Rock has announced the latest in its line of high-performance, HD-friendly notebook PCs designed for both gamers and movie addicts alike.

The Xtreme 790 notebook range comes with 17-inch widescreen X-Glass display, Intel Core i7 processors, up to 6GB of RAM, up to 1.5TB of hard drive storage, Blu-ray reader, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M 1GB graphics, with prices ranging from £1,999 - £2,999.

Sony has today announced its latest line of VAIO PCs -- the NW Series.

From what I can ascertain at present, all models will feature a 15.5-inch true 16:9 widescreen with Sony's X-black LCD technology, Blu-ray and HDMI output.

They're driven by Intel Core2Duo Processors up to T6500 at 2.1GHz, Mobile Intel PM45 Express Chipset and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card.

Medion has announced a new HD-capable netbook, the AKOYA MINI E1312, which integrates an AMD Sempron 210U processor running at 1.5GHz and ATI Radeon TM Xpress 1250 graphics, plus 1GB of onboard RAM for a nippy, compact entertainment hub.

While it won't match the beef of larger notebook and desktop PCs, its 11.6-inch HD 16:9 widescreen TFT display is certainly good enough for on-the-move film watching, while the HDMI output means you can hook it up to a larger display such as HDTV or projector.

Updating the R610 notebook PC which Samsung released last year comes the R620 Blu-ray enabled laptop featuring a high-resolution 16:9 display and a number of advanced features.

The 16-inch screen features Samsung's SuperBright Gloss technology for sharper and brighter images and can display full 1,920 x 1080 resolution.

Just a week after the AKOYA P7700 D announcement comes more news from PC manufacturer Medion.

The MEDION AKOYA P4314 D features a 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 processor and an ATI Radeon HD 4650 series graphics card and is set up to be used as a high definition PVR thanks to its built-in HDMI output, DVB-T/DVB-S TV tuner card and one terabyte hard drive.

Adobe and Broadcom have announced an engineering collaboration that will bring high definition Flash video to netbooks running on Intel Atom processors.

Adobe Flash Player software will be optimised and supported in the Broadcom Crystal HD netbook solution. In layman's terms, this means improved video playback and reduced CPU usage and battery drain.

Given the widespread adoption of Flash video (80%, according to Adobe) it makes sense for the experience to be optimised for netbook users who, by nature, are often accessing the web while on the move.

Among other formats, the Crystal HD Enhanced Media Accelerator supports 720p and 1080p H.264 video playback.

High definition video recording and playback and 3D graphics could become more prevalent in mobile devices as Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset is due a performance update later this year.

The 45 nanometer chipset should allow more advanced, processor-intensive applications to run while at the same time reducing battery drain.

Qualcomm has stated that there are over 15 manufacturers developing 30+ products containing the Snapdragon chipset.

Dell has announced the launch of the latest high-spec laptop PC in the Alienware gaming range.

The M17X is being touted as the most powerful 17-inch laptop currently available.

Asus has announced its latest series of notebook PCs featuring a range of advanced technologies including full high definition video playback and output.

The U Series of laptops come with screen sizes from 12.1 to 15.6-inch and all feature LED backlighting.

The Light-in-motion function senses ambient light and adjusts the screen brightness automatically, conserving battery life, using less power and making the screen more comfortable to view in any setting.

Here comes Medion with another in its AKOYA range of desktop PCs.

The AKOYA P7700 D is an Intel Core 2 Quad desktop PC featuring NVIDIA GeForce GT230 graphics card, one terabyte hard drive and a built-in Blu-ray drive, so it's all ready for high definition.

It also features 4GB of RAM, HDMI output, 8-channel high definition surround sound and Wireless-N.

Available for £599 from Aldi stores from the end of this month. Full specifications below:

We've had reports that MSI has just announced its latest gaming notebook PC will hit the UK at the end of the month.

The GX723 (part of the G Series of gaming notebooks) is aimed at gamers but naturally is also great for handling high definition content.

It features Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Intel PM45 Express Chipset, Nvidia GeForce GT 130M 3D graphics card with 512MB VRAM, a 17-inch widescreen LCD that is supposed to be able to show "DVD calibre images", and accelerated (turbo) operating mode.

