This week is turning out to be another “Apple week” again, with plenty of unrest on the internet about the recent announcement of Apple’s new MacBook Pro’s, refreshed for 2010, even more iPad hyping and plenty of iPhone gen 4 rumors. Let’s take a look at the new (2010) 13 inch MacBook Pro. It has a Core2Duo processor, compared to dual-core i5 and i7 on its 15 and 17 inch big brothers. And a mere 256 MB of graphics (Nvidia GeForce 320M). So far, the HP Elitebook 8440w is the smallest notebook (14 inch) with a Core i7 Quad-core processor. Do you think someone can push the envelope even further and put Quad core in something… smaller… as a little bird hinted recently?
Arrgh me hearties, a year it has been since there was speculation about the possibility of Voodoo PC (a subsidiary of HP) coming out with a (luxury?) mobile phone. HP’s CTO of their HP/Voodoo Business Unit, Rahul Sood, has just mentioned in a Twitter tweet that it bugs him that he’s using an Apple iPhone instead of a “Voodoo phone”
The message seems pretty cryptic as nothing else, no other details, are mentioned. Is a new Voodoo Phone (vPhone?) in the works? Is there already one (or a few) prototype models in existance? What’s it gonna have, design and feature wise? Well only time will tell.
Oh, while we’re talking about phones and such, dear HP, while/if you’re probably hard at work developing a vPhone, can you please do something about the iPAQ line while you’re at it, and bring iPAQ devices back up to their former state of glory? Thanks – HP Fansite on the behalf of many iPAQ fans out there =)
HP will team up with Microsoft to launch a tablet this Wednesday
Hot off the press is an article by the New York Times highlighting the impending launch of the “Microsoft Courier” (or at least something based off the concept) tablet this Wednesday by Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s CEO) at the Consumer Electronics Show. Looks like there’s gonna be quite a bit of drama as HP (as in Hewlett Packard) and Microsoft team up to launch a tablet way before Apple’s tablet even comes out of ‘vaporware speculation’ status! Go team Microsoft! This upcoming tablet will be a ‘HP device’ (although what sort of branding it will receive is still a mystery. Will it be branded with Microsoft or HP’s name?) will have multimedia functions, including a reader feature, and a touchscreen (size unknown) supporting multi-touch input.
Well, HP didn’t make any announcement or press release of the HP Mini 210 consumer netbook but it’s almost everywhere on the net already, even some online stores are taking orders. What’s funny is HP also has had a support page for the Mini 210 for a few days now. I wonder what’s up. Anyhow, here are the specifictions of HP’s Atom N450 running, buttonless trackpad sporting netbook for 2010:
- Intel Atom N450 AKA Pine Trail processor (Single core running at 1.66 GHz)
- Built in graphics (Integrated)
- 10.1 inch display
- 1 DDR2 RAM slot for either 1 GB or 2 GB sticks; model variations supporting DDR3 RAM unconfirmed
- 2.5 inch notebook hard disk with capacities up to 250 GB
- Chiclet keyboard first seen on the HP Mini 5101 business netbook; now with super-sized arrow keys
- Built-in front-facing stereo speakers
- Button-less trackpad ala HP Envy 13/Envy 15 and Apple’s Macbooks
The HP Mini 210 also has a variety of ports you’ll commonly find on netbooks: including a VGA port, 3 USB 2.0 ports (no powered USB like the Mini 5101 though), audio out port for your headphones/speakers, SD slot and LAN port.
I heard a rumor (but it has nothing to do with Bananarama)… HP is moving towards using chiclet-style keyboards on future notebook PCs. Apparently the decision has something to do with improved ergonomics and the tactile feel of such keyboards. A little bird said that chiclet keyboards will first appear in the business and mini notebook lines in the next announcement of upgrades this year. Some models (Presumably higher end? Or as an option?) will have backlit keys. [/end of rumor].
Informative note: What the heck is a chiclet keyboard? Some people also call them “island keys”; it’s the design that Sony and Apple computers have been using (if you don’t know what a chiclet-style keyboard looks like, check this out or look it up on Wikipedia)
