Lenovo ThinkPads to freeze when texted, deter thieves from getting the goods

We've seen some pretty sophisticated laptop security measures out here in the volatile civilian world, but Lenovo's taking things all top secret with its new Constant Secure Remote Disable feature. Slated to hit select ThinkPads in Q1 2009, the Phoenix Technologies, um, technology enables specially equipped notebooks to become utterly worthless if stolen -- so long as the owner remembers to text in the emergency code, that is. You see, with the Remote Disable function, proper owners can send an SMS to their missing WWAN-enabled machine in order to make it inoperable; the lappie then sends a message back to confirm that it's currently irritating the daylights out of a wannabe data thief. 'Course, said thief can track you down and implement all manners of torture to get you to reactivate it, but we suppose that's the risk you take with that sort of lifestyle.

It's takes a -- how do you say? -- special type of person to get all jazzed about an 18-inch laptop, but given that there's a solid chance you're one of those folks, we figured it prudent to pass along PC World's review of HP's beastly HDX18. Obviously designed with multimedia in mind and to possibly take the place of your desktop, this sucker performed satisfactorily in all the basic, everyday tasks as well as those media playing duties. It's not meant for hardcore gamers, but you probably already knew that. Amazingly, the included battery lasted nearly three hours before petering out, which is pretty astounding for an 8.9-pound energy destroyer. At the end of the day, critics found enough to love to slap down a 90 out of 100 rating, noting that anyone crazy enough to want a "laptop" this big (save for FPS freaks) would likely find lots to love. In more ways than one.

Acer readies 10-inch Aspire One for Q1 launch

Acer's top-selling Aspire One is set to break into 10-inch territory as early as February or March. This according to Scott Lin, Acer Taiwan president. Also on the books are 12.1-, 13.3-, and 15.6-inch LED-backlit laptops for 2009 -- a 14.1-incher should hit this year with a price of NT$40,000 or about $1,200 of the green, presidential stuff.

Lenovo S10 with six-cell battery gets pictured, priced

Lenovo's S10 netbook has been relatively well received since its introduction earlier this year, but the battery life has always been a bit of a sticking point, with the included 3-cell battery simply not meeting some folks' netbook demands. It looks like that situation has now been rectified, in Germany, where a new model equipped with a six-cell battery has just gone on sale for the fairly reasonable price of €329 (or roughly $425).

Gateway's 16-inch MC7803u laptop reviewed: great rig for the price

We can't explain the sudden onslaught of 16-inch laptops hitting the scene, but if neither the R610 nor the Aspire 6930 suited your fancy, maybe Gateway's MC7803u will. The multimedia-minded rig recently hit CNET's review bench, and generally speaking, critics were pleased with what they saw. The expansive display was found to be quite useful, the recessed touch pad was a nice touch and the "minimalist" design was thoroughly lauded. Reviewers did find time to bash the shallow key travel, the omission of a Blu-ray drive and somewhat sluggish performance in a few of the benchmarks, though. Evidently those negatives weren't enough to put a damper on the system as a whole, as it still managed to snag a 3.5 out of 5 golden star rating -- still not quite high enough to buy blind, but it's probably solid enough that you don't need to refuse shipment on the one that's already halfway to your doorstep.

Apple's completely unsurprising Black Friday deals appear on Australian site

Apple's Black Friday sales have appeared on their Australian site, giving us a little insight into the 'deals' we in the US can possibly expect tomorrow. It looks like the biggest cut will be on the new MacBooks and iMacs -- up to $100 off, with some smaller discounts on iPods and the Apple TV. Everything else falls pretty much in line with what we've seen in previous years. It's nothing terribly exciting or unexpected for sure, so if you were thinking about busting down the doors in search of a $7 iPhone tomorrow morning, you might want to cuddle in for a few extra winks instead.

ASUS' 12-inch bamboo laptop gets a price

ASUS may have been beaten to the punch by a few other companies and their bamboo-ensconced offerings, but it looks like it's now getting its first bamboo laptop out the door at long last, and it's taken the opportunity to finally get official with a price. Apparently, the first few 12-inch models will go on sale at Taiwan's IT Month exhibition on Saturday, where they'll run NT$59,900, or just over $1,800. Unfortunately, it's not clear exactly which configuration that'll get you, but, judging from the last word out of ASUS, even the base config seems to be pretty capable.