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HP Elitebook 2540p ultra-portable notebook pictures leaked!

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.

Up to three storage/disk drives on flagship Elitebook 8740w?!

HP has put quite a bit of effort (but not to their full potential, apparently) to spice up this year’s Elitebook 8440 and 8540 models. After pondering things over, I think making the Elitebook 8740w merely a “17 inch version” of the 8540w would be risky for HP. With 2008′s Elitebook 8530w vs Elitebook 8730w, there was plenty to justify going for the 17 inch 8730w: numeric pad, more powerful graphics card, DreamColor display and optional Quad Core.

The same can’t be done with the 8740w as two original differentiating factors: numeric pad and quad core are already standard on the 8540w, leaving graphics and the optional DreamColor display as the only reasons to settle for a bulkier, less portable 17 inch model. More things have to be introduced in the Elitebook 8740w to differentiate it from the 8540w… coincidentally, one of the negative points some critics made about the original 8730w was the lack of a second built-in hard disk bay which manycompetitors had (and whose successors still have at the moment, like the Dell Precision M6500). You could have had two hard disks spinning in your 8730w, but you had to sacrifice the optical drive for that to happen. That is why I highly suspect HP’s 2010 Elitebook 8740w will have options for up to three hard disk drives (two standard notebook storage bays; option to replace optical drive with 3rd hard disk/solid state drive).

But one of the issues would be space. The Elitebook 8730w was/is the slimmest 17 inch Mobile Workstation available (Apple MacBook Pro 17 doesn’t count because it has consumer graphics), and I get a feeling the 8740w will inherit that title from its predecessor. While some two and a half inch thick 17 inch laptops can pack two hard disks above each other or tuck them under other components, you’d have to place the hard disk bays side on the Elitebook 8740w (which is gonna be a little over an inch thin). I’ve seen what’s inside the old Elitebook 8730w before (after dissection) and if we were to assume components in the 8740w to be about the same proportions and take up a similar amount of space, HP could fit in a second hard disk bay under the left side of the palmrest. Some reshuffling would have to be done, however – relocating the Smart Card reader to above the optical drive (ala their other non-17 inch Elitebook models) is a must. The Express Card slot can remain – there is sufficient room to have the hard disk sit directly below the EC slot.

It’s good to see HP working their way “up” the model range when designing their Elitebooks. I see some manufacturers are doing the opposite, creating higher end models and then “crippling” certain features in them to create lower end variaties – I personally think this isn’t the way to go if one was to bring innovation to the table. I get a gut feeling multi-hard disk bays will be one of the many surprises HP will introduce in the Elitebook 8740w….

Alert: HP Envy 17, Envy 14, Elitebook 2540p and 2740p in the pipeline

Screenshot from search results: Elitebook 2540p and 2740p, etc listed on HP's website

Spotlight: One of our readers, Dana, has tipped us off about Elitebook 2540p and Elitebook 2740p in the works after spotting a new 9-cell battery available for a “2540p” model on a HP Korea website (Update: I can’t seem to access the page Dana posted, but HP has updated thier list of “notebooks supporting Windows 7″ to include the new Elitebook 2540p and 2740p models).

16:9 displays on Elitebooks: It is currently known that HP’s smaller Elitebook models: the ultra-portable 12 inch Elitebook 2540p, 12 inch tablet PC Elitebook 2740p and medium-sized 14 inch Elitebook 8440p/8440w, will all sport 16:9 widescreen displays which may put a little crinkle on foreheads of people hoping for 16:10 displays. However, thank goodness it seems that HP will maintain 16:10 displays for their larger Elitebooks. If you think of it this way, 16:9 displays with a resolution of 1366 x 768 is slightly wider than current 16:10, 1280 x 800 displays, while sacrificing a mere 32 pixels of vertical reading space. For people frequently opening two programs side by side, this is great news. For those fretting about “scrolling and reading” web pages and documents, well, I can’t change HP’s minds. But you can always look for the “Go fullscreen” option in your browser or program (F11 for Firefox).

Elitebook 8740w news: We have also received confirmation that the HP Elitebook 8740w (17 inch Mobile Workstation) will sport a 16:10 LCD display just like its predecessor, the current 8730w. This comes after Dana found a 16:10 privacy filter (but 15.4 inch? Probably a typo by someone there) with product number AJ358AA for a certain 8740w model. Joy to the world! Looks like potential desktop replacement/mobile workstation buyers WILL get their 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200 extra large displays after all (what did I tell you?! Told you HP won’t do away with 16:10 displays on their 8740w, not when they’ve spent so much effort developing the 17 inch DreamColor panel for 2008′s 8730w).

Envy 14 and Envy 17 listed in document found on HP Korea

Envy 14 and Envy 17: If you liked the Envy 15 notebook but crave for a bigger display, more graphics power and bigger everything, then good news, this document located on HP Korea’s website (don’t worry, the title is Korean but oddly, the text and content of the Excel file is in English; scroll to the very right side to view the new models) reveals that they’re planning for an Envy 14 and Envy 17. Not much is known about the two models now other than their screen sizes: 14 inches and 17 inches respectively. I can, however, make an intelligent/educated guess that the Envy 17 will have a 1080p full HD 1920 x 1080 display while the Envy 14 is likely to “recycle” and share the Elitebook 8440w’s 1600 x 900 panel.

HP Compaq CQ42, CQ62, G42 and G62; Mini 210: The same document listing the Envy 14 and Envy 17 above also show that HP has new stuff for those with smaller wallets and lower budgets for their next notebook. Introducing the new Compaq Presario CQ42/G42 and CQ62/G62 models. As far as I know, the two different names (G and CQ) are just used in different regions/parts of the world, but the notebooks themselves *should* be the same. The HP Mini 210 also makes its appearance in the document, confirming the info posted before Christmas about the Mini 200 series debut from a trusted source.

Probook 6440b and Probook 6540b: Here’s something that most people would overlook. Don’t assume these are the same as the existing Probook 6445b and Probook 6545b on HP’s Probook page. They’re not! I been observing HP’s naming conventions with their notebooks and the last digit indicates the processor used in their business notebooks. “0 (Zero)” used as the last digit equates to an Intel processor, while “5″ points to AMD processor.  The 6440b and 6540b are likely to be the same as their “6x45b” siblings except they will sport Intel’s processors, most likely Core i3.

Dell Precision M6500 + Nvidia Quadro FX3800M appears; HP Elitebook 8740w imminent?

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