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Breaking news: $135 off HP Folio 13 for the next 2 HOURS ONLY

HP Folio 13 Ultrabook

Looking for a great ultrabook? How about the HP Folio 13, a great 13.3 inch slim notebook (it measures just 0.7 inches and makes a great alternative to the MacBook Air)? We’ve just spotted a special offer which knocks $135 off the HP Folio 13′s price… bringing this 128 GB  Core i5 model down to just $734 for the next 2 HOURS ONLY!! Grab it now. Stocks are limited too and as of now, 15% of the units have been claimed! Hurry over to check it out now!

HP updates ultra-portable EliteBook laptops; EliteBook 2770p tablet still missing

2012 HP EliteBook 2170p

If you’ve been keeping up with the news this week, HP has practically updated every single notebook they have. There’s a lot more happening on the consumer side with the launch of brand new Envy models and tweaked Pavilion models while on the business side, we’re mainly seeing ProBook models with slightly improved designs and selection of new processors. The EliteBook models are HP’s flagship top-notch laptops and they too have not undergone significant changes design-wise. You do get faster processors and new graphics options though, which is great if you’re stepping up from a year 2010 or earlier model but 2011 EliteBook owners shouldn’t jump yet.

Perhaps the biggest new thing about the HP EliteBook range is, ironically, the smallest (physically) thing announced today. HP just welcomed a new ‘baby EliteBook’ to their top business laptop range: the EliteBook 2170p. This model brings back the ultra low voltage Intel processors that have been around since the HP 2510p, 2530p and 2540p days but were missing on last year’s EliteBook 2560p in favor of more powerful full-voltage processors. Why on earth would anyone want an ultra low voltage (ULV) processor when a full-voltage one will be more powerful? Battery life and heat, that’s why! Having used and owned many HP products, and still using an EliteBook 2530p as my primary travel laptop, I can say I love ULV processors. My EliteBook 2530p which uses a now-ancient low-voltage Intel processor runs fanless on an almost full-time basis. The fan only comes on once temperature hits 45 Celcius, and the laptop usually hovers around 30-40 Celcius unless the weather is hot or if I’m running Photoshop or Premiere Pro on the tiny machine (silly me!).

The HP EliteBook 2170p which will run on currently-unspecified 2012 ULV Intel Ivy Bridge processors should run even cooler and have more battery stamina than ever, though HP doesn’t have any battery life numbers for us yet. As hinted by its model name, the EliteBook 2170p has an 11 inch screen (1366 x 768 resolution), making it the smallest EliteBook model so far. It’s also one of the lightest, weighing in at just 1.3 kg (2.9 pounds) which is a hair lighter than Apple’s 13 inch MacBook Air, but not quite as light as the 11 inch MacBook Air yet. But hey, what do you expect from an EliteBook? If the EliteBook 2170p is as durable as its ancestors in the EliteBook family (which we do not doubt), you could probably stand a person or two on its closed lid (not that we’re encouraging this)  and have absolutely no detrimental effect resulting from that… while any MacBook Air subjected to the same torture will probably have its screen cracked (or worse, remember not to try this at home and not stand on your laptop!). The EliteBook 2170p is constructed from the same magnesium-alloy material as its siblings and looks a lot like a shrunken EliteBook 2570p.

The EliteBook 2170p, despite being the smallest in the family, sports standard HP EliteBook business class features, including a big trackpad with buttons plus a pointing stick with dedicated buttons, full-sized keyboard, SRS Premium Sound branding, 720p HD webcam option, fingerprint reader and Smart Card reader. Strangely enough, the EliteBook 2170p will be compatible with the full-sized docking station used by larger ProBook and EliteBook models instead of the smaller docking station with a different design used by the EliteBook 25xxp series for years. This strangeness in design makes us hopeful that HP brings back support for secondary batteries on their ultra-portable range (The add-on secondary battery has been limited to 14 inch and larger models since 2007 though we have seen Compaq allow secondary batteries on their tiny 12 inch laptops back in 2005/2006, so it’s not impossible!).

The EliteBook 2170p does not have an HP Night Light but will allow you to configure it with a backlit keyboard as an option. Ports on the EliteBook 2170p will include 2 USB 3.0 ports, a combo headphone/microphone jack, full-sized Display Port, VGA, Ethernet and SD card slot. The EliteBook 2170p will start at $999, available June 22.

2012 HP EliteBook 2570p

On to the EliteBook 2570p, successor to last year’s EliteBook 2560p. As you can see, this 12.5 inch ultra-portable laptop inherits the design of its predecessor so it’s physically identical down to the ports and display. The EliteBook 2570p weighs 1.6 kg (3.6 lbs) which is slightly lighter than its predecessor, much to the delight of road warriors, and upgrades its guts with next-generation full-voltage 2012 Intel Ivy Bridge processors and integrated graphics. The EliteBook 2570p still uses the HP Night Light and does not have any keyboard backlight options. Also we’re very curious if HP will offer an IPS display option on the EliteBook 2570p like Lenovo has been doing with their X220 model since last year; it would bring great joy to us users if HP did that (the EliteBook 2560p was offered only with a 1366 x 768 resolution ‘standard’ LED backlit display). The EliteBook 2570p will be available on June 22 at a starting price of $1099.

