HP hoped to cut into the territory of Apple's iMac with CES introductions by launching its first 27-inch all-in-one desktop. The Omni27 forgoes touch but is the first without touch to use HP's Magic Canvas, a widescreen-optimized space for apps, movies, and photos. Beats Audio and direct HDMI video input turn it into a media system both on its own and for other devices.
Today's deals from DealNN include price breaks on laptops, iPad cases, and more. Staples.com has recently lowered the cost of the 2.0GHz HP Pavilion dv7-6163us Laptop, complete with 4GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive, 17.3-inch display, built-in Blu-ray player, and Intel Core i7 processor. Currently featured at DealNN, this laptop has now dropped $200 off its original list price and can be purchased for only $699.99.
HP reported dour results for its third quarter of the year that showed the weight both of its own indecision and pressure on its core PC business. Its revenue was down three percent to $32.1 billion, but its profit dropped a steep 91 percent, down to just $200 million. Gains in its services and software were more than offset by drops in the PC and printer businesses, each of which saw their own revenue drop two and 10 percent respectively.
HP's last round of notebook updates included a unique refresh to the Pavilion dm4. The 14-inch ultraportable runs on more recent Intel Core processors but is unique in being the first known notebook with Radeon HD 7000 video. Some trim levels can carry a dedicated Radeon HD 7470M, whose performance is a mystery but should raise the bar for entry-to-mid-level video.
HP put out its second PC revamp in as many days on Thursday with an update to the Pavilion dm1. Its 11.6-inch crossover notebook now has Beats Audio processing to get better sound from the speakers and headphones. Faster processors also back it up with AMD's Fusion-based, 1.65GHz E-350 and unspecified low-voltage Intel chips now making their way into the ultralight.
Verizon Wireless will soon offer the refreshed HP Pavilion dm1 netbook introduced at CES in its stores. The 4G-connected PC, the dm1-3010nr, is less than 1.2 inches thick and sports an 11.6-inch, 1366x768 screen. AMD's 1.6GHz dual-core E350 Fusion chip does duty under the hood, and there is 2GB of RAM onboard.
Part supplier chain leaks Monday have hinted that HP is not only hoping to get into Intel's new ultrabook category but could preempt ASUS' UX21. HP is reportedly planning at least two of the MacBook Air-inspired ultraportables using the new ultra-low voltage Core i7s. Foxconn would handle the production and was reported by Digitimes as already shipping the first wave.
HP on Monday quietly posted some of the highest end of its new AMD Fusion-based Pavilion notebooks. The dv6z Quad Edition uses AMD's faster Llano-based chips and ranges from a 1.4GHz quad A6-3400M through to a 1.9GHz A8-3530MX, the two extremes of which can boost to 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz respectively. The Fusion technology gives them graphics capable of playing 1080p video smoothly, but they can be optioned up with an unspecific dedicated AMD Radeon chipset to handle more demanding games.
HP on Tuesday embraced AMD's A-series in a big way by updating its Pavilion dv and g models, as well as the ProBook line, with the new chips. The 14-inch dv4, 15.6-inch dv6, and 17.3-inch dv7 as well as their g4, g6, and g7 budget counterparts all use processors ranging from the dual-core A4 up to the quad-core A8. They both get a brute force improvement over the older Athlon, Phenom, and Turion chips as well as twice-as-fast integrated graphics that can still handle 1080p video and some gaming.
Microsoft has used its presentation at Computex in Taiwan to show off Windows 8 and detail newly toughened requirements. The OS' flexibility was such that it was shown on anything from a basic tablet up to performance notebooks, such as a Dell XPS or a future HP dv6 running AMD Llano that will ship later in the spring. ARM-based prototypes were on view at the same time and even included a quad-core NVIDIA Kal-El notebooks and tablets that could use hardware-accelerated HTML5 rendering, much like an x86 system.
Consumer Reports' refreshed notebook rankings [sub. required] gave Apple the top spot in virtually all notebook rankings. As of late May, the updated MacBook Pros led the 15-inch category with 76 to 78 points versus Dell's XPS 15 at 73 points, while the 17-inch models just edged ahead of the HP dv7 (79 points) with 80 and 81 points. All of the 13-inch models placed second at 70 to 72 points, but they were only topped by Apple's own 13-inch MacBook Air, which leapt ahead at 76 points.
