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Spotted: Next-gen 2011 HP TouchSmart all-in-one desktop

Upcoming 2011 HP TouchSmart (Photo by Engadget.com)

Well, it’s no TouchSmart tm2 or tm3 convertible tablet, but tech blog Engadget has gotten a picture (a rather pixelated one at that) of HP’s next TouchSmart all-in-one desktop. It appears that the TouchSmart all-in-one design will be finally get an evolution to something with more metal accents (note the stand at the bottom) as well as sleeker in profile. We haven’t gotten any specific details about HP’s next-generation TouchSmart features and while they’re not exactly Apple iMac competitors (in price and specifications), if history is any indicator, we’re guessing they’ll sport Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, a mid-range mobile Nvidia or ATI graphics card, Beats Audio (which seems to be becoming a ‘standard feature’ in HP notebooks nowadays) and judging from the Windows 7 taskbar icons in the Engadget picture, a full HD 1920 x 1080 touchscreen display (of currently unknown size). And also a price tag that’s probably way more affordable than the Apple iMac. Of course, HP could probably surprise us all with something completely different…

Intel intros new ULV chips, Sandy Bridge TouchSmart tm2 here we come?!

Intel's new ULV processors good reason for a TouchSmart tm2 update?

Two months ago I talked about how HP could potentially stuff “Sandy Bridge 1.5″ in their TouchSmart tm2, seeing how their consumer-level tablet model is the only model at the moment that hasn’t received the Intel 2011 Sandy Bridge update treatment. Today, Intel ushered out of its doors, three new ultra-low voltage Sandy Bridge chips… ripe and ready to be used in a potential TouchSmart tm2 update, if I may add?

With all of them carrying TDP ratings of 17W, two cores (and four threads) worth of processing power and Intel’s Sandy Bridge generation HD3000 integrated graphics, they are the upper-tier 1.8 GHz Core i7-2677M (Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz), midrange 1.7 GHz Core i7-2637M (Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz) and an affordable 1.7 GHz Core i5-2557M (Turbo Boost up to 2.7 GHz). What differentiates the two Core i7 chips from the lonely Core i5 one, is that the i7′s come with 4MB of Level 3 cache, while the i5 chip has just 3MB of L3 cache.

While Apple fans will be the main ones cheering, since these Sandy Bridge processors are likely to make their way to the latest MacBook Air models during the late summer/fall refresh, people looking for something more flexible with a touchscreen, more affordable price tag and more beefy graphics power should be delighted too… since this could mean an updated TouchSmart tm2 might just be in the pipeline.

And in the event that the TouchSmart tm2 does get updated, expect something like the AMD Radeon 6470M stuffed under the hood (see why here) with Intel Sandy Bridge too. And perhaps with a cosmetic dose of glossy black paint too.

Will TouchSmart tm2 tablet receive ‘next-gen’ Sandy Bridge options later this year?

HP TouchSmart tm2 with Sandy Bridge: where for art thou?! (oh this picture above shows the existing tm2, in case you get too excited)

As of today, seems like HP has given a touch of Intel Sandy Bridge love to all its laptop models, from the humble Pavilion series up to the envy-instilling Envy models, and from their stylish ProBook business models up to the top-end EliteBook line… all except the little notebook in the corner, the EliteBook 2760p‘s faraway cousin, none other than the convertible tablet HP TouchSmart tm2!

Announced in January last year with a paltry Intel Core 2 Duo processor and ATI Radeon 4550M graphics, the TouchSmart tm2 received a much-needed refresh not long after in the autumn of 2010 with the ultra-low voltage dual core 1.33 GHz Core i5-560UM and Intel Radeon 5450M graphics. We haven’t heard anything since then…

…which gives us good reason to believe the HP TouchSmart tm2 might be in for a ‘next generation’ Sandy Bridge processor refresh once Intel releases their traditional ‘interim’ processor update, which should occur at a time spread far enough from Sandy Bridge’s initial announcement in January, but also not close to Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors (which should be launched in 2012) so they don’t instantly become outdated (and get buyers angry). That puts the announcement of Intel’s Sandy Bridge “1.5″ sometime in August or September.

Of course, one could argue HP could just stuff in the existing Sandy Bridge 1.4 GHz Core i5-2537M, or even better a 1.6 GHz Core i7-2657M; both are ultra-low voltage processors. But why haven’t they? If they were going to do that, they would have announced a refreshed TouchSmart tm2 with Sandy Bridge already this morning, along with the updated Envy 14 and new Pavilion dv4.

Updated graphics will also likely appear too, if you’re a critical thinker =) . I’ll make an intelligent guess that it’ll be the AMD Radeon 6470M… one does hope that an Apple-like move will not be pulled off, that is to let Intel’s Integrated Graphics substitute a dedicated or integrated dedicated card (like they did to the 13 inch 2011 MacBook Pro).

And did anybody mention a splash of black paint would be nice (and definitely sick looking!) too? Well, at least it’ll be a refreshing change from all those silver and beige laptops out there.

What do you think? Are you excited to want HP to get a refreshed TouchSmart tm2 out there like some readers? Or how about an Intel Ivy Bridge equipped TouchSmart instead in 2012?

