Hewlett Packard on Wednesday said it has expanded its workstation series to include several desk-side, mobile, and small form factor models.

The company says its HP Z200 SFF breaks new ground with a space saving design nearly two-thirds smaller than the Z200 minitower workstation. These can be configured with Intel's latest chips, including dual-core parts based on the Intel Core i3 and i5 series, as well as quad-core processors based on the enterprise-class Xeon 3400 series.

"HP has invested in research and development through the economic downturn, innovating on top of our industry-leading workstations to provide an undeniably differentiated experience in our new products," said Jim Zafarana, vice president and general manager, Workstations Global Business Unit, HP. "HP customers are famous for pushing the limits of innovation, and as their industries undergo digital transformations, their next generation of breakthroughs is being powered by HP technology."

HP is also offering new six-core, 32nm Intel Xeon 5600 series processors on its HP Z800, Z600, and Z400 workstations, while its EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation boasts a range of Intel chips, including the Core i7 Extreme Edition, and support for up to 16GB of memory.

Get all the details and pricing information here.

HP came under fire recently when it was reported that several laptops sold in China were faulty. The problem stemmed from overheating videocards, prompting affected consumers to seek out a law firm to help handle the issue. They may not need it.

HP said it is extending the warranties on motherboards in certain laptop models, covering Chinese owners for two years if the mobo was already repaired. The OEM is also offering to test laptops for free, and is currently discussing potential compensation for buyers who already paid postage or repair fees for their motherboards.

"We believe this [plan] will eliminate clients' concerns," HP said in a statement.

But is it enough? Not according to Liu Yongbin, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, which prepared the initial complaint. Youngbin claims that the "warranty extension cannot fundamentally solve this problem," and instead wants HP to recall the affected laptop models.

HP could soon find itself in court, as over 100 Chinese consumers are none too happy with what they claim are faulty laptops, a lawyer for the group said this week.

According to Reuters, Jiang Suhua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Bejing, claims the problems have to do with overheating videocards ultimately causing the laptops to malfunction. Suhua said there are about 170 complaints so far for a problem that apparently dates back to 2007.

"Yes, we can bring it to court, but right now it has not reached that state," Suhua said.

HP says it had a program in November 2007 to offer a free repair to anyone with an affected laptop, but the OEM stopped short of commenting on this specific complaint.

Acer has never been shy about sharing its goals with the public. On more than one occasion, company chairman J.T. Wang has expressed lofty expectations for his company, including a desire to become the No. 1 notebook supplier by 2011 and the biggest PC vendor of them all in 2012. Standing in its way of both goals is HP, so what's the fastest way to surpass the competition?

According to some market watchers, scooping up Fujitsu would make the most sense. Acer needs to see more than 40 percent on-year growth in 2010 to start to achieve its goals, and it's fairly unlikely that will happen with some major maneuvering.

Acer shipped some 32 million notebooks in 2009, up 32 percent on-year and enough to claim 18 percent of the market. HP, meanwhile, shipped 37 million units.

Acquiring Fujitsu, says market watchers, would not only give Acer the boost it needs to become No. 1, but it's also the most likely target since Fujitsu has a strong sales presence in both Western Europe and Japan.