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).
New 2010 HP Pavilion dv3
HP Fansite super exclusive review of the 2010 HP Pavilion dv3: If there’s one fantastic thing the world didn’t see coming this year, it would be the brand new 2010 HP Pavilion dv3. Redesigned from the ground up (along with its larger siblings dv5, dv6 and dv7) and looking nothing like pre-2010 Pavilion models, the 2010 Pavilion dm4 is designed for those who want a compact notebook with plenty of power. At the moment, the HP Pavilion dm4 will sell alongside existing dv4, but with the total makeovers HP has done to the dv5, dv6 and dv7 models this month, who knows what they’ll do to the old, glossy dv4?
Update: Whoops, epic fail on my behalf. This is not the Pavilion dm4 – I was too busy gushing over the greatness of the notebook for several days that I didn’t even notice that this is in fact… the 2010 Pavilion dv3. Apologies for the mistake, and thank you to the many readers who pointed out the confusion to me (-embarrassed look on face-). I would also like to extend further thanks to those who sent in links to HP’s product pages (Those are exactly what I’ve been looking for!)
Here’s a sneak peak of what the new Pavilion dv3 has to offer: it has a quad core Intel Core i7 processor (yes, quad core!) and new DirectX 11 kicking Mobility Radeon 5400 series graphics (Updated; new 2010 dv3 has lower end graphics than similar dm4) from ATI! Hit the link for HP Fansite’s complete, super in-depth, super exclusive review of the notebook!
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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)
HP announced four new high-end business notebooks today. The Elitebook 8440 and 8540, with their respective p-”professional” and w-”workstation” variants, are HP’s latest 14 and 15 inch notebooks respectively. The Elitebook 8440 comes with a 16:9 wide 14 inch matte display that goes up to a spectacular resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels (available as an option on the w- variant), partial-chiclet full-sized keyboard, new Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processor options, two DDR3 RAM slots, single hard disk bay and optical drive bay (optional Blu-ray available). HP Fansite has been trying out the Elitebook 8440w extensively for several weeks now and we have a review online for you to find out more.
The Elitebook 8540, on the other hand, is a 15.6 inch 16:9 widescreen (matte display standard) sporting notebook. Screen resolution options go as high as full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) for vast on-screen working space. And the notebook has a partial-chiclet full keyboard with a built-in numeric pad on the right side. Like the smaller Elitebook 8440 series, you’ll get to choose from Intel’s latest 2010 Core i5 and Core i7 processors. What makes the Elitebook 8540 different besides its super-sized keyboard are its FOUR (!!!) DDR3 RAM slots so you can boost memory up to 16 GB and it is one of the first few notebooks in the industry to have the latest USB 3.0 ports (Elitebook 8440 apparently has USB 2.0 only).
The p- variants of the two notebooks will have Intel integrated graphics to conserve power while the more powerful w-variants will feature Nvidia workstation class graphics (including the newly announced Nvidia Quadro FX380M and Nvidia Quadro FX780M cards).
Did I mention a solid metal chassis, spill-proof keyboard, HP keyboard Night Light, 3 year warranty,VGA and Display Port out all come standard with HP’s Elitebooks. And the starting prices? Glad you asked… from their mouth-watering specifications, it’s obvious these notebooks are not going cheap but for those who can afford them, you’ll be pleased with both the low-profile business design and sheer performance of the Elitebooks (well, at least the ones with dedicated Nvidia/ATI graphics)
- 14 inch HP Elitebook 8440p starts at $1100
- 14 inch HP Elitebook 8440w starts at $1300
- 15 inch HP Elitebook 8540p starts at $1250
- 15 inch HP Elitebook 8540w starts at $1500
Well, something is brewing at HP and whatever it is, I expect it to be coming soon. Judging by the rumors and sightings compiled this week, it seems that HP may be planning a launch of products aimed at business/enterprise users. Well, we already heard about the rumored Elitebook 8440w, 8540w and 8740w notebooks last month when people were talking about the two new Envy models and other consumer notebooks/netbooks (lots of links about that out there, Google it yourself). Those notebooks are updates to the existing Elitebook 6930p, Elitebook 8530p/w and Elitebook 8730w respectively, and the 2nd digits in the model names of the yet-to-be-announced Elitebooks point to a 14 inch model, 15 incher and a huge 17 inch Mobile Workstation respectively. The last two digits (“40″ series) are indicative of minor updates, so don’t hold your breath for a major overhaul – my bets are DDR3 RAM and graphics, 7200 RPM hard disks as a standard, multi-touch trackpads with the ‘nipple’ mouse AKA trackpoint and a slim chance of a tool-less chassis for easy RAM swapping (ala the existing HP Mini 5101). Probably there will be a few more extra bells, whistles and fancy things added, if HP is feeling generous enough – afterall, the W-series are supposed to be HP’s top-range Mobile Workstation notebook series.
I’ve strayed far enough from the topic I was gonna talk about, so let’s get right back to the whispers about the HP 2810. There’s been talk and hearsay about a certain “2810 model”, some have even claimed to have seen an actual unit floating around – but getting the latest gossip is harsh in the Windows world: people tend to be a lot more interested in extremely hyped-up, potentially-staged Apple rumors and speculation (the latest hype being the rumored Apple Tablet computer). There’s a tendency for other rumors from other PC makers (HP, Dell, anyone else) to be suppressed by the sheer amount of Apple hype and speculation around – so the occasional, rare sighting/news about new HP things is always welcome.
So what is this 2810 model all about? Is it the replacement to the ultra-portable Elitebook 2530p? Perhaps a successor to the the Elitebook 2730p tablet? A completely new ultra-portable business machine from HP? Even I’m puzzled – I keep seeing and hearing the these four digits around, and reports of ‘sightings’ but no one seems to be able to cough up any description of its purpose.
