The new, upcoming HP Elitebook 2540p!
In another one of those obsessive visits to HP’s website, I’ve spotted that they seem to have slipped up (or maybe they’re updating the page) with the wrong set of pictures the Elitebook 2530p page. They’ve posted pictures of the unannounced 2010 Elitebook 2540p ultra-portable instead! Hurrah for the world! The HP Elitebook 2540p looks a whole lot like its predecessor with the silver + black aluminium/metal design…
But there are several cues that makes it definitely the upcoming Elitebook 2540p – check out those partial chiclet keys, that round HP logo (instead of square) and low-profile, “blended” fingerprint reader – these are design elements found on HP’s new 2010 Elitebook models (check out my review of the Elitebook 8440w and you’ll notice a striking similarity, save for color). Unfortunately, one thing HP didn’t slip up/update yet are the features: the specifications are still that of the old Elitebook 2530p.
For the record, here’s the picture of the 2008 Elitebook 2530p (that used to be in place of the leaked pictures). Compare it to the pictures of the 2010 Elitebook 2540p above and you CAN spot the differences between the two.
It’s here! The HP Touchsmart tm2 tablet PC! This notebook has a 12 inch multi-touch display, an all new design (versus the old Pavilion tx1000, tx2000 and tx2), is powered by a Intel Core 2 Duo processor and has ATI graphics. Here’s a list of the Touchsmart tm2′s main features:
- Intel Core 2 Duo low-voltage processor
- ATI graphics
- Full-sized chiclet keyboard “borrowed from the Pavilion dm3″
- 12 inch capacitive multi-touch screen (you can use either your fingers or the included stylus) with swivel function
- 3 USB ports, VGA connector, covered LAN port, headphone jack (no microphone port, probably shared with the headphone port), HDMI output
- Buttonless trackpad like on the Envy 13/15: it supports multi-touch but can also be set to conventional “single touch” mode
- New Touchsmart UI and Bump Top 3D desktop interfaces for interactive multi-touch
- New, slimmer and more solid design (new imprint patterns too!)
- External optical drive (there’s none built-in)
- 9 hour battery life
- Sub-$1000 starting price
In my opinion, the Touchsmart tm2 is a whole lot like a ‘tablet Envy’ with its new design and specifications. You can see a lot of HP Envy design elements on the bottom half of the notebook (keyboard, palmrest, buttonless trackpad, rounded edges and simple port layout) as well as in its features list (long battery life, multitouch trackpad support, an Intel low-voltage processor paired with ATI graphics) which make it sound much like the Envy 13. The upper-half looks like a mashup of the original Touchsmart tx2′s glossy display with the slimness of the Elitebook 2730p tablet’s display. And there are buttons on the edges of the screen too, to be used when the Touchsmart tm2 is in slate mode. Thankfully, the price of the Touchsmart tm2 is more reasonable than the HP Envy series, with a sub-$1000 starting price tag. If you asked me, all of a sudden, the Touchsmart tm2 is starting to look real tasty… it’s almost the perfect ultra-portable notebook/tablet, save for the glossy display.
