HP Fansite

HP: Slate for enterprise users… which implies PalmPad for regular Joe consumers?

Looks like there’s plenty going on lately at Hewlett Packard; with the spotlights being on Palm and the HP Slate. HP has recently mentioned that the HP Slate (which runs Windows 7) will not be targeting the mass market but more on the corporate/enterprise sector instead. Essentially, you could say the HP Slate is going to be aimed at companies wanting a “super-lite” keyboard-less, Intel Atom-ized version of the pricey Elitebook 2740p. But then what of regular consumers? Is HP gonna just let them run off to Apple stores to buy iPads?

Well, that’s the thing. HP has been strangely quiet about their consumer version of the Slate, which will likely be a Palm WebOS powered tablet. So far, the only hints they’ve dropped are the trademark application for the PalmPad name (though I won’t  be surprised if they went for “PalmSlate” next) and to a lesser extent, talking about WebOS 2.0 being on track for an end-of-the-year (presumably before the holidays, if HP wants to capitalize on Black Friday and Christmas sales).

New HP Mini’s and notebooks on track for summer/fall release

Remember the time when it was first rumored earlier this year that HP was working on more HP Mini netbooks for 2009? Good news, apparently the reported Mini with a 11.6 inch display as well as another Mini with a 10.1 inch display (probably the direct successor to the consumer Mini 1000) are on track for August and late-September announcements respectively, so says a report by Digitimes. No news about any HP Mini ‘Tablet’ though.

There are also 13.3 and 14 inch business notebooks in the works as well as upcoming 15.6 inch and 17.3 inch models (most probably consumer notebooks).

More details on iPAQ K3 surface

HP iPAQ K3, the picture that's been floating around the net for the past 24 hours

Remember when details about the HP iPAQ K3 ‘Obsidian’ first came out precisely two months ago? Well, apparently someone got their hands on an ACTUAL iPAQ K3 with AT&T branding (instead of the computer-rendered images we first saw) and now pictures, like the one you see above, are flying around the net like crazy. Ignore the old details in the post in May, and check out the latest details over here – it’s now clearer that the iPAQ K3 will succeed the old iPAQ 900 Business Messenger, with the main changes being a swap from a touchscreen LCD to a new OLED touchscreen on the K3 (though the 2.46 inch diagonal still remains), upgrade to a 528 MHz processor, two separate ports for micro USB and 3.5 mm headphone jack respectively (replaces the yucky, old combo mini USB port) and of course, it’ll be HP’s first iPAQ to feature Windows Mobile 6.5. The iPAQ K3 will also feature a new, classier design, which looks like a gazillion times better than the all-gloss black plastic design of the old iPAQ 900.

In other areas, the iPAQ K3 will have WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, a microSD expansion slot, 3.2 megapixel camera – things you’d expect in a typical business-oriented Pocket PC device. It’ll also have 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM, but strangely, there’s no mention of HP’s own ‘Windows Mobile interface’… maybe later as K3′s release in November approaches.

iPAQ K3 – Good job, HP, keep working on it!

Word about the new HP iPAQ K3 “Obsidian” came out today (courtesy of AT&T) and it looks like another step towards the better, I think. On paper and pictures, the new iPAQ K3 looks like the middle child of the iPAQ 912 Business Messenger and the recent iPAQ Data Messenger. There’s the iPAQ 912′s form factor here (if you’ve never seen one, think Nokia E71) along with a QWERTY keyboard… and from the Data Messenger’s genes come a 2.8 inch (supposedly touchscreen) LCD, microSD/microSDHC support and proximity + ambient light sensor. There are the usual culprits you’d expect to find on a smartphone – WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, data syncing, etc.

The two key changes here are: Windows Mobile 6.5 and a 3.5 mm headphone jack (whew, thought I’d never see it again since the days of the iPAQ h6310). Congratulations HP, that’s a step in the right direction – bring back the standard 3.5 mm headphone jack!! It seems just about every phone nowadays has one, and I’m glad HP actually listens and is not ignorant to change (the reason why Sony Ericsson/Motorola = Fail). The only not-so-good item on paper I see here is a 2 megapixel fixed focus camera (Why oh why?!).

No, I won’t be surrendering my Data Messenger for the iPAQ K3 – I’ll be holding out until HP releases a full WVGA touchscreen, Windows Mobile 6.5 phone, when someone loans it to me, whenever that may be…

HP Pavilion dv7 featured in Microsoft’s latest ad

The HP Pavilion dv7 was recently featured in Microsoft’s latest “Lauren and the under-$1000 17 inch laptop ad“. As usual, many Apple/Mac fanboys are screaming and trying to enforce “Windows PCs are rubbish”, yet again. Is that not surprising? Somebody actually said the $699 HP Pavilion dv7 is a, quote, “crappy budget notebook”… excuse me? The HP Pavilion dv7 is a very capable notebook – you can watch videos, play games (intensive ones included) and do a whole lot of things on it; it’s nowhere CLOSE to being a “crappy budget notebook”. Did anyone read about a certain brand’s PC hard disks failing because of using the built-in speakers at a loud volume (hint: it’s not HP); now they are the real makers of really cheap notebooks, in all senses of the word.

Back to the point… people should just face the facts: ANY other notebook PC is priced much lower, with better specifications, than an “equivalent” Apple Mac/Macbook computer. True, even I would agree that the advertisement may be somewhat “stretched” in the sense most people won’t shop for their notebook based on screen size alone, but here’s a real life experience from me: A friend of mine, Steven, has been looking for a decent notebook PC priced around $900. He’s in college right now and wants something that he can use for documents, surfing the web and also for watching movies as well as some gaming (he wants to be able to run games like Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty 4 and 5 at decent quality settings and frame rate).

He’s not asking for a massive screen (in fact he prefers a 14 to 15 inch LCD as a nice compromise between portability and screen viewability) but he’s quite particular about the graphics and gaming part there. Here’s a comparison of the HP Pavilion dv4 notebook PC versus the unibody Macbook (click for larger):

Upper left: HP Online Store, Lower left: Apple Online Store, Right: Excel comparison table (As of March 30, 2009)

A HP Pavilion dv4 with a 2.4 GHz processor, 3 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard disk, 512 MB Nvidia GeForce G105M graphics and 14 inch screen would run you roughly $925.
A Macbook (Unibody model) with a 2.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard disk, 256 MB Nvidia 9400M graphics and 13 inch screen would cost about $1600!!!

Turns out a *similar* Macbook would cost almost $700 extra while having inferior graphics, a smaller LCD and 1 GB RAM less than the HP. Hey, point proven. And the higher you go, the larger the price difference between a Windows computer and a *similar* Apple computer.

He’s already checked out other “Windows PC” options and likes the HP Pavilion dv4′s build quality and design better versus the others; and is currently waiting for any additional/potential “summer specials” before springing for the notebook.

UPDATE (April 2009): Steven finally bought a laptop after much comparison and shopping around; he got a good deal on a HP Pavilion dv3000 and went for that, instead of the dv4 he was planning for.