HP’s launched a new range of consumer-centric laptops and desktops, including the glow-in-the-dark phoenix, touch screen all-in-ones and ultraportable models.
All-in-Ones
On the all-in one front, HP’s got new touchscreen all-in-ones under the TouchSmart branding. The Touchsmart 320 will set you back $999 for a 20” Touchscreen, while the Touchscreen 520 is $1399 for a 23” Touchscreen. Both feature full HD display and Beats Audio. I’ve long held that while Windows 7 is capable of touchscreen, there’s a fair distance between capable and pleasant to use. Perhaps HP’s touch apps, which include touch-optimised Twitter and Facebook.
Phoenix Desktop
HP’s claim for the Phoenix Desktop PC is that it’s the company’s most powerful consumer desktop PC to date. It certainly doesn’t look much like HP’s usual stodgy image, with bright red LED side lights and an imposing black tower case. Within HP stuffs a Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 9TB of internal storage. Pricing is stated by HP as $2,299.
Pavilion dm1 Laptop
On the notebook front, HP’s launched the Pavilion dm1, or as it calls it, the “ultimate ultraportable”. I’ve never been a big fan of calling anything the “ultimate”, if only because it doesn’t leave you a lot of room to release the product after that one, logically speaking. That aside, the Pavilion dm1 will feature either AMD E-Series or Intel Core processors, predictably with AMD Radeon HD discrete graphics on the AMD equipped models.
It’s an 11.6” laptop weighing in at 1.46kg, and as with the Touchsmart series, Beats Audio is inbuilt. HP’s also pitching the “HP Premier Experience” as part of these laptops. It’s not the opportunity to run one of Australia’s states yourself (curses!), but instead a streamlined Windows experience with a simpler Windows start menu, automatic application launching from the taskbar and claimed faster shutdown and boot times. The AMD models start at $499, while the Intel models start at $799; both will be available in October.