A support page on HP's website indicates that a third Envy notebook, the Envy 14, may be on the horizon. If so, the notebook would slot in between the Intel Core 2 Duo-powered Envy 13 and the Core i7-packing Envy 15 as it would, presumably, be equipped with a 14-inch screen size. It would also most likely be powered by Intel's new mobile Core i5 chips, which are due for an early 2010 release.
Yesterday's leak of Walmart offering several sales on consumer electronics products has been confirmed today by the big-box electronics retailer. The one-day deals are slated to start on Saturday, November 7th at 8AM. The leaked image matches Walmart's official products down to the prices and includes an Xbox 360 Arcade gaming console coming with a $100 gift card for $199. The headline offering, according to Walmart, is a 46-inch plasma HDTV with 1080p resolution and three HDMI ports for $788.
Apple stock is said to have led the pack in Piqqem's October sentiment ratings, again excelling over Microsoft, which came in last amongst a group of six major technology companies. Apple achieved a score of 3.11, considered high in a scale of 0 to 4. Google was second with 2.88, while Intel ranked third at 2.70. Below the top three were Cisco (2.69), Amazon (2.53) and HP (2.53), followed by Microsoft at 2.27.
Walmart will be selling Xbox 360 Arcade edition for $199 bundled with a $100 gift card this upcoming Saturday, Kotaku reported on Tuesday. If true, this would be the best deal for the popular gaming console to date. At the same time, the leaked inventory screen capture reveals a number of other items on sale, including a $148 Sony Blu-ray disc player and a 42-inch Sharp TV for $498.
Wireless provider Verizon will soon add the Sony VAIO P netbook to its subsidized lineup, according to a Monday Phone Arena leak. Thus far, Verizon offers the Gateway LT2016U, HP Mini 311 and Mini 110 netbooks, but the VAIO P would be the smallest and lightest of the four. The system should be the standard 8-inch netbook but will have a built-in modem with both EVDO and GSM support.
A series of tests have revealed that even newer Windows 7 PCs are being bogged down by unnecessary software that makes them run much more slowly than Macs. Comparing factory versions of several notebooks versus clean models, PC Pro finds that Acer and Sony systems take about two whole minutes more to boot because of the "crapware," or third-party utilities and trial apps, preloaded out of the box. They also consume roughly 1GB more extra active RAM and also rob the system of as much as 2.4GB of space in Acer's case.
Of a recent wave of computer builders entering the smartphone space, only Apple is likely to have more than a small stake the market, Gartner research estimates today. The analyst group believes that "all" major PC firms will have signaled their intentions to build smartphones by the end of 2009 but that none of these will have more than two percent outside of the iPhone maker, even by 2012. Instead, most of the non-Apple growth will be left to traditional phone designers.
HP at mid-day updated its Compaq displays with one of its first mainstream multi-touch displays. The 21.5-inch L2105tm has a built-in optical sensor that recognizes two-point touch input in operating systems that support it but can still accept input from an included stylus for artwork or other more precise apps. To help, the display is specifically designed for touch and has a fixed-height panel that won't shift around in mid-use.
Verizon is poised to kick off the launch of Windows 7 this week with two netbooks as a leaked document has shown its plans. Both the HP Mini 311 and the Mini 110 are due to reach the provider along with Windows 7 on Thursday and will be partly subsidized, with Engadget showing the higher-end Mini 311 dropping to $250 after agreeing to a contract and a $100 mail-in rebate while the Mini 110 will cost $200 on similar terms.
Apple has successfully recaptured its fourth place spot in US computer market share, according to early estimates from IDC. The Mac creator had slipped in spring but should now have bounced back to claim 9.4 percent of shipments, or about 1.64 million Macs. The number is a rapid 35.2 percent growth in what it had shipped one season earlier and is a rare example of a sharp year-over-year growth in the current climate, as it represents an 11.8 percent boost over Apple's share a year ago, in summer 2008.