HP helped wrap up a week's worth of introductions by rolling out three new Pavilion desktops. The more gamer-oriented HPE h8, mainstream p7, and Slimline s5 all get redesigned looks, carrying a much cleaner and minimalist look that HP suggests would work as much for a home theater as a desk. All have accordingly moved to the most recent processors, topping out with AMD Phenom II and Intel Core i7 chips in the h8.
HP kicked off the week with a slew of notebook upgrades, headed up unusually by its netbooks. The Mini 210 has been given its first real redesign with a more minimalist, colorful look. It's also HP's smallest system to get Beats audio processing and should have unusually good sound quality for the 10-inch size.
The HP Pavilion dm4 notebook with a Core i5 has now gone up for sale based on new postings from LogicBuy. The Intel-based Pavilion dm4x variant starts at $700 after $150 in instant savings and a $30 coupon code and gets free shipping. It can be had in Steel Grey or Dark Umber and includes Intel's Sandy Bridge-era Core i5 processor.
HP’s revamped notebook range with Intel Sandy Bridge processors are now available for purchase. LogicBuy has made three models available to customers for immediate delivery. Among them are the HP Pavilion dv6 Quad Edition, the HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition and the HP ENVY 17.
HP signaled potential problems with its home business both in its past quarter and in the near future. The Personal Systems Group, which covers its PCs and mobile devices, saw its winter revenue dip one percent year over year in a market where others were growing. It specifically singled out the home as sales of regular PCs, like the Pavilion line, plunged 12 percent.
HP tonight reworked its Pavilion notebooks to include a new entry level line and to re-launch two dv models in the wake of the Sandy Bridge delay. The 14-inch G4, 15.6-inch G6 and 17.3-inch G7 replace HP's starter models and have a new look that brings some of the more minimalist, upscale design traits from the dv series with less expensive materials. All of them have Altec Lansing speakers to boost the audio and options such as Blu-ray.
Intel this morning warned of a serious bug with the Cougar Point chipset that would force it to delay desktop PCs using its Sandy Bridge processors. Those using the 6 series have a flaw that gradually degrades the performance of the SATA ports over time, eventually affecting the speed of hard drives and optical drives. The issue was in hardware and needed a reworking at the factory for a fix.
HP kicked off its CES plans with speed upgrades to three of its highest-end notebooks. Both the Envy 17 and the Pavilion dv6 and dv7 now use Intel's Sandy Bridge-based Core processors and AMD's newer Radeon HD 6000M graphics. Systems can use up to the quad Core i7 and, on the Envy 17, AMD's completely new Radeon HD 6850M with graphics switching to save power by using Intel video.
HP gave a swift boost in performance to its Pavilion dm1 crossover notebook today by giving it AMD's new Fusion processors. The 11.6-inch notebook leaps from the Athlon II Neo to the new 1.6GHz E-350 and should get much faster Radeon HD 6310 graphics along with much better battery performance. HP expects nearly double the runtime at up to 10.75 hours.
HP's Pavilion home desktops got a major lift early this morning with both sound and visual upgrades. The Slimline s5700, Pavilion p6700 and Elite HPE-500 now have the Beats audio that was previously only an option for notebooks. Making the pick gives them richer audio output from headphones or speakers, purportedly getting closer to the intended sound.
HP has teamed up with ski gear maker Rossignol on two special-edition notebooks. Based on the Pavilion dv6, they sport unique designs that complement the styling of the Rossignol ski gear they're named after, with the Attraxion VIII Echo styled for women and the Freeride S7 for men. Also included is exclusive content such as wallpapers and a matching sleeve.
Verizon has announced that it is now selling HP's Pavilion dm1 notebook, which is tied to the carrier's mobile broadband plans. The 11.6-inch notebook is shipping for $200 after a $100 mail-in rebate, when tied to a two-year agreement.
HP today overhauled its desktop line to modernize it and give it more choices. The top-end HPE desktop now has the option of AMD chips and can use Phenom II processors in place of the costlier Intel equivalents, up to a 3.2GHz six-core model. Graphics choices also get more aggressive with up to a Radeon HD 5770 in the best version.
