Say what now?! After a few years of abandoning the camera market, it seems that HP is making a come back this year with five new digital still cameras and three new camcorders. I’m surprised that none of them have HP’s old “Photosmart” moniker – they could’ve used one, instead of the confusing numbers and letters each model has right now. The five new cameras (with the confusing names: CW450, CW450t, SW450 PW460t, PW550z) are all sub-$150 entry-level offerings and will sell only though certain channels. The camcorders (with names just as confusing: V1020h, V5061u and V5560u) are sub-$200 models, two of which are able to record full HD 1080p video and have regular “camcorder” form-factors, while the cheapest (And slimmest) of the three will record 720p regular HD video.
Not sure why HP is suddenly making a come back this spring, neither is it known what their plan in the digital imaging (still and video cameras) business is for the long term. Well, HP, if there’s one place where a “comeback” (and a big, bad-ass comeback, at that) is needed from you is the handheld/mobile phone line. While I’m sure many appreciate HP toying with and testing the waters of different device markets, the iPaq line has long been in need of a nice refresh with awesome new models (something we haven’t seen in quite some time now…)
Hey, remember that Elitebook 8540 document posted earlier this week that mentioned the unannounced ATI FirePro M5800 graphics card? Well, I read through it again, more thoroughly this time, and I spotted options for all new “DreamColor 2″ full HD (1920 x 1080) display options for both the Elitebook 8540p and Elitebook 8540w (complete with your choice of webcam-equipped or webcam-less display). Isn’t this a dream come true? The Elitebook 8540w is getting even more powerful and better than the old flagship Elitebook 8730w by the day! This can only mean two things: the Elitebook 8540w is really the ‘true’ Mobile Workstation which packs almost all your needs into a neat little 15 inch design AND HP will make the next-generation flagship Elitebook 8740w even better to differentiate it from the 8540w powerhouse!
Man, this is getting better and I hope HP has even more surprises and options to come! Goodbye, Envy 15, because the Elitebook 8540w is officially my notebook of choice now! [Now waiting impatiently for the ATI graphics option to become available]
http://hpfansite.com/hp-elitebook/ati-firepro-m5800-graphics-leaked-coming-hp-elitebook-8540w/
HP Envy 15 Beats Edition in Lady Gaga's music video
So I had meant to post this ages ago but due to a combination of Christmas, lots of HP notebook rumors this month and other things that take precedence in terms of priority, I’m only posting this now. Four HP Envy 15 Beats edition notebooks were recently featured in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance single video.
Camera zooms into two Envy's at 2:45
The Core i7 Mobile packing, ATI Mobility Radeon 4830 blazing luxury/premium notebooks had about three seconds (2:44 to 2:46) of screen time. The Beats by Dr Dre headphones also made its appearance, draped on the third Envy 15 Beats notebook in the video at 2:44. This same pair of headphones is part of the “limited edition” HP Envy 15 Beats package.
Another better view of the HP Envy 15 Beats in the Bad Romance video
Compared to the “regular” HP Envy 15, the Envy 15 Beats Edition is essentially the same notebook inside with “Beats” branding, black casing design (regular Envy is silver/beige-ish) and includes the mentioned Beats by Dr Dre headphones and Traktor DJ software for… well, DJ’s to do their thing with music tracks.
HP Envy 15 Beats Edition product picture
Oh, before you rush out there to place your order for one “just because Lady Gaga has four”, the Envy 15 Beats Edition also gets a $500 price premium slapped on top of the price of a regular Envy. Food for thought. Okay, given not everyone’s a fan of Lady Gaga, at least you can relate to playing games like Left4Dead on full HD/max everything at 60 FPS on HP’s slimmest Core i7 notebook. Right? Have a great New Year’s eve folks!
Bet you didn’t know that, huh? The HP Envy 15 has two fans for cooling, one on each side (upper left and upper right corners). Both act independently of each other in terms of speed… but when playing Left4Dead at full HD, max everything (All quality settings, AA), both blow out a LOT of air. The fans on the HP Envy 15 are generally louder than the HP Elitebook 8530w’s fan running at full blast, though not really as noisy or annoying as something like… the Pavilion dv-series.
More to come on the HP Envy 15 soon…
I suddenly had the urge to watch Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday in full HD, I’m not sure why (but nevermind that) – perfect, I thought, to try it out on my newly acquired HP Mini 5101. I booted up the Mini’s trusty, musty Windows XP system and opened the movie in VLC. While the movie’s surround sound was mind blowing, it was no better than if a radio station tried to play a movie – if you know what I mean: No video. Yes, audio plays back well but without video. Gahh… anyone know of any software that plays 1080p movies on a graphic-less Intel Atom N280 system?
On a side note, I know a few friends who just received their Mini 5101′s, some with unresponsive/faulty keyboards – any Mini 5101 owners out there with faulty/unresponsive keyboards or Mini 5101′s with stuck keys? Well, my copy works fine, so the issue seems to affect only certain units.