Acer president Gianfranco Lanci at a press conference today predicted that his company would "finally pass" Dell for market share within six months. The company lead expects to have more overall share than Dell by the end of winter 2010 and credits it directly to better sales and the resulting financial health. Where Dell has seen falling profits, Acer expects its profit during the summer to have grown 14 percent compared to a year earlier, to about $106.8 million.
Intel today says it recorded one of the best fiscal quarters in its history and owed it almost exclusively to notebooks. The chip maker generated $9.4 billion in revenue during the summer, an eight percent drop from a year earlier but a sharp 17.5 percent jump from this spring. The surge is the best the company has seen in the past 30 years, Intel says.
HP this afternoon held a rare UK-first debut for one of its notebooks. The Pavilion dv8 is now HP's largest non-HDX notebook and carries an 18.4-inch, 1080p display that lets it replace a desktop. A 1.6GHz Core i7 and a dedicated GeForce GT 230M also put the dv8's performance closer to that goal.
HP's large-scale introductions on Tuesday brought about one of the largest multi-touch displays available. The LD4200tm produces a 42-inch, 1080p picture but uses a combination of infrared and imaging sensors to recognize two-point gestures such as pinching to zoom. Opting for this approach is less costly than a capacitive touchscreen as it only needs to detect when light is broken rather than wire up the entire display.
HP early today is making an aggressive push into touchscreen PCs with two key updates to its TouchSmart home all-in-ones. The TouchSmart 300 and 600 add true multi-touch input and have significantly expanded use for the technology: they can not only use pinch-to-zoom, flicks and other gestures in the general operating system thanks to Windows 7 but in several new touch apps for the systems' custom front end. They can now navigate Hulu or Netflix streaming video, stream Pandora or Rhapsody music, or update and follow Twitter feeds all primarily using touch.
HP in gearing up for Windows 7 added two newer touchscreen PCs to its mix. The TouchSmart tx2 convertible tablet now makes better use of its multi-touch display both in the OS as well as in the new apps specific to HP's TouchSmart front end; users can watch Hulu or Netflix from the touch interface as well as update Twitter or stream Pandora and Rhapsody music. Unlike most such screens, the tx2's input isn't solely finger-oriented and will work with a stylus as well.
HP on Tuesday centered its pro PC updates for Windows 7 on a new high-end tower and two frugal notebooks. The Elite 7000 desktop is HP's new high-end outside of workstations and runs on Core i5 and i7 processors and has a new black, metal case more suited to a desk than the workmanlike old models; it's also the first desktop in the category for HP that allows SuSE Linux in place of Windows. Graphics have been given a large boost and can scale to as much as either a GeForce GT 230 or a Radeon HD 4650.
HP's sub-label Compaq tonight received three upgraded systems to ready itself for Windows 7. The Presario CQ61z refreshes the familiar 15.6-inch CQ60 with a more modern 2GHz AMD Sempron whose choice helps put the system at a particularly low $400 price (post-rebate) even while brand-new. The refresh further adds Mobility Radeon HD 4200 video in place of the older NVIDIA hardware but still has 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.
HP's Mini 311 is already slated to get a performance upgrade if the company's own service manual reflects the real product. The current version is limited to the lower-power Ion LE graphics core as well as 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, but myHPMini has discovered that the manual references the full-power Ion chip as well as configurations with 2GB or 3GB of RAM. Storage would likewise get a boost with an option of a much faster 80GB SSD as well as 250GB or 320GB hard drives.
HP this afternoon provided fuller details of its special-run Envy 15 Beats (link active soon) notebook. It expands on the reference version by bundling a pair of Beats over-ear headphones as well as bundling Traktor LE for live DJing. Cosmetically, the model comes in the same glossy black and red as most Beats earphones.
Apple's often-rumored tablet could ship early next year in relatively modest numbers, a contact said today. Foxconn has reportedly been picked by Apple to make the device and, contrary to rumors of a June ship date, would ship it in early 2010. About 300,000 to 400,000 units would be part of the initial wave.
