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Sandy Bridge wielding HP ProBook dressed like an EliteBook

HP ProBook 5330m listed on HP's website

It’s been quite a while since the ultra-thin HP ProBook 5320m made its silent debut on HP Singapore’s website. And many have been curious about the fate of the ultra-thin ProBook 5000-series line after seemingly no news earlier this year with the debut of mainstream ProBook models and the EliteBook 8460p and 8560p. But fear not, because one of our readers Sam has just sent us a little something he found off a Google search: a page detailing the HP ProBook 5310m’s successor, the HP ProBook 5330m!

This lean and mean 1 inch thin machine looks like it could possibly go head to head against the upcoming, rumored Lenovo ThinkPad X1… with its full voltage Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor, 13.3 inch matte display, backlit keyboard, metal casing and Beats audio. Oh, it also appears that HP took some clothes out of the EliteBook wardrobe for the ProBook 5330m since it looks a lot more like its expensive and high-end EliteBook cousins rather than the conventional ProBook it’s meant to be. Check out HP’s word on the ProBook 5330m here.

HP ProBook 5320m quietly made available

HP ProBook 5320m

Earlier this month, HP quietly announced the ProBook 5320m in some of their region-specific websites (such as HP Singapore), successor to last year’s ‘thin and light’ ProBook 5310m business notebook. The HP ProBook 5320m is a fairly minor refresh, with the changes being a new body color (now in gold-silvery tone, versus the all-black 5310m) with new 2010 Core i-series processors dropped into its 0.93 inch thin aluminum + magnesium alloy chassis (the ProBook 5310m measures the exact same dimensions and weighs the same 3.8 lbs/1.72 kg as its predecessor). While the ProBook 5310m had “medium voltage” SP-series Core 2 Duo processors (with 25W TDP), the new ProBook 5320m uses “standard voltage” Core i3/i5 processors (with 35W TDP)… I wonder how this will impact battery life. Currently there are just three i-series processor options available: the 2.26 GHz Core i3-350M, 2.40 GHz Core i3-370M and 2.40 GHz i5-450M (whose advantage over Core i3 being its ability to ‘overclock’ itself up to 2.66 GHz via Turbo Boost). Seeing they probably share the same motherboard, I’m wondering why HP doesn’t list options for higher-spec Core i5 processors or even the powerful 2.66 GHz Core i7-620M for the ProBook 5320m (perhaps HP will offer such options in the future, but for those daring enough to ‘dig in’ to their notebook, you could probably try to order a ‘replacement part’ Core i7-620M and install it at your own risk!). There’s also a low-end 1.06 GHz Celeron ultra-low voltage U2300 processor option available for those willing to sacrifice power for better battery life.

Two other noteworthy additions to the ProBook 5320m is the multi-touch, gesture enabled touchpad (which the 2009 ProBook 5310m can probably do too, via this magical Synaptics touchpad driver from HP’s website) and new VGA port alongside the Display Port option (the 5310m has Display Port only, hence requiring an adapter to connect to most projectors and VGA-cabled monitors). I’m a bit surprised that HP decided to continue using a more traditional ‘touchpad with physical buttons’ setup here on the ProBook 5320m (versus the button-less huge trackpad they’ve outfitted on the other 5000-series ProBook and consumer Pavilion/Envy models).

While the ProBook 5320m has appeared on HP’s websites for certain countries, there’s no word so far on pricing or availability in North America.

HP Probook 6440b and Probook 6540b now official

Along with the earlier Elitebook models, HP has also released two new models for the more affordable line of business notebooks, the Probook series. The Probook 6440b and 6540b are 14 inch and 15 inch machines respectively, both featuring displays with 16:9 widescreen ratios.

The Probook 6440b has a normal full-sized keyboard while the Probook 6540b has a full-sized keyboard plus numeric keypad on the right. Both will have two DDR3 RAM slots, single hard disk bay, optical drive bay and spill-resistant keyboards, and will feature various Intel processor options to choose from. Essentially, both the Probook models announced today are not completely new, merely Intel variants of their AMD-sporting Probook 6445b and 6545b counterparts. The notebooks will start selling next month at a starting price of $950 for the 6440b (presumably the 6540b will be around$100-150 pricier)

Alert: HP Envy 17, Envy 14, Elitebook 2540p and 2740p in the pipeline

Screenshot from search results: Elitebook 2540p and 2740p, etc listed on HP's website

Spotlight: One of our readers, Dana, has tipped us off about Elitebook 2540p and Elitebook 2740p in the works after spotting a new 9-cell battery available for a “2540p” model on a HP Korea website (Update: I can’t seem to access the page Dana posted, but HP has updated thier list of “notebooks supporting Windows 7″ to include the new Elitebook 2540p and 2740p models).

