or so of wasted space on those edges. That adds up! Worry no longer. Fujitsu understands

The company is set to release the LifeBook p8020. It’s a 12.1-inch ultraportable laptop that most certainly trims away those nasty edges. It’s a bit chubbier than we’d like but there is a lot underneath the hood. It features a Centrino 2 processor, 320GB HDD, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi , Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, a fingerprint reader, DVD burner, gesture-friendly trackpad and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Phew! And not to mention a screen that extends right to the end of the computer with minimal wasted space.

It will come out this November at an expected retail price of $1,799.

And I mean that in a good way. Their new units provide Ethernet connections and 7200RPM SATA-II drives in 320GB, 360GB, and 500GB sizes. And it’s not the features that make these attractive, but the pricing: the 320GB version, available now, is $149, a very attractive price even if all the thing does is show up as a simple share on the network. I imagine the 320GB version will go away once the 360Gb and 500GB models appear next month, since pricing will be $149 and $199 (you’ll notice the the entry-level price is the same as for the 320GB version).