Hitachi pulled the plug on its home computer business today, becoming the latest casualty of the fast consolidating PC market.

The Japanese giant said it really couldn't be bothered updating its Prius line of PCs for the end of year shopping season, Reuters reports. Instead, it will concentrate on high-end boxes for the broadcast market, and on servers.

Hitachi held about 4.5 per cent of the domestic Japanese market, according to Reuters, and doesn't sell overseas.

However, while the move is unlikely to cause tears and wailing outside of its own workforce, it provides another illustration of how tough the PC business has become in the last year, with local vendors biting the dust, while even one-time big boys like Gateway and Packard Bell have given up and sold out. ®

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