New Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 dual and quad core chips appear in Elitebook CTO options

Hey, what do we have here… looks like HP has quietly added a bunch of new and currently unreleased Intel Core i3, Core i5 AND Core i7 Mobile processors to their Elitebook line of notebook PCs! If you’ve checked out my posting about the HP Envy 17, SOME of these new processor options may not come as a surprise, but I bet you never knew about those new Core i3 Mobile processors, huh?

All of today’s new processors have already been priced and are available for order, which is strange because even Intel themselves have only scheduled release to be in “Q3 2010″. But then again, it’s gonna be Q3 2010 in less than 48 hours (July to September), so HP probably wants to be the one of the first ones out of the door (along with Dell, thanks Chema) with these spanking new options and has put them up already as a sort of ’preemptive action’.

For the Elitebook 8440w, 8540w and 8740w Mobile Workstation notebooks (which have 14, 15 and 17 inch LED-backlit displays respectively along with Nvidia/ATI workstation class graphics cards), as well as the more conventional (and affordable) 15 inch Elitebook 8540p notebook, these new processor options have appeared under CTO. In case you don’t know what it means, CTO stands for “Configure To Order”… so you’ll find these new processors absent from the “specifications” section but buried deep inside the “Configure your model” section.

• Intel Core i7 740QM – This new quad core processor succeeds the 1.6 GHz quad Core i7 720QM of 2009 with a slightly higher clock rate of 1.73 GHz (quad core), and Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz (versus 2.80 GHz). L3 cache remains the same at 6 MB.
• Intel Core i7 840QM – Replacing last year’s 1.73 GHz quad Core i7 820QM, this guy packs 1.8 GHz of quad core goodness (8 threads in total, of course) and Turbo Boost up to 3.20 GHz. However, the 8 MB worth of L3 cache of its predecessor remains unchanged here.

Nice, HP, very nice. But can you please tack on Intel’s Core i7 Extreme Quad core processors as options as you’ve promised (in the Elitebook 8740w’s manual), pretty please?! EDIT: HP does offer the 2.0 GHz quad Core i7-920XM Extreme as an option for the Elitebook 8740w in some countries, but it’s still not as ‘mainstream’ as the conventional Core i7’s which are available everywhere. Also, the 2.13 GHz Core i7-940XM will be making an appearance soon…

Well, HP hasn’t left out the ‘baby’ of the Elitebook line, the Elitebook 8440p. How kind of them to allow you to soup it up with Intel’s latest Core i3-370M or Core i5-540M processors, among other existing options from earlier this year…

• Intel Core i3 370M – The Core i3 370M is a 2.40 GHz dual core processor that will sit above (but not replace) the current dual core 2.26 GHz Core i3 350M processor. The only change here appears to be the slight boost in clock speed; the 3 MB L3 cache and lack of Turbo Boost in the i3-370M makes it consistent with other Core i3 Mobile processors Intel has released so far.
• Intel Core i5 450M – This is one of the lower end options in Intel’s Core i5 series of processors. It has the same 2.40 GHz (dual core) clock speed and 3 MB of L3 cache as the i5-520M, but a slower 2.66 GHz Turbo Boost speed (versus 2.93 GHz Turbo on the i5-520M). Unfortunately, there appears to be a little typo by HP here regarding Turbo Boost speed (it’s supposed to say 2.66 GHz, n0t 2.93 GHz)

And that’s it, folks! There you have it, Intel’s latest Mobile Core i3, i5 and i7 (standard voltage) for Summer/Fall 2010; revealed and now available from HP as options on their Elitebook PCs. Will we see similar processor refreshes for the low-voltage Intel processor line on the 12 inch Elitebook 2540p ultra-portable and Elitebook 2740p tablet in the near future? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Later this week ON HP Fansite: If you’re a long-time reader of HP Fansite [shame on you if you're not ], you would probably know I’ve been shopping around (for way too long, since January!) for an “ultra-portable” computing device that suits my needs for mobile productivity/working on the go (Planning to attend a few conventions and trade shows next year, anyone got any invites?). Having looked at everything, from HP’s Elitebooks to Lenovo’s X200-series Thinkpads to even the iPad (and everything else in between); I’ve finally made up my mind. Find out what I’ll be getting and why, later this week!

HP Mini 100e is HP’s approach to high tech but low cost education

HP recently announced a new low-cost netbook: Targeting schools and education institutes, the “clamshell” shaped (it literally looks like a clamshell!) HP Mini 100e will be available for order (at least for those folks) in July, sporting various configuration options but none of which exceed the $300 mark. And speaking of configuration, there will be various color schemes and custom logo/patterns available for the Mini 100e’s screen bezel, lid and keyboard (ie a school can put their logo to ‘brand’ the netbooks).

HP doesn’t mention if the Mini 100e will be available through retailers to consumers in general, though I wouldn’t lose any sleep about that – the market is already full of (or shall I say, flooded with) netbooks with similar or better features, with various brands and designs, and with prices ranging from ‘super affordable’ (ie the old, discontinued Asus Eee 800 or 900 series) to ‘premium’ (ie HP’s own Mini 5102).

