One of the more reliable sources out there has recently picked something up on the radar: *something* will be announced somewhere in the middle of next month, perhaps biased a little towards the end, but nevertheless, something. *Something* because it is currently unknown what exactly it will be, but I’m sure many of us are all hoping it will be the some things we’ve been waiting for, huh?
Nope, don’t look at the categories I’ve listed below as hints I know something you all don’t – it’s just wishful thinking because my guess is as good as your’s. The time of month has been confirmed (mid-end March), but announcement/event is unknown. So remember to take some time off this weekend to do the lucky dance and hope it’s the new Elitebooks and/or ATI graphics options.
UPDATE: In case you were thinking the Feb 28/March 1 announcement of the Elitebook 2540p and 2740p and updated Probook models were “IT”, you’re wrong. Expect another round of announcements in March. So this time we can narrow things down to either the flagship Elitebook 8740w with Dream Color 2, the new Envy 14 and Envy 17, new Pavilion notebooks, one or more of the above, or something completely different (remote possibility: HP Slate pricing and availability?). And the speculation goes on….
Quadro FX3800M in Precision M6500, as seen on Dell's order website
Just as focus began changing last week from ‘product rumors’ to ‘seasonal shopping’, Dell decided to bust out the first ever entrant into the ‘Mobile Workstation’ category for 2009/2010. Meet the Precision M6500 – specification and design wise, it sounds and looks a whole lot like its predecessor. The main changes are Core i7 under the hood (same 1.6 and 1.73 GHz variants we’ve been seeing in things such as the HP Envy 15) and, more interestingly, a new Nvidia Quadro FX3800M graphics card. I’m not sure if bringing up word of the FX3800M is a mistake or deliberate move on Dell’s behalf, as Nvidia has neither made an official announcement nor does their website show any ‘Quadro FX3800M’ card (not to be confused with the existing Quadro FX3800 for desktop) – the latest high-end mobile workstation graphics card shown on Nvidia’s website is the Quadro FX3700M.
But anyhow, this is surely a sign of things to come. Upon seeing this (Dell Precision M6500 specs), I think almost any person with some computer know-how and ability to make predictions will say that Core i7 and Nvidia Quadro FX3800M are almost definitely appearing in the upcoming HP Elitebook 8740w (future competitor to today’s freshly announced Dell). The Elitebook 8740w will probably also have the rumored standard features for HP’s next-gen Elitebooks. Since we’re discussing hardware here, I mind as well throw in my guess for the Elitebook 8740w’s display – I bet it will most likely re-use the same matte, 16:10, 1920×1200 17 inch panels from the 2008 Elitebook 8730w because 1) people wanting a ‘workstation’ would also want the most screen resolution they can get (a 16:9, 1920×1080 display would probably be glossy, and are geared towards movie watchers who don’t want black bars above/below their video) and 2) it’ll probably be expensive and a hassle for HP to re-develop another DreamColor display if they were to cut down to 16:9 ratio, and 3) the Dell Precision M6500 has a 16:10, 1920×1200 screen (and who wants to lose out to the competition?
In other Elitebook rumor news, another reader by the name of Juggs says the HP Elitebook 8440w/8440p (14 inch) and HP Elitebook 8540w/8540p (15 inch) notebooks will be announced on January 25 and January 26 next year respectively. Hmm, I’m not sure why HP would split them up into two separate announcements seeing they’re both similar products. Even more strange, no mention of the announcement of the Elitebook 8740w? Juggs also goes on to confirm that Core i5/i7, DDR3 RAM and LED backlit displays will make their appearances on the next gen of Elitebooks
