Filed under: Laptops

HP has always been confident that the 2133 Mini-Note would sell quickly, to the point where the company planned to build some two million units this year, and it sounds like that bet’s paying off — China’s Apply Daily is citing sources at HP Taiwan quoting worldwide sales growing 50 percent monthly. That’s pretty good for one of the more expensive small laptops on the market — we’ll see if that rumored cheaper edition moves even more.

[Via Brighthand]

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Filed under: Laptops

HP’s touting the DreamColor display in its new Centrino 2 / NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700-powered EliteBook 8730w as being one of the best displays on the market, and if the crew at Maximum PC is to be believed, the $400 option lives up to the hype. Other notable bits included the Durakey keyboard coating, which should protect against wear and tear for three years, and the semi-rugged chassis that can withstand short falls. Sadly, all these features bump the starting price from a reasonable $1,700 to over five large, but you get what you pay for, it seems — check out tons more pics at the read link.

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Filed under: Laptops

So now that HP’s joined Dell in releasing information on which laptops have those defective NVIDIA GPUs, we can sort of piece together which chips are faulty — and just as had been rumored, it looks like basically every Geforce 8600M and 8400M chip is affected. That’s not good news for NVIDIA, which has been saying that only “previous-generation” chips were problematic — unless the chipmaker is planning on updating the hugely popular 8×00 series sometime, say, now, that’s not exactly true, now is it? Other affected chips appear to be in the GeForce Go 7000 and 6000 lines, as well as the Quadro NVS 135M and the Quadro FX 360M, but that’s just looking at model numbers, and we can’t be exactly sure. We’d say that if you’ve got a machine with any one of these GPUs, it might be wise to call in and see what your laptop maker is going to do — and it would be smart for NVIDIA to come right out and say exactly how big and how bad this problem really is.

Read - Dell list of machines and patch
Read - HP list of machines, extended warranty info

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Just weeks after “reinventing” Voodoo with the Envy 133 laptop and Omen gaming desktop, it looks like HP’s had enough — it’s decided to straight-up merge the specialty PC shop with its core consumer business, and sell its products alongside the Compaq Presario and HP Pavilion lines. Yeah, that’ll make Voodoo seem totally hardcore. For it’s part, HP says it’s always been planning on this kind of merger, and that the move will make Voodoo product easier to buy worldwide and faster to get with no change in service for existing customers, but it’s also oddly ambiguous on whether the Voodoo name will live on — saying only that it’s “likely,” but that a decision hasn’t been reached. All this means that it’s even weirder that HP has both the Voodoo and Blackbird gaming lines, of course — any bets on which one gets axed first?

Read - PC World article
Read - HP CTO Raul Sood’s blog entry on the merger

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Filed under: Desktops

Apparently some folks have $6,600 to toss on a gaming PC, and thankfully, those folks — we won’t mention names — invested in a camera to let us all live vicariously. HP’s Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition, which packs a pair of NVIDIA’s potent GeForce GTX 280 cards, has landed in the home of one lucky gamer, and there’s a good selection of pictures to prove it. You know where to head from here.

[Thanks, bioender]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Well, that didn’t take long. Atul Malhotra, the HP executive charged with stealing printer market data when he left IBM and sending it to his new colleagues at HP with the genius-level subject line “For Your Eyes Only,” has pled guilty to one count of theft of trade secrets. Malhotra probably made the right choice — he specifically requested the information just before he left IBM and HP itself investigated and turned him in when he was found sending it around, so the case against him was pretty airtight. It’s not clear what his plea deal is, but sentencing is scheduled for October 29, and he can get up to 10 years in the clink with a fine of up to a quarter-million dollars. Crime don’t pay, kids.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The printer market isn’t exactly full of the most intersting news, but it’s still big money, and big money tends to bring out the worst in people — like former HP VP Atul Malhotra, who was just charged with stealing trade secrets from his former employer IBM and emailing them to other HP execs. Apparently Malhotra requested some confidential sales data two months before he went from the three-letter company to the two-letter one, and when he got there he hit up some other senior execs with the files — marking the subject line “For Your Eyes Only.” Yeah, that’s an effective way to keep a lid on things. Malhotra was fired from HP in 2006, so all this went down some time ago, and HP says it actually conducted an internal investigation about the matter before firing Malhotra and reporting the theft to both IBM and the authorities. Sure, sure — but we’ll know what’s up when the next HP AIO is running a Cell chip.

