Bye bye Nvidia workstation graphics exclusivity, first it was the FirePro M5800 leak last month and reported marriage with the HP Elitebook 8540w. Just recently, news from an anonymous party has just surfaced about a new ATI FirePro M7820 workstation class graphics card that will feature 1 GB of GDDR5 memory and DirectX 11, and based off the powerful Mobility Radeon 5870 ‘gaming class’ card. And this puppy will find its way first into the upcoming Elitebook 8740w Mobile Workstation AND… get ready your tissues to wipe off that drool… the ATI FirePro M7820 will supposedly sit a step or two higher than Nvidia’s flagship mobile workstation FX3800M graphics card! ATI’s seriously been making a big comeback for the last couple of months and it doesn’t look like they’re losing steam anytime soon. In other news, the 17 inch Elitebook 8740w is said to sport a fully backlit keyboard (partial chiclet keys with numeric pad, no less), a “first” for an HP Elitebook.
When, when, when? You ask frantically. Patience is a virtue, my friend – likely this month. Who else here has a feeling that the leaked ATI FirePro M5800 will also appear alongside its newfound big brother, the FirePro M7820 at the same time during launch?
HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam edition
Get this, less than five days after HP announced their new Elitebook 2540p, 2740p and new ProBooks, they made another separate announcement today! This time it’s the successor to the Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam consumer-designer netbook – introducing the HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam edition. This new designer netbook features a special Butterfly design(one of those love-hate things) on the lid and all-gold (just paint of course, not real gold) casing, and will be available for $600 in the near future. Other specifications like that Atom N450 processor, 1 RAM slot and other things are exactly the same as you would find on a regular HP Mini 210. Like butterflies and gold? Then the HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam edition is probably your dream come true (at a small price premium over a conventional Mini 210 of course!)
Picture by reader T.Y.: Is this the 8740w's lid?!
It looks like we now have enough information to construct a rumors + specifications roundup, with special thanks going out for a few anonymous tipsters, a person by the name ‘HP Fan‘ who has seen an Elitebook 8740w datasheet (!!) and plenty of internet searchers =). First off, a little update about announcement time: a reliable source is “pretty confident” that the Elitebook 8740w will be coming out this month along with other products targeting designers and people who do graphics work (ie DreamColor 2 and new external display panels) – I can see the adrenaline build-up in the crowd already!
HP Elitebook 8740w processor options (Thanks, Google Cache!)
And here’s what’s been confirmed about the HP Elitebook 8740w so far (I’ve included links to old/related posts in case you’ve missed them in the past):
- Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6 GHz quad core processor and 820QM 1.73 GHz quad core processor; ‘other’ Core i5 processors
- 4 DDR3 1333 MHz RAM slots for up to 16 GB of total RAM
- ONE hard disk bay with optical drive; removable optical drive doubles as expansion bay
- NEW ATI FirePro M7820 workstation graphics; with 1GB GDDR5 memory
- Choice of new ATI FirePro M7820 graphics above, Nvidia Quadro FX3800M or Nvidia Quadro FX2800M
- 17 inch display (up to full HD); optional full HD DreamColor 2 display (same tech, but obviously different size, as 8540w DC2)
- Full-size keyboard with number pad; partial-chiclet style!
- Selective number of USB 3.0 ports
- Single-touch trackpad with pointing set; 2 sets of 3 mouse buttons
- 7.86 lbs weight AKA 3.57 kg
Oh, the Elitebook 8740w will also be compatible with some sort of new “2010 Advanced WKS Docking Station”… whatever that means, along with other newly launched Elitebooks (except 2540p and 2740p).
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