HP Fansite

Tablet news: Touchsmart tm2 getting LV i3/i5 soon, rumored webOS HP Slate

Hey, here’s a two-in-one news story about HP tablet/slate devices. The first, fairly solid rumor/announcement is that the recently released HP Touchsmart tm2 will be packed with the latest, but currently unannounced, Intel low-voltage Core i3 and Core i5 processors in a few months’ time, most likely somewhere during summer, towards the July/August period where Intel has had some history in announcing new stuff. Well, that’s great news for ‘back to school’ goers and people who can wait for a while before buying their new notebook… but probably not so great for people like me – you know, the type who wants the ‘latest and greatest’ but at the same time needs to get a new notebook pretty soon (I’m looking for an ultra-portable to replace my current HP Mini this year).

In other news, there’s whispers of a HP Slate like slate in development that will run WebOS (courtesy of buying Palm not two weeks ago). Sources are saying that mobile processors will definitely be used in this latest “Slate” (compared to the original HP Slate that will run on Intel Atom ‘netbook’ processors), though the topic as to which mobile processor is up for speculation (I’m betting some upgraded/future Snapdragon processor/Nvidia Tegra 2). Rumors from the web (which usually are less reliable, like the time that the speculated ‘HP iPaq K3 Obsidian’ turned out to be called the ‘HP iPaq Glisten’ instead) label this upcoming HP slate, the HP Hurricane. Seeing we haven’t quite gotten any names from sources yet, I guess we’ll stick to that for now – look out for further news about the HP Hurricane in the future (which will be listed under our existing HP Slate news category)

Super HP belated Valentine’s day rumors roundup

Okay, fine, so this may have little to do with Valentine’s day… but let’s spread some love for the several HP notebooks that have been and continue to stay elusive.

Elitebook 8740w: So it seems a lot of people have a couple of grand lying around and are all set to drop it on this long-awaited Mobile Workstation on the precise millisecond it comes out. Question is WHEN?! There was a gap of roughly one month between when the Elitebook 6930p and 8530/8730w series were announced back in 2008. It’s been over a month since the Elitebook 8440 and 8540 models were announced at CES 2010, so where is the 8740w?! (And oh, before I forget 8740w, where are your smaller friends as well?). I suspect the Elitebook 8740w’s elusiveness has something to do with ATI launching FirePro mobile, HP launching DreamColor 2 displays or both. Most likely DreamColor 2 is the culprit. You see, DreamColor displays are a wonderful technology that you don’t see on notebooks everyday… so what a great party/bash it would be for HP to launch the flagship Elitebook 8740w FEATURING DreamColor 2?! It’s very, very, very likely that the 8740w and DreamColor 2 will debut hand-in-hand, at least that’s the way speculation seems to be pointing…

Envy 14 and Envy 17: Cooler than ever. Not that the Envy 13 and 15 aren’t cool enough, in the cool dude sense of the word, because they look awesome. Word is the Envy 14 and Envy 17 will not only LOOK awesome, but stay cool as well… as in, not burn up your palms and thighs as you work on an Office 2010 document or play Crysis 2 at high settings in the future.

Envy 17′s first sale?! Everyone rush out and check your local consumer electronics store(s) now! An enthusiastic reader claims (multiple times) that he’s bought an Envy 17 less than a week ago, from some place that he would’ve never gone to buy a computer from (he doesn’t mention where) and that he got a good deal on it. In another of his comments, he emphasizes that it has a “number pad”, though little else is mentioned. False alarm? Or could someone else really hit the jackpot and find a store selling the Envy 17? Pictures or it didn’t happen!

Shifting things around: If anyone has noticed, HP has shifted their new 8440 and 8540 forwards on their Elitebook page, and relegated the 6930p, 8530p and 8540w to the back seat (or right edge of the page). Perhaps this is a sign of the Elitebook 8740w to come? Or is this just HP doing some website spring cleaning, again?

Okay, I’m done shifting through rumors and whatnot for the day. Back to putting on the finishing touches to my Envy 15 + ATI Mobility Radeon 5830 review…

HP’s Phil McKinney talks more about the HP Slate

Hey, remember when Microsoft and HP showed off the new HP Slate during CES 2010 earlier this month/year? HP has just posted a video featuring Phil McKinney and the HP Slate… and they couldn’t have picked a better time, less than 48 hours before Apple’s “launch event” for 2010 (supposedly the Apple tablet is debut during then). I’m getting kinda sick of Apple tablet rumors; I usually click off/close windows when I see “Apple tablet rumors” being posted – normally it’s the same old speculation recycled over and over again to generate hype. But after checking out the (mostly positive) reaction across the net today towards the HP Slate, I think this is gonna be a very appealing, very competitive offering against the currently-vaporware competitor from Apple (and also other tablet form-factor devices). I mean, a full fledged Windows 7 in a relatively compact and slim design… and HP’s usual touch-optimized, Touchsmart-like user friendly add-on user interface – bring it on!

Here’s the YouTube video courtesy of HP (You can watch it in HD if you like)

Voodoo phone mentioned by Rahul Sood

Arrgh me hearties, a year it has been since there was speculation about the possibility of Voodoo PC (a subsidiary of HP) coming out with a (luxury?) mobile phone. HP’s CTO of their HP/Voodoo Business Unit, Rahul Sood, has just mentioned in a Twitter tweet that it bugs him that he’s using an Apple iPhone instead of a “Voodoo phone”

The message seems pretty cryptic as nothing else, no other details, are mentioned. Is a new Voodoo Phone (vPhone?) in the works? Is there already one (or a few) prototype models in existance? What’s it gonna have, design and feature wise? Well only time will tell.

Oh, while we’re talking about phones and such, dear HP, while/if you’re probably hard at work developing a vPhone, can you please do something about the iPAQ line while you’re at it, and bring iPAQ devices back up to their former state of glory? Thanks – HP Fansite on the behalf of many iPAQ fans out there =)

HP joining venture with Microsoft to launch ‘Courier’ tablet

HP will team up with Microsoft to launch a tablet this Wednesday

Hot off the press is an article by the New York Times highlighting the impending launch of the “Microsoft Courier” (or at least something based off the concept) tablet this Wednesday by Steve Ballmer (Microsoft’s CEO) at the Consumer Electronics Show. Looks like there’s gonna be quite a bit of drama as HP (as in Hewlett Packard) and Microsoft team up to launch a tablet way before Apple’s tablet even comes out of ‘vaporware speculation’ status! Go team Microsoft! This upcoming tablet will be a ‘HP device’ (although what sort of branding it will receive is still a mystery. Will it be branded with Microsoft or HP’s name?) will have multimedia functions, including a reader feature, and a touchscreen (size unknown) supporting multi-touch input.