Apple updates iMacs with Thunderbolt, Sandy Bridge and Facetime HD

Apple announces 2011 iMac all-in-one models

It’s breaking Apple news here, and for a reason too: Apple has just come out with some newly refreshed all-in-one iMac models which may arouse slight interest in a select few folks. The upgrades are fairly evolutionary, with the continuation of the same screen size choices offered since last year, a 21.5 inch 1920 x 1080p display or a massive 27 inch display with ‘larger than Full HD’ 2560 x 1440 resolution (both 16:9 aspect ratio), but the four main changes will probably get photographers, videographers, artists, media professionals and the like thinking about a possible upgrade:

• Intel 2011 Sandy Bridge processors
  The 21.5 inch iMac will give you a choice between the 2.5 GHz clocked Core i5-2400S or slightly more powerful 2.7 GHz Core i5-2500S (both are quad core), which can Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and a whopping 4.0 GHz respectively. Both are ‘low power’ desktop processors offered by Intel with a TDP of 65W
  The larger 27 inch iMac moves selection choice up a notch by letting you decide between the aforementioned low-voltage, quad-core 2.7 GHz Core i5-2500S or ‘full-voltage’ quad-core 3.1 GHz Core i5-2400 which has a higher TDP of 95W and has a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.4 GHz. A third processor option available only on configurable models of the 27 inch iMac is a quad-core 3.4 GHz Core i7-2600 processor which has a max Turbo Boost clock speed of 3.8 GHz.
• New AMD mobile (yes you read that right: mobile, like for laptops) consumer-class graphics cards
  The 21.5 inch iMac comes with choice of a GDDR5 512 MB AMD Radeon 6750M graphics card, or Radeon 6770M (which should be slightly faster with higher clock speeds)
  The 27 inch iMac gives you a choice between GDDR5 512 MB AMD Radeon 6770M, or the almost-top-end AMD Radeon 6970M graphics card (Which comes in two flavors: 1 GB or 2 GB of GDDR5 memory)
• Facetime HD camera: a fancy name for a webcam that does 720p video and can communicate very easily with other FaceTime enabled products (Read: iPhone 4 and newer iPod Touch models)
• Thunderbolt port: Now this is somewhat news. For now, people in the graphics/movie industry (and consumers in general) may be contemplating the usefulness of this port, but if Thunderbolt kicks off quickly enough and folks such as camera manufacturers come up with digital SLRs and pro-level video equipment with Thunderbolt ports, I can foresee these Apple iMacs being snapped up like hot cakes (unless any other PC manufacturer has something to say and starts introducing Thunderbolt too!)
  The 21.5 inch iMac comes with one Thunderbolt port while the 27 inch iMac comes with two of them ports! As with the MacBook Pro models, the Thunderbolt ports also double as where you plug in Display Port cables

The reason I find this news story interesting is because Apple has a tendency of skimping on the hardware side of things (which still holds true for the MacBook and MacBook Pro models). And despite today’s new iMacs still not being the most powerful things on earth (and the tech-savvy could probably build a rival system for around the same price or surprisingly, perhaps slightly more, factoring in the 27 inch display of the larger iMac), they will still probably be well received by those looking for a ‘powerful Mac’ (relatively speaking) with a decent processor and graphics card, along with a massive high resolution display (2560 x 1440). I can almost predict that Pixar and design companies due for an upgrade will pick up a couple of these! Prices start at $1200 and $2000 for the 21.5 inch and 27 inch iMacs respectively.

Now, that brings us to our next question: When are the next-generation HP Touchsmart models with Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Radeons 6000-series coming out? =) With the announcement of  ‘next generation’ Intel Ivy Bridge processors imminent in 2012, I think Apple’s a little late to the Sandy Bridge party today (but better later than never, right?) and the next few months will be the last chance for manufacturers to introduce Sandy Bridge based products before Intel drops the news on Ivy Bridge, possibly at CES 2012!

Tablet news: Touchsmart tm2 getting LV i3/i5 soon, rumored webOS HP Slate

Hey, here’s a two-in-one news story about HP tablet/slate devices. The first, fairly solid rumor/announcement is that the recently released HP Touchsmart tm2 will be packed with the latest, but currently unannounced, Intel low-voltage Core i3 and Core i5 processors in a few months’ time, most likely somewhere during summer, towards the July/August period where Intel has had some history in announcing new stuff. Well, that’s great news for ‘back to school’ goers and people who can wait for a while before buying their new notebook… but probably not so great for people like me – you know, the type who wants the ‘latest and greatest’ but at the same time needs to get a new notebook pretty soon (I’m looking for an ultra-portable to replace my current HP Mini this year).

In other news, there’s whispers of a HP Slate like slate in development that will run WebOS (courtesy of buying Palm not two weeks ago). Sources are saying that mobile processors will definitely be used in this latest “Slate” (compared to the original HP Slate that will run on Intel Atom ‘netbook’ processors), though the topic as to which mobile processor is up for speculation (I’m betting some upgraded/future Snapdragon processor/Nvidia Tegra 2). Rumors from the web (which usually are less reliable, like the time that the speculated ‘HP iPaq K3 Obsidian’ turned out to be called the ‘HP iPaq Glisten’ instead) label this upcoming HP slate, the HP Hurricane. Seeing we haven’t quite gotten any names from sources yet, I guess we’ll stick to that for now – look out for further news about the HP Hurricane in the future (which will be listed under our existing HP Slate news category)