Back-to-school notebook sales were as strong as ever this year but skewed in favor of cheaper systems, the NPD Group said today in a new study. About $1.6 billion of the $7.6 billion spent between late July and mid-September went directly to notebooks, or about as much as was spent last year despite ongoing economic problems and rendering them "recession-proof." However, the revenue came at the expense of system prices: while more systems were sold, the average price of a school notebook fell from $804 last year to $624 this year.
Sony's VAIO X ultralight could be ready next month and have a second notebook follow along if a rumor tonight proves true. The 1.5-pound notebook would ship in November, according to CrunchGear, and would be a direct replacement for the VAIO TT. A strategy of the sort implies it will use a low-voltage Core 2 Duo, which would support Sony's claims of extra-long battery life.
Activist group Greenpeace has released a new edition of its Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks major high-tech corporations in terms of their alleged environmental friendliness. Among the companies favored by Greenpeace's press efforts is Apple, which the group notes recently disclosed its carbon emissions. Apple has risen in rankings from 11th to 9th, aided not by the disclosure but by being the "most progressive" computer maker in terms of removing product toxins.
HP chief Mark Hurd is allegedly preparing to reorganize the company, with the most significant adjustment involving the printer and PC divisions merged under the same leadership, according to the Wall Street Journal. The sources, claimed to be "familiar with the situation," suggest the plan currently awaits final approval from Hurd.
According to a leaked document, wireless provider Verizon will soon begin offering its second subsidized netbook with the upcoming addition of the Gateway LT2016u, Engadget reported on Monday. The computer will be sold on a two-year data contract, and like the first Verizon-subsidized netbook, the HP Mini 1151NR, will use Qualcomm's Gobi data modem to access Verizon's 3G data network. Otherwise, the netbook packs a 10.1-inch display with a 1024x600-pixel resolution, a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive.
HP inadvertently confirmed its own notebook plans this morning by posting specs of its own in a technical brief. The Pavilion dv8 (not yet pictured) will be its first 18.4-inch notebook and its second system after the Envy 15 to use a mobile Core i7 processor. While it's unclear if there will be multiple stock configurations, the one model on show has the base 1.6GHz Core i7, which can clock up to 2.8GHz when less than four cores are needed.
Apple tonight put new life into its eco-friendly image with a major overhaul of its environment data. The new site puts an emphasis on the company's complete ecological impact and includes details of how each iPhone, iPod and Mac impacts the environment from its assembly through to its recycling or disposal, including detailed breakdowns of the toxicity of the materials used and the energy used in a sleep state when it applies. A broader scope also shows the company's total carbon emission footprint beyond its product, including its offices and retail stores.
HP today began taking orders for the Mini 311 a week after its unveiling. The netbook is HP's first to use NVIDIA's Ion chipset and uses it to smoothly drive the system's 11.6-inch, 1366x768 screen and to decode up to 1080p without straining the Atom processor inside.
Intel at its second Developer Forum keynote officially unveiled its first Core i7 processors for notebooks. Once codenamed Clarksfield, the quad-core processors share the same Nehalem architecture and 45 nanometer process as the desktop part but are designed to consume much less power, although more at peak than the Core 2 Quad. The top-end Core i7 Extreme consumes 55W where regular quad Core i7 mobile chips will use 45W.
More than 15 phone manufacturers will release over 30 new smartphones running on Microsoft's upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system before the end of 2009, the copmany's GCR Mobile Team Unit senior director Benjamin Tan said recently. Tan was speaking to a group of reports at the time, according to a Wednesday Digitimes report. Among the phone manufacturers slated to introduce models are HTC, Acer, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and HP.
Apple has posted a new cumulative driver update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, supporting printers by HP. The v2.2 HP update includes software for both scanning and printing, and ensures compatibility with a broad selection of HP hardware. Numerous product lines are covered, including Business Inkjets, LaserJets, Color LaserJets, DesignJets, DeskJets, OfficeJets, Photosmarts and PSCs.
