THE biggest division of the world's No.1 PC maker, Hewlett-Packard, unleashed its biggest batch of new and refreshed products last week, keeping it squarely in the driver's seat in the consumer PC sphere.
HP's Personal Systems Group unveiled some 50 products - from calculators to laptops - at the Connecting Your World event.
The show stealer was clearly the all-in-one HP TouchSmart desktop PC. A tap on the screen or a swipe of a finger across the screen lets you browse, select or drag and drop files. Equally impressive are the neat little touches like a keyboard illuminator, powerful processor and audio prowess.
For consumers, six new laptops will also hit the stores starting July.
These have their fair share of drool factors. Upgrades include liquid-metallic imprint designs, Blu-ray drives and hard disk protection technology for the home consumer.
Businesses here can look forward to a refreshed line up of 10 notebooks, a new cash register system and a next-generation colour-critical LCD for the animation and design industry.
These corporate help mates also look cool. They are now tougher, more secure and more reliable. Upgrades include aircraft-inspired design, scratchproof magnesium casing and a clever connectivity option that allows users to switch from one mobile broadband network to another without additional devices.
For schools, there are affordable calculators, which when hooked up to scientific sensors and probes allow teachers and students to collect, visualise and analyse their data.
The only disappointment at the show was getting to ogle the new high-end Voodoo Omen gaming PC with the knowledge that there no plans for this ultimate machine to hit Singapore stores anytime soon.
What is so great about this PC? It's all about cutting edge technology and modern style. The Voodoo Omen supports extreme top end computing parts like an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad Core 3.2GHz processor. It can also take up to 8GB DDR3 SDRAM. To cool all this firepower, it makes use of a liquid cooling system with copper piping.
HP Touchsmart IQ500 PC
Price starts from US$1,299 (S$1,791)
APPLE-like in design simplicity and iPhone-ish in its touchscreen interface, the spruced up TouchSmart PC (above) may be the desktop that breaks the mould.
Swipe your fingers across the screen to browse files, pinch the screen to zoom in or zoom out of photos. The smart software also knows, when you point a finger at the scroll bar, that you want to move up or down a website or documents and responds accordingly. You can also place application tiles on the desktop screen for quick access.
Two tiny cameras located in the bezel of the screen detect the position and movement of your fingers, making the smart moves possible.
Equally impressive is the simple yet intuitive interface that allows you to organise music files and drag and drop music clips with your fingertip to create playlists. Or, to create your own videos and upload immediately to YouTube. Sure, you interact with the PC the traditional way - HP ships it with a slim wireless keyboard and a mouse.
What also caught my eye was the new TouchSmart's sleek and elegant design.
The slender 22-inch LCD houses the powerful Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processing components, connectivity options, audio speakers, hard drive and a slot-in DVD burner.
Built-in webcam and microphone allows for video chats while the wireless LAN gives fast access to the Internet.
Customers will also have the option of a TouchSmart PC with a built-in TV tuner. So you need only one cord to set up, banishing cable tangles.
Voodoo Envy 133
From US$2,099
The bad news: You won't be able to get your hands on this premium notebook (right) any time soon.
The good news: After intense lobbying from regional journalists, HP executives may consider bringing this product here.
Saying that the notebook looks good is very much an understatement. Touted as the Macbook Air killer, this glossy black ultra-thin laptop measures just 1.3cm thin and weighs less than 1.5 kg.
Much of its lightness of being has to do with a durable but light carbon fibre casing. A 13.3-inch widescreen display and a host of connectivity options including the blazing fast HDMI complete the package.
HP Elitebook
From US$1,179
STYLISH yet durable, this notebook leads HP's new line-up of business laptops. Sporting a new aircraft-inspired design, a shock-resistant hard drive and a tough inner magnesium shell, the HP Elitebook (right) is made for the seasoned road warrior.
In fact, the Elitebook even passed the tough US military-standard equipment tests. This means the device can withstand extreme temperature variations, harsh environmental factors like moisture and dust; and vibrations like driving at high-speeds, off-road on a Humvee.
It weighs just over 2kg and features a 14.1-inch widescreen display. Other highlights include a built-in webcam with its Business Card Reader software and a full range of wireless and security solutions.
HP Dreamcolor LP2480zx Display
US$3,499
DREAMWORKS Animation, the studio behind Shrek and Kung Fu Panda threw a challenge to HP - come up with a colour-critical, affordable LCD that works as well as a CRT monitor.
HP's response: A 10-bit LCD capable of displaying over a billion colours or 64 times the colours you get on mainstream LCDs (right).
Designed with Dreamworks Animation, this new monitor also packs big advances including one-button access to colour spaces such as sRGB and Adobe RGB, which are preferred by photographers and designers.
This article was first published in The Straits Times, Digital Life on 17 June 2008.
