HP unveils 8510w, 8710w mobile workstations

HP today brought its series of upgrades to its pro notebooks, launching the Compaq-branded 8510w and 8710w. The 15- and 17-inch notebooks respectively freshen the line with Core 2 Duo chips based on Intel's more recent Santa Rosa platform. They also share a minimum of 2GB of RAM and the option of a Blu-Ray drive for 50GB data backups and HD movie viewing, including through a standard HDMI output. Video performance is a hallmark of either system; the 8510w uses a 1680x1050 LCD driven by a 256MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M, while the 8710w relies on a 1920x1200 screen and AMD's Mobility FireGL V5600 with 512MB of graphics memory.

A stock 8510w includes a 2GHz Core 2 duo, a 120GB hard disk, and a DVD burner for $2,199; a similar version of the larger 8710w starts with the same CPU and optical drive but swaps in an 80GB, 7200RPM hard drive at a price of $2,499. Either PC can be custom-ordered from HP beginning today with options such as 802.11n wireless.