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Alienware was making some noise earlier today about being first out the gate with NVIDIA’s new GeForce GTX 280 cards, but HP’s gaming division isn’t about get shown up: it’s launching the HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition which features two GTX 280 cards in SLI today, and it says it’ll be shipping almost a month sooner than Alienware for $6,600 — just over a thousand dollars less than a similar Area-51 setup. That’s fightin’ talk, people — hopefully these two will get their prices down to something actually reasonable by the time this is all over.

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Filed under: Cellphones

We first heard about HP’s iPAQ 900 / 914 3G Business Messenger in September of last year, and after a series of delays (which seem to be endemic to the iPAQ line), it looks like the device is finally set to start shipping. Nothing much has changed, except that a Windows Mobile 6.1 device with a 2.46-inch display, WiFi, GPS, HSDPA, and a 3 megapixel camera isn’t exactly the hot sheets it was almost a year ago. That said, that chubby case hides a 1800mAh battery, which should let enterprise users get their business on for the better part of a full day. Should be shipping around the world starting June 30, although specific worldwide dates will vary.

[Via WMPoweruser and Phone Scoop]

Read - HP press release
Read - Hands-on at Mobinaute

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

First Voodoo’s home page had that little fire problem, and now this super-dramatic teaser video’s making the rounds — we’d say there’s probably a new Voodoo desktop and laptop in store for us on June 10, by the looks of things. Vid after the break.

Continue reading Voodoo PC teaser video hints at new machines

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’re not usually too down with enterprise-services action, but it’s hard not to notice HP’s $12-13B bid to buy out rival Electronic Data Systems. EDS is best remembered for that “Herding Cats” Super Bowl commercial, but things have been rough lately — the company just posted 62 percent decline in first-quarter profits. Still, EDS is still a leader in technology outsourcing, and HP seems to think that it’ll be better able to take down Big Blue’s powerhouse services and consulting group if they merge. The deal isn’t done yet, but we should know how things go soon.

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Filed under: Laptops

Just in case you’ve been burying your face in those glowing reviews of HP’s latest UMPC, here’s a quick heads-up to inform you that the 2133 Mini-Note PC is actually available to order. As of this very moment, prospective buyers can select a unit of their own at HP’s website, and with five models ranging from $499 to $849, we’re sure there’s a Mini-Note for you in there somewhere.

[Thanks, Tharp]

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s a full 24 hours after we expected it, but with looks this hot we’re not surprised the HP Mini-Note 2133 is fashionably late. Specs are exactly what we’d heard and what was up on Amazon earlier: 2.6 pounds, Via C7-M processor, 1280×768 8.9-inch screen, full QWERTY keyboard that’s just 8 percent smaller than normal, and a variety of configurations ranging from a $499 1.0GHz Linux-powered unit with 4GB of flash and 512MB of RAM to a maxed-out $749 config with a 1.2GHz processor, 120GB drive and Vista Business. Laptop managed to score some hands-on time, and from the video it looks like this thing might actually be as popular as HP is predicting — except for those crazy side-mounted vertical mouse buttons, which are totally messing with our heads. Still no word on availability, but it seems like HP’s ready to go — anyone taking the plunge right away?

Read - HP press release
Read - Laptop hands-on video (scroll down)

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s a full 24 hours after we expected it, but with looks this hot we’re not surprised the HP Mini-Note 2133 is fashionably late. Specs are exactly what we’d heard and what was up on Amazon earlier: 2.6 pounds, Via C7-M processor, 1280×768 8.9-inch screen, full QWERTY keyboard that’s just 8 percent smaller than normal, and a variety of configurations ranging from a $499 1.0GHz Linux-powered unit with 4GB of flash and 512MB of RAM to a maxed-out $749 config with a 1.6GHz processor, 120GB drive and Vista Business. Laptop managed to score some hands-on time, and from the video it looks like this thing might actually be as popular as HP is predicting — except for those crazy side-mounted vertical mouse buttons, which are totally messing with our heads. Still no word on availability, but it seems like HP’s ready to go — anyone taking the plunge right away?