HP's recently updated Pavilion dm3 is now being offered for sale. The 13.3-inch notebook is just one inch thick and weighs 4.15lbs, while offering a choice of ultra-low voltage 1.2GHz Pentium or 1.2GHz Core i3 processors. It comes in a more refined design built to vent heat away from a lap and even to adjust the fans depending on where the notebook sits.
HP's most unique introduction on Wednesday is a complete redesign of the Pavilion dm3. The 13.3-inch ultraportable has been shaped entirely around reducing its heat output and uses a combination of metal, non-conductive surface layers and repositioned vents to keep heat away from the hands and lap. Its heat management is equally clever, as it not only directly talks to fans but can automatically detect when it's on a lap and spool up the fans for extra cooling.
HP has quietly began selling its new 11.6-inch notebook, the Pavilion dm1z. It sports AMD's new Athlon II Neo and Turion II Neo processors, ranging from single-core 1.7GHz for the Athlon part and moving to 1.3GHz dual-core Turion parts. Otherwise, 2GB of RAM is standard, though it can be upgraded to 3GB or 5GB. It can also be equipped with a hard drive as large as 500GB or a 128GB solid state drive.
HP on Friday afternoon grew the size of its battery recall program to include 54,000 more notebooks. The exchange mostly covers older dv2000, dv6000, dv9000 and Compaq portables made between August 2007 and July 2008. It follows after HP received 38 more reports of batteries catching fire, 11 of which inflicted "minor personal injury" on the users.
HP has begun shipping its flagship Envy 17 notebook, along with several new Pavilion models. The 17-inch Envy 17 starts at $1,400 for the 2.26GHz Core i5-based configuration with 4GB of RAM, a 320GB HDD and Radion HD 5850 graphics.
HP as part of a sweeping notebook update this morning became the first PC builder to use AMD's new mobile Phenom II processors. Its Pavilion dv5, dv6 and dv7 all have the option of using the dual- and quad-core versions of AMD's new chips and overcome many of the performance and battery life gaps with Intel. A dual-core 2.8GHz Phenom II N620 can be up to 69 percent faster than HP's previous best Turion Ultra but gets up to 24 percent more battery life.
HP has quietly updated its existing Pavilion dv6t and dv7t notebooks and now offer the option of Intel's recently released Core i5 processors. The former is a 15-inch system that can otherwise be optioned up with up to 640GB of hard drive space, as much as 8GB of RAM, a 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M or 512MB GeForce G 105M, a Blu-ray drive and Bluetooth, among others.
HP as part of its CES introductions upgraded the cornerstone of its home desktops, the Pavilion Elite. The Pavilion Elite HPE (High Performance Edition) moves the baseline speed up by giving every model a quad-core processor as well as a minimum 8GB of RAM and 1TB of disk space. At the very high end, HP supplies a 2.66GHz Core i7 with as much as 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
A leaked document from HP has confirmed some roadmap details for both Intel and AMD. As part of a plan to update its all-in-one PCs with a new Pavilion model in April, the company says it expects to use dual-core Core i3 and i5 desktop processors and reiterates their key features. The Core i5 will have Turbo Boost to shut down some cores and overclock others and will also have hardware acceleration of AES encryption; Core i3 goes without but is based on the same architecture.
HP was sued late last week for allegedly neglecting a major flaw in its Pavilion Elite desktops. Plaintiff Michael Kent and owners whose systems use an Intel Core i7 processor along with Pegatron's "Truckee" mainboard, including the e9150t, e9180f, e9180t, m9600t and m9650f, have reported in HP's forums and elsewhere that the systems regularly seize up after about 30 minutes of use. In some cases, the system produces an "uncorrectable hardware error" or a "timing issue" and leaves the user with no choice but to reboot, while at others it simply freezes the display.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HP's netbook line should get a larger 11.6-inch model if a source today proves true. Computer industry contacts for DigiTimes say Quanta is about to mass-produce such a system next month. Other details aren't published, but the larger size likely means a 1366x768 screen resolution instead of the more common 1024x600. One of HP's 10-inch netbooks should also get a revision and is purportedly slated by its manufacturer, Inventec, to be mass-produced in September.