16:9 displays on Elitebooks: It is currently known that HP’s smaller Elitebook models: the ultra-portable 12 inch Elitebook 2540p, 12 inch tablet PC Elitebook 2740p and medium-sized 14 inch Elitebook 8440p/8440w, will all sport 16:9 widescreen displays which may put a little crinkle on foreheads of people hoping for 16:10 displays. However, thank goodness it seems that HP will maintain 16:10 displays for their larger Elitebooks. If you think of it this way, 16:9 displays with a resolution of 1366 x 768 is slightly wider than current 16:10, 1280 x 800 displays, while sacrificing a mere 32 pixels of vertical reading space. For people frequently opening two programs side by side, this is great news. For those fretting about “scrolling and reading” web pages and documents, well, I can’t change HP’s minds. But you can always look for the “Go fullscreen” option in your browser or program (F11 for Firefox).

Elitebook 8740w news: We have also received confirmation that the HP Elitebook 8740w (17 inch Mobile Workstation) will sport a 16:10 LCD display just like its predecessor, the current 8730w. This comes after Dana found a 16:10 privacy filter (but 15.4 inch? Probably a typo by someone there) with product number AJ358AA for a certain 8740w model. Joy to the world! Looks like potential desktop replacement/mobile workstation buyers WILL get their 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200 extra large displays after all (what did I tell you?! Told you HP won’t do away with 16:10 displays on their 8740w, not when they’ve spent so much effort developing the 17 inch DreamColor panel for 2008′s 8730w).

Envy 14 and Envy 17 listed in document found on HP Korea

Envy 14 and Envy 17: If you liked the Envy 15 notebook but crave for a bigger display, more graphics power and bigger everything, then good news, this document located on HP Korea’s website (don’t worry, the title is Korean but oddly, the text and content of the Excel file is in English; scroll to the very right side to view the new models) reveals that they’re planning for an Envy 14 and Envy 17. Not much is known about the two models now other than their screen sizes: 14 inches and 17 inches respectively. I can, however, make an intelligent/educated guess that the Envy 17 will have a 1080p full HD 1920 x 1080 display while the Envy 14 is likely to “recycle” and share the Elitebook 8440w’s 1600 x 900 panel.

HP Compaq CQ42, CQ62, G42 and G62; Mini 210: The same document listing the Envy 14 and Envy 17 above also show that HP has new stuff for those with smaller wallets and lower budgets for their next notebook. Introducing the new Compaq Presario CQ42/G42 and CQ62/G62 models. As far as I know, the two different names (G and CQ) are just used in different regions/parts of the world, but the notebooks themselves *should* be the same. The HP Mini 210 also makes its appearance in the document, confirming the info posted before Christmas about the Mini 200 series debut from a trusted source.

Probook 6440b and Probook 6540b: Here’s something that most people would overlook. Don’t assume these are the same as the existing Probook 6445b and Probook 6545b on HP’s Probook page. They’re not! I been observing HP’s naming conventions with their notebooks and the last digit indicates the processor used in their business notebooks. “0 (Zero)” used as the last digit equates to an Intel processor, while “5″ points to AMD processor.  The 6440b and 6540b are likely to be the same as their “6x45b” siblings except they will sport Intel’s processors, most likely Core i3.

HP updates business notebooks page; prepping for new products?!

I gotta admit, I’ve  been obsessively visiting HP.com’s business notebook page ever since word of the new generation of Elitebooks surfaced (I make it a point to check at least once a week, but usually it’s more). Anyway, I noticed today that HP updated their business notebooks page, pushing the Probook series one step higher, just before the Elitebook series (Probook used to be in the 3rd column, where “essential” notebooks are now present). Seems kinda odd that HP would update THAT specific page at this time of year. I mean, what’s the rush/need? Who gifts business notebooks, which are really pricey anyway, for Christmas?

Well, that’s why I suspect three things:

1. HP is going to release their next gen Elitebook models soon (plausible, but why would they update the FRONT page of their notebooks page?)
2. HP might create another new, entry-level business notebook line to succeed the old HP Compaq b-variants (ie 6510b, 6530b, etc) that sits below the Probook line (likely, seeing they reshuffled their notebooks positioning). It’s likely that this new line will go under the “essential” series.
3. HP feels that their business notebooks page is getting old and stale, and decided to update it just for the kicks (hmmm…)

The screenshot above is what the HP business notebook page used to look like. See the diff? I guess time will tell what’s coming up.