And guess who’s missing in this week’s announcements? The 2012 HP EliteBook convertible tablet! The tablet-variant has been historically known to come out with its ultra-portable EliteBook 25xx counterpart, including the simultaneous announcement of the EliteBook 2560p ultra-portable and EliteBook 2760p convertible tablet last year. What happened to the HP EliteBook 2770p?! We’re not sure. The rumor mill runs amok with speak about the resurrection of a true Compaq tc1100 successor but who knows…

HP Envy 15 Review, No Word Yet on Ivy Bridge Version

The early 2012 (or late 2011, depending on how you look at it) HP Envy 15 continues to be a popular laptop at HP, given it is one of the few HP laptops available with the IPS Panel, BrightView Radiance display upgrade option. You can check out this quick video review produced by Dealzon on the new Envy 15:

While it wasn’t specifically made as a gaming laptop, the well-spec’ed Envy 15 comes with option of Quad Core i7 (Sandy Bridge version) along with the mid-range Radeon 7690M, giving it plenty of power to play latest gaming titles.

There’s no word yet from HP for updates to the newer Ivy Bridge chips on the Envy 15 & 17, but we expect HP to eventually update the line-up as they pair the proper GPU with the machine (likely option of nVidia GT 650M, similar to their dv6t Quad and dv7t Quad laptops).

On the audio side, HP managed to really surprise reviewers by pairing the laptop with very good speakers, with review from The Verge stating “Beats audio isn’t just branding on the Envy 15.” This isn’t too surprising considering the laptop comes with SIX front speakers along with a mini subwoofer, tucked neatly away in near the battery bay.

You’ll find that the volume control knob on the side of the laptop to be extremely useful, making it easy to adjust volume on the fly, versus the usual pressing of “Function + Up/Down arrow” combo found in many laptops.

All in all this is a pretty good laptop and gives some nice added boost to the preimum Envy line-up, considering HP did away with the BrightView Radiance option from the Envy 14, most people are happy that HP has decided to bring the Envy 15 back along with the higher resolution 1920 x 1080 display.

If HP decides to upgrade the Envy 15 (and its bigger brother Envy 17) to the new Ivy Bridge Core i7-3610M option, it’ll be very likely much more competitive to the newer laptops on the market, especially when you consider the fact that there still aren’t too many Ivy Bridge machines out there. Prices will probably be about $100 more than the current price, but the added performance should be a welcome addition for many users.

HP drops hints of Envy Spectre inspired Envy all-in-one printer

HP Envy 100 printer from 2010 is about to be refreshed for 2012/2013

We’re not too sure if the HP Envy 100 made a big splash when it was released in 2010 but apparently it did sufficiently well that HP is considering a second model to add to their HP Envy printer line. There are no pictures or official specifications yet but at the Global Influencer Summit Shanghai conference, HP is dropping hints of a new Envy printer with high build quality and a stylish design with clean lines. This new and upcoming Envy printer will feature metal hinges and scan bar, a low-profile hidden paper tray and glass control panel – sounds very Envy 14 Spectre inspired to us. The next-generation Envy printer is reportedly able to print from anywhere from many devices (is that a hint of wireless printing there?), sports a simple and intuitive user interface and have quiet operation (which is nice, since I can hear the sound of regular printers when it turns on/prints/scans from a mile away).

HP has also unveiled a design direction for their premium products, which apparently started with the Envy 14 Spectre: natural materials with glass and metal, harmonious design with simplicity and usability in mind and reliability.

No word on when this new Envy printer will be announced or what its price will be. And with the mentioning of the design direction for their premium products in general, one can pretty sure the Envy 14 Spectre isn’t going to be HP’s only glass product for long…

HP Z220 Workstation series and HP t410 Zero Client announced

HP t410 All-in-One Zero Client

Naturally, as HP updated just about every single laptop in their consumer and business lines this week, some business desktops also got updated. For really large businesses, HP has got the new Z220 entry-level workstation series announced, which succeed last year’s Z210 models with fresh choices of processors and graphics options. Still no word on any successors to the bigger Z400, Z600 or Z800 workstations though; one would guess HP would have brought out at least a new flagship Z810 workstation by now, but apparently not. Anyway, the Z220 will be available in two flavors just like the old Z210… there’s the Z220 CMT (convertible mini tower) and smaller Z220 SFF (small form factor).

HP also has got a fairly groundbreaking HP t410 All-in-One Zero Client, which businesses which need to deploy a lot of computers to a lot of staff and need them linked to central servers will absolutely love. The HP t410 Zero Client is composed of a 18.5 inch LED backlit display (with a rather low resolution of 1366 x 768) and it needs just one Ethernet cable for both power supply (the screen consumes just 13W) and a data link to central servers. While the server will do most of the background work and data crunching, the HP t410 Zero Client acts as a front interface for employees to do work on.

Under the hood of the HP t410 Zero Client is a 1 GHz Texas Instruments Cortex A8 processor and DSP, something like what you would find on modern smartphones. There are 4 USB ports and a dedicated power port in case the Ethernet connection isn’t able to provide sufficient power to the system (which can happen if all 4 USB ports are used and drawing extra power).

The HP t410 Zero Client will be available this summer for $429 each.