Read - HP press release

Update: Plenty of early reviews are in. Things are looking good so far, check ‘em out:
Read - Laptop hands-on video (scroll down)
Read - jkOnTheRun checks it out
Read - Notebook Review, um, review
Read - PC Mag review (4/5)

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Filed under: Laptops

It looks like the rumors of HP launching the sexy 2133 UMPC today were off the mark, but it certainly does seem like the diminutive laptop is coming soon — placeholder pages for an “HP 2133 Mini-Note PC” have popped up at Amazon and other retailers. That’s the first we’ve heard of the Mini-Note name, which is interesting in terribly uncreative way, but we’re slightly more intrigued by the addition of a 1.0GHz SuSE model with 4GB of flash instead of a hard drive — we’d originally heard that the 2133 would come in such a configuration, but none of the specs we’d seen so far had mentioned it. Of course, an empty Amazon product page with no pricing information doesn’t make the 2133 any more official, but we’ve got a feeling it’s pretty close — come on HP, we know you’re confident, let’s see what you’re hiding back there.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Amazon product page for the 1.2GHz / 120GB config
Read - Amazon product page for the 1.0GHz / 4GB flash config
Read - Product listing on compsource.com

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Filed under: Storage

We’ve seen a couple viruses make their way into the manufacturing process and onto shipping products, and it looks like HP Australia and its enterprise customers are the latest victims. USB keys shipped with some HP Proliant servers are infected with the Fakerecy and SillyFDC viruses, and the company’s issued an alert saying that any up-to-date virus scanner should be able to tackle the nasties. It’s a pretty low-grade threat — the key is only used to install floppy disk drivers and neither virus is particularly destructive, but all you server admins Down Under might want to check your rigs just to be sure.

[Via The Register]

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Filed under: Laptops

We’d been hearing that HP’s slick UMPC 2133 was going sport VIA processors, and now we’ve got some more info to back that up — we just received what appears to be a full spec list for the upcoming machine, and it’s VIA C7-Ms all around, with graphics courtesy of a VIA Chrome 9 chipset. According to our source, these will hit on April 7th, and it looks like those pricing whispers were pretty accurate as well: $600 will buy you a 1.2GHz C7-M, a 120GB drive, 1GB of RAM and Vista Home Basic, while $749 bumps you up to 1.6GHz and Vista Business and adds Bluetooth, another gig of RAM, and a bigger battery. There’s also a mysterious $849 Vista Basic model listed as having “regional” availability (the others are listed as “Smart Buy”) with Bluetooth and bigger battery, but we don’t see why it’s more expensive than the Vista Business version. Regardless, what really caught our eye was the $549 model that shares the same specs as the $600 unit, but looks to be running SuSE Enterprise — another rumor that’s come true. That could be the one that HP expects to sell like hotcakes — after all, the goal is to have people buy these “without a thought,” and that’s certainly not going to happen at $749. We’ll see soon enough, we suppose. Full spec sheet after the break.

Continue reading HP UMPC 2133 specs revealed, street date of April 7th?

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s been a while since the HP dv2000 laptop made its original appearance, and it looks like HP’s giving the newest version a new model number as well as a slight redesign — say bonjour to the dv3000. Based around an oh-so-hip 13.3-inch display, the overall look of the machine is basically the same as the older model, but it’s slightly smaller. Inside, you’re looking at a 2.5GHz T9300 Penryn Core 2 Duo, GeForce Go 8400M graphics with HDMI out, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB disk, VGA webcam, a dual-layer burner, and an unusual combo USB / eSATA port that we’d like to take a closer look at. Not a bad piece of kit for $1,399 — too bad it’s only coming out in Asia around May.

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Filed under: Handhelds

For an otherwise-generic PDA, the iPaq 210 has already led a controversy-filled life filled with numerous delays, canceled pre-orders, retracted and clarified official statements from HP, and even a website bug that constantly promised shipment in two weeks — but now it’s finally here, and according to the crew at Brighthand, all that bake time seems to have paid off. The 210’s 4-inch VGA-res screen drew high praise, of course, but what really set the 210 apart was the wealth of connectivity options — with both CF and SDHC slots, the 210 can store up to 64GB of data, and transfer it over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and USB 2.0. The only issues seem to be a touchscreen that requires a firmer touch than usual and that high $450 MSRP — but if you’re among the few still in the market for a standalone PDA, the 210 is probably worth checking out.

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Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

It’s not all just cellphones at Mobile World Congress — HP and Qualcomm have just announced plans to ship laptops with Qualcomm’s Gobi dual-3G chipset that supports both EV-DO and HSPA. That means you won’t be locked into a carrier when you buy a laptop with an integrated WWAN modem — and hardcore road warriors with multiple subscriptions will even be able to switch on the fly to the network with better coverage. HP says Gobi (officially the MDM1000 chip, but that’s no fun) will be available on a range of laptops from ultraportables to high-performance models later this year, but there’s no word on pricing just yet — let’s hope it falls into the “might as well” range, eh?

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