HP halts PC production

Hewlett-Packard (HP) officials are halting production of PCs containing a flawed chipset from Intel and offering replacements or refunds to consumers who already have bought such systems, according to eWeek.

HP's decision follows Intel's statement on 31 January that a design flaw in a supporting chipset tied to its 'Sandy Bridge' Core-i processors can cause the PCs not to function properly.

Intel has stopped producing the flawed chipset and will start shipping fixed replacements in late February, with plans to be back in full production by April, if not earlier.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) took delivery of 120.1 million PCs worldwide in 2010, a 10.4% increase from the previous year, according to research firm Techaisle, reveals Information Week.

Much of that growth was driven by emerging markets, where PC purchases by smaller firms increased at a 16.5% clip.

Mature markets, including the US, grew at a slower overall rate of 4.4%. Techaisle attributed that largely to continued economic uncertainty and lack of hiring in the US and similar regions.

LG Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, says that it will release its first tablet PC in March in the US market, as it tries to take its share in the booming market, states the Korea JoongAng Daily.

The upcoming product, dubbed 'G-slate,' is among the first tablet models to run on the 'Honeycomb' operating system, which is Google's latest generation of Android platforms designed for mobile devices with large screens.

The G-slate will be released in March through T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest carrier in the US and a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, according to LG's statement.