A recent BGR leak reveals approximate release dates of upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 phones coming to the AT&T network. The AT&T Tilt 2, otherwise known as the Touch Pro2, is due at the provider in October, complete with a 3.6-inch touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and Windows Mobile 6.5. It will also be the first variation of the handset to ship with the latest Windows Mobile OS. Also, AT&T will get the HP Obsidian and LG Monaco business-oriented smartphones sometime in November, though they will initially only be offered to corporate subscribers.
The European Union on Monday shared some e-mail contents that contributed to its decision to fine chipmaker Intel the equivalent of $1.45 billion in May. The e-mails between the chipmaker and its clients allegedly show that Intel pressured buyers into choosing Intel over competitor AMD, via illegal incentives that would delay or keep them from buying AMD products. Intel is still fighting the EU decision, calling the e-mails speculative and originating from lower-level employees that were not involved in the negotiation of the deals in question.
HP's plans for a notebook with a 3D display could soon be followed by at least one and as many as three more computer makers, a Taiwan area newspaper said on Friday. The Commercial Times claims that local assembler Wistron is not only contracted by HP to build the notebooks but has been tapped by Dell to build a similar design. Talks are also reportedly underway with Lenovo and Sony as well.
HP has introduced several new wireless-connected standalone displays, the DreamScreen 100 and DreamScreen 130. Both products are similar to digital photo frames, but with additional connectivity to services such as Snapfish, Facebook and Pandora. The interface is also capable of presenting weather forecasts, calendar information and a digital or analog clock.
HP this morning revived its sleeping Envy label for two new systems targeted at the same slim but high-speed designs as the MacBook Pro. The Envy 13 and 15 are both housed in aluminum-and-black shells and drop the usual optical drive to shed weight and thickness: the 13-inch model is relatively light at just over 3.7 pounds and is 0.8 inches thick, while even the larger 15-inch system is slightly over 5.1 pounds and under an inch. Both also draw on Monster's Beats PC audio to produce better built-in audio than most notebooks, get color accurate displays, and have a MacBook-like trackpad nicknamed the "clickpad" that hides the main button underneath the surface.
As part of a shift to ultra-thin notebooks, HP tonight launched two crossover 13.3-inch notebooks that it hopes are both fast and portable. The ProBook 5310m is unofficially the most portable full-performance notebook ever with an 0.93-inch thick body (versus Apple's 0.94 inches) and a 3.8-pound weight; it accomplishes the feat through an aluminum shell without an optical drive and, unusually, by giving the option of a full-speed 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo as well as a CULV-based 1.2GHz Celeron dual-core. Using the Celeron gives the system as much as 7 hours of battery life using the stock 4-cell battery.
HP's launches today have included the company's first Pavilion All-in-One PC, the MS200. The system borrows the same core design principle as the iMac and balances the entire computer on an angled stand; compared to Apple's full speed computer, though, the MS200 is consciously treated as a step above nettops and is meant as a dorm room or kitchen PC. The new offering is based on a 1.5GHz Athlon X2 and brings Radeon HD 3200 integrated video that can offload much of the 3D acceleration and movie decoding work.
Filling out some of HP's multiple portable launches today are two important updates to its Mini netbooks. At the head of the updates, the Mini 311 is HP's first crossover and centers on NVIDIA's Ion chipset. The graphics and system core gives the netbook 1080p video decoding (outside of Flash) and much faster 3D than Intel's solution but also helps smoothly drive the significantly larger 11.6-inch, 1366x768 display.
In amidst its launches today, HP updated its MediaSmart Server line with an unusually strong emphasis on Mac support. Even as they're based on Windows Home Server, the EX490 and EX495 both can be administrated over the network using the current version of Microsoft's Remote Desktop Client for Mac. They can also be used directly to recover a Mac from a Time Machine backup created on the server and have a new media aggregator that automatically pools content from Macs and Windows PCs based on the media type, the individual computer or a given folder.
