From to Lenovo, to ...virtually every laptop manufacturer is announcing top-to-bottom new models that swap out last-year's CPUs for processors from Intel or CPUs from AMD.

These are pretty impressive new processors. Both Intel and AMD's new beauties incorporate the GPU right into the same piece of silicon as the CPU, vastly improving performance compared to previous integrated graphics solutions. The actual CPU part of the processors are faster and more energy-efficient, too. Intel's 2nd Generation Core processors (formerly code-named ) are aimed at all-purpose and desktop replacement laptops, with dual core ultra low voltage versions coming later in February to fit into the more expensive ultraportable PCs.

AMD's new E-Series and C-Series CPUs, the first of its Fusion line, are tiny, inexpensive, low-wattage processors aimed at the market dominated by Intel's Atom CPUs netbooks and inexpensive thin & light ultraportable laptops.

Unfortunately, most of the new laptop models we've seen are simply refreshes of existing models. Cosmetically altered only slightly, the laptop makers seem to have rushed to change the internals of their existing models without bringing to market wholly new designs.