Greenpeace through its Twitter feed said Tuesday that it has launched a campaign against HP today to criticize the company for its environmental policy. The activist group claims to have painted the roof of HP's Palo Alto headquarters with the words "hazardous products" and to be calling HP staffers with automated messages from William Shatner asking why the company hasn't lived up to its promises of greener products. The protesters now hold Apple as a model for green improvement and claim HP is lagging behind, particularly in its continued use of toxics like bromide flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in its computers.
Microsoft has returned to its ad campaign with the first ad in its "Laptop Hunters" campaign in weeks. The TV spot sees couple Matt and Olivia tasked with finding a system at Best Buy with a large screen, long battery life and good support for pictures at $700. They dismiss a 13-inch plastic MacBook as "too small" and too expensive at $1,000, eventually settling on an HP Pavilion dv7 exactly matching their target price. In comparing the Mac and Windows lines, Microsoft is direct and emphasizes absolute price over features.
HP today acted on two of its planned system updates by launching them through its online store, including an unannounced processor. The new dv2z costs slightly more than promised at $625 but now has a white color trim option and starts with a single-core 1.6GHz Athlon Neo, 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive with Radeon X1250 integrated video. Adding a dual-core 1.6GHz processor costs $25; in a surprise, an option now exists for a 1.6GHz Turion Neo that likely boosts performance still for an additional $75.
HP this morning rolled out a trio of notebook refreshes it's gearing towards students, particularly in price but also in design. The Pavilion dv6 is being given a headlining dv6z Artist Edition 2; the 16-inch notebook has special lid artwork that won a recent MTV design contest and also comes with relatively high specifications for an AMD-based system, including a 2.3GHz Turion X2 Ultra, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and a Mobility Radeon HD 4650 for its video. It also gets a bundle of three Corel audiovisual editing apps and will launch on June 10th for $950.
AMD this afternoon confirmed that its new dual-core Athlon Neo should show in a new version of HP's Pavilion dv2 ultraportable next week. The upgraded system is due on June 10th and, according to CNET, should have the same power use as the present-day single-core model but run much faster in multi-threaded tasks. Integrated graphics will also get a lift through the Radeon HD 3200 chipset, though HP's notebook currently uses dedicated Radeon HD 3450 video.
HP's first ultraportables to use Intel's Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors will at first just conversions of existing models, those building the notebooks in Taiwan said on Wednesday. They claim to DigiTimes that the first models will actually use existing case designs and that a true redesign to take advantage of the platform won't be ready until the fall. The makeshift change is reportedly triggered by pressure to chase after the Acer Timeline as well as reducing the costs of the systems themselves.
HP today issued a US-wide recall through the Consumer Product Safety Commission for 70,000 notebook batteries. The recall affects most Compaq and HP home models sold from August 2007 through March 2008 and is prompted by HP's fears that the lithium-ion pack could overheat, catching fire and potentially burning owners. It cites two incidents in which the battery burst due to internal pressure and caused minor area damage but no injuries.
HP may overlooking widespread instances of NVIDIA's known graphics defect on systems that fall outside of the official recall list. Users on the company's support forums explain that many dv9000-series notebooks with GeForce 8M-series graphics chipsets are exhibiting the same problems as those covered under a warranty extension and eventually fail with a blank or visually corrupted display. The failure usually happens within 1 to 1.5 years and in many cases falls outside of the warranty.
HP this morning formally unveiled a mild redesign of the Pavilion dv3t. The 13.3-inch notebook is HP's lightest Intel home notebook at 4.9 pounds but is positioned as both fast and longer-lasting. It can use up to a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo and has options for 8GB of RAM and dedicated GeForce 105M G video, but will run for up to 4.25 hours (with wireless off) on the stock battery and up to 7 hours on an extended 9-cell pack, both thanks in part to an LED-backlit display.
HP this morning stepped up the performance of its higher-end, mainstream towers with the launch of the Pavilion Elite m9600t. The system is built on Core i7 processors and takes advantage of the triple-channel memory bus; it also has unusually fast video for the class with a 768MB GeForce 9600 GS. A base model at $950 comes with a 2.66GHz Core i7, 3GB of RAM, and 500GB of disk space while further options add Blu-ray drives, 12GB of memory, Blu-ray burning and Radeon HD 4850 graphics.
