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).
Based on the various tablet announcements from other companies this week, I think we can safely assume that HP will be including low voltage Core i7 (and probably i5) in their upcoming Elitebook 2540p ultra-portable notebook and Elitebook 2740p professional tablet. Both should be announced very soon so HP doesn’t get left behind after all their manufacturers launch their stuff. Lenovo and Toshiba are already done announcing their Core i7 tablets. Who’s next? If the leak about the Elitebook 2740p’s spring manufacture/launch is correct, then HP may jolly well be next in line, or not far from the front of the line at least, to announce their 2740p tablet…. along with other juicy goodies.
What else should we expect from the two 12 inch Elitebooks of the future? HP’s updated design cues for their business notebooks as seen in their new 14 and 15 inch Elitebook models announced at CES – that includes a fingerprint reader with a new ‘low-profile look’ (apparently gonna make its way to HP’s consumer line as well, so the whispers say), partial-chiclet style keyboard that’s spill resistant, one-press HP Night Light and solid metal build quality. Hey, we’ve already seen pictures of the Elitebook 2540p leaked by HP themselves… but there’s still a chance of them coming out with a totally radical re-design for the Elitebook 2740p tablet.
As for graphics options, these ultra-portable Elitebooks will have battery life as a priority over sheer performance, though no doubt Low Voltage Core i7 will still be able to pack quite a punch. Integrated graphics (by Intel, doh!) has been confirmed by a reliable source. Before you slap your own forehead doing a facepalm, feel assured there’s a small, small, small chance HP is considering discrete graphics as options (not sure if it’s gonna Nvidia or ATI).
htt 8440 and 8540 p://hpfansite.com/hp-elitebook/hp-elitebook-2740p-tablet-manufactured-spring-2010/
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
It’s Tuesday already for everyone around the world except Hawaii residents. The biggest thing we’ve been hearing on the net and in the media lately is the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 (CES) being held in Las Vegas. CES is where many electronics and technology companies come out to showcase their greatest concepts and launch their latest products. For the computing sector, I’ve got a small list here of what to expect from this year’s CES:
- Pine Trail aplenty – Lots of netbooks sporting Intel’s latest N450 Pine Trail processor. While offering roughly the same 1.66 GHz clock speed compared to its predecessor, the N280 processor, this latest Intel processor sips even less power than ever and sports a marginally better integrated graphics chipset (but no, you still can’t play Modern Warfare 2 or Need for Speed Shift on your N450 netbook).
- Tablet PCs – Expect to see a lot more computer manufacturers entering the tablet fray. CES has barely begun yet we’ve already seen Lenovo come up with a “hybrid” netbook/tablet today and an accidental information burst from an internet retailer detailing HP’s upcoming Touchsmart tablet… and of course, the ever-present, ever-discussed speculation about Apple’s tablet, the iTablet (or not).
- Core i3 and i5 for notebooks – Both Intel’s Mobile Core i3 and Mobile Core i5 will finally see the day of light in many, many full-sized notebooks this year. As proven by initial benchmarking of new Core i5 processors against last year’s Core 2 models, we’re gonna see quite a speed boost from Intel’s latest with similar/less power consumption… and while it hasn’t happened yet, this is probably going to lead to the complete replacement of Core 2 “Socket P” processors by their Mobile i3/i5 counterparts. We’re already seeing Core 2 processors being phased out.
- More graphics power – ATI made a big bang last year with the 5000-series graphics cards and their famous performance benchmark numbers and have already come out with ‘notebook’ versions of their 5000-series graphics. Nvidia recently added their new GeForce 300 series graphics cards for notebooks, which offer a supposedly large leap over their predecessors. Reliable sources have also told me that there are still yet-to-be-announced Quadro Mobile variants of their GeForce 300 series for CAD work in mobile workstation models.
- Touchscreens and High Definition everywhere – With even the most basic of digital cameras about to feature 720p HD movie recording capabilities, computer manufacturers will be touting their HD features here, there and everywhere. “HD” displays, “HD” graphics, Blu-ray drives, HD this and HD that. They’ll also be quick to offer more touchscreen devices, and touchscreens on more devices. Savvy? More touchscreen phones, touchscreen LCD displays, touchscreen all-in-one computers, touchscreen tablets, optional touchscreens on notebooks (whose extra charge I would fail to justify unless a stand for holding my arm up to the screen for prolonged periods is included)…
I would say 2010 is a terrific year to go out there and shop for new gadgets; especially notebooks. With so much new and improved stuff (as in REAL, justifyable improvements), notably Mobile Core i5 and next-generation ATI/Nvidia graphics cards, getting a notebook this year would be great, because there’ll be a big leap in performance over last year’s models. And of course, who knows what other interesting things the year may bring in the tech area. I foresee lots of exciting, shiny stuff in my crystal ball 
News of several upcoming HP computers has just broke out (or should I say, leaked) on the internet, apparently sprouting from online retailer Logic Buy. The folks there appear to be slightly unsure about the products (but they do have pictures), with specifications lists made out of some potentially real facts and some patchwork speculation.
Disclaimer: The source for this news article is not on HP Fansite’s “trusted sources” list, so do take specifications with a pinch of salt! The pictures appear to be real though!
Compaq Mini CQ10: Starting from the least significant of things is the Compaq Mini CQ10 netbook. This Compaq-branded netbook is a mashup of last year’s HP Mini designs (with the ‘old’, non-chiclet keyboard) and the guts of the recently leaked-n-selling HP Mini 210. The Compaq Mini CQ10 will sport a single-core 1.66 GHz, latest Intel Pine Trail N450 processor, GMA 3150 integrated graphics, 10 inch display and 250 GB hard disk, but UNLIKE the Mini 210, it will be limited to 1 GB of RAM, hinting that the Compaq Mini will ship with Windows XP (as opposed to Windows 7 on the Mini 210)
3rd generation HP Pavilion dv4: Unlike what they’ve done with the dm1/dm3 models, HP probably decided they’d save time and costs by re-using the hull of the HP Pavilion dv4. This 3rd generation dv4 sports the same design as its predecessors but with a different color scheme/exterior patterns. The 1st generation dv4 was a mix of silver and black, the 2nd generation dv4 was all-black and now, the dv4 is back… in all brown/gold (see the 1st picture above). Now, the folks out there on the net are only circulating pictures and speculation, but as the HP Fansite, we received exclusive information from a reliable source that HP will be offering the new Mobile Core i3/Core i5 processors with the new dv4. It will also have DDR3 RAM slots, new Nvidia graphics (as opposed to the crappy G105M in the 2nd generation) and optical drive with optional Blu-ray. To put things short, the new dv4 brings small changes: cosmetic, processor/graphics and DDR3 RAM – the rest stays the same.
Four new HP Pavilion Elite desktops: HP has four upcoming Pavilion Elite desktops. The Pavilion Elite 110t and 150t will be sub-$800 models with entertainment and media in mind, while the 170t and 180t models will cost around $1000+ and will offer more powerful Core i5 and Core i7 options, with a host of other step-up… plus the latter model will feature Nvidia GeForce GTX260 graphics
Well, things don’t seem too exciting for the HP’s consumer PC range this spring. Let’s hope for better from their business/enterprise PC side, shall we? =)