The HP Mini 100e features the typical netbook affair – An Intel Atom N450 series processor with integrated graphics, a 10.1 inch LED-backlit display (1024 x 600) and a single DDR3 RAM slot that supports either one or two gigabytes of memory. HP is also giving schools, and whichever other clients it chooses to sell this Mini to, a choice of a 3 or 6 cell battery (no word about battery life though). The Mini 100e has a chiclet keyboard which looks a whole lot like the one found on HP’s Touchsmart tm2 and 2010 Pavilion dv3 (it’s a brilliant keyboard to type on; see my review of the Pavilion dv3 here)

Acting as one of HP’s most basic of netbooks, the Mini 100e has several cut-down features (compared to its ‘regular’ Mini siblings and other netbooks), such as its two USB 2.0 ports (as opposed to 3 USB ports being the norm on majority of today’s netbooks) and choice of 160 GB HDD or 16 flash-based storage (netbooks nowadays are pushing hard disks upwards of 250 or 320 GB, depending on manufacturer).

HP announces 30 inch ZR30w S-IPS display

HP has just announced a new high-resolution, large size monitor. The new HP ZR30w is a 30-bit monitor measuring 30 inches capable of displaying 2560 x 1600 (16:10 ratio) resolution and a contrast ratio of 1000:1.

Typical for an HP “Performance” display, this display can be stand/bracket mounted and can be tilted/swiveled. Other features include:

• Display Port and DVI-D inputs
• 5 built-in USB 2.0 ports
• 7 ms response rate
• 178 degrees viewing angle (both horizontally and vertically)
• 370 cd per meter square brightness
• Weighs in at a whopping 28.6 lbs

HP Pavilion dm3z updated with AMD Athlon II Neo/Turion II Neo, ATI Mobility 5430 graphics

In a move to make their AMD-infused Pavilion dm3z models more attractive, HP has recently (and quietly) outfitted their ultra-thin line of 13 inch Pavilion dm3z notebook PCs with AMD’s latest Athlon II Neo processors (which also come in single and dual core flavors) that were made official barely two weeks ago. Compared to the first generation mobile Athlon Neo MV-40 of last year, these new 2010 chipsets from AMD feature two to four times the amount of L2 cache (1 or 2 MB L2 cache in the new processors versus 512 kb) and more processing power (ranging from 1.7 GHz single core to 1.3-1.5 GHz dual core choices, compared to the 1st Neo that was 1.6 GHz single core). They also are made based on 45 nm tech (versus their predecessors’ 65 nm). All while featuring the same TDP of 15 W (and an even lower 12 W for the single core Athlon II Neo “Geneva” K125).

If you spring for the more affordable single core 1.7 GHz K125 processor, you’ll get 512 MB’s worth of slightly dated ATI Mobility Radeon 4225 graphics. Going for the slightly pricier dual core 1.3 GHz K325 processor will allow you to choose between the mentioned Mobility Radeon 4225 card or a 512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 5430 graphics option (which is ATI’s latest). The most powerful processor of the bunch (which comes at a $150 premium over the base single core option on HP’s website) will come standard with ATI Mobility 5430 graphics.

In other news, the HP Pavilion dm3z’s Intel counterparts (the Pavilion dm3t series) have not been updated and instead, have strangely disappeared from HP’s website… new Intel ULV Core i3 and Core i5 equipped Pavilion dm3t’s for summer, anyone?!

HP working with Palm real soon; to stick WebOS into slates and printers

Hey, did you hear? It’s true! Now you can stop dreaming and really have your WebOS slate/tablet in the “near future”, thanks to confirmation directly from HP via a press release reporting their Q2 2010 financial results and also their Twitter feed (they have a habit of placing the most exciting things in the oddest of places, don’t they? Like listing new processors in service manuals). HP has also mentioned that we should also expect WebOS (or some sort of variation/edition) to make its way into printers (huh?!) as well – I presume these will be all-in-one printers as well as high end business printers where using a dedicated OS would come in handy the most.

Strange enough, they haven’t mentioned anything about stuffing WebOS into digital picture frames yet… I was kinda expecting that one.

My sincere apologies

Thanks to a few readers who pointed out my mistake, the notebook of which I posted a review of several hours ago is not the HP Pavilion dm4 – it is in fact the extremely similar-looking 2010 Pavilion dv3. I guess I was either daydreaming or being overly excited about the notebook that I didn’t even realize the confusion in model looks/naming. To clear things up – the HP Pavilion dm4 is the model with a 14.0 inch display, while the 2010 HP Pavilion dv3 has a 13.3 inch display – I reviewed the latter. You can view the HP Pavilion dv3 review here.

The dv3 unit has long been returned, and I am now trying to get hold of either the Envy 14 or Envy 17 (or both) for review, seeing that there is a keen interest in them from readers. Again, I apologize for the little naming slip-up =)