HP has unveiled its latest notebook PCs: the ProBook series.

It features either 15.6- or 17.3-inch diagonal widescreen (16:9) LED backlit display, Intel 4510 or AMD 4515 processors, ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics unit and built-in Blu-ray ROM drive.

Asus has just announced its latest notebook PC, the F70. I'll gloss over the "world's first" bit straight away, suffice it to say that Asus is really proud of the fact that this notebook features a 17.3" 16:9 display - something that no other notebook yet does. If you really care about that, good for you.

Now on to some specs that matter: it features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (either T5820 or P8400) running at up to 2.26GHz with 1,066 MHz front side bus) coupled with an NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS with 512MB of VRAM, up to 4GB of RAM, a 16:9 1080p-compatible backlit LED, Altec Lansing high definition stereo speakers, SRS premium surround sound, HDMI output, and then the usual range of connectivity options.

For those wanting the high definition experience on their PC monitor - an increasing section of the populace - HP has just launched its latest consumer displays for just that purpose.

The HP 2309m (23-inch) and HP 2159m (21-inch) are 16:9 aspect ratio monitors. Again, this is an increasingly common widescreen format traditionally reserved for HDTVs. The still more common 16:10 displays may be more popular with video editing professionals, but for consumers those black bars top and bottom are annoying.

Samsung has just announced the imminent availability of its latest high definition notebook computers.

The Q320 offers a 13.4-inch 16:9 widescreen LED display, Intel Centrino 2 processor (clock speed unknown) and nVIDIA GeForce G105M graphics card.

It also features a standard slot-loading optical drive and a range of ports. However, no HDMI output is mentioned and, as there's no Blu-ray drive either, you'll have to find another way to get that high definition content on to the machine.

It weighs in at just 2.2kg, including the six-cell battery, and offers up to 4.6 hours battery life.

Asus has announced its latest Eee desktop PC. The Eee Box 206 mini desktop PC includes a discrete graphics card with high definition video decoder, plus HDMI output, meaning it's well suited to using as a media centre PC with a high definition TV.

The exact processor specifications aren't entirely clear at present, but it will be using an Atom processor. It also features Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth, 10GB of online Eee storage and Tranquiller Technology that allows the unit to operator both coolly and quietly. It also has a remote control unit.

Available for £309.99.

Asus UK

The newest Atom processor has started shipping to computer manufacturers according to a report released today.

The 1.66GHz N280 is coupled with Intel's GN40 chipset that includes a hardware-based encoder for 720p high definition video. Presumably (though not a foregone conclusion) a hardware solution for handling HD on netbooks will mean better playback of high-def than a software solution, though of course this could in turn reduce battery life.

Dell has announced that its all-in-one desktop PC with whopping 24-inch display is now available in the UK.

To my taste, the profile of the XPS One 24 isn't as nice as the iMac (which, rightly or wrongly, is what we all compare these all-in-one systems to) but it does benefit from a wireless mouse and keyboard and all the other connection ports neatly on the back of the display.

Medion has announced the latest in its line of "value" Akoya desktop PCs. The E3300 D offers a decent enough AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 dual core processor (which apparently runs at 2.7GHz), ATI Radeon HD4350 graphics processor with HDMI output, 640GB eco-friendly hard drive, 4GB of RAM, DVD writer, eight channel surround sound and Windows Vista pre-installed.

Connections include eSATA, multi-format card reader, FireWire, six USBs, DVI-I, VGA and HDMI. There's also the usual array of trial software pre-loaded to bog down the PC from the word go.

Not a huge amount more to say about it, really. If you're in line for a budget PC that could probably handle a bit of HD from time to time, this £389 baby will be available from Aldi stores from this Thursday (5th February).

Medion

Remember that big laptop Medion showed off at IFA 2008? Well, it's finally been released.

The 18.4-inch screen suggests that it'll be just fine for high definition content, but its 1,680 x 945 resolution, while 16:9 ratio, will mean upscaling of 720p content and downscaling of 1080p. Interesting.