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?!
They’ve done it! They’ve finally done it! Earlier today, the 17 inch Elitebook 8740w appeared in its full unofficial glory on HP USA but the good news keeps on coming – seems that in the midst of all the 8740w madness, HP has also quietly added the new 1 GB ATI FirePro M5800 workstation graphics card (the one discovered 2 months ago in a service manual) as an option for the existing 15 inch Elitebook 8540w. They’ve also added a little note on the same specifications page (here) stating that DreamColor display options for the Elitebook 8540w will be available in May.
The listed “DDR3″ ATI FirePro M5800 suggests that it could be based off an ATI Mobility Radeon 54×0 or 56×0 card, instead of the Mobility Radeon 5800 series rumored earlier, which means that it won’t be a whole lot more powerful than its Nvidia Quadro FX counterparts, but will still offer two main advantages – DirectX 11 support and power-sipping efficiency.
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)
At present, there are two HP ultra-portable notebook models that look almost exactly like each other: the HP Mini 311 and HP Pavilion dm1. What’s the difference? On the outside, there are few design differences… the two main things that separate the two are the processor and graphics set used. The HP Mini 311 uses the single-core Intel Atom processor paired with Nvidia Ion graphics, which is a decent graphics card suited to playing some games (though on medium to low settings) and high definition video. On the other hand, the HP Pavilion dm1 uses Intel Celeron processors, allowing you to select from a decent range up to dual-core offerings (which are of course, more basic than their larger notebook counterparts). However, you won’t get dedicated graphics at all – you’re sacrificing the Nvidia Ion graphics of the Mini 311 for integrated Intel graphics (a poor choice for gaming).
- Mini 311 – Single core processor with Nvidia Ion graphics for video playback and basic/low-end games
- Pavilion dm1 – Dual core processor so you can run more day to day applications with less slowdown, but you make a sacrifice in the graphics department