HP on Tuesday announced the release of its new family of desktop PCs aimed at businesses, in the form of the Compaq 6000 Pro and HP Compaq 6005 Pro. The main difference involves the choice of CPUs, with the Compaq 6000 Pro available with a number of Intel chips, including various Core 2 quads, Core 2 Duos, dual core Pentiums and Celerons, while the Compaq 9005 Pro can be had with chips from AMD's Sempron, Athlon II, and dual-core, triple-core or quad-core Phenom II processors.
HP as part of its sweeping Tuesday updates announced it will soon begin shipping seven new business oriented LCD monitors, including the 17-inch HP Compaq LA1751g, 18.5-inch HP LE1851w, 19-inch LA1905wg and LA1951g, 20-inch HP LE2001w, 22-inch LA2205wg and 24-inch LA2405wg. The five new HP Compaq LA monitors share most if not all specs, with the same 1,000:1 static contrast ratio (3,000:1 dynamic), 250cd/m2 brightness (300cd/m2 in the LA2405wg) and 5ms pixel response times. They all also sport DVI, DisplayPort and VGA video inputs.
AMD this morning kicked off the launch of an updated notebook offering and headlined it with Congo, the nickname for its next-generation Ultrathin Platform. The new architecture includes AMD's faster 1.6GHz Turion Neo X2, found in the HP dv2z, but focuses on graphics performance and battery life. It uses a Radeon HD 3200 much like AMD's fuller-size notebooks and as a result can decode 1080p video smoothly in hardware; at the same time, AMD estimates about an hour more of battery life than its earlier platform.
HP has introduced the App Studio, a new service attached to a recent printer, the Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web. Apps allow the printer to quickly print off sanctioned content, such as movie tickets, art projects from Disney, photos from Flickr or 60 Minutes articles from CBS. The service uses an open API, and HP is hoping to introduce a variety of new print apps in the future, in some cases based on user suggestions.
HP's impending plans to revamp its notebook line have likely been uncovered in advance today courtesy of a pair of leaks (one, two). Leading the group should be the Pavilion dv8, one of the first systems to use Intel's mobile Core i7; it should be an 18.4-inch desktop replacement with an early 1.6GHz quad-core processor that scales up to 2.8GHz when it can ramp down one or more cores. It's also expected that the system would come with a Blu-ray drive as well as 4GB of RAM and 640GB of storage, likely spread across two disks.
The US federal Court of Appeals today granted Microsoft a temporary stay on an injunction that would have banned sales of Word until the conclusion of an appeal against the successful lawsuit filed by Canadian firm i4i. Originally, the developer would have had to stop sales on October 10th and would have forced Microsoft to shut down sales of virtually all copies of Office unless it could plead its case.
Microsoft today committed to a ship date for Windows Mobile 6.5, its last significant update to the current generation of its smartphone OS. The first devices to use the new platform should reach shops on October 6th. It's not said which evices will be the first, but HP, HTC, LG, Samsung and unusually Toshiba will be the first to have 6.5-equipped smartphones in North America. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will be the first in the US, while Bell and Telus should do the same in Canada.
Hewlett Packard has announced it will be providing real-time support throughout the HP forums for users who have recently upgraded to the new Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. HP has scheduled a time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 9th where its Mac-connection team will be monitoring the HP Mac printing and scanning board on the company’s forums, in order to help customers with support issues for their HP products such as scanners and printers.
PC makers Dell and HP have joined Microsoft in its fight against i4i, a Canadian software developer that was responsible for an injunction of sales of the Microsoft Word. Dell and HP are among Microsoft's biggest customers, and are helping Microsoft to overturn the injunction in front of an Eastern District Court of Texas judge. In a brief that was joined by HP, Dell asked the judge to reconsider its order or at least delay the injunction by 120 days. The injunction is scheduled to take place in mid-October.
